Did George Sodini Go to Heaven?
Is it works salvation to teach the perseverance of the saints? A million times no because the doctrine itself teaches about the fruit of salvation, not the root. Paul Washer's statement on the doctrine says, "PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. Those whom God has accepted in the Beloved, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end; and though they may fall, through neglect and temptation, into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the Church, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be renewed again unto repentance, and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."
Why am I obsessed with the search for fruit in all who profess to be believers? It's not that I am a fruit inspector or a Pharisee, it's because Matthew 12:33 and Luke 6:44 says a tree is known by its fruit. Spiritually speaking, we are all bad trees as a result of the total depravity of man. The bad men produce is the old man but there is the good tree, the new man. Although a Christian will fall into sin because there is still the bad tree (old nature) but the good tree (new nature) is what bears good fruit. Which means just because Sodini claimed to be a Christian does not mean he was. Even if he supposedly prayed the sinner's prayer but he never got truly converted. Sad to say but the sinner's prayer today has become a tool for easy evangelism than the believer coming in terms with Christ in full repentance. If you claim to be a Christian, I want to see what changes God had done in lives because God's grace dispels sin.
See also:
"Easy Baptists" Are Insulting Old Fashioned Christianity!