Since I have written Who-Goes-To-Heaven Scriptures — Narrow is the Way | Who are the Children of God?, it would seem logical that I would agree with a message entitled We Have Forgotten that the Way is Narrow. I do appreciate very much what Paul Washer says here, but he is teaching another form of the once-saved-always-saved fallacy in this presentation; though, this is much less dangerous than how most teach once-saved-always-saved.
The extreme view:
Charles Stanley and many others teach that if a person is truly born-again, there is nothing they can do to lose their salvation. Even unrepentant rapists and murderers go to heaven in this teaching
Paul Washer and some others’ view:
If a person is truly born-again, God will make sure that the person will stay enough on the right path that he or she will go to heaven no matter what. Washer probably believes in God’s sovereignty, instead of man having free will and therefore personal responsibility.
What I believe:
Many have been truly and sincerely born-again. Many have sincerely tried to follow the Holy Spirit (or do so in spurts), Who is in them, prompting them to overcome and convicting them of sin, but many are willfully disobeying to the degree that they’re not making sure they are right with their brothers and sisters and God Himself so they have clean consciences to be able to enter heaven, according to what the Bible really says. I show in Who-Goes-To-Heaven Scriptures — Narrow is the Way | Who are the Children of God? what the Bible really teaches regarding what God requires of His people. Our hearts must be pure. We must overcome as God enables us to do so by His Grace.
I believe that truly born-again people can easily (especially these days with all of these temptations) willfully sin to where we leave the safe place of abiding in Christ, to where our consciences condemn us. And unless we repent and get right with God again (and sometimes this means getting right with people too), then we are in danger of going to Hell.
This is not normal Christianity, but it is normal for many ‘Christians’ today. Many have been led astray into thinking that we can ignore the warning-promptings of the Holy Spirit and the meek Jesus will give us the thumbs up anyway. But Jesus in heaven is not mainly meek. Jesus is endued with power, completely holy. If our consciences bother us on earth, where His presence is right now not very strong, imagine how our unclean consciences will shout at us. We will tremble when we stand before our HOLY GOD, face to face, horrified by our guilt that remains!!!
Consider this pastor, who would have spent eternity in hell just because he refused to forgive his wife:
Pastor DIES > goes to HELL because he HADN’T FORGIVEN his wife > AROSE from the dead almost 2 days later > tells story
Washer ignores the many verses that I give in “Who-Goes-to-Heaven Scriptures…” that show how holy we must be to be going-to-heaven children of God.
I know a pastor, locally, who was going to teach a number of messages about who goes to heaven. Before he did so, he promised he’d look at my writings. I was so excited and certain we could get on the same page and help revival to soon happen. To my utter shock and amazement, he ended up refusing to read what I wrote, and he taught similarly to what Paul Washer teaches in this message regarding the Calvinist perseverance of the saints doctrine — that if a person is truly born-again they will persevere, showing fruit — even if there is bad fruit, willful, unrepentant sin in there too. He then cut me off from his life, and hasn’t spoken to me since; even though, an overseer must be blameless: Paul’s Elders’ qualifications revisited: What does ‘BLAMELESS’ mean? — Most pastors are biblically disqualified.
I appreciate Paul Washer’s willingness to teach about the fear of the Lord and some of the warning scriptures, but it doesn’t seem to me that this kind of teaching really is bringing about Christlike fruit in which people are really getting holy and right with God and each other so we can be free — and ‘ONE’!
I don’t see the joy of the Lord here. I still see a license for willful sin. The emphasis in this kind of teaching isn’t in overcoming, but in getting truly born-again, which I believe many really have been. Because being born-again is a decision we make, God giving us the grace in order to respond to His wooings. And walking with Christ is also a daily, even hourly decision we make. We can walk out of His hand. We can remove ourselves away from the Vine in order to do our own thing that we know He doesn’t approve of. Jesus in John 15 is very clear, and tells of the consequences if we were to die in that state.
We can become prodigal sons and daughters. We can forfeit our birthright. But we can also come back to Him, where He will run to us with open arms, where we can live safely in Christ.
It’s up to us, for we know what His will is: that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus will always enable us to overcome. But it’s up to us to abide in Him, connected to the Vine, so His sap can flow through us where fruit will remain — so we won’t be thrown into the fire and burned.
The ball is in our court, not God’s.
God has sovereignly given us free will to determine our own fate. And I just don’t understand how pastors can think things are okay when the presence of God can hardly even be felt during group ‘worship.’ Shouldn’t that be a warning sign that something isn’t right, because God “resists the proud but gives grace to the humble?”
Why aren’t pastors relentless in figuring out what is wrong with us so God can move among us again as a group?
Most pastors are confidence men, telling the people “I’m okay; you’re okay,” when hardly anyone is okay with God, really — or we’d be ‘ONE,’ and the world would know. God’s grace would be so filling us. We’d be shouting for joy!!!
Let us be ‘ONE’!!!
May we be free in Him — demon and false-doctrine free. Then the world will know — John 17. Now, they smell a rat until we are holy.
They’ll know us by our love for another. OSAS does not compel us to walk in perfect love for one another so the glory of God can give us so much real, overcoming joy that the world will know!!!
Power to the peaceful!!!
Jeff Fenske
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_hGBFVzYZ4]We Have Forgotten that the Way is Narrow. (Paul Washer)
Uploaded by LaneCh on Sep 5, 2008
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
(Mat 7:13-14)
http://www.heartcrymissionary.com
Related – John Calvin didn’t get it:
My Ph.D.-genius-friend, John Calvin expert: “In all my reading of Calvin, I don’t recall him ever apologizing for a mistake or admitting an error.” | According to Paul, can John Calvin be in heaven?
John Calvin Had Servetus Burned at the Stake — His Ashes Cry Out!
The Protestant Reformers Were Frauds: By their Fruits You Will Know Them — Martin Luther was a false teacher, a racist, a persecutor and a murderer! John Calvin was a false teacher, a deranged tyrant, a persecutor and a murderer!
John Calvin was a Persecutor
Who-Goes-To-Heaven Scriptures — Narrow is the Way | Who are the Children of God? — “There is therefore now *no condemnation* to those who are IN CHRIST Jesus, who don’t WALK according to the flesh, but ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT.”
