Once Saved, Always Saved vs. The Endurance of The Saints

The Last Days and The Great Apostasy

The Bible predicts in Matthew 24:9-13 that in the last days, right before “Jesus” (Yeshua) returns, a great falling away from the faith will occur! Now the Calvinist’s out there will say “Hogwash! The only reason anyone falls away is because they were never saved in the first place!” They’ll also tell you that whole Matthew 24 “thingy” is all about the unrepentant Jews and those heathen gentiles who are left behind who see the light and repent before it’s to late who they like to call the “Tribulation Saints.” The Calvinists will tell you that they’ve got a lock on that whole “Once Saved Always Saved” thingy. They’re just like James Bond feller over yonder only instead of having a license to kill, theirs is a “License to Chill!”

But is that really true? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t! You know, Calvinists, as dogmatic as they are about this issue, they need to remember that their theological framework and way of looking at things isn’t settled religious dogma! It’s really just a theory put forth by John Calvin and if they’re going to be honest with themselves, they’d have to admit that they really don’t know and they won’t know until their end finally comes and they find themselves either in perpetual bliss or torment whether or not their take on that matter is really true!

Let's look at what the Bible has to say about the last day's apostasy. Yeshua, I like to use his Hebrew name, in the Olivet discourse Matthew 24:9-13 says this, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation.” I know our pre-tribulational rapture brethren and cistern say that we don't even really need to pay attention to that because it's not for us, we’ll be outa here by then. We’ll all be raptured out of here and watching the whole thing down here from the mezzanine section of the here after. What?!?!

Unfortunately, this is what dispensationalism does. It chops the New Testament up into different sections. It says that this is for us, that's not for us, that's for the tribulation Saints, that's for this other group over yonder, hither and nod and some of the extreme dispensationalists actually go so far as to say that none of Paul's letters are even for us. If you take nothing from this little essay but this, please remember that Dispensationalism, like Calvinism, is not settled dogma. It’s merely a manmade theoretical construct and/or theological framework that many use to try to understand and interpret the scriptures through and then to live their lives by. But that it works for them here or there, doesn’t necessarily mean that it works everywhere!

Jesus a.k.a. “Yeshua,” the prophet that Moses told us that we must listen to and obey, had this to say about that? And when the Messiah speaks, I think we need to pay attention to what he says:

“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”

~ Matthew 24:9-13 NASB 1995

“It clearly says that they’re going to deliver you.” Who’s the “you” here? It’s pretty clear that Jesus, a.k.a. Yeshua, is talking to believers! He's talking to you and me! He said all the Nations will hate us because of His name. And at that particular time, many, because of the persecution that is coming will fall away and they will betray one another and they will hate one another. I don’t know about you, but for me, If I’m one of those who’s still on this side of eternity at that time, I think that we need to be ready for this.

This is one of the most solemn and sober, warnings in the entire Bible. He says at that time, many of our brothers and sisters will fall away. So that being said, you gotta ask yourself, what if the “Once Saved Always Saved Calvinist” folks, the Dispensationalists and the “Pre-Tribbers” are wrong? It says that they’re gonna hate us and kill us. Why? Because we're Jewish? No! They’re gonna hate us and want to kill us because of His name! Who claims that name? Muslims? Hindu’s? Buddhists? Unrepentant Jews? No. None of those groups claim that name. Christians and Messianics claim that name. So the scriptures tell us that they’ll hate Him so much that they will want to kill anyone who is associated with His name in any way shape or form.

The world is already so broken and so polarized and so divided right now, it’s no surprise to anyone that the unsaved will betray us. But, the actual thought of brothers and sisters betraying one another is too painful to think about. The thought of many of those whom we love who will renounce Christ and fall away is not something that anyone would want to endure. And it says many, not just a few. We have to resolve in our hearts “Lord even if I am the last one standing I will stand with you, I will bear the stigma, even if my own brothers and sisters betray me I will stand! Lord give us your heart, give us the endurance to stand in that day!”

He also said many false prophets will arise and mislead many. I don’t think that this is talking about just some of those weird fringe prophets on YouTube, the Sunday morning televangelists and fake healers or the whack-jobs fleecing the flock on so-called “Christian Cable Networks” promising folks their “best life now” either, although they should be included in that lot. I think a lot of those folks just mentioned are the ones we’re told about in Matthew 7:22-23 who “will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

He says because lawlessness will increase, the love of most will grow cold. I don't know about you but, I don’t want my heart to grow cold. It’ll be so easy in the midst of all the pain of betrayal to turn cold. And once the Bloodshed begins, it's really going to become hard to maintain a soft forgiving heart. We’re going to have to remind ourselves on a regular basis to practice extreme forgiveness. That's the type of forgiveness that you can only display if you truly understand how much you have been forgiven! Once a person fully understands that what we really deserve is hell and how much we've truly been forgiven, I think it’s only then that we can forgive in an extreme way. We have to start practicing that kind of forgiveness now while it’s still easy so we can remember how to practice it once it starts getting hard.

But, then Yeshua says this. And this one verse right here ought to scare the hell out of everyone. He says this: “but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” I know a lot of our brothers and sisters get mad when you say that part. They’ll say things like I’m trying to add to “Good Works” to salvation or play religious guilt-trip games. No, I’m not! I'm just reading what Yeshua himself said. He said the one who endures to the end shall be saved. In other words, if you don't endure, if you are not faithful until the end, if you walk away, you will inherit the Lake of Fire.

And if anyone has told you you're saved so you don't ever have to worry about that, you can take the mark of the beast, you can sleep around, you can leave or cheat on your wife, you can do drugs you can be a drunk, you can be homosexual, a transgender drag queen or you can do anything you want because you're “Once Saved Always Saved” and if anyone tells you differently, they are lying to you. Word to the wise, listen to the words of Yeshua instead!

Now again, if you're a calvinist, you can hold to the eternal security doctrine if you want to and say “once ‘truly’ saved always saved” but, the truth be told, you don't know if you're saved and if you think you know, you're deceived because no one can truly know if they are saved until they are in their glorified resurrected body. I think it’s more correct to put it this way: “Until you're truly saved, you're not saved and if you think for one second you are exempt from potentially backsliding and falling away, you are deceived!”

I think that the “Once Saved Always Saved” and the Pre-Tribulational Rapture theories, working together, can lead many to fall away from the faith and end up in the Lake of Fire! And granted, there may be more than just these two “doctrines” (I use that term loosely) that might just very well be the keys to the “Great Apostasy” or falling away the Bible refers to in the end times! The danger is because these two doctrines give people the idea that they can keep on sinning and they don’t have to worry about the tribulation simply because once upon a time they made a tearful trip down the sawdust trail at a revival meeting and said a “sinners prayer” that means now they’ve got a “Get Out of Hell Free Card.”

And it’s NOT just the obvious shysters and whack-jobs we need to be careful of. For example, who are you going to listen to Yeshua or John McArthur. John MacArthur is one of the most respected bible teachers of our day and he has taught that it is possible for one to receive the mark of the beast and still be saved (LINK). Why? Because John MacArthur was speaking from his Calvinist perspective when he taught that, NOT the Bible (LINK). Now in the early years of my walk, I used to love listening to his radio program and his teaching was very important to me. But, when it comes to a choice between Yeshua or old John over there, it’s Yeshua all the way baby! Those who take the mark of the beast during the tribulation can still be saved? Really?? I don’t know about you but, I’m not so sure about that. Just saying. . .

In summation, the Lake of Fire is not something to be messed with. We're dealing with our eternal destinies, the eternal destinies of our friends and loved ones and those that we have been given stewardship over. We don't want to give anyone an excuse to be lazy, to backslide or to play with fire and we all have the fallen human propensity and a tendency to do so. And if you say you don't, then you're also arrogant in addition to being deceived. If you can't acknowledge your own poverty and weakness and recognize that we need the fear of the Lord as our guard, then you're in danger! Take heed when you think you stand lest you fall.

We have to walk in humility in the fear of the Lord and trust in his grace to guard and protect us. That doesn’t start by saying “hey I can never fall away, I'm fine or I'm safe. My doctrinal beliefs are all the right ones! I, for one, would argue that any doctrine that strips you of any of the warnings of scripture, be careful that's a red flag! We need to heed the warnings of scripture! Stay humble, be open minded and if, or when, you find some new information that challenges the positions you hold, investigate them thoroughly before placing all of your eggs in one doctrinal basket or another. But above all, keep your eyes on Yeshua, obey His commandments and prepare yourselves to endure to the end.