This Baptist saying (and the satanic/humanist concept it pretends to express) does not exist in the bible in any form, or in any words. Historically examined, this false doctrine developed as a reaction to the false Catholic doctrine which demanded that a man could not know he was “born again”, while at the same time insisting he must pay money and do works to KEEP what he never had anyway! (Two wrong doctrines do not make a right one.)

BAPTIST PROOF-TEXTS

(These five numbered verses are known by every Baptist, which they wrest to their convenience as proof-texts, but they are nearly always ignorant of the verses that follow each example, and certainly will not apply them to doctrine.)

1) Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (No bible believer thought the Lord would forsake him!)

% 1st Chronicles 28:9 “. . . but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.” (This is the problem.)

[Baptists try to turn the promise and consolation of Hebrews 13:5 into a contradiction of scripture by pretending that “. . . for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” is a change in the Lord’s thinking from the old testament, which is not true:

(a) when Paul writes this in Hebrews, he is quoting from what the Lord had said to Joshua the son of Nun in the old testament (which applied to Moses also whether the Lord had said it directly to Moses or not);

Joshua 1:5 “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

(b) the promise did not apply to the generation that passed over into the promised land;

Deuteronomy 31:14-22 “Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them. . . .”

(1st Samuel 4:1-21 (21) “And she named the child I_chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel. . . .”)

(c) and the promise always included a context, a condition, and a caveat.

% 2nd Chronicles 15:1-2 “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him . . . but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”

2) 1st Peter 1:5 “Who are kept by the power of God through faith. . . .”

% Colossians 1:21-23 “. . . to present you holy and unblameable . . . If ye continue in the faith. . . .”

[Baptists emphasize the word “kept” in 1st Peter 1:5, while ignoring the words “If ye continue” in Colossians 1:23. The word “if” forces the inference that it is possible to NOT “continue in the faith”.]

(THINK: Why is the exhortation repeatedly given to DO what the Baptists say we have NO CHOICE in doing?)

3) 2nd Peter 2:9 “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. . . .” (Finish the sentence!)

% “. . . and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment. . . .” (This applies to millions of Baptists!)

4) Jude 24 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. . . .” (The Lord “is able” to do many things!)

% Matthew 10:28 “. . . and . . . fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

5) Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (The Lord is stedfast!)

% 2nd Peter 3:17-18 “. . . beloved . . . beware lest ye . . . fall from your own stedfastness.” (This is the problem!)

THE GOD-BREATHED KING JAMES BIBLE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

The Lord’s people are exhorted to NOT “fall away,” which verses are ignored by Baptists who teach that men “COULD NOT fall away if they wanted to!” They make “back slidden” therefore a routine description of themselves, but the word of God makes no allowance for any such condition.]

1st Corinthians 9:27 “. . . But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (Are “Baptists” more “special” to God than the apostle Paul?)

[Baptists try to put the absurd spin on this clear verse that “It would be a shame for God to put Paul’s ministry on the shelf.”; however Paul is not referring to “his ministry being ‘castaway’”, but to HIMSELF , that “I myself should be a castaway.” The Baptist spin on this verse is simply ridiculous and pathetic.

10:12-14 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

QUESTION: Why do you think this admonition was written, if it is not possible to fall?

ANSWER: It was written so that you would take heed AND NOT FALL!]

[Many Baptists think they stand when they don’t, and that they can’t fall from the Lord when they consistently do!]

Romans 11:21-22 “. . . if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shall be cut off.”

(Those who maintain the Baptist perversion just pretend they don’t understand what “cut off” means!)

Philippians 3:2 “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.”

QUESTION: Do you know what “the concision” is?

ANSWER: It is “the cutting off”!

Jude 6-7 “And the angels which kept not their first estate . . . are set forth for an example.”

QUESTION: For WHOM is this “an example?”

ANSWER: It serves as an example for bible believers who can read!)

John 8:31 “. . . If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples. . . .” (Making a good start does not win the race!)

1st Corinthians 9:24 “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” (Baptists are sitting on the SIDE LINES, “fat, dumb, and happy!”)

15:2 “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” [Are you pretending you don’t know what “taketh away” means?]

Acts 14:22 “. . . exhorting them [the disciples] to continue in the faith. . . ” (A race isn’t over until it’s over.)

1st Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. . . .” (Baptists say you CAN’T depart from the faith, but they are only half right: it’s true that you can’t “depart from the faith”, UNLESS YOU WERE FIRST IN THE FAITH!)

2nd Thessalonians 2:2-3 “. . . the day of Christ . . . shall not come, except there come a falling away first. . . . ”

[We’re seeing that happen right now, today.]

Revelation 2:5 “. . . repent, . . . or else I will . . . remove thy candlestick . . . .” [The Lord is talking to the church here!]

(“What part of “remove” don’t you understand?”)

v. 10 “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Have you been faithful unto death, yet?)

QUESTION: Why are you being told this? ANSWER: So that you WILL BE FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH!]

Acts 13:43 “. . . persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” (Why be persuaded to continue if there is no choice?)

Luke 9:62 “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

[You obviously can “look back,” which is the reason for this warning! Many Baptists are as Lot’s wife, whether they bother to remain sitting in the pews, or not.]

Romans 8:13 “. . . if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

[If not, you will remain carnal and in due time fall away!]

Hebrews 4:1-11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Galatians 1:6-7 “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him. . . .”

2nd Peter 1:10-11 “. . . make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. . . .”

Philippians 2:12 “Wherefore, my beloved . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

2nd Peter 3:14 “Wherefore, beloved . . . be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” (Baptists aren’t “diligent” at all. They’re CARELESS about what they think is “in the bank.”)

2nd Peter 2:20-22 “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” [If you’re saying this cannot happen, explain why it is discussed here so forcefully!]

1st John 2:24 “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.” (“IF” is the big word here!)

Hebrews 3:6 “. . . whose house are we, if we hold fast . . . unto the end.” ( What follows the word “if” is a condition!)

3:12-14 “Take heed, brethren . . . in departing. . . . For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. . . .” (Here it is again.)

1st Corinthians 15:1-2 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” (If you pretend you don’t understand the conditional nature of the gift, you are simply evil.)

Λ 6:4-6 “For it is impossible . . . if they shall fall away, to renew them again. . . .”

(Baptists actually try to interpret this to mean “it is impossible to fall away,” when they were plainly told: “it is impossible . . . to renew them again” IF they shall FALL AWAY, which is stated as a fact!)

[EXAMPLE: refresh your memory by reading Genesis 19:1-26, comparing verse 17 with verse 26.

v. 17 “And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee. . . .”

v. 26 “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Now imagine that you are Lot, taken back in time: you and your wife are leaving Sodom. The angel has already told you not to look back when you leave. As you leave your housekeeper tells you in all earnestness that the pastor at the church where she fellowships said, “Don’t worry about looking back, because “You couldn’t look back even if you wanted to!”

QUESTION: Who do you believe? The Sodomite housekeeper’s pastor or the angel?

QUESTION: What if your housekeeper gives her pastor a call on her cell phone and he rushes over to explain some of the finer points of the doctrine, and in trying to reconcile his beliefs with what the angel said, points out that if you only casually turn your head around, facing back toward Sodom with your eyes open, this is not the same thing as “looking back”? Would it help if he reasoned with you that, “Since it was the angel’s purpose to deliver you from Sodom, he obviously had to deliver you alive or there wouldn’t be any point to the delivery, so in order to fulfill his promise, not only is this free ride out of town not conditional (that would be heresy) it’s also irrevocable; therefore not only is it impossible to look back, but if you do look back, it’s OK!”?

QUESTION: What do you say to your housekeeper’s Sodomite pastor?

SUGGESTED ANSWER: “Get out!” (emphasized by considerable volume, extended arm pointing to the door)

QUESTION: Where is the lie in the Sodomite pastor’s doctrine?

ANSWER: There are two lies in his doctrine:

(1) The delivered-out-of -town-free ticket DOES have a condition: you must “look not behind thee”!

(2) It IS in fact possible to “look . . . behind thee”

Λ QUESTION: What is the condition on inheriting eternal life?

ANSWER: The condition is to “abide” in Christ, that is, NOT “fall away” from him.

Λ (read again) Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible . . . if they shall fall away, to renew them again. . . .”

[Baptists routinely admit to being “backslidden” simply because they believe their imaginary “ticket to heaven” is not revokable by the Lord in spite of their disgusting contempt of the Lord and his word. They are deceived.]

Proverbs 14:14 “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways. . . .” (Being “backslidden” is not OK.)

Hebrews 10:35-39 “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

Jeremiah 2:19 “. . . thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.”

John 15:4-9 [We’re told here to abide (5 times) and if not: we’ll be: “. . . cast forth . . . into the fire. . . .”

Luke 8:13 “They . . . receive the word . . . for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.”

{How is it that they say, “Oh, no, you couldn’t fall away even if you wanted to!”?]

[This parable (verses 11-15) includes everybody who ever got called, but only those in verse 15 go on to be saved. (Verses 13 and 14 describe the Baptist who “made a profession of faith” and then went home and vegetated.)]

Baptists have been taught to excuse themselves in their doctrinal error by saying that if the so-called “saved” person later turns out obviously NOT to be “saved,” then he simply NEVER WAS “saved.” The Baptist qualification for “saved” (that “he went down to the front”) contains the problem that the unsaved Baptist in question DID “go down to the front” yet is later obviously NOT IN CHRIST. As required by their own definition, HE FAKED being born again, as did every other Baptist who doesn’t “endure unto the end.” By their own definition, the Baptist churches are full of phonies and the “real Baptists” can’t tell the difference. (Matthew 7:16) The Baptist argument is internally inconsistent because “Once saved always saved, unless he ISN’T saved, and then he WASN’T saved” argues internally against ITSELF!

Matthew 10:22 “. . . but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (This word “saved” is future tense.)

Philippians 3:11-13 “If . . . I might attain unto the resurrection . . . Not as though I had already attained. . . .”

Mark 13:13 “. . . but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (This is FUTURE!)

Acts 15:8-11 [The “earnest” of the Holy Ghost is given NOW but the “we shall be saved” (of eternal life) is not yet.]

Ephesians 1:10-14 We are presently “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession . . .” which is later. (Which is why we must endure unto the end!)

Romans 5:8-10 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

[One is “now” and the other is LATER! which is why we “wait for it.” Also, this “wrath” is the wrath of God against an ungodly world, not the “wrath” of Satan (trying to make this a statement proving “pre-trib rapture”! )]

Romans 8:24-25 “. . . waiting for the adoption . . . 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? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

Matthew 24:12-13 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

James 1:12 “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation [present tense] . . . for he shall receive the crown of life. . . .” [future tense!]

IT IS NOT THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE LORD THAT IS BEING ENCOURAGED (It’s you I’m worried about.)

Hebrews 10:23-27 “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith . . . for he is faithful. . . .”

Jude 20-24 An exhortation: “Keep yourselves in the love of God. . . .”

Revelation 2:7,11,17,25,26, “To him that overcometh . . .” (These things are written that we WOULD overcome.)

21:7 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

3:5 “He that overcometh . . . I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. . . .”

(This statement contains a blatant implication! What if a man does NOT overcome?)

Exodus 32:32-33 “. . . Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.”

(How do you manage to tell yourself that the Lord can “blot out” your name if it were not written there already?)

Revelation 22:19 “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy [which many so-called “Christians” and Baptists have done] . . . God shall take away his part out of the book of life. . . .”

(The Lord will do this, whether you believe it or not; and regardless of your “denominational” preferences!)

Ezekiel 3:20-22 “. . . When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness . . . he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered. . . .”

18:24 “But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness . . . in his sin . . .shall he die.”

[“Lord, open their eyes!”]

THE PROBLEM WITH “ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED” (or “Eternal Security of the Believer”) IS THAT:

1) this doctrine did not come from the word of God,

a. Preaching it may instill confidence in the Baptist religion, but it destroys confidence in the word of God.

b. It is held above the word of God for reasons other than the word of God.

People believe this doctrine because their parents believed it.

It is preached fanatically by Baptist preachers who realize that their jobs ($$) depend on it.

Giving up this false doctrine results in undesirable social consequences.

(You’ll miss fried chicken and apple pie on Sundays, and won’t be invited over for “Christmas.”)

c. Religious beliefs that are not contained in the bible, HAD TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE:

The “imagination” of man cannot be trusted (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 13:10; 2nd Corinthians 10:5).

The “heart” of man cannot be trusted (Jeremiah 17:9; Psalm 33:13-15; Ecclesiastes 9:3; Mark 7:21-23).

The “tradition” of man cannot be trusted (Mark 7:9,13; Colossians 2:8; 1st Peter 1:18).

The “god” of man cannot be trusted (2nd Corinthians 4:4; Matthew 4:3-10).

[QUESTION: If your doctrine doesn’t come from the bible, from where are you willing to have it come?]

2) this doctrine is not true,

a. Those who worship God “must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24; 14:17; 15:26).

Λ b. Those who believe “once saved always saved” refuse to hear the truth (1st John 4:6).

3) this doctrine contradicts the truth,

a. In desperation, those who love this religious error must corrupt other doctrines in the word of God.

b. It renders the sound doctrine of God’s word impossible to believe.

c. It makes wresting of scripture a necessary way of life.

(An example is Baptist wresting of Paul in 1st Corinthians 9:27, “lest . . . I myself should be a castaway.” by defining this in Baptist babble as “. . . God setting Paul’s ministry on the shelf.”)

4) this doctrine is made the “centerpiece” of a false faith,

a. Nothing should be the centerpiece of faith except Jesus Christ.

b. Giving up “once saved always saved” is made, by its advocates, to be equivalent to giving up Christ.

c. It seems more painful to give up this lie than to incur the wrath of God who told the truth about it.

5) this doctrine, in actual application, is based upon assumptions which are entirely contradictory to each other:

a. “Going down to the front” is made equal to “getting saved.”

b. It is believed that a Baptist is saved “because he went down to the front.”

c. Because he “went down to the front,” it is actually believed that it really doesn’t matter what he does after that.

d. When it becomes obvious to other Baptists that the “once saved always saved” Baptist is not saved, it is then claimed that, “He never was saved!”; but the fact remains that he did “go down to the front” which means:

Either he was NOT, in fact, “eternally saved” or,

Baptists themselves, don’t know who among them is “saved,” even though the person in question went down to the front; which:

contradicts the original Baptist assumption,

ignores the sound doctrine that “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16), and

eliminates the entire point of believing in “once saved always saved” in the first place.

6) this doctrine produces false security in those who might otherwise have served the Lord faithfully unto death.

a. Confidence, in actual fact, is placed in the concept of this doctrine, and not in Jesus Christ.

b. If you think you’re saved, and nothing you do changes that,

what difference will it make what you do with your life?

what difference will it make if you take the mark of the beast?

what could the Lord possibly say, in strong enough language, to effectively warn you about anything?

7) This doctrine creates a knee-jerk, proof-text based, dead religion, that rejects searching the scripture for truth.

a. Baptists actually claim they don’t need to “serve” the Lord because “That’s works.”, whereas the Lord said:

“Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” (Matthew 12:33), and

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (John 15:8-11), and

“Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. * * * And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. . . .” (Matthew 25:14-30).

b. Baptists are famous for being admittedly “backslidden” and spending their time watching television.

QUESTION: Why are they this way?

ANSWER: Doctrine always produces fruit: corrupt doctrine produces evil fruit, “sound doctrine” produces good fruit (“good” being defined by the Lord’s opinion and not yours).

c. Baptists become highly agitated, if not furious, when confronted on the “once saved always saved” issue, and are generally and clearly not comfortable defending it against those who are not deceived.

QUESTION: Why is this?

ANSWER: In spite of their angry assertions to the contrary, the doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved” is impossible to maintain from the word of God.

– Lord, open their eyes.

2nd Timothy 2:10 “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

BOGUS BAPTIST ARGUMENTS & “PROOF TEXTS”

(1) 1st John 2:19 is used to “prove” there’s “no doubt” that if “they are of us, they will continue in the Lord.”

[First, we will look at the whole context, which includes verse 18, that they always want to leave out.]

1st John 2:18-19 “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

Observations:

This passage says nothing about “continuing in the Lord:” it speaks of continuing “with us.”

The context is the false perception that wicked men seem to proceed from “us”!

This passage declares nothing whatsoever about “Once Saved, Always Saved:” it is an explanation for those who are disconcerted in seeing antichrists seemingly proceed “out from us” as though “we” were producing them!

QUESTION: Was the Lord to blame because Judas came out from among his disciples?

ANSWER: John 6:70 “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

The pronoun, “they,” refers back to the previous plural noun, “many antichrists.”

This verse makes a statement about the natural course of things concerning those who are of one heart and mind together: they stay together. (“Birds of a feather flock together.”)

“they were not of us” means in effect, they were not of the same spirit, even though they were among us, making it seem as though they were “of us.”

There’s a difference between (1) being within a group physically, and (2) being part of it spiritually.

There are two issues here: the physical issue and the spiritual issue.

John 15:19 “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

17:14 “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

v. 16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

QUESTIONS: Baalim was of Israel and a prophet of the Lord:

(1) does that mean he was an “Israelite indeed?”

(2) does that mean he was a man after the Lord’s own heart?

(3) was he right with the Lord?

(4) was he right with his people Israel?

ANSWER: No, he was just there, existing! (But his “heart” was somewhere else.)

John 1:47 “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”

Revelation 14:5 “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.”

guile, craft, cunning, deceit

Romans 9:6-8 “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. . . .”

(2) 1st John 3:9 is used as a proof text to “prove” that “If you’re in Christ, your seed remains in you and you can’t sin.”

1st John 3:8-10 “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

Observations:

The strategy here is to “prove” that “Leaving Christ would be a sin and we ‘cannot sin’ even if we wanted to.”

(Depending upon how you want to read this passage, you may not only be a Baptist, but a Calvinist.)

This statement (in v. 9) can be understood grammatically as “meaning” either:

(a) “Whoever is born of God does not sin willfully, and will not continue in sin . . . ,” (or)

(b) “Whoever is born of God commits no sin, and it is not possible for him to sin. . . .”

The second interpretation is not acceptable because it creates a conflict with other scripture:

1st John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. . . .”

5:16 “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

Λ v. 17 “All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.”

The passage examined here says nothing about “Once Saved Always Saved.” It is repeating, by different words, that you shall know them by their fruit: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. . . .”

(3) 1st Timothy 1:20 “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.”

Observations:

This is a very simple and direct statement of the spiritual truth concerning whether or not you are in the church.

If you are not in the church, then you are in the world.

The world belongs to Satan.

Depending upon what degree of protection you are given (or not given) by the Lord, you are in Satan’s hands.

Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Luke 4:5-6 “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.”

John 14:30 “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”

1st Corinthians 5:1-5 “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

Rodney:

(1) Matthew 8:18-22 “But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.”

or, in other words, “. . . let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.”

At the least, this is a clear statement of what your priorities should be.

Taken to the greatest extent, this would preclude those who have been given spiritual life from being in the business of tending to funerals, or of even participating occasionally.

(2) Genesis 10:5 “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.”

Genesis 12:5 “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.”

The word, “souls,” refers to their offspring.