For I Am Convinced!

CRISTINE COLE | Proclamation! Contributor |

On a Friday night in early1998, I found myself sitting with a group of about 10 people who had gathered together because we had one thing in common: all of us had been raised in the Adventist denomination. Some of us had already left the denomination and gone on to fellowship in non-Adventist churches, while the rest of us had just started a journey that would eventually lead us out of the Adventist church. I was in that latter group, and we were beginning to grapple with the fact that Ellen White wasn’t a true prophet. We were also starting to question whether many of the defining doctrines of the Adventist church were Biblical. Out of the need for support and fellowship with others who understood our situation, we had started to meet together about once a month, eagerly sharing with each other the truths we were discovering daily through our personal Bible studies. This group became the precursor to the Former Adventist Fellowship in Redlands, California.

On this particular night, we had invited a pastor from a local Bible church to lead us in a study he thought would be appropriate for us at this point in our journey. The topic he chose was “The Security of the Believer in Christ,” using as his text the first half of John chapter 3. This passage talks about the Pharisee, Nicodemus, who came to see Jesus at night. Jesus proceeds to give him a Bible study, telling him, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” When Nicodemus asks, “How can a man be born when he is old?” Jesus answers, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” The pastor pointed out that Jesus intentionally used this illustration because it showed so clearly what happens to a person who comes to Christ and believes in Him. Once a person is physically born, he/she cannot be unborn. One cannot go back into the womb. He/she forever becomes a child of the parents, thus becoming a part of the family he/she is born into.

That Bible study has stayed with me, and I think back to it whenever doubts start to creep into my mind about my security in Christ because, unfortunately for me, as I grew up in the Adventist church, the words “secure in Christ” were not a natural part of my vocabulary.

Likewise, spiritually, once a person is born again in the Spirit of God, he/she becomes a child of God and a part of God’s family—a family where one is welcomed and loved. Loved so much, in fact, that the Father gave his Son to die for that child so “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” One cannot feel more secure, knowing one belongs to such a loving family. Unlike earthly parents, God the Father will never take away His love from us. The apostle Paul says in Romans 8:38, 39: “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.” (NIV) How secure we are!

That Bible study has stayed with me, and I think back to it whenever doubts start to creep into my mind about my security in Christ because, unfortunately for me, as I grew up in the Adventist church, the words “secure in Christ” were not a natural part of my vocabulary. Instead, “Investigative Judgment”, “probation”, “unconfessed sins”, and “lost” were more familiar, and would hauntingly follow me throughout the day. Now I need only to remind myself that I am God’s beloved child and He will never leave me. 

What freedom it is to know that as believers we are secure in Christ! Praise God! †

—Republished from Proclamation!, July/August, 2006.