This is the most important question anybody can be asked, for if someone claims he is saved, but has been given no personal confirmation of it, then he is deceived and deluded, and will be in the group we find in Matthew 7:21-23.
There, we see a group of christians who believed wholeheartedly that they were saved—they’re even shocked to find out that they aren’t saved when Messiah Yahoshua tells them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
So, when someone in christianity says, “I don’t need to be told I’m saved, I know that I know that I know that I am,” that person is admitting that he declared his own salvation, and it was because of a decision he made, or a prayer he prayed—neither of which is salvation.
Look at it this way: salvation is the END of belief (the outcome, goal, or result of it), as we’re told in 1 Peter 1:9. Moreover, in Hebrews 10:39, we’re told of those who believed, and did not shrink back from their belief, but endured in their belief UNTIL THE SAVING OF THEIR SOULS.
Belief comes first, and then once one endures in his faith in Messiah Yahoshua, confessing Him before others, the Father, in His time alone, will confirm that the person has been made His child through the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:16).
Salvation is not the beginning of belief, as christianity falsely teaches, but the desired goal (END) of it. Those who do not endure in their belief eventually fall away. They believe with joy FOR AWHILE, but, during their period of testing, they do not endure, and they fall away because they have no root—no source of life (Luke 8:13). They never received the Holy Spirit, the source of life.
Satan and his demons believe, so belief is not salvation. Salvation is not declared by a person, just as adoption is not declared by a child. Those who endure in belief will be given the covenant, and those who receive the covenant are TOLD they are Yah’s children.
Most in christianity pretend that the scriptures confirm their salvation, but scripture cannot do such a thing. Scripture is given as instruction to those who ARE SAVED (2 Timothy 3:17), and there is no possible way for scripture, which is comprised of words that are not alive, to tell someone he has been born again. No, only the Author of the scriptures can tell a person he has been redeemed.
And, the false “salvation” that is obtained by going forward and saying a prayer, or making a decision, or “accepting Christ” (found nowhere in scripture), or changing one’s lifestyle, or obeying commandments, is nothing more than declaring one’s own salvation—it is joining a human club. It is completely false.
If you cannot answer the question asked at the beginning of this post now, then how will you answer it then, when you’re standing before the Almighty? Those folks in Matthew 7:21-23 thought they could convince Messiah Yahoshua that they were saved, just as they were deceived on earth by false teachings that make salvation a decision that man makes.
Notice that those christians in that passage don’t have any KJVs handy to point to the specific passages that contain their evidence that they were adopted (because that is not salvation, as scripture cannot do that anyway). There will be no King James Version bibles in heaven, as all translations of scripture are creations of men.
So, the question “Who told you that you have received the Holy Spirit, how were you told, and what were you told” is probably the most important one you’ll ever answer—and, you WILL answer it, either here or at the Father’s throne. And, you should understand what the consequences are for those who answer, “Nobody.”
It would be the same as a neighborhood kid suddenly declaring that he is a legal member of your household without you or a judge issuing any such decree. Who decides who is a member of your household? A neighborhood kid? Not hardly. Who decides who is a member of Yah’s household? A human? Not hardly.
I pray that those who have been deceived by false teachings misleading them into thinking salvation is by their choice will stop, now, and thoroughly examine what true salvation is, how it is obtained, and how one knows he has obtained it.
The Holy Spirit is the one who confirms that someone who has believed has been given the Holy Spirit. The false teachings of christianity’s salvation are that the Holy Spirit is placed within someone when he makes a decision, but that is an outright lie that is refuted throughout the scriptures. Again, that would make salvation the beginning of belief, but scripture tells us it is the end of belief—it is the outcome or goal of it.
So, if belief is the first step on the path to salvation, at what point is someone saved, and how does he know it when it happens? Christianity cannot answer that, because it falsely tells folks that their prayer put the Holy Spirit within them. That is not at all how salvation works, and those who tell you it is ARE FALSE TEACHERS.
Some in christianity try to use the explanation that their feelings are the Holy Spirit—that their consciences, or some emotional experiences, are the Holy Spirit. No, He is not someone’s feelings, which is basically defined as their “heart.” Jeremiah 17:9 tells us all we need to know about the heart of man. Who would ever trust such a wicked thing to confirm his salvation?
The Holy Spirit literally TELLS Yah’s children that they have been adopted into His family. He does it how He has always communicated with man, and it is what Peter declared on the very day that the spiritual covenant was given to Messiah’s bride Y’isra-el in Acts 2:17.
To see how the Holy Spirit (who is the Word) communicates with people, just read the prophets in the Old Testament, and see how He communicated with them. The Holy Spirit has NEVER changed!
Just as we see in Genesis 40:8, Job 33:14-17, Romans 8:16, and 1 Corinthians 1:6-8, the Holy Spirit testifies directly to the spirit of man, and He does so in dreams and visions, as the subconscious is the way He speaks to man’s spirit, while demons influence man through his conscious mind, which is his soul, not his spirit. Demons do not have access to testify to man’s spirit.
So, it should be highly unnerving for anyone who has believed he is saved simply because of some decision he made at some point in his life. Man’s decision is not salvation. The decision to believe in Messiah Yahoshua is the first step (Outer Courtyard—identifying with the Passover sacrifice) on the path to salvation (Holy of Holies—receiving the covenant).
If you cannot explain exactly HOW the Holy Spirit has told you that you were made a child of Yah, and WHAT you were told, then you should be terrified of what eternity currently holds for you.
But, there is still time RIGHT NOW to repent of false beliefs and to place your complete faith (“zero doubt”) in Messiah Yahoshua, and to stand for Him regardless of what it will cost you (and, sadly, much of that relational cost will be meted out by family and friends who are lost in christianity—remember, LIGHT has NO FELLOWSHIP with DARKNESS, Ephesians 5:11, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15).
Your eternity is TOO IMPORTANT to blow off this warning that has deceived so many—a counterfeit of salvation that taught them they were saved because they made a decision or prayed a prayer. And, that their feelings about salvation ARE the Holy Spirit.
How did it happen for me? I was brought up in christianity, and lived in it for five decades. I was formally educated in it (xtian high school and university), I worked on pastoral staff, and I toured to “churches” around the country for over a decade. I was a full-fledged christian, well-trained in the tenets of many of the different flavors of christianity (denominations, which are of men, not the Holy Spirit).
But, a little more than a decade ago, the Holy Spirit opened my heart and mind to understand that christianity is a counterfeit of the true faith, and He has been instructing me in His truths ever since. I took a stand for the true Gospel of Yahoshua, and have been mocked, ridiculed, condemned, and shunned by many christians over the years.
And, after a few years of standing firm in the true Gospel, and being led by the Holy Spirit in dreams and visions during that time, He did finally testify to me in a dream that not only does Messiah Yahoshua call me His soldier, but that also, the accuser against me has been vanquished.
I don’t know I am saved because of any decision I made, or because of any passage of scripture that explains HOW salvation works. NO, I know I am born again because the Holy Spirit Himself has told me I am. Only those who have been told they are Yah’s children are His children. THAT is true salvation. Anything else is a counterfeit.
For more information: Top Five Christian Salvation Myths