Pastor Brad Strand Exposes The Devil's Lie Of Lordship Salvation

Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

One of my favorite Bible teachers is Pastor Brad Strand. I was delighted last year to learn that Brother Strand authored a helpful study Bible. The project was his heart's passion for 33 years, in which time he invested over 30,000 hours of labor to write this masterpiece. I was glad to learn that he faithfully contends for the Christian faith, exposing the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Pastor Strand writes concerning Romans 10:9 on pages 1858 and 1859:

Sadly, some “Lordship Salvation” advocates will use this verse to prove their point that JESUS must become your “Lord” before you can be saved. They claim that unbelievers must count the cost of discipleship and decide if they are willing to pay the price in order to obtain eternal life. One such advocate has written a book in which he gives the following answer to the question “What [is] the minimum amount of doctrine or belief a person [has] to have to be a Christian?” He notes:

The minimum amount a person must believe to be a Christian is everything, and the minimum amount a person must give is all. I say, “You must give it all. You cannot hold back even a fraction of a percentage of yourself. Every sin must be abandoned. Every false thought must be repudiated. You must be the Lord's entirely.” —SOURCE: Montgomery Boice, James. Christ's Call to Discipleship. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1986. Print.

What this man is advocating is that a person cannot be saved until he makes Jesus the “Lord” of his life. However, this verse is not teaching us that we must make Jesus our Lord in order to be saved; it is teaching us that Jesus is “Lord” and if we are to be saved, we must accept the fact that He was God in flesh on earth (Jn 5:17-18 & 10:30-33). Jesus said to the Pharisees in John 8:23-24, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins (i.e., go to Hell): for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” Jesus said that salvation is based on two things (Mt 3:2):

1. Who we are (Lk 5:31-32 & 13:1-5 and Mt 27:3) — God tells us that we are “sinfully” sick and in need of the Savior and that we cannot save ourselves (Rom 3:10, 23).
2. Who Christ is (Mt 4:13-17 & 11:20-24, Mk 1:15, Acts 3:12-19 and Acts 2:38a) — Christ is God (Lord — Jon 8:24, 58-59), not a god. Christ is the only Savior (Acts 4:10-12).

Lordship Salvation doctrine hinders unbelievers from being saved because it presents them with a distorted view of the Gospel of God's grace. 

SOURCE: Pastor Brad Strand, 'The Strand Study Bible,' pp. 1858-1859; ©2009, Rood Scholar Press

Bravo to Pastor Strand. The Devil's a liar and the father of all liars (John 8:44). It may seem like a trifle matter to most churchgoers today to embellish the Gospel. Literally, you can attend a dozen different Bible colleges or churches and you'll hear multiple different plans of salvation. But we know from the inspired King James Bible that there is only one Gospel. Galatians 1:6-7, “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.” So how in the world did we end up with nearly every church today preaching something different than what the inspired Holy Bible teaches?

I think the answer is simply that 99% of churchgoers have always blindly followed whatever their pastor tells them, instead of doing as the Bereans did in the Bible, whom the Apostle Paul said, “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” The Bereans didn't just take it for granted that they were being told the truth, they went to verify from the inspired Word of God whether those things were so. If people would simply study the Bible they would quickly find that Lordship Salvation is a fallacy, a counterfeit plan of salvation.

God wrote the Gospel of John as His Gospel tract. The word “believe” is found 85 times in the Gospel of John. In the book of John we don't find anything about making Jesus our “Lord” to get to Heaven. Pastor Curtis Hutson wisely said: A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one. Advocates of Lordship Salvation often cite obscure passages of Scripture, wresting the Bible to their own destruction. Yet, they totally ignore the Gospel of John, which according to John 20:31 was written to show us how to get to Heaven, “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.”

Beware Of Ray Comfort's Poisonous Gospel

Galatians 1:6-8, “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.”

One of the most dangerous FALSE PROPHETS today is Evangelist Ray Comfort. Sadly, this man is honored and accepted in many Baptist churches and Bible colleges today, but he should be avoided and banned as a hellbound infidel. On page 1197 of "THE EVIDENCE BIBLE," Ray Comfort comments on Matthew 7:22-23...

"These are perhaps the most frightening verses in the Bible. Vast multitudes of professing Christians fit into the category spoken of here. They call Jesus 'Lord,' but they practice lawlessness. They profess faith in Jesus, but have no regard for the divine law. They tell 'fibs' or 'white' lies, take things that belong to others, have a roaming eye for the opposite sex, etc. They are liars, thieves, and adulterers at heart, who will be cast from the gates of heaven into the jaws of hell."

SOURCE: "THE EVIDENCE BIBLE," by Ray Comfort, p. 1197; 2003, Bridge-Logos Publishers, Orlando, Florida

Dear reader, Ray Comfort is preaching the Devil's lie of LORDSHIP SALVATION! If what Ray teaches is true, then everyone is going straight to Hell when we die, because everyone still commits sin. If having a “roaming eye for the opposite sex” means that someone is unsaved, then most people are going to spend eternity burning in the Lake of Fire. What Ray is doing is foolishly combining sanctification with justification, and in so doing he corrupts the inspired Word of God and casts stumbling blocks before the people.

Read what Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan (1628-1688) wisely wrote:

“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.” —Evangelist John Bunyan

My ministry friend Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold accurately defines Lordship Salvation:

“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”

Ray Comfort is heretically saying that if you're still living in sin, you're not saved. Kindly said, Ray is a theological LIAR! Friend, EVERYBODY lives in sin, I don't care who you are! The ONLY thing that makes a Christian believer any more righteous in GOD'S SIGHT than convicted serial murderer John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994) is the precious blood of Jesus Christ that washed all our sins away (James 2:10; 1st Peter 1:18-19; 1st Corinthians 6:9-11). Apart from the sin-cleansing blood of the slain Lamb of God, you and I are no more righteous than Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), Al Capone (1899-1947) or Ted Bundy (1946-1990). THANK GOD FOR THE BLOOD OF JESUS!!!

Please beware of Ray Comfort's partial faith in Christ PLUS works counterfeit plan of salvation. Jesus has already paid your debt of sin dear friend, and He doesn't need your help to reform yourself of sin to get to Heaven. The very idea is preposterous!

Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

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?

A Correct Interpretation of Matthew 7:21-23

I have included verse 21 also...

Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

The correct interpretation of Matthew 7:21-23 is that trusting anything more than Jesus alone (i.e., relying upon what He did through Calvary's cross to save you) cannot produce the new birth which is required to enter into God's Kingdom. 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.” The will of God the Father concerning getting saved is that you BELIEVE ON JESUS!!! That's it, that's all, no more.

Sadly, Ray Comfort says that MORE is required. According to Ray you must live a lifestyle of repentance. Please don't take my word for it, read for yourself what Mr. Comfort horribly teaches this woman in this transcript from Living Waters:

“So if the plane goes down, you'd end up in Hell! There are two things you have to do to be saved. Do you remember what they are? I told you what they are—You've got to repent and trust the Savior! ... God's offering you everlasting life upon your repentance and faith in Christ. Who in his right mind wouldn't say, 'Whoa! That's a good offer!' (The curious woman asks what it means to “repent”?)... Have you ever said you're sorry to someone you did something wrong to? That's all repentance is—You've sinned against God; it's a matter of saying, 'God, I'm sorry,' and then LIVING A LIFESTYLE that proves the reality of your repentance. That's what repentance is, it's a continual thing! God, 'I'm sorry, but I'm not going going to lie or steal or blaspheme Your name ever again. It has that attitude! And the second thing—trust in Jesus!” [emphasis added]

SOURCE: Evangelist Ray Comfort, “I've never killed anyone” (MP3 clip from video)

Dear reader, I triple-dog dare you to show me even one verse from the Holy Bible that teaches that “LIVING A LIFESTYLE” is required as part of being saved. You cannot! Now my friend, “a double-dog dare” is serious business, but a triple-dog dare is something you don't want to mess around with! I triple-dog dare you to show me even one Bible verse that agrees with these false statements by Ray Comfort.

The Gospel of John is God's Gospel track. 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.” PLEASE DON'T MISS THAT! God authored the Gospel of John specifically so “that believing ye might have life through his name.” That means we don't need any other Scripture than what is found in the Gospel of John to be saved. Where in the Gospel of John are we taught that, “LIVING A LIFESTYLE,” is necessary to receive eternal life? You cannot! Mr. Comfort is a bold-faced theological liar! Ray is ADDING to the Gospel, perverting it! This means Mr. Comfort is accursed by God. Galatians 1:9, “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 didn't say that, almighty God did!

Furthermore, where in the Gospel of John are we taught that to be saved, we must have a drastic change of attitude that is resolved to reform? Ray errantly says to be saved we must have the new attitude, “GOD, I'M SORRY, BUT I'M NOT GOING TO LIE OR STEAL OR BLASPHEME YOUR NAME EVER AGAIN!” And then he horribly says, “IT'S A CONTINUAL THING!” None of this is biblical! There is absolutely nothing in the Gospel of John about having a sincere desire to reform our ways, clean up our life of sin, turn over a new leaf, do better, forsake the world, turn away from sins, nor any other garbage that false prophets are teaching nowadays in churches, poisoning people with their lies!

Jesus wasn't teaching in Matthew 7:21-23 that you're not saved if you haven't reformed your life! The dear Savior is simply saying that you cannot get into heaven SOME OTHER WAY! John 10:1, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” Kindly said, Ray Comfort is a thief and a robber! Why? It is because instead of simply walking through the DOOR of Jesus (John 10:9), he is trying to climb up some other way into Heaven by turning away from living a lifestyle of sinning, which is WORKS and not GRACE (Romans 4:4; 11:6). Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.