Many times I have come across those who have left the Catholic Church for a community they profess preaches the truth concerning salvation. They say we no longer need to confess our sins to a priest, that we have direct access to God through his Son Jesus Christ. That this direct access came about the moment Christ died on the cross and the temple veil was torn from top to bottom. All one needs to do is recite from the heart the sinners prayer, placing their trust in Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior and one is guaranteed entrance into heaven regardless of the lifestyle they lead.
Multitudes of Catholics have been enticed away from the Church over the past few decades with promises of riches or un-lost salvation. Someone who appeared to be knowledgeable of the scriptures led them away through their own ignorance of the Church’s true teachings. What they heard appeared simple in its context, but what they failed to realize is that Satan can use other professing Christians, pastor’s, or evangelists, as one of his instruments, in fact he has even used many bishops and priests in our own Church.
Many professing Christianity in this present age do not believe that what they hear; what they have been taught, is another gospel other than the gospel of Christ Jesus, yet in many Christian communities this is precisely the case. Jesus, St. Paul and the other apostles repeatedly warned that many would follow false teachers completely unaware that what they hear, what they digest into their soul, is nothing more than spiritual cyanide. And multitudes of professing Christians have done exactly what they have warned against; they have digested the devils poison and are being completely deceived. And more often than not someone who is held in high esteem by the people has introduced it. These individuals do so out of complete ignorance to the fact that the measure they advocate is subversive, that they are leading people away from the truth into plans that completely pervert all scriptural principles. They infuse into the minds of the people distorted truths concerning salvation, which in turn they pass along to others.
Many of the so-called evangelical preachers of today actually change the grace of God into a “license for immorality” (see Jude 4), by declaring to the people that there is such a thing as a carnal Christian. Here is the teaching of a well-known preacher who leads a very large Evangelical mega-church here in America, who also has a large television and radio ministry. “Sometimes out of ignorance or whatever it might be, they (professing Christians) attempt to gratify and meet those needs the same way they did before they were saved, and therefore, you cant tell a carnal believer from a lost man. That is, you can’t tell the cold from the carnal because the truth is; they’re both acting the same way. Now, one of them is in Christ and one of them isn’t. One of them is lost and the other one is in Christ. One of them knows about God and knows him in the experience of salvation; the other doesn’t know him at all” (Charles Stanley: “Spiritual Vs. Carnal—A study in 1 Corinthians, tape#8, PQ092). This teaching my friends is a diabolical lie birthed straight out of hell!
The Catholic Church, whose teachings are rooted not only in scripture, but also the traditions of the apostles and the teachings of the early Church fathers, has always maintained that salvation is a process. It is a past, present, and futuristic reality all at the same time, and that we are “saved by grace through faith.” So what is faith? Scripture tells us “faith is the realization of what is hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, and that what is visible came into being through the invisible” (Hebrews 11:1-3). In other words, as Catholic evangelist Ralph Martin states, “It is a way of knowing and seeing with our spiritual eyes invisible realities that are infinitely more important than the realities we can see with our biological eyes.”
Faith comes to us through the proclamation of the gospel: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith also comes by seeing or hearing of signs and wonders, which is the evidence that confirms the truth of the gospel message that derives from the workings of the Holy Spirit on the soul. As John Paul II stated, “The proclamation of the word of God has Christian conversion as its aim: a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and His gospel through faith. Conversion is a gift of God, a work of the blessed trinity. It is the Spirit who open’s people’s hearts so that they can believe in Christ and confess Him (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3); of those who draw near to Him through faith Jesus says, ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44; Redemptoris Missio no. 46).
Salvation comes through the grace of God. It is God’s free choice and gift that He imparts on undeserving humanity. For the only thing we deserve is death because of our sin. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And contrary to the belief of many, Catholics are not saved by works alone: “If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. If any one says that divine grace through Christ Jesus is given for this only, that man may be able more easily to live justly and to merit eternal life, as if by free will without grace he is able to do both, though with hardship and difficulty, let him be anathema” (Council of Trent).
Multitudes of Catholics have been enticed away from the Church over the past few decades with promises of riches or un-lost salvation. Someone who appeared to be knowledgeable of the scriptures led them away through their own ignorance of the Church’s true teachings. What they heard appeared simple in its context, but what they failed to realize is that Satan can use other professing Christians, pastor’s, or evangelists, as one of his instruments, in fact he has even used many bishops and priests in our own Church.
Many professing Christianity in this present age do not believe that what they hear; what they have been taught, is another gospel other than the gospel of Christ Jesus, yet in many Christian communities this is precisely the case. Jesus, St. Paul and the other apostles repeatedly warned that many would follow false teachers completely unaware that what they hear, what they digest into their soul, is nothing more than spiritual cyanide. And multitudes of professing Christians have done exactly what they have warned against; they have digested the devils poison and are being completely deceived. And more often than not someone who is held in high esteem by the people has introduced it. These individuals do so out of complete ignorance to the fact that the measure they advocate is subversive, that they are leading people away from the truth into plans that completely pervert all scriptural principles. They infuse into the minds of the people distorted truths concerning salvation, which in turn they pass along to others.
Many of the so-called evangelical preachers of today actually change the grace of God into a “license for immorality” (see Jude 4), by declaring to the people that there is such a thing as a carnal Christian. Here is the teaching of a well-known preacher who leads a very large Evangelical mega-church here in America, who also has a large television and radio ministry. “Sometimes out of ignorance or whatever it might be, they (professing Christians) attempt to gratify and meet those needs the same way they did before they were saved, and therefore, you cant tell a carnal believer from a lost man. That is, you can’t tell the cold from the carnal because the truth is; they’re both acting the same way. Now, one of them is in Christ and one of them isn’t. One of them is lost and the other one is in Christ. One of them knows about God and knows him in the experience of salvation; the other doesn’t know him at all” (Charles Stanley: “Spiritual Vs. Carnal—A study in 1 Corinthians, tape#8, PQ092). This teaching my friends is a diabolical lie birthed straight out of hell!
The Catholic Church, whose teachings are rooted not only in scripture, but also the traditions of the apostles and the teachings of the early Church fathers, has always maintained that salvation is a process. It is a past, present, and futuristic reality all at the same time, and that we are “saved by grace through faith.” So what is faith? Scripture tells us “faith is the realization of what is hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, and that what is visible came into being through the invisible” (Hebrews 11:1-3). In other words, as Catholic evangelist Ralph Martin states, “It is a way of knowing and seeing with our spiritual eyes invisible realities that are infinitely more important than the realities we can see with our biological eyes.”
Faith comes to us through the proclamation of the gospel: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith also comes by seeing or hearing of signs and wonders, which is the evidence that confirms the truth of the gospel message that derives from the workings of the Holy Spirit on the soul. As John Paul II stated, “The proclamation of the word of God has Christian conversion as its aim: a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and His gospel through faith. Conversion is a gift of God, a work of the blessed trinity. It is the Spirit who open’s people’s hearts so that they can believe in Christ and confess Him (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:3); of those who draw near to Him through faith Jesus says, ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44; Redemptoris Missio no. 46).
Salvation comes through the grace of God. It is God’s free choice and gift that He imparts on undeserving humanity. For the only thing we deserve is death because of our sin. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And contrary to the belief of many, Catholics are not saved by works alone: “If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. If any one says that divine grace through Christ Jesus is given for this only, that man may be able more easily to live justly and to merit eternal life, as if by free will without grace he is able to do both, though with hardship and difficulty, let him be anathema” (Council of Trent).
The gift of salvation that has been imparted unto us by God, like any other gift, can be accepted or rejected. Catholics believe that while God offers all men the grace to believe in him and to live a righteous life, every individual must choose for his or herself to accept the offer of his salvation. Each one of us has been created in the image and likeness of God. One of the attributes of that image and likeness is “free will,” which enables each of us to make the conscience choice to accept God’s saving grace or reject it outright. The gospel message makes it perfectly clear that all are invited to “repent” and become a follower of Christ Jesus. And it is our responsibility as Catholic Christians to ensure that all have an opportunity to hear the truth of the gospel. Now some people upon hearing the gospel message will accept and embrace it, while others will not.
The Church has always maintained that Christ calls us “to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before Him, His call does not aim at outward works, “sackcloth and ashes,” fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance (see Joel 2:12-13; Isaiah 1:16-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change ones life, with hope in Gods mercy and trust in the help of His grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Father’s called animi cruciatus (affliction of the spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of the heart)” (CCC 1430-31).
Many in our day will not accept what is taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, here I primarily speak of those not in full union with Christ’s Church, therefore the errors of the teaching of un-lost salvation must be demonstrated through the use of scripture. Scripture in and of its self testifies that such a teaching is false.
First turning to 2 Timothy St. Paul reveals, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (16-17). At the time of St. Paul’s writing his letter to Timothy wasn’t considered scripture, in fact none of the New Testament was available to the early Christians as it is to us today. The scriptures to which St. Paul referred, was the Old Testament.
Turning to the book of the Prophet Ezekiel we find that God makes it perfectly clear that one can loose his or her salvation. “When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness, which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die” (18:24).
Furthermore the prophet reveals, “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not my way, which is fair, and your ways, which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies” (25-26).
Turning to the New Testament the Lord once again reveals that many fall away from their salvation (Luke 8:13; John 6:66; 1 Timothy 1:9). So it is plain that after initial salvation one must endure to the “end” in order to gain heaven and escape eternal damnation (Matthew 10:22; Hebrews 3:14; Revelation 2:10-11). Eternal life comes unto us when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and are baptized (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; 1 Peter 3:21). But there is another important aspect concerning eternal life that many are unaware of in our present day because of the false teaching of un-lost salvation. According to scripture eternal life is not guaranteed but “hoped” for (Titus 3:7), yet to be “reaped” (Galatians 6:8-9), in the age to come (Mark 10:30) for only those who persist in doing good (Romans 2:7) and do not grow weary and give up (Galatians 6:9).
St. Peter in his second epistle also makes it perfectly clear that salvation is something that can be lost; “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2:20-21).
Are the proponents of the un-lost salvation doctrine unaware of these passages? Of course not, they merely sidestep them by stating that anyone who turns away was never saved to begin with, but that’s just a cop-out. The truth cannot be changed and the Lord spoke one of those truths when he said, “The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (Matthew 8:13).
An interesting thing about the Lords words is the fact that no time constraint has been attached to “those who believe for a while.” In other words, they could believe four an hour, a day, a year, ten years, twenty or fifty years and still fall away. So we see those that charge the Catholic Church with preaching another gospel have unfortunately brought forth another gospel of their own, one of human origin. In other words, the accuser has become the guilty party.
Those that proclaim the gospel of un-lost salvation claim that it is by faith and faith alone that one is saved. That salvation comes through the recital of a prayer of faith, requiring no other action apart from faith on behalf of the individual. To backup their teaching they offer up such scripture passages as Galatians 3:11, 3:24; Romans 3:28, 10:9-10; Acts 13:30-31; John 3:16; 1 John 5:13; and Ephesians 2:8-9. But nowhere will one find the word “alone” associated with the word faith in any of these passages. To further argue their doctrinal points they may direct one to Romans 8, where St. Paul states, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, of sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter’ (Psalm 44:22). Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (35-39). No matter where we go in this life or the next we cannot escape the love and compassion that God has for His people. What a wonderful promise. However, there is nothing in this promise that states we cannot be separated from his salvation.
The bottom line is this; the gospel associated with the doctrine of eternal security has no biblical foundation and is one that would have you believe that: 1) Salvation begins in a moment’s time and is guaranteed to continue. 2) That there is no salvation maintenance on man’s part. God will keep you, hold you and has already sealed you by His Spirit at the point of salvation assuring an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. 3) That sin can never bring a Christian to his spiritual death, regardless of what sin is committed or false doctrine is believed. Eternal life is a gift that cannot be lost or returned and a present tense possession for the Christian, guaranteeing an entrance into God’s kingdom. 4) Reaching heaven for the Christian is absolutely certain just as though he has already been there for 10,000 years.
