Ye Shall Not Surely Die Part 2 - Unbiblical Christianity

The Clumsy Verse-twisting Skills of Eternal Security Teachers

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The serpent said to Eve, “Ye shall not surely die”.  The serpent is the first teacher of eternal security.

Many churches are correct in pointing out that the Jehovah Witnesses go to great extent to twist bible verses and meaning of words to get them to say what they choose to believe.   But the same churches that poke their fingers at cults themselves do the same thing.

Here, I will list down some of the more common verses that the eternal security doctrine teachers will use, and how they try to squeeze out the meaning they want out of them.

You will find that “Calvinists” make up the majority of the people who push this doctrine to you, giving it a high-sounding label called “Perseverance of the saints”.  You will also find that this doctrine is highly prevalent among the English-educated and Western-oriented communities, but not among the Oriental Christians. The reason is that the Western society is already too steeped into the sin of adultery and licentiousness of sexual freedom.   Pre-marital sex and extra-marital sex is nothing more than personal liberty, and at most a personal commitment to one’s partner.  Sex is no longer considered as a feel good past time, and no longer under the ambit of God’s purview.  Yet the bible speaks against them.  And, if a church tries to hold firmly to God’s demand on holiness, there is fear of low membership ( which means “no money” coming in ).  So the western church and their leaders must twist scriptures in order to accommodate the culture of liberty, free sex and human rights in order to gain and retain membership.  And so too, in this country of Malaysia, most of those who believe in this “once-saved-forever-saved” doctrine are the English educated segment.

The Silliness and Danger of This Doctrine

Just watch this Youtube report, and see for yourself the evil that this doctrine of the devil can lead to:

Click on these 2 links to watch:

1)      Nick Knapp says George Sodini is Saved

2)      The Truth About Eternal Security by Paul Washer

How They Would Deceive You

And these are the 3 steps they would use to prime you into accepting the false doctrine:

Step 1:    A truly born again Christian, by the Spirit of God will not want to go out to sin.  God will prevent him from sinning i.e. He will be “kept by God” and is thus eternally secure ( Makes you wonder how David continued to commit adultery with Bathsheba, or why Judas went on to betray Jesus, doesn’t it?  Makes you realize why pastors turn a blind eye to adulterers sitting in the pews. )

Step 2.    If a person is truly born again does go on to commit a sin, God will always bring him to repentance again before He is allowed to die.  ( I wonder why Judas was not brought to repentance before he hung himself, neither were Ananias and his wife Saphira ).

Step 3.    Therefore a person truly born again Christian is saved eternally, no matter how he lives and how he dies.

See the simple human logic which is founded on the lustfulness of man and his foolishness is applied?

For a good explanation against the false teaching of Eternal Security, go to: Forgotten Word Ministries.  Another very strong preacher against this false doctrine among the Western preachers is Dan Corner.  Also, you will often find that eternal security teachers blatantly contradict themselves in their effort to support satan’s doctrine.  You will often find them arguing for eternal security while at the same time expounding on verses that speak of conditional security, as if both are the same.

Some of the Verses Taken Out of Context

“and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from ALL sin.” 1 John 1:7	All the sins of a believer are indeed cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  But as soon as a person stops believing, are his sins from that point on still being cleansed?  The  Good News Bible Church seems to think so, or it does not understand the phrase “falling away” from the faith.
Eph 4:30  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption	Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church argues that once a person is “sealed”, the seal cannot be removed.  Here is an example of “reading meanings into the verse”.  The verse in no way says that, but the Good News Bible Church puts in that meaning by extending on it.
“He made you alive with Him, having forgiven us ALL our transgressions.” Colossians 2:13b	Sure. As soon as a person receives Christ, all his transgressions are forgiven.  And if he gives up on Christ, these transgressions are still forgiven.  But the act of unbelief from that point on leads to his death. The Good News Bible Church  focuses on one word “ALL” and takes it in the wrong direction.
“I give eternal life to them, and they shall NEVER perish.” John 10:28	Sure. Eternal life means a life that does not perish. Jesus was emphasizing the meaning of eternal life.  Jesus wasn’t saying that once a person has received it, he will never lose it. The Good News Bible Church does not understand the English language?
“And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall NEVER die.” John 11:26	History and our personal life experiences tell us that many a Christian has stopped  living or believing in Christ.  Many have changed their beliefs for the sake of love, money, love of life in this flesh or out of disappointment with God. Good News Bible Church does not know about Judas Iscariot?
“I will NEVER desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5	This verse is not about salvation, but about conduct. But the Good News Bible Church says it does.  In fact, some Christians actually told me that they believe God in their mercy would surely forgive Judas.  They ignore Mar 14:21  which says “The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.”
“For the gifts and the calling of God are IRREVOCABLE.” Romans 11:29	They focus on irrevocable, but ignore the next verse that says that the gift is subject to obedience in order to deceive.  Good News Bible Church
Joh 6:39  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.	They focus on “I should lose nothing”, but avoid “of all He has given Me”.  So, are all people in the church “given by the Father”? Satan has put his people into the church too.  Jesus will only not lose those “given by the Father”.
Joh 6:44  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.	How many Christians do you think are in church because the “come to Christ”? How many Christians do you think are in church because they only seek the blessings and gifts of God, but not God.  Just think, the moment a terrorist puts a knife to the head of the believer or his child, and demand he renounce Christ or be killed, how many “Christians” would choose to die?

In the next part, I will show you many of the verses that tell you that neither Jesus, nor  the apostles do not teach eternal security.

The unpleasant truth is that the eternal security doctrine is popular only for 2 reasons:-

1)      To accommodate a licentious lifestyle among Westerners who still want to pretend they are Christians and,

2)      To attract more members to the church for the sake of serving mammon instead of God.

Jesus says:-

Joh 8:32  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

"You Shall Not Surely Die" Part I - Unbiblical Christianity

8. "Ye shall not surely die”

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• Part 2
• Part 3 
• Part 4

The serpent said to Eve, “Ye shall not surely die”.  And it worked.  Eve was deceived.   

Today, the devil is still using this lie, “You will not surely die” in the form of the doctrine of eternal security.  In a nutshell, this doctrine says to this effect:

“After you receive Christ ( say the sinner’s prayer) with sincerity, there is nothing you can do that will cause you to lose your salvation”.  

See how the devil says to you today,  “You will not surely die”?.  You can do anything you want, and you will not surely die.

About 10 years ago, when as a new Christian, my wife and I attended a funeral wake; at Jinjang, I think. It was a Christian funeral.  There were non-Christians there, too.  And being new Christians, fresh and hot, we began to evangelize the non-Christians there with boldness.  Now, among them was a young Buddhist couple and one of them said, “But your God is so unfair.  Once a person becomes His follower, the follower can continue to lie, cheat and commit crimes; and all he has to do every time is to turn to your God and say ‘Forgive me’ and your God will forgive him”.   

The Buddhist just pointed out something very valid.  Where is the holiness and righteousness of God in this matter?  Is not our God's holiness and righteousness His two foremost uncompromising qualities?  If His holiness and righteousness can be compromised, is He still a God worthy of honor and praise?  No, I believe these two qualities are the core qualities of God which are not compromisable.  Correct me if I am wrong.

Now, have you ever noticed how ambivalent is your church leadership’s stand on this issue of “eternal security”?   By saying "no", it is afraid of losing membership.  By saying "yes", it is also afraid of losing membership.

But surprising though, the vast majority of the Christians that I have spoken to in private,  I am glad to say, ( except for the followers of Joseph Prince, and those who chase after the extreme grace teachings of American and Western preachers, especially the television personalities ), do not really believe in the doctrine of eternal security!  So that is a definite conflict between the official stand of the church leadership as against the personal stand of the majority of the believers.  But the believers, as usual are too chicken to voice out and demand the leadership correct itself formally.

All that time, my wife and I had learned of the doctrine of eternal security from the church leaders and older members.  They would tell us that once a person is a Christian, his salvation is guaranteed. Wow! What good news indeed! And this is what we in turn, used to tell others as well, because it sounds so good.  Consequently, some Christians have become very offended with the slightest suggestion that there could be a possibility that some of us may not be saved.  To them, for us to say that we may lose our salvation is to accuse our God of being incapable of keeping His promise of salvation to us.  So out of this, the doctrine called “eternal security”, or “once-saved-always-saved” had been developed, so that our God can be projected as a ever faithful and loving God.  In their earnestness to assure themselves of this guarantee, they have twisted the actual teachings of the bible, and even Jesus’ warnings on this matter.  They do this by totally ignoring clear and distinct verses that tell us that only true followers of Jesus Christ will be saved. 

Even normally reliable preachers like the late Walter Martin, Chuck Missler, Chuck Smith – all preachers of renown, have arrived at the conclusion that there cannot be such a thing as an untrue Christian.   To put dissenters down, some of these renowned preachers even come up with silly questions like “Do you mean to say that a person is unsaved in the morning because of his sin this morning and becomes saved again when he confesses his sin at night?” This is their attempt to ridicule those who do not take their side, and sadly most people are taken aback by this ridicule.  But famous preachers can also take stupid stands.  They did not realize that when they ask a question like this, they also saying that Jesus judges his followers by the minute.  Is that what the bible says about judgment?  Surely not.  The books will only be opened at judgment day ( See Revelation 20:12).  In their blind attempt to ridicule others, they make fools of themselves.

So, scriptures are indeed being interpreted out of context in order to conform to this teaching of the serpent.  The fact that such a doctrine goes against the doctrine of the holiness and righteousness of God is conveniently ignored. The meaning of the word “works” has even been expanded to include any conscious act of showing belief in Christ, showing faith in God, or confession of sin,  which would nullify God’s grace. What nonsense! Think of it.  Faith is works!  Confession is works! How silly can teachers be!

How in the world can they ever postulate that that holy and righteous God would compromise on His holiness and righteous for the sake of His people.   To do so, God would not longer be holy and righteous!

To this therefore  I say “NO! God’s holiness and righteousness can never be compromised; his grace and love is still subject to His holiness and righteousness”

Now, do these teachers know that their stand is actually indefensible? Yes, actually they do.  Remember Judas?  Remember what Jesus said of Judas in Mar 14:21;

The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.

Remember also names like Hermeneus or Alexander, or Diotrephes in the epistles?  These were obviously people who started off as believers, who later strayed the other way. 

Since the scriptures cannot be denied, these teachers have twisted themselves into a knot trying to stubbornly defend that doctrine of the devil.  And here is the silly statement from them to get out of the fix they created for themselves -  “Those so-called Christians who turn away from God were never Christians in the first place, so Judas was never a follower of Jesus!”.  So we see, they do agree that Christians who turn away from God are really not saved after all, and since they cannot find disagree, they came up with that silly desperate statement of defense.

We know that today, not all theologians are Spirit-led.  As a matter of fact, some of these theologians are not even Christians.  They merely studied for the degree as a degree of learning, in order to earn a qualification to earn a living.  They have twisted scriptures into new packaging in order to market themselves as experts, thereby doing evil to the scriptures.   These theologians have written many books on Christianity which are being used by bible colleges, and many are also lecturing in bible colleges and seminaries.  The devil has surely put his people in strategic places to deceive the elect.

Beware therefore, of the serpent who said “Ye shall not surely die”.  For Eve believed the serpent and died, taking Adam and the whole human race along.  Jesus have provided us THE WAY to life again, why fall for the same lie?

Now, God is surely able to protect His Word as recorded in Proverbs 30:6

“Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

In the next article, I will list out some of the scriptures will clearly says that not all Christians will be saved, and these teachers of false doctrines are surely put to shame.

The unpleasant truth is false teaching abound.  The bible warns us so.  But we do not pay heed to the scriptures.  We only pay heed to people with titles and status.

Jesus says,
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.