Friday, November 18, 2022

Faith Without Works

Romans 4:1-7, “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.”

No passage in all of Scripture has been so misunderstood as James 2:14-26, "Faith without works is dead" is used again and again by those who would add works to salvation as their proof text. Most Christians don't know how to explain James 2:14-26; therefore, when those who teach falsely use James to prove their point, seldom does anyone ever refute them. Christians need to know the answer.

Do you know how to explain James 2:14-26? Not being able to explain this passage will hinder your effectiveness as a Christian witness. So often the lost will object to the true gospel message by saying, "Faith without works is dead." If you cannot explain this phrase, then you will make no further progress with the one to whom you are witnessing.

A new twist, also false, is to say that if you do not have works that you have no faith and, therefore, you are not saved. Many Christians have been confused and robbed of their assurance of their salvation by this presentation. Works are subtly added to the plan of salvation by this misteaching on the book of James.

First of all, James was written to the saved. James was written to the believers. Notice the phrase "my brethren" in James 1:2, James 1:16; James 1:19; James 2:1, James 2:5; James 2:14; James 3:1, et cetera. James writes to persons who are already saved and the subject is not how to be saved but the Christian life and how to receive rewards in heaven. James is writing to those who are "born again." "Of his own will beget he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18). The question is not loss of salvation (which is impossible: see John 6:37,39), but the loss of reward. Blessing, not salvation, is what is promised to the doer of God's work in James 1:25.

Salvation is also without exception "the gift of God." "For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Look at 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." Read Romans chapter Five where salvation is called God's gift six times.

James 2:14 talks about "profit." Profit is something earned-something deserved. Salvation cannot be earned and is not deserved. Paul uses the same word "profit" in I Timothy 4:8 where again the topic is reward. "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

James is speaking of the Judgment Seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10; I Corinthians 3:11-15)
where reward, gain, profit, treasure or the loss of it is determined. James is saying to a believer that has faith but no works that his faith will not save him the embarrassment, regret, loss of reward that he will experience at the judgment seat of Christ (the judgment of a believer's works for reward or loss of reward).

How do we know that James is speaking of the Judgment Seat of Christ? The context of James demands that interpretation. Notice James 2:12, "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." This could only be referring to the judgment of believers at the judgment seat of Christ. In James 2:14 we find no believer will be saved (exempted) from the believer's judgment of works. No works will bring about no reward (profit). See II Corinthians 5:10.

Death in the Bible always is used to mean "separation." Physical death is the separation of the spirit and soul from the body (See II Corinthians 5:8). The "second death" is the separation of the spirit and soul from God, in hell forever (See Revelation 20:14). Knowing this definition of death, let us examine the phrase "faith without works is dead."

Knowing death speaks of separation and not cession of existence, let us look at James 2:26, "For as the body with the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." If I were to die physically, my body would drop to the ground but my spirit would go to be with the Lord. "Absent from the body, present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8). Would I still be alive? Yes, I have eternal life. But my body would not have any vital signs and would not display any life at all, yet I would be present with the Lord and very much alive.

In the same way, James says, "faith without works is dead." What does he mean? Works are to faith what the body is to the spirit. The body displays the life of the spirit. Work displays faith. The only way I can display that I am alive is with my body (movement, pulse, etc.). The only way that I can display that I have faith is by my works.

If I have no works, does that mean that I have no faith? NO! NO! NO! That would be like saying that if I die physically, I would no longer exist. The truth is that I have eternal life, so though I may lose my body, I am still very much alive. If you have faith but no works, you simply cannot demonstrate to another that you have faith. That is the point James is making when he says, "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18).

To be effective, to be able to demonstrate our faith, and to earn rewards, we must have works.
James speaks of justification by works before men. Paul speaks of justification by faith before God. Paul speaks of that which justifies man before God, via: faith alone, wholly apart from works: James of the proof before men, that he who possesses to have justifying faith really has it. Paul speaks of what God sees-faith; James of what men see-works, as the visible evidence of faith. Paul draws his illustration from Genesis 15:6, James from Genesis 22:1-19. James's key-phrase is 'ye see' (James 2:24), for men cannot see faith except as manifested through works."

James teaches salvation by faith without works in James 2:23, "...Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness..." This is a quote from Genesis 15:6 where Abraham gets saved. James 2:21,22 is an illustration from Abraham's life forty years after he was saved. It illustrates, or proves Abraham's faith to others. "Seest thou" James 2:22. In plain English this is saying that you can see by Abraham's willingness to slay Isaac that he had faith.

Salvation is "not of works" according to Ephesians 2:9, "Not of works" means "Not of works." Works have no part in our salvation. Jesus Christ finished the work of salvation on the cross. We can be saved only by trusting His finished work on the cross. We can be saved only by trusting His finished work on the Cross. Why not trust Christ as your only hope of heaven? Then choose to serve Him and receive blessings, rewards, treasures in heaven, profit for eternity.

* Written by Dr. Hank Lindstrom

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Reasons Why "Turn From Sin" To Be Saved Is A Lie

Acts 16:27-33, “And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.”

Here are some reasons why “repent of your sin” to be saved is a lie of the Devil:

  1. Jesus came to pay for our sins with His blood through Calvary's cross, not demand that we first reform (turn from our sins) as a prerequisite to be saved.
  2. No one has ever turned away from their sins, because even the best Christian still sins (Romans 7:14-25). The unbiblical idea that lesser sinners are somehow more righteous in God's sight than greater sinners is utter heresy.
  3. 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?
  4. The only thing that makes the most holy saint any more righteous than the vilest criminal upon the earth, is the precious blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses our sins away by faith alone.
  5. The phrase "repent of sin" or "turn from sins" is nowhere found in the inspired King James Bible. That phrase can be found in many of the Devil's corrupt Bible versions [e.g., Mark 1:15 and Hebrews 6:1 in the Easy-To-Read Version (ERV)].
  6. The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
  7. 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.
  8. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!
  9. The Greek noun for the English word "repent" is metanoia, which means: "A change of mind." The Greek form of repent is metanoeo, which means: "to think differently." This word does not tell us what to change our mind about, which the Lord did on purpose. God intentionally chose to use an open-ended, all-inclusive word, so that a person must change their mind about whatever is hindering them from BELIEVING the Gospel to be saved.
  10. We are saved by believing, not by repenting. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that God's Gospel tract, which is the Gospel of John (John 20:31, never once mentions the word "repent." But we do find the word "believe" mentioned 88 times! That is simply because repentance is included in believing.

Sunday, November 13, 2022

False Prophet Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr.

Galatians 1:6-9, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

I am heartbroken to hear Pastor Jenkins Sr. of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Maryland, preach damnable heresy. The following sermon is titled: “EVANGELISM”, which was preached on November 18, 2018. At point # 3 in his sermon, Pastor Jenkins corrupts the Gospel, adding works...

Damnable Heresy Being Preached by Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr.

Nowhere in the inspired Word of God are we taught to "be willing to turn away the way you've been living your life" to get to Heaven, which would be WORKS! I pray that Pastor Jenkins will repent of his false repentance. Former Moody Church pastor, Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951) gets repentance 100% correct:
“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past … Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.” SOURCE: "What Is The Gospel?"
Tragically, at least 90% of America's Baptist pastors today are preaching another gospel, and the people in those messed up churches are okay with it! Jeremiah 5:31, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Dr. Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) gets Bible repentance for salvation 100% correct...

Pastor  Curtis Hutson: I Hate The Repent Of Sins HERESY!
What Must I Do To Be Saved?
(Pastor Curtis Hutson, 1974)

Dear friend, there are NOT two different Gospels. The Apostle Paul makes this truth abundantly clear in our text passage of Scripture from Galatians 1:6-9. Pastor Curtis Hutson teaches that you don't have to give up one sin to be saved, Christ cam to die on a cross for our sins to pay for them! Yet, Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. clearly teaches that there can be no regeneration (the new birth) until you first "be willing to turn away the way you've been living your life" to get to Heaven. I triple-dog dare you to show me that bullcrap Pastor Jenkins is preaching from the inspired Holy Bible! You cannot dear reader.

Ironically, Pastor Jenkins says in the preceding sermon that you've got to preach the truth, yet he doesn't even have THE TRUTH! Pastor Jenkins bloviates that he is not ashamed to preach DAMNABLE HERESY, lies that will mess up people's lives and send them to Hell forever!!! You DON'T have to believe AND repent to be born-again. Repentance is automatically included with believing the Gospel.

Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” The Greek word for “repent” here simple means “to think differently.” The Bible is simply teaching us to think differently to BELIEVE THE GOSPEL to be saved. The only requirement to be saved is to know what you're being saved from, the consequences of sin. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Pastor Jenkins used to be doctrinally sound, but then he started hanging around corrupt neo-evangelicals. One healthy person plus one sick person always equals two sick people! The Bible commands us to come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord (2nd Corinthians 6:17b). You cannot change a corrupt group, which is why God commands us to leave that group! I am seriously doubting if John K. Jenkins Sr. is saved!!! Pastor Jenkins is preaching the same damnable false meaning of repentance as the Roman Catholic cult, Church of Christ cult, Mormon cultJehovah's Witness cult and Seventh-Day Adventist cult. If you think that repentance means turning away from a lifestyle of sinning, you are in harmony with the Satanic cults!!!

In sharp contrast, here again are the helpful doctrinally sound words of Pastor Harry Ironside:
“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) [emphasis added]
Dear reader, the man who BELIEVES on the Lord Jesus Christ, has repented. Repentance is not a separate act from placing your childlike faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.
 RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

Saturday, November 12, 2022

You Don't Need To Pray To Be Saved

Romans 10:13-15, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

It is okay to “call” on the Lord [which doesn't necessarily mean audible prayer, but rather simply going to the Lord (invoking Him) in the silence of your soul to ask Him to save you]. That is what I did as a 13 year old young man. But then I learned many years later that I could have just as easily believed the GOOD NEWS of Christ crucified, buried and risen, and I would have been saved without calling.

It is important that you know this truth, because I needlessly worried for several years that I might not be saved, wondering if I didn't understand something correctly when I prayed. I knew that prayer didn't save me, faith did, but I was misled by ignorant Baptist pastors and cartoon evangelist Jack Chick to think that prayer was the vehicle by which you placed your faith in Christ, since every sermon and religious tract that I read ended with leading the reader or audience in a prayer. You don't need to pray to get to Heaven, you simply need to trust the dear Savior.

For that reason today I NEVER lead a lost sinner to pray to be saved, because they don't need to pray to get to Heaven. And anyone who teaches differently in woefully contradicting the Holy Scriptures. According to John 20:31, the Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract, which contains the word “believe” 88 times, but you won't find the word “repent” mentioned even once. That is because repentance is automatic! You simply need to acknowledge that you are a needy sinner, so that you will BELIEVE THE GOSPEL to be saved. That is repentance! Since we know that BELIEVING the Gospel is all that God requires to get to Heaven, then whatever repentance is, it cannot be something that we need to do in addition to believing. What do we need to change our mind about? UNBELIEF!

Regarding sin, you only need to admit that you are a guilty sinner in need of God's free gift of forgiveness, paid for by Jesus on the cross. Nothing more is required or permitted by God in His simple plan of salvation. Men always complicate things. God's plan of salvation is simple. To be saved you simply need to admit you are a sinner, and receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, and then raised up from the dead three days later (otherwise how could a dead Christ save anyone?). These three facts comprise THE GOSPEL (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). This is the ONLY way to get to Heaven dear friend.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Repentance Is Included In Believing

Acts 16:27-31, “And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

QUESTION? - I have heard many preachers from different churches say that in order to be saved a person MUST repent of their sins. Is that true???

ANSWER - NO!!! It is true that you MUST REPENT. Yes in order for a person to be saved the individual has to repent. One thing a person needs to understand is that repentance and believing are one of the same coin. So, therefore, when a person trusts Christ as their only payment for their sins (i.e. believes the Gospel), that individual has repented.

TO CLARIFY what was said above The word REPENT (when it is in reference to salvation) is the Greek word MENTANOIA, which simply means A CHANGE OF MIND.

THE TRUTH... At the moment that a person TRUSTS CHRIST by placing their faith in JESUS' Death on a cross for our sins, Burial and bodily Resurrection (as the ONLY PAYMENT for their sins), that person has REPENTED; or in other words, they CHANGED THEIR MIND from what they once thought or believed it took them to get to Heaven, to believing God's way of going to Heaven.

THE CONFUSION begins when churches, preachers or missionaries place a FALSE DEFINITION (such as: Turn from sin, or Be sorry for your sins, or do XYZ to get saved. If anything more than childlike faith were required to get to Heaven, then the Apostle Paul and Silas would have said so in Acts 16:30-31, but they didn't, they just told the Roman jailor to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

When Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord, God accepted Abel's blood sacrifice, but He rejected Cain's grain sacrifice. 

God NEVER makes a person to do anything, nor places any conditions upon them, in order to get saved except to BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. That is, believe the GOOD NEWS of Christ crucified, buried and risen three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; John chapters 19 and 20).

TO PUT IT SIMPLE... 
  1. God LOVES us (John 3:16)
  2. We are GUILTY SINNERS (Romans 3:19-23)
  3. Burning in HELL is the eternal penalty for our sins (Revelation 20:12-15)
  4. Jesus Christ DIED on a cross to pay down our massive DEBT of sin (Romans 5:6-9)
  5. Jesus was BURIED and RESURRECTED three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)
  6. Simply BELIEVE (put your confidence in) these FACTS to be saved (Acts 16:30-31)
The Holy Bible plainly and clearly defines THE GOSPEL for us:
1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
The person who BELIEVES has also REPENTED. That is, they have CHANGED THEIR MIND from unbelief to belief. You DON'T need to repent of your sin to be saved. You DON'T need to forsake the world or a lifestyle of sinning. That would be WORKS!!!

The way to be saved is to CEASE from your own labors (works), and just REST in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:10-11, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Don't miss that! Please don't miss that! Carefully notice that the issue here is UNBELIEF. The Bible is using the Jews who wandered in the Wilderness for 40 years as an EXAMPLE of their UNBELIEF, for which they perished in their sins and went to Hell. Hebrews 4:1-2, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” There are millions of people in the churches today, who have heard the Gospel preached all their life, but they don't believe it.

You get saved dear friend, by ceasing from your own DEAD WORKS (Hebrews 6:1), and just BELIEVE that Jesus did it all for you through Calvary's cross. 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.

Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980) was a godly man and a free grace preacher. But in his sincere ignorance Dr. Rice often used the unscriptural phrase to “turn from your sin” to be saved. Consequently, many people misunderstood Brother Rice (even still today decades later). But I have studied Dr. Rice's books much more than the average person who misrepresents him. Since Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) was lifelong good ministry friends with John R. Rice, I am very familiar with their teachings.

It bothers me when Baptist churches skew (a slanted position) Dr. Rice's writings, misrepresenting what he really taught. Anyone who represents Dr. Rice as teaching that you have to turn from sins, as a separate act from believing, is slandering him! Please read what Dr. Rice actually believed and taught:
There are those hyper-dispensationalists who think that John the Baptist preached a different Gospel from Christ when he commanded repentance (Matt. 3:2). But it is the same repentance Jesus commanded in Matthew 4:17, in Luke 13:3 and 5, and the same repentance that Paul preached in Athens that God “now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30 31). Repentance is not a different plan of salvation from having faith: it is part of the same plan of salvation. Or rather repentance is simply another way of describing or looking at the plan of salvation. One who turns from sin to God has done so by trusting in Jesus Christ. A change of mind toward sin is necessarily involved in saving faith.
Everyone who genuinely repented under the preaching of John the Baptist put his trust in the Saviour John the Baptist preached, and was regenerated. There is no such thing as being “a disciple of John the Baptist” in any honest sense without being a disciple of Jesus, that is, without trusting Christ for salvation. [emphasis added]

SOURCE: Evangelist John R. Rice, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pp. 251-252; Sword Of The Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; ©1963
Oh dear friend, that is so beautiful. Please don't miss it! The only change of mind concerning sin that you need to have to be saved, is to ADMIT that you are one. Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” To be saved, you just need to realize that you are a GUILTY SINNER, so that you will know what you are being saved from. As guilty sinners we all deserve to be punished by God's wrath in a burning Hell forever and ever (Revelation 20:12-15).

I have heard Missionary David W. Cloud and other false teachers, attempt to portray Dr. Rice as a proponent of Lordship Salvation, saying he taught that people must turn away from a lifestyle of sin to be saved. David Cloud even goes as far as to pitch Dr. John R. Rice against his successor Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995). I explain this issue in the preceding hyperlink. Mr. Cloud claims that Curtis Hutson leaves off repentance, thus corrupting the Gospel. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Kindly said, I am so sick and tired of Ray Comfort's damnable doctrines of devils. In all of his YouTube videos, Ray requires people to do TWO things to be saved. He first requires that people repent of their sins. He defines repentance as telling God you're sorry, and then living a LIFESTYLE OF REPENTANCE to prove the reality of your salvation. John R. Rice rightly taught that repentance and faith are simply two parts of ONE STEP of believing to be saved; whereas Ray Comfort errantly teaches that repentance and faith are TWO STEPS, which require an effort to stop living in sin to be saved.

What Ray Comfort is preaching is something entirely different than what Dr. John R. Rice taught. These are two very different plans of salvation! It is very deceptive for any Baptist church to partially quote John R. Rice, telling people that repentance means “to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart,” as being something different than faith alone to be saved. In reality, in fact, that is NOT what repentance means!!!!!!! The word “repent” regarding salvation in the Bible is either the noun metanoia (a change of mind), or the verb form metanoeo (to think differently). Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” That is, THINK DIFFERENTLY and believe the GOOD NEWS!!!

To be saved, you must think differently and believe the GOOD NEWS (i.e., Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, He was buried and physically resurrected three days later). We are saved by believing, not by repenting; but repentance makes believing possible. Repentance facilitates believing. If you didn't change your mind about whatever it is that has been preventing you from believing, then you wouldn't have come to Christ to be forgiven and saved. The only thing you need to change your mind about is whatever has been hindering you from believing. UNBELIEF is the only unpardonable sin dear reader!

Unbelief is the only thing that keeps a person from believing. To require that someone commit to turning away from living a lifestyle of sin, has absolutely nothing to do with receiving God's free gift of eternal life. I hope you see that. False teachers like John MacArthur, Steve Pettit, Marty Herron, James White, Gary Walton, Bryan Denlinger, Sam Horn, John Piper, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron and R.C. Sproul—all unbiblically require people to forsake a lifestyle of sinning to get saved, which is heresy. Salvation is a take proposition, not a give proposition.

Jesus doesn't forgive sin, He has already paid for our sins with His precious blood. You simply receive that free gift from God by childlike faith (trust, confidence) in the record which God has given to humanity in the inspired Holy Bible. Simply BELIEVE that Christ did it for you oh sinner and you are saved!!! John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Thank you for reading.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Turning Away From Your Sin Is Works

Jonah 3:10, "And God saw THEIR WORKS, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not."

Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

The Bible in no uncertain terms says that God's free gift of eternal life is WITHOUT WORKS. The deadly mindset of the cults has crept into most Baptist churches nowadays, which has corrupted these churches so that they now are also CULTS! What saith the Scripture? ...
Romans 4:3-5, “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
The Bible verses that you just read are quoted from the Old Testament concerning Abram (whose name was later changed by God to Abraham)...
Genesis 15:6, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
People in the Old Testament, before and under the Mosaic Covenant, were ALL saved the same exact way that people get saved today thousands of years later, which is by grace through faith in Christ. Acts 10:42, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Abraham was saved by faith alone, without WORKS! Romans 4:4 plainly teaches that if salvation had been by works, then it would have been of DEBT and not by GRACE. Dear friend, God has never owed a debt of salvation to any wicked human being (and we are all wicked - Romans 3:19-23). Turning away from your sins and evil ways is WORKS according to God in Jonah 3:10.

The following is a helpful video which exposes Evangelist Ken Ham as a false prophet! ...

The FALSE GOSPEL of ANSWERS IN GENESIS and KEN HAM

Sadly, the wicked Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College (PCC) promotes infidel Ken Ham to all their thousands church members and students. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!! When I attended Campus Church in 2021, they showed Ken Ham's Young Earth Creation (YEC) series all summer long for Wednesday night Bible study. It upsets me when incompetent pastors, like the Bozo clowns at PCC, play video tapes of other preachers instead of doing their own Bible study. Ken Ham DOESN'T rightly divide the Word of Truth, he is WRONG on the Gospel.

Tragically, The Crown College in Powell, Tennessee also promotes Ken Ham. SHAME on Pastor Clarence Sexton. I am not trying to be unkind, but success and prosperity has ruined Pastor Sexton, so that he no longer contends for the Christian faith as he once did decades ago. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!! Clarence Sexton recently took a lucrative vacation to England, and not too long before that Israel. Pastor Sexton is living large off the ministry. So also is Pastor Jeff Redlin at Campus Church at PCC living large, parasiting off the ministry.

All of these men get paid a sickening 6-DIGIT annual salary, four times what the average U.S. citizen earns in a year!!! I have a problem with that. What happened to being a servant? Matthew 23:11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Sadly, the pastors who are the most successful in this world, do the least to contend for the Christian faith (Jude 1:3). Prosperity, fame and financial wealth have destroyed more preachers than all their hardships, afflictions and enemies combined. SHAME on Temple Baptist Church in Powell (right outside of Knoxville), Tennessee and their Crown College! SHAME on them for promoting a religious con man who preaches another Gospel.

Dear friend, there are NOT two plans of salvation (Galatians 1:6-7). You either must turn away from your sinful bad habits as a second step to be saved, in addition to faith; or else you do not, but it absolutely cannot be both. Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” What Ken Ham is preaching is NOT God's grace. When you attack the grace of God, you attack the God of grace!!! SHAME on PCC for promoting Ken Ham and his Young Earth Creation (YEC) circus. There is no evidence in the Bible to support a YEC, but there is plenty to substantiate an Old Earth Creation (OEC).

According to Ken Ham, faith in the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day is NOT enough to get to Heaven. In addition, Ham says you must repent and turn away from your sinful ways. But what saith the Scripture?

Jonah 3:10, "And God saw THEIR WORKS, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." God changed His mind (He repented) not to destroy Nineveh. But they didn't get saved by THEIR WORKS!!! The Bible doesn't say that the Assyrians got saved, it simply says that they turned away from their evil ways and God spared imminent destruction upon their nation. Judas also turned away from his evil ways (Matthew 27:3), even returning the 30 pieces of silver to the Pharisees which he had been paid to betray Jesus. Judas felt remorse, regret and reformation, but he never repented toward God to put his faith in Jesus. Turning away from sin is WORKS! Ken Ham is a hellbound false prophet!!!

SHAME on Pensacola Christian College and Crown College for promoting infidel Ken Ham, which confuses their students. In the preceding video, Ken Ham's employee even says that turning from sins is the "SECOND" thing you must DO to be saved. That is a counterfeit plan of salvation, which cannot produce the new birth. In God's plan of salvation, repentance is INCLUDED with believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30-31). If it weren't, then Paul and Silas would have told the Roman jailor that more than faith is required to be saved, but they didn't. They simply told the man to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31b). God does not save those who are trying to be saved, He only saves those who are trusting to be saved. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.


Sunday, November 6, 2022

Beware Of Renee Roland's Denial Of Eternal Fire In Hell

Matthew 18:8, "Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into EVERLASTING FIRE" (emphasis added].

Kindly, be aware that Renee Roland is a false prophet who denies the reality of eternal Hell fire for Christ rejecters. She relies heavily upon human reasoning instead of taking the inspired Scriptures at face value. There is no way that anybody can rightly divide the Word of God and not conclude eternal damnation in a literal burning Lake of Fire. Matthew 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" (emphasis added]. I would never trust the theology of anyone who denies eternal punishment in Hell, fire and brimstone for the wicked...

False Prophet Renee Roland Denies Everlasting Fire In Hell

What saith the Scripture? ...
Revelation 21:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Hell is FOREVER AND EVER...
Revelation 14:11, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
God deliver us from wannabe YouTube theologians!!!

Kindly said, Renee Roland is a fool. She denies the plain teaching of the inspired Scriptures, that all Christ-rejecters will die in their sins and be cast into the everlasting Lake of Fire. What part of "everlasting fire" doesn't Renee understand? Jesus spoke those Words Himself. And of course, all of the Holy Bible was authored by Jesus, for He is THE WORD OF GOD (John 1:1-3, 14; Revelation 19:13). Jesus is almighty God!!!

Sadly, as of November 2022 Renee has 17,100 subscribers on YouTube, misleading masses of people to deny that Hell , fire and brimstone is forever and ever. As do most false teachers, Renee lifts texts of Scripture out of context, thus creating a new pretext.

Furthermore, men ought to be preaching the Word of God, not women. 1st Corinthians 14:34, “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. If women are forbidden to preach doctrine to men in the church, then they also should remain silent on YouTube. Renee has a mouth so big, that you could drive a Mack Truck into it...lol.
1st Timothy 2:11-15, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”
The inspired Word of God has no guiding rules for the heathen world. God wrote the Bible to the church, except for the portions which tell lost sinners how to be saved. The Bible teaches that the unregenerate (lost) person cannot understand spiritual things (1st Corinthians 2:14-16). Kindly said, what Renee is doing is heathen! She is blaspheming the Word of God by rebelling against the Lord. She is unlearned in the Scriptures, but has taken it upon herself to start a cult on YouTube. She has tens of thousands of followers!!! Religious cults preach false doctrine! Hell is a literal place! Hell has literal fire! The Lake of Fire has no end, it is literally everlasting, where every Christ-rejecter will burn in torment and misery day and night for ever and ever and ever without rest, without one drop of water, and without hope!!! Please don't go to Hell dear friend. Jesus has already paid for your ticket to Heaven.

In the preceding heretical poisonous video, Renee Roland (Humphries) sadly dismisses Jude 1:7 as a mere metaphor. A “metaphor is a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity:
Jude 1:7, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
God did not use a metaphor here when He mentions SUFFERING THE VENGEANCE OF ETERNAL FIRE! It is gross theological incompetence for anyone to ass-u-me that a passage of Scripture is a parable, or a metaphor or only symbolic, unless the Holy Bible specifically says so! God rained down literal fire and brimstone upon the 5 cities in the well-watered plains of Sodom, the main cities being Sodom and Gomorrha. God did this retribution not only as judgment upon them, but also as an EXAMPLE to the whole of human civilization of what will happen to the wicked. The Bible plainly uses the words “ETERNAL FIRE.”

What else saith the Scripture? ...
2nd Thessalonians 1:8-10, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
The Bible could not be clearer that God is the divine Judge, who takes out His vengeance with fire upon all Christ-rejecters (those who obey not the GOOD NEWS of Christ crucified, buried and risen). Eternal life is a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is free to you and me because Jesus paid for it with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). But if you reject that free grace from God, then you will have no one to blame but yourself. 2nd Timothy 2:13, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Someone falsely accused me of calling Renee names. I didn't call Renee Roland any "names," I told THE TRUTH that she is a "false prophetess." I stated a fact.

Not all false prophets deny the Lord Jesus Christ, but some go to that extent. Renee is a false prophet, even if she is saved (but I don't know if she is saved or not). The Holy Spirit teaches and guides believers into all truth (Luke 16:13). What Renee is teaching (that Hell means being destroyed, not burning in Hell fire and brimstone for ever and ever) is not sound doctrine! ...
2nd Peter 2:1, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."
Kindly said, Renee Roland is a FOOL, who wants Christians to give her a platform to preach lies and false doctrine. But the inspired Word of God warns not to put up with false prophets for even ONE HOUR:
Galatians 2:5-6, "To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:"
I am not tolerating her junk theology! I am calling her a FALSE PROPHETESS on the authority of the Holy Bible. I am not calling her "names," I am faithfully contending for the faith (Jude 1:3). I am pleasing the Lord by exposing LIARS!

If you watch the preceding shameful video by Renee, she downplays her false teaching, trying to get everyone to allow her a platform to simply express her personal opinion about denying everlasting Hellfire. She encourage the viewer to do their own Bible study, and not to necessarily just follow her opinions. But what Renee is asking would be no different than if the Judaizer cult which had infiltrated the churches of Galatia (Galatians 1:6-9), had tried to likewise convince the local churches to just allow them to express their opinions in the churches. “Hey, we just want to teach you what we believe, and then you can make your own decision what is the truth.” But what did the Apostle Paul say in Galatians 5:12, “I would they were even cut off which trouble you.”

I am not going to allow false teachers even 5 minutes of time to corrupt me, my family, my friends, my church or my web visitors. I love and promote Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church, even though I disagree with his denial of a Pretribulation Rapture; but Renee Roland denying that Hell has fire, and that lost sinners are punished in Hell forever and ever, is something entirely different. She is denying a fundamental Bible doctrine which affects the Gospel. If there is no eternal burning Hell, and lost sinners just get destroyed and cease to exist, that there is much less reason for people to come to Christ to be saved. Renee is preaching with another spirit, not the Holy Spirit (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). I seriously question her salvation. She might as well be denying Jesus' deity. Something is very wrong with Renee's spiritual discernment abilities, which makes me question if she has the Holy Spirit at all (2nd Corinthians 2:14-16).

BEWARE of Renee Roland, she is a deadly false teacher. I am sick of hearing professed Christians support Renee because she seems to be correct on the Gospel of free grace. But Seventh-Day Adventists sound Kosher too on the Gospel, until you dig deeper and realize that they don't believe in a literal burning Hell, and they preach Lordship Salvation. I have said it before, and I will say it again, you CANNOT TRUST anybody's theology who is wrong on the Lake of Fire. HELL IS FOREVER, AND HELL HAS FIRE!!! I don't care if it harelips every dog in the county, I will continue to expose Renee Roland as a heretic until she stops denying that Hell has fire and lasts forever and ever as the Holy Bible teaches.



Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Being Baptized Into Jesus Christ

Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”

The preceding Bible passage is NOT speaking about water baptism. The Greek word “baptizo” was transliterated from the Greek language directly into English. That is because the wise 54 King James Bible translators decided not to translate the word at all, since they couldn't find an equivalent English word to adequately express the conveyed meaning, which is to submerse into something. When a person puts their trust in Jesus Christ, they are being immersed in Christ by faith.

I also believe that is the meaning intended in Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” This is one of the most misunderstood and hotly debated Scriptures in the Word of God. Remember, a good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one. Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) taught me that truth. God authored the entire Gospel of John to show humanity how to get to Heaven (John 20:31), which is by grace through faith in the 'GOOD NEWS' (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified for our sins, buried and bodily resurrected three days later.

Since the Gospel of John is very clear, we must then be careful not to misinterpret an obscure passage of Scripture like Acts 2:38, which can be taken different ways (but can only have one true intended meaning by God). Since we know from umpteen other Scripture passages that water baptism cannot remit sins, we can rightly divide God's Word to conclude that Acts 2:38 must be teaching that salvation comes by being immersed into Jesus Christ by faith alone. 

Scriptural evidence of what I am teaching is found in Galatians 3:26-27, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” We are “baptized into Christ” through faith alone! This can be the only logical meaning without violating the clear Gospel of John, which teaches plainly in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” If water baptism were required by God to Get to Heaven (which religious cults like Seventh-Day Adventism, Mormonism, Roman Catholicism, Church of Christ and Lutherans errantly teach), then John 6:47 would be false teaching and make no sense at all. If faith alone is insufficient to save a lost sinner, then God sure did a horrible job of authoring the Holy Bible!

The dying repentant thief on the cross was totally incapacitated. His hands and feet were nailed to a cross, just like Jesus next to him. The dying thief had nothing to offer God. This man's life was full of sin and shame, now being executed for his crimes. The dying thief could not get water baptized. He could not partake of communion. He couldn't obey church sacraments. There was nothing that he could do except LOOK TO JESUS!!! Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do. Amen.