No such thing as an ex-Christian

Dear Beanieboy. If you are a Buddhist, you cannot be a Christian too, and the Bible does tell us that Jesus says: I stand at the door of your heart and knock, if you invite me in, I shall come and sup with you. And as for ex - Christians, I know many young Christians, Salvationists included, who leave the Salvation Army, get married, have children, and after some years return to the fold again. They never wandered far from their Lord, and have never forsaken their allegiance to Jesus. I believe in the end it is the person him = or herself, to know whether he, or she, is still a Christian. And I am sure that Jesus will know. I say this humbly and with love, Beanieboy, and send greetings. Emmy, sister in Christ.

I haven't read the entire thread, so if this is a repeat, I apologize.

Generally, those of us who believe once-saved-always-saved believe that once Christ is living within your heart, you may make errors and you may still, from time to time sin, but you will always repent of those sins because with Christ living in you, you will not want to remain in sin. Based on this believe, we believe that anyone who constantly turns away from God, especially those who curse Christ or who worship idols, never had a truly life-changing-committment to Christ. They may have gone through all the motions, but they never truly felt the pull of Christ to change.

Catholics and other Christian groups believe that it is possible to turn away from God so far that you are as lost as the days before you ever claimed to know Christ.

The bottom line, for both of these groups, is that RIGHT NOW, by stating that you do not worship Christ as Lord and Savior, and by stating that you look at Buddhism as the possible truth - you have shown that you are not a Christian.

How can that happen to someone who once believed they knew Christ? Well, faith is a lot more than the words of a prayer. Faith in Christ is a true, heart felt committment to Christ. A lot of people in this world are active in their church, and can recite scripture, and they prayed a prayer of salvation and they were baptized, but.. in their heart, they held back part of their own souls. In their hearts they were thinking, "We'll see how this works out......"

You can no more make a partial committment to Christ, and have it be a real committment to Christ, than you can make a partial committment to a loving marriage and expect it to be a good, happy, lasting marriage.

TexasSky said:

I haven't read the entire thread, so if this is a repeat, I apologize.

Generally, those of us who believe once-saved-always-saved believe that once Christ is living within your heart, you may make errors and you may still, from time to time sin, but you will always repent of those sins because with Christ living in you, you will not want to remain in sin. Based on this believe, we believe that anyone who constantly turns away from God, especially those who curse Christ or who worship idols, never had a truly life-changing-committment to Christ. They may have gone through all the motions, but they never truly felt the pull of Christ to change.

Catholics and other Christian groups believe that it is possible to turn away from God so far that you are as lost as the days before you ever claimed to know Christ.

The bottom line, for both of these groups, is that RIGHT NOW, by stating that you do not worship Christ as Lord and Savior, and by stating that you look at Buddhism as the possible truth - you have shown that you are not a Christian.

How can that happen to someone who once believed they knew Christ? Well, faith is a lot more than the words of a prayer. Faith in Christ is a true, heart felt committment to Christ. A lot of people in this world are active in their church, and can recite scripture, and they prayed a prayer of salvation and they were baptized, but.. in their heart, they held back part of their own souls. In their hearts they were thinking, "We'll see how this works out......"

You can no more make a partial committment to Christ, and have it be a real committment to Christ, than you can make a partial committment to a loving marriage and expect it to be a good, happy, lasting marriage.

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good post.

25Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[d]; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one." John 10:25-30

11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.
John 17:11

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. John 17:20-26

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23

17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:17-20

They went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. They went out from us that it might be made manifest they were not all of us.
1 John 2:19

The person that believes for awhile and then goes away is exercising human faith and never had the gift of faith given to him by God. They never were genuinely saved. If they were genuinely saved, if they genuinely came to Christ, if they genuinely repented and believed, if they genuinely were given that gift of saving faith, if they truly and honestly opened their heart to that gift from the Lord, that gift would be there to the end. Our continued faith in Jesus Christ is the instrument by which God protects us. So we are protected, protected by a living hope, protected by divine power, a faith that is a gift from God. But it is an active faith, not a passive one. It is an aggressive faith, not a weak one. It is a pursuing faith, not a fleeing one. And we are eager for the salvation that is ready for us to be revealed in the last time.

wnwall said:

To quote Paul Washer, "The greatest heresy in the American, Evangelical, Protestant church is that if you pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart he will definitely come in. You will not find that in any place in scripture."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AYsClDclvf0



It's true. You cannot find a single passage saying, "Pray and ask Jesus into your heart." Jesus preached repentance, a turning away from sin, a desire not to be like the world, a desire to glorify God in everything you do; Jesus never preached that saying a prayer and asking him into your heart makes you a Christian. Instead, Jesus said,

Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" And then will I declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness" (Matthew 7).​

Whether or not you said a prayer one time has nothing to do with whether God created a new heart in you. Regeneration is a supernatural work of God where he takes dead hearts of stone and breathes new life into them, not a work of a prayer.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).​

And God has promised that anyone who he breathes new life into he will preserve to the end.

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).​

I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).​

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Pastor Paul says it all!

Angel4Truth said:

I think this video will answer your question- its called how do you know your saved?It says it much better than i can : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY6F0pkArds

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Anonter excellent vidoe of Pastor Paul Washer preaching the truth. It's heart breaking that many do not believe it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8

Here'e Pastor Paul Washer's full sermon at the 2002 Youth Evangelism Conference in Montgomery, Alabama:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8

i was beginning to wonder if anybody on this forum listened to paul washer. it seems more people like to listen to the Joel Osteen's of the world. great post.

VCViking said:

Anonter excellent vidoe of Pastor Paul Washer preaching the truth. It's heart breaking that many do not believe it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8

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yes it is. it seems as though the more you post actual scriptures in the forum the more people get turned off. and if you talk about a preacher like paul washer, they just think he doesn't know what he's talking about. since the bible is left for interpretation, then we can't know any truths, is basically their belief.