"One minute you're a goofy reprobate"
No fair, you've been talking to K again.
Did there come a point in time when you were saved so that no one could pluck you out of God's hand or separate you from His love; when you were positionally made righteous?
No, there was never a point in time when someone could pluck me out of God's hand.
I didn't always know that, of course. The full realization of that fact was fairly slow in coming. But thankfully, it took root and has blossomed into a lovely certainty.
I've read Dr. Eckleburg's response, #18, I agree with him but let me add some clarifying comments which hopefully he would also agree with.
added comment:Once God selected us (before the beginning of time) that was it, there was nothing that Satan could do about it other then try to destroy the plan of God which God mapped out before the beginning of time. If Satan could destroy one little bit of that plan then he would make God out to be a lier.
I think one of the problems Satan has is he doesn't know all the details of the plan, so he might be thinking that he is making head way at destroying God plan when in actuality all he is doing is fulfilling it.
At first he tried to destroy all the possible lineages that the promise seed could come from but he failed even though he succeeded in killing and destroying a lot of people trying to do so. And after the cross he seceded in killing a lot of individuals, Christian and non-Christian.
A rhetorical question to ask is can Satan destroy anybody, Christian or non-Christian, with out God's permission, as far as Christians go I believe that Satan can not touch them with out permission and if God gives him permission to destroy them then I would have to say that God has already done the work in their heart to be saved, and has done all the works in their lifes that he has ordained which Satan may or may not recognize. Which brings up another rhetorical question and that is can Satan read anybodies mind? If so, which I don't think he can, there's not much we can do about it can we. But if he can't there's one good reason to disclpline oneself to not talk to your self when alone. But another rhetorical question has just come to mind and that is does Satan absolutely know those that are his and absolutely those that are not his, my answer to that is he doesn't know absolutely and has to take an educated guess as regard to everyone, and only at the great Judgment when the books are open will he know absolutely. But knowing that Satan has been around for a long time I would say that he probably can make pretty good educated guesses, and probably am better at it then we are.
I'm sure a lot of individuals he is not too worried about, a bunch he will keep an eye on, and some he has recognized as not one of his kids but one of God kids. And I'm sure these are the ones that he is most interested in destroying.
Getting back to a early question, can Satan destroy non Christians with out God permission, this I really don't know but I would guess that even in these cases he can not with out God permission. So if I am correct I've concluded that Satan can not do anyone harm with out God permission which in another way of thinking about it Satan can not do anything with out God's permission.
As far as responding to any comments about my comments I'm going to have to ignore them, I'll love to but this thread is already getting old, this comment has taken to long to write up and the list of things to get done never goes away. And I'm also sorry to not have any scripture to back my self up. Oh well that's the way it is, that's the way God has design me, so don't blame me to quick.