Because the “salvation” that most of christianity teaches is false, when folks who are christians (adherents of christianity) see the actual path to salvation according to the Holy Spirit’s truths, they sometimes claim that it has additions in it that their salvation never had.
Ironically, the differences they sense are mostly because the true doctrines of salvation REMOVE the additions of christianity, and show the actual path that the Father presented for us to understand how one is born again.
Now, in the christian version of salvation, one comes to some form of christian belief (often called by completely unscriptural terms like “accepting Christ,” “asking Christ into one’s heart,” “asking forgiveness for sins,” or “turning one’s life around”), and then he declares that he has been born again (falsely claiming that, at the moment of his decision, the Holy Spirit entered him). Then, that person is told by his “church” that he needs to go and get wet in front of other people (water baptism).
What happens next further reveals the false teachings of christianese salvation. Often, such a person who goes through the hoops of that form of “salvation” will end up, at some point, reverting back to the way he has always been (as a man thinks in his heart, so is he), because no spiritual transaction actually took place—it was an act wholly of the person. And, it often happens that such a person ends up, either immediately, or over time, just separating himself back to being who he always was.
In a sense, the belief of christianity is that that person simply didn’t believe sincerely enough. He might have believed a little, but not enough actually to be born again. So, here’s a question: how sincerely does someone have to believe to be saved? What is that standard, and where can it be found in scripture? Who is the one that decides when one has believed sincerely enough?
Isn’t that an addition to what we’re told in scripture? Of course it is. Christianity added man’s decision and declaration to actual salvation, even though man does not have the authority to declare himself to be saved, and receiving the covenant is a decision the Father makes, not the person.
So, in christian salvation, it is the person’s power and authority of making a decision, declaring that he’s been born again, getting in some water in front of people, and then living a christian enough life to prove that he believed sincerely enough, and his salvation “took.”
Those are ALL additions to the true path to salvation. I followed those same steps when I was young, and lived for some five decades thinking those steps had saved me. Imagine my surprise when the Holy Spirit taught me that those things are not what it means to be born again!
Instead of all those false traditions of men that have been added to being born again, why not look to what the Holy Spirit shows is the true path to the salvation of Messiah’s bride? The Father presented physical pictures of that path for us through foreshadows—the children of Y’isra-el receiving the physical covenant (ten commandments) is one such picture. They were led out of Egypt (the world) after applying the blood of the Passover lamb on their house, they were led by the Holy Spirit through the wilderness and to the mountain, and, once there, they waited to receive the covenant.
That same path is demonstrated in the way of the tabernacle. The Passover and the Red Sea (altar of sacrifice and the baptismal laver, representing belief (repentance from unbelief) and an invitation for spiritual cleansing by the Holy Spirit) are presented in the Outer Courtyard. Then the Spirit’s leading through the wilderness is shown in the Holy Place (the pillar of cloud and fire, and the manna, shown by the altar of incense, the menorah, and the bread of the presence), and then into the Holy of Holies, where the covenant indwells the Ark (another picture of the bride with the Holy Spirit indwelling her).
Man controls only part of that path—belief (repenting of unbelief) and enduring in that belief (confessing Messiah before others, usually involving some personal or relational risk). The Holy Spirit is the one who does the leading and guiding toward receiving the covenant, and the Father alone determines when the covenant is given to the one who has endured in his belief.
So, belief and enduring in that belief. Period. The Holy Spirit tells those whose faith has been tried (tested) that they have received the covenant—they are children of Yah because the Holy Spirit has been placed within them as the eternal seal of redemption, the covenant of marriage (“ketubah”) to Messiah.
How is that “adding” anything? It’s not. It is actually stripping away the false doctrines of christianity that make salvation a work of man, and it is the true path to salvation that has always been. Salvation is something that is given to one who believes and is faithful to that belief. Abraham was counted as righteous because of, and after, his belief. He didn’t make a decision, and then declare himself to be righteous (as christianity’s “salvation” does).
And, because christianity’s salvation is of man, he must then find some way to confirm that he has received it, so he falsely claims that some verses in scripture declare that he has been saved (which scripture cannot do). Unfortunately, the christian form of salvation would require another room added onto the sanctuary, for, according to that false salvation, a person is supposed to get wet in front of people after he has been saved (Holy of Holies), and there is no other place in the sanctuary beyond the Holy of Holies for that to happen.
So, do you want to trust your eternity to your ability to believe sincerely enough, or do you want to seek the Holy Spirit’s indwelling as the covenant by believing in Messiah Yahoshua, and leaving your salvation up to the only one who can give it and declare it (which is actually the essence of true belief)?
After five decades of “believing sincerely enough,” I chose to give up my false power of declaring my own salvation, and I simply declared my belief in Messiah Yahoshua before others, and then allowed the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me to receiving the covenant. When that happened, He told me, personally and directly, exactly who I am in Yahoshua.
I’d much rather trust the Holy Spirit’s declaration instead my own, because I know just how untrustworthy I am.
For more information: What Is Saving Belief?