Short video on “How can I be assured that I am among the chosen?” – RC Sproul cleans-up after another scholars mess

During the Q&A session at this conference a person asks, “How can I be assured that I am among the chosen?” The conference speaker on the right merely replied “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” as he then retires his microphone upon his seat. After a long quiet pause, thankfully Dr. R.C Sproul boldly cleans-up his collateral damage.

To cut and paste one Bible verse out of context, and then to tell others that they are saved, if that’s their belief system; is an egregious form of theological malpractice.

Recently my mother became ill, as she dropped 25+ pounds within a couple months. Two weeks ago she was diagnosed with cancer (a large tumor). Today while in the hospital they performed surgery, and removed the cancer. Thankfully she had not been seen by a physician that misdiagnosed her, committing medical malpractice. But today time and time again, many Christians from all theological persuasions are irresponsibly telling people that they are saved if they “believe,” hence committing theological malpractice.

Beginning in November of 2017, I visited a 95-year-old woman in her last three months of life, while she was in hospice. Though she later advised that she “believed.” I never told her that she was saved, because frankly I was not sure (there were other issues that I will not discuss).

If a stranger in the streets asked me that question, or how to become saved, it would be negligent for me to flippantly say, “believe in the Lord Jesus” and be saved. To be able to responsibly tell a person that they are saved. Either I would need to know him (or her) thru a test of time, to examine their fruits. Or I would have to sit down with him (or her) to engage in orthodox Biblical discipleship. Which would begin by taking time thru the Scriptures, to perform the proper examination, to see if they are in the faith or not (2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Peter 1:10-11). In the meantime, the best place for a false convert to be; is in a state of doubting their salvation.

Discipleship and salvation are serious issues, and they cannot be handled or answered carelessly. But sadly most churches today do not take discipleship seriously, and many have replaced the Bible with miscellaneous books. A simple 3-point criteria that I have for men whom desire Biblical discipleship is. 1) Bring your own Bible. 2) Leave your cellphone in your car, and 3) don’t be late. But sadly that rarely happens.

And now the video, as Dr. Sproul said, “the problem is complicated.”