What is Decisionism (false OSAS)?

Psalms 119:18 "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."

Decisionism teaches that a person is saved based on the outward gestures he demonstrates rather than the inward conversion of his heart. It was a liberal theology developed by Charles G. Finney in the early 1800s.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The gift of God, according to this verse is "eternal life", and it is given to us freely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. A gift is a thing given, the property of which is voluntarily transferred by one party to another without any form of compensation involved. As such, salvation is a free gift. It is not earned by works, because it is a gift of God. Paul further tells us:

Romans 11:29 "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

When God bestows the gift of eternal life unto a born again believer, it is WITHOUT repentance i.e. he cannot take it back. God who knows the end from the beginning: he who foreknew his people cannot make mistakes. Therefore, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

The gift of God to a born again believer is eternal life, but how do we know if we have received the gift of eternal life?

John 3:3 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Jesus reveals to us in this verse that except a man be born again, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God. The keyword here is the word "see". That is to say, when a born again believer received the gift of eternal life, God has also at the same time opened his eyes, so that he can now see the kingdom of God.

Luke 24:31 "And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight."

The context of this verse was about two men, one of them whose name was Cleopas, on their way to Emmaus, when they encountered the risen Christ. This verse tells us that "their eyes were opened", that is, after Jesus had expounded unto them in all the scriptures (Moses and all the prophets) the things concerning himself and "they knew him..."

Luke 24:27 "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

Notice: Cleopas and his friend were not saved by praying a prayer asking Jesus into the heart, neither did Jesus teach them to pray a sinner's prayer as what many of the modern-day churches teach to their new converts. Jesus only expounded unto them "Moses and all the prophets" in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

What about "Moses and all the prophets"?

The context of Luke 16 is about the rich man who died bodily and his soul went to hell. There he had a conversation with father Abraham, and Abraham said unto him:

Luke 16:31 "And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

The keyword is "persuade". If a man cannot be persuaded from Scripture (Moses and the prophets), he cannot be persuaded to believe in the gospel of peace.

Acts 26:28 "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."

Paul tried to persuade King Agrippa with Scripture, and he was almost persuaded, but sadly he was not. It is not possible to get people believe in the gospel by insisting that he MUST do this or he MUST do that. That in itself is works salvation. If any man believes in the gospel, it must be because he was persuaded from Scripture to believe.

"I would never be a Christian" ~ Max

Modern-day Churchianity has it the other way round. Instead of expounding from "Moses and the prophets", they take the shortcut and jump straight to the procedures:

1. Admit you're a sinner;

2. Realize the penalty of sin;

3. Believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose again for you;

4. Trust Jesus Christ alone as your saviour.

Even though it is not explicitly stated in this list, it usually starts with a "decision" to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour, and it normally ends with a sinner's prayer. That is what Decisionism is about in a nutshell.

2 Corinthians 5:11 "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..."

If a man is not persuaded from Scripture to become a Christian, but enters the sheepfold by some other means, then he "entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1) Those would be the "false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:" (Galatians 2:4)