Those who believe that they are “saved” are wrong on two points. The postings titled Hope and Salvation prove that salvation will only be awarded at the return of Jesus Christ to set up the Kingdom of God on earth. Also, such believers have not only not been saved, they have also not been converted as is being proved by the current postings. A truly converted believer will be a serious student of God’s Word and will therefore know that Jesus promises to save those who have remained true to Him at His return. Most people who believe that they are now saved also embrace the popular “once saved, always saved” doctrine. “Once saved” people are correct in that once Christ returns and salvation is awarded, there will be no backsliding, etc. because there will be no sin in God’s Kingdom–their salvation will be eternally assured. However, in that salvation is a future event, and in that the most one can achieve in this life is conversion, one is left with the ultimate question concerning this issue: Can a truly converted saint fall from his converted position? As is my custom, I will allow the Scriptures to answer the question.

In 1 Timothy 6:11 Paul is writing to one of God’s select apostles who has proved himself true to the Master, and who would eventually be martyred for doing so. Here Paul warns his young protege’: “O man of God, flee these things (those who have “erred from the faith”-vs 10) and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” Note that Paul, not given to hyperbole, calls Timothy a “MAN OF GOD.” Then he warns him not to fall from his exalted position in the Lord. If this were not possible, why the warning? If this MAN OF GOD was subject to the wiles of Satan, then the rest of us, no matter how righteous we may be, are also subject to him. Incredibly, many professing Christians do not believe that he exists. They are low hanging fruit for the Serpent of Eden.

In 2 Peter 3 the apostle is writing to “those who have obtained like precious faith with us (apostles) … who are “partakers of the divine nature” (1:1,4). At the end of his letter Peter warns those in the church about those who were twisting the Apostle Paul’s statements. Peter describes these ministers as those who “are unlearned and unstable (who) twist” not only Paul’s writings but those of the Old Testament prophets “to their own destruction.” Then Peter warns the converted souls in God’s church to “beware lest YOU (the church) also, by being led astray, FALL AWAY WITH THE ERROR OF THE WICKED, (AND) FALL FROM YOUR OWN STEADFASTNESS”  (3:15-17). The message cannot be more clear.

In His epistles the Apostle John is writing to God’s church whom he calls his “children,” his “brethren” (1 Jn. 2:1,7). By these words we know that these people were truly converted–true saints. Note what he says to them relative to maintaining their position in the Lord: “Let (one’s choice) that (God’s Word/ Truth-Jn. 17:17) abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. IF that (God’s Word) ABIDE in you … and REMAIN in you (proven by obedience to that Word), you will CONTINUE IN THE SON AND IN THE FATHER. And this is the PROMISE He has PROMISED US (the church)–ETERNAL LIFE. These things I have written to YOU (God’s church) concerning them that SEDUCE YOU ” (24-26). A promise (salvation) is something one does not have–the church did not and does not have eternal life, but rather the PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE. Let us believe God, not ear-scratching false prophets who rebel against His Word. One cannot be seduced from a position one does not occupy. False prophets were causing people to lose their conversion by seducing them away from what they had been taught by the apostles–God’s Truth. Note it: These people had been taught God’s Word by Christ’s hand-picked, anointed apostles– “we who have heard (the Lord), Whom we have seen with our eyes, Whom we have looked upon and our hands have handled–the Word of Life” (1 Jn. 1:1). Yet some of the people were being led astray with smooth words, lies and deceits coming from those who sought a following. This is the same technique used by the originators of Catholicism and the many divisions/ denominations of Protestantism. Those involved in these conjoined false churches have been seduced as had their parents in the Garden of Eden (Rev. 12:9). John is warning God’s people not to be taken in by the same ruse. If falling from the grace which leads one to conversion is impossible, why the warning? And why does God issue the same warning to professing Christendom dozens of times throughout the New Testament? To be continued. L.J.