True Christians are the ones who come to Jesus to simply be at peace and in fellowship with Him. Their driving desire in life is to do those things which are pleasing to God. For these, the fellowship, the relationship, with their Lord is heaven.
The Salvation Cultist comes to Jesus as the means of gaining eternal life. This is why the cultist, once he feels he has obtained his "eternal life," really isn't that concerned about being "out of fellowship" with Jesus Christ! Folks, these goats are not that hard to spot!
If you made a listing of the several hundred denominational groups which make up "Christianity" in the world today, you would find it very revealing as to which of these groups teach the heresy of unconditional eternal security and which ones don't.
If we were to place these groups in two categories, over 90% of them would be in the category of those who DO NOT teach unconditional eternal security (that once saved, a person is assured of heaven no matter what)! In the group that DOES NOT teach unconditional eternal security would be such diverse churches (both well known and obscure) as the following.
About 20 Methodist denominations including: United Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, Southern Methodist and Free Methodist. A very large number of non-Pentecostal churches as The Church of the Nazarene, the Salvation Army, Wesleyan Church, Friends Church (Quaker), Pilgrim Holiness, Churches of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Seventh Day Adventist, Missionary Church, Church of God (Anderson, IN) Free-Will Baptists, General Baptists, Armenian, Volunteers of America, Christian Church, and many more. Virtually all Pentecostal denominations including The Assemblies of God, Church of God (Cleveland, TN), The Church of God of Prophecy, United Pentecostal, Pentecostal Free-Will Baptist, Church of God in Christ, and many more. The oldest denominations, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Episcopal, several Lutheran synods, and various Presbyterian and Reformed groups are also in this column.
Yes, even various Calvinistic groups are found here for, while they believe in "eternal security," they also firmly believe that the eternally secure person is in a sin-purged condition.
Thus, they do not teach unconditional eternal security! In fact, most of them teach that when a professing Christian goes back into a life of sin, this demonstrates the individual in question was never truly saved in the first place! They teach that if you live in sin, you are going to go to hell--no matter what religious or good things you may have done!
The column listing those churches and denominations who teach unconditional eternal security would be very short.
It would only contain the cult, The Way International, about 25 Baptist denominations, and a few other fundamentalist groups!
By far, the most notable and largest in membership in this group are Southern Baptists. But even within this group, there are individual congregations and ministers who do not teach unconditional eternal security.
(If you would like to check into the beliefs and history of the many Churches in America for yourself, I recommend you get a copy of Handbook of Denominations In The United States, by Frank S. Mead, Abingdon Press.)
How is it that many "Baptists" so effortlessly and confidently proclaim the moral Jehovah's Witness to be "damned" while accepting the engaged-in-sin church member as a brother?"
This has never made sense to me!
There are ultimately only two things that will send a person to hell: first, the denial of Jesus Christ as the Lord God Almighty; second, the failure to yield to Jesus as Lord of your life.
The Jehovah Witness will go to hell because he denies Jesus as Jehovah God--no matter how good a person he is. Likewise, the professing Christian who is living for himself (in a moral or immoral manner) is damned because he has not yielded his life to Christ's Lordship.
People who say they believe Jesus is God (Lord) but have not repented and yielded themselves to His Divine Lordship are goats, not sheep! They may be deacons in the church, but they are just as lost as any Moonie or Mormon!
Fundamentalist Baptists are known to often point out the false teachings of the Catholic Church, what they consider to be falsehood among Pentecostals, and just about everybody else. But, oh! How they holler when someone does the same thing to them!
If you're a believer in, or practitioner of, unconditional eternal security, the way to take this article is with a grave sense of self examination in light of the Word of God against this doctrine! A person living IN sin is not saved FROM his sins! It's that simple!
You can not afford to just ignore the "verdict" of the hundreds of very diverse segments of Christianity against your position, either. Virtually no one, other than "Baptists," believes in unconditional eternal security!