Keepers and Rejects

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I ran across an interesting story on YouTube recently. It's about a man who
grew up in a Christian home and attended a Christian church. He believed
that Jesus Christ died for his sins and rose again. He believed in the Spirit
birth about which Jesus spoke in John 3:3-8. He was baptized in the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and he prayed to Jesus, confessing his sins
on a regular basis. He had the assurance of his salvation and sincerely
believed had eternal life,

Today that same man is an Atheist; and even though he explained why, it
still puzzled me that an apparently born-again Christian could lose so much
faith in Christ and the Bible.

But I had overlooked the fine print in something Jesus taught; which goes
like this:

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me
I will certainly not cast out." (John 6:37)

The man had come to Jesus; but apparently was not among those whom the
Father had given him; therefore Jesus could not promise to take the man on
permanently in accordance with his Father's will.

"I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him
who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me; that I shall lose none
of all that He has given me" (John 6:38-39)

I attended a Billy Graham crusade in San Diego back in August of 1976 and
was frankly surprised at the large number of people coming forward that
night to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Well, looking back; I
am now very curious to know how many of those that came forward were
selected to join the fortunate ones that the Father gives to His son for
safekeeping because anybody with a mind to can come to Jesus, but not all
who do so are taken on.

"Many are called, but few are chosen." (Matt 22:14)

"Be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you"
(2Pet 1:10)
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Thanks for the message! WE should all take heed!

I like your avatar, are you egyptian or just using it for no reason? I love camels!

Am not really buying this story as it seems this man did come to Jesus. And he could not come if the Father did not draw him. There would be something else going on..eg what kind of church was this man raised in. Thats the the thing, being raised in church sends up a few red flags becuase one cant assume that cos one believe what a church says that this man believed with all his heart. Did he read the Bible? Again if He was truly spirit born this man would be doing the good works God had prepared him to do.

Confessing his sins on a regular basis...well theres confession and then theres repentence. Did this man actually repent. If he was confessing them regularly...was this the same sin over and over or was it sins the holy spirit was convicting him of.

Who is to say this man sees the error of his ways and will still be saved. One cant write off someone just yet.

I think with Billy Graham crusades one has to remember the parable of the sower.
Its not enough for some people to hear the Word, one has to do it. And there's also the condition of the soil as to whether someone will bear fruit.

Then one would have to ask: Just what is bearing fruit look like? It seems we humans are not very good at self-appraisal. We think we recognize love, but so do hardened sinners. It is easy to love those that love you.

Look also at faith. What does that look like? You think you know? It becomes very tricky to speculate on another's salvation. We should rather take a hard look at our own faith walk. We will become too busy cleaning that up to worry about another's.

Fruit of the holy spirit.
I was not looking at this mans faith walk the OP was. I was saying that we cant write off this man even though he seems like an athiest. Some people go astray but Jesus brings them back he will go after the 1 sheep that went astray while the other 99 are safe. And this can happen right up to a persons last breath.

He could be like the prodigal son.

Perhaps he's an Adventist?

He is the prodigal son and his father lovingly welcomed him back. What was once lost is now found.

Sometimes an immature believer gets man at God because Life didn’t happen the way they thought God should do it so, they turn away and go in the opposite direction.

However, when the bottom falls out they come running as fast as they can back to God.

Been there, done that, over it! No plans to ever pull that silly stunt again! Lol!

The 70, that had been bragging and boasting about casting out devils in the name of JESUS walked away from Christ because of a hard message they could not endure....YET JESUS stated clearly that their names were written in HEAVEN and to rejoice in that fact.

Suggest further analysis; Remember...G-d wants to save all His children.

The person you example is not unusual. I know of one who discarded G-d when His sister died from painful cancer. He blamed G-d.

Matt 22;14 lends itself to those who commit and fail to maintain until the end (death). If they maintain...they are chosen. G-d turns away no one who follows Christ.

Chosen related to saved. We are born again while here on earth We are not saved until G-d passes judgement on us...after physical death..

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One of the faults that Atheists find with deistic religions like Christianity is
that they are essentially unproven; ergo: insensible and unreasonable.

I believe that is a normal response.

"A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are
foolishness to him and he cannot understand them" (1 Cor 2:13-14)

However; the Spirit birth about which Christ spoke in John 3:3-8 is supposed
to remedy the Atheist's skepticism

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from
God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things
we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught
by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." (1Cor 2:12
14)

Now, when a supposedly born-again Christian is thinking like an Atheist, I
think we have to assume that Christian-- though they say otherwise --has
not yet, nor ever has, undergone the Spirit birth spoken of by Jesus at John
3:3-8.
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