Subtitle: Why Grace Still Demands Obedience

Excerpt: The article argues against the doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved,” asserting that salvation requires ongoing obedience and a willingness to crucify the flesh. The author shares personal experiences, including witnessing God’s mercy in providing opportunities for repentance, to illustrate this belief.

Author: Ogo Cathern

I remember the first time I heard the phrase “Once saved, always saved.” My immediate reaction was visceral. This is heresy, I thought.

I would engage in debate after debate about how untrue the idea was. I also took some time to examine the scriptural bases often used to support the Once Saved Always Saved claim. While those scriptures are legitimate, I believe they are taken out of context.

I do not believe anyone can earn their way to salvation. But I do believe that once saved, you have the responsibility of working out your salvation until you are ultimately saved (Matthew 24:13). Scripture tells us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).

A Doctrine I Never Knew Existed

Before coming to America, I didn’t even know this was a doctrinal teaching. Although it was formed in Europe, it has proliferated throughout the church in America.

If we are honest, we don’t need to look too far to see the error of this doctrine. It is evident not only in Scripture, but in the condition of Christianity in the West.

We no longer fear God.
Spiritual dullness has become normalized.
Discernment is rare.
Conscience is numbed.
Complacency is rampant

Christianity is dying in the West.
All the reports tell us so.

To that, I say — why wouldn’t it?

What happens when people are taught that a holy God has no standards?
That obedience is optional?
That grace excuses lawlessness?

The apostle Paul wrote that he disciplined his body and brought it into subjection, lest after preaching to others he himself should be disqualified. He did not speak as a man resting in ease, but as one acutely aware of the cost of discipleship.

The Way is Still Narrow and There is a Cost to Obedience

There is a running theme throughout the Bible that consistently shows the path to life is one of sacrifice — specifically, the sacrifice of the flesh.

Jesus tells us plainly that the path to life is hard and the gate to Heaven is narrow, and that not many find it (Matthew 7:13–14).

He also said clearly that not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of His Father (Matthew 7:21–23).

Yet America says that if you have confessed Him at some point — even while rejecting His laws — you are fine. You are saved by grace and not by works.

That is a half-truth.

Because Scripture also says that faith without works is dead. It asks plainly: Can faith save someone if it produces no obedience? Even demons believe — and tremble (James 2:14–26).

Jesus said it simply: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

To me, that is the sum of the matter.

How God Taught Me This Personally

I arrived at this conclusion not through theology alone, but through experience — through how God has disciplined me. My experience with God points to one clear truth: God insists on obedience.

All who profess Him are undergoing a process — one that ultimately conforms us to the image of Christ.

That journey is not pleasant, because it requires death.

The death of the flesh.

However, you have a choice.

You can submit to the process, or you can choose to rebel against it. Rebellion may seem easier because it absolves you of responsibility, which is why Scripture calls it the broad way.

I believe the Once Saved Always Saved movement was born out of compromise.

An attempt to follow Christ without the willingness to crucify the flesh.

Unfortunately, rejecting God’s law is rebellion, and rebellion is witchcraft — no matter how dressed up it appears.

OSAS is a doctrine of compromise.

The Evidence of God’s Love

The closer I draw to God, the more sensitive my conscience becomes. Not condemned — convicted. Actively corrected. Carefully shaped. Scripture says that the Lord disciplines those He loves, and that anyone without chastening is not a true son.

Yet I have also witnessed another dimension of God’s mercy — one rarely discussed.

I have seen how God rescues those whose hearts are truly His, even when their lives did not reflect it.

By His mercy, God sometimes orchestrates a final opportunity for repentance — especially at the end of life — so that His own do not perish in sin. Scripture tells us plainly that nothing unclean will enter Heaven (Revelation 21:27).

I saw this with my brother and my sister-in-law.

Mercy at the End of Life

Both knew God, but neither lived for Him. Yet when their moment of transition came, God did not allow either of them to pass from this life without repentance.

In my brother’s case, the night before he passed, the nurse in charge of his care led him to repentance — without being prompted by us. We didn’t even know he was going to die, let alone the next day.

In my sister-in-law’s case, God made a statement. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed — a miracle and a faith anchor. The message was this: because she belonged to Him, He would never allow her to die in sin.

God Himself called it a divine miracle.

After she was found unresponsive, we began interceding for her not to die. But the Lord instructed us instead to pray for mercy. We obeyed, and told my mother-in-law to speak to her about repentance while she was unconscious.

When my mother-in-law arrived and spoke to her, there was an improvement in her consciousness score, which had been very low prior. For a moment, it looked as though she was making progress. But, after she was ministered to, she turned for the worse and passed.

We know without a shadow of a doubt that the temporary improvement was so that she could receive the gift of repentance God gave her.

What Was Seen in the Spirit

My husband, who had previously seen in the spirit how dark her room was, with demonic presence lurking, suddenly saw a ray of light beaming directly onto her bed. There was peace in the atmosphere as his sister passed.

Final Reflection

My experience of God’s rescue for His own at the end of life may not be theologically based, but I believe it is Biblically rooted. Throughout Scripture, I do not know of a record of anyone who truly loved the Lord dying in their sin without an opportunity to repent — though I stand to be corrected.

In the end, only God sees the heart.
And only He knows all those who truly belong to Him.