God never changes (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8).

Eternal security teachers often quote Heb. 13:5b, "Never will I leave you;

never will I forsake you." This is a quote from the Old Testament (Deut.

31:6,8).

POINT 1: Though God’s promise to Israel in verses 6 and 8 is that He will

never forsake them, about 10 verses later in the same chapter God predicts

Israel will forsake Him, then in verse 17 He said, "On that day I will

become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them,

and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon

them, and on that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come upon

us because our God is not with us?’ And I will certainly hide my face on

that day because of all their WICKEDNESS in turning to other gods."

This is a conditional promise, as the whole chapter bears out, which can

be nullified by wickedness. Therefore, to use Heb. 13:5 as an

unconditional promise is a sign of ignorance or outright deceitful!

If we forsake God by turning to wickedness, He will forsake us!

"He went out to meet Asa and said to him, ‘Listen to me, Asa and all Judah

and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him,

he will be found by you, but IF YOU FORSAKE HIM, HE WILL FORSAKE YOU’" (2

Chr 15:2).

POINT 2: What does it mean in Deut. 31 to be forsaken by God? When this

occurred various "calamities" came upon them according to Deut. 32:23-25

(the "disasters and difficulties" of Deut. 31:17):

*wasting famine

*consuming pestilence

*deadly plague

*wild beasts

*vipers

*sword

The eternal security proponents read something into Heb. 13:5 that is not

there, for it doesn’t deal with an assured and guaranteed entrance into

the Kingdom of God but instead a promise for temporal protection and

well-being ONLY.

Remember, the Lord "left" Saul (1 Sam. 18:12), and "the Spirit of the Lord

had departed from Saul" (1 Sam. 16:14). David knew this to be a

possibility and prayed in Psa. 51:11, "Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me." Keep these facts in mind when

interpreting Heb. 13:5.

In summary, this promise, even if it wasn’t conditional, still doesn’t

assure entrance into the Kingdom of God! Heb. 13:5 has been twisted and

distorted to say something it was never meant to say.