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Only 180

This page continues where the page "Not 360" left off.

About six months later, Evie answers her doorbell and finds a woman, smiling and radiant, who introduces herself as Eunice and then asks her "Do you want to go to Heaven?" Evie thinks the question is a little strange but responds, "Oh yes, I have been saved and believe that I am going to heaven". Eunice says that's good, so you are born again? Evie responds that "she has accepted Jesus into her life, has said a prayer at the church she goes to and her pastor has pronounced her saved and ready to spend eternity with Jesus". At the back of her mind as she says this she remembers that in her Bible reading, Jesus said "You must be born again to see the kingdom of heaven", so she decides to listen to what Eunice has to say.

Eunice then proceeds to tell her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that one must obey Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection by obeying Acts 2:38 to be born again. Evie gets nervous and fidgety and then remembers she has to make a phone call. Eunice then greets her goodbye, leaves a church card, and invites her to church. Evie then puts the card on the fridge door after she reads the inside of the folded card.

The next morning she finds herself drawn to the card and she reads it over a few times. She goes to her Bible and checks to make sure these scriptures are there. She reads Acts 2, 8, 10 and 19, all the time wondering why her pastor has never used any of these scriptures when he preaches. She decides to attend the Sunday morning service. She hears a message about immorality, wondering how it can possibly be that the pastor is speaking right to her. The pastor also preaches that through the grace of God she can have her sins forgiven and can be saved by being obedient to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by obeying Acts 2:38, just like the card says.

Evie didn't go to the altar when invited but she definitely felt the touch of God and decides to go back for the evening service as well. She does and hears a sermon where the Pastor preaches that God loves the sinner but hates the sin and uses the woman caught in adultery as the text for the sermon. This time at altar call she responds and repents of her sins, crying her eyes out with Godly sorrow, wanting to change, and never going back to her sinful ways. With the saints of the church praying for her and the pastor laying hands on her she is filled with the Holy Ghost. She knows this because she is speaking in a language she doesn't understand. She also knows this because she feels like she has never ever felt before. After a period of time, those that were praying with her tell her that she has been and still is drunk in the Holy Ghost. They also tell her that she needs to be baptized for her sins to be remitted. She once again submits to God and the pastor baptizes her in the baptistery in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of her sins.

Evie awoke Monday morning feeling different knowing that she was born again and just like the pastor preached during the message yesterday, she realized that she was a new creature because when she prayed that morning she spoke in tongues again. Now that her past sins had been buried once and for all, she believed that with Jesus working on the inside, she would be able to change. She knew this time around that she wanted to fully turn to God and be what He wanted her to be, do what He wanted her to do, go where He wanted her to go and say what He wanted her to say. She prayed, "God I need Your help to do this, I can't do this alone" believing that He didn't give her the gift of the Holy Ghost for no reason, that He was with her on this journey.

Jesus Came to Save us from Our Sins

Just as Evie discovered, Jesus never came to save us in our sins, but instead from our sins:

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

I might have made this story up but I can assure you that over the eighteen years that I have been saved, I have seen real 180 only stories unfold time and time again. No matter what their experiences or circumstances are, I have seen both men and women come out of a church where Bible truth is preached, get saved by obeying the Gospel of Jesus Christ and change before my eyes, doing a complete 180, and not turning back to their sinful ways. I can bear witness to this myself. People that knew me before I was saved could not believe the change in me after I was born again (see My Testimony).

Without being truly saved, it is virtually impossible to change. But when God is truly in us, we have the Holy Ghost power and are able to lead and live a repentant lifestyle, the 180 only path. We need to always remember that without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

To be truly saved, to get on the 180 only path, that is, born of water and of the Spirit (John 3:5), we all must repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38), with the evidence of speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4, 10:46, 19:6, Mark 16:17). Here are the pages to read and study on this website about this truth: