Dear Doves,
 
We know from Scripture that to be saved and be worthy to escape all the evils of the Tribulation, we must do TWO things:
 
1) confess him with our mouth and
2) believe that God raised Jesus from the dead..
 
The scripture that supports this is:
 
Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
 
We can believe in the resurrection of Jesus intellectually, but that is not enough. We must believe in our heart, not just with our brain and tongue. Only we are in a good position to know for sure whether we believe in our heart. You may ask, How can we be sure? Well, for one thing, do you immediately call on Jesus to come to your aid in times of trouble? Or do you try to deal with it yoursel,f as a test of your strength and your courage? When you are quiet do you feel his presence, or do you fill your thoughts with the ideas of the day?
 
What then is confession? In my judgment, it is not witnessing--that is trying to convince. That is ultimately the job of the Holy Spirit--of course, we should help that too, as moved by the Holy Spirit. Witnessing is important work that the Holy Spirit must be involved in, but not all true believers are meant to be evangelists, in my opinion, for we all are given particular gifts, evangelism being just one of these gifts. We should use whatever gifts we have to further God's agenda in this world in whatever way is suited to our gifts and blessings. Maybe our only gift is in accumulating wealth, in which case we could donate funds to those who can do the evangelizing.
 
Confession, in distinction to witnessing, is, in my opinion, simply providing our testimony to others about our beliefs and how these beliefs have had an effect on our lives. If after accepting Jesus' salvation we found more peace and joy in our life, then we should say so and let others know that it did and that we are a new creature, born again into the family of God. In a courtroom we may be asked for our testimony, that is just giving our personal thoughts regarding an event that we experienced, personally, not by hearsay or opinion but based on our own sensory impressions.
 
As a case in point, I know that, personally, after accepting Jesus as saviour I felt different somehow, really changed both in my mind and in my heart. I knew that something important had happened in my life and I was truly changed and that feeling and conviction has remained for many years. My outward, and private, actions were changed and some of those around me were a little mystified, because they knew me before and could see the change. They wondered what happened to me, and I told them about my acceptance of Jesus as saviour--it was just a simple testimony, nothing in the way of evangelizing.
 
Before accepting Jesus as saviour, I was an agnostic and quite skeptical of religion in general, seeing it as a palliative, a superstitious belief system that people used to reduce the stress of life (I cringe now as I remember my stance towards religion, a little like Paul must have felt after he accepted Jesus). My interests and education were along the lines of science and engineering and I had little to with spirituality, in any real of significant way. Of course, like many others I would on occasion call on God, but only as a last resort, when everything else failed, but with no real faith, it was just something I saw others do in times of trouble--who knows it might help, I thought.
 
I take this opportunity to outwardly share my testimony and confession with many who I will probably never meet in person, and many who may be searching for the peace and joy that Jesus can provide. Please take whatever opportunity presents itself in these very few last days (if the predictions have been correctly interpreted) and let those in your life know that you became a different, and better, person when you accepted Jesus as saviour.
 
Your life was permanently changed for the better, in your opinion and to others too. In these last days, please make a special effort to let your light shine brighter and in more places than ever so that others may become interested in joining God's family by accepting Jesus as saviour. Let others know, right here, for those reading the messages on this site who may be searching for a relationship with God, that your life has been better since you accepted Jesus as saviour. Just a simple sentence or two is all that is needed, no long scripture-based exhortation, just the sincere words from someone who is deeply grateful for the gift of salvation.
 
Of course, that is the purpose of it all at the end of the day.  God simply wants to experience himself again the family relationship that he originally had with Adam and Eve in the garden of paradise, with his dear creatures created in his image and granted free will to accept or reject his love,.to accept or reject his freindship and companionship. He passionately wants us to know that he truly loves us -- has forever, even when we were lost and out of touch with him and uninterested in getting to know him as a personal and close friend.
 
As we approach the last day and hour, I hope you will take a few minutes, or hopefully longer, each day to let him know that
1) you want to have a closer relationship with him and
 2) you will take some actions to help make that relationship a reality in whatever ways he may suggest to you (yes, he can and will talk to you if you take the time to be quiet and listen for his voice).
 
I pray to Jesus for all you dear readers on this web site for solutions to your problems and for increased faith in God. I ask for your prayers too -- I know that many have already prayed for me and I thank you from my heart for these prayers and kind words. It goes without saying, that we can and will experience increased resistance, temptations and outright hostilities from Satan and his demons as the final day and hour approach.
 
Remember, however, that we are involved in a spiritual warfare for the purpose of strengthening our faith and testing our loyalty, whether we like it or not, and that we need the help of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to survive on this battlefield called life.  We must be watchful and alert to the appearance of evil and call on God for help--he will help us to become overcomers and dear members of God's family.
 
Thank you all so much for the many wonderful blessings I have derived from your words on this web site! I pray that my simple comments may be helpful to seekers of truth and peace along this way, as others have so helped me.
 
Yours very sincerely in Christ Jesus,
 
Robert