John MacArthur says:
“We are kept until that hour and we are kept by an enduring faith sustained by the intercessory work of Jesus Christ who prays that we will be protected from anything that would assault that faith, whether it be the flesh or the world or Satan himself.”
Simply NOT true!
Read the context of 1 Thess 5:23. We are first asked not to quench (put out) the Holy Spirit by despising prophetic utterances. This would happen when we grieve the Holy Spirit to the point when the conscience becomes “seared as with a hot iron.” It is dead and unable to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It is then we have reached the point of no return.
Secondly, he talks about the gift of faith, which indeed it is (Romans 12:3). However everything we have is a gift. It is only when we bring it at the disposal of the Lord that it becomes useful for the Master’s use. The faith he has given must be given back to Him; that is, it must be mustered! Otherwise Jesus would have no reason to say to His disciples, “O ye of little faith.” They sowed only a little.
Thirdly, many are called but few are chosen. They are chosen only after God sees entire sanctification potential in them and then are kept [in Christ] until the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
Notice that the Lord’s prayer is that God sanctify us by His WORD (John 17:17) and not by some sort of a supernatural power!
Jesus, through the Holy Spirit/Word, on His part is able but on our part we have to yield to His promptings as well. “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the Law who will be declared righteous” (Romans 2:13). “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock” (Matthew 7:24). “…Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
Even the demons hear, believe and shudder. In other words, the only qualification one can get by merely believing, is a Demonship. The concept is further illustrated with a man who walked a tight rope across the Niagara falls. All were clapping their hands. There was one man in the front who was clapping all the more. The walker asked that man, “do you think i can take another person with me on my shoulders across?” The man said, “Yes, Yes, Yes!” When the walker asked him to join him across, he was dismayed and ran away. That is the difference between trust and belief.
God is able to take you across but you have to trust Him with your life!
More on this subject @ http://Skyfeast.org or for a shorter read: http://calebmotupalli.me/2010/01/13/calvinism-debunked/
This calls for an amendment of or rather the scrapping of the Westminister Confession of Faith.