RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS: HOW TO DISCERN IF WE ARE AN ‘ALMOST CHRISTIAN’, BUT NOT A TRUE CHRISTIAN!!!

JONATHON EDWARDS’ TREATISE ENTITLED ‘RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS’ WILL HELP US MAKE OUR ELECTION SURE, IF WE HAVE BEEN ELECTED, BUT IF WE HAVE YET TO BE ELECTED IT WILL, IF APPROACHED WITH A TENDER HEART, HELP LEAD US TO REPENTANCE AND A TRUE CONVERSION. SOME OF US NATURAL MAN AMERICANS MAY HAVE A PASSION FOR READING AND STUDYING SHAKESPEARE, OR EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY, OR MAYBE STUDYING THE WORKS OF PLATO OR MAYBE WE HAVE A PASSION TO READ OUR BIBLES AND STUDY THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION. MANY PASTORS WHO ARE UNCONVERTED STUDY THEIR BIBLES IN THE SAME WAY THEY WOULD A TEXTBOOK. BUT IF WHEN READING AND STUDYING OUR BIBLES IT IS IN NO DIFFERENT WAY THAN HOW WE WOULD A TEXTBOOK, WE ARE NOT A TRUE CHRISTIAN, FOR THE BIBLE IS A SPIRITUAL BOOK, AND THUS FOR US NATURAL MAN AMERICANS TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND OUR BIBLES IS NO DIFFERENT THAN A MAN BORN BLIND, TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW. IT IS ONLY THE SPIRITUAL NEW CREATION THAT CAN UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY HIS BIBLE WHICH IS SPIRITUAL. 1 COR. 2: [13] Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. [14] But the NATURAL MAN receiveth NOT the things of the SPIRIT of GOD: for they are FOOLISHNESS unto him: NEITHER can he KNOW THEM, WHY? BECAUSE they are SPIRITUALLY discerned. JONATHON IN THIS TREATISE SHOWS IN DETAIL HOW CLOSE WE CAN BE TO BEING A TRUE CHRISTIAN, AND YET WE ARE YET ONLY AN “ALMOST CHRISTIAN” BUT NOT A TRUE CHRISTIAN. JONATHON EDWARDS WROTE THIS TREATISE AMIDST A GREAT RELIGIOUS AWAKENING THAT BEGAN IN HIS CHIRCH IN IN 1734 IN NORTH HAMPTON MASSACHUSETTS, BUT SATAN THEN SOWED TARES AMONGST THE WHEAT TO CONVOLUTE THE GREAT AWAKENING WITH FALSE CONVERTS AMIDST THE TRUE CONVERTS: THUS JONATHON EDWARDS DOES HIS BEST TO DOCTRINALLY DISCERN BETWEEN TRUE SALVATION AS OPPOSED TO FALSE SALVATION IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE THE TRUE CONVERTS AND THEN TO BRING THE FASE CONVERTS TO REPENTANCE. THIS TREATISE IS WORTH READING OR LISTENING TO MANY TIMES OVER IN ORDER THAT WE CAN MAKE OUR OWN ELECTION SURE.