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    Salvation by Grace Through Faith Alone
    Salvation by Grace Through Faith Alone
    Salvation by Grace Through Faith Alone
    Ebook97 pages1 hour

    Salvation by Grace Through Faith Alone

    By Don Wenzel

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    About this ebook

    This book is written for todays church. However, it is not written to impugn anyones belief. Rather, the purpose is to redirect the sole honor, glory, and credit for anyones salvation toward the Triune God and away from any human initiative or action. To take credit for any part of salvation, regardless of the amount, is to take away from the effectiveness of the workings of the Holy Spirit, Christs sacrifice, and the Fathers divine will.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateOct 23, 2012
    ISBN9781449767099
    Salvation by Grace Through Faith Alone
    Author

    Don Wenzel

    Over twenty years ago the seeds for this book were planted when a young couple from Florida challenged my belief regarding salvation. This occurred 7 years after my christian life began at age 33. Through this life changing journey, my previous beliefs were shattered and a new understanding of God’s gracious mercy was revealed.  Raised and married in Southern California, my family and I relocated numerous times throughout the country while following a 32 year career in telecommunications. My wife of 35 years and I are now retired in South Carolina.

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      Book preview

      Salvation by Grace Through Faith Alone - Don Wenzel

      Copyright © 2012 Don Wenzel

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-6708-2 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-6709-9 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012917053

      WestBow Press rev. date: 10/18/2012

      Contents

      Introduction

      Do I have a choice?

      The Gospel is God’s provision of Grace.

      Opposing views of scripture

      God loves everyone VS. John 3:16

      Philosophical Point of View

      Conclusion

      In gratitude to my wonderful, loving wife, for her encouragement, patience and tender council while enduring a distracted husband for the time it took to write this.

      This is not written to impugn anyone’s belief. Rather, my purpose is to re-direct the sole honor, glory and credit for anyone’s salvation toward the Triune God and away from any human initiative or action. To take credit for any part of salvation, regardless the amount is to take away from the effectiveness of the workings of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s sacrifice and the Father’s divine will.

      Introduction

      I ’m providing a brief history of my long journey from unbelief to the point I am today, in the hope that it might shed some light into how I arrived here.

      I became a Christian at the age of 33. From then, attended several independent churches and pretty much believed that, like most present day Christians, you had to choose Jesus to be saved. I believed that God loved everyone, Jesus died for everyone and it was up to man to accept God’s gift to complete his salvation. I was sure that all these things were true because it was proclaimed at every church I attended. I now know what is meant by Ignorance is Bliss.

      In 1989 while working away from home, a young couple that attended the same church as I befriended me. (I was in Florida, my wife and family were in Arkansas) For nearly a year we discussed the bible two or three times a week. During one of those evenings, they asked what I thought about Maybe Jesus didn’t die for everyone. I was shocked. How could anyone believe that? I assured them that they must be wrong. They said: Show us in the bible. The next day I started a journey that has profoundly changed my life. I studied the Bible daily trying to prove them wrong. I prayed for discernment of the Scriptures and asked the Father to show me the truth, no matter what it was. Here I am. I know the truth now. My young friends were correct in their assessment regarding salvation. The Lord, I believe, used them to start my journey, my pilgrim’s progress.

      In answer to my prayers, the Holy Spirit began waking me up very early in the morning (middle-of-the-night) about fifteen years ago. I would wake to the sound of someone in my head saying Wake-up!. He would tell me to go read a particular verse of Scripture. At first, it frightened me to not only hear a voice in my head that wasn’t me, but that it spoke with such authority that I was compelled to obey. I would read, sometimes for a few minutes, other times for hours. At first, I wasn’t awoken often. Sometimes it was a couple times a week, other times, once, every couple months. After a few years, I was told to write what I thought the Scripture I had been told to read meant. Then other nights, I would be asked what I meant by what I wrote and then to read another Scripture that gave additional light on those passages. For all this time, I’ve kept reading and writing. This is the result. Is it finished? I don’t know. I still hear the voice; we still have conversations.

      At some point while reading this, you might say to yourself: Don is either nuts, a Calvinist or both. In answer, although there is nothing in the five points that Calvin wrote in response to the Armenian Remonstrance of 1610 that I couldn’t agree with, Calvinism is more than just the five points and dwelling on such labels are a distraction. What is written here and what I believe, I believed before I knew who Calvin was or what he wrote. Calvin, Luther, Augustine and the other giants prior to and of the reformation, arrived at their beliefs through reading the same scripture as I. We all came to the same conclusion independently of each other. As for nuts, I formed my beliefs through the teachings of Jesus, Paul, Peter and John primarily, and the rest of scripture generally as lead by the Holy Spirit. My challenge to anyone who, after reading this, still believes I’m wrong would be the same one that that young couple gave to me so many years ago. With scripture, prove it. There have been many people who have told me I’m surely mistaken, but never have they (including pastors) accepted the challenge. They will throw out a verse here or a verse there, taken out of context (see chapter on opposing views of scripture), but never a serious sit down with the Bible and discuss what it speaks of regarding our sinful condition and how that relates to salvation.

      I shared my experience with several other believers and they were interested in what I wrote. I didn’t know what to do with this. I thought it was just for me to strengthen my belief, to prepare me to defend and share the Gospel with others. They said:Make it a book. I prayed for an answer to my question: Now what? My answer was the Scripture found in Mathew, Chapter 10, and Verse 27.

      What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.

      Matt 10:27 (NASB77)

      Do I have a choice?

      And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

      Josh 24:15 (NASB77)

      T hroughout the whole bible, this is the most often used verse to illustrate a positive choice towards the Lord. It has been used to demonstrate that man (through free will) chooses the Lord for salvation. This verse does not say that. In the context of this verse, Joshua is merely asserting what he had believed more than 40 years prior and summarized in the preceding verses, namely, that he was confident that what the LORD declares, HE is able to perform. And for that reason, Joshua and his family would continue to serve the living God. That one would use this verse to illustrate the choice for salvation is at best confused. These are the people whom God has just delivered to the Promised Land after their 40-year sojourn

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