John Owen on lapsed Christians
“I will not judge a person to be spiritually dead whom I have judged formerly to have had spiritual life, though I see him at present in a swoon as to all evidences of the spiritual life. And the reason why I will not judge so, is this; Because if you judge a person dead, you neglect him, you leave him; but if you judge him in a swoon, though never so dangerous, you use all means for the retrieving of his life.”
John Owen, “Discourse IX,” The Works of John Owen, Vol 16., Ed. Thomas Russell, (1826), 542.
Praise God for this encouragement. Evidence of faith will remain, but could we possibly judge alive those who were really dead? Either way, we must share Christ. God will bring about repentance, and the apostate will never repent. We can leave all in the hands of our loving God and Savior and trust His work in the heart and life of the sinner. God bless you:)
http://holdingforthhisword.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/religious-elites/