What church do you go to?

[B-A-C]

I wonder if it worries anyone that out of the seven churches in Asia, there were only two that Jesus didn't have
anything against.

First we have Ephesus.
Rev 2:4; 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Rev 2:5; 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Has your church left it's first love? Is Jesus still the main focus? Or is music, and finances, and church baseball league become the reason your church still has a membership? These can be good things, but for some churches it's the "main" thing. Oh yeah.. and we talk about Jesus sometimes too.

This wasn't just some Jesus didn't really like... this is serious. Serious enough that He says he will remove their
lampstand (the church itself) unless they repent.

We also have Pergamum
Rev 2:14; 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
Rev 2:15; 'So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Rev 2:16; 'Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

Does your church have false teachings? Does it say that eating anything under any circumstances is OK?
Is it OK with sexual immorality among the members in the church, because after all... "God is love".
Does your church teach that homosexuality and adultery are OK with God? Jesus will be coming to make war against them. (Gee.... I wonder who will win?)

Then we have Thyatira
Rev 2:20; 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Rev 2:21; 'I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.
Rev 2:22; 'Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.
Rev 2:23; 'And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds

Does your church tolerate rebellion? Does it even allow some to teach rebellion against God.
"ahh... go ahead and 'live' a little... God's is OK with it". Grace, grace grace... grace covers everything.
Apparently it doesn't cover immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols. Who is the idol today?
Sports, movies, music, celebrities, hunting,.. it can be anything... "I can't give any money to the church,
but I can spend $20 on a hotdog and coke at the games" It's funny how much we are willing to sacrifice
to our idols, our time, and effort.. and money. But we can't give any of those things to God.
These people who want to mingle and mix with the world... commit adultery with them... they will
be thrown into sickness, and pestilence and tribulation. (sounds like fun)

How about Sardis? Maybe you go to this church...
Rev 3:1; "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Rev 3:2; 'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
Rev 3:3; 'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Your church doesn't really do anything "bad". We don't commit immorality and sacrifice to idols.
Maybe not, but are you dead? What have you done for the kingdom of God lately? No missions?
No community outreach? No one has gotten saved in your church for at least a year or two. No one
new is showing up... (probably because no one is reaching out to them)... but hey we're comfortable with the things that we have... (just don't wake us up). These people that are asleep... He will come like a thief
and they won't even know he was there, when they realize it was Jesus... it will be too late.

Is it possible your church might be like Laodicea?
Rev 3:15; 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
Rev 3:16; 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
Rev 3:17; 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Is your church just coasting? Just going through the motions? We're not really dead... but we're not exactly
setting the town on fire either. We're just complacent... we have everything need. Heck, our church is rolling
in the dough. Being lukewarm is worse than hot obviously.. but why would it be worse that being cold?
Because if you're cold, there's hope for you. If you're smart enough to realize... hey it's cold in here....
maybe you'll turn up the heat, or put heavier clothing on. But if you're just "lukewarm" you never realize
how naked you really are. Jesus is going to spit this church out. They do not even know that they are naked and bind. They don't even realize it.

Out of seven churches... there were only two that Jesus didn't have anything against.
That's less than one/third. Less than 33%. Not very good odds. These aren't non-Christians.
This is "the church". Jesus Himself calls them... "the church". How do you know... how do you
really know your church isn't one of the five listed above?

Matt 7:21; "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

 

[Sue J Love]

I wonder if it worries anyone that out of the seven churches in Asia, there were only two that Jesus didn't have
anything against.

First we have Ephesus.
Rev 2:4; 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Rev 2:5; 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Has your church left it's first love? Is Jesus still the main focus? Or is music, and finances, and church baseball league become the reason your church still has a membership? These can be good things, but for some churches it's the "main" thing. Oh yeah.. and we talk about Jesus sometimes too.

This wasn't just some Jesus didn't really like... this is serious. Serious enough that He says he will remove their
lampstand (the church itself) unless they repent.

We also have Pergamum
Rev 2:14; 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
Rev 2:15; 'So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Rev 2:16; 'Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

Does your church have false teachings? Does it say that eating anything under any circumstances is OK?
Is it OK with sexual immorality among the members in the church, because after all... "God is love".
Does your church teach that homosexuality and adultery are OK with God? Jesus will be coming to make war against them. (Gee.... I wonder who will win?)

Then we have Thyatira
Rev 2:20; 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Rev 2:21; 'I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.
Rev 2:22; 'Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.
Rev 2:23; 'And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds

Does your church tolerate rebellion? Does it even allow some to teach rebellion against God.
"ahh... go ahead and 'live' a little... God's is OK with it". Grace, grace grace... grace covers everything.
Apparently it doesn't cover immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols. Who is the idol today?
Sports, movies, music, celebrities, hunting,.. it can be anything... "I can't give any money to the church,
but I can spend $20 on a hotdog and coke at the games" It's funny how much we are willing to sacrifice
to our idols, our time, and effort.. and money. But we can't give any of those things to God.
These people who want to mingle and mix with the world... commit adultery with them... they will
be thrown into sickness, and pestilence and tribulation. (sounds like fun)

How about Sardis? Maybe you go to this church...
Rev 3:1; "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Rev 3:2; 'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
Rev 3:3; 'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Your church doesn't really do anything "bad". We don't commit immorality and sacrifice to idols.
Maybe not, but are you dead? What have you done for the kingdom of God lately? No missions?
No community outreach? No one has gotten saved in your church for at least a year or two. No one
new is showing up... (probably because no one is reaching out to them)... but hey we're comfortable with the things that we have... (just don't wake us up). These people that are asleep... He will come like a thief
and they won't even know he was there, when they realize it was Jesus... it will be too late.

Is it possible your church might be like Laodicea?
Rev 3:15; 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
Rev 3:16; 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
Rev 3:17; 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Is your church just coasting? Just going through the motions? We're not really dead... but we're not exactly
setting the town on fire either. We're just complacent... we have everything need. Heck, our church is rolling
in the dough. Being lukewarm is worse than hot obviously.. but why would it be worse that being cold?
Because if you're cold, there's hope for you. If you're smart enough to realize... hey it's cold in here....
maybe you'll turn up the heat, or put heavier clothing on. But if you're just "lukewarm" you never realize
how naked you really are. Jesus is going to spit this church out. They do not even know that they are naked and bind. They don't even realize it.

Out of seven churches... there were only two that Jesus didn't have anything against.
That's less than one/third. Less than 33%. Not very good odds. These aren't non-Christians.
This is "the church". Jesus Himself calls them... "the church". How do you know... how do you
really know your church isn't one of the five listed above?

Matt 7:21; "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

Thank you for sharing this, @B-A-C . I may not agree with every single illustration you gave, but I agree with the overall message, and we, the body of Christ, do need to take this very seriously, for judgment is coming, and it begins with the house of the Lord.

 

[Dave M]

Great post BAC,

I can so relate, freshly out of the catholic church about 2 years now, I can in all honestly tell you I had no idea sex outside of marriage was a sin until I found out myself by reading the bible the the Catholics "priest" never tell you that as a matter of fact I remember vividly going to confession once and telling the preist of my lusting issues and he suggested I join a catholic singles group , now my new church the preacher says sex outside marriage is a sin at just about every sermon, my new church the pastor talks about the problem with pornography in the church never once herd about the problem in the catholic church, my new church tells us to read the bible for ourselves it is a must he says, my old catholic church would say if you must read the bible do not take it literally. The Catholics believe the pope to be the final authority on faith, my new church tells us the bible is the final authority on faith which is the word of God.

I would say there are probably more churches out there that are teaching a false gospel for the sake of filling up the chairs then there are teaching a true gospel for the sake of saving souls.

to many people simply trust the institutions of america to be the final authority on all things.

 

[Sue J Love]

I would say there are probably more churches out there that are teaching a false gospel for the sake of filling up the chairs then there are teaching a true gospel for the sake of saving souls.

to many people simply trust the institutions of america to be the final authority on all things.

I would agree!

 

[Hekuran]

I read these chapters late last year. One thing that really struck and surprised me was that there were two churches about which Jesus had only good things to say.

 

[Dave M]

I have herd some preachers claim the churches also represent time periods in history of the churches. And we are in the last time period the church of Laodicea which would certainly describe the majority of the churches in USA, but as far as the rest of the world I am not sure of??

 

[B-A-C]

Rom 8:31; ... If God is for us, who is against us?

I suspect the five churches above thought God was for them. I even think at one time He was. But at some point it got to the point
He let them have what they wanted.

John 10:27; "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
John 10:28; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Apparently these sheep quit following Him. No one "snatched" them out of His hand, they just decided to go a different direction.

John 6:66; As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

Sometimes the sheep just want to leave.

 

[amadeus2]

I read these chapters late last year. One thing that really struck and surprised me was that there were two churches about which Jesus had only good things to say.

Ah, but I wouldn't necessarily expect to find 2 out of 7 to the good where we live or even where we attend. Hopefully some them are improving?

 

[amadeus2]

Rom 8:31; ... If God is for us, who is against us?

I suspect the five churches above thought God was for them. I even think at one time He was. But at some point it got to the point
He let them have what they wanted.

John 10:27; "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
John 10:28; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Apparently these sheep quit following Him. No one "snatched" them out of His hand, they just decided to go a different direction.

John 6:66; As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

Sometimes the sheep just want to leave.

Sometimes the sheep get weary with well doing and away they go!

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Gal 6:9

 

[Dave M]

I don't watch football but I herd the Philadelphia eagles won the super ball, You know the Philadelphia eagles are very out spoken about there Love for Jesus Christ, and it seems that the Church of Philadelphia was one of the few churches that Jesus had nothing against in the book of Revelation.

Pretty cool Philadelphia won the super ball, and gave glory and honor to God.

I am not saying the football team is the church of Philadelphia just a cool coincidence or maybe not??

 

[B-A-C]

Luke 18:8; "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

It seems even Jesus wondered if there will be any true Christians left we He returns.

 

[Brother-Paul]

I wonder if it worries anyone that out of the seven churches in Asia, there were only two that Jesus didn't have
anything against.

First we have Ephesus.
Rev 2:4; 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Rev 2:5; 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Has your church left it's first love? Is Jesus still the main focus? Or is music, and finances, and church baseball league become the reason your church still has a membership? These can be good things, but for some churches it's the "main" thing. Oh yeah.. and we talk about Jesus sometimes too.

This wasn't just some Jesus didn't really like... this is serious. Serious enough that He says he will remove their
lampstand (the church itself) unless they repent.

We also have Pergamum
Rev 2:14; 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
Rev 2:15; 'So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Rev 2:16; 'Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

Does your church have false teachings? Does it say that eating anything under any circumstances is OK?
Is it OK with sexual immorality among the members in the church, because after all... "God is love".
Does your church teach that homosexuality and adultery are OK with God? Jesus will be coming to make war against them. (Gee.... I wonder who will win?)

Then we have Thyatira
Rev 2:20; 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Rev 2:21; 'I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.
Rev 2:22; 'Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.
Rev 2:23; 'And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds

Does your church tolerate rebellion? Does it even allow some to teach rebellion against God.
"ahh... go ahead and 'live' a little... God's is OK with it". Grace, grace grace... grace covers everything.
Apparently it doesn't cover immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols. Who is the idol today?
Sports, movies, music, celebrities, hunting,.. it can be anything... "I can't give any money to the church,
but I can spend $20 on a hotdog and coke at the games" It's funny how much we are willing to sacrifice
to our idols, our time, and effort.. and money. But we can't give any of those things to God.
These people who want to mingle and mix with the world... commit adultery with them... they will
be thrown into sickness, and pestilence and tribulation. (sounds like fun)

How about Sardis? Maybe you go to this church...
Rev 3:1; "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Rev 3:2; 'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
Rev 3:3; 'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Your church doesn't really do anything "bad". We don't commit immorality and sacrifice to idols.
Maybe not, but are you dead? What have you done for the kingdom of God lately? No missions?
No community outreach? No one has gotten saved in your church for at least a year or two. No one
new is showing up... (probably because no one is reaching out to them)... but hey we're comfortable with the things that we have... (just don't wake us up). These people that are asleep... He will come like a thief
and they won't even know he was there, when they realize it was Jesus... it will be too late.

Is it possible your church might be like Laodicea?
Rev 3:15; 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
Rev 3:16; 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
Rev 3:17; 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Is your church just coasting? Just going through the motions? We're not really dead... but we're not exactly
setting the town on fire either. We're just complacent... we have everything need. Heck, our church is rolling
in the dough. Being lukewarm is worse than hot obviously.. but why would it be worse that being cold?
Because if you're cold, there's hope for you. If you're smart enough to realize... hey it's cold in here....
maybe you'll turn up the heat, or put heavier clothing on. But if you're just "lukewarm" you never realize
how naked you really are. Jesus is going to spit this church out. They do not even know that they are naked and bind. They don't even realize it.

Out of seven churches... there were only two that Jesus didn't have anything against.
That's less than one/third. Less than 33%. Not very good odds. These aren't non-Christians.
This is "the church". Jesus Himself calls them... "the church". How do you know... how do you
really know your church isn't one of the five listed above?

Matt 7:21; "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

Another good thread B-A-C

I may not agree with everything you say...

Spend $20 on a hotdog and coke at the games What! $20!!!

But I have to agree with most.

One thing that always stands out for me here is 2 out of 7 churches, numerology has a clear pattern in the Bible.

7 is a common number in scripture and points to - God’s Number of Completion, Perfection and Rest

To name a few:
7th day of creation signified completion and rest
7 great land masses form the complete earth
7 great bodies of water form a complete ocean
7 colors make a perfect spectrum
7 colors in the rainbow (interesting that the LGBT flag has only 6 colours I have not looked into this - yet)

2 in scripture points to - Companionship, Witness, Division

To name a few:
2 of every kind of animal entered the ark
2 tablets contained the Ten Commandments
2 testaments make up the Word of God
2 parts in the day
2 great lights to divide the day and night (sun and moon)
2 thieves on crosses=2 testimonies (but only one true testimony)

5 churches out of 7 are failing big time, that is a massive proportion!

Yet they cannot see it, we see the same on this forum day in day out, so many think they are right, they dig their heels in that they know, everyone else is wrong.

Should we not all stand out of the picture and look in, asking ourselves, what if I am wrong, am I really right with God, or am I as right with Him as I thought?

Are we part of a church that is not Jesus centred? Many would say they are.
Are we part of a Gospel believing church? Most say they are.
Do I check everything I am told, even by the pastor, do I check against scripture to ensure I am not mislead?

We can be mislead many ways, sometimes down to denominational belief, sometimes down to mis-understanding or mis-interpretation, sometime the person unknowingly tells us something which is not scriptural, which is not The Truth in the Word.

We are all responsible for our own salvation.

 

[Brother-Paul]

Rom 8:31; ... If God is for us, who is against us?

I suspect the five churches above thought God was for them. I even think at one time He was. But at some point it got to the point
He let them have what they wanted.

John 10:27; "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
John 10:28; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Apparently these sheep quit following Him. No one "snatched" them out of His hand, they just decided to go a different direction.

John 6:66; As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

Sometimes the sheep just want to leave.

This is an interesting point brother.

No one "snatched" them out of His hand, they just decided to go a different direction.

Once saved always saved? Or
- they chose to walk away
- they chose to go in another direction
- they chose to follow the world (which includes sin the world and the devil)

They chose, No one "snatched" them out of Jesus hand, they chose to walk the other way.

 

[Brother-Paul]

Luke 18:8; "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

It seems even Jesus wondered if there will be any true Christians left we He returns.

People will walk their chosen way brother, but let us not fear, let us walk with the Lord, every hour, minute and second of each day.

Praying for the lost souls always, to the Jews first and to the Gentiles.

Let us never forget we are adopted in His family, we will inherit all He has promised us...

The New Jerusalem, the Holy City, Zion, The Church, that John saw come down from Heaven onto the New Earth was....
1500 miles east to west, 1500 miles north to south and 1500 miles high.

Jesus says my Father's house has many mansions, every one will be filled with Saved souls.

PRAISE THE LORD

 

[Dave M]

after reading revelations many many times I firmly believe that the 7 churches represent the people in every church in the world and there condition.

I see these churches as description of the believers in the church today, seems to be a good lithium test for us to take

 

[Brother-Paul]

7 is a common number in scripture and points to - God’s Number of Completion, Perfection and Rest

To name a few:
7th day of creation signified completion and rest
7 great land masses form the complete earth
7 great bodies of water form a complete ocean
7 colors make a perfect spectrum
7 colors in the rainbow (interesting that the LGBT flag has only 6 colours I have not looked into this - yet)

2 in scripture points to - Companionship, Witness, Division

To name a few:
2 of every kind of animal entered the ark
2 tablets contained the Ten Commandments
2 testaments make up the Word of God
2 parts in the day
2 great lights to divide the day and night (sun and moon)
2 thieves on crosses=2 testimonies (but only one true testimony)

5 churches out of 7 are failing big time, that is a massive proportion!

Yet they cannot see it

In the above post I included the line (in red) and said I had not looked into this yet.

I now have some may be surprised as the meaning of the colours and what they stand for...

Red - symbol of life
Orange - In the light of the recent incidents, our hearts do need healing from all the wounds that have been inflicted on the community.
Yellow - Symbolises the sun. It stands to show how the sun shines the same on everyone, without prejudice, without hate.
Green - stands for serenity and nature. It shows how people's choice of sexuality is neither unnatural nor is it a disease that needs a miracle cure.
Blue - stands for the celebration of arts because no matter what, the celebration of positivity is what brings joy to everyone.
Lilac - represents spirit. The spirit of the people, the spirit of the movement, and how no matter what may come, this spirit will never be dulled.

The reasons for the colours which they say a specially selected have 'satan' written through each of them.

They use 6 colours of God's rainbow, to represent each other and all who believe and follow their ways.

It shows how people's choice of sexuality is neither unnatural nor is it a disease that needs a miracle cure.

Their colours and their choices are all reflected from the middle two.

- the sun shines the same on everyone (Didn't God say that)
- It shows how people's choice of sexuality is neither unnatural nor is it a disease

God's rainbow, which I remember the following way ROY G BIV
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet is His covenant to us.

The devil is masquerading as the spirit of light, but in him is no light. The deceiver of souls will deceive many, but his time is short, his time is limited.

Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. Amen

 

[B-A-C]

2 of every kind of animal entered the ark

Hmmmmm

Gen 7:2; "You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;
Gen 7:3; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

We are all responsible for our own salvation.

Amen, Amen Amen Amen!!!!

 

[Brother-Paul]

Thank you brother

Bless you

 

[B-A-C]

Once saved always saved? Or
- they chose to walk away
- they chose to go in another direction
- they chose to follow the world (which includes sin the world and the devil)

They chose, No one "snatched" them out of Jesus hand, they chose to walk the other way.

This is always a dangerous and touchy subject here on TJ.

But keep in mind....
Not just wheat is in "in the kingdom" but tares also.
Not just good fish are "in the kingdom" but bad fish too.
Not just good and faithful servants are "in the masters house" but wicked and lazy servants also.
Not just trees that bear fruit are "in the masters garden" but trees that refuse to bear any fruit at all.
Not just sensible and faithful stewards are "in charge of the masters possessions" but wicked and evil stewards are also.
God was with the Jews who left Egypt for 40 years in the desert, but even though He was with them, most did not make it to the promised land.
Satan and the fallen angels were once in heaven also.

Could it be that those who knew the truth and turn away will will actually be judged harder than the ignorant who never knew the truth?

2 Pet 2:20; For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
2 Pet 2:21; For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
2 Pet 2:22; It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."

 

[Brother-Paul]

This is always a dangerous and touchy subject here on TJ.

But keep in mind....
Not just wheat is in "in the kingdom" but tares also.
Not just good fish are "in the kingdom" but bad fish too.
Not just good and faithful servants are "in the masters house" but wicked and lazy servants also.
Not just trees that bear fruit are "in the masters garden" but trees that refuse to bear any fruit at all.
Not just sensible and faithful stewards are "in charge of the masters possessions" but wicked and evil stewards are also.
God was with the Jews who left Egypt for 40 years in the desert, but even though He was with them, most did not make it to the promised land.
Satan and the fallen angels were once in heaven also.

Could it be that those who knew the truth and turn away will will actually be judged harder than the ignorant who never knew the truth?

2 Pet 2:20; For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
2 Pet 2:21; For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
2 Pet 2:22; It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."

Taking your comment above brother about being judged harder caused me to look back at Matthew 5:19 and the commentary I read, which I have included below.
It is in line with what you are saying,

We are saved by Grace through Faith, Jesus did not come to destroy the Law, or the prophets, but to fulfil them.
I also thought it worth sharing because most of the Ten Commandments, which are part of the Law, still apply today.
Some readers may not be aware of this.

Those who are least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 5:17-20 (KJV) - Christ Came to Fulfill the Law
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:
but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

We can seek to do and teach the Law (v. 19).
This does not mean we major on the Old Testament and ignore the New! Second Corinthians 3 makes it clear that ours is a ministry of the New Covenant.

But there is a proper ministry of the Law that is not contrary to the glorious message of God's grace.

1 Timothy 1:9-11 (KJV)
9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Jesus wants us to know more of the righteousness of God, obey it, and share it with others.

The moral law of God has not changed.
Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament epistles and commanded to believers.
(The exception is the Sabbath commandment, which was given as a sign to Israel, see Neh. 9:14.)

We do not obey an external Law because of fear. No, believers today obey an internal Law and live because of love.
The Holy Spirit teaches us the Word and enables us to obey.
Sin is still sin, and God still punishes sin.
In fact, we in this present age are more responsible because we have been taught and given more!

Bible Exposition Commentary - Be Loyal (Matthew).