Missionary David Cloud's Counterfeit Gospel

“I once heard Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) wisely say that the plan of salvation is like getting dressed, if you get the first button wrong, then all the others buttons will be wrong too! That is exactly right! Nothing else matters if a minister who teaches the Bible is unsaved, deceived, and on his way to the Lake of Fire in self-righteousness. Case in point, I have learned many interesting spiritual truths from Roman Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Calvinists (aka, Lordship Salvation), but they are all on their way to a burning Hell in their works-based plans of salvation. Biblically, salvation is not reformation, nor education, nor rehabilitation; it is REGENERATION! Ye must be born again! (John 3:1-7). 

I have been wonderfully saved now for 40 years, since the age of 13. Statistics show that 85% of Christians were saved between the ages of 4 to 14. 1% from ages 1 to 4. Only 10% of Christians were saved between the ages of 15 to 30. That is astounding! Once you reach age 30, you only have a 4% chance of coming to Jesus Christ to be saved! And may I warn, please don't believe everybody who claims to be born-again, because even hellbound Roman Catholics claim to be born-again (they are not, because they add seven sacraments to God's free gift of grace). Satan is the author of confusion, not God (1st Corinthians 14:33). 

The heresies of Lordship Salvation, Wrong Repentance and Calvinism have invaded our Baptist churches today. Each of these heresies are a little different. Lordship Salvation teaches you must surrender to Christ's Lordship as a requirement to be saved. Calvinism says you WILL turn away from sins if you are saved. Wrong Repentance says you must turn away from your sins (or be willing to turn away from your sins) to be saved. I make these important distinctions simply because I have heard preachers refute one heresy, while being guilty of teaching another them self. 

Case in point is Canadian Evangelist David W. Cloud. Mr. Cloud exposes the heresy of Lordship Salvation, yet he himself preaches ANOTHER GOSPEL. In a 1996 article titled: Repentance And Lordship Salvation, Cloud states: 

Having said all of this and having renounced Lordship Salvation as previously defined, I am also convinced that some men use the “Lordship Salvation” thing as a smokescreen to hide their “quick prayerism” error. Salvation does not produce perfection, but it does require repentance, and repentance is a change of mind toward God and sin and Jesus Christ and the Bible that will result in a change of action. Salvation does not require obedience, but salvation will result in obedience; and if it does not, at least to some degree or other, it is not biblical salvation. Faith in Christ cannot be divorced from repentance toward God. “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). 

The greatest concern I have, when surveying the independent Baptist scene as a whole, is that repentance is NOT emphasized in the preaching of the Gospel. It is mentioned sometimes, but it is not emphasized as it is in the preaching of the Apostles. Instead, a prayer is emphasized. The number of prayers are counted as salvations. “Eighty men got saved in the prison during the meetings this week.” What does a statement like that mean? It usually means that 80 men raised their hands and prayed a prayer. Is that, in itself, salvation? Is that repentance? No, a repentant man who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, but many call upon the Lord in prayer who are not saved. READ MORE

David Cloud is confusing at best! He says salvation does not require obedience, but salvation will result in obedience. That is Calvinism! The saved man in 1st Corinthians 3:15 was “saved; yet as by fire,” which plainly means he didn't live a life of obedience to Christ on earth! That man receives no rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Mr. Cloud is preaching a counterfeit Gospel of partial faith in Christ plus works. He continually berates soulwinning preachers like Jack Hyles, Curtis Hutson and Bob Gray Sr., accusing them of “quick prayerism.” Cloud says more than simple childlike faith is required to be saved, he says there must be repentance (which he errantly understands to mean having intent to surrender to obey Christ). I called David Cloud “confusing” for a very good reason—because he talks out of both sides of his mouth—he just got done saying that “salvation doesn't require obedience,” but then he says: “but salvation will result in obedience.” David Cloud further states: 

“Repentance is a radical change in attitude toward divine authority, and if a person does not have such a change in attitude he has not repented and he is NOT saved and he does not have “eternal security.”

The problem with what David Cloud is teaching is that he is placing the burden of change upon the sinner, instead of upon the transforming power of having one's mind renewed by the Word of God (Romans 12:1-2). Like all repentance heretics, Mr. Cloud attributes an Christian's unchanged life to a failure to REPENT at the time of salvation! Easy-believism is not the problem, churches failing to follow up and mentor their converts is the problem! Getting saved doesn't change a person one bit. The only difference is that now they have the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Bible calls them “newborn babes” in 1st Peter 2:2b, who need to nurture and grow on the milk of the Word. David Cloud says “salvation will result in obedience,” but that is not always true. The Bible is filled with disobedient saints (Jacob, Samson, Lot, Saul, Samson, David, Demas, Peter, Ananias and Sapphira). 

You know, I've never heard David Cloud mention winning anyone to the Lord. Like Ray Comfort, he does a lot of talking, but seemingly has nothing eternal to show for it! With his perverted view of the Gospel, it doesn't surprise me. David Cloud has been is a missionary to Nepal for over 30 years. He's a Vietnam veteran, and an alumni of Tennessee Temple University. I truly admire his fighting spirit, but it is unfortunate that he requires more than faith to be saved. Don't get me wrong, repentance is necessary for salvation, but it simply means to judge one's self as being a guilty sinner in the sight of a holy God (Romans 3:19-20). Repentance is not a radical change of attitude toward divine authority that results in a changed life, which is what Mr. Cloud teaches. This is pre-qualification for salvation by intent to do works! It is a form of human reformation, and not the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit by faith alone. 

Granted, I do recognize that there is a phony type of “quick prayerism” fake salvation going around in the churches, which leaves off the Gospel; but that is not what Jack Hyles, Bob Gray Sr. and Curtis Hutson preach! Pastor Hyles preached a helpful sermon, which puts David Cloud to shame, called: Fundamentalist Heresy. David Cloud requires TWO separate steps to be saved. He makes repentance a separate step from believing, which is totally unbiblical. The truth is that we repent TO believe, we don't repent AND believe. As Dr. John R. Rice wisely taught—the man who believes has repented, and the man who repents and believed. That is why the Gospel of John mentions the word “believe” 85 times without mentioning the word “repent” even one time. That speaks volumes! 

Mr. Cloud tries to downplay this truth, by pointing out that you won't find any mention of the virgin birth in the Gospel of John, but it is still a true doctrine. Cloud states:

By the way, as for the Gospel of John not using the word “repentance,” it does not mention the virgin birth, either, or many other things that are found in other portions of Scripture. We are given four Gospels so that we will have a complete picture of Christ’s person, work, and message; and the fact remains that repentance is mentioned 27 times in the Gospels alone and 59 times in the New Testament. That is a heavy emphasis. READ MORE

Kindly said, David Cloud has a flawed concept of Bible theology. Since the Gospel of John was written specifically with the intent to get people saved, God certainly WOULD have mentioned Christ's virgin birth, deity and repentance, if these things were essential to saving-faith, but they are not. 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.” Mr. Cloud points out that repentance is mentioned 27 times in the four Gospels, but he fails to see that the word is NOT mentioned even once in John's Gospel. That is simply because repentance is NOT a separate EVENT from believing, it is one and the same EVENT (although repentance itself is not the same thing theologically as believing).

Here is a helpful quote defining repentance from 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]

As I quoted to your earlier, Mr. Cloud says repentance is a radical change of attitude toward sin and God's authority that results in a change of life. The truth is that you don't have to have a radical change of attitude toward sin that will result in a changed life; and then second, believe. The truth is that repentance is an attitude change of mind toward sin which compels you to believe the Gospel, and then the indwelling Holy Spirit goes to work to change you. That is how God's plan of salvation works! The former is conditional upon man's faithfulness to God; but the latter is solely conditional upon God's faithfulness to man.