I Get Headaches Listening to the Heretical Arguments of the "Once Prayed Assuming Saved" Crowd
A few years ago, I was foolishly believing every slanderous accusation done against Paul David Washer was teaching "works salvation" or that the "Shocking Youth Message" added works to faith, I listened to Washer's sermons it myself and realized that these critics were MISSING THE POINT one too many times. If you listen to this video carefully, he really addresses that one, YOU ARE LOOKING UP TO JESUS and two, there is EVIDENCE of your faith is in the changed life. If you're saved, there's ought to be change. I call this heresy as "Once Prayed Assuming Saved". It's because many people today say they're saved because they prayed a prayer and yet they show that they are false converts.
Now I have nothing against the sinner's prayer in general. I know some people who got saved in spite of the sinner's prayer evangelism but it was only because there was a hard message before it. When these people came to pray that prayer, they were already repentant and realized their need for salvation. That's why Washer said in some of his sermons, "Some of you were saved not because of it (sinner's prayer) but in spite of it." Plus, some of these pastors who led others in a prayer in an altar call would even dare question whether these people just trusted in a decision or trusted in Christ when the conversion is utterly questionable. Even before reading "Hard to Believe" by John F. MacArthur, I really can't help but say that the Once Prayed Assuming Saved crowd are false converts.
If you're truly saved then you can't lose it. They can't show me any sermon that Washer taught that you can lose your salvation. In eternal security, there's going to be the evidence that you're saved like growing in grace, hatred for sin, a turning from sin and doing good works for the glory of God. Ephesians 2:8-10 shows that a person gets saved by grace through faith then they are equipped unto good works. You got saved by grace through faith then good works follow. Titus 2:11-14 says that God's grace teaches righteous living to people. James 2:14-26 warn that faith without works is dead. Since you can't lose your salvation then the effects can't be lost either. If you're saved then every time you sin, the Holy Spirit convicts you, God chastises you and you hate sin because you love God. In the process of salvation you are being saved from sin and you will one day be completely saved from sin. That's what being Once Saved Always Saved is all about!
Real genuine Once Saved Always Saved is life changing to one's lifestyle and not the heresy of stagnant Christianity. If you get saved then be ready to turn from sinful habits and be ready to live for Christ and be ready to love Christ because you're going to love Him and hate sin as the days go by. But for the seriously misled Once Prayed Assuming Saved crowd, many of them say a sinner's prayer with a very watered down message. It can even be as stupid as saying, "You said that prayer, you're saved." Then these people trust in that prayer than Jesus and the result is that many of them either live like devils, still trust in their righteousness or even both. Many say the sinner's prayer but the next thing you know some of them have lost interest in the things of God. Others have joined so-called Christian cults. Others have joined non-Christian groups. Did they lose their salvation? They never had it (1 John 2:19) and their lives were the evidence. How can it be works salvation to teach that? Not at all. I never stressed that works were required to get saved but that works are the inevitable result of being saved.
Looking back at MacArthur's book "The Gospel According to Jesus" together with Ray Comfort's videos "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "True and False Conversion", many reasons why so many false conversions happen is because people don't even get their sins convicted. Many of these Once Prayed Assuming Saved crowd don't even address sin as it should be addressed. It's never enough to tell a person they're sinners because they must know why they're sinners. Reading through Romans is more effective than just taking a few verses from Romans. These people were never really exposed to the Law. Please, don't argue with me anymore that all four types of soil were types of believers because not everyone who hears the Word of God bears fruit. Only when the soil is conditioned from bad soil hearer to good soil hearer can there be any genuine conversion.
Real genuine Once Saved Always Saved is life changing to one's lifestyle and not the heresy of stagnant Christianity. If you get saved then be ready to turn from sinful habits and be ready to live for Christ and be ready to love Christ because you're going to love Him and hate sin as the days go by. But for the seriously misled Once Prayed Assuming Saved crowd, many of them say a sinner's prayer with a very watered down message. It can even be as stupid as saying, "You said that prayer, you're saved." Then these people trust in that prayer than Jesus and the result is that many of them either live like devils, still trust in their righteousness or even both. Many say the sinner's prayer but the next thing you know some of them have lost interest in the things of God. Others have joined so-called Christian cults. Others have joined non-Christian groups. Did they lose their salvation? They never had it (1 John 2:19) and their lives were the evidence. How can it be works salvation to teach that? Not at all. I never stressed that works were required to get saved but that works are the inevitable result of being saved.
Looking back at MacArthur's book "The Gospel According to Jesus" together with Ray Comfort's videos "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "True and False Conversion", many reasons why so many false conversions happen is because people don't even get their sins convicted. Many of these Once Prayed Assuming Saved crowd don't even address sin as it should be addressed. It's never enough to tell a person they're sinners because they must know why they're sinners. Reading through Romans is more effective than just taking a few verses from Romans. These people were never really exposed to the Law. Please, don't argue with me anymore that all four types of soil were types of believers because not everyone who hears the Word of God bears fruit. Only when the soil is conditioned from bad soil hearer to good soil hearer can there be any genuine conversion.
What's worse is that the Once Prayed Assuming Saved crowd even assumes that even if such people are "ex-believers" that they're still saved. That whole claim is bogus because genuine faith in Christ continues on and on. No, if these people were "ex-believers" then they're not saved. If they trusted in that decision then they never trusted in Christ at all for their salvation but just some empty decision that they made a couple of years back. It's no wonder why they hate preachers like Charles H. Spurgeon because their false sense of security is severely shaken.