Monday, August 1, 2022

Can A Christian Lose Their Salvation?

Sorry for the length of this post, but this is really important. Please take your time to go through all the Scriptures listed. Don't listen to me! Listen to the Word of God! 
 
I know I've posted on this topic many times, and I really didn't intend to do so again, but a friend on my blog asked me the question because she needed the information to help a friend. When a good pastor of mine was asked the same question... what verses in the Bible say we can lose our salvation, he said, the entire Bible!  It's true if you step back and look at the whole picture. God's salvation is, indeed, a free gift. We can do nothing to earn salvation. Nothing. But once we receive that gift, God expects our devotion to Him. It's not about "works", it's about a relationship and obedience. Think of it as a marriage proposal. The person accepts and the couple get engaged. The bride to be has to change her lifestyle, doesn't she? She can't continue dating and seeing other men. Not only that, but she must focus her attentions now on her upcoming marriage and on getting ready for the wedding AND for her new life with her husband. If she doesn't do that, but instead continues dating other men and doesn't plan at all for her wedding, no dress, no reception.. her thoughts are elsewhere, then the groom can come to the conclusion that she wasn't serious about getting married in the first place. 
 
 Before I list dozens of Scriptures from the Bible, let me address a few that the Once Saved Always Saved Crowd use
 
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
 
They say that we are sealed unto or until the day of redemption and someone who is sealed cannot be unsealed. First of all, there's no Scripture that says you cannot be unsealed. In fact, there are several that say you can be, but I want to focus on the word unto which they use to say that the sealing is permanent. It is the Greek word 
eis which translates into, unto, to, towards, for, among  and denotes a future action. The Person is sealed FOR the Day of Redemption, meaning that they will be permanently sealed When and If they make it. The "Sealing" is like an engagement ring.

Here's another one they use
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 10:29

Yes, no one is able to snatch you out of God's hands. But you can jump!
 
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
 
They say that "eternal" means eternal. I agree! But we haven't received our gift yet. Unless you are already in heaven, your gift is a future gift. 
 
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:23
 
True. But we haven't received the gift yet AND....
 
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. Matthew 20:16
 
Being called by God doesn't mean you will be chosen!
 
 And here's a new heresy I've recently learned. It is being said now that Repentance or to Repent doesn't mean to turn from your sins, but rather to turn to Jesus and receive His Grace, to change your mind about Jesus and to trust in Him alone.  Some pastors are saying that Repenting from sins is following the Law! Nothing irks me more than hearing this heresy!

Repent in the New Testament is metanoeō and it means to change one's mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins, involves a turning with contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness. (From Strongs Concordance)

Here's some Scriptures to prove my point

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, Matthew 3:7-8
 
Fruits worthy of repentance? Hmm. What could those be? If Repentance merely means receiving Jesus's free gift of salvation (which wasn't possible yet as John spoke these words), what are the fruits of that? 

Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: Matthew 11:20

Jesus had not yet died and risen again, so what could he possibly mean by repent here?

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Matthew 12:41
 
If repentance means to turn to jesus and trust Him for your salvation, how could the people of Nineveh repent before Jesus was even born?
 
John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Mark 1:4

And there it is... repentance is for the remission of sins. It is a turning away from a prior lifestyle of sin, changing your mind about your sinful lifestyle. It is the first step toward salvation...the next step is to believe in Jesus and trust Him for your salvation. 
 
And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. Luke 17:4
 
In the above, this person, who did something wrong to you, is coming to you and saying "I repent".  Is he saying he is changing his mind about Jesus? Or is he saying I'm sorry for what I did to you?

Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. Acts 8:22

No need to comment on that one.

A simple read through of Jesus's own letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3 will crush this heresy. Jesus was speaking to the churches, to Christians and each letter He issues a call to repent. If repentance simply means to change your mind about Jesus and trust in Him for salvation, then that makes no sense because obviously these churches had already done that!
 
Okay, now that I've disproved the verses used by OSAS, let me list the Scriptures that say you can actually lose your salvation.  Let me preface this by saying that I don't think it's easy to lose one's salvation. I think it would take a purposeful act of denying Jesus and walking away from the faith. Also, someone who once trusted in Jesus for their salvation but they walked away, not by their words of denial, but by their actions in which they lead a purposeful sinful life and have no relationship with Jesus at all. Were they ever saved? Perhaps most of them who do this weren't. Yet, you'll see from the Scriptures below, that there are some who really do walk away and who can lose their salvation.  

“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 7:21-23
 
Some may say, well, that person was never saved then. Perhaps, but they sure thought they were!
 
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.  And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:9-13 ESV 
 
This sounds like Christians can, indeed, "Fall away" and yet only those who endure to the end will be saved. 
 
 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:37 ESV
 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  Mark 8:34
 
Hmm. Sounds like Jesus requires something out of us, after all.  
 
 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,  1 Timothy 4:1 
 
If you depart from the faith, then you must have been in the faith to begin with. Just saying....
 
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26 ESV
 
Wow, Harsh words from our Savior. He doesn't mean we should hate our family, only that He must be first in our lives. Whoops sounds like Lordship salvation.
 
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.  What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:20-22 ESV 
 
Really, that says it all, doesn't it? This is the person who got saved but went back into the world and stopped following Jesus 
 
And my personal favorite which can't be denied
 
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. Hebrews 6:4-6 ESV
 
You cannot say that this person was not saved to begin with. Not unless you twist Scripture to your own interpretation 
 
And the ones (seed) on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing (temptation) fall away. Luke 8:13 ESV 
 
These people have received the Word... received Jesus, but when troubles come, they fall away.
 
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.  Revelation 3:5
 
Hmm Apparently someone's name can be blotted out of the book of life.
 
 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:26-29
 
I really can't add anything to the above Scripture and neither should these false teachers.
 
 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27
 
Paul, disqualified? Wow  If he can be disqualified.. well...

 I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,  by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:2

Sounds like we have to hold fast to our faith, to our salvation, to the Gospel or we would have believed in vain 

 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Hebrews 3:6
 
Check out the use of the word IF.  That indicates that something is required of us to keep our salvation.
 
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:3 

Honestly, I could go on and on with Scriptures. I'm not giving you my opinion. This all comes directly from the Word of God. Believe me, I wish with all my heart that salvation could not be lost because that would mean that my entire family, all of whom at one time said the prayer of salvation, would still be saved. But I cannot go against Scripture. I just can't.  Yes, Salvation is FREE but we have an obligation to keep it. God didn't remove our Free Will when we got saved. If we choose to walk away from God, we can. 

We all sin, but it's a matter of the heart. Are we repenting (oh no, there's that nasty word again) Are we walking daily with Jesus? Do we want to change and follow Him? That's all He requires. As long as we are trying and we have a continual relationship with Him!  Thank God for His Grace and Mercy!




29 comments:

  1. Thank you Marylu for the detailed explanation of what salvation actually entails. This time we live in definitely tests our commitment to our faith. I also have family who were believers but turned away and was always taught the OSAS theory. I always felt that there was something wrong with that belief. God bless you for putting the word out there to set the record straight. Pam

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    1. Most Welcome Pam! all I did was copy and paste the Word of God. It's really hard to argue with that.

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  2. Thanks 😊 I agree

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  3. ok good.
    Thank you MaryLu for posting this. I did share it with my friend, but she is not having any of it, still saying that once saved, always saved. She quoted scriptures, of which there are too many to post here, but basically says that God's commands were for the Jewish alone, who denied Him as the Messiah, and not "us". She says unfortunately you are the one being deceived and not her. I will pray for her, which is all that I can do. I do not want to argue with her and try to change her beliefs, because at this point, I do not believe that is possible. I do appreciate all the effort you put into this post, and hopefully it will help someone else. Love and Blessings, Kathy.

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    1. Hmm. I don't remember that Scripture that says God's commands were only for the Jews. Odd since many of the churches Paul started were gentiles. Also it says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" not just some Scripture. No sense in arguing with people who are so blind and deceived. Just pray for her. If she is following the Lord and has a relationship with Him, she is saved, but it's the people who think they can live anyway they want, in sin and immorality, and still be saved that is frightening. I'm glad you posed the question. It got me to look at all the Scriptures again. Blessings!

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    2. Just so you know, the lady below... Deborah (Hickinbotham) Collins, is the person that I shared your blog with about losing salvation. As you can see, she wants to argue about this and has some strange ideas concerning this. I also believe that "Anonymous" below is also her just by how she posts. I am sorry, MaryLu. I had thought I had found a sister in Christ, but apparently, I was mistaken. I have stopped following her on FB, and am very close to unfriending her, as well. Her beliefs are not my beliefs, and she frightens me. I will continue to pray for her though. Thank you for putting up with this. I am embarrassed.

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    3. Kathy, This is Deborah Collins. I’m sorry you feel that way about someone that disagrees with you. I would never unfriend you or anyone for that reason because if you have the “truth” and you believe that the the other person does not, wouldn’t the Lord want you to continue being a light to that person? What if God considers your unwillingness to help me understand the terms of salvation or at least to be an example of how Christians should treat others, as a sin of unforgiveness — and did not Jesus clearly say that if you don’t forgive others, your father in heaven will not forgive you?

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    4. Romans 16:17
      Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them.

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    5. Yes, Kathy!! And we should not associate with anyone who preaches a different Gospel than the one Paul preached.

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  4. Amen, and the truth is revealed, MaryLu you are a blessing. I have often used many of these scripts myself with the OSAS.
    #1 Repentance. 1 John 1: 7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.…
    #2 Col 1: 22But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence— 23if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. ****** there are several scripts that use the key word here " continue".
    #3 and this gets a littles personal. I believe I was saved at a very young age at about 6, when I was in Catholic school. I did not believe this because of any of the many rituals of the church, but because the Lord told me so, and I loved Jesus.
    I led a very troubled life. A very up and down childhood ( no this is not an excuse, nor do I blame my parents who had their own struggles !). In my late teens a left the church in pursuit of sex drugs and rock and roll, a lethal comb in the 60 and 70's ! This brought terrible destruction in my life. At 30 I received Jesus and was baptized into His Holy name. I was on fire for the Lord. I repented, and remained in His grace about 10 years. Then a barrage of bad, hurtful stuff came at me and I ran from the Lord. I was willfully, and extremely angry with God, and yes I turned my back on Him. I did not talk to God for about 10 years, not a word. Occasionally He would send me a message, which I would fluff off. My whole world crumbled. I was in a rage, all by myself, cursing at God and blaming Him for my circumstances pacing back and forth. I was in tears. When suddenly I realized all this anger, all the stuff that was pouring out of me, was a prayer. Remember on of the Psalms when David say's " how long Lord will you let my enemies gloat over me "!. And for the first time, in a long time, I felt His presence on me, washing me, healing me, restoring me.
    I say all this in ref to Heb 10:22-26 because I do not believe in OSAS. Yet something marvelous and spectacular laid hold of me that day. Something I cannot deny. I was as David after he had sinned terribly. I was literally the prodigal son. And the Father lavished a harvest of blessings on me that remain to this day.
    Maybe I was never saved in the beginning, yet I knew I was, as I know I am now. So I dont know what to think about this script MaryLu. As you say, it's kind of self explanatory. We cant deny what it say's. But God can do things we cannot imagine. The depths of His glory and grace are higher than our thoughts can think. And His mercy's are unfathomable ! And I know without doubt, lol, maybe one of the few things I am certain of that I will see my Lord in the land of the living and dwell with Him forever in Hos Holy Place ! Praise the name of Jesus forever and ever.
    Be blessed Sister.

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    1. My life went down a similar path to yours.. I "accepted" Jesus at a young age but then went about my life in my teens and 20s doing all the things I shouldn't do. I made a mess of my life.. but I know God had a hold on me and He knew He'd eventually bring me back. Unfortunately, He had to bring me to the end of my self. so, yes, The Lord is so so very merciful and gracious!! And He loves us so much that He chases us and prompts us and does everything He can to get us to turn to Him! He lives outside of time and therefore knows who will turn back to Him and who won't. I do wonder, though, if I had died during those prodigal years when I was living in daily, purposeful sin and essentially had turned away from my faith, where I would have gone. I thank God He didn't give up on me!!

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  5. I'm very troubled when I see those that say they are saved believers but only because they themselves believe they keep themselves saved. It's a dishonor to God and to his Son, Jesus Christ, to doubt their power to keep you "in Christ." I almost have to laugh when I imagine a Christian going in and out of Christ's body due to failing in some way, repenting, doing better, then having another failure, and on and on like a yo-yo. It's insulting to God at the very least. Wrongly dividing the Scriptures has caused every one of the cults that are rampant in the world. Not only do their members try to live by another dispensation's message from God, but they also believe that God must treat them in the same manner that he treated those in a different dispensation as well. Today, in this dispensation of grace according to the mystery Paul received from Christ after the Jews were let go in Acts 28, we are living in a sign-less age in which, although God wants us to pray and tell him our needs, he has no intention of interfering in the natural course of our lives. God doesn't save one baby from drowning while letting another one perish! If he did, he could reasonably be blamed for the dead one's death seeing as it was in his power to save that child! God isn't in the business of getting believers a better parking place than the heathen, or sending a miracle envelope of grocery money to one family while letting their neighbors starve. Because salvation is a free gift for trusting Jesus Christ and what he did at Calvary, God does not treat us like children as he treated Israel. We are treated like grown men with the mind of Christ that order their affairs with courage, maturity, and intelligence. Believing that God is a Santa Claus type that whimsically gives or cruelly withholds is proving that you do not know him; you only know how he dealt with Israel and expect to be treated the same. Just look around you and you will see plainly that God is silent in the heavens at this time, similar to his 400-year silence between Malachi and Matthew, except that he was silently angry at Israel's unfaithfulness at that time, but now, he is silent in grace as people are added to "the kingdom of his dear Son" Col. 1:13 KJV by grace through faith (real faith, not faith with conditions), and once we are added, nothing can subtract us. What if that issue was the dividing line between being saved or not being saved? I believe it is, and that only those that believe they are eternally secure in Christ by grace through faith are truly saved, and those that don't are yet to be saved!

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    1. Sounds like you've been listening to some false teachers and preachers out there, Deborah. I don't know where to begin, and I sense that it would be fruitless to argue with you. Half of what you said here were things I never said in this post and were not things I believe. .All I did in this post was list Scripture after Scripture, so if you have an issue, I suggest you take it up with Jesus.

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    2. I wanted to also say that we are not in a Sign-less age. Not sure where you get that from but I've personally experienced many many supernatural signs and wonders from the Lord and He is definitely NOT silent. :-) I pray He opens your spirit eyes to truly see Him.

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  6. Question: Is there any sin that Jesus didn't pay for at the cross?

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    1. No.. He paid for it all! Praise His Name! It's not about sin. You misunderstood the entire post, or maybe you didn't actually read it. It's about a commitment to Jesus to follow Him and have a relationship with Him and live our lives for His Glory! Of course we all sin from time to time. That doesn't break our fellowship with Him. But if we walk away from Him and chose to live for this world and its pleasures and sins, then we have walked away from Jesus. And the Scriptures I've listed above tell quite plainly what the consequences of that are.

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  7. Thank you for your replies, MaryLu; I appreciate your willingness to discuss this very important subject. I realize that all scripture is God-breathed and very valuable for our learning, but again, it must be rightly divided. Christians do quite a bit of right division because we don’t see too many trying to sacrifice animals or force menstruating women to quarantine in a tent, but it seems that the wrong division comes in with regard to the terms of salvation. I’m not saying believers should not strive to live a holy and moral life, but if they have been placed “in Christ,” where they now have “the righteousness of God in him, it’s that righteousness that God sees, not our less than perfect human condition; because, face it, no one can measure up to God’s righteousness in their own strength. Of course, God knows that and that’s why he offers eternal life as “the gift of God, lest any man should boast.” The very best-behaved of us might have fleeting feelings of self-pride, a sin which God has said he hates! Humans don’t just sin — we are sin! That’s why God doesn’t just give us more strength to avoid sin; he gives us his very own righteousness that overrides our sinful human nature and makes it possible for him to declare us righteous in his sight so that now he can justify saving us. Gifts would not be gifts if they could be demanded back; that would make them just a prize that can be lost or forfeited by some future act. Even when someone ceases to love us and breaks all ties with us, even humanly speaking, we don’t ethically have the right to demand the return of something we had freely given them. Believing that God demands the return of his gift if we “walk away” from him is equating God to an immature tyrant demanding a gift back. True gifts — and what other kind would God give? — come with no strings attached. Paul wrote to Timothy that even if we “believe not” (cease to believe the gospel), he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself” (which I take to mean that when we first trusted Christ we were sealed eternally into him and became such a part of him that he would be amputating his own body if he cut us out!). Again, I say, that it is a condition of our salvation to go into it believing we are kept eternally secure in Christ by the power of God. There is nothing we can humanly do to lose it or keep it; it’s in God’s power, not ours (thank God!). God wants us to rest in that assurance and with joy confidently wait for the redemption of our bodies when Christ shall appear. He isn’t expecting us to turn into fearful bean-counters, anxiously weighing our worthiness to be saved in the balance every day! Those kinds of Christians are too focused on themselves to be any good to others! Without radiating the joy of being certain of your salvation, it’s pretty difficult to attract unbelievers to want what you have!

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    1. Deborah, I believe in my heart that you mean well and actually believe what you are saying. You mix truth in with many twisted lies and it is very concerning. IF you had read the entirety of my post, you would know that I agree that salvation is a FREE gift of God and cannot be earned. However, we can give it back. God doesn't take it back, but we can give it back by our actions and lifestyle, by fully rejecting following Jesus and having a relationship with Him. I listed tons of Scriptures above, and I notice you aren't using any of them in your faulty arguments. Believe me, I am not at all fearful nor a bean counter over my sins. However, I do spend time with the Lord everyday and in His Word, and I strive to walk in obedience to Him. If you knew me, you'd see the radiance of His Spirit shining through me. So sad that you think people who want to follow Jesus are doing so begrudgingly and are unhappy. On the contrary, the closer I get to HIm, the more joyful I become. I am secure in my salvation because I know I will never walk way from Him!

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  8. To address your claim of having experienced supernatural signs and miracles, I would say that this claim goes hand in hand with believing you can lose your “salvation” (which if you think you can lose it you probably never had). After my own personal experience and after hundreds of hours spent reviewing the accounts of others that had had a supernatural encounter such as a near-death experience or a UFO sighting, and even just hearing a voice that isn’t theirs speak either audibly or telepathically, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that every baby is born demon-possessed; and the person remains that way until or if they place their faith completely in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished at Calvary. By completely I mean not keeping back some of their faith in their own ability to stay saved. I have heard people that consider themselves to be Christians (especially Catholics, Mormons, Oneness Pentecostals, and Seventh-Day Adventists report experiences and visions where they travel to heaven and meet “Jesus” and “archangels,” etc. but the thing these deceived, demon possessed people all have in common is that they believe they are kept saved by their own efforts and they come away from the phony experiences more determined than ever to clean up their act and double down on doing good works. So, I have to conclude that those that believe they can, through some fault or lack of their own, lose the fake salvation they think they have, are still possessed by the demons assigned to them at conception; and those demons are able and willing to perform what seems like a miracle or a “sign” to actually cement that unsaved person’s belief that they are saved. Demons can and do work together with the demons of others to cause chance meetings and unexplained coincidences in the lives of people who are Christians in name only and not by unshakable faith. I learned some of this the hard way when I realized that I was demon possessed. There’s no such thing as an exorcist; the only way demons can be evicted is for the possessed person themselves to place their faith completely in Christ at which point the Holy Spirit that comes to indwell that believer evicts and bars entrance to any and all demons possessing that person. My own account of deliverance has been online for years: https://maryapparitiontruth.Wordpress.com So if you are truly experiencing supernatural events, it’s very possible that you are still demon possessed from birth. Paul told his churches that signs would cease and in Colossians 2:18 he warns believers today not to seek angelic encounters.

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    1. The entirety of your response here is completely UnBiblical and Heretical. There is no Scripture that says any of what you are saying. This is your own faulty opinions and probably things you've heard from Satanic preachers. You are calling a Spirit-filled Child of God demon possessed, and I would be very concerned about that if I were you. When they did that to Jesus, He warned them about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Please be careful. I have seen and experienced personally healings and demon deliverance... and my husband has seen angels. No one can ever tell me those things didn't happen. Nor were they demon-inspired since Jesus Himself said that no house divided against itself will stand. Please be careful.

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  9. I was unable to sign in in my smartphone but the 2 anonymous comments above are mine. I never hide behind anonymity if I can help it.

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    1. And then I still forgot to say that, yes, I am Deborah Collins. 😊

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  10. I just now realized that this is probably more of a Bible version issue than anything because there are at least five places in the Authorized King James Version that state that we are saved "by the faith of Jesus Christ"! The faith OF Christ; not by our own humanly weak faith that varies day to day by our emotions and circumstances. Here they are: Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16, 2:20, 3:22; Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:9; and Colossians 2:12 KJV. We are saved by the faith of Jesus Christ, not by our own faith. Stop using Catholic bibles!

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    1. Deborah, I read the King James often, along with the Amplified. I cross check with a few other versions occasionally and am well aware that most versions have errors in them. I also often check on the Hebrew and Greek meaning of Words to get the original intent. I NEVER said we were saved by our own faith. You keep saying lies. I see that all you want to do is argue. I encourage you to read the Scriptures I posted in this article. Read them in the King James.. and ask the Lord to make His Truth Clear to you. I'm done here, for the Scripture says not to argue with a fool. I will pray for you.

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  11. I'm done here too but with this parting thought: If YOU are the author and finisher of your own faith and can un-finish God's work in you by your own will, then you are your own God.

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  12. Amen MaryLu....Thank you for your time and effort to look up and post these scriptures that do not make cheep, God's grace. May He be glorified in our lives by our daily walk with Him as Lord; daily taking up our cross and following Jesus in thought, word and deed. God bless!

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    1. Thank you, Susan!! That's all I believe these Scriptures are saying.. what you put so succinctly here "taking up our cross daily and following Jesus in thought, word, and deed" ! Not works, but devotion and love.

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