You're Not Saved: And Why We Need to Stop Pretending You Are

You're Not Saved. (And Why We Need to Stop Pretending You Are.)

This is going to be uncomfortable. I know that. It cuts against a lot of what passes for comfort and assurance in many places today. But having walked through the fire, having seen the rotten fruit of religious performance without genuine transformation, and having wrestled with the scriptures during my time of deep study, I feel compelled to say this, clearly and without apology: Simply saying you are saved, professing a creed, or declaring loyalty to a church isn't enough. You're not saved until you are saved. And for far too many, that moment of true spiritual rebirth hasn't happened, no matter how often they say the words.

We’ve made salvation cheap. We’ve turned it into a transaction, a verbal agreement, a box to tick on a spiritual checklist. We tell people, "Just say this prayer, just believe this one thing, and you're in, guaranteed." And then we slap a "Saved!" sticker on them, regardless of whether their lives change, whether their character aligns with Christ's, whether they actually pick up their cross.

But Jesus didn't say, "Repeat after Me and get a free pass." He said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9:23). Deny himself. Take up his cross daily. Follow me. This isn't a one-time utterance; it's a radical reorientation of your entire life, a continuous, often painful, process of shedding the old self and walking the path Christ walked.

To tell someone they are saved when they are clearly walking a path devoid of self-denial, cross-bearing, or genuine following – when their lives still reek of the world, the flesh, and the devil – is not just inaccurate; it is profoundly immoral. It’s spiritual malpractice. You are lulling them into a false sense of security, assuring them they are headed for heaven while they are, in fact, still lost. It is like telling a critically ill person they are perfectly healthy just because they said they wanted to get better.

The demons know Christ. James tells us, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!" (James 2:19). They have intellectual ascent. They know exactly who He is. But that knowledge doesn't save them; it makes them shudder. Mere belief about Jesus is not the same as saving faith in Jesus that transforms you from the inside out.

You’re not saved until you are born again. Jesus was unequivocally clear with Nicodemus: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). This second birth is not physical; it is spiritual. It is a radical, supernatural transformation where your old self dies and a new creation emerges, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This rebirth brings a fundamental shift in your nature, your desires, your understanding. You become, in a spiritual sense, self-aware in a way you weren't before – aware of your sinfulness, aware of God's holiness, aware of your desperate need for Him, and aware of the new life stirring within you. It's a seeing you didn't possess before.

This dangerous teaching – that a simple profession saves, regardless of transformation – has, I believe, paved a wide road to apostasy. People think they're in, so they stop striving, stop seeking, stop allowing God to work on them. They have the label but lack the reality. And worse, it has, in my experience, fostered rampant narcissistic behavior within religious organizations. When salvation is about outward declaration rather than inner change, it becomes fertile ground for narcissists. They are masters of crafting a pious image, using religious language, and performing loyalty, all while lacking empathy, humility, and genuine love – the very fruit of the Spirit. The focus shifts from Godly transformation to maintaining a saved persona, attracting attention and admiration for their supposed spirituality, while the inner temple remains untouched or even defiled.

It’s like the church, in many places, literally got drunk on cultural acceptance, on numbers, on comfortable rituals, and misplaced the keys to the Kingdom. They have the building, they have the liturgy, they have the right words, but the power to truly open the gates – the power of calling people to genuine repentance, to radical self-denial, to being born again by the Spirit – seems lost.

They have, tragically, become like the Pharisees Christ so strongly condemned. They stand at the gate, neither entering themselves nor allowing those who would enter. They lay heavy burdens (man-made rules and expectations) while neglecting the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They have forgotten the meaning of the parables, the deep spiritual truths hidden within simple stories, and are simply going through the motions, their hearts far from God.

The message isn't popular, I know. It's much easier to be told you're fine just the way you are. But if my journey has taught me anything, it's that facing the uncomfortable truth is the only path to real freedom and real life. You're not saved until you are born again. And becoming born again requires taking up your cross and following Him, letting the Master Architect shape you into a living stone for His true Temple. Anything less is a dangerous deception.