13. A Theatre Performance I had Never Attended.

 No Collar to get Hot Under.

One Saturday afternoon during the early 2000s, I sat alone in the Sauna cabin at Coral Reef Waterworld. This was many years after walking into a sauna at the Leisure Centre for the first time in 1976. Back then, I had some muscles after spending time in the gym. But also a slim waist. I had already flown from my parents' nest and was establishing my own home in a newly built apartment block as the residence's first tenant.

During the seventies, the Leisure Centre spa suite had a club-like atmosphere, with each bather known to the others. Since each gender used the facilities on alternate evenings, we were on the men's night and allowed to bathe starkers. One dominating character, a builder and an extrovert, Errol's loud voice dominated the hot room. 

Errol was several years older than I was, but he was physically larger and already an older hand at the sauna suite than I was. Therefore, I felt like a mere youth in his presence and intimidated by his loud talk, especially when teasing or criticising someone he knew behind his back. He was around at the time I flew out to Israel in 1976, then to America in 1977 and again in 1978.

Approximately 30 years later, as I sat in the heat at the Finnish Sauna at Coral Reef, Errol walked in alone and took his place on the lower front bench, while I sat on the high rear bench where the heat was most intense. With just the two of us, I plucked up enough courage to ask what he thought of Jesus Christ.

Having believed that an intelligent discussion might arise from my question, instead, he exploded into an angry tirade. He wasn't angry at me, this I understood. Rather, he was angry at the Roman Catholic Church, where he grew up, believing that God was so fickle over sin that he repeatedly withdrew his grace. Thus, the constant need for grace to be restored by confessing to a priest and doing penance - a set of prayers recited and a programme of good works - to have his road to salvation restored. With the threat of Purgatory after death for even the most devoted believer, and the danger of eternal Hell for any mortal sin left unconfessed, there was no assurance of eternal life for Errol. Even missing Mass (the Eucharist) on a Sunday or Holy Day without a valid reason was considered a mortal sin by the Church.

I was far from feeling judgmental that afternoon. Instead, I felt sorry for him, since I understood how he felt from experience. When I was a teenager, I too had very similar feelings. I, too, grew up in the Catholic faith. Although I referred to myself as an atheist, in reality, it was a hatred for God, his fickleness, and my lifelong attempts to remain in his good books.

A Sauna like this one, where Errol and I met.

Butlins Theatre, Minehead, Somerset.

In December 1972, I was converted to Christ, as already described in this Testimony. One of the earliest doctrines of salvation I was taught was the Eternal Security of the Believer, often known as Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS). This, to me, was very new to me, and a massive contrast to the Catholic catechism. The idea of a forfeitable salvation was decided by the Church between 1545 and 1563 during the Council of Trent, and anyone who believed that salvation was attained through faith in Christ alone and was eternally secure was accursed.

However, in the years to come since 1972, I was faced with a debate, and one that was ongoing since the 16th Century. Although OSAS was taught at the Children of God cult, St Jude's in Brixton, and at Bracknell Baptist Church, within the latter, I have come across those who didn't believe in OSAS. These people are known as Arminians, after a 16th-century Dutch Protestant theologian who went to the Catholic founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola, to seek advice. There were a few Arminians at Bracknell and also at Ascot, even if I saw that OSAS was held as true by the church's elders.

I even read and watched on YouTube videos that OSAS was invented by the Devil, and that it remains promoted by him for an excuse to believe in Christ and still enjoy sinning. If that were true, then the Adversary has failed dramatically on a global scale. Of all the world's religions, including Christianity, belief in OSAS affected only a tiny minority, and the majority of OSAS believers don't practice sin willingly.

According to my own experiences with Arminians, I have found most of them not to be content in their faith. I recall an invitation to a home prayer meeting in 1994. Johnny was in his thirties, married with a pre-teen daughter. Others were invited too, but over the weeks, the group whittled down to just the two of us. In a conversation, I made a passing statement that Once Saved Always Saved. It was a casual utterance, an offhand afterthought. Immediately, Johnny glared angrily at me and denied the truth of OSAS. Two angry men, Errol and Johnny. The only difference was that Errol wasn't angry at me. Johnny was. Both lack the assurance of salvation God has promised to all believers. With Johnny, I feared for his daughter. Would she grow up to be like another Errol?

My friend Richard was also challenged by a frustrated Arminian churchgoer one evening in a pub. I wasn't there, but I believed Richard's story. On another occasion, a whole family, particularly the father, was hostile to me, and it was he who ordered me to move when I sat next to him at a restaurant table during a church men's curry night. This OSAS denier tried to convince one elder that salvation can be lost, and described a very fickle Jesus who constantly kept account of the believer's faith and lifestyle. When this guy was allowed to preach one Sunday, his appalling dress style betrayed his low self-esteem.

So how was Ascot Baptist Church swallowed in this debate in 1994? It was from the Spring Harvest of that year. Minehead in Somerset was one of two Butlins venues where Spring Harvest was held annually. The other venue was Skegness. In 1994, Spring Harvest were divided into three 5-day weeks. At Minehead, an itinerant Bible scholar and Cambridge-educated Methodist pastor was one of the front-stage preachers on Week One. Many at Ascot Baptist Church attended that particular week in Minehead and sat in the main theatre to listen to this fellow's sermon. This Bible scholar was the late David Pawson.

That evening, Pawson preached on Philippians 2:12, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

What no one in the massive audience realised was that the Scripture does not say, work for your salvation with fear and trembling, but work out your salvation with fear and trembling. There is a big difference. Pawson conveyed the motive of fear of punishment and loss of salvation if we didn't shape up in our faith. This includes couples in the audience who divorced and remarried. To Pawson, this was adultery, and Hellfire awaited them. A near panic erupted in the theatre. It would have blown into a riot had not Pawson's friend and colleague, the late Roger Forster, pleaded with the audience to calm down. After the meeting, a large number sought counselling, mainly to have their fears allayed.

What an experience! With not a single parallel of this kind recorded among the New Testament churches.

I wasn't there at the near riot. Instead, I attended Spring Harvest in Minehead in Week Three. By then, Pawson wasn't there. He was expelled from the Spring Harvest team after the end of Week One for causing a disturbance at the theatre.

The late David Pawson.

After the festival was over and we settled back into our churches, one Sunday morning, our pastor, Barry Buckingham, preached on OSAS, supporting it. Afterwards, one who sat next to me asked, Did you see those arrows flying out of the eyes of the people, and all aimed at Barry?

I replied that I didn't see any arrows. Could this be because I agreed with Barry over OSAS, and the rest didn't?

Then there was a dear senior citizen, the late Barbara Moorland. At a housegroup, I questioned the genuineness of David Pawson, hinting that he might be a false teacher. Immediately, Barbara defended him. He is a man of God who knows the Bible inside out, and many consider him to be a modern-day prophet. (That is, equal to Isaiah, Jeremiah, or any other Old Testament prophet). I dismissed her defence as untrue. Jesus spoke the last word, according to the author of Hebrews. At another meeting, again, I suggested Pawson as a false teacher or prophet. The whole group banded against me in Pawson's defence.

All this goes to show a major flaw in our national Christian culture. In our churches, credibility for leadership, public preaching, or even writing books is not based on a person's spiritual state or on day-to-day real-life experiences. It is based on his level of education. David Pawson gained a Bachelor of Arts in Theology at Cambridge University. That has placed him on a high level of respect, especially by fellow church pastors. He wrote many books, one titled, On the Road to Hell, which has a chapter about the many Christian saints suffering in Hell, and the easy loss of salvation. Another book, Once Saved Always Saved?, has very much the same theme.

A high level of education does not define a true teacher or prophet.

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Next Week, how I struggled with OSAS against its denial.