[Jo S]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

That's right, Nee/Lee recovered mysticism which is to gain Christ. As opposed to the norm in Christianity at the time which was merely to know things about Christ or even to know Him at a personal level , but not gain Him. I agree that salvation is not a work, practice, or theory, but rather to gain the person of Christ. Many things in Christianity are similar to other religions, even paganism, Viola and Barna's book make clear. But I would not say that Christian prayer or its various forms are anything Buddhist or New Age. A key point of difference is that Christians believe in and pray to Christ and that is enough to make any kind of prayer that is about Christ very much Christian.

I did not mean that. Awareness put it rightly when he said it is not enough to know Jesus but to have Jesus.

Christians who believe in salvation through faith alone in Christ could be no different than Satan's demons, if they have never gained Him like Paul did.

If you are needing mystical practices in order to gain Christ, you're gaining a different Christ. Jesus Christ doesn't come to you through works. He's gained the moment you have faith in him.

Demons are unredeemable, they're already judged by God. To equate the type of belief demons have toward Christ to the faith available to people is just wrong and also bad hermeneutics.

A good example of this is Judas Iscariot. He was a Christian who believed in Christ by faith (he followed Christ as a believing disciple for many years), but unlike Peter and the other disciples (particularly John) did not gain Christ.

What would be your evidence to justify the belief that Judas actually had faith in Christ? Is your reasoning because he was following him around? How then do you explain the part where Judas betrayed him? That's evidence against the idea that Judas had faith in Jesus. What I read is that he was a thief and liked to take from the money bag. He followed Christ because he was an opportunist and just like any wolf in sheep's clothing they perceive kindness and humility as weakness and take advantage of that.