What Repentance Does Not Mean

John 3:20-21, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

Acts 16:29-33, “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.”

Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2nd Timothy 2:25: “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

You cannot show me one verse in the inspired King James Bible, that says to “turn away from your sins,” nor to “repent of your sins” to be saved. But I have just shown you a handful of Scripture passages which say to “repent toward God” and about “repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth.” The Bible says in John 3:21 that “he that doeth truth” cometh to the light, not “he who turns away from his former sinful lifestyle.”

I have declared war on today's corrupted preachers (especially Baptist pastors) who have no clue what it means to “repent” in the Bible for salvation. Tragically, preachers are like dumb parrots, that just repeat what they hear, whether it be good or bad. When I lived in the island of Guam for 17 years, we had a very small zoo. The zoo staff cussed all day around the parrot, so it called women female dogs (but used the other word) and cussed a lot. Bad bird!!! Or rather, Bad staff!!! Sadly, that is how most preachers are. They hear another preacher say something that sounds good, so they start repeating it, and before you know it the Devil has crept into the churches. 

Just this past week I heard a local pastor make a horrible statement from the pulpit. He said: “Bible repentance means to turn away from the life you've been living.” That Baptist pastor has holes in his head!!! He is a nice guy, but a nice liar too! That pastor is woefully ignorant of Bible theology. I personally handed him a hardcopy of Michael P. Bowen's book, “I Never Knew You” several months go, of which he never commented about it, and I didn't ask him if he read it. That book cost me $17. They're selling them on Amazon.com now for about $12 I think. I guess the more books that people buy, the lower the price goes.

I was saddened to hear that local pastor make such a false statement to his congregation. That is why I refuse to join that church, they are wrong on the Gospel. It's not my place to tell another preacher how to run his church, even though he is running it into the ground. Men are proud and unsought advice is rarely taken and usually resented. Pastor Jack Hyles taught me that, and he was 100% right. Some pastors just can't be reasoned with, like Jeff Redlin at Pensacola Christian College, who has cruelly banned me from coming to their Campus Church since August 2, 2022. PCC has spiritually gone to the dogs! They are playing church.

Even PCC gets repentance very wrong. In their Campus Church's official Foundation's Class, they teach that, quote: “Repentance is a change of mind which results in a change of behavior.” WRONG!!! Jeff Redlin and Timothy Zacharias are dangerous fools doctrinally! RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!! I certainly don't think that I have everything all figured out, but any idiot can see that nowhere in the Holy Bible are we taught to repent of our sins, or to turn away from a sinful lifestyle, to get to Heaven.

I heard the mother from 'Living Proof,' a Gospel Bluegrass band from a Baptist church in Texas, give her testimony past year at a local church. She said in essence:

“I thought I had been saved for a long time, but I realized in time that I had never been saved at all. I had never turned away from my sinning. But now I have turned away from my sins, and I don't live the way that I used to, and I know that I am saved now.”

Of all events, she spoke this damnable heresy at a church revival!!! I felt sick in my soul. I cringed as I looked down in grief. I wanted to stand up and shout: “Lady, you still ain't saved! Sit down!” That is her pastor's fault in Texas, for perverting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is NOTHING in the Gospel message about forsaking your sinful behavior, or turning over a new leaf, or changing your wicked ways, or anything that requires self-effort (works). Jesus came into the world to die for OUR SINS on the cross. The dear Savior doesn't ask or expect you to give up even one sin to receive God's free gift of eternal life. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

I love what Pastor Yankee Arnold said in his most recent sermon:

“See, when you trusted Christ, He delivered you from the PENALTY [of sin]. You never have to pay for it again. Now that you are saved, He wants to save you from the very POWER of sin in your life. And then one day, He's going to deliver us from the very PRESENCE of sin.” —Pastor Yankee Arnold, a quote from the sermon: “Sanctification Explained”

I love that! When we trusted Christ as our personal Savior, He delivered us from the PENALTY of sin. You cannot turn away from your sin as a lost person. It is IMPOSSIBLE!!! When God saves you by faith alone in His only begotten Son (John 1:12-13), He indwells you with Himself (i.e., God's Holy Spirit, also called “the Spirit of Christ” in Romans 8:9b). The Holy Spirit chastises, scourges, rebukes, comforts, helps, guides and teaches every believer).

It is a false teaching to tell an unsaved person to “turn from their sin” to be saved, when God Himself DOESN'T require any such thing. Go ahead, try to find it in the inspired Holy Bible, I triple-dog dare you!!! You won't find it. Acts 20:21 says that repentance is “TOWARD GOD.” Repentance is simply looking up to a holy God and admitting that you are a guilty needy sinner, and then by faith you believe on Jesus Christ to be saved.

Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!

Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.

Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.

If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

We must stay true to the simplicity of the Gospel!! Repentance regarding salvation is a change of mind from unbelief to belief!!! We must earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 1:3).

Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

Have you believed a lie dear reader? I was speaking to man who attends a local church recently, who thinks that you must be water baptized to get to Heaven. He faithfully attends a local Baptist church!!! That is his lazy pastor's fault, for not feeding his people THE TRUTH. I heard that same preacher once say that he doesn't preach against sin, because people already know that they are sinners. He said that he only preaches about God's love. That pastor is a mess! Read what one of my favorite preachers, Pastor Lee Roberson (1909-2007) rightly said about preaching against sin and eternal punishment:

“Somebody says, 'The thought of Hell is so horrible.' Well, my friend, so is cancer, so is tuberculosis, so is the grave. Someone said, 'I believe sin ought to be punished, but not for eternity.' That's your view, not God's.

Again another says, 'I don't believe in the wrath of God.' Then you don't believe your Bible. The Bible says the wrath of God abideth on the one who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ. He is lost forever.

Now, these things come to us out of the Word of God. The teaching of eternal punishment should give us a hatred for sin. We ought to hate sin. The reason we have changed so much in this day in all of our churches is that we are not hearing much on this subject. Therefore, we endorse sin. We engage in sin. We camouflage the sin in our lives and allow things to go by, instead of hating sin as God wants us to hate sin . . .

The teaching of eternal punishment should give us a passion for the souls of men.”

SOURCE: Dr. Lee Roberson, from the book, Disturbing Questions... Solid Answers, chapter 16, pgs. 196-198; copyright, Sword of the Lord publishers, 1978.

Bible preachers must preach against sin, and warn lost sinners of coming fiery judgment in Hell forever, so that God's Holy Spirit will convict them to come to Jesus Christ to be saved. Church alters are empty nowadays, because preachers no longer preach THE TRUTH.

When I attended Campus Church in 2021, Pastor Kurt Skelly preached for Pensacola Christian College's (PCC) opening convocation service in September. He bloviated in pride (you could here it in his voice) for an hour, and then never told anyone how to be saved. Thousands of returning and new PCC students were present, with their family members in attendance. What a missed opportunity to witness the Gospel! But instead Pastor Skelly invited lost sinners to walk down an aisle to the front (which seems about 1/4 mile in distance), to make a spectacle of themselves in front of 10,000 people! As far as I could see, no one came! Why didn't he just tell everyone how to be saved right from their pew? I mean, it only takes one minute to accurately present the Gospel. Here is the Gospel in just 4 minutes! Do we really care about getting lost sinners saved, or do pastors care more about bragging rights about how many converts they had? I think you already know that sad answer. SHAME on PCC!

Are you willing to risk spending an eternity in the flames of Hell, when you don't have to? Eternal LIFE is a "free gift" (Romans 5:15) from God, paid for by the precious blood of Jesus (1st Peter 1:18,19). Romans 6:23 reads, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” No wonder Hebrews 2:3 says, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation...”

You don't have to forsake your sins to be saved, but you do need to realize your guilty condition as a sinner. We all justly deserve to burn in Hell. All you need to do to be saved is to admit that you are a guilty sinner; BELIEVE the Good News (Gospel) that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God; BELIEVE that Jesus was crucified on a cross to pay for your sins, He was buried, and then three days later He miraculously bodily resurrected from the dead. If that simple Good News is your only hope for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, then you HAVE IT!!! Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

The Roman jailer asked Paul and Silas: “What must I do to be saved?” Their simple reply was: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Did they tell the jailer to repent of his sins? No, they didn't! Did they tell the jailer to surrender control of his life over to Christ from now on? No, they didn't! Did they require the Roman jailer to “count the cost and pay the price” (as Billy Graham falsely requires)? No, they didn't! All they said was to: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31b).

Of the 66 books in the canon of Scripture, only one of those books was authored by God specifically to show humanity how to get to Heaven. That beautiful book is the Gospel of John. In John we find the word “believe” mentioned 85 times, but there is not even one mention of the words: repenting, confessing, forsaking, turning, surrendering, running, following, counting or anything else; just BELIEVE on Christ! So why do ungodly preachers keep ADDING more to God's simple plan of salvation. I love these quotes from Dr. Jack Hyles...

“More people will die and burn in Hell, because they're trusting too much!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, a precious quote from the MP3 sermon, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”

“Everything that's hard and complicated about salvation is God's side of it!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, a precious quote from the MP3 sermon, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”

Repentance does NOT mean to turn away from the life that you've been living. That is a false plan of salvation, if someone tells you that garbage. I have written a helpful article on what repentance for salvation really means. Consider the following quote by the mighty man of God, Dr. Harry Ironside (1876-1951):

"Repentance is the recognition of my sinnership—the owning before God that I am as vile as He has declared me to be in His holy Word."

SOURCE: Except Ye Repent, by Dr. Harry Ironside, chapter 3

This is vastly different than actually ceasing from one's sin to be saved, which is a false gospel. Pastor Ironside is correct—repentance is simply realizing that one is a guilty, dirty, rotten, hopeless sinner in God's eyes. This is why we need a Savior. Thankfully, Jesus paid the price with His own literal precious blood (1st Peter 1:18,19; Hebrews 9:12).

Christian author Michael Patrick Bowen states in his excellent book titled, “I NEVER KNEW YOU,” on page 114:

“Repent, as Christ meant it to be in terms of salvation, means to change your mind from trusting in what you can do for God to trusting only in what He can do for you.”

SOURCE: Michael Patrick Bowen, a quote from the awesome book, “I NEVER NEW YOU” (Page 114)

Repentance is a “Change of Mind,” Nothing Else

I've heard many preachers wrestle the true Biblical meaning of “repent.” Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” The word “repent” in Mark 1:15 is the Greek word metanoeo, which simply means “to think differently” or “a change of mind.” Many preachers pervert the meaning of repentance by beginning with “a change of mind,” but then they embellish (add to) the basic meaning, and therefore completely change it's meaning. For example: I've heard numerous preachers say that “repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of life.” No, that is not what it means to repent. That is the heresy taught today at Pensacola Christian College (PCC).

Somehow, someway, false teachers always add works to grace. They do it very subtly, just as Satan subtly deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. 2nd Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” It is amazing how accurately the Word of God identifies the problems in churches today. The Devil has subtly crept his own perverted Bible revisions into most churches, corrupting people's minds from the simplicity that is in Christ (which is the Gospel).

Everywhere we turn nowadays, the Devil has crept his false teachings into the churches. Sadly, this includes MOST Southern Baptist Churches and even Independent Baptist Church. Dr. Jack Hyles was so right. He said that most preachers and layman don't want to suffer reproach for the name of Christ, nor do they want to be put outside the gate with Jesus!!!

But I am outside the gate. Since August 2, 2022 Pastor Jeff Redlin has banned me from returning to Campus Church. I have it in writing from him! SHAME on PCC and Campus Church. The reason why they won't allow me to come back to church, is simply because I TOLD THE TRUTH and they cannot handle it. I rebuked them sharply (I am not afraid to rebuke the almighty pastors and leadership at PCC). Matthew 25:40 and 45 warns that whatever you do to a child of God, you have done to Jesus.

PCC has banned Jesus from attending church. Think about that! I obeyed the Bible in Titus 1:13-14 to 'REBUKE THEM SHARPLY' for preaching a false meaning of repentance at PCC, and for wickedly bidding Godspeed to the apostate Bob Jones University (BJU) camp (who wickedly preach hardcore Lordship Salvation, sinfully promote the Devil's corrupt Bible versions, and who also wickedly teach a wrong understanding of repentance). RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

There is only one sin that can hinder you from being saved dear reader, and that is the sin of UNBELIEF in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the only sin that you must repent (change your mind) about is your UNBELIEF. The beloved Pastor Bob Gray Sr. of the Longview Baptist Temple church in Texas correctly preaches:

“Repentance means to change your mind—change your mind—change your mind about how you want to get to Heaven to what God says you've got to do to get to Heaven. If you've got to repent of all your sins, you're still headed for Hell tonight.”

SOURCE: Pastor Bob Gray Sr., a quote from the awesome MP3 sermon, 'Why You Should Be A Part Of A Growing Church'

As you can clearly see, that is very different than forsaking your sinful ways to be saved, which is 100% self-righteous works! Pastor Bob Gray Sr. is exactly right! You simply need to repent (change your mind) from whatever has been hindering you from believing, to BELIEVING to be saved. If you are a Roman Catholic, then you need to change your mind to stop trusting in the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic church, and start trusting the Good News of Jesus Christ! Roman Catholicism is a prisonhouse of religion.

As Hebrews 6:1 teaches, you need to repent from “DEAD WORKS” to be saved. Hebrews 6:1, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” Dead works include BOTH good and bad works. Jesus died for our righteousness too (Isaiah 64:6). There is no salvation in ANY religion; but rather, in the person of the precious Savior, Jesus Christ. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

There you have it, the Bible speaks of “repentance from dead works,” NOT repentance from your sinful behavior or former sinful ways!!! Getting saved is a legal matter. All humanity are guilty sinners. We all deserve to spend eternity being punished in the fires of Hell for our sins. If that offends you, it is only because you do not understand how sinful you are in the sight of a holy righteous God. No one is perfect! We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23).

So there are only two paths we can take:

1. The first path is to go to Hell forever to pay for our own sins (Revelation 20:15)
2. The second path is for someone else (a Savior) to suffer in our place. That is what God did for you and me dear friend, He sent His only begotten Son into the world to pay the price with His blood for our sins. Jesus died on a cross and was buried. Three days later He physically resurrected from the dead. I don't claim to understand it all, but I believe it to be true based upon the recorded written Word of God (Romans 4:5-6)

Please don't let any preacher ever lie to you, that repentance means anything more than “a change of mind.” That is what the Greek word metanoia means concerning salvation. It does NOT mean to change your life to be saved. That would be a works-based false plan of salvation, which cannot produce the new birth. Jesus said in John 3:3b, “Ye must be born again.” You cannot be born again by turning away from your sinful ways and behavior. You can only get born again by ceasing from all your human works, and resting 100% in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” I didn't read anything about forsaking a lifestyle of sinning in Jesus' words, did you? Nope!

Dear friend, we've got a bunch of dumb dumb pastors today, who are woefully ignorant of Bible theology. They are merely repeating what they have heard other pastors say, without doing their own Bible study, so they wrongly divide the Word of Truth (2nd Timothy 2:15). They should all be fired! I mean that. It would be a wonderful thing if over 95% of all church pastors were fired, because they are all preaching heresy. A false Gospel cannot save anyone.

That is why I won't join the First Baptist Church of Pensacola. I love their pastor as a person, Dave Snyder (who has been their senior pastor since 2018); but their pastors preach hardcore Lordship Salvation, saying that you must surrender control of your life over to Christ to be saved. That is NOT the free grace Gospel! I attended their Discovery Class in 2022 to see what they're about. Their church is one of 45,000 Southern Baptist Churches, most who've succumbed to the lies of John Calvin (aka, Calvinism, which the First Baptist Church of Pensacola admits teaching on their church's website). It will be a cold day in Hell before I become a Calvinist!!!

If you think Evangelist Billy Graham (1918-2018) was saved, I am worried about you. Mr. Graham tells the story about a young college student who asked him a question. The student said that he wanted to receive Jesus Christ to be saved, but he didn't want to tell his peers, lest they persecute him. Billy Graham lied, telling the young man that he couldn't be saved. Billy based his false teaching on Jesus words from Matthew 10:33: “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” The fastest way to get screwed up in your understanding of the Bible is to arbitrarily lift text out of context, because you will end up with a new pretext (strange doctrine).

I love what Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) said: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” Matthew 10:33 is an obscure passage. You would be foolish to base God's simple plan of salvation upon single verses in Matthew, when God authored the whole Gospel of John to show us how to be saved. 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.”

For Billy Graham to quote a single obscure verse from Matthew 10:33, which contradicts the entire Gospel of John, shows utter theological incompetence by Dr. Graham. I am not trying to be unkind, God knows my heart. I am simply trying to warn you dear friend, that Billy Graham preached a counterfeit plan of salvation which cannot save anybody, neither himself. I am 100% convinced that Billy Graham is burning in Hell forever!!! I am sad about that, but what he preached is simply NOT what the Bible teaches to get to Heaven. The Devil is a beautiful liar!

Jesus very plainly warned in Matthew 7:21-23 that you cannot get to Heaven Billy Graham's way, that is, by following Christ as the “Lord” of your life. Read for yourself what Jesus said:

Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Billy Graham was a fool! We read in John 12:42-43 that many of the chief rulers believed on Jesus, but they DID NOT CONFESS HIM, for fear of the Christ-hating Pharisees. Verse 43 says the saved rulers loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. But they were 100% born again, because THEY BELIEVED on Jesus Christ.

Likewise, we read in the New Testament about Joseph of Arimathea, who the Bible says was a 'secret' disciple of Jesus. We never hear of Joseph before or after Christ's burial. Joseph provided his tomb, in which no man had ever been laid, so that Jesus could be buried there. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (both born-again Christians) embalmed Jesus' body according to Jewish customs, and then buried Him in the tomb. So we do see in fact, that a person CAN get saved by trusting Jesus Christ, and yet keep it a secret and not confess it to anyone publicly. Billy Graham lied to that college student, when he errantly told him that he couldn't be saved, unless he was willing to confess his faith in Christ to other students.

I hope some of this has helped you dear friend, because we've got a bunch of lying false prophets behind church pulpits today. I am not trying to be mean to anyone, I am trying to prevent you from going to Hell. Wrongly dividing the Word of God could send you, and/or your family, to Hell forever. I know you don't want that. For a wonderful book that will solidify your understanding of the Gospel, I highly recommend that you read Michael P. Bowen's excellent book titled: “I Never Knew You” (free .pdf format).

In the following helpful sermon, Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold exposes the lie that you must make Jesus your Lord and Master to get to Heaven...

Making Jesus Lord And Master
(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)