So, there is nothing new. Even thousands of years ago in Jeremiah's day, there were preachers doing the same thing as we have today— telling the people of God that they will have peace and that no calamity could come upon them, even though they walked in the stubbornness of their own hearts. Obviously, these preachers had not stood in the council of the Lord that they should see and hear His Word. And if today's modern preachers had heard from God, they would have turned the American “Christians” away from their sins, rather than giving them a license to sin. Remember, as it says in Psalm 81, those who despise the Lord are the ones who pretend obedience to Him while they refuse to obey God and con­tinue in sin. So, it is the same in the American church today.

Last Week I covered Part 2 of the myth of unconditional eternal security. I pointed out that a believer does have eternal security in his salvation, but that his security is conditional. As long as the believer meets those conditions, he is secure in his salvation. Last week, I also discussed several more of the biblical exceptions to the doctrine of once saved, always saved. Today I am going to continue to discuss even more of those exceptions with part 3. If you missed last week or the week before and want to hear it, go to the Wilkins Radio Network website, click on programs, scroll down to Christian Myths and open it up and you will see all of my broadcasts and you can listen to them there.

A common doctrine concerning salvation today is called “once saved, always saved.” The belief is that once someone has been saved, nothing can be done, either by an outside force or by the person himself, to cause him to lose his salvation. Some Scriptures, taken alone, seem to support this belief, while many other Scriptures seem to completely contradict this belief. So, it seems today that many, many preachers and Bible teach­ers are focusing on a few Scriptures which seem favorable to this doctrine, since it is popular, while completely ignoring the many, many other Scriptures that contradict the belief of “once saved, always saved.” Any time someone picks out a few Scriptures to support their own view, they have opened themselves up for deception and error. This practice is the recipe for heresy and all false doctrines. This is the very reason we have so many denominations and different doctrines being preached today. In this message, I will use many more than a just few scriptures to prove that there are clear Biblical exceptions to the idea of unconditional eternal security. I hope you will listen with an open mind to the Word and really examine the Scriptures carefully as if the life of your soul depends on it, since it really does. Check it out for yourself to see if what I am saying is true. What can it hurt for you to do that?

Let me start out by saying that there is security for a believer in his salvation. But that security is conditional, not unconditional as is mostly taught today. Often in the Scriptures a promise is preceded or followed by an “if ”, or a “but”, or the condition to receive the promise is discovered by further study. A statement in the Scriptures that is taken by itself, (out of context) and not considered in the light of other Scriptures might lead someone to conclude that the promise has no conditions, when in fact it does in view of the rest of the Bible. So, it is important not to just pick and choose verses that please the hearer, but to take the whole counsel of God to get the true and complete understanding con­cerning salvation.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

There are two kinds of works in the Bible.

1. Works of the law (religious works, good deeds, missions, church programs, rituals, ceremonies, rules, etc.) that will not save you.

2. Works of obedience (obeying God and His Word). Without these works of obedience to God and His Word, you can­not be saved.

Most grace teachers do not distinguish between these two kinds of works (works of the law vs. works of obedience) and teach that any effort on your part to be saved is wrong because they say that Jesus “did everything for you”. They teach that any kind of works or effort on your part will not affect your salvation, but only belief or faith in Jesus will save you. I have even heard one preacher on TV go so far as to say that to repent or even forgive others is not necessary for salvation, but to only accept Jesus and believe in Him and you will surely be saved. He suggested that for you to do something, even do anything such as repentance or forgiveness, in order to be saved, is nothing more than an attempt at “works” for salvation.

Last week I shared about the original true eternal gospel that has been around since the beginning and contrasted that to the modern gospel of today. Todays message is going to be part two of “what ever happened to the Gospel”? For your information, there are many different gospels around today, but there is really only one true gospel. I hope that what I am going to share with you today will stimulate your thinking and have you checking with the Lord and His word to see which gospel you have received. If you have the wrong gospel then you have the wrong Jesus and as result of the wrong Jesus you have the wrong spirit which is not the Holy Spirit and you very well may miss heaven in the end.

Gal 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

Gal 1:7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Gal 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

Gal 1:9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

Gal 1:10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

There is a tremendous difference between today's modern gospel and the gospel of the bible. The original gospel has been around since the beginning of the creation. It is an eternal gospel that was established before the foundations of the world and has never been changed by the Lord or His Word but has been greatly perverted by modern teachers. The true gospel has been watered down to satisfy men's desires to live according to the ways of the world while promising them freedom and salvation without a radical change in their lives.

This modern gospel takes away the very elements of true salvation such as total surrender to God, repentance from sin, the fear of the Lord, whole-hearted obedience to the Lord, denying oneself of worldly desires, carrying one's own personal cross, bearing good fruit or being cut down, overcoming the flesh—the devil---and the world, plus enduring to the end, all of which are required for salvation.

Last week I spoke again about the myth of the paid pastor, and it was the second part of a three-part series. If you missed it, you can go to the Wilkins Radio Network website and click on programs and scroll down to Christian Myths and select “The Myth of the Paid Pastor Part 1 and part 2 and listen to it there. Also, there are other broadcasts there you may want to listen to as well including the myth of the tithe. Today I am going to continue with the Myth of the Paid Pastor part 3. It is important that you hear all three of these teachings to get the whole picture. Speaking of paid pastors, have you ever noticed the trend for pastors to make their own son the replacement pastor when they retire? Is the church some kind of dynasty where the son inherits the kingship? Isn't this like a dictator of a third world country making his son the heir of his kingdom? It doesn't matter if the son is qualified or called of God, it only matters to the pastor that he can keep the good thing he has going on in the family business. So, again the hireling is like a king!