What If I'm Not Saved? (And Discovering A New Method Of Evangelism)

 I know, it's an unusual question to ask, but I have to vent.

I've been a Christian for many years (how many, I don't know, I don't count the time I first "asked Jesus into my heart", I was still following false Christianity at the time).  Yet, I don't seem to have the passion and desire to proselytize openly to others in public.  You know, what they call "street preaching".  Why don't I do this?  My main excuse is, "I don't know what to say.", which reminds me of these verses:

But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

(Mat 10:19-20)

And there are others like this.

Concerning proselytizing in general, I am also reminded of this verse (or something like it):

Jer 4:19  My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 

I think the actual verse I'm thinking of says something like "I cannot hold it in", that is, the words of the Gospel.

Here's another one:

1Co 9:16  For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! 

So where does the "What If I'm Not Saved?" come in?  Well, I am reminded of a quote by Charles Spurgeon (a false teacher though, he believes there will be more people in Heaven than in Hell, contradicting Matthew 20:16 and the like), which reads:

"Have you no wish for others to be saved?  Then you are not saved yourself.  Be sure of that."

Is this Biblical?  I don't know.  Still, I answer the question from Mr. Spurgeon.  Do I wish others to be saved?  Of course!  I would love for people to see the light and experience the truth like I have.  There is hope in this godless world, and it is through knowing the Truth.

You know, as of this writing, perhaps that is what is missing in my evangelism, my own personal testimony.  I haven't really thought of it, but there is something that does give me joy (and sometimes excitement), as well as calm assurance, and that is the fact that I know the Truth, that I can access the Truth, and that the Truth will not lie to me.  In this instance, The Truth (who is Jesus Christ says John 14:6) is a little like Rick Astley to me, but not totally.  I was going to compare the chorus of "Never Gonna Give You Up" to what Jesus says, but a few problems:  Jesus (even through the disciples) can make you cry in this world:

Act 21:13  Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 

Yet, the other lyrics ("Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you") sounds a lot like the following:

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 

(and the like, Deuteronomy 31:6, 8, Joshua 1:5, I Chronicles 28:20, etc.)

In other words, THE TRUTH WILL NOT LIE TO ME!!!  Mere men lie.  Jesus, who is the Bible (John 1:1, 1:14, I John 1:1, Revelation 19:13, etc.), who is the Truth (John 14:6), doesn't.

This is why:

Luk 24:32  And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 

So, something to think about.  A unique evangelism method.  May God lead me to spread the message of heart burning Truth.

Charles (CH) Spurgeon. “Do You Wish Others to Be Saved? – Charles Spurgeon | Deeper Christian Quotes.” Deeperchristianquotes.com, 2019, deeperchristianquotes.com/do-you-wish-others-to-be-saved-charles-spurgeon/. Accessed 17 Aug. 2024.

On Maintenance-Based Salvation

So, I signed up for Discord because I'm learning Japanese, and I wanted to find some native speakers to practice with.  This was then I also decided to look for Christian Discord servers to see if I could find some fellow believers (as we all should, suggests Hebrews 10:25).

Unfortunately, I'm still disappointed in what I found.  When looking at the rules of one Christian Discord server called /r/Christians, there is the garden-variety core tenets of the faith, one of which I have started to question because of the concepts of "seven spirits" (Revelation 4:5), God appearing as a man in many places (especially in the OT, see Genesis 32:24-30 for an example).  I'm talking about the Trinity doctrine, where God is one God in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).  Now, I still believe that God is one (I Timothy 2:5, James 2:19, etc), and that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are indeed one God (I John 5:7).  Yet I don't believe that these three entities are the ONLY ones that can rightfully be called God.  As I've said, there's the God that wrestled with Jacob in Genesis 32:24-30, the three men called the LORD in Genesis 18, there's even a possibility that Jerusalem itself is God in Psalm 48:12-14:

Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

(Psa 48:12-14)

At the very least, it's worth it to re-evaluate the doctrine of the Trinity, with a plain reading of Scripture approach, also considering the verses above.

Then there was this rule:

"Promotion of works-based or maintenance-based salvation is a first-time bannable offense."

To many believers, believing in any of these is instant anathema and instant heresy.

Works-based salvation? Yeah, I'm against that. Obviously salvation is not by works (Ephesians 2:9, Titus 3:5, etc.).

Yet, I tend to believe in the latter kind of salvation, maintenance-based salvation, for the following reasons:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 

Heb 3:6  But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. 

The Bible makes it clear that a type of maintenance is required to go to Heaven.

What about this passage:

Act_14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

And what about this:

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

(Heb 10:38-39)

Wow. Because this doctrine flies in the face of modern OSAS and “faith alone” theology, I am certainly a minority, if not a huge minority in this world. (It's quite lonely, to be honest.) I'm simply taking the Bible as it is, and taking God at His Word. And yet, questioning “sola fide”, OSAS, and even the Trinity (how dare me!), is enough to call me a heretic, when I'm simply reading the Bible like an atheist, with next to no filter.

We who profess faith in Christ have allowed ourselves to believe, without question, everything the modern church tells us, without going to the Scriptures for study (see Acts 17:11), and without testing different theologies, even the extreme ones, if they come up (I Thessalonians 5:21).

Now, am I saying I don't believe that faith is enough to be saved?  Not at all!  To endure to the end, to not draw back, to not fall away, AND to perform good works, etc.  IS faith, as James tells us:

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

(Jas 2:20-26)

James sums it up this way:

Jas 2:18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 

Perhaps it takes a church that is called a "cult" by the world, whether or not they are in the Truth, to have a more honest conversation about these topics, because at least they use Scripture that most stings the conscience.  And honestly, this position is not unbiblical:

Mar_13:13  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Side note:  I also found that their Reddit page (of which the Discord server is based on), adheres to the doctrine of "In Essentials, Unity, in Non-Essentials, Liberty, in All Things, Charity".  This is heresy, because it is suggesting that there is some doctrine in Scripture that is non-essential, which is a lie.  If Scripture itself does not deem it non-essential (Romans 14:1), then it is essential to be saved, PERIOD:

Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered [the devil], saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.