...The thing is, that while he might have been guided somewhat by the watchtower society I was to learn (by hard experience) that he truly was seeking the Lord and he belonged to the Lord.
I would be more careful in the years to come, as I had hurt the Lord.
LA
Often, I'll ask others what they'd meant by this or that, before allowing myself to conclude on it.
In this same spirit - what do YOU mean by what you said about that individual..
For in my own understanding, the fact that a person is a JW, or a Roman Catholic, or a Mormon, or a this, or a that, does not necessarily mean they started off from that.
Given that I believe in "sealed unto the redemption of the purchased possession" (eternal security - the result of "HIS workmenship" the moment that one believes that "Christ died for sins according to the Scriptures, and rose again according to the Scriptures") - given that I believe in that, I believe that for all I know, the person I am dealing with may have believed that as well, at some earlier point BEFORE their present confession.
That they may have ended up "in the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will" at a later point, and are now doing his work does not change the fact of their sealing.
But they are still in serious error.
What is your criteria for assuring yourself that the above individual you are describing was "in the Lord."
"Truly seeking the Lord" is not up for the subjective understanding of one.
Rather, it is determined by the Scripture's criteria of that.
As the late Mother Teresa (may she have "known the Lord") often proved by her error - just because some one is a kind, loving, all out self-sacrificing individual, does necessarily mean right off that they are seeking the Lord and or in the Lord.
In her case, there is an old PBS special on her in which she is seen doing her work among the poorest of the poor.
The PBS reporter asks her something like "do you tell them about Jesus?"
She had just passed away and was being celebrated by the media as an individual who had allowed others be where they were.
The fool world's criteria of "a good person" once again.
She replies that there are many paths to God, the Brahman has his, the Buddhist his..." and so on.
To me, that is neither seeking, nor being in, the Lord.
Thus, even if she ever had it as right as 1 Cor. 15:1-4 asserts it is, she was not doing "the work of the Lord."
What she was doing was the old myth against the finished work of the Cross commonly known as "suffering for Jesus."
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
So, I ask you, what did you mean by the above?
What is your criteria for the above as to what you asserted about what you concluded about that individual.
For, at this point, you continue to reveal you are clueless as ever as to what the gospel of Christ actually is, and this alone is an issue one must be crystal clear on.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.