The proper order is: In Christ first BEFORE one can hear and believe.
And to be in Christ is to be NOT lost and therefore saved.
Pate says salvation is "NOT WHAT WE DO", yet he teaches that UNLESS one hears and believes he cannot be saved. Paradoxical and laced with an impurity.
For Pate's doctrine to be scriptural, he has to remove the impurity from it: the false doctrine that people are born in sin instead of born in Christ.
In order for one to believe your doctrine that people are born saved means that you will have to discard many scriptures such as Psalm 51:5, "In sin did my mother conceive me". also Romans 5:12 "Wherefore as by one man sin entered the world and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men".
A heretic is one that deletes scripture or adds to scripture in order to prove their doctrine. It appears that you are off to a good start.