I remembered the time after I got saved that I was guilt-induced many times. I knew some people who came from an Evangelical background who later converted to Roman Catholicism. I was told about so and so and was once a Protestant, but found the truth, and became a Roman Catholic. At first, I was wondering if should I go back to Rome? But the more I studied the Bible – the more I realized I had to let go of past ambitions that didn’t match up with it. I was told to read the book Rome Sweet Home in which two Presbyterians became Roman Catholics later on. No one can deny that Steve Ray was formerly a Southern Baptist. Some members of Catholic.com are former Evangelicals. But does that mean that Roman Catholicism is the true Church? Far from it. If you had the Bible known to you by God’s grace then you can no longer accept a lie. But these Evangelicals converted to becoming Roman Catholics. John MacArthur’s book Hard to Believe even had some of his former seminary mates converting to Buddhism. If we’re to say that Protestants and Baptists converting to Catholicism means Catholicism is the truth–should we also say Buddhism is the truth because a Protestant or a Baptist converted to it?
It would be incidents like this that had me thinking it was possible to lose your salvation. No, I’m not talking about Dan Corner’s ridiculous doctrine that you lose your salvation every time you sin. Rather, I’m talking about how some people can eventually lose their salvation when they eventually stop trusting Jesus for their salvation. Is it really possible? That’s why I struggled with the doctrine of eternal security for a long time. I remembered I had a pamphlet on eternal security, read it, but later forgot about it and had to reread it all over again. What does the Bible say about people who were supposedly believers but ceased to believe? 1 John 2:19 calls such people as not truly saved, to begin with. If they were truly saved then they would’ve remained as a fruit of salvation. Instead, they, like Judas Iscariot, were not saved, to begin with. John 6:66 talks about apostasy. Verses later, we realize that one of the disciples is a devil or false convert.
The Bible does warn that only those who endure to the end shall be saved. Yet, the Bible also says that salvation is not by works but by faith. Though James 2 also warns that faith without works is dead. To reconcile all that–I remembered I also mentioned that true faith results in works and that a sham faith doesn’t make any real good works. James didn’t add works to faith but rather emphasized that faith results in works. I remember my Bible teacher always mentioned that something is wrong if a person claims to be saved but there’s no change. I remembered my stance that nobody can be a homosexual and be saved at the same time. 1st Corinthians 6:11 talks about the deliverance of the saved from their sinful lifestyles. We see that the only way to endure to the end is with Jesus. Philippians 1:8-9 says that what Jesus has started is that He will finish. He will definitely do so which includes the ability to endure to the end.
I rewatched two of Ray Comfort’s videos True and False Conversion and Hell’s Best Kept Secret. Both videos talk about false conversions. Comfort mentioned the problem of modern-day evangelism resulting in fake conversions. Comfort then also talks about fake conversions. Does Comfort believe in temporal security? Far from it. Comfort mentioned in both videos that true conversions will continue. Paul David Washer who gets falsely accused of teaching works salvation also emphasizes that true eternal security will have it that Christians may fall away but not completely. The problem with today’s evangelism as I’ve observed (and Comfort also mentions) is the easy evangelism. How often is repentance excluded these days? How often do we get a soft and easy message? How often is the call of salvation mired with prosperity gospel theology? That’s what MacArthur wanted to emphasize in his book The Gospel According to Jesus which I have the revised and expanded edition. MacArthur talked about how easily evangelism has resulted in an exploding number of false converts. Comfort also showed the statistics revealing how many people who supposedly made a decision for Christ never did. These pieces of literature can also help reveal why some Baptists and Protestants are converting to Roman Catholicism.
Did these Baptists and Protestants find “the truth” when they converted to Roman Catholicism? A classic line also goes, “There are also unsaved Baptists and Protestants.” Some people in the Baptist and Protestant circles say that they’re saved because they belong to a church or they got baptized. That’s just erroneous since church membership and baptism are not for salvation but for those who already have it. Why did I long for my baptism years after I get saved? Not because I’d be damned without it but because I’m saved and I want to be baptized. Why did I desire to belong to a Baptist church after I got saved and it felt empty with those years of stagnancy? It’s because I’m saved and I want to grow. I didn’t want to go back to attending the Roman Catholic masses. I wanted a genuine worship service like the one I had during the graduation service. I think it’s because some Baptists and Protestants today are more trusting in their church membership, baptism, or a decision made for Christ than the person in that decision. Washer also condemned the decision when one trusts in the sinner’s prayer or a dotted line than Christ. It’s not the sinner’s prayer that saves but in receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that you’re saved. Many today have a sinner’s prayer evangelism but never had a genuine conversion. No wonder Leonard Ravenhill said that more people are heading for Hell because of the sinner’s prayer evangelism than the bars of America. Washer declared war on easy-prayerism because so many people pray that prayer and put their trust in that prayer rather than Jesus. I can’t say I’m going to Heaven because I said that prayer – it’s because I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior that’s why I’m heading there!
False converts of such flimsy evangelism methods are bound to fall down, look for other sources of “truth” and converting to Roman Catholicism is just one of them. Why does that happen? They gladly heard the word, there wasn’t enough room for roots to grow hence the Word of God came to no effect in their lives. The alarming number of Baptists and Protestants apostatizing should be a wake-up call to stop the flimsy evangelism methods.
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