Jeremiah 3:15, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
Jeremiah 10:21, “For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.”
Jeremiah 12:10, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.”
Jeremiah 23:1, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.”
Good pastors are a blessing from the Lord, a rare find in 2022. Sadly, over 95% of pastors are terribly incompetent theologically. If you go visit Pastor Keith Gomez' church website, he errantly teaches that you must “turn from your sin” to be saved. I triple-dog dare you to show me that junk in the inspired King James Bible? You cannot. Argue as someone may, preachers have always had a wicked tendency to ADD to God's Words. Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Kindly said, Keith Gomez is a liar! Ironically, on their website's main webpage, the drop down menu reads: “The Bible Way To Heaven.” Again, you cannot show me even one verse that tells us to “repent of your sin” or “turn away from your sin” to be saved. Beware of men!!!
Another poisonous religious institution today is Bob Jones University (BJU). Read their college's Statement of Faith for yourself. According to BJU, to get to Heaven people must “be willing to repent and turn from their sin.” I dare you to show me that from the inspired King James Bible!!! You cannot. Hebrews 6:1 tells us us to repent from “dead works.” Acts 20:21 tells us to repent “toward God.” 2nd Timothy 2:25 tells us to repent to acknowledge “the truth.” But nowhere in the Bible are we ever told to repent of our sins. Jesus Christ came into the world to pay for our sins on the cross of Calvary (John 3:16); not demand that we forsake our sins as a prerequisite to receive God's free gift of eternal life by faith.
In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, the prophet started out by saying that God gives us pastors as a blessing, so they can us with knowledge nd understanding. But several chapter later the prophet indicts the pastors, calling them “brutish” (lacking good sense). I cannot think of a better example of today's brutish pastors that the utter confusion caused by having literally HUINDREDS of English Bible revisions! It is insanity! Whereas the Communist country of Cuba admirably rejected a shipment of 17,000 New International Version (NIV) Bible revisions, the vast majority of America's foolish pastors use and promote them today. Go figure! Can you hear the Devil laughing?
Today's pastors are sinfully brutish, that is, they lack good sense. It was over this issue that I was forced out and banned from attending the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam since 2014. I didn't attend church for several years because of Pastors' Marty Herron (senior pastor at Harvest from 1999 to 2018) and Gary Walton's (senior pastor at Harvest since 2018) hatred toward me, and their ungodly love of the modern Bible perversions, Lordship Salvation, misunderstood repentance and hellbound infidels like John MacArthur. I say that kindly, but truthfully on the authority of God's Word. Romans 3:4, “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” If the truth I have been preaching for the past 20 years since 2002 is in agreement with God's Word, then my sayings (website preaching, videos and ministry) will be vindicated and defended by God.
Dear reader, if you think that our omnipotent God, who is not the author of confusion (1st Corinthians 14:33), actually gave us HUNDREDS of English Bible to choose from, then you have been woefully deceived by the Devil. I mean, does that sound like the way God does things, with chaotic confusion? It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this picture does that saying justice...
In order to obtain a legal copyright from the U.S. Copyright Department, your new work MUST be creatively different and contain a substantial amount of unique content. In other words, whether it needs changing or not, your new Bible version must differ considerably from all existing Bibles. If you understand this, it makes sense why all of the existing Bibles contradict each other, as the preceding image so well illustrates. The only inspired words of God today are found in the King James Bible for English speaking people. All others are inferior and corrupt. Please throw away your modern Bible perversions!!!
It is because of the many new corrupt Bibles, that the Gospel has been corrupted as well. For example: Take a look at what the Easy-To-Read Version changes Mark 1:15 to read:
WICKEDNESS!!! That is wrong, wrong, wrong! Repentance is “a change of mind,” not “a change of heart and life.” You cannot show me anywhere in the Bible that says to “turn from sin” or “repent from sin” to be saved. Acts 20:21 speaks of “repentance toward God,” not from sin. We are saved by BELIEVING, not repenting. Yes, repentance is necessary for salvation, but to “repent” simply means to change your mind so that you will believe the Gospel. The Greek word for “repent” in Mark 1:15 in the King James Bible is metanoeo, which means, “to think differently.” This is the verb form of the word. The noun form is metanoia (“a change of mind”). Repentance is a simple change of mind. It DOESN'T mean to “change your hearts and lives,” which is what the corrupt ERV says!!! Do you see dear friend how changing the inspired incorruptible Word of God affects doctrine? It sure does.KING JAMES BIBLE (KJB) — Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” [emphasis added]EASY-TO-READ VERSION (ERV) — Mark 1:15, “He said, “The right time is now here. God’s kingdom is very near. Change your hearts and lives, and believe the Good News!” [emphasis added]
When ungodly men change God's Word, they are dooming themselves and those who ignorantly follow them. 1st Peter 1:23 says that God's Word is incorruptible. That means even if wicked men change it on earth, God's Word is still safe and hasn't been changed in Heaven. Psalms 119:89, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” You can corrupt the Word of God on earth, but that doesn't change it's power or purity in Heaven. Also, in Psalms 12:6-7 God promised that His inspired very pure Words (Psalms 119:140) will always be preserved upon the earth. Multitudes of ungodly men have tried to eradicate the world of the inspired Holy Bible, but utterly failed. It is not wise to work against God.
I plead with you dear reader to take Bible doctrine seriously. The sin of indifference (not caring one way or the other) has crept into over 95% of churches today, rendering them weak and ineffective for accomplishing the work of God. Take a look around your community. How many soulwinning churches do you see? I cannot name even one in Pensacola, Florida. We've got hundreds of churches here. Pastor Peter S. Ruckman's (1921-2016) old church still goes out soulwinning in public, but they are on the other side of Pensacola. I live on the westside. There are no soulwinning churches around me.
Sadly, the First Baptist Church of Pensacola has several hundred members, mostly older retired folks (Pensacola is a retirement location in the United States), but doesn't go soulwinning. That doesn't surprise me one bit, because they preach the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation (which most of the Southern Baptist Convention's 45,000 member churches do). Pensacola is a relatively quiet city of about 50,000 residents. Many of the people here are receptive to the Gospel. Sadly, from what I have seen so far, most of these people have been victimized by corrupt churches, who preach a flawed plan of salvation.
Kindly said, the First Baptist Church of Pensacola preaches another gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). I attended their traditional service back in March of 2022, at which time I heard their senior pastor (who is a good man but I think lost), tell the church congregation to surrender control of their life to Christ to get to Heaven. Folks, that is NOT what Jesus taught in the Bible. Jesus simply said in John 11:25-26, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” If you have been born-again friend, then you are alive in Jesus Christ because He is alive in you!!! Jesus didn't tell Martha to turn from her sins, did He? No, He did not. It sounds so spiritual when a preachers says to turn from your sins to be saved, but it is not what Jesus taught, because it is not Biblical at all.
Nor did Jesus tell Martha to surrender control of her life over to Him, did He? No, Jesus did not tell her that. So why do so many preachers lie to people, by requiring them to do a bunch of extra things to get to Heaven that God does not require? I think it is because our sinful human nature finds it nearly impossible to separate works from faith. This is why Adam, by nature, sewed together fig leaves in an attempt to atone (cover) their nakedness. God rejected Adam's fig-leaf religion, killing an innocent animal instead, which symbolized Christ being sacrificed on the cross, whose shed His blood washes away our sins by faith (1st Peter 1:18-19; 1st John 1:7; Revelation 1:5). What saith the Scripture? ...
Colossians 1:12-15, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”
There can be no salvation without the precious blood of Jesus! Did you hear that John MacArthur? In case you don't know, Pastor MacArthur denies that Jesus' liquid blood is in Heaven, sprinkled on the heavenly Mercy Seat. According to the poisonous 'MacArthur Study Bible,' commenting on Hebrews 9:12-24, he errantly teaches that when the Bible mentions the word “blood” 12 times in Hebrews chapter nine, it really means Christ's “death.” Huh? Are you kidding me? Tell that to the Old Testament high priest, to whom God warned that He would kill, if that high priest so dared to enter into the Tabernacle's Holy Place without a lamb's blood.
Tell that to Moses, to whom the Lord said in Exodus 12:13, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” The death angel was not looking for the dead lamb in the backyard. No, the death angel was looking for THE BLOOD APPLIED to the home's door posts and lintel (the plate above the door that kept bricks from falling on your head - Exodus 12:22). The lamb's blood had to be applied to the proper place, which was to be sprinkled upon the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews 12:24), in the presence of God (Hebrews 9:24) which resided between the two cherubims overlooking the ark, in which the inspired written Word of God was contained.
Perhaps you've seen the blockbuster 1981 movie, Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark. I have. I love Harrison Ford's acting. In the movie, when the Germans open the Ark of the Covenant, death consumes all of them! That is very real friend. When the Philistines even dared to capture the Ark in the Old Testament, God cursed them (1st Samuel 5)! The moral of the true story is don't mess with the Holy Bible!!!
And in Numbers 15:35, God had a man killed for daring to even pick up sticks on the Sabbath Day. Why? Well, the Sabbath Day was a day of complete rest, which according to Hebrews 4:10-11 was representative of Jesus Christ in whom we completely rest for salvation. That is such a beautiful type which God in His wisdom made to help humans understand the Gospel. So when that sincere man collected sticks to make a fire on the Sabbath Day, it symbolized adding works to faith alone in Jesus. The point was well made to God's people, and to the world still today!!! Don't mess with the Gospel.
Pensacola Christian College Gets Repentance Wrong
If you will simply come to God as a needy sinner (Romans 3:19-20), and BELIEVE the Gospel (Good News) as recorded in His inspired Word (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; John chapters 19-20), that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 20:31), Who died in your place for your sins upon the cross, and was buried, and then bodily resurrected three days later from the dead—you will be immediately, irrevocably and forever born-again by God's Holy Spirit (John 1:12-13). You have God's promise on it (Titus 1:2; 1st Corinthians 1:21; Romans 1:16).
I do believe that many of the people at PCC are saved, but because they are preaching a wrong understanding of repentance, it obscures the Gospel for others, so that they miss God's simple plan of salvation. Anytime that a preacher focuses on YOU instead of solely upon CHRIST, the Gospel is obscured and some people will miss the boat to Heaven. The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU. I contacted the senior pastor of Campus Church the very next day on Thursday, on July 22, 2021. I told him about the false teaching I had heard at his church. Sadly, Pastor Redlin 100% defended the heresy, which I came to learn is the official doctrine taught to all new church members in their corrupt Foundation's Class. Being wrong on doctrine is one thing, but to arrogantly defend it is another matter entirely. Shame on Pastors' Jeff Redlin and Timothy Zacharias for perverting the Word of God. Repentance does not lead to a change of behavior. The ONLY thing that you automatically get with salvation is the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24).
Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!
Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.
Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.
If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?
The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
We must stay true to the simplicity of the Gospel!! To agree with the Gospel of John, repentance regarding salvation can only mean a change of mind from unbelief to belief!!! We must earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 1:3).
It truly breaks my heart that in nearly every church I have attended, to some degree they are wrong on repentance, the Gospel and how to get to Heaven. And tragically, when I befriend such naïve pastors with THE TRUTH, they reject that truth and resent me for it, which makes them ungodly and utterly incompetent! I'm talking about Marty Herron, Gary Walton, Joe Hansen, Jared Baldwin, Jeff Redlin, Tim Zacharias, to name but a few false prophets. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!
Sadly, less than 5% of pastors today accurately preach the Gospel of free grace. One such godly preacher is Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold (MP3 sermons). Only Heaven knows how many tens of thousands of lost sinners have come to Jesus Christ because of this dear saint's ministry. I thank God for Pastor Yankee Arnold!!! Another free grace preacher is Pastor Max D. Younce. I thank God for this dear saintly man of God. Please visit his church website. And I thank God for Pastor Steven Anderson. I disagree with him on several of his doctrinal teachings, but he is accurate on the free grace Gospel, and the inspired King James Bible, so his ministry gets my full support. I love these faithful free grace Gospel preachers!
Dear reader, I encourage you to read the Gospel of John. I prefer listening to it, so I can just close my eyes and focus on what is being read. If you'll just listen to Alexander Scourby read the Gospel of John, you will understand how simple it is to go to Heaven. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” You'll not find anything in the book of John about confessing, turning, giving, stopping, surrendering, following, running, persevering or anything else except to BELIEVE on Jesus Christ to get to Heaven. God intentionally made salvation very simple, easy and free, so that even a small child can be born-again by faith in Jesus.
Pastor John MacArthur's Deadly False Plan Of Salvation
It is not hard to be saved. John MacArthur is a Calvinist false prophet, who in chapter one of his heretical book titled "Hard To Believe, says the following:
"Too many people just want a Madison Avenue Jesus to make them well, make them happy, and make them prosperous. But Jesus Christ isn't a personal genie. He is the Savior. He died in agony to satisfy the wrath of a holy God and to forgive the sins of humankind. Faith in Him demands a willingness to make any sacrifice He asks. The hard truth about Christianity is that the cost is high, but the rewards are priceless: abundant and eternal life that comes only from faithfully following Christ. ...It’s pretty simple. Anyone who wants to come after Jesus into the kingdom of God—anyone who wants to be a Christian—has to face three commands: 1) deny himself, 2) take up his cross daily, and 3) follow Him. These words are hard to believe. They’re not consumer-friendly or seeker-sensitive. Christianity Lite is nowhere to be found. But this is not an obscure passage, or something different from other teachings of Jesus. These are principles that He taught consistently and repeatedly throughout His ministry, over and over again in all different contexts." SOURCE
BLASPHEMY!!! Dr. John MacArthur is theological liar! He is totally ignoring the Gospel of John, which was authored by God specifically to show us how to get to Heaven. John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” If following Jesus Christ faithfully, and being willing to make any sacrifice that He demands, and taking up our cross daily is mandatorily required to get to Heaven, then prey tell me how can eternal life be a free gift from God? Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
I love what Pilgrim's Progress author, John Bunyan said (and this is my favorite quote):
“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)
That is the big monkey-wrench in John MacArthur's theology, he fails to differentiate between SALVATION versus SERVICE!!! Pastor M.R. DeHaan (1891-1965) gets it 100% correct:
"There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer, while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel, to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our faithfulness." —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, Hebrews; Zondervan Publishing House, 1959 (p. 117)
What a beautiful and doctrinally sound quote. Bravo Dr. Martin Ralph DeHaan!!! I love Pastor DeHaan by the way, he is one of my favorite preachers, along with Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951). These men were both 100% free grace Gospel preachers! It sickens me that most preachers today have been deceive by the Devil, preaching a counterfeit plan of salvation that does not match up to what the Bible teaches.
The earlier quotes I shared with you, from chapter one of John MacArthur's heretical book, “Hard To Believe,” sounds impressive to the naïve unsaved religious person. It sounds reasonable to the unregenerate mind that something should be required of you to receive eternal life. MacArthur boldly asserts that eternal life comes at a high cost to YOU! But dear reader, eternal life came at a high cost to God and His only begotten Son, Jesus, who paid the ultimate price for our sins with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). It's bad enough that Mr. MacArthur falsely teaches eternal life will COST YOU EVERYHTING, but then he insults and blasphemes the Word of God even further by denying that we are saved by Jesus' physical liquid blood on the Mercy Seat in Heaven (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24).
The deadly poison which Pastor MacArthur is preaching is called Calvinism. Evangelist Steve Pettit became the new incompetent president of Bob Jones University (BJU) since 2014. As you can see for yourself here (backup article), Dr. Pettit is a 100% hardcore Calvinist! According to Steve Pettit, you CANNOT merely say that “you've accepted Christ” as your Savior, and then write down the date, place and time that you were saved inside your Bible's cover. No, Pettit asserts that you must faithfully run the Christian race for the rest of your life, until the end, and only at that time will you know for sure that you've made it to Heaven. Dr. Pettit foolishly teaches that your "REWARD" (that is exactly what he calls it) for faithfully running the Christian race will be "HEAVEN ITSELF" (those are his own words). Folks, that is a works-based counterfeit plan of salvation, which absolutely cannot produce the second birth.
You Can KNOW Right Now That Your Name Is Written In Heaven
THE TRUTH is that eternal life is a free gift, that you can accept right now, this instant, and KNOW 100% that you are a born-again child of God. And you CAN go out and live like the Devil for the rest of your life (1st Corinthians 3:15, 5:1-5), and still KNOW without any shadow of a doubt that you are saved and going to Heaven when your physical body dies someday. God authored the Epistle of 1st John so that YOU as an individual, can determine if you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you, which is the ONLY proof of salvation.
Some people make the honest mistake of relying upon emotional and external evidences to confirm that they are saved. Remember, the same apostle John who penned the Epistle of 1st John (that shows us how to know we are saved), also penned the Gospel of John (which shows us how to get saved). So we need to interpret 1st John in view of the Gospel of John. That is, we must NEVER conclude that the Epistle of 1st John is teaching works as evidence for salvation. Hellbound Mormons, Roman Catholics and Seventh-Day Adventists all do good works. Remember, the unsaved people in Matthew 7:21-23 did “many wonderful works.” So obviously anything that an unsaved person can do cannot be used as “proof” of being saved.
The Epistle of 1st John is intended to help guide you individually to determine if you have God's Holy Spirit living inside you (1st John 3:24). You will know if you have God in you! If as believers we do not abide in the Scriptures, listen to sound Bible preaching, keep godly caring Christian friends, and attend a solid New Testament type of church, we will be a mess! I encourage you to read Pastor Jack Hyles' free helpful book: "Meet The Holy Spirit."
I can tell you assuredly upon the authority of the Scriptures dear friend, that if you have sincerely placed 100% of what little faith you may have in Jesus Christ alone—believing that He was crucified on a cross, buried and bodily resurrected the third day from the dead FOR YOU—you have been born-again. Christ died, that's history; Christ died and rose for me, that's salvation! 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” I love that Bible verse! I learned it from Michael P. Bowen, in his wonderful book clarifying the simplicity of the Gospel: “I Never Knew You.” Michael credits his helpful book to his godly mother, and I thank God for godly mothers. One ounce of mother is worth one pound of clergy!!! Yes, it sure is. We need godly mama in this world!
“Lordship Salvation is the unsupportable and unbiblical belief that the performance of good works, the promise of good works, or the evidence of good works, must accompany faith in Christ to establish or provide evidence that such faith has resulted in eternal life.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold ('Jesus versus John MacArthur') ...
Jesus Versus John MacArthur
(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)
(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)
God bless you dear reader. I love you unconditionally with God's love. I cannot thank you enough for reading my blog posts. I have prayed earnestly since 2006 for God to give me one thousand readers per day on my "Recent webpage," but it didn't happen. But as my Christian mother Barbara Stewart (1935-2001) always taught me: "God works in mysterious ways." He sure does! I never had thought about starting a blog until early in 2020. One of my good ministry friends, Curtis Smale (at only age 57, Curtis went to Heaven in January of 2022), asked me in 2020 what my plans were for my ministry when I die. I told him that I didn't have any plans. So he encouraged me to start a blog, which will perpetuate long after I am gone from the earth. Well by God's grace I started nine blogs! Praise the Lord!!!! Here they all are:
- https://stewart1611.blogspot.com (this is my most popular blog)
- https://www.faithalonesaves.org (I purchased my own domain name for this one)
- https://giftofeternallife.blogspot.com
- https://rightdoctrinematters.blogspot.com
- https://bibleprophecy666.blogspot.com
- https://godcannotlie.blogspot.com
- https://ineedawalk.blogspot.com
- https://eddieboston.blogspot.com (I made this one for a good ministry friend)
- https://banjoheaven.blogspot.com
I am sharing these links with you in case you didn't know about my other blogs. As I said earlier, I have been praying for God to give me 1,000 readers per day, but it hasn't happened at my Jesus-is-Savior.com website's "Recent page." But thanks to my new blog at: Stewart1611, I receive about TWICE the readers there that I do at my Jesus-is-Savior website. Amen! I think the reason why is that Google's excellent blog service is mobile phone friendly, but my website is not. I admit that I am not a professional web designer. I am a hard working amateur with a passion and determination to serve the Lord Jesus Christ through the internet! That is all I am. I certainly don't claim to know what I am doing...lol.
I just got all my certificates working for all my websites, which means they are all now secure. That is likely why Google was lowering my webpage's ranking spot year-after-year since 2015. I actually had certificates for most of those years (provided for free by my hosting company. (You had to pay lots of money in the old days for certificates, which I couldn't afford). But I didn't know that my certificates weren't activated. I didn't know about it then, but I do now! So praise the Lord that all my websites are now secure (which is signified by a little lock symbol just before the address at the top of each webpage (including this one). I am thankful to Google for providing their free blog feature to people. That is so awesome!
I highly recommend Google's "Blogspot" to anybody who loves to write and has something to say. Better yet, all of your blogs automatically (by default) appear in the search engines, so the world can see your work. THANK YOU GOOGLE!!! I thank God that through my Christian friend, Curtis Smale, that he inspired me to start my own blog. I encourage you to read his prolific writings. I often told Curtis that God gifted him as a prolific writer. You will see what I mean if you read his writings, which are compelling.
There is a war on for your mind dear reader! The Devil comes only to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:9-10). Satan is a beautiful liar! There is MUCH debate and confusion in America's 350,000 churches over what it means to repent to be saved. But there is no controversy if you believe the Holy Bible! The Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract (John 20:31). Christ paid your dent of sin, and mine. All God requires to obtain eternal life is that you put your trust in His only begotten Son. John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” I don't see any requirement to turn away from a lifestyle of sin, do you? Bible repentance is NOT reformation (a changed life).
You need to know these theological terms:
- Penance = to try to make a mend for sin (Judas returned the 30 pieces of silver)
- Penitence = to be sorry for sin (Judas admitted he had betrayed innocent blood)
- Reformation = to turn from sin (Judas was a changed man)
- Repentance = a change of mind (Judas never repented of his unbelief in Christ)
Matthew 27:3 says “Judas repented himself,” but this is a completely different Greek word (metamellomaiin, meaning “to regret”) than is used regarding salvation (metanoia, which means “a change of mind”). Judas didn't change his mind about who Jesus is, the Christ, he was simply regretful for what he had done to Jesus to betray Him. Many criminals regret what they did to land them into prison, but they haven't repented toward God (Acts 20:21). Bible repentance is a change of mind from denying THE TRUTH “to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2nd Timothy 2:25-26).
Please don't misunderstand, I DO believe that repentance is necessary for salvation, but to repent doesn't mean what most people errantly think it means. I fully agree with Pastor Harry Ironside, who got repentance 100% correct:
“Which comes first, repentance or faith? In Scripture we read, 'Repent ye, and believe the gospel.' Yet we find true believers exhorted to 'repent, and do the first works.' So intimately are the two related that you cannot have one without the other. The man who believes God repents; the repentant soul puts his trust in the Lord when the Gospel is revealed to him. Theologians may wrangle over this, but the fact is, no man repents until the Holy Spirit produces repentance in his soul through the truth. No man believes the Gospel and rests in it for his own salvation until he has judged himself as a needy sinner before God. And this is repentance.” (Except Ye Repent, p. 16)The only thing that we need to repent from to be saved is UNBELIEF. Do we have to realize our sinful condition to be saved? Of course, yes! But there is not one verse in the entire Bible which requires a person to forsake sin to be saved.
Nor does the Bible give anyone God's permission to commit sin just because they are saved (Romans 3:31). But if we do choose to sinfully live like the Devil as a child of God, then God's saving grace will abound. Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” The day you were saved friend (if you are saved), you were forever divorced from the Old Testament law. Romans 7:4, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” Every born-again saint is now married to Jesus Christ!!! Amen. No amount of sin or rebellion as a believer could ever separate us from the saving grace of God (Romans 5:20). God's unlimited grace is greater than all of our sins!!!
Every time Jesus forgave someone and healed them, it was only AFTERWARDS that He said: “Go and sin no more.” John 5:14, "Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Repentance simply means “a change of mind.” Believers change our mind every day about all kinds of things, including the sins in our life. Repenting of sin throughout one's Christian life is solely a matter of DISCIPLESHIP, not SALVATION. It is a matter of growing in the Lord's grace (1st Peter 2:2; 2nd Peter 3:18), as we yield to the Holy Spirit's leading in obedience to the Holy Scriptures (2nd Corinthians 10:5). As John Bunyan so wisely said, we must keep our SERVICE for God, completely separate from God's gift of SALVTION. That is, we must keep SANCTIFICATION entirely separate from JUSTIFICATION. To confuse these two WILL corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people!!!
It is tragic that it is becoming almost impossible to find a doctrinally sound church anymore. I have people asking me more and more to help them find a doctrinally sound church in their area, but I cannot find even one. I had a Christian lady today contact me from the tiny town of Merlin in Ontario, Canada. I couldn't find a doctrinally sound church for her to attend. By the way, there's nothing wrong with attending a non-denominational church, if they are preaching a free grace Gospel, and using only the inspired King James Bible. But good luck finding one!
Remember, there's no such thing as the “Baptist church” up in Heaven. There is only The Church. I prefer Baptist churches, which denominational name helps to identify the doctrinal and methodical distinctives of a particular religious group. And that's fine and okay. But just so you know, Heaven is denominational blind. Salvation is NOT found in any religious denomination or church; but rather, in the sacrificial Lamb of God, the dear Lord Jesus Christ.
“The greatest enemy you have is a church that doesn't teach the Bible!” —Pastor Max D. Younce, “#1 Salvation THROUGH The Blood”
Jude 1:3 from inspired King James Bible
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