Unconditional Eternal Security

Unconditional Eternal Security

(Once Saved – Always Saved)

By Doug Cook 2015

Before we address the topic, we need to review some principles that ought to be followed to interpret scripture properly. These principles MUST be pursued with an open mind. If you are trying to find verses to prove your denominational belief so you won’t have to admit you’re wrong, your mind is closed, you have a hardened heart and any attempt to find truth will be pointless. We need a desire for truth so strong that even if it reveals everything we’ve ever believed is completely wrong, we are ready, willing, and able to change for the sake of glorifying the name of Jesus Christ, not our self image. I’m only writing this to those remnant over-comers who are sincerely searching for that truth. If you’re just looking for a fight, feel free to ignore this thesis and look elsewhere as this is only intended for those that “hath ears to hear.” My goal is to illustrate truths in the scriptures, not quarrel over man made doctrinal differences.

2Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written (in Deuteronomy 8:3), Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We must understand that every word that is written in the bible is written for every believer, Old and New Testament combined. I’ve heard entirely to many believers try to divide up the bible by saying things like, “the Old Testament doesn’t apply to Christians,” “Paul’s letters are the only ones that apply to the church,” “Jesus words were only for Old Covenant Jews,” etc, etc. These type statements are false and emanate from those who have been deceived by the evil one to manipulate truths in the church because they contradict the two verses stated above. It is impossible to interpret the symbolism in the book of Revelation without using the Old Testament scriptures. Jesus and Paul both quoted the Old Testament many multiple times (as in Matthew 4 above) to establish the New Covenant truths they were trying to convey. Should we do less? Who are we to be so puffed up with our limited knowledge to think we can pick and choose which part of the bible applies or doesn’t apply to the church of Jesus Christ when every single word is directly inspired by the Holy Spirit? Are any of us called to correct the Spirit of God? 1Corinthians 8:1-2 …Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. This verse is so true. I too became zealous and puffed up, reveling in my exponentially increased biblical knowledge in the distant past, but the more I devoured the bible more I realized I knew nothing yet as I ought to know. And I haven’t met a Christian yet who hasn’t gone through this puffed up knowledge stage (teenage Christians; as I lovingly refer to them) thinking they know more about the bible than everyone else. The dilemma is, there is a dreadfully tiny remnant that ever becomes mature enough to humble themselves and grow out of it. Most believers spend their whole lives arrogantly trying to impress other Christians with how much they think they know. I’ve had to change many of my own doctrines I learned from ear-tickling denominational preachers over the years because I kept running into truths in the Word of God that were contradicting my old false beliefs.
Psalms 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV) This is probably the most ignored verse in the bible. It is the complete and total sum of what the bible (Old and New Testament combined) says on a subject from the beginning to the end that establishes biblical truth. We can not take a couple of scriptures or a couple of words from the New Testament and try to establish a doctrine. In order for a doctrine to be true the principle must be repeated throughout the Word of God time and time again and not be opposed in any verse anywhere because the bible can not contradict itself in any way. If we find any verse in the bible that seems to be contrary to the verses we are using to support our belief, we must study that verse and be able to explain how that verse does NOT contradict our verses, or our doctrine is most likely false.
The word “IF” denotes conditions. Conditions are the opposite of “unconditional.” This tiny little, overlooked, two letter word “IF” causes more than its share of misinterpretations. An example of a conditional statement would be; “I will do this for you IF you do something for me.” An agreement that is made between you and me with this little conditional word means that both parties must do their part or the agreement is null and void; therefore the agreement can NOT be “unconditional” for either you or I. The agreement must stand word for word as it is spoken and we can not ASSUME that either party will complete their part just because of their “love” for the other party. A lot of scriptures that use the word “IF” denote that something MUST be conditional. I’m not going to expand on the topic of love in this thesis, but allow me to use a scripture as an example to see if you really have an open mind and are ready to accept a truth exactly as spoken word for word in the Holy Scriptures with Jesus himself doing the talking: John 15:10 “IF ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love (Greek word “agape”); even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” Now, how would you answer if I ask the question “Is Jesus ‘agape’ love unconditional?” Would you give the answer you have heard from every pulpit and every believer all of your life, or would you answer it according to the truth of this scripture without ASSUMING anything? The correct answer to my question according to this verse is “No, Jesus love is NOT unconditional and it is based on the condition “IF” we keep His commandments.” The understood converse of this verse would be if we don’t keep all of His commandments we will NOT abide in His “agape” love and His part of the agreement to “agape” love us is null and void due to our rebellion and disobedience. As I stated earlier, we MUST take the sum total of every scripture in the bible that says something about Jesus “agape” love before we can establish a firm stance on a questionable doctrine that says “Jesus loves us unconditionally.” IF you feel yourself getting angry right now, it is probably a religious spirit rising up inside you and therefore you are not operating in a remnant’s mindset at this moment and are not ready, willing, and able to consider another biblical truth in the exact way it is presented in the Word. Therefore, there is nothing further I can do to help show you how to interpret actual biblical truths from a different perspective and it may be best if you don’t proceed any further.
The law of first mention. This law is not spoken of in the bible anywhere but has been established over the centuries by biblical scholars as a good rule of thumb (not gospel) to use for interpreting symbols in scripture, especially in the book of Revelation which uses a lot of symbolic language. I have discovered over the years of study that following this rule of thumb works very well when trying to interpret the symbols the Lord uses to mask truths of scripture. It compels scripture to interpret scripture rather than some man interpreting a symbol hindered by his limited denominational theology. Using this law simply means if we are trying to interpret a symbolic word or phrase in the bible, we need to go back to where it is first mentioned in scripture and see if it is used figuratively to describe something and then trace it forward through the Word to determine if it consistently represents the same symbolic meaning. For example; the word “stars” is used symbolically in the book of Revelation, so if we go back to Genesis (first mention) and see how it is used we find statements like “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven.” God is comparing Abraham’s descendants to stars, so stars would represent God’s chosen children. Go forward in Genesis and we find another statement “behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” In Joseph’s dream his father Jacob interpreted the word “stars” to represent Joseph’s eleven brothers who were eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel, or again God’s chosen children. In Deuteronomy we see another statement “the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude” again symbolically speaking of Gods chosen children. So using the “law of first mention,” “stars” in Revelation should be interpreted as “Gods chosen children” which includes Christians because Peter says about believers “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood…”

Now, let us proceed with the topic of unconditional eternal security. I’m not trying to hide anything so I will let you know up front my position on this subject. I began my walk with the Lord in a Baptist church building and they believed and were teaching this doctrine. I didn’t “join” this denomination, it was just the place the Lord had me fellowshipping for the first four years of walking with Christ. I also didn’t leave that denominational group just because I didn’t agree with them on this topic. I stayed until the Lord moved me elsewhere. But as I was devouring the Word early in my Christian walk I began to have questions about this belief because what I was reading and studying in the bible was not lining up with a doctrine that said you could never loose your salvation. After three decades of comprehensive study of the Word I have concluded that this doctrine is false and eminently dangerous to the body of Christ and it is not supported by scriptures in the bible anywhere. The bible doesn’t say this, but in my opinion it will be one of the main causes of many believers falling away from the faith in the end times because it effectively negates the necessity of a healthy fear of the Lord that is required to keep all of us pressing “towards the mark for the prize of the high calling.”

Over the years when I heard other Christians, who believe once saved – always saved, give verses to support this credence, I studied those scriptures to try to see if there was something I may have been missing in the bible because I truly wanted to know God’s heart on the subject. But every time, without fail, I never found any of their verses that absolutely establish a truth that nobody can loose their salvation, mainly because there is not one in the bible anywhere. They use their verses they have to bend and twist the words to mean something more than what is being said and they ASSUME a lot of implied meanings to make scriptures fit into this false belief. Later in this discourse I will divulge a few of the supposed supporting scriptures for this doctrine that I have heard over the years. There may be others that are used that I haven’t heard so it will not be a comprehensive list. And according to the principles for interpreting scripture above I must be able to explain how their verses don’t contradict the scriptures I’m using to prove a believer does have the ability to loose their salvation or my own doctrinal stance may be false.

I want to begin by listing and commenting on the scriptures I have found over the years that caused me to disregard this unconditional eternal security doctrine wholeheartedly. The following verses were so contradictory to this belief that they either had to be false or the doctrine was false. I had no choice but to consider the verses true and the man made doctrine false.

Scriptures Contradicting Unconditional Eternal Security

Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. This passage by itself should be more than enough to contradict any scriptures that are used to justify unconditional eternal security. How can anyone be “enlightened” and “taste of the heavenly gift” without being born again and receiving salvation? Add to that being “made partakers of the Holy Ghost.” No person can receive the infilling or baptism of the Holy Ghost without being born again with the Spirit of Christ first. So these verses have to be speaking of a New Covenant believer who has salvation and has been filled with the Spirit of God. Then it goes on to say that “If they shall fall away” which is the Greek word “parapiptō” meaning to fall aside or apostatize. How can anyone “fall away” from something if they were never there to begin with? This means if they shall fall away from the true faith and their salvation it will be impossible “to renew them again unto repentance.” “Again” means to receive salvation over a second time. This has to mean they already were renewed unto a repentant salvation previously. If they try to come back to Christ a second time after they have fallen away, “they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.” Afresh is the Greek word “anastauroō” meaning to re-crucify Christ again. You can NOT “re-crucify” Christ unless you had already accepted His first crucifixion necessitating a previous salvation experience, and Christ is not coming back to earth to be re-crucified. This passage effectively says that if any born again believer filled with the Holy Spirit falls away from their salvation it will be impossible for them to be born again for a second time, because they are saying Christ work on the cross was not good enough the first time and He would have to be re-crucified to bring them back to the faith, which puts Christ “to an open shame.” You would need the devil to help you twist and manipulate this passage to say that it’s impossible to loose your salvation when this passage says precisely what will happen if/when you do loose it. Either this passage is false and unnecessary or the unconditional eternal security doctrine is false and unnecessary. This scripture leaves no middle ground. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”

I once had a slightly heated discussion with a devout thoroughbred Baptist a few years ago over this Hebrews 6 passage and I couldn’t believe how his firm conviction on unconditional salvation blinded him from seeing the truth of this passage. The bible says it is unprofitable to argue scripture and I probably pushed it a little far and caused a minor amount of strife between brothers, but I did learn that those that are so dogmatically deceived by this doctrine can’t consider the truth without having to deal with sins in their lives head on. Engaging in this false doctrine keeps them convinced they are going to heaven regardless of what sins they engage in. According to them, the absolute worse they would receive was a good spanking from the Lord and sent to their room forever (in heaven of course). So according to them, if you’re saved and get hung up in sin, you go to heaven early before your time. If you don’t sin, you go to heaven at the regular scheduled time! Hummm??? So sin and rebellion gets you into heaven early! Interesting concept!!! Unbiblical… but interesting! I do still communicate with this brother, but we had to agree to disagree on this topic and not discuss it anymore. As an elder in the body of Christ I tried to warn him, so the blood is no longer on my hands. However, the seeds were planted and he is now in the capable hands of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 10:26-39 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

By the way, don’t let any of the unconditional Salvationists tell you this book of the bible was written to the Hebrews or Jews so it doesn’t apply to Gentile Christians as these kinds of statements really display how some Christians desperately scrape the bottom of the barrel to try to find some way to keep their false doctrine alive. This passage is almost as opposed to this false belief as the Hebrews 6 passage above. Paul is talking to all Christians here and says if a saved Christian sins willfully when they know the truth we will fall under God’s severe judgment. It says a believer will be punished worse that the Old Covenant people of God because willful sin means they count Jesus shed blood on the cross, which paid for their sins, an unholy thing. Paul warns us against drawing back into PERDITION, as in son of perdition or son of hell! How can we draw back into perdition if we can’t loose our salvation? He is right “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and we would never have that kind of fear of the Lord if we know we’re going to get a free ride into heaven even if we sin or not.

Luke 12:5 I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. And for those that like to say this Greek word fear only means reverence, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines it as: “to put to flight by terrifying (to scare away), to be struck with fear, to be seized with alarm.” No, this “fear” means to literally scare the hell out of us to prevent us from going there. This is the kind of healthy fear we need to have in order to thwart our ongoing willful sins. Unconditional eternal security eliminates this kind of fear which is why it is such a dangerous doctrine because they believe no matter how much we sin, we go to heaven.

Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. There’s that “IF” word which implies there are conditions. This scripture says that we believers are all a part of Christ’s house, IF we hold fast our confidence of hope firm until the end. If we can never loose our salvation, then we should always be a part of His house regardless if we continue to hope firm until the end or not. There should be no conditions attached to being part of His house if salvation is unconditional. This verse has conditions to remain part of Christ’s house and if we don’t keep our side of the agreement, we don’t get to stay in His house! That’s the truth of this verse.

Heb 3:12-14 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing (to remove, depart, fall away, withdraw) from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; Paul is speaking to the “brethren” here meaning he is addressing born again Christians warning them to take heed lest their heart be hardened through sin and unbelief and they “fall away” from the living God. If we can’t loose our salvation, why would he warn us about unbelief and sin, we would all be going to heaven anyway so what does it matter if we sin after we’re saved? I’ll tell you how I’ve heard some once saved – always saved believers answer this type question…they would say God would take us to the woodshed or kill us and take us to heaven early if we didn’t straighten up and get out of our sin. Excuse me? Please tell me where the bible says we can get into heaven early with rebellion and unrepentant sins? In my decades of study, I’ve never found any verse anywhere that even remotely implies that! And where does this verse say that God will punish us??? This verse warns us we will depart or fall away from God by loosing our salvation if we continually allow sin and unbelief to exist. The last sentence says we are made partakers of Christ IF we hold our confidence steadfast to the end. Here is the “if” word again implying conditions. We are made partakers of Christ based on the condition that we be steadfast to the end and not develop a heart full of sin and unbelief. Meaning conversely we won’t be partakers of Christ if we don’t continue steadfast to the end. You cannot have “unconditional” security if these biblically supported “If” conditions exists.

Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; This conditional verse says only those that obey Him (present tense as in today – NOT “obeyed” past tense as in previously) have eternal salvation which means if you fall into sin, rebellion, and disobedience you are not currently obeying Him and this verse no longer guarantees you eternal salvation unless you repent and get back into obedience. It would be very difficult to twist this verse into supporting once saved – always saved no matter what you do.

2Peter 2:20-22 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. The only way we can escape the pollutions of the world is through knowing Jesus as Lord of our life, in other words choosing salvation. There is no other way to know righteousness. Yet IF we allow ourselves to be seduced back into our worldly ways (which must mean we have the ability to turn away from our salvation) it says our latter end is worse than the way we were previously. When we were serving the world before we were saved our “latter end” was heading straight for the lake of fire for eternity. This passage must mean the “latter end” eternal punishment in the lake of fire is worse for those that knew Christ and then turned away, than it is for those that never knew the way of righteousness. These three verses will not support a doctrine that says no one can ever loose their righteousness because they very specifically describe what will happen to anyone who does. And the irresponsible statement “they were never saved to begin with” is utterly incompatible because we must have Christ to know the way of righteousness.

2Peter 1:2-10 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Peter admonishes us to give diligence to perform all the virtues that he has listed here so we should have (eternal) life and godliness and be fruitful in the knowledge of Christ. But then he also said to give diligence to make our “calling and election sure.” What does He mean by making our calling and election sure? Remember the words of Jesus that said “Many are called, but few are chosen?” Called means the Holy Spirit is calling or trying to draw us to salvation. Chosen is the Greek word “eclectos” (also translated as elect or election) which means we have accepted salvation and are born again. Many people are called to salvation but few there be that accept the call to be part of the election or chosen saved brethren. Peter is telling us to make our salvation (election) sure. Why would we need to be diligent about making our salvation sure if it is impossible to loose it? He goes on to say if we do all of his list of virtues, we will “never fall.” The word fall here is the Greek word “ptaiō” meaning “to trip, to err, sin, fail (of salvation): – fall, offend, stumble.” Again the “if” conditions to keep from falling away from our salvation. Why would he warn us about being diligent to perform these things if our salvation (election) was sure and we could never fall away? Unconditional eternal security is in complete contradiction to what Peter is warning us about in this passage.

2Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; “Falling away” is the Greek word “apostasia” the origin of our English word apostasy which Strong’s defines as “defection from truth (“apostasy”): – falling away, forsake.” Webster’s dictionary definition of apostasy is: “An abandonment of what one has professed; a total desertion, or departure from one’s faith or religion.” This verse says that before God will reveal who the son of perdition or antichrist is, there will be a number of believers falling into apostasy departing from their faith (salvation). How can this be if no one can loose their salvation? And for you once saved – always saver’s, NO you cannot say these that fall away from salvation “were never saved to begin with.” You can NOT fall off a ladder if you never climbed the ladder to start with…The same applies to faith! You can not fall from the faith if you were never there to begin with. And when you boldly state “they were never saved to begin with,” your prideful ego has elevated yourself to godhood and preeminent judge of the earth and are establishing your own guidelines for salvation and in that process, disobeying this scripture: “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” Only YHVH Himself can set the standards for salvation and judge whether a person was/is truly saved. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

“There is nothing new under the sun.” This situation in 2Thessalonians 2 has already happened before at the last supper with Jesus. None of the disciples were saved according to the New Covenant at the time as Jesus had not been crucified yet, however they were all believing and obeying Jesus looking forward to their salvation in Christ. Even Judas had believed when Jesus sent him out with the other eleven to perform miracles by healing the sick and casting out devils. This is why nobody knew which one of the twelve disciples Jesus was talking about when He said “one of you will betray me.” If Judas had not been performing miracles like the rest of the disciples, they would have known instantly who the betrayer was. At the last supper when Judas had fallen away from his belief and made a deal with the religious leaders to betray Jesus, the devil entered into him and only after that was the son of perdition revealed to the other disciples. In these last days, all these Christians that will fall away from the faith will be in the midst of our fellowships looking and acting like all the other believers, healing the sick and casting out devils. Then in a short time frame they will completely fall away and depart from their salvation, the devil will begin to use them to betray the whole body of Christ and only then will God reveal who this end time son of perdition company will be. If unconditional eternal security is true, we would never know who the next son of perdition is because no believers would fall from their faith, so this verse would be false!

Matthew 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Jesus uses the word “brother” in this verse twice. Any Old Covenant Israelite is considered a brother, but also anyone who is born again is considered to be a brother in Christ or one of the brethren. The apostle Paul referred to many Christians as brothers or brethren. So Jesus is referring to both an Israelite or a saved Christian being angry or saying things to another saved Christian or Israelite. He is not referencing a blood relative or unbelievers here. And don’t believe the once saved – always savers that say Jesus was talking to Old Covenant people so this passage doesn’t apply to New Covenant Believers! Jesus was in the process of building His Church with the disciples (“On this rock [Peter] I will build my church”) and He was teaching New Covenant principles to help the Old Covenant disciples make the transition after His death, even though this principle Jesus spoke of applied to Old Covenant Israelite’s as well. The reason this passage brings into question the ability of a Christian to loose salvation is the last statement that says if one brother in Christ shall call another brother a fool, he will be “in danger of hell fire.” The only person that can experience hell fires are the unsaved as born again Christians don’t go to hell. So a brother in Christ who is “in danger of hell fire” must have the capability of loosing his salvation. If salvation is unconditional, no Christian brother could ever be in danger of hell fire, making this verse false. I recently read a book where a brother in Christ was questioning other believer’s salvation and accusing them of being “foolish” if they didn’t believe his viewpoint on a biblical subject. Well, I’m very much born again and I didn’t believe his doctrine he was zealously promoting and I’m not a fool. I’ve studied his subject matter he was discussing for years and don’t think he has done enough research to arrive at the full truth of the topic he was discussing. So it is frankly His salvation that is brought into question because of what this verse says about calling others fools. This brother also believed in unconditional eternal salvation, which is one of the reasons why I say this doctrine is very dangerous. This brother didn’t have any fear of the Lord to have any concern over calling another brother in Christ a fool…A very precarious place to be in with salvation being conditional as the bible accurately confirms. Without a healthy fear of the Lord, there would not be much incentive for him to alter his language if someone did point out to him the text of Matthew 5:22 because his false once saved – always saved doctrine would never allow him to understand he could be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 12:31-32 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. When we received Christ as Lord and master of our lives the bible says “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” All of our past sins before the day we received salvation were forgiven and put under the blood of Christ never to be remembered again. This brings up a question I would like to ask. If a Christian commits iniquity after they accepted salvation, do those sins have to be repented of? Your answer should be yes. Any sin we commit after salvation must be repented of in order to put us back in right standing with the Lord. Sin left unchecked and unrepented of can harden our hearts, cause us to drift away from Christ, and quench the Holy Spirit making it difficult to hear God’s voice. However, the bible mentions a sin that can NOT be repented of which is the “blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.” If a Christian blasphemes the Holy Spirit, can they still go to heaven? According to this passage this sin is unforgiveable both in this world and in the heavenly world to come. According to the bible, Jesus is coming back for a church that is without spot and blemish (no sin). Will He let someone into heaven who has a permanent unforgivable sin on their record here and in heaven? Your answer should be NO to both questions. Then by default, salvation has to be conditional! Either the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit has to be forgivable or unconditional eternal security is false. Again, there is no middle ground here. And for those who try to defend their doctrine and say a true born again Christian can’t blaspheme the Holy Spirit, I’m sorry but you are deceived. God gives us the right and ability to make any choice we so desire. If we have no choice then it’s not love for God, we’re just robots obeying commands. He will not force us to NOT commit any sin including this one. As far as what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit consist of, Jesus gave this warning to the Pharisees because they had just accused Him of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is taking a work that the Holy Spirit is performing, such as casting out devils, and attributing that work to a devil. I’ve seen and heard too many Christians witness some kind of miracle performed and make a statement like “That’s of the devil,” a very dangerous statement to make without full spiritual knowledge of the situation. I understand there are some things that look like true miracles but are actually deceptive tricks from the evil one, but if the miracle is truly a work of the Holy Spirit and a Christian willfully and intentionally proclaims “it’s of the devil,” their salvation is history. There is no returning from that mistake. It will be once saved – always lost for them. That’s why James tells us to be quick to listen and very slow to speak.

1John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. John says if we see another Christian in sin we should pray for them and the Lord will restore to them (eternal) life as long as it is NOT a sin unto (second) death. He says if it is a sin unto death John tells us NOT to pray for them. Why not? Because the sin unto death will cause them to loose their salvation (they will be partakers of the second death, which is the lake of fire) and it won’t do any good to pray for the Lord to pardon an unpardonable sin. If there is a sin unto death a brother in Christ can be involved in, how can there be unconditional salvation? You can not fit this verse into that kind of doctrine. And if you try to say it’s death of the flesh only and not of the spirit, PROVE IT! Where in this verse or anywhere in the bible does it say this only means death of the flesh?

1Corinthians 9:24-27 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. The Greek word for castaway is “adokimos” meaning “worthless (literally or morally): – rejected, reprobate.” When we become reprobate we are completely fallen from God without the ability to be restored to faith, in other words, no more salvation. Paul was saying that he keeps his body under subjection lest after he preaches the gospel to others he himself becomes reprobate and looses his salvation. If the apostle Paul could loose his salvation, obviously every one of us can as well. This is another one of those passages that is either false or unconditional eternal security is false. So do you boldly proclaim here it’s because the apostle Paul “was never saved to begin with???” I sincerely pray you’re not that brutish.

1Corinthians 10:5-12 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. In this passage, Paul was using the example of the way the children of Israel rebelled when God brought them out of the bondage of slavery and into the freedom of the wilderness and then He had to destroy a lot of them for their sins. Notice how he said for us not to tempt Christ as the Old Covenant Israelites tempted “Christ” and were destroyed. He was basically saying we as God’s children, who have been brought out of bondage of sin and into the freedom of salvation and are now in our wilderness, were given these examples so we would not lust after the same evil things they lusted after by committing sins of fornication, idolatry, tempting Christ and murmuring. Our carnal flesh is weak just like they were and we should learn from their mistakes by seeing what God did to them when they fell into carnality. Their example should make us fear the Lord enough to not follow in their footsteps. The dire warning that Paul gives here in the last sentence says any Christian that gets so puffed up with themselves they think they couldn’t fall into those same sins had better take heed because they will probably be the first ones to fall away from their salvation and be destroyed by God in the lake of fire forever. This is another reason unconditional salvation is so dangerous because those that believe that doctrine is exactly who Paul is talking about here. They sincerely “thinketh they standeth” which leaves them wide open to be the first to fall! May God have mercy on them and open their ears to hear before it’s too late.

Since “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” including the Old Testament words of God, let’s take a look at one of the passages that seems to contradict our inability to loose our salvation. Ezekiel 18:24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? (eternal Life) All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die (second death). Since creation, God has given every last one of us the right and ability to choose to turn away from our righteousness and commit sins. Adam and Eve were created in full and complete righteousness and perfection, yet they chose to turn away from their standing with God by committing iniquity. This verse says that if we do “turneth away,” or fall away as in the other verses we have looked at, from our righteousness and continue to commit sins and do the same things the wicked worldly people do, we will die in our sins. Again, it doesn’t say God will take us to the woodshed for a spanking or kill us and take us to heaven early, it says we will die. Any righteousness or salvation we may have had previously will not count for anything. And by the way, every one of our earthly bodies will die (the first death), so the death God is talking about here is the second death, which is in “the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” Only the righteous or “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”

Romans 11:16-22 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, IF thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. When Jesus came He came to bring salvation to the Jews (to the Jew first and also to the gentiles). When most of them rejected Christ their branches were broken off (fell from) future salvation. The unconditional security folks will respond to this by saying “they were never saved to begin with.” If you read the passage closely it says “if the root be holy, so are the branches.” In order to be “broken off,” their branch had to be partaking of the root at one time which made them holy. So under the Old Covenant they were saved and some of them were broken off (fell from salvation). Then Paul gives us a warning here that if God was so severe on the Old Covenant saints, the New Covenant gentile saints need to “take heed lest he also spare not us” from His severity. He says “IF thou continue in his goodness (salvation): otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” There’s that word “IF” again implying conditions which is the opposite of unconditional. If we are “graffed in” it means we are partaking of the holy root so we have to be holy – saved. And if we don’t continue in His goodness, our graffed in branch will also be “broken off” or “cut off.” This must mean if we don’t endure to the end we can loose our salvation. We can only be holy if we’re in Christ. Those that are not in Christ are never considered holy.

I have one more passage to add that is cloaked in symbolism and also brings up a question about unconditional salvation. However the symbols must be interpreted before we can question the part about salvation. Revelation 12:3-4 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Remember, we must let the bible interpret the bible and not rely on what we believe or have heard from a pulpit or other believers. My unconditional security question involves the underlined sentence above so I will only focus on it. We will start with the dragon’s “tail” searching from the beginning of the bible we eventually come to Isaiah 9:15 “The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.” There are several verses using the word “tail” but this one gives the best explanation so the tail will be interpreted to mean the Devil’s false prophets/pastors teaching lies. In our example for interpreting scriptures earlier in this thesis we already discovered that “stars” are a symbol of God’s chosen children. Since the stars are God’s Children, for defining the next word in the sentence “heaven” I will use Ephesians 2:6 “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together (present tense – now, not later when we get to heaven) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” So “stars of heaven” should be interpreted as God’s chosen children (Christians) sitting together in heavenly (spiritual) places in Christ Jesus. The interpretation of this one sentence should be something resembling: The devil uses his false prophets and pastors (tail) to teach false ear tickling doctrines that cause one third of all Christians (stars of heaven) to desire the earthly carnal things of the world and to fall away (cast down) from their heavenly salvation position in Christ. (For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace). Like the 2Thessalonians passage discussed previously, this is speaking of a very large number of Christians falling away from salvation right before the sons of perdition are revealed. I can hear all the unconditional salvationist saying how “stupid my interpretation is because everybody knows this is talking about the third of the angels falling from heaven.” No, I’m sorry this would not be using scripture to interpret scripture, but using some mans limited denominational knowledge “which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” There is no place in the bible that says how many angels fall from heaven and according to numerous scriptures “stars” does not symbolize angels and the “tail” (false lying prophets) can only effect humans, not angels. Study you bibles before adopting some ear-tickling doctrine that sounds good and that “everybody else” believes and “all the preachers teach.”

This should be enough scripture to unequivocally demonstrate the bible does not support unconditional eternal security. As I persist in my studies I periodically find other references that contradict this false doctrine so this critique is in no way inclusive of all the bible has to say on the subject. However, it is more than adequate to conclude that this is a very dangerous doctrine mainly because of the lack of motivation to overcome our sins. When we have a chance of going to hell for eternity if we don’t cease from our sins, knowledge of that truth alone should generate enough fear of the Lord to repent and restore our relationship with Him due to the deadly consequences of a lackadaisical attitude. If all we get is a spanking or executed and sent to heaven according to the unconditionalists, where’s the motivation to repent? – if we die in our sins, we go to heaven – If we die without sins, we go to heaven – in any situation, we go to heaven, so let’s all “take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” I’m surprised I’ve never heard the unconditional salvationists use some unbiblical statement like “It’s God’s character and nature to want us to be happy” for supporting their position.

I’ve heard a statement out of an unconditional savationist that said, “Our salvation is not dependent upon our performance.” According to the scriptures we just went over this statement is false. It is VERY dependent on our choosing to withdraw from our sins and obeying His commandments. Yes it is the Holy Spirit that changes us from within and helps us by faith to overcome sins but we must continually make the choice to work with Him or we can loose our salvation. If we can cause ourselves to fall away then there has to be something that is very dependent on some kind of performance on our part concerning our belief system. James 2:17-18 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

I read about a prophetess that had a dream about the great falling away of believers the bible speaks about in the last days and in part of her dream the Lord showed her all of the Christians who believed once saved – always saved were lining up to receive the mark of the beast so they could buy and sell food for their families. They didn’t think they could ever loose their salvation so they convinced themselves they could take the mark and still go to heaven. Revelation 14 plainly says “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” The wrath of God along with fire and brimstone is reserved only for the unsaved – those that take the mark. Pray for these confused believers before it’s too late.

When we are deceived into believing a doctrine that makes it easy to stay saved, the doctrine is probably false. Acts 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Entering the kingdom of God and walking out this Christian life is not easy, nor did the Lord ever promise that it would be easy to get into heaven. The Lord can be a hard taskmaster but His promise is He will give us His Holy Spirit to help us succeed “if” we will let Him and keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus Christ. But the minute we go back to focusing on worldly things and not all things spiritual we begin the process of backsliding. We are either pressing forward or going back, there is no middle ground to camp out on till Jesus comes.

I do want to cover a few of the scriptures I’ve heard in the past that were used by the unconditional eternal security believers to support their doctrine. Keeping with the principles of interpreting scriptures I need to be able to answer their scriptures by making sure none of them contradict my belief that we can fall away from salvation.

Scriptures Supposedly Supporting Unconditional Eternal Security

John 3:15-16 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. A Baptist used these verses and said that “it plainly says if you’re a Christian you won’t perish but have ‘eternal life.’ If you could loose your salvation it would have to say temporary life, not eternal life.” To him I would say this passage has a condition attached to it. The key that he does not understand is the conditional requirement to “believe” on our part. All Christians must believe in order to receive salvation, and as long as they continue in their belief on Christ “until the end,” as we saw in previous scriptures, they have eternal life. If they fully believe, as the gift of eternal life requires in this passage, they will continue to repent if they sin and obey Jesus commandments, period. It’s when, by choice, Christians stop believing by continually sinning, refusing to obey some of His commandments or falling away from their faith when this scripture no longer applies because they are not doing their part. It says whosoever believeth has eternal life, NOT whosoever believeth and those that no longer believeth hath eternal life!

The next example is the use of specific words such as “sealed” and “earnest” in multiple scriptures. So I will list several scriptures the unconditional salvationists use to promote their position with these words in them. I would like to first show the Greek words and their meaning out of Thayers Greek lexicon.

The word for “sealed” is sphragizō meaning:

1) to set a seal upon, mark with a seal, to seal

1a) for security: from Satan

1b) since things sealed up are concealed (as the contents of a letter), to hide, keep in silence, keep secret

1c) in order to mark a person or a thing

1c1) to set a mark upon by the impress of a seal or a stamp

1c2) angels are said to be sealed by God

1d) in order to prove, confirm, or attest a thing

1d1) to confirm authenticate, place beyond doubt

1d1a) of a written document

1d1b) to prove one’s testimony to a person that he is what he professes to be

The word for “earnest” is “arrhabōn” meaning:

1) an earnest

1a) money which in purchases is given as a pledge or down payment that the full amount will subsequently be paid

2Corinthians 1:21-22 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. The unconditional eternal security folks say that once we are “sealed” with the Spirit that means forever. No where in this verse does it say the sealing is forever so they are ASSUMING the word sealed to mean we get the Holy Spirit forever and it can’t be broken. They are reading something into the word “sealed” in scripture that is not there. The meaning of the Greek word doesn’t say anything about “sealed” meaning forever either. In fact the Lexicon says it just means we are “marked” to keep the devil from messing with us (…He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 1 John 5:18) and to prove to someone we’re witnessing to that we are truly Christians. When you look at other scriptures using this same Greek word it proves that the word “sealed” can in fact be temporary. Matthew 27 uses the same word sealed on the rock they rolled in front of Jesus tomb and that seal only lasted three days before it was broken. Revelation 20 uses the same Greek word to describe the seal on the bottomless pit where Satan will be for a thousand years, but it will be broken to let him loose again for a season at the end of the thousand years, so it is temporary in that passage as well. Unless this scripture specifically says this seal will last forever it can just as easily be a temporary seal. This 2Corinthians 1 scripture doesn’t define it as temporary or permanent. Could that possibly be because in the realm of salvation it could be either; based on whether each individual keeps God’s commandments or not???

2Corinthians 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. This verse uses the word “earnest” and it says we are given the “earnest of the Spirit.” If we look at the meaning of the Greek word we see that this simply means we get a down payment like making an earnest money contract with God. This means we get a partial amount of the Spirit given to us, NOT the full amount. I’ve heard brothers interpret this and say that earnest means a “guarantee” that can’t be broken so salvation is completely guaranteed and unconditional. Excuse me??? How many times have you seen earnest money contracts broken? We’re all humans and have good intentions, but too many “earnest” agreements are made and never kept. And if salvation is unconditional, why is it we only get a partial earnest amount of the Spirit rather than the full amount of the Spirit of God? Why not give us the whole thing right from the start if we’re for sure going to heaven? I’ll tell you why. God needs to make sure we keep our good intentions all the way through our lives “to the end” (as we have seen in previous scriptures) before He can trust us with the full amount of His Spirit. The same reason we may be able to use someone’s land for a season, but nobody would give us the title deed to the land unless they were sure we had the money and were ready, willing and able to pay for it. We do get to use the Spirit of God to help us with our Christian walk, but if we fall into willful habitual sin and don’t keep His commandments we can break our part of the earnest contract and forfeit His Spirit as we fall from salvation. If you don’t think we can loose Gods Spirit within us just read about King Saul in the Old Testament. He not only lost it, God gave him an evil spirit to dwell in His place.

Ephesians 1:13-14 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Here is another verse the unconditional salvationists use to show they have multiple verses, but it’s still only dealing with the same two words sealed and earnest which we have already explained. What I would like to hear them explain is the phrase “until the redemption of the purchased possession.” (We believers are the “purchased possession” – purchased by Christ who paid the purchase price on the cross). I’ve not heard one of these unconditionally saved believers explain this yet. This verse says that the mark (seal) of the Holy Spirit is only an earnest portion of our full inheritance “until the redemption” of us Christians. What??? Aren’t we redeemed by the blood of the lamb at salvation, you might ask? I would answer yes, we are redeemed and given the earnest of the Holy Spirit if we desire it, but not a complete full redemption as this verse is talking about. This opens another whole different biblical truth which takes pages to explain, but not in this thesis. My dissertation on “Christian Perfection” helps put the verses together and explain this “fully redeemed” truth in detail. A Study you may want to embark on some day.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. This is another verse they use but only because it continains the word “sealed,” which we again have already discussed. They use as many verses as they can that contain “sealed” to try to show they have multiple scriptures for proof of unconditional salvation, but they truly only have a single word to prove their doctrine with multiple examples of using that one word. You may also notice they won’t use any scriptures that may show that the word “sealed” does not mean forever. What is amazing about this verse is that “sealed” is directly followed by the word “unto” implying a time limit. And again this verse says “unto” or until “the day of redemption.” There’s that phrase again as in the very last verse we looked at. We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb at our born again day of salvation, but we are not fully and completely redeemed until the “day of redemption” this verse speaks of; a study that takes many hours to understand. If everyone understood the biblical truth of full and complete redemption, I could actually show how this verse contradicts the unconditional eternal security doctrine.

This last example they use to attempt to prove their doctrine is one passage that is used not only for the unconditional eternal security folks but also for proving the “unconditional love of Christ” doctrine. How many times have you heard pastors and believers alike make the statement “Nothing shall separate us from the Love of Christ?” Did you know this statement is never made in the bible anywhere? This is a twisted misinterpretation of the biblical question “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” taken from this passage: Rom 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you will read this list carefully you will find that it is not comprehensive. There are other things that are not covered here. And by applying our principles of interpretation, we can not emphatically establish a doctrine that says “nothing can separate us from God’s love” by taking only this one passage in the bible without searching what the rest of scriptures have to say on the subject.

Doing a further search in the bible you will come across a passage in Isaiah 59:1-2 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. The truth of this passage says that our sins and iniquities will separate the love relationship between us and God and cause Him to hide His face from us. So when Paul asks the question in Romans 8 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ,” the answer is simple, we ourselves can separate us from God’s love by continuing in sin and disobedience. The scripture is accurate in that none of the other things he lists in the Romans 8 passage can keep us from the love of God, nothing except we ourselves, which is not mentioned in that passage. When the unconditional salvationists try to use this passage to imply we can’t be separated from God’s love, that is a false statement and does not line up with the rest of the bible. Our sin and disobedience will not only separate us from God’s love, if not repented of, it will cause us to fall away and spend eternity in the lake of fire, which is also not one of the things listed in the passage above. The dogmatic statement “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God” is false and not supported by any scriptures anywhere in the bible.

Brothers and sisters my desire is not trying to show off my knowledge by proving a doctrine false. I would rather not have anything to do with this type correction, but then I would be in complete disobedience to what the Lord called me to do and then, like Paul says, I would be in danger of becoming “castaway.” My true passion is to keep sincere believers from falling into deception and following a belief that will easily send many to hell while they think they are going to heaven. I wish to spend eternity with all believers that the Lord has brought into the Kingdom, but we must all follow truths that can be proven over and over in scripture.

1Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Even the bible tells us to prove or test all things against scripture and hold onto that which is good. That includes proving everything I have said in this thesis because ultimately we will all have to give an answer for ourselves. As an elder in the body of Christ it is not my position to make you believe anything. All I am responsible for is using scriptures “for doctrine, reproof and correction,” it’s your decision to believe it or not. Be advised, if we are presented with a truth from the Word and decide against it, we will be without excuse when we are judged before the Lord’s throne.

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. God hides truths in His Word so He can determine who will love Him enough to research the bible and dig deep enough to get to know Him as a person. Either we are so desperate for truth we are ready, willing, and able to change anything for the sake of glorifying the name of Jesus Christ, or we will fall for any ear tickling doctrine that makes Christianity sound easy and cheap. “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” The only question is, are we willing to become more violent like Christ and “love not our lives unto the death?”

Your servant in Christ