How do you know you're not a false convert?

[xdisciplex]

Do you know Ray Comfort? He's totally into this "false convert" stuff. On his website he has teachings about hells best kept secrets and all this stuff. I find these teachings about false converts very confusing.
If there are false converts then how do you know you're not one of them?
Is it possible that you sincerely desire to be saved and still you don't get saved because you either lacked knowledge about doctrine or because you were not humble enough the moment when you prayed or because you had unconfessed sins?
In the moment when you pray and want to get saved does it all come down to wether you meet all requirements and if you don't then you fail to get saved?
This is totally depressing. If this is true then how shall I know that I met all requirements? :BangHead:
This is just great when you think you're saved and then somebody tells you that you cannot have been saved because you didn't know this and that and so on.
If salvation depends on having it all right in the moment when you get saved then people which have no bible at their hands or which had not first gone to seminary before trying to get saved have it much harder to get saved. I really hate this stuff, I wish I hadn't listened to these preachers which are into this false convert stuff. There are some which basically preach nothing else expect this false convert stuff and they worry people and think that this is a good sign because their message is so shocking. Maybe this is good for some people but for others it's not good.

 

[christianyouth]

Disiplex, 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith." Another verse says, "make your calling and election sure." The book of 1 John contains multiple 'tests' of true faith. If we have professed faith, but we don't have any good works to go along with it, that is a dead faith. I know that this preaching can be offensive, and believe me, there have been times when I have worried about my salvation because of it, but it is biblical and historical.

Remember Mt 7, a very scary verse. "Many will come to me in that day and say Lord Lord, and I will say to them, depart from me, I never knew you."

 

[Matt Black]

I regard this a bit like I do the whole 'blasphemy against the Holy Spirit' thing: if you're worried about, chances are that it isn't a problem in reality.

Apart from that, may I make a suggestion: don't visit Mr Comfort's website...

 

[xdisciplex]

Oh man, but these tests in 1 John do not help me.
This is a vicious circle!
When 1 John says in order to be really saved you have to have this and this and this then I read this and examine myself and then automatically think that if I do not do something good every day then this proves I cannot be saved! This cause a totally compulsive behavior and you start doing things out of sheer fear because if you stop doing what 1 John tells you to do then you're not saved. :tear:
This whole false convert stuff really messes with your mind and in the end you're totally paranoid and think that you're not saved and then what do you do? If I have not been sincere enough and humble enough and not repented enough to be saved in the past why should it work now? Imagine you tried to lift up a rock and you have never made it then why should it work after trying it various times and wasting your strength? If it doesn't work in the beginning when you're fresh then it will never work and it's the same with getting saved. If you can want to get saved and still not get saved for various reasons then why should it ever work? If I first have to cry for hours and crawl around on my knees before I have a chance of getting saved then getting saved is really complicated.

 

[Beth]

I don't know if this will help

but the late Vernon McGee spoke of this as well.

He said that the best way for Christians to feel they have that assurance is to serve! Pitch in at church, seek to love the brethren, excercise the gifts the Lord has given you through the HOly Spirit.....the more you serve and get busy doing HIs Work, the less you will worry about whether you are saved....you will really feel much better! You will really feel assured of your salvation!!

Hope that helps!

your sister in Christ,
Beth

 

[donnA]

An unsaved person wouldn't worry about it. If your worried, you have nothing to worry about.

Is it possible that you sincerely desire to be saved and still you don't get saved because you either lacked knowledge about doctrine or because you were not humble enough the moment when you prayed or because you had unconfessed sins?
In the moment when you pray and want to get saved does it all come down to wether you meet all requirements and if you don't then you fail to get saved?
This is totally depressing. If this is true then how shall I know that I met all requirements?

If you desire tobe saved, you are, no one desires to be saved and is not saved.
Which requirements is that?

No one else can tell you you weren't saved. They aren't God and do not know.
You need to stop visiting these sites that cause you to question your faith in God, and His ability to save you, and keep you taht way.

 

[tinytim]

Here is a very simple test:

Do you know Jesus...
Not know about him, but actually know him, as savior? Do you have a relationship with Him.. Do you talk to each other?

If so, if he would ever say, "depart from me I never knew you" he would be lying... and He cannot lie.

If he knows you today, he knows you forever.

 

[Brother Bob]

Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it].

Where is your patience??

BBob,

 

[annsni]

My hubby gave a message on this very subject a few years ago and made up a small card to put in your wallet to remember the signs. Here's what's on it:

Vital Signs of Someone Truly Born of God

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

1. Does what is right just to please God: If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 1 John 2:29

2. Doesn't continue living in sin: No one who is born of God will continue to live in sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God 1 John 3:9

3. Loves other believers: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 1 John 3:14

4. Believes that Jesus is the ONLY way to be saved and really loves Him! Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 1 John 5:1

5. Will do the right thing even if everyone else is doing wrong; For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God. 1 John 5:4-5

6. Struggles to defeat evil with Jesus' help: We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 1 John 5:18

So check your vital signs and administer serious prayer NOW if they are lacking! He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:12

 

[Darron Steele]

Hi XDisciplex: I am going to give you the same answer my youth minister did when I was about two months into the faith -- nearly 15 years ago.

If what you do and think has changed because you decided to follow Christ, your conversion is real.

If you do the best you can to do what Christ taught in your overall life, then you are a real convert.

 

[BobRyan]

Matt 7 "Not everyone who SAYS Lord Lord will enter the kindgom of heaven" -

Simply saying all the right words -- wont get you there. In Matt 7 many who do not go to heaven "genuinely think they are going".

But in Rom 8:15-16 we are told how we can be certain "The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God".

It is relationship - transaction - not magic-formula chanting nor even "better story telling".

in Christ,

Bob

 

[AAA]

My hubby gave a message on this very subject a few years ago and made up a small card to put in your wallet to remember the signs. Here's what's on it:

Vital Signs of Someone Truly Born of God

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13

1. Does what is right just to please God: If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 1 John 2:29

2. Doesn't continue living in sin: No one who is born of God will continue to live in sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God 1 John 3:9

3. Loves other believers: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 1 John 3:14

4. Believes that Jesus is the ONLY way to be saved and really loves Him! Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 1 John 5:1

5. Will do the right thing even if everyone else is doing wrong; For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God. 1 John 5:4-5

6. Struggles to defeat evil with Jesus' help: We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 1 John 5:18

So check your vital signs and administer serious prayer NOW if they are lacking! He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:12

N/t....I need to take note of this...

 

[trustitl]

xdisciplex
Oh man, but these tests in 1 John do not help me.
This is a vicious circle!

This whole false convert stuff really messes with your mind and in the end you're totally paranoid and think that you're not saved and then what do you do? If I have not been sincere enough and humble enough and not repented enough to be saved in the past why should it work now?

You don't sound like an unbeliever to me. Weak in faith perhaps, but not unbelief. Thank the Lord we don't need "STRONG" faith to get saved or stay saved.

Your words remind me of a sister in the lord who was getting twisted up in her mind by some men. She had questioned her own salvation and they called it unbelief. Questioning ones salvation is does not mean one does not have faith. In fact only a saved person can question their salvation, unsaved people don't have anything to question.

 

[xdisciplex]

But even if a person is saved then there is still the problem of becoming lukewarm. Those which are lukewarm, were they not also saved at one time? This would mean that the danger of being lukewarm is always present and then you also cannot feel safe.