Good evening John,
I’m sitting here in my office working on the computer, and I started smiling, thinking of how thankful I am for God’s wonderful truths, and something you said in the meeting today. I can’t get it out of my mind, how good it felt to even understand you!
In the meeting you were talking about Peter, and you said that he had “denied he ever knew Jesus.” But that God forgave him, because it was true.
One thing I loved about that was realizing that I understood what you were saying! Without the knowledge of the truth (when a person is born again), that statement can’t even be understood. Without the holy Ghost baptism, Peter really didn’t know Jesus. Without the baptism of the holy Ghost, NOBODY really knows Jesus. He was, and is, a mystery to those who are “none of his.” And even though Peter denied he knew Jesus and wept bitterly because of it…. in reality, he told the truth – and so Jesus forgave him. That was just so sweet to me.
The new birth is like a brilliant many-faceted diamond – there are always new angles on it, new information, new ways to see it, new truths to understand in it, new ways to see it and look at it.
This was one of them for me – it came from “above”, and I loved it. I’m still smiling.
Gary