Edition No. 62
This is the home page of the disciples of Jesus.
Nov. 1,  2006
A Prayer
of Jesus
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will.
    WE ARE HERE TO LISTEN TO     
The  Voice  of  Jesus
This is my Son, my Chosen; Listen to Him!

False Doctrines of Christendom
#27 - Perseverance of the Saints
(Once saved, always saved.)

The False Teaching

From the Baptists: All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
The Council of Dort (Calvinism)By reason of these remains of indwelling sin, and also because the temptations of the world and of Satan, those who are converted could not persevere in that grace if left to their own strength. But God is faithful, who, having conferred grace, mercifully confirms and powerfully preserves them therein, even to the end.

The Fifth Point of Calvin's TULIP:  P: The perseverance of the saints. Those people God chooses cannot lose their salvation; they will continue to believe. If they fall away, it will be only for a time.
www.tulip.org The issue of this fifth and final point is that salvation is the work of God's grace in man, and those whom God has appointed to eternal life will find their salvation in Him and by Him. He will keep them to the end, and He will never leave them nor forsake them. "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." (John 10.28-29)
Exposing the Error

Those that believe this hear Paul and other voices in the New Testament first, then make appeals to the utterances of Jesus, and in doing so pervert his Word, the holy Logos. John 10:27-29 quoted in part is typical.  Do you see that they have omitted John 10:27 and, by doing so, have quoted only a portion of the sentence?  In total it reads: 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, 28 and I give them zoe-life eternal, and they will perish not to eternity, and no one will seize them from my hand. 29 My father who has given [them] to me is greater than all, and no one is able to be seizing [them] from the hand of my father.
Vs. 28 & 29 in isolation from vs. 17 says exactly what the Christians want to hear, but add vs. 27 and we see that the entire sentence demolishes their false doctrine, for it applies only to My sheep.  And who are the sheep?  The Lord immediately states their identifying mark: they hear my voice.  These  sheep are persons that have chosen to hear his voice, throwing the matter back onto free will.  His Father has given him those that choose to hear his voice!  But he says:
no one is able to be seizing [them] from the hand of my father.  That is perfect security!  Yes, it is; no one, no third party, is able to seize them.  But being there by their own free will, they are able to get out should they choose to do so. Further they remain there on the condition that they bear fruit.  If they do not bear fruit, the Father himself will take them out, as the Lord illustrated by the parable of the vine in John 15. They also claim perseverance on the basis of Jn.6:47, . . the [one] believing has eternal zoe-life.  If the life is eternal, how can one lose it?  Again, they hear his voice very selectively.  If we think of eternal life as a river that never ends, one can get in the river, and then get out! Free will is inviolate while we remain in the world.  Multitudes on multitudes are saved for eternal life, yet choose of their free will to withdraw so that they do not persevere.
Declaring the Truth
Mk.4:3 Parable of the Sower: Behold the [one] sowing came out to sow. 4 And it came to pass while sowing some fell beside the road, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 And other [seed] fell upon the rocky [places], where it was not having much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it was not having depth of earth. 6 And when the sun rose it was burned up, and because it was not having root it was withered. 7 And other [seed] fell into thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it gave no fruit. 8 And others fell into the good earth and coming up and growing it was giving fruit and it was bearing to thirty [fold] and within sixty and within hundred
.
9 And he was saying: He who has ears to be hearing, let him be hearing.
Mk.4:14 The Interpretation: The sower sows the word. 15  But these are those beside the road, how the word is sown, and when they hear, Satan comes and takes the word having been sown in them. 16 And these being sown upon the rocky [places] are likewise, which when they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but are temporary, then [when] tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they stumble. 18 And these are those being sown into the thorns, these are those having heard the word, 19 and [when] the cares of the age and the deceitfulness of wealth and the lusts [about] the rest enter, they choke the word, and it becomes fruitless. 20 And these are those having been sown upon the good earth, which hear the word and receive [it] and bear fruit in thirty and in sixty and in a hundred.
Jn.15:1 I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, ...6 If anyone be not dwelling in me, he was thrown out like the branch and was withered, and they gather them and throw [them] into the fire and it is burned.  More

  Return to Archive     Email      Return to Home Page