So, you've been converted !!     That's great, really and truly great ....

You've been born again, had a second birth
You've been born of the Spirit of God, regenerated
You've received Jesus as Saviour, Lord, Redeemer

That's so wonderful, awesome, life-changing .....
But, tell me ... where did you receive this ?

Were you out on your own somewhere ... ?
Were you on some Damascus road, like Saul of Tarsus ?
Were you called as you sat at business, like Matthew ?
Were you called while up a sycamore tree, like Zaccheus ?
Were you called as you had just finished fishing, mending nets like James and John ?
Did it happen as you drew water from the well, like the Samaritan woman ?
Or were you brought to Jesus by someone, like Andrew brought Simon Peter ?
The chances are, in this day and age, that you were taken to a church, by some well-meaning friend or acquaintance, or relative.
Or you responded to some advertisement, or you even responded to a Tele-Evangelist, then sought out a Church to visit.
Or perhaps, you were even born into a Christian family who attended Church ?
Any way, any how, by what-ever means .....

You were born-again .... or converted   (which simply means - changed)

CONVERTED ... a change of direction, from serving self to following Christ
CONVERTED ... that's awesome, and life-changing
But just a minute ..... !!

From my contacts and observations, very few folk have this life-changing experience on their own, with no-one else around, on their own somewhere with God Himself.

By far the great majority of people were inside the doors of some Church meeting, at an evangelistic rally, or some other grouping of Christians.
Usually some other person is involved, some "coincidence" of contact with a Church service occurs.
And this opens up some thing else ...

If you were born-again, or Converted ... at a Church service or meeting, I can almost guarantee you ... that in the spiritual and emotional heat of that occasion …

SOMETHING ELSE WAS OCCURRING

Something that probably you weren't even aware of !!

Another Conversion was in the process, that you may not have been, nor ever were to become aware of ...

A   S E C O N D   CONVERSION ...
Every bit as real as the First Spiritual Conversion
What on earth do you mean ... I hear you say !

A   S E C O N D   CONVERSION   indeed ??

How ?   Where ?   What ?

What is this Second Conversion you speak of ?? …       Get ready for the Answer ....

Its a CONVERSION to the Church group you have attended, to the group of Christians among whom you have been born-again !

Now, the impact and experience of being born-again, for me, was so wondrous, and enveloping, so life-changing ... that the awareness of the second, more subtle Conversion, did not even register until, in my case, many years, even decades, later (And by then, I had married a girl I met at that Church and raised a family, gone into partnership with another member of that Church, made many friends there, gone on countless holidays with other members of that Church, spent a quarter of a century of effort there, etc, )

But, as I look back, and ponder ...

The reality of that Second Conversion was every bit as real as the First Spiritual one, but I didn't even know it at the time, or indeed until a long while after.

The First Conversion was so impacting on me, so revolutionary, so enveloping, that the Second one ‘just happened’ without my conscious awareness ... and I let it happen to me !!!!

As I grew spiritually, and fed my spiritual appetite for the Bible, and Christian books, why -- so did my involvement with the meetings and programes and affairs of that particular Church.
I never questioned any difference between my spiritual growth as far as God was concerned, and my Church involvement ... not for years, even decades later, until eventually I sought to leave that particular Church.
And then, horrors upon horrors, the truth slowly dawned on me ...

the Second Conversion was every bit as real as the First, and they had converted me to their own particular but ‘narrow’ way of Church attitudes and outlook !

I had Converted to … their way of ...
Dressing, Clothes, the Dress Code,  Haircut   (amazing but true !)
Beard shaving  (further amazement, but also true !)
Smiling, Handshaking, Greeting others even,
Jargon and phraseology, attitudes, viewpoints, world-view,
Interpretations of just about any and every subject

I had become just another Clone shining a pew each meeting
My own personality and individuality had become absorbed and drowned in the style of that particular Church !
And when I tried to leave that Church assembly ... all Cultish ‘Hell’ broke loose ... the trauma almost cost me my life both spiritual and natural !!

Truly, truly, from my own observations and contacts, another Second Conversion occurs in most folks experience when they receive Christ as Lord, and are born-again at some established Church group or Denomination with their own building ...
This is an absolute FACT that countless people have discovered to their eventual cost and dismay.
For some, the contemplation of this Second Conversion is so overwhelming that they believe it is ‘too late to change’ or to do anything about it, and so they resign themselves to the situation, and grow old in sadness and dissatisfaction, frustration and disillusionment.

Either that, or they ‘count the Cost’ and view the necessary effort to leave, as being too painful to have to endure, so they settle back for the downward ride to "whatever."

But, the distinction must be made ......

The First Conversion is a work of God … and of the Spirit of God

The Second Conversion is the work of a person and to a particular Church group

The First Conversion brings total spiritual Freedom and Liberty
The Second Conversion brings the opposite - bondage and the look-alike-ed-ness of a particular Church group

The First Conversion brings freedom to pursue your individual giftings and calling ANYWHERE in God's creation that he leads you -- now that takes earnest seeking and following God's leadings.
The Second Conversion brings ‘Faithfulness’ to one man's work and empire -- now that takes very little effort, just listening to and doing what the chap in the pulpit says.

The First Conversion is exhilarating and fresh as God leads by His Spirit, just like the wind "blowing where it listeth (wills)"
The Second Conversion eventually becomes predictable, ritual, and boring, and then frustrating (and then anger sets in !)

The First Conversion has its security in God alone
The Second Conversion has its security in a man or a group of Christians and that security produces its own comfort and takes away responsibility         its easier to just ‘trust the leaders’ isn't it ?

The First Conversion is just me and God
The Second Conversion is more-or-less ... follow "the party line"

The First Conversion … is what Adam & Eve enjoyed      is what Saul / Paul experienced
is what the Ethiopian eunuch found, via Philip [and notice how that Philip got caught away, he didn't have to concrete him into a denomination ! ]    is what Jesus disciples experienced as He called them personally, one by one
The Second Conversion ... is what many of us experience isn't it ?

Now be truthful !!

And another interesting observation ...
Some, even many, dear people, have somehow missed out on the reality of the First Conversion, the one that matters, and have only had the Second one, and they end up sheltering in a secure group of people or Church or denomination.
(I guess that's why we are often referred to as sheep, do you think ?)

The First Conversion is necessary ... absolutely
The Second Conversion is absolutely … UNNECESSARY
B E W A R E    the Second Conversion, and its effects.

Its just man piggy-backing on something that God has done

Man "horning in" on Gods work of spiritual enlightenment, to build a person's own empire (of whatever spiritual name they may give to it !)

B E W A R E ... and spot the difference !!
SHALOM

Ray Miller
09.07