I noticed that you had difficulty, remembering and defining "How you know you are Born Again"; something every single Born Again Christian should be able to do EASILY. Why do I say that, because those kind of memories should remain FRESH in our minds every time we worship. I frequently have tears flowing in Church, as we sing certain songs, remembering HOW HE SAVED ME. But there is more to it than that:
Do you hunger and thirst for more understanding in His word, or are you content with what you think you know?
Do you mourn when you hear someone denying Jesus?
Do you Love all the brethren, or only those from your denomination?
Does HE SPEAK TO YOUR HEART, as you read HIS WORD?
Do you desire do SERVE HIM, purely out of LOVE for HIM?
Do you LOVE JESUS more than anyone else, including your spouse?
Do you LONG to go home to be with Jesus in Heaven?
Do you sense a born again Christian near you (spirit ministering to spirit) before you ever talk to him or her?
Do you ever wake up finding you human spirit is already singing gospel songs in your heart?
Do you KNOW you really have a serious inner and very personal, LOVE relationship with Jesus Christ?
Here is what it says in 1 John:
1 John 2:3-6 (NKJV)
[SUP]3 [/SUP] Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
[SUP]4 [/SUP] He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
[SUP]5 [/SUP] But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
[SUP]6 [/SUP] He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
AND may I point out, JUDAS NEVER WAS SAVED, he followed Jesus for financial gain, and an important position in the Kingdom. Following Jesus for any reason other than LOVE FOR HIM, is of no value to GOD, and does not equate to Salvation. When Judas figured out that Jesus was NOT going set up His Kingdom at that time, Judas sold Jesus for a few pieces of Silver, so as not to leave empty handed. Remember Judas carried the purse for the Disciples, his focus always was on the money. NOTICE, that in Young's Literal Translation, it calls Judas the Son of the Destruction. That is because Judas was the ONLY ONE that came through the Broad Gate that leads to Destruction and NOT through the NARROW GATE that leads to genuine Salvation. ONLY those who come through that NARROW GATE are Saved and will be Called to Heaven when our Bridegroom sends the Archangel to Call Us out.
John 17:12 (YLT)
[SUP]12 [/SUP] when I was with them in the world, I was keeping them in Thy name; those whom Thou hast given to me I did guard, and none of them was destroyed, except the son of the destruction, that the Writing may be fulfilled.
LOOK at what happens when we do ABIDE IN HIM, HE is the ONE that holds on to our Salvation, HE is the ONE Who brings us to FULL Maturity, continually molding us to be more and more like HIM. Therefore what YOU call walking away from abiding in HIM, only VALIDATES that you NEVER REALLY WERE IN HIM.
1 John 2:19 (GW)
[SUP]19 [/SUP] They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us.
John 15:5 (NASB)
[SUP]5 [/SUP] "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Jude 1:24-25 (ESV)
[SUP]24 [/SUP] Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
[SUP]25 [/SUP] to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
NOT ONE PERSON ON THE BROAD ROAD IS REALLY SAVED (BORN AGAIN), AND NOT ONE PERSON ON THE NARROW ROAD WILL WALK AWAY FROM CHRIST WHO IS IN THEIR HEARTS CONTROLLING THEIR LIVES.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP] being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
John 10:28-30 (NKJV)
[SUP]28 [/SUP] And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. {Not even SELF.}
[SUP]29 [/SUP] My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
[SUP]30 [/SUP] I and My Father are one."No, your theology does not square with what the Scriptures actually say.
The problem, is the majority of Churches no longer teach the GOSPEL the way it was taught when I was growing up in the Bible Belt of America. The way it was taught, for all the centuries before, is there is NO TURNING BACK, if you truly made that decision to FOLLOW JESUS. Now, in this world of ENTERTAIN ME congregations, fewer and fewer actually make that total surrender to JESUS. I am sorry, but that easy believism gospel, is a FALSE GOSPEL, that does not SAVE, and ushers their followers onto the BROAD ROAD that leads to Destruction, that is why they appear to walk away from Jesus. THEY ENTERED THE WRONG GATE.
REMEMBER: Jesus is the Potter, we are but only the clay. It JESUS who is continually molding us, if we really were saved in the first place.
<strong>[video=youtube;55eESzdyPoY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55eESzdyPoY[/video]