[George]

Originally Posted by Kiwi Christian

When I got saved as a young man in 1993, aged 23, I had had no religious upbringing or church experience whatsoever. About 1 month after I got saved I had the great blessing of being steered straight into a King James Only, Dispensational, Rightly Dividing, Bible Believing Baptist church where I was rooted and grounded in God's love and God's word, amen.

Now, while I have been walking with Christ these past 16 years, I have been confronted with many Christians who have had the complete opposite unbringing as me, being involved in some kind of false religion in their youth which has plagued them to a degree their whole life. While they may be on the right track with God now, they are still effected by their past experiences, whether that be the occult, catholicism, or charismania, etc. I have seen this so often and wonder why they can't shake it off, why they can't get rid of the baggage, it's like they are spiritually scarred for life!

I am very thankful that God has spared me from carrying around the baggage of a previous false religion, but I'd like to understand more about this phenomenon. Are there any of you readers who can relate personally to this and would care to give a word of testimony of your past experiences, and how/why they still effect you today?

Aloha brother Kiwi,

Although I haven't said it before, I appreciate your thoughtful Posts (Comments & Responses). From reading many of your Posts I perceive a Christian who is honestly seeking the truth, and I appreciate that a great deal in these days of "Christian" anarchy and apostasy {May God keep us from Bible correctors, gnat strainers, kooks, crazies, heretics, and reprobates!}

In regards to your keen observations concerning religious "baggage", I have posted a few comments about this issue in the following links on the Forum:

http://av1611.com/forums/showpost.ph...6&postcount=10
http://av1611.com/forums/showpost.ph...71&postcount=1
http://av1611.com/forums/showpost.ph...78&postcount=8

I believe that there are two things that plague every born again believer (NO EXCEPTIONS!) - "GARBAGE" & "BAGGAGE"; and I make the distinction between the two in those Posts. For example:

"I believe that every Christian has an "Achilles Heel" (poor example) or a "weakness" (at least one) that he or she must become aware of and guard against.

Some Christians deal with "carnal" problems ("Sins") all of their lives i.e. drunkeness, drugs, porn, adultery, fornication, idolatry, heresies, etc., etc., etc. I call this the "garbage" we pick up (mostly before we got saved - though sometimes after).

And then there's the "baggage" (mostly "faults" - which can lead to "sin") that we have accumulated (both before we got saved and after), and that has a lot to do with our culture (country, state, city, town, etc.); our home "environment (no training, wrong training, bad training); our "schooling" (public i.e. government, private, "Christian", etc.); and especially those "things" that appeal to our HEART - for where our heart is, there will be our "treasure" also.

I believe that Hyper or Ultra Dispensationalism, {Calvinism, Neo-Orthodoxy, etc.} appeal to those Christians that are the "Cerebral", "Academic", and "Intellectual" type (not necessarily "schooled"). Satan has a "device" for all of us and the easiest way for him to "side track" a saint is to exploit our weaknesses.

It's fairly easy to spot the "garbage" in our lives, but we may not be as readily aware of much of the "baggage" that we have accumulated along life's way, but I know that we all have some, and the only way for us to get rid of it is to study and pray and be willing to receive "instruction" from the Holy Spirit concerning both our faults and our sins.

Generally speaking, I have observed that, those Christians that were saved at an early age (before their "teens") don't seem to have accumulated as much "garbage" as those who were saved later in life (the exceptions always prove the rule). But they still have to contend with the "baggage", which often times they may not even be aware of.

Conversely, those Christians that have been saved later in life, often have to contend with both the "baggage" and the "garbage" they accumulated along the way.

Now God has provided a way for us (Christians) to lead a "victorious" life, but it entails turning away from ours sins and turning unto God and worshiping Him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH (and you can't have ONE without the OTHER). This is sometimes very difficult when one has grown accustomed (it's "their bag") to living in sin and thinking in the the way of the world (in the Western World - Humanism foremost)."

It appears to me that you and I had a very similar childhood, at least where it comes to "religious training" - we both had NONE. Although there are definite disadvantages to not being brought up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord", I believe that to be brought up in a false religion (Roman Catholicism) or a "Christian" church - so shot through with LEAVEN that for all practical purposes it is DEAD (Protestantism), is a greater detriment to born again believers accepting and believing the Holy word of God because of their past acceptance (BELIEF) of FALSE DOCTRINE.

Of course in the modern world there is another RELIGION, that isn't recognized as a "religion", or even admitted to being a "religion", that has "infected" the whole of the Western world, and much of the rest of the world as well, and that is the "religion" of HUMANISM! And we all have been "infected" with that "religion" to some degree.

It behooves us all (born again believers) to be aware of these past (before we were saved) and present (now that we are saved) "influences" in our lives and do everything that we can possibly do to guard against all of the "garbage" & "baggage" we have accumulated along life's way.

The following links are some Posts that I made earlier on the Forum in regards to the pernicious and destructive "religion/philosophy" known as HUMANISM - that has swayed, influenced, and convinced millions of people to REJECT the Scriptures as being 'The Truth" (and damned them to Hell); and which has swayed, influenced, and convinced thousands of Christians (born again believers) to turn their backs on God Almighty and His Holy word!

http://av1611.com/forums/showpost.ph...99&postcount=1
http://av1611.com/forums/showpost.ph...27&postcount=5
http://av1611.com/forums/showpost.ph...48&postcount=7

In the first 3 links (on "garbage" & "baggage") I list some of the things that Christians must do in order to "combat" [Ephesians 6:10-20] these pernicious influences that plague us all.

Keep searching the Scriptures brother - you're on the right track!