Can a believer actually stop believing?

The following is a commentary based in response to Bertie Brits position on salvation, in which he states: “I do not believe the once saved always saved” thing. Further stating “I believe that a Christian can actually stop believing and as a result lose or walk away from there salvation.”

You can catch his take on this by going to: http://www.dynamicministries.com/index.php?option=com_preachit&id=606:falling-away-hebr-6&view=study&Itemid=138

There you will also find I and my wife’s contention. Please read the commentary I submitted to him via The Redemption Center entitled False Prophets, Ministers of Righteousness, Teachers of the Law. Believe me, Bertie was the last person we ever thought to take and support that position.

Enter Mark chapter 16:9-15. Here is what Jesus told the apostles regarding their unbelief and hardness of heart. “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’”

Notice He did not give up on them nor allow their carnal minds the opportunity to bind them in hopeless despair, but rather presented Himself alive in the fullness of His resurrection to personally remind them that they were His, further instructing them to continue in the ministry which He had entrusted them to preach. Jesus does not leave the believer to the whims, attitudes, or emotions of the carnal mind. He in fact does not leave us at all; claiming the victory for us even in the midst of the worst of Satan’s demonic oppressions. (Romans 8:31-39) (Col. 2:15)

Our faith is definitely responsible for voluntarily opening the door to our hearts, however, once this has occurred; it is not our faith that keeps Him there; but rather the working power of God through Christ in us. (Romans 10:9) (Phil. 2:13) (Gal. 3:6)

Authors note:

To say that our faith is responsible for keeping us saved is to deny that our faith is a gift from God; and to make statements such as ‘I will continue to the end based on my great faith’ nothing more than the dishonest boasting of a soul unaware of its own failings. (Eph. 2:8) Our faith is a gift from God, and we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, and we are saved by His life. (Romans 5:10)

Commentary by:

George L. Miller