My brother passed on 4 days ago. He accepted Christ when he was a teenager. He fell in love with a Moslem lady and 2 years ago became a Moslem so that he could marry her. Does Ephesians 1:13-14 apply in his case? We have been praying for him since and felt so sad to see that he died without ever coming back to the Lord. Have we lost him forever or is he still saved?
There are several clear passages in Scripture that describe the permanent nature of our salvation decision, and several others that explain that once we’re saved, it’s the Lord’s job to keep us. There are also passages that say that if we deny Him, He will deny us. They refer to non-believers who reject the gospel.
But there are no passages that I know of that describe a believer recanting, which would involve “unsealing” the Holy Spirit, and canceling the person’s reservation in the Kingdom. I know there are people who think this is possible, but I haven’t been convinced from Scripture.
That leaves us with only two possibilities. Either his acceptance of Christ as a teenager was not sincere and therefore he was never saved to start with, or his conversion to Islam was an act and He secretly maintained his Christian faith. If so he would have made his peace with the Lord before he died.
Since it’s impossible to know for sure, if you believe he was sincere in his acceptance of the Lord’s pardon I suggest you hold on to the second possibility and assume you will see your brother again. Anything else will only result in anguish over something you can’t know for certain and can’t do anything about anyway.