Continued…
Does
God allow members of the body of Christ to actually teach and preach a false
gospel?
Yes.
Galatians
1:6-7
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.
1 Corinthians
3:10-15
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder,
I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let
every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day
shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon,
he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Their work will be tried; whatever they
build up will be tried by fire. Notice
that even if a man’s work is burned, he himself shall be saved. He is not the issue; but his works, his sanctification;
his service is the issue at the judgment seat of Christ. Those could all be burned up, but Christ
abideth faithful and he cannot deny himself.
That so-called minister, who is not
teaching the truth, but a false gospel, is saved and is still going to heaven—could
this also show that he was never saved at all?
It’s possible, but there is no way that we would know that. There are lost people preaching and teaching
a false gospel on the radio and television and from pulpits and they’re lost. When
they die or the rapture occurs, they will not go to heaven; God will deal with
them.
But saved men can also preach a false
gospel. They abuse God’s grace; they
don’t listen to Paul; they don’t rightly divide the word. It is not our job to try to determine if they
are saved or not. We can’t know for sure
anyway; only God knows.
1
Thessalonians 2:4
But as we were allowed of
God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men,
but God, which trieth our hearts.
You can
ask someone what they are trusting in for salvation. But a person could have trusted Jesus Christ
30 years prior to your asking them that question. They could have been in a church since then that
didn’t teach them a thing about sanctification or even the truth of the
gospel. Maybe they just read it for themselves
in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. Maybe on the
way to their apostate church they heard it from a radio broadcast like ours
that makes the gospel of grace clear.
They get saved and go to heaven and are surprised there isn’t anyone
else from their church there.
We don’t know who is saved and who is
not. What we do know is that we ought to
share a clear gospel with them so that if they were saved but are now confused
we can help them understand. If they only
think they are saved but they are not, we can help them get saved.
But to look at someone who is preaching
a false gospel, or who is not living an acceptable Christian life according to
denominational expectations (they each have a different view), and say that
they are not saved or were never saved or that they lost their salvation is
nonsense. That is not how Paul
talks. Paul says that if you are truly
saved by God’s grace, then you are saved and you can’t lose it.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
How long is eternity? Forever!
Romans 11:29
For the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance.
He never changes his mind; it’s a
(free) gift; you’re in Christ. He
promised you to his Son; you belong to Christ no matter how carnal or
unbelieving your conduct is.
So assume that the “Christian” in
apostasy is lost, particularly if they do not know right division (2 Timothy 2:15);
and give them the clear gospel. You
stated in your question that you know that
we are saved by grace alone and not by any
works that we do, and that we don’t do any works to keep our salvation. Well there it is!
Men
can be a part of the body of Christ and teach and preach but chose not to
believe Paul. Many did in his day and
still do today. I plan to explain how to
share your faith - the Romans Road (to salvation) - in a radio program soon and
we will post it on YouTube; so stay tuned!
Hopefully this helps!
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