Have you ever had an epiphany? A moment when the lights come on…almost literally? I’ve had only a few, and one such moment surrounded an important verse in 1 John: chapter 2, verse 19.
Before I explore my epiphany, let me provide some background. As most of you know, I grew up attending strict fundamentalist churches. And while they sure inculcated us with an understanding of what good fundamentalists did or did not do, they were not always so clear on doctrine. “Theology” was almost a bad word. “Seminary” was always castigated by being referred to as a “cemetery”. But this is not to say that no important doctrines were stressed.
We learned the basic truths of the Gospel, and the bigger doctrines of the Bible: the nature of God, the Trinity, the Deity and Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Eternal State, along with a heavy dose of pre-trib eschatology and dispensationalism. Yet oft times the messages were fairly shallow.
In such an environment I remember learning two important doctrinal truths. We as Christians are eternally secure and you can’t work your way to salvation. In my soulwinner’s New Testament I compiled lists of verses proving eternal security and also disproving works salvation, and I did my best to use them. I knew my Assemblies of God relatives were very wrong on these issues, for instance.
In some of the circles we were in growing up, there was an overemphasis on salvation being simply a moment in time when one prayed to be saved. As a teenager, when my family travelled around to raise support to go to Africa as missionaries, I remember encountering several different churches where they would push for multiple “salvations” each time people went out soul-winning. Thankfully, such was not the practice of our church. And I am sure my dad never aimed to produce numbers, for numbers’ sake alone.
In my older teen years, I became fairly familiar with David Cloud’s Way of Life Bible Encyclopedia, and I began educating myself more in the way of doctrine. I learned why Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists were wrong, for instance. And I was further bolstered in the doctrine of eternal security and against the doctrine of works based salvation. And at Bible college, thankfully, I was further taught that a “quick prayerism” model of salvation was wrong. We were taught the importance of repentance, and also warned that many fundamentalists were minimizing its importance.
Yet still in this environment, I did not really have an answer to the scenario of someone who made a seemingly genuine profession of faith, and had stuck around for a while, but then drifted away. Some wouldn’t drift but they’d wilt. Yes preachers would often push for people to examine whether they had truly been saved or not, but somehow this always came across as making sure you had “said the right words” or were “sincere enough” when you initially “got saved”. Since my profession of faith happened when I was 4 years old, I was often trying to remember what exactly occurred on that day, to be sure it was a genuine profession.
This issue, of false professions of faith, was not really discussed much, that I remember. As I learned more about repentance, I found myself spending lots of time in my gospel presentations making sure everything was clear and that the person knew about everything I could think of before I led them in the sinner’s prayer. I came to eventually stop using the sinner’s prayer and just ask the person to pray on their own, too.
Something else, however, went with the environment I was in to stilt my thinking. It was assumed that there would be many “nominal” Christians. We were always encouraged to press on and become a “super” Christian, of sorts. No one really connected spiritual growth with genuine salvation. It was more or less connected with will power and character. We were encouraged to “just do it”. To do whatever it takes to get up early and be in the Word. And at times it was easy to get burned out as I strived to make myself do the things I felt I should.
Then we moved to California and were introduced to a ministry which prized expositional preaching. This was a completely new thing to both of us. And as we were fed, something kept coming up in the messages. Scripture assumed that true Christians would behave like true Christians. Scripture assumed that if conversion was genuine, then growth was inevitable. And then one day, the pastor pointed us to 1 John 2:19.
The light came on. I had an epiphany, and I began then to understand some things which eventually moved me to affirm Calvinism’s doctrine of the “perseverance of the saints”.
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Sorry to do this to you, but you’ll have to stay tuned until next time for the rest of the story. Tomorrow, hopefully, we will look at what 1 John 2:19 says and how it reshaped my thinking. I am expecting to finish this tomorrow, but it may take one more installment. We’ll see. Go to Part 2.
I have a close friend who has three semesters left before he graduates from Bible College. He is currently the associate pastor of his father-in-law’s church, and just discovered the writing ministry of David Cloud (although I tried to get him to start reading Cloud years ago). When I was still of the IFB persuasion, I thought David Cloud was the most thorough and scholarly strict fundamental Baptist I’d ever seen (whether or not that says much is another story). Cloud’s works were a definite rung on my ladder from “truth-seeking fundamentalist” to “Reformed.” The timing of your story is amazing considering my friend just told me about Cloud yesterday morning. I plan to take him the Bible Encyclopedia and “For Love of the Bible” to get him started. I’m working slowly with this brother because were I to be the primary source of any Reformation on his part, the fall out would parallel your past post about “Fundamentalists and the Family.” I’m not yet willing to make him go through what I’ve been going through.
Translating I John from Greek to English was a major milestone for me in understanding the doctrine of Perserverance. For the first time, I saw it as Perserverance and not Once Saved, Always Saved.
The doctrine of election came to me one year when I resolved to read the Bible through once every two months. I realized that the books of the Bible were not isolated from each other but were one continuous story with interconnected plots and subplots, with God working behind the scenes to set everything up in meticulous detail.
Ryan,
Great testimony. Your last sentence is so true. I have been reading through Jacob’s life story in Genesis recently, and how can you not be amazed at God’s sovereign election through his life story?
I remember at one time labelling myself a 1 and 1/2 point Calvinist. The point I thought I held was point 5. Since coming to believe Calvinism I have discovered that I really misunderstood that point totally. Preservation and Perseverance are not the exact same thing!
John,
Funny how Cloud can actually help one’s reformation away from strict fundamentalism. But he does try to be factual. I appreciate his works. And you are right that “For the Love of the Bible” can actually educate people on the fact that KJV onlyism is not overly simple. At one time I tried using that book to bolster my beliefs but now I just see it as giving example after example of people who were not KJV only in nearly the same degree or sense that I was at one time.
I also agree that reformation is not something we can easily call everyone too. But growth and incremental steps are often the best we can do.
Thanks for commenting, now to get to that 2nd part…
Bob
But he does try to be factual.
No he doesn’t. He puts on the appearance of being factual. But he effectivelyl does is read peoples’ books so that he can find something to take out of context and twist to fit his pre-conceived ideas.
Ryan,
His works come across as factual. I agree he twists facts and looks for the devil in the closet on many of his “expose”s. But his work is a step up from a lack of virtually any scholarship, and so I am glad of that.
I think his stuff does a lot of harm. But for some, it is the beginning of an adventure away from hyper fundamentalism.
I knew that sentence of mine should have been qualified more. Sorry!
God bless,
Bob
Ryan,
Ditto Bob,
CHK
[…] gather from my recent posts detailing my personal growth regarding “perseverance” (see part 1 and part 2), anything remotely similar to works-based salvation is sure to earn a […]
[…] I had my 1 John 2:19 epiphany moment, the Bible’s teaching on perseverance and continuance in the faith has become clearer and […]
Do you recommend David Cloud’s Way of Life Encyclopedia for someone like me who knows very little of other religions…or denominations?
Thanks Bob.
K. Noble,
I wouldn’t recommend Way of Life Encyclopedia. Some of the info is good, other stuff is under-researched, info is lacking in scholarship and quality at times, and then other times he is very biased in his work.
There are many dictionaries similar to that and other online resources which would be much better.
It’s actually a small work as encyclopedias or dictionaries go.
Wikipedia is a good source for info, as is Theopedia (both online, just search for their names). Monergism.com is a wealth of info, almost anything a conservative Christian needs to know, he can find a link there. And then aomin.org and equip.org would help with info on cults and other religions, etc.
Hope that helps.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
[…] For more on the idea of “being saved”, check out posts in my topic on perseverance, especially My 219 Epiphany. […]
[…] similar posts, see My 219 Epiphany, parts 1 and 2; Once Saved, Always Saved?!?!; and Bitterness and […]