There is something that has moving through the Church of late that we need to explore. At the core of a whole host of doctrines of demons is the fallacy that all will be saved. Jesus said only those who have chosen to follow Him in this life will be saved and not perish. Love requires a choice regarding our salvation.

As a 3^rd grader at Calvary Baptist Church in Los Gatos, California, the first verse our Sunday School class learned was John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

In John 3:16, two words that need deeper research. While there is nothing wrong with a Strong’s concordance for basic, generic research, we need the deeper and more precise definitions offered by a Greek lexicon to understand the meaning of a word and what the Lord was saying, even though John 3:16 was obvious in its meaning to a 3rd grader. 

The meaning of the word “believe” in John 3:16 is very precise. It means “a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah – the divinely appointed author of eternal salvation in the Kingdom of God, an obedience to Christ.” 

The verse that precedes John 3:16 sets up the dialogue of the Lord’s words in verse 16, “Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:15). Jesus was very precise. 

Another word in John 3:16 we need to understand is the word “perish.” It is a strong word. It means “to incur the loss of true or eternal life, to be delivered up to eternal misery.” Perishing is a terrifying prospect, no matter how we define or redefine the word. The possibility of people perishing eternally has been a driving force among missionaries for the last two thousand years. Those missionaries were willing to die for their faith so that all may hear the Gospel and receive eternal life. Our choice, or the lack of it, has consequences.

The apostle Paul carried on the words of Jesus and wrote, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).  Believing and accepting the Lord was part of Paul’s message.

Paul addressed this to the Ephesians, “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong” (Ephesians 3:17). “Trust” here means to be persuaded by truth – the truth of Jesus.

“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there” (Acts 8:14). Later to the Church in Thessalonica, Paul addressed how the devil works, “He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them” (II Thessalonians 2:10). Again, the word “accept” referring to Jesus changed the world.

Love is a choice for a reason. That choice can come in many ways, not just by responding to an altar call, but by simply recognizing that Jesus is the way of truth. The doctrines of demons floating among the Church today appear appealing but they lack the support of Scripture and the very words of Jesus. The Lord’s offer of love requires a choice because we are entering a marriage. Someday the Lord will call forth those who are His Bride to experience the joy of their salvation – a salvation offered only to those who recognize His Lordship and acknowledge His Lordship in this life..