Lifesavers and Lordship Salvation

By johninnc

From Merriam Webster online:

fan·​tas·​tic

1a: based on fantasy: not real

b: conceived or seemingly conceived by unrestrained fancy

c: so extreme as to challenge belief: UNBELIEVABLE

broadly : exceedingly large or great

2: marked by extravagant fantasy or extreme individuality : ECCENTRIC

3 fantastic: EXCELLENT, SUPERLATIVE

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When I was a little boy, we usually received Life Savers candy at Christmas. My favorites were (and still are) wintergreen and cherry.

The history of Life Savers is interesting to me. Here is an excerpt from ThoughtCo. regarding that history:

In 1912, chocolate manufacturer Clarence Crane of Cleveland, Ohio invented Life Savers. They were conceived as a “summer candy” that could withstand heat better than chocolate.

Since the mints looked like miniature life preservers, Crane called them Life Savers. He did not have space or machinery to make them, however, so he contracted with a pill manufacturer to have the mints pressed into shape.

I also remember from my childhood a show that prominently featured life preservers. It was a fictional account of a man rescued from the sea after having been involved in a shipwreck. He was thrown a lifesaver, and pulled aboard a rescue ship. The rescued man gave his rescuers a harrowing account of his ordeal. I don’t recall the name of the ill-fated shipwreck from which he had been rescued, but let’s just say it was the Titanic. At the end of the show, the camera focused in on the name of the rescue ship. I think it might have been the Lusitania. The point is, the poor fellow rescued was consigned to a fate of being rescued by yet another ill-fated ship. The implication was that this man might have to suffer this fate, from one ship to the next, forever.

This was clearly a fantastic story, meeting definition 1. a. from above.

Last year, I spent the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season recovering from a terrible bout of covid. I definitely don’t want to experience that again. So, I was thinking about the medical advice being given by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for someone like me. It goes something like this:

I have never received the covid “vaccines.” But, I am still at risk, according to the CDC, because the immunity I got from having covid is fleeting, and it does not protect me from new variants.

Accordingly, in order to best protect myself, I need to take shot number 1 of the initial series that was designed for a disease no longer in circulation. Then, I need to wait a few weeks and take shot number 2 of the initial series that was designed for a disease that is no longer in circulation. Then, I need to wait a few more weeks and take a booster that was designed for variants that have largely disappeared. Also, I need to wear a mask when I am around others. If and when I catch whatever illness they are now calling covid, I need to go to my doctor for anti-virals that are designed (in many cases by the same company that developed the shots that are designed to reduce severity of disease) to reduce severity of the disease. If I survive again, continue to wear a mask and wait a couple of months. Get another booster. Then, if I catch covid again, go get some more anti-virals to reduce severity.

It sounds a little bit like the shipwreck scenario to me. Of course, I have been accused of being eccentric (see definition 2, above).

But, I digress…

Which brings me to the false gospel of Lordship “salvation.”

Lordship “salvation” (LS) is the unsupportable and unbiblical belief that the PERFORMANCE of good works, the PROMISE of good works, or the EVIDENCE of good works MUST accompany faith in Christ in order to establish, or provide evidence, that such faith has resulted in eternal life.

LS is taught throughout professing christendom, and is quite popular. But, like the story of the shipwrecked man, it does not offer a very compelling future. LS is like a drowning man grabbing a lifesaver to board another doomed ship.

The truth is that eternal life is available as a free gift to anyone who believes the gospel of Christ. That is FANTASTIC
news (definition 3)!

Don’t grab onto the wrong lifesaver. If you die without Christ you won’t get another shot.

Merry Christmas everyone!

If you would like more information about the gospel of Christ, click here: THE GOSPEL