The Heresy Of Lordship Salvation Defined

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

I obtained much of this vital information from an excellent helpful Christian website called: “Expreacherman.” 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 in order to establish, or provide evidence, that such faith has resulted in eternal life. God’s Word clearly states that salvation is by Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. 

Lordship Salvation can be overt (i.e., the false claim one must forsake all of his sins and follow Christ in obedience and discipleship in order to be saved) or VERY SUBTLE (i.e., the lie that one’s behavior will change once someone is saved, or that one must desire to get better in order to be saved, or the lie that one must want to have a relationship with Jesus in order to be saved, or that one must go beyond mere intellectual assent and actively respond (i.e., do something; such as Rahab opening the door to spies, or Abraham offering Isaac on the altar) in response to God’s message in order to be saved). These are all false teachings!

No where in the Bible does it say that any of these man-made conditions are necessary for one to receive God's free gift of eternal life. And yet, such things are taught by many churches, ministries, and pastors throughout professing Christendom. Sadly, this includes many Baptist churches, and even so-called Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches today. I am an Independent Fundamental Baptist myself, gladly so, but I hate and expose the lies of Calvinism (all 5 heretical points), Lordship Salvation, turning from sins to be saved, and anything that denies the Eternal Security of the Christian believer. The Bible teaches ONE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED!!! It is what Jesus Christ did through the cross that saves us, by the sprinkling of His shed blood upon the heavenly Mercy Seat, and not by what we can do for Him in the flesh!

Christians must expose the teachers of Lordship Salvation, because they:

1. Keep people lost (Luke 8-12;  2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
2. Are accursed by God for perverting the Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9)
3. Frustrate God's free grace (Galatians 2:21-22)
4. Bewitch believers, rendering them ineffective in their Christian lives (Galatians 3:1-3; 5:4)
5. Are to be marked and avoided for teaching things contrary to sound doctrine (Romans 16:17-18)
6. Cause people to focus on themselves, rather than on Christ, for the assurance of salvation. (The doctrine of Eternal Life is the same as Eternal Security, they are not separate teachings.)
7. Cause a lot of believers to have fear and insecurity about salvation (Acts 15:1-2, 22-24)

We cannot know whether or not someone influenced by Lordship Salvation is saved. In some cases, they may have never even heard the Gospel presented clearly, and may have never believed in Jesus as their Savior. In other cases, they may have believed in Jesus as their Savior, but have received bad teaching that causes them ongoing confusion. We cannot tell which is which. But, in any case, they need our prayers and they need a clear presentation of the Gospel.

One wonders why so many thousands of seeking souls flock to the false message of Lordship Salvation. Could it be the cultic draw by charismatic personalities who manipulate the Scripture, relish the attention, enjoy the fame and the dollars cleverly conned from their followers? Sure, I think so! There's a bunch of religious con men out there! Lordship Salvation is really Satan's sure plan of damnation, not the saving Gospel. 

The person who is fed the Lordship Salvation false teaching is being steered away from the truth. It is tragic that this is happening in hundreds of thousands of churches today around the world. After all, people naturally want to trust authority figures (and they sure do). When a pastor or religious leader teaches people Lordship Salvation, it is a form of spiritual murder, because you are damning their souls to the Lake of Fire forever with false assurance (Revelation 20:11-15). I cannot warn you enough. Moody Bible Institute in Chicago is of the Devil, who openly admit to being “generally Calvinistic.” Calvinism demands more than simple childlike faith for salvation, and is; therefore, a perverted gospel of partial faith in Christ plus works. Moody Radio is aired on at least 73 radio networks around the United States, who promote Dr. John MacArthur, a deadly false prophet. So you see, the Devil has crept a false gospel of Lordship Salvation into hundreds of thousands of churches!!! 

Although this list is by no means complete, following are some of the heretical terms that are associated with Lordship Salvation as being requirements for receiving God's free gift of Eternal Life:

1. “Repent of your sins”
2. “Turn from your sins”
3. “Be willing to turn from your sins”
4. “Put Christ on the throne of your life”
5. “Surrender all to Christ”
6. “Give your life to Jesus”
7. “Make a commitment to Christ”
8. “Live a lifestyle of repentance”
9. “Publicly confess Christ”
10. “Commit to follow Christ”
11. “Count the cost”
12. “Forsake the old ways of living”
13. “Put Christ on the throne of your life”

In sharp contrast to these EXTRA requirements which God does not require to be saved, the inspired Holy Bible teaches EASY-BELIEVISM!!! Getting saved is so easy that even a small child can be saved (2nd Timothy 3:15; Matthew 19:14). Some proponents of Lordship salvation will allow that salvation is by Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; but then will insist that a saved person will show signs of being saved, such as sinning less and doing good works. If these “signs” are not present, they will insist, or at least heavily suspect, that a person has never believed in Christ as Savior. This unbiblical and dangerous thought process can never lead to assurance of salvation, because it is always dependent on how one thinks he is DOING at any given point in time. 

Other folks think that God knows whether or not they are TRYING. Folks, DOING and TRYING are works!!! God doesn't save anyone who is trying to be saved, He only saves those who are trusting to be saved. Salvation is received, not achieved. Trying will not help you attain eternal life.  Eternal life is a free gift, received when someone trusts in Christ alone for it. Salvation is a take proposition from God, not a give proposition! You simply take His free gift by faith in the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen for your sins!

When a person gets saved, they don't change one bit. The only difference is now they have the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. All things become new, as a baby believer's spiritual eyes are now opened for the first time, and they must begin to grow. There may be instant coffee, but there are no instant mature Christians!!! PGM's UNSHACKLED radio programs give the impression that a person must commit them self to substantial lifestyle changes in order to be saved. That's what they repeatedly teach! The Holy Bible says that salvation is a gift! Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.

I love this helpful quote from Dr. 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.” —Pastor Harry A. Ironside, from the Gospel tract, 'Another Gospel'

Pacific Garden Mission (PGM), whether they intend it or not, teach Calvinism in some of their episodes. In one UNSHACKLED episode I heard a man teaching that you cannot just write your name in the back of your Bible; but rather, you need to surrender your life to Jesus every day for the rest of your life. That is a satanic plan of damnation!!! Eternal life is a free gift, that you receive ONE TIME by faith alone, and then it is yours forever. Calvinism requires a believer to persevere in holy living, otherwise they say you're not saved. This is a false works-based plan of salvation.

The idea that repentance is from sins for salvation is not found anywhere in the Bible, and constitutes a works-based plan of salvation. In UNSHACKLED episode #3399, the story of “Dorie: The Girl Nobody Wanted,” the PGM narrator guides the listener to pray “Please come into my heart and transform me to be more like you.” Although innocent sounding, this is not the Gospel. You don't have to “ask” Jesus into your heart to be saved. You don't have to ask Jesus to “transform” you to be saved. Being “transformed” according to Romans 12:2 comes only by having our mind “RENEWED,” which comes by nurturing on the milk of God's Word (1st Peter 2:2).

Kindly, Pacific Garden Mission hypes the spectacular ideology that a man is supposed to get saved and become an instant transformed creature! That is not Biblical. Growth in grace requires a lifetime. A new believer requires YEARS to mature. A new believer can choose to behave as a mature Christian does, but there are no shortcuts, the same as is true in the physical body. A child may choose to act like an adult in some ways, but they won't actually be an adult until they become an adult. The same is true spiritually in the Lord.

In a rescue mission, souls are pulled from the flames of Hell by the preaching of the Gospel, saved as by fire. It is totally unbiblical to propagate the idea of instantly transformed alcoholics, perverts and bums off the street into transformed Christians! I realize that some people do get saved and instantly demonstrate some type of outward change, but that is not the norm. Alcoholics are chemically addicted to the drug alcohol and in most cases will required medical intervention to recover. You cannot just tell them to believe the Gospel and be transformed from alcoholism to recovery. I'm just going by what is propagated in the UNSHACKLED programs. UNSHACKLED's episodes are saturated with the heresy of Lordship Salvation!!! You'll extensively hear the 13 heretical terms I mentioned earlier.

The simple Gospel is this—You are a guilty SINNER (Romans 3:19). That is the bad news. As such, you NEED a Savior, which is Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Christ died on the cross to pay your sin debt (and mine). He was buried and miraculously resurrected physically three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). That is the 'GOOD NEWS' (aka, 'The Gospel'). If you will come to God as a needy sinner, receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, trusting in the risen SAVIOR, you will be immediately, irrevocably and forever saved! It's that simple!!! Please trust Christ right now as your personal Savior.

“You don't go to Hell because you won't quit your sinning!” —Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995); a great quote from the classic sermon, 'Why Do Men Go To Hell?' (exposing 'Lordship Salvation')