The question of, how does a person get to heaven, is the most important question a person can ask. Christians affirm that a person must be saved in order to go to heaven. Maybe you have been asking this question yourself, what does it mean to be saved?

There are two ways we explain what has happened to the person that is going to heaven, Saved and Born again.1 Tim 2:4, And these are really just the same way of explaining what happens to a person who turns from their sins and is delivered from the penalty of their sins.

When a person gets saved, they have repented of their sins and turned to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, at this very moment the sinner is forgiven and born again. Being saved from your sins means you are no longer under the penalty of your sins, ask a Christian about their experience when they repented and they will tell you that the weight and burden of their sins was lifted from them and they were filled with the feeling of freedom and closeness to God for the first time.

When a person repents and acknowledges what Jesus Christ has done for them, by giving himself as a sacrifice on behalf of the sinner, God gives that person the gift of His indwelling Holy Spirit. At that moment a person who was dead in their sins and trespasses to God is made alive by the Spirit of God that comes to take up residence in the person.

Why do we have to repent of our sins? Because God requires absolute righteousness from us in order for us to dwell with him forever, and we can never achieve absolute righteousness because we are all sinners. The bible says: Rom 3:23, This passage shows how that we all have sinned. All is an all inclusive word that does not leave any person out. The favorite belief today in the world is that people are by nature good, and at the heart of every person is a good, well meaning spirit. The truth is just the opposite, people by their very nature are sinners, bent twords evil and wrong doing.

Just watch little children to see this evil nature in action, you don’t have to teach children to be selfish and dishonest, they come by it naturally because this is their nature. It is very hard work to train a child to be honest and giving because this is not the natural bent of the spirit of man. Men always seek their own, they never seek God. God had to seek man throughout all human history because if left to himself, man would grow ever increasingly evil because all the imaginations of his heart is evil. Gen 6:5, Jer 11:8, Jer 18:12,

Since we are all sinners and God requires absolute righteousness, and since we as sinners cannot even start to have our own righteousness, God had to make a way that he could forgive us and still not turn from his standard of absolute righteousness. So he sent his son Jesus to be the “Messiah” or “Christ”, the perfect sacrifice for our sins. God in the person of his son took our sins upon himself because we cannot pay for our sins and still go to heaven. The only way for us to pay for our own sins is to be separated from God eternally in Hell.

God not wanting any of us to perish, 2 Pet 3:9, has paid for your sins so you don’t have to. 1 Pet 2:24 Every week on Friday I get a paycheck from my employer, I work all week and earn a wage and at the end of the week I receive my wage. Likewise, we are all sinners, we live a life of sin and at the end of this life we all will receive a wage. Rom 6:23 But thankfully God does not leave us in our sins without hope of forgiveness, the second part of the passage in Rom 6:23 states that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!

That is great news for the sinner that wants to be forgiven. Some men and women don’t want to be forgiven of their sins, they view their hatred, lying, gambling, pornography, adultery, fornication “sex outside of marriage”, cheating, drunkenness, drug abuse, filthy language and blasphemies as normal and ok. Many men and woman living in sin really think that if a person does not participate in such sin that there is something wrong with them. 1 Pet 4:4

If you are living in your sins and tired of it, there is good news! You don’t have to enter into God’s presence as a sinner with no hope but certain condemnation. You can accept the free gift of salvation that Christ offers you.

God has given to every person the knowledge of Himself. Rom 1:19 Every person knows that someday they will stand before a holy God, but because of mans evil nature, he denies the very truth that his own heart speaks to him and convinces himself that God does not exist. Usually this takes the place of mocking those that do trust in God, in an attempt to sooth their own conscience. But every once in awhile even the biggest sinners lie in bed at night troubled over the knowledge that their soul is forever condemned without Christ. And despite mans best attempts to lesson the terror of entering Hell forever by making Hell a joke or by convincing themselves that Hell will be a party, deep down where they wont admit exist, there is a drawing of God.

For those who know they are a sinner and want to be free from the burden and penalty of their sins, forgiveness is as easy to receive as asking for it. If you are tired of your sins and want to have a relationship with the very God that made you and loves you, all you have to do is ask him simply, we call it praying but all it is, is talking to God.

To receive forgiveness of your sins simply pray this, “Father, I know that I am a sinner and that Jesus died for my sins. I confess my sins to you and ask you to forgive me of my sins. I acknowledge that Jesus your son died for my sins and that you raised him from the dead and that he is alive and hears my prayers. I receive Jesus as my Savior and Lord and with your help wish to turn from my life of sin. In Jesus name I pray amen.”

If you prayed this prayer, God has forgiven you and Jesus is your Lord and Savior!

Satan is a poor looser, he has had you for along time and he is not happy that he has lost you to Christ. Don’t be fooled by him, his desire is to steel you back from Jesus. keep this passage in mind, Rom 10:9-10 and 13. You can have assurance that God really did forgive your sins and now you stand as a new creation in Christ, “Born Again”.

Find a good Bible believing Church, not all church’s with the words church or Jesus out front on a sign really follow Jesus today, you want to grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus and so you need to join a church that still holds the Bible as Gods infallible word. And you need to be baptized as soon as possible to show the world that you have been cleansed from your sin and old life and are walking in a new life. Any questions or need for help can be submitted to help@abundantlifetoday.com

Have you ever been to a revival at your church? Did your church experience a revival? Does the church today even know what a revival looks like? I have to confess that I have never seen a true revival. I have experienced many revivals in my own person and heart but have never seen a church wide revival.

Most revivals are set up for failure right from the very beginning. We schedule a revival meeting to start on Sunday or Monday night and have a meeting at seven o’clock every night for five or six days and we hope and pray for revival, or do we? The reason our church’s never have true revival is because really we just come looking for a good time.

What even makes a church think that God will send a revival in five or six days of meetings. What passes for a revival today in most church’s is that all came and had a good time yelling amen, whether we truly believe what the Man of God has said or not. I have heard men preach about a topic and have heard the amens all around the congregation, and then I have seen the very same group of people ignore what they amend only weeks after the man left.

The problem in our church’s in America is we have traded a good feeling or excitement for repentance. We get emotional and have a good feeling and say to ourselves happily, we had church today. But I ask you, is that what it is all about? Is church for us to have an emotional time and then walk away feeling fulfilled?

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for having a good time in church and I am all for getting emotional. I often feel moved by the music and the testimonies, many times I tear up, sometimes I feel like I could leap out of my seat and get all pentecostal. Church should be about feelings and emotions. If you can’t have a good time in church then church isn’t meeting your needs.

But my complaint is this good time and emotional feelings, is all church ever seems to be for most people today. Very rarely do you ever see bitter tears of remorse at the alter anymore, especially on a church wide scale. Many people come expecting to have a bottle handed to them and many preachers today are happy to hand out the bottles.

“The tragedy of this late hour is that we have too many dead men in the pulpits giving out too many dead sermons to too many dead people. Oh! The horror of it. There is a strange thing that I have seen “under the sun,” even in the fundamentalist circles; it is preaching without unction.” quoted from Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill pg.18

A Classic on Revival

Don’t quote men Leonard Ravenhill too many times my friend, you will be banished! The church does not want to hear that they are asleep today. Tell people that you don’t think the church is living up to its high calling too many times and see where it gets you. The church does not want to be challenged to grow or to even wake up. Many come to church with no intention of doing anything but sitting in the pew, nodding their head a few times and then go home to lunch.

Going to the alter for repentance never crosses the mind of many today, after all they made it to church so what do they have to repent of. Serving Christ in some capacity never gets considered. Church’s today have constant need of people to lead ministries, get involved and lend a hand. Have you ever heard of someone wanting to get involved at church and the church having to tell the person they have to wait for an opening? No you never have, most church’s are begging for their people to get involved and yet no one wants to volunteer.

If your a Christian reading this, my question to you is, are you involved in a ministry at your church? If not, when? Rom 12:6 Every believer in Christ has been given a gift by God to profit the body of Christ. Each one of us has a special and unique roll to play in the church. Most Christians never seek God to find out what gift He has given them. And so our church’s starve for spiritual food. Baby’s get burped while the meat of the word never gets placed on the table for those who want to grow. Gifts of the Spirit go unused and sinners are not drawn to the church, because after all its hard to tell the church from the world today.

The unsaved world looks at the church today as a joke. And why wouldn’t they. How are we different? Our teenagers are having sex, our married couples are getting divorced, our men and women are looking at pornography. Drinking, smoking, gambling, debt, these are all as common in the church as they are in the world we call lost.

We have thrown off the bonds of holiness, abandoned the word of God, refused to bend our knees to His wishes and commands. Church! Listen up! God wants to say something to you! 2 Cor 6:17. Church this is not a suggestion, it’s not a “do this if you feel like it,” this is the word of God for us, you and me! We are living in the days of the lukewarm church. Rev 3:15,16

We live in a time when church’s and people think they can ignore God and what He says. The time of God’s judgment is coming upon this earth and upon all ungodly men and women. Judgment will start at the House of God! It always has and always will.

Rev 3:19-22

(19) As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

(20) Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

(21) He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne.

(22) He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

Today I was listening to the radio and heard this statement made, (start quote) “Also, verse one, there is the true vine–the source of life when you live forever. That’s the Lord Jesus. Then, in this verse, verse two, He talks about those branches–unfruitful branches–that do not bear any fruit. Now, I don’t think these are Christians. I think these are people who are hanging out around the vine but are not connected to the vine in a saving way. They’re people who kind of hang out in the vineyard and look like they’re branches, but they’re not fruitful because they’re not rooted in the vine. And then, the fourth category here in verse two is, those branches that are rooted in the vine but occasionally need pruning because, well, they just produce better when they’re pruned. And those are the four categories, the four people who are pictured in this allegory. Let me get right to some truth, though. I think there are four truths that unlock the source of true strength in a Christian’s life. They’re all four found in these verses”.(end quote)

Then a few minutes later this was said, (start quote) “He says, in verse two, “Every branch in Me.” Now, I want you to know that “in Me” is not the same as the expression Paul uses again and again, “in Christ.” The expression “in Christ” is an expression that is used to say we’re in the body of Christ, we’re born again, we’re part of the family of God, we’re saved and baptized into Christ; we’re part of His body, we’re attached to the vine”.(end quote)  Quoted from Woodrow Kroll, You can read his entire message here, What is the Source of True Strength?

He claims that the statement “in Me”, made by Jesus himself, is not the same as Paul’s statement “in Christ”. If Jesus says in me and Paul says in Christ, are they not the same statement? The only reason I can see to make such a claim is that a underlying doctrine must be present for “in Me” not to mean the same thing as “in Christ”, when clearly Christ is saying “in Me”!

For Mr. Kroll to say “I don’t think these are Christians. I think these are people who are hanging out around the vine but are not connected to the vine in a saving way”. Is to directly contradict what our Lord Jesus just said with his own words. “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away”. Jesus said the branches in me.

Why is this so hard for some to understand? In me means in me, when Christ says in me, he means in Christ.

The reason this is hard for some to treat literally, the way Jesus meant it, is because of what is attached to the “in me“, statement. ” Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away”, There is the problem! Jesus said that a branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and since that leads to teaching that Christians can be removed from the true vine, we can’t have a teaching like that around because it disrupts what we want to believe which is once saved always saved!

So dearly beloved doctrine dictates what Jesus said, rather than what Jesus said dictating our doctrine.

I once sat in an Independent Baptist Church for over 3 years, and one morning in Sunday School this passage was being taught. The teacher made the statement that this passage of scripture “does not, does not, does not, speak about salvation!”

Let me ask you a question, What does it mean to be “in Christ”? or as Jesus put it “in Me”. When Jesus says ” Abide in me, and I in you.” What does he mean by abide? The NLT, NIV, YNG, HNV all translate the word abide as remain. Jesus was saying “remain in me, and I in you,” seems clear to me.

If your not convinced lets do a word study. Lets study the words “in me” and “abide in me”. First lets look up in me, in the Strongs Concordance.

In: G1722  ἐν  en, A primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), that is, a relation of rest (intermediate between G1519 and G1537); “in”, at, (up-) on, by, etc.: – about, after, against, + almost, X altogether, among, X as, at, before, between, (here-) by (+ all means), for (. . . sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-) in (-to, -wardly), X mightily, (because) of, (up-) on, [open-] ly, X outwardly, one, X quickly, X shortly, [speedi-] ly, X that, X there (-in, -on), through (-out), (un-) to(-ward), under, when, where (-with), while, with (-in). Often used in compounds, with substantially the same import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different) prep.

Me: G1698  ἐμοί  emoi  em-oy’,  A prolonged form of G3427; to me: – I, me, mine, my.

In Me: denotes a fixed position. If you are in the house, you are not along side the house, you are in the house. If you are in me, you are in me, not along side me. Jesus is not saying these are those hanging around me, as the quoted statement suggest, Jesus says they are in him. Jesus being God in the flesh surely would understand how to communicate what he wants to say.

Abide: G3306  μένω  menō men’-o,  A primary verb; to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy): – abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for), X thine own.

I moved from Michigan to Ohio, I use to abide in Michigan but now I abide in Ohio. We all know what “abide” means, but the definition gets tossed out when it gets in the way of someones opposing doctrine.

If these branches were of some other origin, or of a non-fruit bearing tree as some suggest. Would Jesus not know this about the branches? Why would he say every branch in me, when he of all people would know that these branches are not in him but foreign.

Lets get down to what we all know Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying that He is the only one that has eternal life, and that any who will abide in him will have abundant fruit and be pruned to have more fruit, but those that do not bear fruit “the product of continued faith in Christ”, God the husbandman will remove. What becomes of those that God removes? If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned. Jhn 15:6

This is not a works salvation, The Bible clearly teaches we are in Christ through faith, not of works. But I think James answered this best when he said, “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.” James 2:18

Works are the life blood of Christians and Jesus is the heart that pumps that blood in our chest. When a Christian stops having works, God the husbandman will be the one who determines when the blood has stopped pumping and when the branch is dead and when it needs to be removed.

This wonderful passage of scripture given to us by Jesus himself tells us who he is (the true vine), who we are (branches in him), what he and God do(nourish and prune us), what we are to do (abide and bear fruit), and what he will do if we do not abide and bear fruit (remove us and cast us off to be burned).

One of the favorite ways of describing these pretenders is to say that they only nibbled on salvation, they never really completely swallowed or partook of God’s Grace.

I was talking to a Calvinistic friend of mine once and I took him to Heb 6:4 and we were talking about how this obviously “my was talking about people who had been Christians, in fact my argument was that these people could be nothing less than genuine Christians because of the great length Paul goes through explaining these Christians and what they had experienced, which is common to all Christian experience.

The next day I was given a page copied out of a commentary by my friend, I can’t remember which one it was, but the commentators view was to show how this verse 4 and 5 does not explain a Christian at all but He showed how that each explanation showed a person that had only come close to being saved.

His statement on “v.4 and have tasted of the heavenly gift, v.5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,” was completely unexpected. He stated that the word “taste and tasted” meant that the person had only nibbled on salvation and had not completely experienced salvation.

Well you can assume how I felt, not being a Greek scholar and having never written a commentary, I was floored. So I got out the old trusty concordance and I started looking, I did not have to look to far. Heb 2:9 is a great example of how this word” tasted” found in the Strong’s Concordance under number G1089 is used. The definition of this word tasted γεύομαι, geuomai ghyoo’-om-ahee: A primary verb; to taste; by implication to eat; figuratively to experience (good or ill): – eat, taste. Used figuratively to experience whether good or ill, that makes perfect sense because if we read Hebrews 2:9 or 6:4,5 naturally we get the sense that is what is exactly being said.

Christ did not taste death, death has no literal taste, He experienced death. Just as those in Heb 6:4,5 experienced the heavenly gift, and experienced the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come. My friend did not take this well and to be honest he was not persuaded. It is hard for a man to change his mind on something he has so committed himself to.

Notice how Vine”s Complete Expository Dictionary Old and New Testament Words handles this problem, Vine being very Calvinistic with Eternal Security. On page 619 under the definition for taste, (b) metaphorically, of Christ’s “tasting” death, implying His personal experience in voluntarily undergoing death, Heb 2:9; of believers (negatively) as to “tasting” of death, Matt 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27; John 8:52; of “tasting” the heavenly gift (different from receiving it), Heb 6:4; “the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come,” Heb 6:5.

Notice how his commentary is very different when it comes to those who tasted it in Heb 6:4,5, that the use of the word gets changed so as to not allow for the literal natural use. Clearly he lets his interpretation dictate the meaning of the word taste rather than allowing the meaning of the word to dictate his interpretation. So the conclusion we get is that according to Vine’s, it doesn’t mean what it says. Since his definition supports “once saved always saved” you will not hear any objections from Calvinist because the important thing is to preserve the doctrine. Rules of Biblical Interpretation get thrown out when obstructions to Calvinism are meet.

Heb 6:4,5 mean exactly what it says, these are Christians. We know they are Christians because those of us who are Christians have experienced exactly the same as these. We have been enlightened, we have tasted of the heavenly gift “Salvation”, we have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and we have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come. This explains my experience as a Christian and probably yours too. It also explains the experience of the Christians Paul was writing to that were in danger of turning from Christ and going back to Judiasm.

A person is “saved” when they are no longer under condemnation for there sins and they now stand before God in the righteousness of His son, Jesus the Christ. At this point they have passed from death unto life, from judgment to forgiveness, Being born again by the Spirit of God, “Holy Spirit”. The Holy Spirit begins His Special work in the person, first by sealing the believer and then starting the work of sanctification. We will look at the Holy Spirits work in sealing the believer later on.

How a person becomes “saved” is by turning to Christ in faith, through repentance of their sins. Here is a very important point that gets lost in this discussion of saving faith, there is a condition for being saved or born again, the one and only condition is Faith in Christ. While all non-Hyper Calvinist understand that faith is the condition that God requires, you will never hear a one or two point Calvinist utter the word condition.

A person cannot be saved if they do not come to God, God’s way. And faith in the Son of God is the condition that God has established for a person to enter into salvation. And so we see clearly that entering into salvation is conditional. Lets drive this home with a comparison, remaining under condemnation is conditional, its conditioned on remaining in unbelief. We all understand that if a lost person repents of their sin and turns to Christ for salvation that they will be saved. And so they have left the conditional state of being under condemnation.

If being under condemnation is conditional under unbelief, we can understand that being saved is conditional upon placing our faith in Christ. But the condition does not end there, Christ himself said “Abide in me and I will Abide in you.” Abiding is Faith. How do we abide in Christ? Not of works that we have done but only by Faith.

Now that we have clearly outlined what it means to be saved and how a person gets saved, lets look at some of the most popular arguments used in defending the once saved always saved doctrine.

Here is a verse of scripture used right away to prove once saved always saved. John 3:15-18 “The Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

This is a very important verse of scripture, and if we just take if for what it says and don’t try to add anything to it, we can understand what is being said.  The problem is that Calvinist like to leave off the rules of  interpretation when it suits them.

The key words in our study of this scripture are the words, believeth (KJV). This word believeth means to have confidence in Christ, rely on Him, trust he is who he said he is, to look to no other but Him for salvation. In every use of this word we see it is written in a present tense, meaning it is the constant and ever present position of the believer.

To bring out the meaning of this word in modern English, the word pisteou coming from G4102 means to continue to believe. Now lets look at how this truth gets blown away in order to hold onto a belief system.

John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Who is it here that has eternal life? Whosoever believeth in him! And what did we say about the word believeth? We find that in the original Greek it means to continue to believe, that is the very meaning of the word. It does not say whosoever believed in him, it says whosoever believeth, its not splitting hairs, it’s a very important point to make sure we get the meaning of the word nailed down.

Now lets look at John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The same word “believeth” is used here for the “not condemned” person and the “condemned” person. By reasoning of the Calvinist we can assume that the believer that is not condemned cannot change his mind and become an unbeliever again, just as the unbeliever cannot change his mind and become a believer. To say that the believer has eternal life and this cannot change, like wise the unbeliever is condemned already and cannot change.

We know this is false, the unbeliever can change, by the grace of God he can turn from his unbelief and receive Christ. It is also true that the believer has eternal life only because he is a believer. This great promise of eternal life is only given to those that are “in” Christ. And a person is only “in” Christ through faith. Abide in Me and I will Abide in You.

The argument that salvation is eternal and not temporary is a bad argument that comes from a desire to take peoples eyes off of the subject and elicit a positive response to the argument. Of course eternal life is not temporary, this always gets a big amen, but it is a diversion and always evokes mans reasoning rather than what scripture says. Eternal life is a promise to believers and a believer is the one that abides in Christ.

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. See here for more on this verse

Gods power keeps us unto salvation, but he uses faith as the agent to keep us. Without faith, Gods keeping power is of none affect in our lives.

Rom 1:17 For therein is revealed a righteousness of God by faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.
Rom 11:20 Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not high minded, but fear:

There is a high-minded attitude in those that teach they cannot be broken off. Arrogance and Pride disguised as the doctrine of grace. Warning after warning in the scripture is ignored because the mind has already been made up and no scripture is going to convince otherwise.

Col 1:21-23 And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.

God wants to present you holy and unblameable, and He has the ability to do it. But we must continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and be not moved away in order to lay hold of the promise.

About the believer being sealed. The seal “G4972” is not a seal like the rubber ring on the lid of a jar of preservatives. This is how this doctrine is treated and it is error. The seal is the mark of ownership. This truth also never gets told because we all know that the owner can break a seal of ownership. Eph 1:13 in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,––in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, I think it is clear that the Holy Spirit himself is the seal, or the mark of ownership, given to us in order to confirm that we are His.

God seals the believer with the Holy Spirit when the believer comes to Christ in faith. No where can we find that God is incapable of removing His seal of the Holy Spirit. In fact we do find great warnings such as the one in

Rev 3:5 He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Arrayed in white garments! This speaks of the sinless righteousness of Christ and someday those that overcome will be confessed before God the Father.

Heb 3:12- Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called Today; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end:

Such a powerful and straight forward warning that goes unheeded in many church’s. When is the last time a Calvinist followed this scripture and warned a brother to take heed unless they develop a evil heart of unbelief and depart from the living God? Never! According to Calvinist it cant happen so why warn.
My Calvinistic Brother, we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.

False teachings and beliefs are disguised in wonderful truths such as “The Doctrine of Grace,” as if certain churches have the corner of grace all to themselves. Calvinist like to teach the modified version of 1 Peter 1:5 as follows, Who are kept by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It is important for the Calvinist to understand that without faith in God, God’s keeping power is not present.

Romans 4:3-5, 16. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Rom 4:16 Therefore [it is] of faith, that [it might be] by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.

Paul goes through great lengths here to make the readers understand that faith is not a work. Contrary to the favorite claim of Calvinist that faith is a work. Also to the destruction of the false doctrine that Grace is given to a person solely at Gods discretion. Many don’t care what this passage of scripture says, they have what they believe and that is good enough for them. But how many people sit under this false doctrine in our churches across this great country every Sunday and are taught that this is what grace is.

One of the greatest tragedies of our day is the wide spread ignorance of what faith is.
Faith without a doubt is the condition for salvation and the only condition for salvation.

John 20:31 but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name.

Every instance of the word “believe,” is used in the present tense. Believing is not something a person does 20 years ago, believing is what a Christian does everyday.
As a Christian you actively believe in Christ every moment, and as a person, God has given all of us the ability to not only place our faith in Christ but to continue to keep our faith in Christ.

Col 1:19-23 For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fullness dwell; 20, and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 21, And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled 22, in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: 23, if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.

Lets look at some wonderful truths in this passage.
V. 20, Christ has reconciled us to himself! Even though we were enemies.
V. 22, To present us holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him!
V. 23, If we continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the gospel!

The verb “Continue in” means literally to stay at or with (ἐπί). And is used elsewhere in scripture. But lets use the Calvinist method of interpreting scripture for a moment to look at some other verses.

Using Calvinistic methods lets say right up front that Col 1:23 does not mean you must continue in the faith to the extent that it is possible to turn from your faith and be lost.

So therefore we can conclude that, Philippians 1:24 yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake. Paul does not really believe that he can stop “Abiding in the flesh”.

Or that, Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Paul doesn’t really believe that we can stop “continuing in sin”.

Or that Paul thinks a Christian can be cut off as he states here, Rom 11:22 Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God’s goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Surely Paul does not think that the Jews can stop continuing in unbelief as he states here, Rom 11:23 And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

A careful word search of these passages will show that the same word is used in the same way for each verse. Yet it becomes grossly ignorant of me to say that one has no choice but to “abide in the flesh”, when clearly we do not abide in the flesh forever. Likewise it is a violation of Gods word, to say we continue in the faith without choice when scripture clearly warns us we must continue.

No my friend the truth is that if an unbeliever will “continue not” in unbelief, he will be saved. Just as a Christian, if they will “not continue” in faith, they will have committed apostasy and are not recoverable.

Some might call Christians arrogant or snobbish to teach theirs is the only way to heaven, and that would be true if Christians thought that they were going to heaven based on some kind of goodness or earned recognition from within themselves.

The truth is Christians believe that they are going to heaven not on the basis of their own good works or some kind of intrinsic value within themselves, but they believe they will go to heaven because of the one they follow. Jesus Christ himself said “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me”. Christians find their hope and salvation in Jesus Christ, not in some good works system or religion.

The real question is, how can Christians be so insistent that Jesus has the answers or that he is in fact the only way to heaven? If a police officer knocked on your door and wanted to speak to you, you would probably not just open the door without trying to find out if the man on the other side is actually a police officer. Most people would ask to see the mans badge, this badge the police officer carries is a symbol of his authority and proves that he has been entrusted with keeping the peace and enforcing the law. That badge he carries is the badge of his authority!

Likewise Jesus Christ has a badge of authority that he holds, The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus proves that he is who he claimed to be. The resurrection of Christ proves to the world that he is the son of God as he claimed to be and that all authority in heaven and earth are in fact given to him. The resurrection is his badge of authority!

Without the resurrection, Jesus would be just another religious person going around doing good works and preaching sermons that he really knew nothing about. Jesus said, speaking of his life and physical body, “destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in three days”. He spoke this of himself and after being crucified, He proved his words were true and raised himself up from the dead.

With all the religions in the world, Christianity has one thing that none of the other religious systems can claim, Christians have a risen Savior and he has all power to save any who would come to him in faith!