2nd Peter 3:16-17, “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.”
I
took a drive today to Post Net to get my packages. I ordered some King
James Bibles to give away. As I drove something dawned on me. It
occurred to me the proponents of the heresy of Lordship Salvation ALL
use obscure passages of Scripture in an attempt to bolster up their
Strawman doctrine. When studying the Word of God, we should NEVER base a
doctrine on just a verse or two, without taking into consideration the
whole of Scripture. Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) fully understood
this vital truth, who said: “A
good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an
obscure passage to contradict a clear one.”
For example: On their college website, Bob Jones University (BJU) says that you have to turn from your sins to be saved, which is a false doctrine! I am saddened and utterly disgusted that BJU has drastically changed for the worst. Literally, BJU is now a Satanic cult! They have gone full-blown Lordship Salvation, bidding Godspeed to Dr. John MacArthur! Here is a heretical quote form BJU's website...
With regard to the doctrine of Soteriology:
We believe Scripture teaches that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Eph. 2:4–10; Rom. 3:21–26; Titus 3:5) and apart from any human work of righteousness (Phil. 3:9). God offers this salvation freely to all men who are willing to repent and turn from their sins (Acts 3:19, 17:30) and place their full faith and trust in the atonement Christ made by His finished work on the Cross (Luke 24:46–48, Heb. 9:11–15, 10:10–14). [emphasis added]
SOURCE: BJU Statements of Faith
You cannot show me one verse in the Bible that says “turn from your sins” or “repent of your sins” to receive God's free gift of eternal life. I triple-dog dare you to show me! You cannot show me even one Bible verse. So in a wicked attempt to justify there false teaching of Lordship Salvation, Bob Jones University cites obscure Scripture passages from Acts 3:19 and Acts 17:30 to deceive people. Here is the first passage:
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;”
Let's examine Acts 3:19 shall we? Taken by itself, this Bible verse is unclear, and we cannot discern exactly what is meant by “converted.” If we take into consideration the entirety of Scripture, it must mean to be born-again. But if we listen to religious deceivers like Dr. Steve Pettit (president of BJU since 2014) and Dr. John MacArthur (his buddy in California), then they will deceive you to think it means, “turn from your sins.” What saith the Scripture? Always look at the surrounding passage before interpreting any particular Bible verse, to discern the context. Take a look at Chapter four...
Acts 4:4, “Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”
As is often
the case, chapter divisions can mislead the Bible reader. There were no
chapter divisions in the original Greek text. Scholarly men added the
chapter divisions centuries later to organize the Bible. So always keep
this in mind. Chapter four is a continuation of chapter three. Acts
4:4 says they “BELIEVED” to be saved. The Bible does NOT say
that they forsook their sins, does it? No, it simply says that they “BELIEVED” and
five thousand men were saved. This was in addition to the 3,000 souls
saved in Acts 2:41, who “gladly
received his word,” and
were saved. This is how Cornelius was saved in Acts 10:43-44, “To
him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While
Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard
the word.” They
simply BELIEVED and were instantly saved. Please notice that their sins
were remitted (pardoned) because they BELIEVED, and not because they
were willing to forsake their sinful bad habits.
Now let's take a look at the other obscure Scripture cited by BJU, in a wicked attempt to bolster their Strawman heresy of turning from sins to be saved:
Acts 17:30, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
BJU's corrupt leaders would have you to think that this verse teaches you must turn from your sins to receive God's free gift of eternal life. They are assuming (ass-you-me) that repent means to turn from sins, but they assume WRONG! The word “repent” simply means to think differently, a change of mind from wrong thinking to believing the Good News (Gospel) of Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Taken by itself, Acts 17:30 is obscure, and can be wrestled to teach anything. What saith the rest of the Scripture passage? ...
Acts 17:31-34, “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”
Notice again
that the Bible doesn't say they turned from their sins and believed. No,
it says in Acts 17:34 that they simply “BELIEVED.” Oh
friend, again and again and again, throughout the Holy Bible, we are
taught that the way to be saved is simply TO BELIEVE. 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.” John
6:47, “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Galatians
3:26, “For
ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” There
is no mention of turning from your sins in these verses. There is no
command to “repent
of your sins” to
be born-again!!! Do you see friend, how the Devil has crept into our
Bible colleges and churches today, perverting the Gospel?
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.” The
Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract! The beloved Apostle John said, “THESE
THINGS ARE WRITTEN,” that ye might “BELIEVE” and that by
believing that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God, you
will have “LIFE
THROUGH HIS NAME.” Oh
how beautiful! Oh how precious! If we were to exclude the other 65 books
of the Holy Bible, all you need to be saved is written in the pages of
John. “But
these are written” John
said, to convince you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
if you simply BELIEVE on His name you will be immediately and forever
saved!!!
The Lordship Salvation crowd have it all backwards! They insist that you be willing to forsake the old life of sin first, as a requirement to receive God's free gift of eternal life; but the Bible teaches the opposite, that you receive God's free gift of forgiveness of sins first, and then God's Holy Spirit comes inside you to live, and He begins to remodel. The former is religious reformation, but the latter is the new birth. Please don't let Lordship Salvation damn your soul to Hell. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. The Devil's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again! Jesus said, “YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN” (John 3:7b).
“A man doesn't get better to get saved; he gets saved to get better.” —Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995), “Salvation Crystal Clear”
I love this helpful quote from Dr. Jack Hyles:
“Redemption is a work of God the Son. Regeneration is the work of God the Holy Spirit. Justification is the work of God the Father as He declares the sinner righteous in the Son. Conversion then becomes the work of the church as we change the use and purpose of a life.” ―Pastor Jack Hyles, “Conversion And Salvation” (chapter 3) from his book: “Salvation Is More Than Being Saved”
In the beautiful simple pages of John we find the word “BELIEVE” mentioned 85 times, but the word “REPENT” is not mentioned even once. That is because the man who believes has repented, and man who repents has believed. Repentance and faith are inseparable, you cannot have one without the other.
“Being saved is not something that you perform, it is something that He performs.” —Pastor Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold, a great quote from the awesome sermon, “Raised For Our Justification.”
In hundreds of
Scripture passages we are taught to simply believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ to be saved. Jesus died on the cross, was buried and physically
resurrected three days later. He did all that to pay your outstanding
debt of sin and mine! WHAT A SAVIOR!!!
It is the
uttermost insult and injury for anyone—such as, Pastor's John MacArthur
and Marty Herron, Evangelists' Ray Comfort and Ken Ham, or Dr. Steve
Pettit—to preach that MORE is required than the simple childlike faith
of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.” The
false teaching that one must repent from the old sinful life to be
saved, is of the Devil, and cannot produce the new birth in Christ
Jesus!
Beware of these slick devil-dog preachers in the pulpit today, who have infected most churches with their Calvinistic Lordship Salvation garbage! These deceitful men preach another gospel of perverted grace! All of them misinterpret the Bible, taking obscure passages out of context, while ignoring hundreds of clear passages in the inspired Word of God! To complicate matters, most of these deceived religious men are using and promoting the Devil's corrupted Bible revisions, which literally redefine what it means to repent and thus how to be saved, damning millions of souls to the Lake of Fire forever without hope!!! The modern Bible versions are dangerous, please stay away from all of them! 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.”
