We are not able to judge whether a person is saved or not . We are cautioned to look at the fruits though , but still ONLY GOD knows for sure .
CAN WE SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM THE TARES ?
NO! That takes Almighty God to do that job at the Last Trump .
JESUS CHRIST calls His Own to Heaven in the end hour of The Age of Grace .
For years on the internet , I have seen people come and go that said "they were seeking God's Face " . They even came on here and said we were not , as well as we should be, that is .
Let me say that when a person gives testimony of Christ Jesus , it is with his lips or his keyboard , yes ...on internet , his keyboard .
But we do not know til The Rapture who was fooling us or who was telling THE TRUTH , as only God knows for sure .
AS IT SHOULD BE .
I personally do not believe that O is saved today , but I am only guessing as I am a human being and that is all I am capable of at this time .
That goes for everybody we meet , are they saved ? ONLY GOD THE FATHER KNOWS IN TRUTH .
Re: there is basically no way to know For Sure ....
Though some stars are saved , by their own testimony of Christ The Lord , Hollywood does not favor Jesus as a whole . Sadly we know this .
But one movie should be seen if you never see another : ELMER GANTRY
stars : Burt Lancaster , Jean Simmons
It tells the tale of a man who could preach like no other . He swayed the rafters with his preaching . He brought others to The Lord .....in the end we see he is false , a charlatan who used the Gospel for gain , in many ways .
But when you listen , he "seems" real , when you watch , he seems real.
ONLY GOD KNOWS ...
Re: there is basically no way to know For Sure ....
Bonnie, Amen! and Amen!..Very well said and couldn't agree more. Sadly this is a pit that many Christians fall into without realizing it, especially new believer's in Christ. As far as the "You shall know them by their fruits".
According to John Walvoord Bible Commentary,Matt: 7:15-20- this is referring to False Prophets.
After presenting the true way of access into His anticipated Kingdom, Jesus gave a warning about False Prophets, He referred to these advocates of the "broad way" as ferocious wolves who appear harmless as sheep. How can one determine the character of false teachers? He need only look at the fruit they produce. This referring to the religious leaders, who seemed to be good men, teaching spiritual truths about Messiah and His Kingdom, Jesus made it clear they were not good because they were leading people astray.
One of the best books,if not the best book on salvation is by Charles Ryrie, Called "So Great Salvation", anyway in my opinion this book really opened my understanding of Grace/Salvation. Here is a quote from the book.
It is all to easy to have a mental list of spiritual fruit and to conclude that if someone does not produce what is on my list that he or she is not a believer. But the reality is that most lists that we humans devise are too short, too selective, too prejudiced, and often extrabiblical. God likely has it much more accurate and longer list than most of us do.
Nevertheless, every Christian will bear fruit: otherwise he or she is not a true believer. In speaking about the judgment seat of Christ, Paul says unequivocally that every believer will have praise come to him from God.
( 1 Cor 4:5)
We are not with Christians 24/7..and cannot therefore say a person does not bear fruit and therefore is not saved, because some fruit may not be outwardly. But, God see's the heart. Sorry I went on a long diatribe on this. But because I have seen so much of this type of judging from believers within my church and without, that I had to speak up.
Bonnie, Thank you so much for this Post it's a very good topic.
God Bless
