Galatians 2:4, “And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.”
There are many “false brethren” in the world today, who masquerade as true
Christians, but they are imposters. The Bible says they desire to bring us into
bondage. Galatians 2:21 sheds some light on the context of Paul's warning . . .
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain.” A group of men had entered into the
church and were falsely teaching that circumcision is required for salvation.
This is no different than the false teaching today that a sinner must forsake
their sinful lifestyle and surrender their life to Christ to be saved, aka,
Lordship Salvation. The Apostle Paul addresses the issue by warning the
Christians at Galatia about “false brethren” who ADD works to faith alone in
Christ. These same “false brethren” abound in our churches today.
One of the main reasons we are witnessing the degradation of Biblical theology in these Last Days in because of a slew of corrupt versions of the Bible being sold on the markets nowadays. The New International Version and the English Standard Version of the Bible horribly pervert the Scriptures concerning salvation . . .
ROMANS 10:9 COMPARISON—
English Standard Version [ESV] . . .
9because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
New International Version [NIV] . . .
9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
New American Standard Bible [NASB] . . .
9that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
King James Version [KJV] . . .
9That 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.
Is it any wonder why the damnable heresy of
Lordship Salvation is so prevalent in America's churches today? Contemporary
Bibles subtly pervert the Word of God and thus pervert the Gospel message.
You DON'T have to confess “Jesus is Lord” to be saved. That's not what the
King James Bible says. Tragically, many of today's Bible colleges and
seminaries have bought into the lie that a sinner cannot be saved without
committing their life to live for Christ in obedience. Nothing could be
further from the truth of God's Word.
Moody Bible Institute's “New” Perverted Gospel
Dwight L. Moody chose to use the King James Bible, even though he lived 300
years after the King James
Bible was first published. Harry A. Ironside chose to use the King
James Bible as well, hundreds of years after it was first published.
Why, in just the past 30 years, has Moody Bible Church and Moody Bible Institute
decided that the King James Bible isn’t good enough anymore? They’ve
bought into the lie of Satan and are using a counterfeit bible? As a result,
their gospel has also changed . . .
Here is the prayer that Moody Ministries suggests for a lost sinner
to pray to be saved...
"If you
confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9
http://www.moodyministries.net/crp_MainPage.aspx?id=326
God, I know that I have done things that are wrong. But I believe that Jesus died on the Cross to pay the punishment for what I’ve done. I believe that He is Your Son, the Word of God, and I want Him to be my Savior. I want Him to cleanse me of what I’ve done wrong and defeat sin for me. In His name I ask You to welcome me back to You. I know that I have followed my own rules and served my own desires. But God, I don’t want to serve myself anymore. I want to follow You. I want to spend eternity with You! Thank You for Your wonderful gift of Jesus. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: http://www.moodyministries.net/crp_FormGeneral.aspx?ekfrm=1246
And then they follow with this comment...
...If you have just made a commitment to Christ, please let us know. We'd like to send you Bible study materials to help you grow in your faith. Simply complete the form below to receive these materials." [emphasis added]
SOURCE: http://www.moodyministries.net/crp_FormGeneral.aspx?ekfrm=1246
Ladies and gentlemen, that is a false gospel. One DOESN’T have to make a commitment to Christ to be saved. Where does this false idea come from? Look no further than Romans 10:9 from the New American Standard Bible [NASB] which I just quoted to you from their website… “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” That is NOT what the Word of God says. The King James Bible correctly renders the Greek in English as…
“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.”
There is a world of difference
between “confessing the Lord Jesus” versus “confessing Jesus as Lord.” The
NASB teaches the malicious heresy of
Lordship Salvation. The gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23) is
nullified if one has to make a commitment to God to be saved, or be willing
to stop living selfishly. This is exactly what Moody Ministries is
teaching today. Please read,
Harry A. Ironside DIDN'T Teach Lordship Salvation. Sadly,
Moody today does.
Moody’s board of directors and ministry leaders would have us to believe
that they're still upholding the same doctrinal positions that were held
back in 1928 (http://www.moodyministries.net/crp_MainPage.aspx?id=334);
but nothing could be further from the truth. To realize just how messed up
Moody Bible Institute is today, consider the following quote from
former pastor, Harry Ironside (1876-1951)…
"When anyone comes promising salvation to those ‘who make full surrender' of all that they have to God, and who 'pay the price of full salvation' he is preaching another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender when He yielded His life on Calvary that saves us, not our surrender in any way to Him."
SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the Gospel tract, Another Gospel.
If Dr. Ironside was alive today, he’d have another heart attack!!! Woe unto Moody Bible Church, pastor Erwin Lutzer, and the Moody Bible Institute. This is such a shame. Satan has used the wagon of ecumenicalism to corrupt America’s churches and seminaries with the demonic doctrine of Lordship Salvation. Beware of Moody Bible Church and Moody Ministries, because they have turned aside after another gospel not taught in the Word of God. If there is one area that we must diligently guard against Satan creeping into our churches—It is in the doctrine of salvation.
I'm not saying that everyone at
Moody Bible Institute is unsaved; but anyone who believes that a
commitment or surrender to Christ is necessary for salvation is saturated
with self-righteousness and needs to get saved. Salvation is solely of the
Lord. Our part is only to acknowledge our guilt of sin and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 10:43; 16:30-31).
Beware of False Brethren Who Preach a False Gospel
Satan is subtle, whose purpose is to corrupt the simplicity of the Gospel and lead men into Hell. One must never stray away from the Biblical teaching that eternal life is a free gift (Romans 5:15;6:23), based solely upon the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ (1st Peter 1:18,19), and that a man's faith is COUNTED for righteousness (Romans 4:5). We need NO self-righteousness of our own, and 'tis a good thing because we have none to offer God (Isaiah 64:6). We are saved by Christ's righteousness (2nd Corinthians 5:21), which is imputed to us at salvation (Romans 4:6). Amen!
Anyone who teaches that a sinner MUST make a commitment to live for Christ to be saved, or surrender their will completely to God to be saved, or cease from their sinful lifestyle to be saved, is teaching an utterly false gospel.
