2nd Peter 3:16-18, “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. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
I can do all things through a Bible verse taken out of context! As a general rule, a Bible student should never lift a text out of context, lest you create a new pretext (heresy). By taking Bible verses out of context, you can literally teach ANYTHING. I'm not kidding! I have heard some crazy stuff in my lifetime. I knew a religious man years ago who used the following Scripture to justify sinning. 1st Corinthians 11:31, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” He figured he wouldn't be judged, even before he had committed the sin, just so long as he admitted it was wrong! He forget about Psalms 66:18-19, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” Proverbs 3:12, “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”
Folks, anything can be justified if you don't have the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truth. ...
John 16:12-14, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”When unsaved people get religion, but are not born-again, and then they try to figure out the Bible without the Holy Spirit and teach others, you end up with heretics like Steve Pettit, Marty Herron, John MacArthur, Ellen White, Charles Russell, Joseph Smith, John Corapi, Ray Comfort and Billy Graham, to name but a few.
The Bible foretold that many false prophets would come in the last days. Matthew 24:11, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” 1st John 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” When I was a younger Christian, I knew early on that Roman Catholicism is a religious cult. I knew that the Jehovah's Witnesses are a religious cult. I was saved at age 13. As a teenager I read my parent's copy of Walter Martin's classic book: 'The Kingdom Of The Cults.' However, it never dawned on me until I attended Harvest Baptist Church on Guam for a year in 2014, that there are many heretical Baptist churches today, which preach another gospel! Tragically, most Baptist churches have been infected with the “turn from your sins” garbage theology to be saved, which is not the childlike faith of John 3:16.
I became a Baptist at age 13 when I got saved, and have been an independent fundamental Baptist ever since, and I am proud of that! Being Baptist doesn't make me a Christian, but as a Christian the Baptist church aligns closest with the inspired Word of God, in my humble opinion. Please notice that I said “FUNDAMENTAL.” Most Baptist churches today are neo-evangelical, like the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. I made this chart to show some major differences between these groups...
Never Use An Obscure Passage To Contradict A Clear One
There are a few basic rules of Bible interpretation to follow, which if observed will keep you from going astray. The first I learned from Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995), who said: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” In literally hundreds of places in the Word of God, we are taught that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Yet the proponents of Lordship Salvation always run to a small handful of Scripture passages that mention the word repent, taking all of them horribly out of context.For example: cartoon evangelist Jack Chick (1924-2016) quotes Luke 13:5 on his website's statement of faith, in a failed attempt to justify his heresy that you must “be willing to turn from sin” (which he errantly considered to mean “repent”) to be saved. Kindly said, Jack Chick took Luke 13:5 out of context to create his own pretext, to support his heresy. Dr. Curtis Hutson explains Luke 13:5 and gets it 100% correct:
In Luke 13:5 Jesus said, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The context of this verse shows that they needed to repent or change their mind regarding punishment and sin. In this passage, Christ was talking to good people who believed that people suffered only because of their sins, and they concluded that those in Galilee whose blood Pilate mingled with sacrifices and those on whom the tower of Siloam fell were greater sinners because they died such horrible deaths. Jesus contradicts the thinking of these self-righteous people and tells them that they need to repent or change their mind and see themselves as sinners, too, or they will perish in their own self-righteousness.
One does not have to know the Greek language to see that “repent” in this passage does not mean feeling sorry for or turning from sin.
SOURCE: Dr. Curtis Hutson, 'Repentance: What Does The Bible Teach?'So we see that it is very easy to take a passage of Scripture out of context.
Never Base A Doctrine On A Single Bible Verse
Another rule to follow is to never interpret a single Bible verse, without taking into consideration the entire passage. For example: Another “GO TO” passage often used by advocates of Lordship Salvation is found in Matthew 24:13, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” They'll take this single Bible verse, and use it to teach that Calvinism is true, saying that a saint must persevere in holiness until the end to be saved. Yet, if they would simply continue reading, they would read in verse 22, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” So we see that the subject is FLESH and not SALVATION! Do you see how easy the Bible is to understand, when we simply read the entire passage? So this is another important rule of exegesis to remember.Another example is Romans 10:9-10, “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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The Church of Christ religious denomination cite this passage, to support their heresy that a person must confess Christ publicly to be saved. They foolishly base that errantly belief on one Bible passage. But if they would simply read John 12:42-43, they would know they are wrong! John 12:42-34, “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” These men were saved, because they believed, but they did not confess the name of Jesus. This proves that Romans 10:9-10 does not teach confession is required to be saved.
Romans 10:9-10 simply means that a believer confesses Christ publicly, because they are saved. But this is not an absolute rule, nor a requirement to be saved. Salvation is a matter of believing in the heart, which the Bible makes plainly clear. Likewise, water baptism is not required to be saved. In baptism, we relate to Christ's death, burial and resurrection, showing our faith. Baptism is one's public profession of faith! No one in the Bible was ever baptized until AFTER they were saved.
Beware Of Internet Preachers
The Bible says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” But for some people it's: I can do all things through a Bible verse taken out of context! You have to be really careful nowadays, because anybody and their dog, literally, can start a YouTube account and become a preacher! There are heretics like Renee Roland, who denies that Hell has fire and eternal punishment. She has tens of thousands of followers! And then there is Robert Breaker, who falsely says people were saved by works in the Old Testament. That is the same garbage C.I. Scofield and Dr. Peter Ruckman taught! Bryan Derringer teaches the Lordship Salvation heresy. Joshua Chavez falsely says you can lose your salvation. YouTube is full of theological deceivers and liars! They are unlearned and ignorant of the Scriptures, wrestling the Scriptures to their own destruction, and the demise of those who follow them. Beware of dogs!I receive thousands of emails. Many of them are from people who are confused, worried and doubtful, after reading what some corrupt preacher said on the internet. I always encourage people to get into the inspired King James Bible, and “Let your fingers do the walking!” That was a slogan years ago for the Yellow Pages phonebook. They encouraged you to use the phonebook, instead of wasting your time walking around trying to find what you're looking for. And so I say to you, instead of relying upon unlearned and dangerous wannabe theologians on YouTube, “SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES” (John 5:39a). It's okay to listen to online preachers, for I is one (lol), but ALWAYS look to the inspired Word of God as your final and only authority in all matters of faith, morality and life's decisions.
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