>>17753303the thief on the cross made it to heaven because he repented of his unbelief and believed on Jesus.
if anyone wants to be 100% sure of going to heaven, watch this gospel video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf3uF0juIVI&t=5s&ab_channel=PUBLISHSALVATION>>17753305James 1:2, 2:1, 3:1, 2:14 has the phrase "my brethren". James 2:5 even says "...my beloved brethren...". the entire epistle of James was written to already saved Christians that believe in salvation by faith alone and once saved always saved (God's promise of everlasting life Jesus personally taught in John 3:16). James 2 is not talking about salvation but it's there to encourage saved Christians to do good works after their salvation.
also, in order for the phrase "faith without works is dead" to be true, faith has to exist. just like if i said an elephant without a pulse is dead, there has to be a dead body of an elephant to exist for that statement to be true. so in order for the phrase "faith without works is dead" to be true, faith which is dead because it has no works, has to exist. and since faith in Christ without works exists, it can save people from hell if they have it, meaning that people can get to heaven even with 0 good works as long as they have believed the gospel. but when you believe in a works based salvation (whether it be front-loading work salvation of the catholic/orthodox church or the back-loading work salvation peddled by many protestant false prophets), your faith in Christ is NON-EXISTENT since your faith is in yourself. if you believe in work salvation, you're trusting yourself (a sinners that deserves to burn in hell) as your own saviour, and you actually don't believe in Jesus and you don't have faith in Christ. that's why Jesus rejects people that believe in work salvation while claiming to be Christians in Matthew 7:21-23 by telling them "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
