Matthew 13:23a But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; 

Everyone around me in that moment made the same failed assumption, that this burning bush moment for me was my salvation moment. There was no one in that moment even thought to ask the relevant question. “Why did you raise your hand?” That question alone would have sparked a conversation that might have changed the course of my history. They didn’t and I did not have a turning, I was still on course of self-interest and now I had a new problem.

Satan saw what happened in that moment and recognized I had not left his camp and entered into God’s Kingdom. There was no repentance on my part. All that happened was that God removed the anger which, if left untouched, would have led to my death in the thing in which I was about to become involved, Vietnam.

My church group entreated me as one saved. How does one handle being treated as a family member when you are not? You don’t know how to act, you don’t know who you are and the only ones who understand you are your God and Satan. Because I had not entered into His Kingdom, Satan had more influence over my life. I had still yet to even understand I had an enemy called Satan.

I called those Cape Neddick Baptist Church members sheep dippers. That might be unfair and unkind but in that moment, getting me baptized was all I heard. No one bothered to ask me what was going on in my heart or what led me to that moment in raising my hand. If they had, my life might have taken a different course, but we will never know.

The takeaway is for disciples to be interviewed thoroughly over their salvation moment to discover if all the elements for salvation exist.