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[Thinker]

To Travis and others who might be thinking along the same lines:

(May I suggest reading the original article before reading this one)?

Travis asked if I had things told to me that my article indicated needed to be told. Much to my regret, the answer is mostly, "No." The implication in Travis' question seems to be that even without this information, I received salvation. Yes, but not without much confusion and discouragement. God, in His sovereignty and love, can and does work around our faulty and incomplete ways of leading another to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Sometimes the preaching that God uses to motivate a person to become a seeker gives much of the needed information. Many times, it doesn't. An illustration I heard years ago may help. A young man is being recruited for the Marines. He is told of all the good things that happen when one becomes a Marine. He is told little of the hard things. He signs up, ends up in a foxhole in a foreign country, wounded and burning with fever and wondering if he will make it. Wouldn't it be better for him to know ahead and not be caught off guard? In the foxhole, he may give up. The potential convert needs to understand the implications of receiving Jesus and understand that there is help available in all the hard times. In any event, it is only fair to explain fully what it means to receive the Lord. Perhaps this would save some from assuming they have a genuine experience of salvation when actually they have only had an intellectual conversion. Selah! Ron Pinkham