Not sure how you got that out of what I wrote, which included this:
See that? "... all of humankind are saved by the finished work of the atonement on our behalf."
Christ's work, not our work.
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CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS POST...
As for my comment about "works", from what I remember about your beliefs from previous threads, I believe you are still mixing in
man's work with the
spiritual work of Christ that He is now doing under the New Covenant.
I'll try to explain below:
In this age, Christ is only saving the people who have been
chosen for salvation from the foundation of the world. If a person was not chosen by God before this creation began, they will not be saved in this age. The person has no say in the matter.
The beginning point for an Elect person's salvation in this age occurs when Christ first comes to them and gives them the Early Rain of the Spirit. The Elect person does not ask for Him to come nor does Christ ask for their permission. He comes solely because He chose to come at that time. With this small amount of the Spirit now indwelling the Elect person, they will now have a measure (small amount) of faith and certain spiritual gifts. However, this small amount of the Holy Spirit will leave them carnal and spiritually blind. Because of these spiritual flaws which remain in the person after they are "called out from the world" and into the church, Satan has no problem deceiving them.
After Christ has planted His seed of the Early Rain within the person, Satan will come at night (meaning while they are spiritually blind) and plant His seed, too. Satan's seed is the spirit of anti-Christ. This teaching comes from the farming analogy which is taught in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. With Satan's spirit and the Holy Spirit indwelling the same person, they will try to serve two masters. One master (Satan) teaches the person to approach God by their own works (the crooked way). The other master (Christ) teaches the person to approach God solely by faith, trusting in Christ to do all that is necessary to save them. Because the person is mixing the Old Wine with the New Wine, their divided house will fall (fall from grace). This is how Satan spiritually kills the saints:
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
The
affliction that Christ is referring to in this verse comes from Satan and the spirit of anti-Christ. After the spirit of anti-Christ indwells the Elect believer, they will spiritually die.
This spiritual death is taught here, too:
Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
This death is what the Abomination of Desolation describes. It is a spiritual death in God's spiritual temple (the believer). It is not a physical death.
The Elect believer will remain in this lost and "worse than the first" (Mat 12:43-45) spiritual condition (called a man of sin/seven headed beast) until Christ decides to "come again" to the Elect believer. When this time comes, Christ will send a person to them in the spirit of Elijah with a call to repent of their works. At this same time, Christ will increase the Elect believer's faith and
cause them to repent. This happens solely because of the spiritual work of Christ within the Elect believer.
After they repent, the pathway will be made straight by the faith that Christ gave them. Christ will then come to them and pour out the Latter Rain of the Spirit. With this full amount of the Spirit, the believer's spiritual blindness will be healed and they will see the Abomination of Desolation that had previously occurred within themselves. When this happens, Christ tells them to flee to the mountains:
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
The spiritual phrase "flee to the mountains" is related to the OT story of Lot which is a physical "type" that is spiritually fulfilled within the Elect. When a believer "sees" the Abomination of Desolation, it is the evidence that Christ has come to them and given them the Latter Rain of the Spirit. With the Latter Rain, the Elect believer's spiritual blindness is healed and they are "born again". It is at this time that they are gathered to Heaven (spiritually speaking, not physically speaking).
Next, Christ will begin His judgment. To begin, Christ will remove the spirit of anti-Christ and the carnal spiritual nature from within the believer.
These verses apply:
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
In verse 40, the phrase "two in the field" is actually ONE Elect believer (one flesh). The one taken from the believer is the spirit of anti-Christ (man of sin). The one who remains is the child of God.
In verse 41, the "two women" represent the two spiritual natures within the Elect believer. The one taken is the Great Harlot and the one who remains is the spiritual nature of the Holy Spirit.
So where are they taken? Rev 19:20 answers that question:
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
After this judgment is complete, the believer will be a converted child of God.
Note: The reason the Elect believer does not experience wrath during their time of judgment is because they were "born again" PRIOR to judgment falling on them. Because they are born again first, the child of God will reign with Christ over the believer's own judgment (
Rev 19:11-19). For the "lost" in the final age though, they will
not be born again prior to their judgment commencing. They will be cast alive into the Lake of Fire where the Elect believer's beast and false prophet were cast. During that judgment, they will experience wrath. But before they perish, Christ will have mercy upon them. At that time, Christ will give them the gift of faith which will make the pathway straight for Christ to come to them with the Early and Latter Rain
and salvation.
All of what I have described above happens solely by the spiritual work of Christ. Since Christ is the Savior of the world, Christ will do His work within all mankind - but God is the one who decides when that work will be done. Mankind has no say in the matter as to when their salvation will happen. We are Christ's "workmanship" and we contribute nothing.
If you agree that Christ's spiritual work requires no work from us to be saved as I have described above, then I do agree that you are not mixing works with faith. It seems that before, you said that it is up to the individual as to when they accept Christ - that the Elect are not really chosen by God beforehand.
Joe