Beware Of Matt Slick's Damnable Counterfeit Gospel

Galatians 1:6-8, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

We are surrounded today by false teachers. They are in the churches. They are on social media. They author books. They produce religious documentaries and movies. If a man is wrong on repentance and the Gospel, then we cannot trust any of his theology. Matt Slick is the president of CARM (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry).

I read a heretical blog today by Matt Slick titled, “What Is Lordship Salvation And Is It Biblical?” Matt states:

...If lordship salvation is meant to say that a person must believe the Gospel and also repent of sin in order to be saved, then it is teaching that salvation is not by faith alone in Christ alone. Instead, it would be by faith and also the act of turning from sin as a person makes Jesus Lord of "all" of his life. In other words, salvation is obtained by faith in God and turning from sin——which amounts to keeping the Law. This would be, of course, false. Now, we are not saying a person need not repent from his sins. Instead, repentance is the result of God's regenerative work in us. Let me explain.

The position of CARM is that regeneration precedes faith the way electricity precedes light in a lightbulb. The order is logical——not temporal. Electricity must be present for light to occur in a lightbulb, but it's not true that light must be present in order for electricity to occur. We would say that whenever electricity is present in a lightbulb, the automatic and natural result is light. The electricity is "logically" prior to the light——not temporally prior. In other words, it is logically necessary that electricity precedes the light; and when electricity is present, light is also present.

With this analogy, I think it is easier to understand that it is God who regenerates us (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 1:3; John 1:13) and that the necessary result of His regenerative work in us is our faith and repentance. God grants that we believe (Philippians 1:29) and grants that we repent (2 Timothy 2:25). Therefore, our position is that repentance is a necessary result of God's work in us (yet it's also something that we do). The issue of Lordship salvation incorrectly addresses the order of salvation by implying that faith leads to regeneration, which leads to repentance. I believe this mistakenly puts the focus on man's ability instead of God's work, and this is where the error of Lordship salvation arises. The truth is that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Repentance from sin is the result of salvation——not a contributing factor to it. SOURCE

If it is God who grants us repentance (2 Timothy 2:25) and faith (Philippians 1:29), then there is no room for the Lordship salvation controversy. Instead, we understand that the Lordship of Christ and our repentance are both the natural result of the work of God—not the work of our faith and repentance.

Kindly said, Matt is preaching the Devil's lie of Calvinism. He falsely claims that God does everything. If that were true, then what would be the purpose of repentance (i.e., a change of mind). If a man cannot change his mind unless God causes it, then where is freewill? How could a man choose to trust Christ if he cannot do so without God intervening first? I like how Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951) explains it:

“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)

This is what Jesus meant in John 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Calvinists love to take these passages of of context. The Bible is not doing away with freewill. Jesus simply meant that the Holy Spirit convicts lost sinners of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).

Titus 2:11-14, “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; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

What Matt Slick is foolishly preaching is that if you are saved, then God will automatically cause you to turn away from your sinning and follow Christ as the Lord of your life. It is nothing short of blaming God for the heresy of Lordship Salvation!

One of my favorite sermons by Pastor Jack Hyles is titled, "Your Salvation Did Not Change You A Bit." When you get born-again (saved), the ONLY thing you receive is the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Your character is still the same after you are saved, as it was before you were saved. When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, there is a transfer of ownership from Satan to God. You're now a child of the King!

But dear friend, just because you get saved doesn't mean your behavior will improve. I am so sick of this heresy in churches today, which says you're not saved unless you're behavior has changed. Pensacola Christian College teaches that Satanic garbage. Kindly, Matt Slick is wrong. He is errantly teaching a backdoor approach to Lordship Salvation. God doesn't repent for us. God doesn't force a Christian to follow Christ as his or her Lord.

And furthermore, regeneration does not precede faith as Matt teaches. You are born-again (regenerated) the moment you put your trust in the Lamb of God, not before. Paul Washer teaches the same junk theology that you must be regenerated before there is faith. That is unbiblical. 2nd Timothy 2:25-26, “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.” Carefully notice that the Bible teaches repentance is to acknowledge the truth, not turn away from your sins. Woe unto pastors who pervert God's simple plan of salvation by embellishing the Gospel.

Don't Corrupt The Gospel To Try To Force People To Live Right

Here is: 'The Crystal Clear Gospel Of Jesus Christ.' I highly recommend for you to read “I NEVER KNEW YOU” by my ministry friend, Michael P. Bowen. This book is a brilliant defense of the free grace Gospel. Please don't allow some suave false prophet to lead you astray from the true Gospel. Following Christ as your “Lord” has absolutely nothing to do with the new birth. It is a matter of discipleship (service), not of justification (salvation). It is the job of the local church to convert the lives of redeemed sinners, to make them useful to serve God.

The reason why millions of saved people are sitting idle at home today instead of serving God in the churches, is simply because pastors have failed to teach their congregation to mentor new converts. We need to invite people to come to church and then put them to work serving God. Sadly, when you attend 99% of churches today, you sit there and go home week after week, but there are no ministries to get involved serving God. There is no scheduled time to go soulwinning. There is no nursing home ministry. There is no sailor ministry. There is no public school ministry. There is no prison ministry. There is no truck-stop ministry. There is no bus ministry. When I attended Hyles-Anderson College between 1985 to 1993, the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, had 114 MINISTRIES!!! Praise God!

We don't need to corrupt the simplicity that is in Christ (which is the Gospel) to get people to live right. Pastors need to stop being lazy and teach their people to get busy for God. If churches have ministries, then people will come and get involved. I'm tired of attending McDonald's type churches. That is, you go in to get your stuff and then leave, and come back next time. There are no ministries to get involved. It is no secret why the First Baptist Church of Hammond under Dr. Jack Hyles' leadership from 1959 to 2001 grew to a membership of over 125,000 people! Those 114 soulwinning ministries work!

Preachers need to stop tampering with the Gospel. You get saved by trusting Jesus as your Savior, receiving His sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried but then resurrected bodily three days later. This is the Gospel (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). But just because you get saved doesn't guarantee that you will turn from your sinful bad habits, nor that you will follow Christ as the “Lord” of your life. We all continue living in sin, every last one of us (Romans 7:14-25).

I heard a great sermon today from 1979 by Pastor Jack Hyles called, "Don't Kick A Man When He Is Down." What a beautiful message! The very idea that getting saved will somehow guarantee you'll become less of a sinner is flawed. The only thing different after you get saved is that now you have God's Holy Spirit living inside of you, convicting you of the sin in your life. If you choose to walk in the Spirit, then you will depart from iniquity and live to please God. You will still falter daily and commit sin. We all do, even the best saints! But there are plenty of believers who choose not to walk in the Spirit, and they live carnal lives of gross immorality and wickedness (e.g., Lot, David, Esau, Samson, Solomon, Demas, Ananias and Sapphira, Peter, the couple fornicating in the church at Corinth, et cetera).

If pastors who stop playing church and start preaching against sin as they used to, we'd see revival across the nation. There is nothing wrong with the free grace Gospel, the problem today are corrupt pastors!