Acts 22:15 (KJV)
15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
A common thread is intricately woven throughout the testimonies of the great men of God in the Bible who have shut the mouths of lions, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and obtained promises. So necessary is this thread that if it is removed it would be as damaging to the overcoming Christian life as a loose thread pulled from a cheap sweater; it would unravel it entirely.
This necessary element of the Christian faith being mentioned here by the Apostle is what is commonly referred to as a divine or a supernatural experience. What was it that turned this young zealous Pharisee named Saul from his course as he traversed to Damascus to persecute the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? It was the very same thread that caused Moses to leave the comforts of Pharaoh's palace and to forsake the temporal pleasures of sin to suffer affliction with the children of God. It is the very thread that caused Abram to leave his fathers house and his own land and to travel to a land that he knew not!
It is a deep inner experience between the divine Creator and the created that set these men apart from other men. It was this very same experience that gave the Apostle Paul confidence, credence, virtue, and authority to stand before this angry mob and give witness to the awesome things he had seen and heard.
Yet, in comparison to these great patriarchs our modern evangelical church looks more like the cheap sweater - entirely unraveled. Somewhere throughout the years the fathers of our modern orthodoxy decided to pull out this common thread that held fast to the necessity of a deep inner experience and awakening from the tenants of the Christian faith. The result is a generation of professing believers that have never passed through the birth canal of regenerative experience.
This has produced an aura in our modern Christendom that boasts entirely of affiliation without the inner witness imparted through experience. We find it convenient to expound upon theological themes, church activities, affiliations, and denominations but who can stand up in the midst of these hollow echoes and say: "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
One of the greatest instruments of fallacy contributing to the exile of age-old scriptural theology mandating deep spiritual experience proceeding regeneration and conversion is the modern and contemporary introduction of what we now call the "sinner's prayer". This man-made theology suggests that conversion is wrought simply by repeating a prayer. This is not found by pattern, practice, or scriptural reference in the Word of God! This concept is entirely man-made and heretical! Moreover, it has been one of the most detrimental agents of darkness in hindering the true redemptive work of the Holy Ghost in our modern church age.
Say the prayer and join the team has replaced piercing truths, godly sorrows, repenting hearts, faith in Jesus Christ, and sound conversions! Haven't you ever wondered why professing Christian folks aren't any better than they are? Doesn't modern, easy believism Christianity look completely unraveled to you in comparison to what we read in the book of Acts? What is the difference my friend?
You will easily find that the modern church has taken the road of convenience and not that of experience! We no longer work out our salvation with fear and trembling! We no longer stand still and see the salvation of the Lord! No, we have been reduced to walking forward and repeating a mundane prayer and thereby becoming affiliated - but not converted!
Beloved, doesn't your heart yearn for more than this? Can't you see dear brethren that Jesus Christ died to give us an inheritance that greatly supercedes this present nonsense? Oh beloved, lets not be satisfied or pacified by this derelict of doctrine. Let us seek the face of God in deep and hearty repentance for our sins and wait upon Him until we have the inner witness of the Spirit of God - passing from death to life and triumphing from glory to glory! AMEN
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