A righteous man hates falsehood .... (Prov 13:5)Moreover, in this teaching you will read some terms that might sound harsh as they describe those who are supposed to be declaring God's precious truths, but are instead teaching dangerous lies. All these terms are found in the Scriptures and they too are Biblical.I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law. (Psa 119:163)
Hate evil, you who love the LORD ... (Psa 97:10)
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil ... (Prov 8:13)
... Abhor what is evil .... (Rom 12:9)
Since many who will read this article have not come to the place where they know eternal security is not a Christian teaching, they will have trouble relating this popular teaching to something that is untruthful and hazardous, but it is every bit these and even more. This deadly lie has served the devil well since the first time he used it at Gen. 3:4 to bring about the spiritual death of Eve (and Adam afterwards) and has been implementing it ever since, especially since the days of John Calvin until now.
Furthermore, eternal security is taught to prisoners. Since we receive letters directly from prisoners, we know from what they have written that even they are not safe from these deadly lies and distortions that will foster more crime for some after they are freed. For some people so caught up in sin and wickedness, they have to spend time in jail to ponder life and values. Prison is a golden opportunity for some to repent and find the eternal salvation of Heb. 5:9. But in that broken humbled state the devil still sends his message of eternal security to even them, as we have learned.
Perhaps the home has been hurt more by eternal security than any other heresy in our adulterous day. We have an audio excerpt where the so-called pastor Donald Cole tells a married woman whose husband left her and moved in with another woman, that if he (the adulterer), was ever saved he is on the road to heaven and will never get off the road to heaven. Only God knows how many people that heard this wicked lie had the first thoughts of being unfaithful to their spouse, since they too will never get off the road to heaven. But that is only one of hundreds of times such a deadly distortion has been stated over radio by these blind leaders.
Besides all of that we have the personal testimony of a man who started to drink alcohol and became an alcoholic for 16 years because a loved one told him about once saved always saved at a time when he was spiritually weak, weary and persecuted. He accepted the idea that living godly was optional and not necessary for eternal salvation. This snowballed into more sin, until he finally repented and became alive again, like the prodigal (Luke 15:24).
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! (Gal 1:8,9)So what is the real gospel that Paul preached and first-century Christians of the Bible believed? It is found in a Scripture that the eternal security teachers like to skip over when citing the gospel from 1 Cor. 15:
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Cor 15:2)Clearly, the real gospel has a conditional security written all over it, in contrast to what the savage wolves in sheep's clothing want us all to believe.
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. (1 Th 2:10)After the Lord Jesus, Paul was the prize example of godliness and commitment we have in Scripture. But in their misplaced zeal for the doctrine of eternal security, these deceivers smear Paul's holy image as well as being a true Christian and try to replace it with permission for wickedness, worldliness and fruitlessness among the saints. The eternal security fleecers have no qualms to overlook the above Scriptures and many others like them. They teach there are two types of adulterers, two types of drunkards, two types of murderers, etc. - one being unsaved because he never had a moment of faith and the other being saved because he did, even though both have identical behavior. If they ever presented Paul as the Bible declares him to be, that would make it too hard for their security-in-sin myth to prevail, since they declare no one can live above sin and we all must sin all the time. Woe to the eternal security teachers.For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Cor 4:17)
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Phil 4:9)
Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace. (2 Cor 1:12)
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."To protect their doctrine they must sometimes deal with these "problem" passages, as they might call them, which only seem to teach contrary to their unconditional security. I have read on more than one occasion how they endeavor to explain away what Peter wrote about those that return to their sins after escaping their entanglement in them. Perhaps in their ignorance they are unaware they are actually demeaning the blood of Jesus by their interpretation. The truth is: it is only coming into contact with the blood of Christ at the point of salvation that will enable one to be freed from sin's slavery and bondage which the people in 2 Peter 2:20,21 did experience. Nothing else according to Scripture will do this; and the eternal security teachers have never produced a Scripture to show something else can. However, their wordy explanations are presented and ears that want to be tickled quickly nod in agreement when they try to explain why the people of 2 Peter 2:20-22 were never really saved, and thus protect their doctrine once again.
But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Mt. 10:33)The eternal security teachers contradict these by drawing one's attention to 2 Tim. 2:13:If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us. (2 Tim 2:12)
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.But as they often do, they have lifted that verse away from its context and applied an interpretation which negates the verse before, as well as Mt. 10:33. Here's the context of that Scripture:
Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (2 Tim 2:11-13)The proper understanding of 2 Tim. 2:11-13 is if a Christian would disown (or deny) Jesus (as Peter did three times) and thereby show he is faithless at that point, God will remain faithful and disown (or deny) us, as Paul just wrote, which was a repeat of Jesus' teaching in Mt. 10:33. If God did not disown such a person, he would be disowning himself by going against his word. Hence, by allowing for Christians to disown Christ without endangering their salvation, the eternal security blind guides have indirectly called Jesus a liar by blatantly contradicting his teaching found in Mt. 10:33, with their twisted interpretations. (Chuck Swindoll has taught we can deny him, but he won't deny us - the exact opposite of the Christian message.)
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Gal. 6:7-9)People who know not what they are doing, attempt to mock God by teaching, in essence, you can reap eternal life even though you sow to please the sinful nature (or flesh). This, in truth, is the very heart of the security-in-sin gospel. But Paul said, Do not be deceived. It will not happen. Instead you will reap what you sow. If you sow to please your sinful nature, you will reap destruction instead of eternal life. To reap eternal life, you must sow to please the Spirit. (NOTE: This is not a rewards passage as the eternal security deceivers try to change it into. This is a salvation passage for it tells about reaping eternal life.)
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude 3,4)While many in our dark day can see the real reason Jude told all Christians to contend against such false teachers, many of these same people refuse to identify the grace changers as Jude labeled them - godless (v.4), who have rushed for profit into Balaam's error (v.11), shepherds who feed only themselves (v. 12), for whom blackest darkness has been reserved (v. 13) and they do not have the Spirit (19). Please read through Jude carefully for yourself and you will be surprised how Jude describes the popular eternal security teachers of our day that have influence over millions of people because of their books, TV and/or radio ministries.
Seeing the eternal security teachers, as God sees them, also shows how serious it is to support their local congregations and ministries or even just tolerate them:
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. (2 John 10,11)You will share in the wicked work (or righteous work) of the people you support and help provide a platform for, according to Scripture. How then can those of you who know eternal security is not a Christian teaching continue to support such a deadly, Christ-dishonoring doctrine taught by godless people? How can you tolerate these teachers who are misleading others into sexual immorality and other forms of wickedness?Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (Rev 2:20)
The reader should know that a pastor, counter-cult ministry, apologist, evangelist, missionary, seminary professor, etc. that teaches eternal security will be teaching unscripturally in many others areas too. It is not just the one area of eternal security that is dangerously wrong! Instead, hundreds of Scriptures will be distorted, shaded and slanted towards this doctrine or explained away in some fashion which produces some very strange and weird teachings leading one further from Biblical truth and into error. Please see our article Somebody has a Grossly Distorted View of the Scriptures.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Rom 6:22)Though this Scripture is seldom quoted and hardly known, it is clearly a salvation passage, as evident by the words eternal life. Two other Scriptures that tie holiness and heart purity to an entrance into God's kingdom are:
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Heb 12:14)At the point of salvation, one is washed by Jesus' blood and made perfectly clean and pure (Acts 15:9), but after this point, sin can bring defilement, contamination and even spiritual death:Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Mt 5:8)
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. (Rev 3:3,4)These are just a few of the many Scriptures that prove this point. In light of all this data, eternal security is clearly an attack on holiness. In fact, eternal security is the greatest doctrinal threat to Biblical holiness that exists.And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." (Mark 7:20-23)
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (Rom 8:13)
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Mt 7:19)The original message to the disciples was always remain true to the Lord with all your [their] hearts (Acts 11:23); remain true to the faith (Acts 14:22); etc. The responsibility for this was upon them as they got spiritual power from God. It is highly possible a Christian can fall away, get a shipwrecked faith, fall from grace, believe in vain, etc. Early Christians were told what to do and what not to do, what to say and what not to say, what to think about and what not to think about, how to dress and how not to dress. But all this is swept away under today's perverted version of grace as legalism or a work's salvation and people who have experienced salvation consequently relax, as they have been taught by savage wolves in sheep's clothing and shown by example. It seems the eternal security teachers will read hundreds of pages of the Bible to find anything they can use that seems to allow for slothfulness, wickedness and the like in the life of a Christian.Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to." (Luke 13:23,24)
... do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. (1 Tim 5:22)
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)
"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you' His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" (Mt. 25:24-30)
Furthermore, lukewarmness can lead to a spiritual discharge from the Body of Christ. The Lord wants us [boiling] hot not lukewarm (Rev. 3:15,16). But why should we even try if we will always remain saved regardless what we do or fail to do? Hence, the deceived think they can just blend in with the godless world system, which will prevent persecution problems. I'll always remain saved, these people think. But the Biblical record says keep making every effort to enter the kingdom doors (Lk. 13:24), keep your lamps burning (Lk. 12:35), work in the vineyard (Mt. 21:28), occupy [keep busy] till Jesus returns (Lk. 19:13, KJV), put your hand to the plow (Lk. 9:62), abound in the work of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58), etc. Moreover, the message of the Holy Spirit to Christians remains the same: be zealous always and work with all your heart as unto the Lord (Rom. 12:11; Col. 3:23).
Eternal security needs to be exposed and refuted as never before. May Almighty God raise up many for this very purpose and may He also close down every mission, ministry, congregation, seminary, etc. that spreads this sinister doctrine as well as drying up all funds used to support it.
The message of enduring to the end to be saved (Mt. 10:22) is
the other part of the salvation message that is not being preached in
our day, but instead has been attacked and rejected by people calling
themselves Christians.
OTHER TOPICS:
Skull And Crossbones Awards For False Prophets And False Teachers
Eternal Security is Another Gospel
Jehovah's Witnesses Beliefs Answered And Exposed
Evangelical Outreach Alphabetical Map
EvangelicalOutreach.org
EternalLifeBlog.com