Dear GodsGrace,
You said:
Persons with the Holy Spirit dwelling are SAVED persons.
The Early Rain is a small measure of the Holy Spirit and will not convert the person - but it does give them their faith whereby they will make a confession of faith when they hear the Word. As long as the babe remains faithful, they will remain justified and no longer under the Law. However, salvation only comes to the person when Christ returns with the Latter Rain (the baptism), followed by judgment.
The time a babe spends waiting on their salvation was typed by Elijah's three and 1/2 years of drought. It is during this time of drought that a babe will become apostate.
James said this to the babes he was writing to in his letter:
James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receives the EARLY and LATTER RAIN. 8 Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (to bring the Latter Rain).
James 5:17 Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave Rain (the Latter Rain), and the earth produced its fruit (Wheat/the converted Elect).
After Paul's death, the spirit of anti-Christ came and devoured the babes in the churches.
Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things (like the doctrines of Free Will & Hell), to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears (because it was going to happen during their lifetimes).
When the apostasy arrived, it made all the babes in all the churches unfaithful and no longer justified. The babes then became "worse than the first"; a man of sin. This is the fate that awaits every babe shortly after they are given the Early Rain and it has been this way since the end of the 1st century. This is what has produced the nearly 2,000 different denominations of the apostate church in this world. These apostate churches have no unity and are under the deceptions of Satan. They all follow "another gospel" which mixes works with faith.
If a babe is one of the Elect, Christ will shorten their days as a man of sin and will return to them before they die. When He returns, He will make them "ready" by giving them the Latter Rain. This will heal their spiritual blindness and restore their faith. This is the moment a person is "born again". Christ will then appear (His second coming) and begin the Day of the Lord which will destroy the child of the Devil/man of sin (who they used to be). The person will then be converted and saved.
Paul's conversion experience (presented in Acts chapter 9) is the pattern that all the Elect will follow to their moment of conversion/salvation.
1Tim 1:16 Howbeit for this cause, I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them (the Elect) which should hereafter believe on him to life during the ages.
Paul received the Early Rain on the Damascus Road. That is when Paul first called Jesus "Lord" and submitted to His authority. Paul's blindness and inability to eat or drink for three days represented his unconverted spiritual state while he was a babe. The number "three" represents a spiritual process. In Paul's case, it represented when Paul was made "worse than the first" (Mat 12:43-45) by the indwelling of the spirit of anti-Christ. And for that reason, Paul stayed at the home of a man named "Judas".
After Paul's time of great tribulation (his three days) was complete, Christ caused Paul to pray for understanding. Christ answered his prayer by returning to Paul (typed by Ananias) to pour out the Latter Rain. The scales then fell from Paul's eyes so that Paul could "eat meat". Paul was then born again. Judgment would have then followed (not shown) to complete Paul's conversion and salvation.
These verses apply:
1Sam 12:17 Is it not wheat harvest to day? (day of salvation/conversion) I will call unto the LORD (Paul's prayer), and he shall send thunder (voice of Christ) and Rain (Latter Rain); that ye may perceive and see (spiritual blindness healed) that your wickedness is great (had become a man of sin), which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.
Isa 40:29 He gives power to the weak (Early Rain), and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths (babes) shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall (fall from grace), 31 But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength (Latter Rain); they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (converted and will never fall away again).
Heb 9:28 So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those (Elect babes) who are waiting for him.
Job 37:6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain (Early Rain), and to the great rain (Latter Rain) of his strength.
Isa 59:9 Therefore is judgment far from us (babes who have the Early Rain), neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness (spiritually blind and apostate).
Psa 68:9 Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful Rain (Latter Rain), whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance (heir of Abraham), when it was weary (in an apostate condition).
The parables of the Ten Virgins, the Prodigal Son, the Wheat and the Tares, the Leavened Bread, the Fowls of the Air and the Good Samaritan all teach certain aspects of the pathway to salvation that Paul's conversion presented. Also, the actual events (types) of the woman taken in adultery (John 8:3-10), the healing of the infirmed man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15) and the healing of the blind man (Mark 8:15-25) teach certain aspects of the pathway, too.
What these scriptures and parables teach is not just my opinion. However, a person must have the Spirit of Truth (Latter Rain) and have their spiritual blindness healed in order to be able to understand what they teach.
Mat 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joe