The pet statement all of you, who believe in this doctrine, always use is that "the backslider never really got saved in the first place." I always want to ask; how can you make such a sweeping judgment of people you say were never saved just to justify your belief? You don't know their lives. This is so haughty, so judgmental and it is an impossible statement to make. I posted my testimony on here and none of you who follow this false doctrine have explained how I went from a sinner enjoying my sinful live without a thought of God or even realizing I was headed for hell, to all of a sudden doing a complete turn around to a life lived for and loving Christ. This meant giving up drinking to much on occasion, cursing like a Marine, laughing at jokes in Playboy with my husband, watching x rated movies, etc. These things were then NO MORE a part of my life or my husbands because we had repented and given our lives to Christ at the same time. These sins were no more desirable. We then started going to church with fellow Christians, reading and studying the bible with joy, praying, having faith in God for our lives. That was our lives for years, just loving God. Then because I let the things of the world distract me, trouble me to the point where I became complacent in my walk with the Lord, I fell back into the sinful life I had led before, only worse. No one plucked me out of God's hands. I turned my back on Him and walked away. After a time the Lord help me to realize what a terrible mistake I had made, I repented and started living for Him again. That was in the 80's and He is still my Savior. He came after me and gave me another chance to love Him and live for Him. I did my first works over and He forgave me of my sins and filled my heart with a wonderful love for Him and, as long as I live the life of a true Christian, I will be in His Presence someday.
Soon, I will lists the verses I have read in these posts and show the truth of each one. God Bless :)
In my post about my testimony of backsliding, I just realized I made a serious typo. I used the word "insincerily" but, of course, I meant "sincerely ".
I know from personal experience "once saved, always saved" is a false and dangerous doctrine. I was raised in a doctrine of lies, but not this one. I never heard the true gospel and the wonderful Saving grace of Christ. I knew who Jesus was, that's all. Then a friend witnessed to me about what His death and resurrection really meant and I was thrilled to know how I could be a true child of God. I insincerely repented and surrendered my whole heart to Him. I was living a good life, having fun, sinning and not thinking about God or heaven or hell. When I heard the good news my whole life changed. No more sinning, no more having worldly fun - I didn't want to. All I wanted to do was please God. I had no desire for sin. I started going to church with my friend. I had promised myself, when I left home, I would never step inside a church again. Now, I loved it and I especially loved reading and studying the KJB bible. Years later, unfortunately, I became a member of a church that taught the truth but became self-righteous, legalistic and unloving. I became discourage and just walked away form them and God. I started living a sinful life again, far worse then before, I didn't care about God anymore. I was putting my husband and my worldly lifestyle before God in every way. Then my husband left me and our three young children. We were devastated. That night, Saturday, God showed me the foolish mistake I had made putting Him out of my life. Sunday, at a Christian church nearby, I sincerely and whole heartedly accepted Christ as my Savior again and I have lived for Him ever since. If I wasn't really saved, how do you explain the sudden and complete turn around in my life both when I was first saved and after backsliding? There was nothing to entice me to do this except the Lord Jesus forgiving my sins and drawing me to a life lived for Him. If I had been mislead by this doctrine I would be a sinner expecting an eternity with God but actually headed for an eternity in hell.
Eternity is God. The promise He makes to those who become born again is that we spend eternity with Him. If we leave God and go back into sin we are sinners and lose that eternity with God, there's another eternity for the sinner. Those of us that are living as true believers always have that promise. "Christ died once for sin, the just for the unjust." The unjust is a sinner. Christ only died once and that was for all mankind. We may at one time have surrender our soul to Him but free will does not go away so, if through our free, will we chose to go back into sin then we are sinners again and Christ doesn't have to die again because we chose to walk out on Him, that choice doesn't nullify the death of Christ it just causes us to leave the blessings of salvation for the world. If, before death, we realize what a foolish mistake we made, we pray and repent and accept Him as our Savior again. "shrinking back into a life of sin permanently proves they never had eternal life" This kind of statement is circular reasoning; if they act like saints they are saved, if they act like sinners they are sinners and so could not have ever been saved because they act like sinners and therefor cannot have ever been saved because they act like sinners, etc. How judgmental, arrogant. "Those who are saved will always endure the Spirit of God who begins the work will also finish. Jesus said He lost or loses no one they are in my Father's hands and no will pluck out." Nobody or nothing can pluck us away from God's salvation but WE CAN use our free will to walk away from Him. If our free will is telling us we, because we have been careless in our true walk with Him, desire the world again, if God won't let us choose to act on that free will and walk away then you have to believe He takes it away from us when we become saved; He doesn't. We do not become robots in God's hands after salvation.
"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." This promise is for true believers not sinners.
Have been saved since April 1976 heard a lot of comments on this subject everyone has their opinions about losing their salvation Salvaion you cant lose. But you can you can turn your back on Christ Jesus our Lord and savior. The old testament declares how Israel went Horing around after other gods. Also called them a stiff necked un circumsized backliders.
The problem i have with all the comments is they forget one important thing Galatians 5 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. If everyone had these they would be no Backsliders
I believe I am eternally saved as long as I continue in The Lord Col 2; 6-7, I also believe if I exercise my free will and for whatever reason I walk away from The Lord and return to practicing sin in my life, if I don't repent and return back to The Lord, I will die in my sin and lost. I truly hope I am wrong on this matter, but I do not wish to gamble with my soul by believing Otherwise. I know many say if one returns to their sin they were never saved to start with, but in my life I did backslide when i went through a terrible situation in my life, I returned to doing things that no Christian should be doing. I know I was saved, but God in His mercy tugged at my heart to return unto Him, I did my first works and welcomed me back to the fold, just as The Good Sheperd went after the one lost sheep, he was part of the fold but he was lost until Jesus found him and restored back into the fold. But thats my take on the matter , but for sure I won't be gambling with my soul by staying in the fold. God bless we all want to make heaven our home
people opinions in one thing, yet the scripture is clear Eternal Life. what part of eternal is not eternal. The Lord gives us eternal life we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, what separates Him from within us once we receive Him in our life. No sinful act removes God Spirit from within our spirit. We are born again when or how can we die again in spirit? The quickening of our spirit makes us alive unto God The father making us joint heirs with Christ. Now at what point will God separate Himself from Himself in us? Those who are saved will always endure the Spirit of God who begins the work will also finish. Jesus said He lost or loses no one they are in my Father's hands and no will pluck out. Salvation is God eternal life given to us and once truly accept that individual will never be lost nor will they fall back into A LIFESTYLE OF SIN LIFESTYLE OF SIN will we fall yes however repentance is their focus and they move back to godliness & walking with Our Lord. shrinking back into a life of sin permanently proves they never had eternal life and God may have given them over to a reprobate life and they never had Him for salvation is God with Us Living in Us and we in Him. summary Once Save Always Save... HE is Our Father we are His children our spirit soul belongs to Him. In Him we live move and have our being.
If one says that you can not lose your salvation, then what about the 10 virgins? They did not keep oil in their lamps. They were not allowed to enter in. The door was shut.
We must stay full of the Holy Ghost & endure to the end.
No you can not lose it. The Bible clearly states that you will know them by their fruits. So, if you accepted the free gift for the wrong reasons, did you truly accept it?
We must follow Christ in all his ways. And that means to live a holy life every day unto the Lord. We must love the Lord w all our heart, soul, mind & strength, & to love our neighbor as thyself. That means all mankind. Without love we will not make it.
To love the Lord & love our neighbor are 2 commandments in Matthew & in Mark.
If we have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, then let us walk in the Spirit. We must be led by the Spirit. He will lead us in all truth.
When does God offer salvation: before or after the day of judgment ( 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 John 4:17)?
1 Peter 1:5 - "...salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Matthew 24:13 "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
1 Peter 1:13 "...hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"
Hebrews 10:36 "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."
If salvation occurs after the day of judgment, then I believe it likely cannot be lost (satan the angel had freewill in heaven though). If people believe they're saved now on earth before judgment and cannot lose it, regardless of them turning their back on Jesus, following satan, and committing blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, then no, I don't believe someone is protected, because of what the Bible says about it:
Hebrews 10:26 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,"
Matthew 12:32 "...but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."
James 2:14-26 "...faith, if it hath not works, is dead..."
Some believe its impossible for Christians to sin, that either they don't have the freewill to sin or that God no longer considers it sin, despite 1 John 1:8 and Joshua 24:15. Further, when some are faced with the reality that Christians sometimes do in fact stop following Jesus and deny their faith, some claim they were never real Christians in the first place. So, what is their criteria for a "real" Christian then and are they one? A Christian is anyone who follows Christ.
For anyone living in sin and following the world, why should they assume they're secure?
My answer to this is yes and no , I shall try to explain , Matthew Ch 12 V 43-45 seems to indicate that yes , we can loose our salvation and this is perhaps explained more simply in Hebrews Ch 6 V 4-8 , however Jude V 4 refers to men who of old who were ordained to this condemnation , so my belief is that there are people all over the world who call themselves Christians and appear on the outside to be so but they eventually wither under the mid day sun as they have no root , no strong faith , we don't know who these people are until they reveal themselves , let us all examine ourselves and stay close to our Saviour so that we don't wither away when the sun beats on us .
No! That's a modern heresy and people misquote scripture about backsliding or false professing Christians to try to substantiate this heresy.
The Bible teaches that once a sinner is born-again, they are eternally secure, i.e., they can NEVER lose their salvation.
John 10:28, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
We read in 1st John 5:13 that we can "KNOW" that we are saved. 1st John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
John 1:12-14, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Ask yourself this if yo believe you can lose Salvation: If I cannot do good works to get saved,then how can I do bad works to lose salvation?
You cannot lose your salvation, period. You can lose fellowship with God and the joy of one's salvation, buy you cannot lose your salvation. Can a son no longer be a son? Of course not! You can disown Him (which I think is horrible and unscriptural), but he's still your son. No matter what your son does, he's still your son. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. Jesus never forsakes us...
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." - Hebrews 13:5
Yes, according to the Bible. It also depends on one's definition of "saved" and when this event occurs. Are people saved while still on earth instantly after they say their first prayer, at some point later, or are they saved after they are judged by God Himself? What does the Bible say...
1 Peter 1:5 - "...salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Matthew 24:13 "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Hebrews 10:36 "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."
1 Cor 9:24-27 "run the race" (not the race was already won.)
2 Peter 3:17
Luke 8:5-18
1 Timothy 4:1
2 Peter 2:20-22
Hebrews 3:12
Galatians 5:4
1 Corinthians 15:2-8
1 Corinthians 4:5
2 Corinthians 5:10 whether "good or bad". People are sorted at this time.
Matthew 12:32 "...but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."
OSAS believers: "Ok, but a Christian would never do that."
Christians no longer have freewill to sin?" Joshua 24:15 "choose you this day whom ye will serve"
"OSAS: But no one has ever done that."
Sadly, many Christians fall away. Look at "ex-Christian" on Reddit with 107,000 members. Very prominent pastors have denounced faith and later denied Jesus is Lord.
Matthew 7:21-23
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Hebrews 10:26 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,"
Hebrews 6:4-6
James 2:14-26 "...faith, if it hath not works, is dead..."
James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
1 Peter 1:13 "...hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"
Christ died once for sin, the just for the unjust, if you could lose that, Jesus would have to die every time someone sinned. No, you cannot lose salvation.That would be saying Christ's death was not good enough. God dying for man's sin wasn't good enough. Perfect man died for imperfect mankind, it was MORE than enough!
Sinners are not saved by doing good works, not condemned for doing bad works, and are not kept saved by doing only good works. Christians are saved by believing God and when God gives Christians new life in Christ Christ in us can never disbelieve God again to the point of becoming lost. Once a person is chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world the matter is settled for all eternituy.
Soon, I will lists the verses I have read in these posts and show the truth of each one. God Bless :)
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
We do lose our crowns in Heaven though by not doing the things the Lord asks of use.
"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." This promise is for true believers not sinners.
The problem i have with all the comments is they forget one important thing Galatians 5 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. If everyone had these they would be no Backsliders
[Comment Removed]
We must stay full of the Holy Ghost & endure to the end.
We will be judged by the Bible.
To love the Lord & love our neighbor are 2 commandments in Matthew & in Mark.
If we have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, then let us walk in the Spirit. We must be led by the Spirit. He will lead us in all truth.
1 Peter 1:5 - "...salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Matthew 24:13 "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
1 Peter 1:13 "...hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"
Hebrews 10:36 "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."
If salvation occurs after the day of judgment, then I believe it likely cannot be lost (satan the angel had freewill in heaven though). If people believe they're saved now on earth before judgment and cannot lose it, regardless of them turning their back on Jesus, following satan, and committing blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, then no, I don't believe someone is protected, because of what the Bible says about it:
Hebrews 10:26 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,"
Matthew 12:32 "...but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."
James 2:14-26 "...faith, if it hath not works, is dead..."
Some believe its impossible for Christians to sin, that either they don't have the freewill to sin or that God no longer considers it sin, despite 1 John 1:8 and Joshua 24:15. Further, when some are faced with the reality that Christians sometimes do in fact stop following Jesus and deny their faith, some claim they were never real Christians in the first place. So, what is their criteria for a "real" Christian then and are they one? A Christian is anyone who follows Christ.
For anyone living in sin and following the world, why should they assume they're secure?
Luke 12:5 "Fear him"
John 14:15
James 2:14-26
Romans 6:1-2
Hebrews 6:4-6
1 Timothy 4:1
2 Peter 2:20-22
Matthew 12:31-32
1 Corinthians 15:2-8
Hebrews 3:12
Romans 11
The Bible teaches that once a sinner is born-again, they are eternally secure, i.e., they can NEVER lose their salvation.
John 10:28, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
We read in 1st John 5:13 that we can "KNOW" that we are saved. 1st John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
John 1:12-14, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
Ask yourself this if yo believe you can lose Salvation: If I cannot do good works to get saved,then how can I do bad works to lose salvation?
You cannot lose your salvation, period. You can lose fellowship with God and the joy of one's salvation, buy you cannot lose your salvation. Can a son no longer be a son? Of course not! You can disown Him (which I think is horrible and unscriptural), but he's still your son. No matter what your son does, he's still your son. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. Jesus never forsakes us...
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." - Hebrews 13:5
1 Peter 1:5 - "...salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Matthew 24:13 "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Hebrews 10:36 "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."
1 Cor 9:24-27 "run the race" (not the race was already won.)
2 Peter 3:17
Luke 8:5-18
1 Timothy 4:1
2 Peter 2:20-22
Hebrews 3:12
Galatians 5:4
1 Corinthians 15:2-8
1 Corinthians 4:5
2 Corinthians 5:10 whether "good or bad". People are sorted at this time.
Matthew 12:32 "...but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."
OSAS believers: "Ok, but a Christian would never do that."
Christians no longer have freewill to sin?" Joshua 24:15 "choose you this day whom ye will serve"
"OSAS: But no one has ever done that."
Sadly, many Christians fall away. Look at "ex-Christian" on Reddit with 107,000 members. Very prominent pastors have denounced faith and later denied Jesus is Lord.
Matthew 7:21-23
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Hebrews 10:26 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,"
Hebrews 6:4-6
James 2:14-26 "...faith, if it hath not works, is dead..."
James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
1 Peter 1:13 "...hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"
Romans 11
John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Matthew 12:31-32
Romans 14:12
God bless and pray for wisdom and truth.
Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 7, Romans 14:12, 1Peter 4, Philippians 2:5-16, 2Peter 3,
Psalms 2:11,
Jude 1,
Hopefully these are clearly understood & helpful in your personal life working towards the goal of faithfulness
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