ARE YOU REALLY SAVED? WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA? WHAT ARE THE PROOFS?

In 1995 I had a near death experience following being burned in a gas explosion caused by a faulty heater in our home. Greater detail about that is given in the book, "The Ultimate Question." One critical point from that experience is that historically about 97.5% of the general population goes to hell when they die.  Given that professing Christians make up about 25% of the general population, it means that only approximately 10% of those are actually among the redeemed. So, on average, only 1 in 10 of those attending a given church will actually go to heaven, and no non-Christian will at all!

I had a glimpse of hell that showed me it is an incomparably terrible place that is to be avoided at all costs! This is entirely avoidable due to God's grace through faith in Christ and therefore all the more tragic. What really rankles me is that the institutional Christian church is supposed to be preparing people for eternity and is failing miserably at this.  (Perhaps that is why the early church primarily met in homes: Romans 16:5, I Corinthians16:19, Colossian 4:15, Philemon 1:2.) One of the central failures of the organized church is the widespread acceptance and promotion within the church of an evil lie from hell that all a person needs to do to be saved is pray the "sinner's prayer" and that "once saved always saved."

For example, in early 2014 I attended Lakewood Church in Houston to hear Joel Osteen preach in person. (With about 50,000 members, it was the largest single non-denominational congregation in the U.S. at the time.) The facilities were impressive and the attendance was huge.  Mr. Osteen was a persuasive and entertaining speaker and the music and other effects significantly enhanced the experience.  However, I came away saddened because the message of salvation was fatally compromised. After the service I tried to meet with Joel to tell him my thoughts, but due to the heavy security and large crowds around him there was no clear opportunity to just walk up and speak to him.  So, I wrote him a letter later that week.  In the letter I addressed the eight points that the Scriptures tell us are necessary for salvation:

THE CRITERIA

1. Belief in God (I Kings 8:33, Habakkuk 2:4, Luke 7:50)

2. Confession of sin (Leviticus 5:5, 26:40, James 5:16, 1 John 1:19)

3. Repentance of sin (Exodus 23:21, Acts 2:38, James 2:17, 2:22, 2:26)

4. Restitution for wrongs (Number 5:7, Matthew 5:22,23)

5. Forgiving others (Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:14,15, 18:35, Luke 6:37, 11:4, 2 Corinthians 2:10, Colossians 3:13)

6. Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 22:16, Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12, 1 Peter 3:21,22)

7. Taking communion (John 6:53-58)

8. Enduring to the end (Matthew 24:13)

To date I have not received an answer to that letter.

[If you have studied logic and language, it should be clear that necessary is different from sufficient.  Each of these points is necessary, but all eight of them are required to be sufficient - especially point 8. For example, a person professes Christ at one point in their life but renounces Him later is lost and even worse off than if they had never called on Him for salvation! (Hebrews 6:4-6) A typical comment on such a situation is "Well, they were never really saved." To this I answer, I cite the plain answer from the Maid of Orleans:

Question at Trial: “Do you know if you are in the grace of God?”

“If I am not, may God place me there; if I am, may God so keep me. I should be the saddest in all the world if I knew that I were not in the grace of God.” – Joan of Arc

That is, only God determines who is saved or not. However, He promised that all who call on the name of Christ will be saved (Romans 10:13); and those who deny Him will be damned (Matthew 10:33).  The logic seems clear to me.]

I do not intend to address every possible difference someone may have with this list, but as an example they might object that this is excessive because Christ said to the thief on the cross who called Him "Lord" "...Truly I say to you, Today you will be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:43  ESV. As read apart from any other context, it appears the second thief crucified with Christ received eternal salvation by a profession of faith alone, without any of the above required actions.  In the passage, the thief only did three things:

1. he rebuked the other thief for mocking Christ

2. he confessed his sin and the righteousness of his judgement

3. he acknowledged Christ as Savior and asked to be remembered in the Kingdom of Heaven

The other five points are not explicitly addressed.  It may be presumed he was paying for his crime by being crucified (4) and he maintained his hope until he died (8). That still leaves points 5, 6 and 7 open. That Christ assured him he would be in Paradise indicated He was satisfied with the thief's faith and intent. We do not know the thief's past, and he may have been baptized as most of the Israelites in that region were in the time of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:5, Mark 1:5). He may have broken bread with other believers at one of the feedings of the thousands (5,000: Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-14) & 4,000: Matthew 15:32-39, Mark 8:1-9) or with the disciples of Christ.  We do not know any of this for certain given the bare facts above.  However, generally to interpret scripture I would first apply the nine canons of biblical interpretation as stated by Ivan Panin:

Canon 1. The Bible alone is the Final Authority for its own Data

Canon 1I. The Old Testament text adopted as the basis of discussion is that

of the Hebrew Masoretes, of the present Hebrew copies, of which the

Protestant Versions are translations.

Canon III. The present Hebrew Text to be firmly held to, and abandoned

only where a copyist's error is proved from the Bible itself; the correction,

moreover, to be made only from the Bible itself.

Canon IV. A clear Statement in one part of the Bible to be held to against

others not so clear in other parts. The light from the clear to be thrown on

the obscure, rather than the obscure to darken the light. A mere difficulty

is not to annul a certainty.

Canon V. The Terms of the original Bible Languages are to be strictly

Adhered to in Translation: Keeping specially to the Distinction between

Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers, and heeding the different Methods of

using Chronological Terms.

Canon VI. The Dictionary Meaning of the Terms used is to be strictly

Adhered to, and Departed from only when the ordinary Meaning is made

Impossible by other Established Facts. Canon VII. The Reconciliation of

what are apparently Discrepancies in the Bible Data must be along the

lines laid down in Canons.

Canon VII. The Reconciliation of what are apparently Discrepancies in

the Bible Data must be along the Lines laid down in Canons I-VI; and any

attempted Harmonisation on other lines stands Self-Condemned.

Canon Vlll. In the Solution of Bible Difficulties that which covers an

entire Class of Cases Stands as against those dealing with their individual

Cases separately. The Simple solution stands against the Complex.

Canon IX. In Matters Biblical the Notions of “Unlikely, Improbable, Hard

to Believe, Incredible, Inconceivable,” and their like, are not to be

Entertained so as to make the Bible Statements Void. Only what is

demonstrably Irrational, or declared in the Bible itself to be Impossible, is

to be allowed to Call in question Bible Statements.

In short, Canon IV applies.  What is clearly stated elsewhere in the scriptures is not voided by a less explicit passage. So, it may be presumed that the second thief met the minimum requirements for salvation as explicitly stated elsewhere, or Christ sovereignly waived the criteria that obviously could not be met due to circumstances beyond the man's control. It is the intent of the heart that ultimately matters and God (who knows our heart) is our ultimate judge.

That does not excuse others for compromising due to circumstances. In my NDE I saw the timeline of all people throughout history and saw clearly that most of them, including pastors, priests, regular church members and very religious or charitable people were going to hell in astonishingly large numbers!  This shocked and frightened me.  To me, in that divine encounter, Christ expressed deep sorrow about this too. None of them would have gone to hell if they had met God's requirements, which in simple terms is a loving relationship where they love selflessly and unconditionally and obey Him. 

We should also apply the scriptural principle the Apostle Peter wrote about of invoking the Holy Spirit to give us His intended meaning and  interpretation of any Scripture we want to understand. 

"...and we have the more established prophetic Word, in which you do well to take heed, as to a lamp shining in a murky place, until day dawns and the Light-bearing One rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that every prophecy of Scripture did not come into being of its own interpretation; for prophecy was not at any time borne by the will of man, but being borne along by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke." II Peter 1:19-21 ESV

In my own studies, after asking for the help of Holy Spirt, I came to the above conclusions regarding salvation. So, I would expect anyone else being led by Holy Spirit to arrive at a similar understanding.

THE PROOFS

The bottom line is we need to know whether we are saved or not before we leave this world. It is far too late at that point to change things. So, how can we know if we have this ultimately important question answered correctly?  The scriptures state:

"The one believing and being baptized will be saved. And the one not believing will be condemned. And miraculous signs will follow to those believing these things: they will cast out demons in My name; they will speak new languages;  they will take up snakes; and if they drink anything deadly, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well." Mark 16:16-18 ESV

As a sensible precaution, I do not recommend handling venomous snakes or drinking poison to test or demonstrate your state of salvation. (If you are not saved, the consequences will be doubly tragic. If you are saved, there are safer, equally valid ways to prove the point.) Only one point is necessary to demonstrate the supernatural in your life, so speaking in new tongues, casting out demons or healing the sick in Christ's name is a good indicator of your condition. All three of those are quite involved subjects, so do not depend on a superficial experience with any of those for absolute confirmation. A personal prophesy from a validated prophetic minister is also an option; but one cannot prescribe what God may speak through them on any given occasion.

So, reader, are you in love with God? Do you love your fellow man? (Matthew 22:34-40) Can you say you meet all the criteria above?  Do the true signs of salvation manifest in your life?  If not, you may be deceived into thinking you are saved when you are really not.  This is the most important question for you to answer, so please get it right. I hope to see you in heaven some day, for both our sakes!

(1) From Ivan Panin's Bible Chronology, part I, page 2