Pastor Phil Kidd's Heresy Of Denying Eternal Security

John 10:28-29, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.” Ephesians 1:13-14, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

If there is one thing that the Bible teaches, it is that the born-again believer has eternal security. Our text verse in Ephesians 1:13-14 teaches that God seals each believer with His Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. The Lord promised to give eternal life to those who believe. The truth is that there are not two separate doctrines of Eternal Security and Eternal Life, they are one and the same doctrine. So if you have been born-again, you have eternal life abiding in you, because 1st John 5:20 says Jesus is eternal life. So you are either saved or you're not, and if you are, you have assurance of salvation (or eternal security if you prefer), because you have eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ.

I was saddened today when I heard Pastor Phil Kidd preach a sermon called: 'THE HERESY OF ETERNAL SECURITY.' At best the sermon is utterly confusing. What a doctrinal mess! Sadly, tens of thousands of people around the world look up to Pastor Phil Kidd as a spiritual mentor, so what he preaches matters! 290 people on Facebook praised his heretical sermon denying Eternal Security! I was alarmed when I read his sermon title, and saddened as I heard him trash out the security of the believer. Dear reader, just because there are some unsaved phonies in the churches who claim to be Christians, does not mean that true believers don't have eternal security. They sure do!!! I think that is what Dr. Kidd meant to say, but I can only go by what he actually DID SAY!

Now, I respect Pastor Phil Kidd, but he is wrong to deny the believer's eternal security. I agree with some things Dr. Kidd says in this sermon, but it is obvious to me that he is sincerely confused in his theology. I love the man, truly, but he got it wrong today. Let me begin by telling you what I DO agree with. Pastor Kidd says if all you ever did was pray a prayer you're not saved. I fully agree! Dr. Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968) rightly said:

“'Pray to be saved. Ask the Lord to save you.' This is what I heard a minister say to a convicted sinner who came forward for prayer at the close of an evangelistic service. Nowhere in the Bible are men told to pray to be saved. There are examples where men did pray and were saved. Men are told to repent, to believe, to obey the Gospel, but the Bible never says to pray for salvation. It does say that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but nowhere does the Bible command men to pray to be saved. I think I know why, God, who made the human heart, knew that it was not necessary to tell convicted sinners to pray. If a sinner can see Jesus Christ on the cross, it is as natural for him to pray as it is for birds to sing or flowers to bloom. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr., “Comments On Here And Hereafter,” chapter: Prayer And Praise, page 163; Bob Jones University Press, Inc., © 1942

Nowhere in the Bible are we taught to “pray” to receive eternal life. We are taught in the Gospel of John 85 times simply to “BELIEVE” on Jesus Christ to be saved. Romans 10:9b says if you “believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” We are saved by faith alone! Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” So if I ask you how you were saved, and you tell me that you prayed, you're not saved! Your answer should be that you knew you were a sinner, and you received Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, believing that He raised up from the dead. That is the “Gospel” (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). 

I also agree with Dr. Phil Kidd that if a professed Christian can sin and have no conviction whatsoever from God's indwelling Holy Spirit, then you don't have the Holy Spirit and are not saved. 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” As Evangelist Tom Ferrell rightly said: “If you can sin and win, you're not in!” The Bible agrees with that. 1st John 1:10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” The Bible teaches that God is not an absent parent, He disciplines His children when they disobey. Hebrews 12:6-8, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”

The truth is that the indwelling Holy Spirit is the believer's eternal security. God promises in Hebrews 13:5 to NEVER leave nor forsake His own. There is no way that a truly born-again child of God can ever be removed from God's family. You can never lose God's salvation. We are saved by “HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Matthew 6:33). That is, we are saved by God's imputed righteousness, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Kidd Misinterprets Jude 1:3-5

Jude 1:3-5, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”

Now let's examine where Dr. Kidd goes horribly wrong in his theology. I just quoted to you Dr. Kidd's sermon text from Facebook. Pastor Kidd says if you claim to be saved, but you are living in all manner of sin in your life, and thinking that you have a LICENSE TO SIN (which he defines as LASCIVIOUSNESS), then he says you're not saved! Now, before we make some deductions here, let's carefully notice two easily overlooked Scripture statements:

1. “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ”
2. “destroyed them that believed not.”

Jude 1:3-5 is talking about unsaved people who creep into the church. They were never saved to begin with, they simply joined a social club, or to be with their biological family, or they were invited, et cetera. They never had the Holy Spirit at all, so they are not saved! This has nothing to do with the great Christian doctrine of Eternal Security. The Words Trinity, Bible and Rapture are not found in the Bible, but we see those doctrines taught, so these words are acceptable to use, in my humble opinion. 

It is important to see in Jude 1:3-5 that such impostors, who superficially claim to be Christians, but use God's grace as an excuse to sin, do not believe what the Bible says. They are not God's children. We see this today in many fake churches. The churches who are accepting the LGBTQ agenda, and welcoming unrepentant homosexuals as church members in good standing, are turning God's grace into lasciviousness! I think this is what Dr. Kidd is trying to say. We've got a bunch of wicked people in our churches today, who think they are saved because they prayed some stupid prayer 15 years ago, or because some incompetent pastor told them they are going to Heaven, but they know not the Gospel and are as lost as a moose in a caboose!

God Did Promise Every Believer Eternal Security!

John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Now, as much as I am trying to give Pastor Phil Kidd credit, and am trying to see things from his point of view, I simply cannot defend him when he says garbage like this:

“By the way, God never said He gave you eternal security—a license to sin—He gives eternal life, which means the eternal thing He puts in you affects your life, here and there!” —Pastor Phil Kidd, 'The Heresy Of Eternal Security'

That is blatant heresy! Dr. Kidd is preaching the heresy of Calvinism (aka, Lordship Salvation)! He is rear-loading the Gospel, saying that if you are saved you WILL turn from your sins! The Bible disagrees with Phil Kidd. What saith the Scripture? Titus 2:13, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” The Bible says we “SHOULD,” not WILL or MUST, but “SHOULD” live godly in this present world!!! Every believer SHOULD live for Christ; not MUST (that is works); not WILL (that is Lordship Salvation). That is why the saved man in 1st Corinthians 3:15 had NO REWARDS at all, because he failed to turn from his sins, and failed to surrender to Christ's Lordship, but he was still “SAVED; YET SO AS BY FIRE.”

By the way, Dr. Phil Kidd is featured on Pacific Garden Mission's 'UNSHACKLED' (radio program #2119), so it is in his best interests to preach the same Lordship Salvation junk theology that PGM propagates. Beware of Unshackled's corrupt gospel, and the corrupt preaching of Phil Kidd that denies the believer's eternal security. We know that we do have eternal security, because JESUS PAID IT ALL!!! It could be that you've never been saved at all, evidenced by the absence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and lack of conviction over the sins in your life without Him, but this has NOTHING to do with the eternal security of those who are true believers!!! I think Dr. Kidd is sincere, but he is confused and wrong.

Dr. Kidd says he's sick and tired of preachers across the country trying to get people saved again, leading them to pray another sinner's prayer, so those pastors can brag about their numbers. It sounds like he is attacking soulwinning independent fundamental Baptists! Hey, on the Day of Pentecost 3,000 people were saved, in one sermon! No one interrogated the converts to see if they had been previously saved! I have no doubt that there are some naive pastors, who assume that everyone is not saved. When I was 17 years old, my own pastor mistakenly, but sincerely, concluded that I wasn't saved, because I went to him for help with the assurance of my salvation. I was in fact saved at age 13. I was just ignorant and confused. So there is a bit of truth in what Dr. Kidd says; however, for Dr. Kidd to use that problem in some churches to deny the believer's eternal security, is to compare apples with submarines!

Eternal Life And Eternal Security Are The Same Doctrine

Pastor Kidd rightly says that backslidden believers need to renew their FELLOWSHIP with the Lord, not their RELATIONSHIP as His redeemed child. Bravo for that! It behooves me then, how Pastor Kidd can deny the believer's eternal security? He clearly believes, as made clear in his sermon, that we do good works because we ARE saved, not to BE saved. And he clearly gets the Gospel right (Jesus' death, burial and resurrection). And he clearly believes that saints can become backslidden, but are still saved. So why does Pastor Kidd deny eternal security? It is a confusing sermon at best. 

I had to listen to his sermon five times, because he goes back and forth, preaching free grace theology one minute, and Lordship Salvation damnable heresy the next. Kindly said, it is clear to me that Dr. Kidd is confused in his theology. If you listen to the sermon you'll see what I mean. He contradicts himself several times. Dr. Kidd says if you're still drinking booze and living in sin, you didn't get the GRACE that he got when he was saved. That is a contradictory statement in itself, because GRACE has nothing to do with us! We are saved BY GRACE! That means it has absolutely NOTHING to do with you dear friend. Grace is God's unmerited favor. Grace as an acronym stands for: God's Riches At Christ's Expense! 

So Pastor Kidd says we're not saved by works, but if you don't have a changed life you're not saved. Huh? That is the forked-tongue doublespeak of every false prophet today who is “CAUGHT BETWEEN WORKS AND GRACE” (a tremendous sermon by Pastor Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold. Here's the MP3). Kindly said, Pastor Phil Kidd is caught between works and grace!!! Every believer has eternal life in them, because Jesus is eternal life. 1st John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” If you have Jesus you have eternal life, and if you have eternal life you have eternal security, because eternal life IS eternal security. There is no such thing as eternal security apart from eternal life, they are one and the same. 

You don't earn grace! You don't maintain grace! You don't have to forsake all your sins to qualify to keep grace! IT IS GOD'S GRACE!!! 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.” Kindly said, Pastor Kidd takes Jude 1:3-5 out of context. This passage is about unsaved people who've crept into the churches, which has absolutely nothing to do with the believer's promise of Eternal Security! 

Pastor Kidd Misinterprets Hebrews 6:4-6

Dr. Kidd also takes Hebrews chapter 6 out of context, applying it to Christians instead of Christ-rejecters. Pastor Kidd errantly states:

“By the way, if you're going to believe the Bible, Sir, you've got to go to Hebrews chapter number six and you've got to believe this—if you believe a man can lose his salvation, then you must believe that he can never get it back again. There is no such thing as 'repeat redemption.'” —Pastor Phil Kidd, 'The Heresy Of Eternal Security'

What a mess! That is so untrue! No Christian can lose eternal life! Hebrews chapter 6 is about people who have heard the Gospel, they've tasted the good Word of God, but did not get saved. They are fallen from grace, meaning they have passed up their only ticket to Heaven through faith in Christ! Pastor Kidd is in error to say that a believer can lose God's salvation, that is not what the following Scripture passage is saying:

Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

Carefully notice that they were “once enlightened,” not saved. They tasted of the heavenly gift, but they didn't receive it. The Holy Ghost convicted them of their sins and lost condition, but they refused to come to Christ to be saved. We know this is the correct interpretation, because we have dozens of other passages teaching the eternal security of the believer! In 85 places in the Gospel of John we are taught to simply believe to be saved, with the attached PROMISE of eternal life. That is eternal security my friend! God made a promise “TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE” (1st Corinthians 1:21b). It's as simple as this, Dr. Kidd thinks that you cannot have eternal security and continue in sin.

Pastor Kidd Is Wrong To Deny The Eternal Security Of The Believer

Respectfully, Dr. Kidd makes a lot of erroneous claims in his sermon. One false claim is that the proponents of easy-believism don't require sinners to have any conviction over sin to be saved. Pastor Kidd says:

Many people that cling to this heresy of eternal security. Let me tell you a few things they believe:

1. They believe salvation can come without a person being under conviction. We call it in modern-day terminology: 'Easy-Believism' 
2. They believe God can move in you, and it doesn't necessary change you.
3. You're distorting the Scripture, if you think the grace of God is a license for you to live ungodly.

SOURCE: Dr. Phil Kidd, 'The Heresy Of Eternal Security' (10:55 time in video)

Let me respond below to Pastor Kidd's THREE assertions:

First, no one ever got saved who didn't know he is a needy sinner. A man must know what he is being saved from to receive God's gift of forgiveness of sins. The only conviction of sin that a man needs to be saved, is just enough to recognize that he is a guilty sinner in need of redemption. The law shows humanity our sinnership (Romans 3:19-20) and brings us to Christ to be saved by faith (Galatians 3:24-26). Dr. Kidd opens a can of worms by accusing soulwinners of “easy-believism.” Buddy, the ONLY way to be saved is the easy route! You come as a needy sinner and simply rest in Christ. It's that easy!!!

Second, your salvation does not change you a bit. Dr. Kidd is wrong! Pastor Jack Hyles gets it right, explaining this truth in his writing: “Conversion And Salvation.” Eternal life is a “free gift” (Romans 5:15-18), which Dr. Kidd fails to mention once in his sermon. Is a gift easy to take? Yes, it sure is. So what is hard about getting saved? Go ask Phil Kidd, because he is the one attacking easy-believism! God saves you by faith, and then the Holy Spirit comes to lives inside you, and He will change you over time. But the church has the duty of mentoring converts, which is a part of The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). I hear a lot of preachers bragging about the number of people they led to Christ, but how many did you mentor with the Bible?

Third, I half agree with the third thing Dr. Kidd said. You are definitely distorting the Scriptures if you think being saved gives you a license to sin. But it all depends on what you mean by “license.” If you mean that you don't have God's blessing and permission to continue in willful sin, then I agree (Romans 3:31). But if you mean that you cannot be saved and continue living in willful sin, or else you are not really saved, then I fully disagree (Romans 5:20; Acts 13:39). 

We are saved solely by God's imputed righteousness, through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Eternal life is the gift of God (Romans 6:23). Dr. Kidd makes some strange statements in his sermon. I don't know anyone who believes the following:

“But I'm just saying to your brother, that I will never tell anybody, 'Live like you want to, it doesn't matter, you're going to Heaven anyhow.'” —Pastor Phil Kidd, 'The Heresy Of Eternal Security'

Who teaches that today? I don't know anybody. Dr. Kidd is making such harsh statements to discredit the truth that a person can be saved, and still wilfully live in sin. The truth is that we all still commit sin. Everyone commits willful sin! Every time you go 60 mph in a 55 mph zone you're sinning (Romans 13:1). Every time you fail to pray for those in your life you're sinning (1st Samuel 12:23). Every time you mention future plans without saying “if the Lord will” you're sinning (James 4:15-16). We're all a bunch of woeful sinners!!!

I admire Dr. Kidd for his career, toughness, and his incredible life's testimony. Brother Lester Roloff (1914-1982) used to rightly say: “We need porcupine preachers, so people will get the point!” Well, Pastor Kidd is the largest porcupine preacher that I know of! Dr. Kidd is more like a saber-tooth tiger in the pulpit! I really like the guy, but as a Baptist preacher myself, I am duty-bound to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3b). Ironically, the very text passage that Phil Kidd chose for his sermon, denying the eternal security of the Christian believer, exposes him at the same time!

When A Believer Sins Grace Abounds

Romans 5:20-21, “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Your eternal destination can NEVER depend upon what you do as a saint of God, neither before, during nor after you were saved. I mean, if a man can lose his salvation, don't you think there would be at least one story in the Bible like that? There's not. If a person could lose their salvation and get re-saved, show me a story like that in the Bible. And if a person can lose their salvation, and not get it back, show me where that happened to someone in the Bible? I'm waiting. Friend, you cannot show me any stories like that. Pastor Kidd says salvation is by grace, not by works. And he says we do good works because we are saved, not to get saved. And he says it is possible to stray away from the Lord, backslide, and still be saved. That is all true! So why does he teach that eternal security is a heresy, which is untrue? It is a counterfeit gospel of fear, uncertainty and worry! Dr. Kidd confused many people today in this horrible sermon. Preachers say the darnedest things!

Carefully notice in the following Scripture that if salvation is by grace, “THEN IS IT NO MORE OF WORKS”!!! That is what the Holy Bible teaches! Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Works have no part of salvation. False prophets' John MacArthur, John Piper, Steve Pettit, Marty Herron, Phil Kidd, Pacific Garden Mission, Bob Jones University, and Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, are pulling on the same rope as the Devil. You don't HAVE TO serve Christ to be saved, but you “SHOULD” (Titus 2:11-13).

You must keep salvation and service separate or you will be confused, and confuse everyone else! Salvation is not me meaning business, it is God meaning business! My part is simply to freely receive God's gift of eternal life BY FAITH. I'm tired of preachers putting fear into people's hearts, telling them that if they didn't mean business and are still living in sin, they are not saved. The preachers want people to live right, so they put them into fear, telling them that if they don't live righteously they aren't really saved. Salvation is free, always remember that! Stand strong for the Gospel of free grace! Don't doubt the Gospel just because people live wrong. Scripture never contradicts itself, which tells us that Lordship Salvation is not true, because it contradicts Scripture! No man has to serve Jesus Christ because he is saved. If you don't understand that truth, the Scriptures will be confusing to you!

At the end of his sermon, Pastor Kidd says he wants everybody there to go out the door KNOWING that they are saved. You're kidding me right? You just spent an hour going overtime in your sermon, condemning the whole concept of a believer having Eternal Security, and now you want everyone to KNOW they are saved? I need to go take a long walk!