By Larry J. West

"I've Always Believed That Up Until Now"

I get a lot of questions from inmates, and that’s a good thing. I am always glad to provide a scriptural answer to those I believe to be sincere. If we can encourage people to ask us Bible questions, it provides us with a wonderful opportunity. We can take them to the scriptures wherein God gives them the answer. I love having these inmates refer to me as a ‘man of the Book,’ or a ‘Book, chapter, and verse’ preacher. That way they know that our response is not just from our own religious background or our own thinking. Every chance we have, we need to emphasize the absolute urgency of listening to God speak to us through His word. Scriptural authority is a requirement! We can also practice moving from the answer to their question into other areas of study. Frequently this will enable us to set up additional studies with them. Of course, we must remember to answer their questions with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15).

Some of the questions I have been asked recently included: What about tattoos and body piercing? What about the observance of special days like Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter, etc.? What about “the Rapture?” What about soul sleeping? Where does the soul go when a person dies? What about the doctrine of once-saved-always-saved? (This teaching is also called the eternal security of the believer and the impossibility of apostasy.) This last question is the one related to the headline of this article and it is what the inmate said after we had studied for a while.

This doctrine would be very comforting if it were true. My conscience wouldn’t have to bother me if I committed some sin after becoming a Christian. I mean, after all, when I sinned, there would be nothing to worry about, because there would be no way I could lose my salvation anyway. Many people rally to this kind of thinking.

This insidious doctrine is blatantly false! There are just too many illustrations and scriptures that state unequivocally that it cannot possibly be true.

Let us turn in our Bibles to two passages of scripture which I find to be very convincing regarding this issue. First, let’s turn to 2 Peter 2:20-22. There we read: “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 (returns—LJW) to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” Inspiraton is clear! If one becomes a Christian (through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ), and then returns again to his old way of life (the pollutions of the world and is entangled again and overcome), he is in a worse condition than he was before he even knew the Lord and became a Christian!

Secondly, we turn to Revelation 22:18-19. “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” One cannot be taken out of that which he has not been in. This would refute their teaching that a person wasn’t saved in the first place because after he is, he cannot lose his salvation. This scripture is evident. God removes those from the book of life and out of the holy city who do not live up to the standards outlined in His word. Let us also read Revelation 20:12, 15: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”