Matthew 7:22-23, “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.”
Some of you may be excited to find out that Lordship Salvation is
actually found in the Bible. I can see the Bob Jones University camp
salivating already! But don't get too excited dear friend, because it's
not what you think! We find the Lordship Salvation crowd alright, but
they are being rejected by the Lord and sent to their eternal damnation
in the Lake of Fire!
In our text passage of Scripture, from Matthew 7:21-23, they said, “LORD, LORD”! There's your Lordship Salvation proponents! They recognized Jesus as their Lord (Master). They had left all to follow Christ, saying, “have we not prophesied in thy name?” They said, “and in thy name have cast out devils?” They said, “and in thy name done many wonderful works?” They did all these good things in Jesus' precious name! They loved Jesus! They loved serving God!
They were as committed to living the Christian life as anybody, but now they are bewildered! They are shocked that the Lord said He never knew them! These are religious people, who have spent their entire lives serving Christ, and yet Christ Himself said, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Oh dear reader, please heed the Lord's warning in verse 21, “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.”
What is the
Father's will? I'm glad you asked my non-feathered friend. 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.” You don't get to Heaven by
following Jesus as your “LORD,” you get to Heaven by trusting Him as
your SAVIOR! You get saved by receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross
as payment for your sins. It is not what you have done that saves you,
but what Jesus has already done through the cross, shedding His blood
and sprinkling it on the Mercy Seat in Heaven on our behalf (Hebrews
9:12, 22-24; 12:21). 1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”
Bob Jones University Preaches Another Gospel
I
was sad to learn recently that
Bob Jones University has gone full-blown Lordship Salvation, since
2014 when
Dr. Steve Pettit took over the institution. Their gospel is not our
Gospel! Not all of their graduates are following their lead. I praise
God for both of them!
On BJU's website, under their Statement of Faith, they teach that God only saves those who are “willing to repent and turn from their sins.” That is not biblical. You cannot show me anywhere in the Bible where it says to “repent of sins” or “turn from your sins” to receive the free gift of God. Instead, we are simply taught to “BELIEVE.” John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
The sad fact is that over 95% of professed Christian don't have a problem with teaching that someone must “turn from your sins” to be saved, which tells me they are not saved either. No one is saved who is okay with adding works to the Gospel. I am disturbed when I hear a professed Christian sanction Roman Catholicism. That tells me they are merely religious, and not a true born-again believer. A Christian has the biblical mindset that JESUS PAID IT ALL, and we cannot save ourselves, and the only way to salvation is to completely rest in the finished redemptive work of Christ (Hebrews 4:10-11). Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
Bob Jones University tries to use Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) had it right, who said: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” Some people lift Romans 10:9 out of context, creating a new false pretext that you must “confess Christ” audibly with your mouth to be saved. We know this is not true from Scripture passages like John 10:42-43, which says “many” of the chief rulers “BELIEVED ON HIM,” but “THEY DID NOT CONFESS HIM.” Likewise, BJU lifts Acts 3:19 out of context, taking a single verse about being “CONVERTED” and trying to use it to justify the Satanic lie of Lordship Salvation. In hundreds of Bible passages we are taught to simply “BELIEVE” to be saved, but BJU is taking one verse and wrestling it to teach a strange doctrine.
If you look at
the context of this passage, the apostle Peter went up to the temple at
the hour of prayer. Peter is preaching to the unsaved Jews and says,
Acts 3:14-19, “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a
murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God
hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name
through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and
know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect
soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that
through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things,
which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that
Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Peter is
simply preaching for them to change their thinking and get born-again!!!
That is what “converted” means here, not turning from your sins. Bob
Jones University has it all wrong! They are sinfully preaching a
counterfeit gospel that does not produce the new birth.
Punished For Telling The Truth At Harvest Baptist Church
My
stand for the truth cost me my church family in late 2014. Harvest
Baptist Church on Guam has disowned me. I literally pleaded three times
in 2017 for a second chance, just to be able to return to church and be
a part of a local church family. They said “Go elsewhere.” As my web
visitors know, I haven't had anywhere nearby to go for the past five
years since 2015. I have been begging since 2017 to come back, preaching
against them in protest at the same time in my frustration. My
faithfulness to the true Gospel of free grace has cost me my church
family, whom I miss dearly.
God knows if Harvest ever invited me back, I'd gladly accept their invitation, just so I could be a part of a local church family. Despite the Devil's Bible revisions at Harvest, they do at least have the King James Bible present. And despite the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation, I have met some Christians in their church, so it is not all of the Devil. It is becoming very difficult nowadays to find a doctrinally sound church. I didn't ask to be put into this situation, I simply did what every child of God is supposed to do, I told THE TRUTH (Ephesians 4:15, 25; Titus 1:10-13; Ephesians 5:11).
I have paid a horrible price and suffered much pain of loneliness for being honest. I wish the folks at Harvest could learn to live and let go. I have forgiven them, but they won't forgive me. If what I say is true, that the modern Bible revisions have been corrupted by Satan, then I will be 100% vindicated in eternity. If what I say is true, that we are saved by faith alone, and adding the requirement to “turn from your sins” is not the gospel, then I will be 100% vindicated in eternity. 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.” One of the defining qualities of a Neo-evangelical is that they make light of right doctrine and the inspiration of the Holy Bible. The King James Bible is verbally inspired by God. It is very pure, perfect, infallible, incorruptible, holy, preserved and inspired! No one is ever going to convince me otherwise! Don't tell me that the omnipotent God of the universe can do absolutely anything, except give us a perfect English Bible today! That makes no Horsesense at all!
I love the folks at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam dearly, God knows my heart. I wish they'd invite me back in love. Love is all I feel toward them and their pastors (but I also feel disgust toward their pastor's indifference toward truth, and that they sinfully bid Godspeed to false prophets like Ravi Zacharias, Steve Pettit and John MacArthur). I never had any problems with Pastor Ken, he was a good guy. The other pastors (Jared, Joe and Pastor Herron) counted me their enemy, by siding with error instead of THE TRUTH.
They are God's enemies! They have been bewitched by Satan, not able to see that they've been woefully deceived. Satan is a beautiful liar! With Dr. Steve Pettit leading the pack of wolves in sheep's clothing at BJU, nearly everyone seems to be reluctant to dare speak out against him. Well I'm not a BJU employee, so my daily sustenance doesn't depend on my loyalty to a decayed religious institution. Thank God! I am not trying to give BJU a hard time, I am contending for the Christian faith (Jude 1:3). When I lose my church family, and am all alone, because I stood up for the Gospel of free grace and the inspiration of the King James Bible, you're darn right I'm going to make a big fuss!
Please consider the devout religious people in Matthew 7:21-23, because they said, “LORD, LORD,” yet they went to Hell. They made full surrender to follow Christ as their LORD, but they did not know Him as their personal SAVIOR! Matthew 27:3 says that Judas “REPENTED” himself, yet Judas is burning in Hell forever. Judas turned from his sins, even returning the 30 pieces of silver to the Pharisees. Judas never spent any of it! Judas was a changed man! Pastor Marty Herron would errantly say Judas got saved, being a converted man who turned from his sin!
In Acts 10:1-4, we read about a religious man named Cornelius, who feared God, gave alms to the poor, fasted and prayed, yet he was not saved. Cornelius didn't get saved until Acts 10:44. This passage of Scripture teaches us that a person can be very religious. They can pray and fast, give money to the needy, and have all the qualities of a God-fearing Christian; yet never have been born-again at all. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever getting born-again!
Why is it so
hard for the Bob Jones crowd to see this? Why does Harvest Baptist
Church continue to reject me? God knows that I don't mean to push them
away with my preaching. That hurts me deeply to think that I have pushed
them farther away from accepting me back, by my preaching, but it is THE
TRUTH. Lord comfort my broken heart, and help me to face another day of
loneliness without a church family or wife. A hurting dog barks, and I'm
barking! If standing up for the free grace Gospel makes me the villain,
then so be it! I don't expect an unsaved heathen to understand my pleas
for someone to listen, but every truly born-again child of God should
sound the battle cry!
I encourage my web visitors to start Christian blogs. They're completely free at Google. I recommend starting a Gmail account and then go to the upper right corner and look for a square icon with 9 dots (Google apps). Toward the bottom of the drop down menu you'll see “Blogger,” and you're good to go. Just start your blog. You can write your heart out and it won't cost you a penny! Blogspot (same as Blogger) is very user friendly and I love it! The search engines automatically find your blog. Every Christian ought to be a VOICE! If you don't know what to write, you are very welcome to copy anything and everything from my ministry websites to use as you'd like.
No credit need be given. God knows my labors. I just want the truth to get out. I encourage people to copy, paste and share everything from my websites with others. Make your own blogs, websites, pizzas, whatever you want. I'll be glad to answer questions if you need help, just email me. I love you all in the Lord. Pain or no pain, Harvest Baptist Church or no Harvest Baptist Church, wife or no wife, happy or miserable, friends or no friends—I WILL CONTINUE BY GOD'S GRACE TO PREACH THE TRUTH!!!
