“I mean, free will, it’s just a pagan myth. ‘The Loch Ness Monster, the Abominable Snowman, and free will’—name three things you’ve always heard about but never seen.” —Steve Lawson
2 Thessalonians 2:6-8
And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
Like I said before, Satan loves to attack the assurance of salvation and the pre-trib rapture. Both are Biblical BTW. And the passage quoted in the tweet shows that you can’t get to God through your work.
1 Thessalonians 1:10
and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
We are in the double grip of grace, nothing can take us out of the Father’s or Christ’s hands. And we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, He can never leave us.
John 14:16
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
Ephesians 4:30
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
John 10:28-29
and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
The Bible also teaches that you can know you are saved.
1 John 5:13
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
If your salvation is dependent upon what you do then you have no assurance of salvation.
If your salvation is dependent upon what you do then Christ’s sacrifice was in vain.
The only requirement for salvation is to believe, put your faith in Christ.
1 John 3:2-3
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Both the pretrib rapture and assurance of salvation stimulates holy living. Satan would love to neutralize the believer in Christ. Attack their hope. Take away their hope and they are weighed down with worry. They are focused on the world and not what is ahead and what God has promised us through our faith in Christ. If you are not sure of your salvation you will always be worried about if you have done enough. Whatever you do will be out of fear and not because you love Him and as a reasonable form of worship.
Our hope is on the finish work of Christ. We stand before God in His righteousness not our own.
Philippians 3:9
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
Isaiah 64:6
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
You have Steve Lawson saying that people are incapable of believing on their own. God believes for us. He takes away the free will of man.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16 puts the responsibility on the individual to believe.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
These two passages put the responsibility on believers to share the gospel.
God will bug an individual until they die, but He will not override their will. After all we are image bearers of God and as image bearers we have freewill.
Do we choose God or does He choose us? The answer is yes.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Fire Lily 