How To Know That You Are Saved

1st John 3:20, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

What a precious Scripture! I am listening to a wonderful sermon right now called, “John The Baptist—The Doubter” by Pastor Jack Hyles. Toward the end of the sermon Brother Hyles quotes our text passage from 1st John 3:20. This verse means that if you feel that you are not saved, God knows that you are saved if you meet the following FOUR conditions, which Dr. Hyles outlines in this sermon. When you remember trusting Christ:

1. Did you know you were a sinner?
2. Did you know you could not save yourself, and that you were lost without Christ?
3. Did you know that Jesus took your sins off you and placed them on Himself, and Christ died paying the penalty completely for your sins?
4. Did you trust Jesus as your substitute and your sacrifice?

When we experience doubts, we should go over our testimony...

Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

They overcame by the word of their testimony.

Every Christian believer experiences doubts at times. ...

1st Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

For many years after I got saved at age 13 I doubted. The reason why I doubted was simply because I didn't understand how salvation fully worked. Preachers were mostly to blame, because they all led me to pray a Sinner's Prayer, which confused me concerning the Gospel. Praying to be saved is unbiblical. Jesus said in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” You can believe on Christ without praying.

The first thing to do when you doubt God's gift of salvation is to realize that you are not alone. Everyone doubts their salvation at some point in their Christian life. I sure have. Dr. Hyles admits that he did too. And so did Dr. John R. Rice admit to doubting God's salvation at times.

The second thing to do is go over your salvation testimony in your mind. Did you know you were a sinner? But you say, “I cannot remember if I knew I was a sinner years ago.” Dear reader, the important thing is do you know it now? Do you know that you're a sinner? Do you know that Jesus came to earth as the virgin born only begotten Son of God? Do you believe that He died in your place on the cross 2,000 years ago? Do you believe that Jesus was buried but then resurrected three days later? If this is your only hope for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, then you are saved. This is “the gospel”:

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

I don't know I'm saved because I was there when it happened, or because I got happy or tingle, or because I felt a burden roll away. I know I am saved because God the Father said I am a sinner, and that sinners are lost and go to Hell forever. I know I am saved because God said He made a way of escape through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus. God the Father says in His written Word that Jesus died on a cross to pay my debt of sin, and that He was buried, and then three days later He physically ressurected from the dead. God and that if I trust Christ He will save me. Anything less or more is a counterfeit plan of salvation.

Do you believe the Gospel (i.e., the Good News, Glad Tidings) dear reader? Are you completely resting in Christ's finished redemptive work (Hebrews 4:10-11)? I didn't ask if you've turned from your sinful bad habits. I didn't ask if you've surrendered “all” to Christ. I didn't ask if you walked down a church aisle. I didn't ask if you've prayed a sinner's prayer. I didn't ask if you've joined a church. I didn't ask if you've been water baptized. I didn't ask if you've kept the sacraments. I asked if you are completely resting in the finished redemptive work of Christ? Have you been born again?

I have met professed Christians who still doubt no matter what I show them from the Bible. I have shared every salvation sermon, quote, book and Bible verse I can think off with some people, but they still refuse to believe they are saved. For those people I would show you 1st John 3:20, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” Unless you are calling a liar, then you must admit that He saves those who trust in the Good News of Jesus crucified, buried and risen from the dead.

Written by God's grace, I encourage you to read my helpful 42 chapter book, “SALVATION.” I re-edited my book in 2016, added 6 additional chapters, and put it in .pdf format. Enjoy!

It is possible to KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are saved. Jesus told us in Luke 20:20b, “rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” You could not rejoice that your name is written in Heaven, unless you CAN have the 100% assurance you are saved. 1st John 5:13 says we can KNOW we are saved. As I mentioned earlier, I doubted God's free gift of salvation for many years after I got saved. I made the mistake of focusing upon the sinner's prayer. Since I couldn't remember years later what my frame of mind was when I got saved, I worried a lot. I cried actual tears on umpteen occasions.

To be honest dear reader, I do not know the day when I was saved. In fact, I cannot nail down the year! I think, to the best of my recollection, that I had just turned 13 a few months before I got saved in 1980. I do remember the place in church. I was sitting in a pew. It was a Baptist church on a Sunday morning. For the first time in my life I felt Holy Spirit conviction as a lost sinner, and that morning I called out to God silently in my soul and asked Jesus to save me. From that day until present, I have felt the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit in my soul, like a light switch that was turned on. Before I got saved, there is only a blank in my mind.

If this article and my book hasn't helped you dear friend to settle the matter of the assurance of your salvation, I welcome you to contact me at my ministry email. I have lots of resources, including books and sermons to help you. Here is a very helpful book by Michael P. Bowen titled, “I Never Knew You,” which book I cherish. This book is a faithful defense of the free grace Gospel. It is tragic that a counterfeit plan of salvation is being preached from nearly every pulpit today.

When I attended the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam in 2013-2015, they preached the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. Marty Herron was their incompetent senior pastor at the time, who ultimately banned me from attending their corrupt church. In hindsight they did me a favor, lest I be corrupted by their perverted gospel.

While I attended Harvest, although I hadn't told them about my website ministry, they found it. One of their deacons approached me after church one Sunday evening and he asked me how to know he was saved. I was delighted to share with him some of the helpful truths from my book on Salvation, for which he said, “Why don't they teach things like that from the pulpit.” I told him it is because their pastors don't know the pain of not knowing you are saved, but I do. I do. For many years I wept, worried and wallowed in misery not knowing that I was saved certain. You can know dear friend, and I encourage you not to rest until you settle it.

I used to feel scared going down into our basement in Chicago. It was pitch black! We had one of those ceiling light bulbs with a pull string. In my fear I used to swing my arm wildly in desperation feeling in the dark for the light string. I would unintentionally hit the string and it would move around so that it took me longer to find it. So I quickly learned to go slow, so as to not hit the string. I went slow so that I could find the string sooner and get that light on.

Do you know why I was afraid? It is because I didn't know what might be in the dark. We fear things that we don't understand. God and the Bible are frightening to those who do not understand. That is why I started this blog ministry dear reader back in 2020, so that I could educate and feed Jesus' sheep concerning spiritual truths. And so that I could preach the “Gospel of Peace“” (Romans 10:15) to lead lost sinners to find peace with God the Father through faith in His only begotten Son. Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

“Men look on the blood of Christ with scorn and contempt, but the time is coming when the blood of Christ will be worth more than all the kingdoms of the world.” —Pastor Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899)

“Faith cannot be called the 'condition' of receiving, for it is the 'receiving' itself; Christ holds out, and believers receive.” —Jonathan Edwards

“There is nothing in God's universe that is so utterly useless as a merely formal Christian.” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Without Christ you have a hopeless end; with Christ you have an endless hope. There is nothing standing in the records of eternity against any soul that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. All you need to do to be saved is to just believe Jesus did it all for you. Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Does Living In Sin Prove That Someone Is Not A Christian

Matthew 7:15-16, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

1st John 4:1-2, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.”

I read a disturbing comment on YouTube this week in which a man accused Pastor Steven Anderson of not being saved, because of the recent problems with his four oldest children. I felt compelled to weigh in and correct the man for his foolish assumption (typos are his)...

Ronnie Nichols: Just to be clear .... This guy is "not" a Christian, much less, much less, a man of God! .... He will answer to God this this.

Me: One's behavior has nothing to do with whether or not they have faith in Christ to be saved.

Ronnie Nichols: you must read your bible. You need to start with Matthew 7:16 "You can identify them ( "them being, a believer or follower of Jesus Christ ) by their "fruit", that is, by the way they act. " ... Your ACTIONS, prove more than your words. that vdo is proof of his actions.

Me: Well then half the saints in the Bible weren't saved according to your flawed theology. Noah got drunk. Samson chased unholy skirts. Abraham was a liar. Sarah laughed at the promise of God. Solomon was a sex pervert. Jacob was a cheat. David was an adulterer and murderer. Jesus found Peter butt naked in public after He resurrected from the dead. Ananias and Sapphira were killed by the Holy Spirit for fraud. Demas loved this present world and forsook Paul's side on a missionary journey. Kindly, you are the ignorant one.

It is sad that your hypocrisy and hatred is so strong that you want Steven Anderson to burn in Hell. You're no better than he is. Romans 6:1 teaches a Christian falls "in grace" but never "from grace." By all appearances the false prophets in Matthew 7:21-23 were saved, but Jesus denied knowing them as His sheep. You foolishly assume that "fruit" means one's behavior, but the only way to determine if someone is really saved is by a direct testimony from their own mouth concerning Jesus Christ. Pastor Steven Anderson has his faults, as also you and I do too, but he is a born again Christian according to the inspired Word of God, if you believe 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. SOURCE

Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty.

Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.

Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.

If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

If salvation is truly by grace, then you don't need to start or stop anything to be saved. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23). 

One is saved by God's grace through faith in the finished Work of His Son on the Cross as payment in full as our pardon for sin.

If you have to look at your life to prove that you're saved, it just proves that you're not. The only thing that you and I contribute to our own salvation is the sin that made it necessary.

And once you get saved you are still a horrible sinner, and you will continue to be one until the good LORD calls you to go home to Heaven. That is the great deception behind the entire “repent of your sins” crowd today, because No one has ever repented to turn away from their sins; NO ONE! You may try hard to sin less, but you'll still be a dirty sinner.

There are only two categories:

1. You are either a saved dirty sinner whose sins have been washed away by the precious blood of Jesus in response to your faith in the Gospel.
2. Or else you are a lost dirty sinner who is still hellbound in your sins; living dangerously under the condemnation of God's Law.

Either way you and I are still dirty sinners! The only thing that makes you or I any more righteous than Jeffrey Dahmer, Judas Iscariot, Taylor Swift or Adolf Hitler is the blood of Jesus Christ that saves us (Romans 5:9; 1st Peter 1:18-19). I have no righteousness of my own to offer God, and neither do you (Isaiah 64:6). The only reason why I am going to Heaven one future day is because I am trusting in God's imputed righteousness, which is by faith alone in Jesus (Philippians 3:9).

Our POSITION in Christ is forever settled the moment we get saved. Our CONDITION in Christ depends upon our faithfulness day by day, which is discipleship not sonship. Lest we pervert the Gospel of free grace, it is imperative that we always keep salvation (Galatians 3:26) completely separate from service (Romans 12:1). Living in sin doesn't in any way prove that someone is not a born again believer.

It is a dangerous folly to attempt to judge who is saved or lost based upon one's manner of life. What saith the Scripture? 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” It is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit that confirms our faith in Jesus Christ as taught in the Scripture, giving us the full joy of assurance (1st John 1:4). The test is not how someone behaves; but rather, do you have the Holy Spirit?

If your whole trust is in what Jesus Christ did through Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago to pay for your sins—believing that He died on a cross in your place, and was buried, but then bodily resurrected from the dead three days later, you are saved. Your behavior has absolutely nothing to do with your decision to rely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. You simply need to believe that Jesus did it all for you.

You CAN KNOW That You Are Saved Certain

1st John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

I have met many Christians who struggled with the assurance of their salvation. The good news is that you don't need to worry friend. It's like walking into a dark alley. You feel scared, not because of the darkness, but because you don't know what might be lurking in the darkness, It is natural as humans to feel scared or apprehensive about things which we don't fully understand.

The same is true about God's simple plan of salvation. From my experience I have learned that many people are not familiar with the Gospel. They have heard pieces here and there, but no one has ever presented to them a clear understanding of the Gospel (i.e., the Good News) of Jesus Christ crucified on a cross, buried and bodily risen the third day from the dead. According to 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 this is the Gospel by which all who believe it are saved (cf. Romans 1:16).

I Wrote A Helpful Book Titled, 'SALVATION'

By God's grace, I wrote a 42-chapter free book titled, "SALVATION," to help others who have been struggling with the assurance of their salvation. The first thing that you need to know is that it is not YOUR salvation, salvation is of the LORD (Jonah 2:9). God does the saving, not you. Although you probably already knew this, I find that many folks who struggle with assurance of salvation are guilty of constantly second-guessing what they said, knew or prayed on the day they got saved. And to clarify, you DON'T have to pray at all to be saved, you could just BELIEVE. What saith the Scripture? John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Beleiving is enough to get to Heaven!

I made this horrible mistake myself after I got saved at age 13. For the next several years, I worried whether I was saved or not. I kept foolishly wondering what I had prayed when I got saved. “What if?” I kept wondering. “What if?” “What if?” “What if?” Those “What if?” questions drove me crazy, worrying that maybe I didn't fully understand the Gospel when I got saved. I also made the foolish mistake of constantly wondering what I had prayed, which I couldn't remember, and that caused an impossible dilemna. How could I ever find the assurance of salvation I sought, if I couldn't even remember what happened the day I was saved years earlier?

Beware Of The Unnecessary 'Sinner's Prayer'

A big part of the problem was that I had been woefully lied to by every Baptist preacher I had heard, and lied to in every religious tract that I read. All of those preachers and tracts ended with asking me to pray a Sinner's Prayer. You cannot show me anywhere in a King James Bible, where we are required to pray to be saved. We are simply taught to BELIEVE on the name of Jesus. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In hundreds of places throughout the Scripture we are taught simply to believe on Jesus to get to Heaven.

This is why I am strongly against requiring someone to pray a Sinner's Prayer to be saved. I have been unjustly and maliciously attacked by the New IFB for exposing their Satanic lie that you cannot be saved without praying a Sinner's Prayer. Reliigous punks like Pastor Jonathan Shelly in Texas are a disgrace to the cause of Jesus Christ. He preached an entire sermon to discredit, trash and attack my ministry, all because I disagree with their corrupt teaching that you cannot be saved unless you pray a Sinner's Prayer. I love Pastor Steven Anderson, but he is a bully, and his NIFB followers are a cult of bullies.

They are a Personality Cult, and Steven Anderson is their illustrious leader. There would be no NIFB if it weren't for Pastor Anderson, who started the Faithful Word Baptist Church in 2006. As much as I support their aggressive soulwinning and hard preaching against sin, I am unalterably opossed to the NIFB's woeful hatred of unrepentant sinners, their shameful lack of unconditional love for people, their demonic teaching that you cannot get to Heaven unless you pray a Sinner's Prayer. I also 100% disagree with the tainted NIFB that homosexuals cannot be saved. Brother Anderson means well, but he is a loose canon!

I recently shared this blog that I wrote on Facebook, in which I list 11 things that I humbly disagree with Pastor Anderson about. One of the nutty NIFB followers went ballistic toward me, angry and running his mouth about how wrong I am, and how much he fully agrees with everything Brother Anderson teaches. The guy has "fool" written all over him. I unfriended him, because I won't be bullied by punks in the New IFB. I am a loving person, but the New IFB have a lot of abusive, angry and intolerant bigots in their cult.

I am a Baptist, period. I reject this new strange Steven Anderson concept of the "Old" versus "New" Independent Baptist movement. There are no old or new Baptist churches, there are only belligerent fighting pastors who cannot get along with each other. Pastor Anderson and his cronies concocted the unbiblical term "New IFB" to set themselves apart from other Baptists who refuse to accept their Prewrath Rapture heresy, their Repobate Doctrine heresy, their requirement to Pray to be Saved heresy, their Jesus burned in Hell for 3 days heresy, et cetera. I reject all of that GARBAGE!!!

Lordship Salvation Will Hinder You From Finding Assurance

I have received countless emails over the years from hurting, and confused churchgoers, who have been deceived by the Devil's fraud of Lordship Salvation. What is Lordship Salvation exactly? I will let my ministry friend, Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, explain what it means...

“Lordship Salvation is the unsupportable and unbiblical belief that the performance of good works, the promise of good works, or the evidence of good works, must accompany faith in Christ to establish or provide evidence that such faith has resulted in eternal life.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Jesus Versus John MacArthur”

“Salvation is one thing and service is another, and never the two goes together. No man is saved because he serves, and no man has to serve because he is saved. Gotta keep them separate. And if you don't do it, the Scriptures will be confusing to you. You'll not rightly divide what God has to say.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, "Why Lordship Salvation Is Wrong"

If you sincerely have been lied to by a corrupt preacher, to falsely think that you have to give up your sinful bad habits to get to Heaven, then you are going to painfully struggle with sin and the assurance of God's salvation for the remainder of your life on earth. I have received emails from people, who said they had contemplated suicide because of Lordship Salvation; and this includes the Devil's lie of Misunderstood Repentance. The preceding links are to some helpful writings by Pastor Jack Hyles. This is the heresy which says faith is not enough to be saved, but in addition, you must first be willing to turn from your sinful ways. Anyone with common sense understands that turning from one's sins is an IMPOSSIBLE task. NO ONE has ever turned away from their sinning. Even the best Christian still sins continually (Romans 7:14-25). You are a wicked sinner dear reader, and so am I (1st John 1:8-10).

Misunderstood Repentance and Lordship Salvation are closely related damnable heresies, which are oftentimes found together in sermons and religious literature, to confuse and curse their victims. You'll never find the sweet peace of God's free gift of eternal life, as long as you sincerely and foolishly think that the life you live here on earth impacts God's promise to save you. Your performance, attitude and sins as a Christian, have absolutely NOTHING to do with by faith receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full-payment for your sins, burial, and your faith in His resurrection from the dead three days later. If this Good News (Gospel) is your only hope for forgivness of sins and eternal life, then you are forever saved dear friend.

Every Believer CAN KNOW You Are 100% Saved

Dear reader, you can know that you are saved. There is no reason for you to wonder, fear or doubt if you will go to Heaven when you die. You weren't born trusting Jesus, so if you are trusting Him now, then obviously at some poijnt in your past you made the decision to fully trust Christ to save you, and that is when you were saved. You should be able to remember a place and time in your life, when you realized that you were a guilty SINNER in God's sight, and that Jesus is the only SAVIOR, and you trusted him with a childlike faith.

But don't you need to repent? Yes, absolutely. But Bible repentance is simply "a change of mind" from unbelief to belief in Jesus. The only thing you need to change your mind about regarding sin to be saved is to admit that you are a guilty sinner. That's it. Christ does the saving, all of it. You only part in salvation is to get out of the way and let Jesus do all the saving (Hebrews 4:10-11). Just believe friend that Jesus did it all for you through Calvary's cross.

You DON'T need to turn from even one sin to be saved. Nor do you have to "be willing" to turn from any of your sinful bad habits, which would be works instead of grace. Nor do you have to "be sorry" for your sins to be saved. Whatever changes in your behavior that God wants to see happen in your life, is a separate matter of growing in grace and discipleship (service), and not of sonship (salvation). Eternal life is a free gift which Jesus paid for in full with His blood. All you need to do to appropriate that gift is to TAKE IT by faith in Christ. Simply by faith (accept God's Word as true) receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried but then physically resurrected from the dead three days later.

Again, I encourage you to read my book, SALVATION, which I wrote to help others (based upon my own struggle with assurance)...

SALVATION

God bless you friend and THANK YOU for reading my ministry blog.

Help, I Still Don't Know That I Am Saved

By God's grace alone, I KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that I am going to Heaven—not because of anything I have done, but because of what Jesus Christ did to pay my debt of sins on Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago. JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!

I first felt convicted that I was lost at age 13. It was a Sunday morning in an old-fashioned Baptist church on Chicago's northside. The pastor said if you can sin without having any Holy Spirit conviction whatsoever, then you're not saved. I knew immediately that I wasn't saved. So, that morning from my pew, I called out silently in my heart and asked Jesus to saved me. I believed that I was asking a risen Savior, who died on the cross to pay for my sins, to be saved that day, and He did.

Unfortunately, since I was too scared to walk the aisle to find out how to be saved, I didn't know what had just happened and I was confused. I agree with Pastor Max Younce (1935-2023) who hated when preachers require lost sinners to walk down an aisle to learn how to go to Heaven. Dr. Younce rightly contends that every preacher should tell people how to be saved right from their pew. I wish to God that the pastor that day had done so, but he didn't, he required people to walk an aisle to learn how to be saved. Since I had grown up in Sunday school and attended random churches with my Mom (my Dad didn't go to church), I knew enough about the Gospel to be saved; but I didn't fully understand what God expected of me, so I suffered much worry, doubt and fear. Here is the free .pdf format version of Pastor Younce's helpful book, "SALVATION AND THE PUBLIC INVITATION" (backup).

That book helped to solidify my salvation beliefs around 2005. I had already stopped doubting my salvation about 15 years earlier, but I still didn't have perfect peace about my salvation. Dr. Younce explains that you can be saved by simply BELIEVING the Gospel (Good News) that Jesus died on a cross for our sins, was buried, and bodily resurrected three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Tragically, the Gospel has been embellished and messed with in 95% of today's Bible colleges and churches, hindering people from receiving the new birth. By God's grace, I wrote a 42 chapter book about my own salvation saga—sharing my fears, doubts, uncertainties and how God eventually helped me to find the perfect peace of soul which I wanted so desperately.

Dear reader, if you haven't read it yet, please read Michael P. Bowen's helpful book, "I NEVER KNEW YOU." If nothing else, please read the introduction and first chapter. This book will give you a solid foundation of what the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is, and is not.

I also encourage you to read "WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?," a wonderful Gospel tract by Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951). I love Dr. Ironside, he pastored the famous Moody Church in Chicago from 1930 to 1948.

Also, you might want to read "ANOTHER GOSPEL" by Pastor Ironside.

I am confident that these resources will definitely help you settle the assurance of God's free gift of salvation dear friend. I worried for several years, crying often, not sure that I was going to Heaven. Like many other folks, I prayed and asked Jesus to save me more than 50 times, following every religious tract I could find to read, but still felt that I might not be saved. It drove me bananas! In hindsight (which they say is 20/20), I now realize that I had been woefully deceived by every preacher and tract I had read, by being required to pray a Sinner's Prayer to be saved. I learned from Pastor Younce, in his book above SALVATION AND THE PUBLIC INVITATION, that you don't need to pray, ask or call to be saved, you can simply BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Acts 16:30-31).

I had never heard any preacher tell me that before. It was so simple. I had somehow known it all my Christian life, but it didn't register in my brain until I actually hear Dr. Younce say it. God is already offering us eternal life as a free gift (Romans 5:15-18). So, it is pointless to ask God to give us what He is already freely offering to us, by faith in His only begotten Son. John 20:31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." God authored the Gospel of John to try to convince us that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God, so that by BELIEVING ON JESUS we would be saved. The only requirement to be saved in the book of John is to BELIEVE. The word "believe" is mentioned 85 times in John. Something very different is being preached in most churches today.

I visited the First Baptist Church of Pensacola several months ago, which is one of 45,000 Southern Baptist churches (they pay $50,000 each year to belong to the SBC). I am against the SBC. Their senior pastor Dave Snyder asked a 12 year old boy to stand up, and said that he had been saved that morning by "becoming a Christ follower." That was it. That's all he said how the boy got saved. That is tragic, because you don't get saved by following Christ. The false prophets in Matthew 7:21-23, whom Jesus said He didn't know as His sheep, whom He called "workers of iniquity" FOLLOWED CHRIST. They boasted of their "many wonderful works," even calling Jesus "Lord, Lord" (there's the heresy of Lordship Salvation exposed in the Bible). Unfortunately they had never ceased from their own human works, to REST in Christ's redemptive work alone (Hebrews 4:10-11). Jesus said the only "work" we can do to be saved is to BELIEVE ON HIM (John 6:28-29).

In nearly every Baptist church today I hear the Satanic lie that you must first be willing to reform (to turn from your sinning) to be saved, which is a counterfeit plan of salvation. Turning from sin is strictly a matter of Christian SERVICE, not SALVATION. Pastor M.R. DeHaan gets it 100% right...

"There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer, while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel, to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our faithfulness." —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, “Hebrews”; Zondervan Publishing House; 1959 (p. 117)

Amen and amen! If you realize you are a guilty sinner in God's sight (Romans 3:19-20), and your only hope for Heaven is Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, then you are saved (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). The Gospel itself is the POWER OF GOD unto salvation to all them that BELIEVE (Romans 1:16; 1st Corinthians 1:21). The Gospel is "the simplicity that is in Christ" (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). God had to make getting saved simple, because there's a lot of ignorant, base and low intelligence people in the world. It is so simple to be saved that even a small child can be saved (Mark 10:14).

I welcome questions if you have any. I hope you will take the time to read through some of the materials I have shared with you, which I know will help you find the peace of salvation. I was saved all the years that I worried, praying over 50 times for God to save me. I was already saved, but I couldn't nail it down. That may be where you're at now. My book on SALVATION will help you, from learning the same Bible truths that helped me. People fear what they don't know. Walking in the dark is scary, because we don't know what may be lurking in the darkness. Likewise, we fear missing Heaven, not because we aren't saved, but because no one has ever taken the time to properly explain the Gospel. Many born-again saints, like myself for several years, worry that they might not be saved. Preachers are to blame. Tragically, 99% of preachers today simply don't know how to properly present the Gospel.

When I was 17 years old, I went to my pastor and told him I couldn't settle my salvation. He wrongly assumed that since I didn't know I am saved, I must not be. I wish he hadn't done that, because instead of helping me understand God's simple plan of salvation, he just slapped a Band-Aid over the problem. Then he did the worst thing he could have done, he led me in another Sinner's Prayer (which I had already done over 50 times on my own). He told me I was now saved. He called my parents to tell them I am saved. He told the whole church I am saved. I was water baptized weeks later, scared to death that I still didn't know I was saved. And now I was reluctant to tell anybody that I still didn't know I was saved, because I'd look like a fool.

It wasn't until I learned many years later that I didn't have to pray at all to be saved, I could have simply BELIEVED. Acts 16:30-31, "And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Paul and Silas didn't tell the Philippian Roman jailer to pray a Sinner's Prayer. They didn't tell him to turn from his sins, confess Christ publicly, get water baptized or anything else, but simply to BELIEVE ON THE NAME OF JESUS.

If you know that you are a guilty sinner in God's sight, and you believe (rely upon) the facts that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God—who died on a cross, was buried and resurrected from the dead three days later—and this is your only hope for eternal life, you are saved dear friend. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

Why So Many People Doubt God's Gift Of Salvation

1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

Galatians 3:14, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Galatians 3:29, “ And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”

Eternal life is a “promise” from God, to all who BELIEVE on the name of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

The simple reason why so many people doubt whether they are really saved or not is because they are not trusting in the PROMISES of God.

For example: The cult of Roman Catholicism requires that their members strictly adhere to keeping Seven Sacraments. Some of these sacraments include water baptism, confessing one's sins to a priest, partaking of Eucharist (i.e., communion), et cetera. These are all physical rituals that someone can see, feel and hear (all tangible things, not abstract). Many people don't want to put their faith in a Savior which they cannot see, so they instead opt for a tangible religion that offers them faith in a man (the Pope and priests), an organization (Roman Catholicism) or some rituals (sacraments). This same dilemma applies to all organized religion.

Another example of not trusting Christ by faith alone is the unbiblical false teaching that you must “turn from your sins” to get to Heaven. Turning away from one's sinful behavior is something that you can see, that you can partake of, it's an action that you can take, et cetera. But these are not faith in Jesus. A born-again believer may attempt to reform with God's help, trying to turn from their sins to please God, but this has nothing to do with being saved.

The only way to get to Heaven is to wholly lean on Jesus' name. You don't have to give up your sinful bad habits to be saved, because that would be works. We get saved by simply taking God at His Word, believing the PROMISES of God in the Holy Bible. Galatians 3:22, “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”

Many people have a problem with trust. Unless they can see, hear, touch and physically sense something, they won't trust God to just take Him at His Word in the Scripture. If you want to enter into God's Kingdom, then you are going to have to trust God. ...

1st Peter 1:7-9, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”

We cannot see Jesus. That is why the Bible tells us to simply BELIEVE ON HIS NAME. John 1:12-13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” It is okay to put your trust in Jesus' name only, since you cannot see, hear or perceive Him with the 5 human senses. God understood that, which is why He told us to BELIEVE ON HIS NAME.

If you trust in water baptism, sacraments, turning from your sinful ways and other things that YOU can see and do, then you will never find any assurance of God's free gift of salvation. John 11:25-26, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Believe the Gospel, Oh sinner, and be forever saved!

Ray Comfort Denies The Eternal Security Of The Believer

John 10:28-29, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.”

One of the hottest debates on social media nowadays is the Bible truth of: ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED!

False prophets like Ray Comfort deny eternal security. Ray is a theological liar who talks out of both sides of his mouth. On his Living Waters ministry website, Ray teaches that you cannot lose eternal life once received. However, Ray totally contradicts himself when he says stupid things like the following...

QUOTE:
Hebrews 10:26 speaks to the Christian, “𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.” We are all born compulsive sinners until the day we die, but it’s the person who sins wilfully, joyfully and pridefully who should be concerned for their salvation. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝗻. [𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱]
END QUOTE

SOURCE: https://livingwaters.com/episode/why-its-impossible-to-lose-your-salvation/

What you just read is false doctrine! Ray Comfort is perverting the Gospel. How can Ray Comfort say that he believes in eternal security, while at the same time warning people that you cannot continue living in sin and know you are saved? Which is it Ray? If we must turn from sin perpetually to have assurance of salvation, then we are doomed to live a life of fear, uncertainty and worry. That is NOT eternal security!!!

First, Hebrews 10:26 is not talking about Christians living in sin; but rather, it's about the unsaved person who refuses to get saved. By not believing on Jesus Christ, a lost sinner is crucifying Jesus afresh, and there remains no other sacrifice for their sins. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul meant in 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟱:𝟰, “𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗻𝗼 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘄; 𝘆𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲.” That is, if you try to earn your way to Heaven by turning from your sins (aka, keeping the law), then Christ's sacrifice on the cross is worthless to you. 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟮:𝟮𝟭, “𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱: 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗳 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘄, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗻.” Anyone who refuses to trust Jesus as your personal Savior, you have passed up your only bus ride going to Heaven. There is no other name than "Jesus," by which you can be saved (Acts 4:10-12).

If you can be saved by turning from your sins, then you don't need the Savior. 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝟮:𝟭𝟳, "𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝘁, 𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗸: 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲." Jesus saves sinners who rely upon His sacrifice on the cross to save them. God saves those who are 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 in His only begotten Son, He doesn't save anyone who is 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 to be saved by forsaking a lifestyle of sinning.

Second, Ray Comfort foolishly teaches the Devil's lie that, “𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝗻.” What Ray fails to realize is that we all do just that—we all live in deliberate sin continually. Even when we fail to pray for others as we should, we are sinning (1st Samuel 12:23). We are all far more sinful in God's sight than we realize. That is why David prayed in 𝗣𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗺𝘀 𝟭𝟵:𝟭𝟮, “𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝘀? 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀.” If there is no assurance of eternal security for those saints who indulge in a lifestyle of willful sin, then no one is saved.

Ray Comfort is caught between grace and works, preaching another gospel of partial faith in Christ plus works, which cannot produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God. Only wholly trusting in Jesus' name produces the new birth (John 6:40; Galatians 3:26). Only believing the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus' death on the cross, burial and bodily resurrection on the third day produces the new birth (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 1:16). Nowhere does the inspired King James Bible tell us to turn from our sinful ways, or repent “of your sins” to be saved.

When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas in Acts 16:30b, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?,” their simply answer in Verse 31b was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...” There is no mention of Paul and Silas telling the man to repent of his sins, or to turn from his sins. To be saved, you repent of the one thing that hinders a man from being saved, and that is the sin of UNBELIEF. That is the only sin you must repent (change your mind) about to be saved—UNBELIEF.

Please notice in Matthew 21:32, “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” Notice that Jesus said they didn't repent to BELIEVE the Gospel truth preached by John the Baptist. Jesus didn't say that they failed to repent from their sinning. Wicked unlearned preachers have added words to the Bible which God did not author (Proverbs 30:5-6).

Tragically, less than 1% of believers today care about what I have just shared with you. This is why I incessantly preach on this important topic. I don't just write here in Facebook to teach a couple dozen Christian people, I copy and paste these posts into my blog articles for thousands to read. I learned as a boy from my father that you catch more fish if you put multiple fishing lines into the water. My Dad used to use 5 fishing poles at once (and he caught more fish). I stayed busy taking the fish off the lines and rebaiting the hooks for my Dad. Those were the good ole days.

Dear reader, we all need to make a fuss today about unlearned and incompetent preachers who are telling lost sinners to turn from their sinning to be saved, because that is one of the biggest lies ever told by the Devil. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again. Michael P. Bowen makes that true statement in his helpful book titled, "I NEVER KNEW YOU."

The inspired Word of God teaches: “ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED,” which means you can go out and live like the Devil and still know 100% that you are saved.

“'You can't tell me you can trust Christ as Savior, and then go out here and live like the Devil, and still go to Heaven!' Yes, I can tell you that! That's what the Bible says. If you don't come to the conclusion, that—Yes, you can trust Christ as your Savior and live like the Devil, and still go to Heaven when you die—you don't get grace, because that is the exact truth! That is the truth! I do not have to change my life! I don't have to stop one sin! You say, 'I've never heard a preacher say that.' You just heard one! And you listen to me—I want to live as holy and as godly as I possibly can. I am now 70 years old. I've been saved for 52 years. ... the only reason I'm going to Heaven is because, 52 years ago in a little living room, I accepted Christ as my Savior.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, a great quote from the awesome sermon, “Calvinism And Grace Are NOT Compatible | MP3”

What saith the Scripture? Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” The Lord doesn't want us to flagrantly continue living a lifestyle of sin, but if we do God's grace will much more abound, so that we can NEVER lose God's free gift of eternal life. Romans 5:20-21, “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

At the moment you are saved, God seals you permanently with His Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). No amount of sinfulness in your character and life in any way dismisses your salvation. Remember, it is really God's salvation. That is why dozens of times in the Psalms we read King David speak of “Thy salvation” or “Thy righteousness.” David understood that salvation is of the Lord. Psalms 13:5, “But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.”

Dear friend, if you have to look at your life to prove you are saved, it just proves that you're not! I am saved because as a 13 year old teenager in 1980, I trusted Jesus as my personal Savior. It was a Sunday summer morning in an old-fashioned Baptist church. The pastor gave an invitation at the end of his sermon. By faith I received Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for my sins, believing that after He was buried, Jesus physically resurrected three days later from the dead. I trusted Christ to save me and He did.

The way that I choose to live has absolutely NOTHING to do with my eternal security, nor do I have to live a certain way to prove to God or myself that I am saved. The Apostle James teaches in his Epistle that we need to show our faith by our works (James 2:17-21). But the Apostle Paul in Romans teaches that we are justified in the sight of God only by faith (Romans 4:1-7). Many Bible students get these two books confused, mixing grace with works. Ray Comfort is bad news! He is unlearned in the Scriptures, wresting the inspired Word of God to his own destruction (2nd Peter 3:16-17). Thank you for reading my blog.

Do You Really Have OCD Or Is It Something Else?

John 3:14-17, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

I have received numerous emails from a handful of web visitors over the decades, who confide in me that they have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I always encourage such people to refrain from diagnosing themselves with such a mental disorder. I think in most cases, people who think they are suffering from OCD are really just lacking a solid grasp on what the Gospel is. I was wonderfully saved (born-again) at age 13. However, for the next several years I worried much. I cried and feared that I might not be saved. In hindsight, I did not have OCD, nor did I even know about such a disorder until I was much older.

What is OCD? It is a mental disorder that causes a person to incessantly worry that they are not saved, no matter what anyone tells them. I had a man from India years ago who wrote bizarre emails to me. At first I thought he was messing with me, mocking my ministry. He asked me if it mattered which of Jesus' hands were nailed to the cross first? Of course, it does not matter. He asked me if it mattered what material the cross was made of, wood or plastic? I replied that since plastic wasn't invented until the year 1862 by Alexander Parkes, obviously the cross couldn't have been made of plastic.

The man said that he feared while sitting in his recliner that Hell would open up and take him at any time. I was very doubtful about his sincerity at first, but then concluded that if he was willing to take the time to write lengthy emails, I ought to give him the benefit of the doubt, so I did. We exchanged 150 emails over a few months. I shared every sermon, article, video, book and resource I could think of about salvation to help the man find the peace and assurance he desperately desired. I do sincerely believe that this man has OCD, but I am not a psychologist. I finally had to kindly tell him that I simply could not help him with his issues.

However, I am convinced that most people who think they have OCD really don't. I encourage people who are struggling with doubts about God's salvation to listen to lots of Bible preaching on the subject, and to read Christian books about salvation, and most importantly to study the King James Bible. When I learned over time how salvation works, all my fears went away.

Some people refuse to trust God no matter what anyone says to convince them otherwise. God doesn't expect that you have no fears or doubts to be saved. In fact, the more doubts and fears you have, the greater will be your faith, just so long as you act on the faith and not the fear. Do you trust Jesus as your personal Savior? If so, you are saved according to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” All God requires to get to Heaven is childlike faith (confidence) in His only begotten Son, Who died in our place on the cross, was buried and physically resurrected from the dead three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Nothing more is required or permitted by God to go to Heaven.

I feel sorry for people who refuse to trust God. Listen friend, it is okay to have fears and doubts. Don't focus on your fears and uncertainties. Instead, focus on God's promise in 1st Corinthians 1:21b, “TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE.” Do you believe? I do friend. I DO! John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Saving faith is not the absence of all doubt and worry. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is placing your trust (resting) in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid your sin debt and mine.

2nd Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” What a beautiful Scripture!!! God the Father made His only begotten Son to be sin for us. That is why in our text passage from John 3:14-15, Jesus mentioned to Nicodemus Moses in the Wilderness, who was instructed by God to form some brass into the form of a serpent and lift it up for the people to see. Anyone who looked to the serpent (i.e., looked to Jesus) was spared death. John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

The simple and sure way of salvation has always been through faith in Christ. Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” The dear Savior Himself said in John 3:14-15 that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the Wilderness, even so must He be lifted up on a cross, crucified, for the sins of the world. Jesus was crucified, just as He prophesied. He died and was buried, bodily resurrected three days later. The way to Heaven is to simply LOOK TO JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

If you are one of few people who thinks you might have OCD, obsessing about going to Hell and not being saved, then I encourage you dear reader to spend time listening to good Bible preaching. We are what we eat and think! People who fear and worry only do so because that is what they have chosen to dwell upon in their mind. So the way out of that pit of despair is to start listening to doctrinally sound preachers like Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, and Pastor Max Younce, and Pastor Jack Hyles and other fundamentalist preachers. Proverbs 13:20, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” The Bible promises that if we walk with wise men—taking heed to their good judgment, sound wisdom and fear of God—then we will be influenced by them and become more like them.

And let me say dear friend, that if indeed you do have OCD, it doesn't in any way mean that you are not saved. Just because you have doubts and fears doesn't mean that you're not trusting Jesus. It just mean that despite your faith in the dear Savior, you are a worry-wart. Please do not confuse OCD with a lack of faith. Having difficulty finding the assurance of your salvation does not in any way reflect upon your faith. I worried about going to Hell for several years after I got saved at age 13 in 1980. I was saved, but naïve about how salvation works. What kept confusing me is the non-biblical requirement to pray a prayer, that I kept reading in every religious tract I picked up. In every Baptist church I had attended, I was taught to lead people to pray a prayer to be saved, which confused me.

I am also sick and tired of hearing pastors require people to walk down an aisle to the front of a church, to learn how to go to Heaven. God Himself does not require anyone to walk down an aisle to be saved, so why do preachers? Why cannot those preachers simply tell people how to be saved right their in their pew? God Himself in the Bible doesn't tell us to pray to be saved, so why do preachers add this? In the Gospel of John we are repeatedly told to simply “believe” to be saved, with no mention of repenting, praying or getting water baptized. The man who believes has repented (changed his mind), and the man who repents (changes his mind) has believed. More people will go to Hell someday because they tried too hard to be saved, doing more than what God required, rather than simply “BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST” (Acts 16:31b).

So before you conclude that you are hopelessly a victim of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), condemned to a life of unnecessary fear and worry that you aren't going to Heaven, please take the time to begin making it your hobby to study the topic of salvation. Sit at the edge of your seat with curiosity every time you hear a preacher teaching about eternal life and how to be saved. I encourage you to read my own book titled, 'SALVATION,' which is 42 chapters long and full of helpful truths. Kindest regards and God bless.

How Permanent Is Your Salvation?

John 3:3-7, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

A human baby is born once! It is impossible for a human baby, once born, to go back into its mother's womb and be born-again. That is exactly what Jesus explained to Nicodemus in our text passage above. Jesus was making it clear to Nicodemus that a man must be born for the second time, but this time spiritually instead of physically. Just as the first fleshly birth is irreversible, so also is the second spiritual birth irreversible, irrevocable and immediate.

The first birth was by water. Every child spends about nine months encased in the safety of their mother's water bag. Jesus said that which is born of water is of water, and that which is born of the Spirit (Holy Spirit) is spirit. Some errant Bible scholars (like Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Bible) misinterpret “water” in John chapter three to mean water baptism, but we know that is absolutely untrue! The repentant thief on the cross wasn't water baptized. Yet, Christ promised that they both would be in Paradise that very same day (Luke 23:43).

No one in the Old Testament was water baptized to be saved. Yet, we read in Acts 10:43 that everyone in the Old Testament got saved the same way we do today, which is by faith alone in Christ. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Christ died on the cross to pay for me sins, so I wouldn't have to pay for them myself in the Lake of Fire (Hell). We get saved by receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins, believing that He raised up three days later from the dead for our justification (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).

Dear reader, how you choose to live your life here on earth has absolutely nothing to do with your eternal destiny. And if it did, we'd all be hopelessly doomed to be punished in Hell forever. The Holy Bible teaches that Christ came to save, not to condemn. God loves you so much friend that He would rather die than live without you, so He has already made a payment on the cross. God wants to credit (impute) that payment to your account. All He requires is childlike faith in Jesus Christ. What saith the Scripture? Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Since the day I trusted Christ as my personal Savior in 1980 at age 13, there's never been another sin that could put me back into debt. God's righteousness was put (imputed) to my account by faith. Christ paid for my sins so that I wouldn't have to. Since we are all unjust by nature and by choice, we cannot save ourselves (Isaiah 64:6). That is the best news in all the world. I am going to Heaven on God's righteousness, not mine. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”

Sometimes people want to figure out how much they can ADD to the Gospel, so that people will understand it better. And then there are others who want to trim off everything, so that there's not much left to tell. The truth is that the message on how to be saved should always be the same, because it doesn't change with every preacher. Although different preachers use different styles of delivering their message, and there is such a thing as semantics in grammar, the fact is that the Gospel message in the King James Bible never changes! Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but no one has a right to their own facts.

What must I believe to be sure and secure in God's salvation? Because whatever the Gospel is, we've got to get it right because a person's eternal destiny depends on the truth of the Gospel. In Galatians chapter two it talks about the Apostle Paul not compromising, so that the truth of the Gospel might remain with you, because there's always someone who wants to change the Gospel. So if the Gospel is the grace of God for man, then grace MUST have two things in order to truly be grace:

1. It must be free
2. It must last forever

So whatever God does, He does it permanently. God doesn't just save somebody for a day, a week, a month or a year, He saves you forever!!! You can only get saved (born again) one time. But what do we have to do to get this new birth? The Apostle Paul was a missionary church planter, starting churches all over the region and beyond. Paul would start one church and then move on to start another church elsewhere. If you are born once, you die twice; if you are born twice, you die once! Amen and amen!

But there were enemies of the early churches, tares among the wheat. These legalistic Judaizers came down from Jerusalem and messed up the Gospel, by ADDING things to the Gospel that were not the Gospel. Galatians 1:7, “Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” There is only one Gospel that saves. There is not a plan B, plan C, or plan D. Salvation is either by works or by grace, but it cannot be both ways. Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Paul says to be saved BY WORKS is “another gospel,” which is a false gospel which cannot produce the miraculous new birth.

There are many sincere religious people in the churches today who are confused. They have many questions, still not certain they are saved. I know because I have met plenty of them. I have met deacons who confided in me that they did not have the assurance of God's salvation. I'm talking about the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. One of their dear deacons came to me after a Sunday morning service. He knew about my website ministry. He knew that I am a preacher. He was concerned about his salvation, not sure if he was really saved.

I gladly expounded him in the Scriptures. I could see the relief in his eyes, as I comforted his heart with the simplicity of the inspired Word of God. I'll never forget what he said to me afterwards. He said: “Why don't they teach that kind of stuff from the pulpit?” I was a gentleman and didn't criticize the church pastors, but now I can say it boldly since I am no longer attending that church. Pastor Marty Herron is an incompetent pastor! Mr. Herron has no biblical right to stand behind any pulpit anywhere!!! The Bible requires that a preacher study to shew himself APPROVED UNTO GOD (2nd Timothy 2:15). Marty Herron is a disgrace! 2nd Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The incompetent Bob Jones University (BJU) alumni who pastor the Harvest Baptist Church of Guam WRONGLY DIVIDE the Word of truth! Sadly, BJU is a deadly Calvinist cult today!

Galatians 1:6-8, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

He fully paid for our sins. Every one who believes the Gospel has salvation everlasting, and we are secure in Christ! Praise God for His grace, His mercy and His completed, finished work at Calvary!!!!

How Permanent Is Your Salvation?
(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)

“Most people I lead to Christ, [I] never take any more than five minutes, because I strip away all the junk and give them the truth of the Gospel. ...I've got people on the mission field. I've got preachers around this country. I have seen so much come from just keeping the Gospel clear—keeping it simple so a person can understand it.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold (a beautiful quote from the sermon: "How Permanent Is Your Salvation?")

You Should Be 100% Sure That You're Going To Heaven

1st John 5:10-13, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

I was saved at age 13 at an old-fashioned Baptist church in Chicago. There's not a day that goes by when I don't REJOICE as the Lord commanded every believer to do in Luke 10:20, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” Now, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to rejoice as Jesus commanded, unless we could KNOW 100% with all biblical certainty that we are presently saved. This means that every Christian believer CAN have the absolute 100% assurance that we are saved right now, this very moment and forever, without any further stipulations or additions obligations imposed upon us to have eternal life.

Therefore, it greatly grieves my soul when I hear false teachers like Dr. Steve Pettit (shameful president of Bob Jones University since 2014) preaching to 2,700 faculty and staff at BJU chapel that they cannot merely accept Christ and know that they are saved certain. Read for yourself what this foolish and incompetent theologian teaches:

“You can't just speak about getting saved, and you accepted Christ, and then that's it! There is a justification; There is a sanctification; There's ultimately a glorification, and though there are three parts, they are all part of the whole, and you cannot separate them. In order for you to qualify for the award, you have to get into the race, you have to stay in the race, and you have to finish the race. If you want to win, you have to run to the end; and winning in the Christian life is everything, because if you lose—if you don't finish—you lose everything—you lose your SOUL. And so, the Christian race is the life of faith that begins, is run, and is finished when we cross over into Heaven!” —Dr. Steve Pettit (“What Does It Mean To Run 'The Race'?” - 11:34)

Dr. Petit is not a born-again believer. How can he be when he thinks that you must live a certain way to get to Heaven? Dear reader, eternal life is a free gift from God. Having your sins forgiven is a free gift from God. The reason why God freely offers all mankind this gift is because Jesus paid our debt of sin by shedding His own precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). Salvation is not cheap grace my friend. Oh no! Grace didn't come cheap at all, it cost God His only begotten Son. Salvation cost Jesus His life! And because getting saved is simply receiving a free gift, there can be no additional requirements to run a race, turn away from sinful living, or surrender your rights to follow Christ as Lord. None of these things are the Gospel. You may do all those things and yet never have been saved at all!

Judas followed Christ, becoming one of His very apostles. Yet, Jesus said Judas had a devil in him (John 6:70). Judas repented and turned from his sins (Matthew 27:3). Yet, Judas went to Hell in his sins without Christ as Savior, burning in the torments of fire forever!!! In Matthew 7:21-23 we read about an unfortunate group of religious people, who followed Jesus all their lives, even calling Him “Lord, Lord.” Yet, Jesus denied knowing them! There is a way that SEEMETH RIGHT unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 that to be saved you must do the Father's will, which is to BELIEVE ON JESUS (John 6:40). 

Dear reader, you CAN in fact, according to the inspired Word of God, KNOW 100% that you are saved presently and forever. If you will simply take God at His Word, as He has recorded in His written Word, then you can know assuredly that you are going to Heaven someday. I never doubt my salvation. I did in the early years as a teenager, because I was taught wrong. When I got saved at age 13, I thought that the way you placed your trust in Jesus was to pray and ask Him to save you. I knew that prayer didn't save us, trusting Jesus did. But I was confused, which caused me to worry a lot that perhaps I left something out when I prayed. 

Since I couldn't remember exactly what I said to Christ, I was needlessly worried. Had someone simply told me that I was saved by BELIEVING the Gospel (i.e., Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He was buried. And three days later, Jesus physically resurrected from the dead for the justification of my faith), I would have had complete assurance of God's salvation.

If you don't KNOW 100% friend that you are going to Heaven, then something is wrong. More than likely you simply have never been properly presented with the Gospel. I highly encourage you to read this free .pdf book by Michael P. Bowen titled, “I NEVER KNEW YOU: THE COMING GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT AND HOW YOU CAN AVOID IT!” This is my favorite book, next to the Holy Bible of course, to which there is no comparison. Men author books, but God authored the inspired Holy Bible!

If you admit that you are a guilty sinner in God's sight, for breaking His commandments (Romans 3:19-23); and you receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins (1st Corinthians 1:21), then you are saved (John 6:47).

You must know these simple things to be saved:

1. WHO Jesus is - The Christ, God's only begotten Son (John 20:31)
2. WHAT He did for you - Jesus died on the cross for your sins, was buried and bodily raised up miraculously from the dead after three days (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)
3. WHY He did it - Because we are all guilty sinners and the penalty is death, not only physical death but a second death in the Lake of Fire forever (Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8)

Dear friend, it is that simple to get to Heaven. Christ is the Savior of all men! 1st Timothy 4:10, “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.” Since Jesus paid for everyone's sins, He is the Savior of ALL MEN. However, as you just read, Jesus is ESPECIALLY the Savior of THOSE THAT BELIEVE. In other words, if you reject Christ as your personal Savior, you will spend eternity burning in Hell, while your gift rots. Christ will have needlessly paid for your sins, and you didn't want it. I can purchase you a birthday gift, but if you refuse to accept it, then I wasted my money. Jesus paid for the sins of ALL humanity. 1st John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Could the Bible be any clearer? I think not.

Also, the Epistle of 1st John is often misunderstood. As our test verse says in 1st John 5:13, we can KNOW that we are saved. At a casual glance, one might read the Epistle of 1st John and think that words are required to prove that someone is saved (1st John 3:8-9). However, i think the key verse is 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” The only proof that someone is saved is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Now, I know that I am 100% securely saved first and foremost because I have God's written PROMISE that He will “SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE” (1st Corinthians 1:21b). John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

Remember, the same Apostle John who penned the Gospel of John also penned the Epistle of 1st John. We must be very careful not to mix and confuse the justification wrought by the man Christ without by faith that John teaches in the Gospel of John; versus the sanctification wrought by the Holy Spirit of Christ within in the Epistle of 1st John. Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan understood this biblical truth very well:

“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)

So if we want to find the way to be saved, we must look only to the Gospel of John; but if we want to see the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit, then we should look at the Epistle of John. We must not mix and confuse the Epistle of 1st John with the Gospel of John. They were written for two different and separate purposes. If you keep that in mind you won't be led astray with false doctrine. Anyone who says that you must turn away from sinful ways to be saved is a liar, fraud and false prophet. Anyone who says that turning away from sins is necessary to “prove” that you are saved is corrupting the Word of God and casting stumbling blocks before the people. That is why Calvinism is so horrible and unbiblical, adding works (keeping the law) to grace to receive God's free gift. It is a counterfeit plan of salvation.

As believers we SHOULD live for Christ. There will be changes inside when a person gets saved. That change is the Holy Spirit Who has forever moved in! When I got saved the Holy Spirit began to convict me about the sins in my life immediately. But I didn't forsake all my sins. I held on to some of them. You did too! No one has ever forsook all their sins. If you claim otherwise you are calling God a liar (1st John 1:8-10). If you are saved, the HOLY SPIRIT will convict you about those sins. That is what John is teaching in 1st John. If you are saved, the HOLY SPIRIT will convict you if you lack love for other believers. The focus of the Epistle of 1st John is SELF-EXAMINATION (not trying to determine if others are saved). The focus of 1st John is to determine if you have the HOLY SPIRIT, which you do if you have BELIEVED ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Acts 16:30-31).

Also, I highly encourage you to read Pastor Max D. Younce's helpful book titled: “SALVATION AND THE PUBLIC INVITATION.” This book is wonderful, showing how many preachers needlessly ADD requirements to God's simple plan of salvation that God does not require. You CAN know 100% friend that you are saved, and you should. DON'T go by your feelings, because our feelings can often deceive us, as it did Isaac in the Bible. Isaac heard the voice of Jacob, but he felt the hairy arm of Esau (which was an animal skin to trick him, and it worked). If Isaac had gone by the voice that he heard, he wouldn't have been deceived. Never go by your feelings, go by the written Word of God.

You can and should KNOW without any doubt that you are now and forever saved. The way that you choose to live has no effect on the gift which God has given to you, freely by faith in His only begotten Son. Never forget that forgiveness of sins and eternal life is a gift (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).