WesleyGospel Ministries

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
–John 10:27-28 (ESV)–

He is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.
–Psalm 95:7-8 (ESV)–

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Taken together, the two books below by Corner and Shank are possibly the most comprehensive Wesleyan-Arminian treatments of conditional security. They respond thoroughly to the popular “once saved, always saved” Bible verses, often used by Southern Baptist pastors to teach that unconditional eternal security is the lived reality of salvation. The ridiculous Baptist concept that a backslidden and relapsed alcoholic, atheistic, agnostic, drug addicted, porn addicted, wife beating, raping, murdering, business idolizing, criminal, habitually lying, gratuitously cussing, gang member, who might also be a homosexual, burglar, child molester, and sex offender involved in satanic ritual abuse will be saved from Hell and definitely go to Heaven, simply because he really believed in Jesus once before in his life and got baptized a long time ago. Yes, there actually are Baptist pastors who believe in this. Not all of them are like this, but many of them do believe like that. It makes you think twice about attending and tithing to just any Baptist church. They think this belief makes man look humble and that it glorifies the kindness, grace, and mercy of God. This is the main problem with all of Calvinism when its pulled into one focal point. The pastors of the following denominations would take sides with Corner and Shank against the Baptists: the Free Will Baptist Church, Church of the Nazarene (conservative ones), the Christian and Missionary Alliance (conservative ones), the Free Methodist Church, the Wesleyan Church, the Pentecostal Holiness Church, Assemblies of God, the Southern Methodist Church, the Global Methodist Church, Church of Christ, and Church of God (Cleveland).

Daniel Corner, The Believer’s Conditional Security (EO, 1997). 800 pages.

Robert Shank, Life in the Son (Bethany House, 1989). 400 pages.

If you’re concerned about theological drift in Church of the Nazarene, so much that you’d hesitate to send your kids to one of their schools, then consider a more conservative Wesleyan-holiness school, such as Allegheny Wesleyan College, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, or Ohio Christian University. Always audit Bible classes. Lookout for unbelieving deconstruction professors.
–J.B.–