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the !ove that FULFILLS the law and
imparts GoD'S
righteousness.
Millions
have been
deceived
and
fa/se /y
believe that they
hove
a sal–
vation that they do NOT yet have at
all! GoD HELP us, then, to UNDER–
STAND.
What You Should Do
Now, finally, just HOW shall you go
about it?
Must you go down the aisle in a
church? Must you go to a public
altar, and shed tears in front of
others, a nd pray aloud before
others?
Being converted is not an initia–
tion into a lodge or secret society!
lt
is not a rite or ceremony!
It
is a
matter of turning FROM the old
life that was false, yet may have
scemed right to you-of turning
TO a new and TRUE way of life in
Christ Jesus, living by every word
of God, in and by tbe power of
God ' s Holy Spirit! When you
UNDERSTAND the real MEANI NG
and the PURPOSE, you'll see that it
is something that takes place
down deep in your HEART and not
a matter of THE PLACE or THE
SURROUNDINGS, or the presence of
other people. What Jesus said
about confessing or denying him
before men did not refer to a r ile,
or ceremonial form of being con–
verted. Being converted is the
receiving of the Holy Spirit- the
very life- of
God.
You CAN, of course, make this
full surrender and consecration to
God in front of others, at an altar.
You
can,
also, make it j ust as sin–
cerely and fully, in a prívate room
at home, all ALONE with God! You
can pray in church before others
and do it sincerely from the heart.
Yet Jesus said, "When thou
prayest, enter into thy closet [any
prívate room] , and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward
thee open ly."
WH EN you have
real/y
re–
pented- repented of what you
are
as well as what you have
done–
WHEN you come to this
parting of
the ways
from the old l ife-when
you come to the place of making
this COMPLETE CHANGE- this total
February 1982
unconditional surrender to God–
this complete consecration, GIVING
your SELF lo him, accepting Christ
as your personal Savior- turning
FROM your sins, and TO GoD's way
of life as you' ll find it in the Bible,
you'll want to PRAY! Yes, you'll
want to throw yourself completely
on God's merey, and ask him
through Jesus Christ to FORGIVE
vou all your past sins and trans–
gressions against him.
The apostle
P~ul
reveals how. He
confessed: "For l know that in me
(that is, in my flesh ,) dwelleth
no
good thing:
for to wi ll is present
with me; but how to perform that
which is good 1 find not. For the
good that 1 would l do not: but the
evil wbich 1 would not, that I do"
(Rom. 7:18-19).
He saw human nature in its
gruesome reality. He struggled
with it-fought against it-only to
find that it was more powerful than
he!
What could he do?
Paul cried out,
"O
wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?" Read
the answer to the problem in the
Moffatt translation: " Miserable
wretch that l am! Who will rescue
me from this body of death?
GOD
WILL!
Thanks be to him through
J esus Christ our Lord!" (verses 24-
25).
It
is not, perhaps, of great conse–
quence
where
you do it! But the
IMPORTANT thing is lO DO IT! The
longer you put repentance off the
harder it will become. WHY it
should be difficult to just go and
throw yourself on God's merey, and
ask his forgiveness and give your
SELF to bim, is hard to under–
stand-yet something in the hu–
man nature withjn you will keep
tempting you to PUT IF OFF. That
temptation is not of God, you may
be sure.
If you are sick and tired of the
empty, fruitless, materialistic life
you have been living- TF in your
heart you DO want to turn from it
tO the FULL and JOYFUL life filled
with God's SPIRIT, then WHY
DELAv? This is
just the start
of the
real Christian life. Don' t look for a
certain feeling, but repent and
believe. o
TIS
''CONVERSION''?
1) an intensa emolion
2) joining a church or organization
3) suddenly becoming "saved"
4) an intellectual commitment
5) living a perfect lile
ANSWER:
None ol the above. Conversion begins
when a person receives God's Holy
Spirit (Rom. 8:9). lt then involves, lar the
Christian, a lilelong process ol develop·
ment and growth.
Conversion is a much misunderstood
subject - even among prolessing
Chrístians. We alter a brief booklet that
makes plain, through a survey ol the
Scriptures, the God-ordained purpose
and process ol conversion. Repen·
tance, baptism, sin, death and the here–
after are all covered.
Why not request immediately your
free copy of Just What do You
Mean .. . Conversíon? There's abso·
lutely no charge or obligation.
Ju,t \\h.tt do
\t)(.l rl1l'.Hl
( ·oNVERSIO!\?
Requesl ommediatety your
free
copy
of
Jusi
Wl>st
do
You Mün
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eon-síon?
Josst
use lhe reply
eou–
pon
or wrrte lo
1M
Plain
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