Once Saved Always Saved: The Importance of Eternal Security in Christian Counselling

It pains me to meet clients who are drowning in depression and all those other negative states.  It pains me even more to see them doubt and question their salvation in Christ.  Yes, these are our Christian brothers and sisters; and they are here being oppressed with this lie that the ugly thought they had against a family member, or that the laziness they allowed to take over to skip church for the past months, have revoked their salvation in Christ.

Are we better parents than God? I ask this because I’ve never met a father or a mother who disowned their son or daughter for any sin they have committed.  

Jesus Christ Himself taught us to refer to the love of earthy parents and multiply that by billions and trillions to get an idea of our Father’s love for us.

If you, then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:11

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.
Isaiah 49:15

I ask all parents again, what does your son or daughter have to do to be disowned by you?

Again I ask God: What should the Prodigal Son do in order to be disowned and kicked out from the house?  As the Prodigal Son himself declared to his Father:

“I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
Luke 15:21

Did he lose his salvation then?

Yes, he did have to come home to The Father’s house first; I agree with that but that is not the point of this discourse.  The point here is that the son, being a son (saved), remained a son no matter what he did.  In this life, if one is truly saved, once you have been translated from a rebel to a son (or to a daughter) in Jesus Christ, there will be no force in the universe that can take you away from Him and His love.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all;
no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
John 10:28-29

The therapeutic proper cannot proceed if the client in Christian Counselling is in a place where they are insecure or doubtful about their salvation.  In fact, this may be the link in their psychological system that leads to their symptoms.  

You can cite me on this and I take responsibility for this statement that: I can actually trace depression (mood disorders), anxiety disorders, personality disorders, etcetera, to the person’s faulty view of God (this is why I ditched secular psychology in the first place).  The most common of these debilitating beliefs is that God is disappointed in me, so He has blotted my name off from the Book of Life.  How terrible is that?!  If you are the counsellor, can you honestly proceed with therapy if this is not settled?  Can you even live your life having this doubt in your heart?  This is a complete outrage because a child saved by The Lord Jesus Christ should not be doubting what price God paid for, what God had to go through for the salvation of man.  

To add salt to the wounds, we have fellow Christians telling their brothers and sisters that they have lost their salvation! What entitlement, what gall, what pride does one carry to be able to judge others for their shortcomings?  Tell me, if my sins disqualify me from the salvation brought about by The Lord Jesus Christ, what does that make of you and your sins?

Yes, people do fall back to sin, have you not heard what Jesus Christ does to them?

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.
Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country
and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.
Luke 15:4-5

Unlike the Prodigal Son, this sheep doesn’t even have to walk home! The Good Shepherd, The Lord Jesus Christ, will look for that lost sheep even if it means leaving behind the 99.  Even if it means laying down His life (John 10:15).  Of course, I will have to take this time to stress that He is dealing with sheep, with people who were truly saved.  I’m sure there’s a whole world of discussion and debates on soteriology, sadly this is not the space for it.  

As far as saved children, born again, new creations in Christ are concerned: First, as true sons and daughters of The Father, we will run back home. Second, as true sheep in Christ, we know The Good Shepherd and we hear His voice.  This is how important Eternal Security is.  And if we keep disqualifying sinners, how will they find their way back home? Don’t you know that majority of them refuse to because they don’t want to be hypocrites knowing that they will sin again? Let me tell you that the older brother in the parable of The Prodigal Son was no hero at all.  I keep reminding myself not to be this person.

Do not let these opposing voices discourage you and shame you away from Christ.  If you feel you have fallen with the pigs, let’s turn back to home to Christ today.  Know that you are a son and a daughter which He will never disown.