The Counterfeit Plan Of Salvation Of The First Baptist Church Of Pensacola

Galatians 1:6-10, “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. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”

Our nation's churches are in big trouble! I have been a Baptist since I was saved at age 13 in Chicago in 1980. As a Baptist, I am qualified to criticize Baptists who are departing from the faith. I know my own camp! Sadly, the Devil's perversion of Lordship Salvation has crept into MOST Baptist churches today, perverting the Gospel of free grace.

A Counterfeit Plan of Salvation At The FBCP

The following Statement of Faith is a quote from their website at the First Baptist Church of Pensacola (FBCP). Before I share the quote with you, let me say that I have visited their church dozens of times and I love the people there. Pastor Dave Snyder is a good man. He's originally from Missouri, and myself from Chicago, so were both from the Midwest. I like Pastor Snyder, who has been their pastor at FBCP since 2018. However, I humbly disagree with his teaching of Lordship Salvation, because I sincerely believe that the Bible disagrees with Lordship Salvation. To be saved you just need to take Jesus as your Savior!

The following is damnable heresy...

VI. Salvation
Since all persons are separated from God by sin and are in need of forgiveness, God offers the free gift of salvation. Each person must individually accept this gift, repent of sin, and place faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Ex 6:2-8; Matt 16:21-26; John 3:15-16; John 17:3; Rom 3:23; Rom 5:1; Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-9 SOURCE

BLASPHEMY!!! There are FOUR major problems with the preceding Statement of Faith:

1. The Gospel is not even mentioned. 1st Corinthians 15:1-6 defines “the gospel” as Jesus' death on the cross, burial and physical resurrection.
2. Nowhere does the inspired King James Bible teach that to get to Heaven you must “repent of sin.” Many of the modernized Bible revisions corrupt the Word of God, adding repentance from sins to be saved (Proverbs 30:5-6).
3. Nowhere does the  inspired King James Bible teach that to get to Heaven you must place faith in Jesus as your “LORD.” 1st Timothy 4:10b says Jesus is “the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.” You just need to trust Jesus as your personal Savior to be saved, not your Lord (which would mean that you must follow Christ in service to be saved). Many people followed Jesus in the Bible, but they were not saved (John 6:26).
4. Neither Exodus 6:2-8 or Matthew 16:21-26 have anything to do with getting saved. Matthew 16:21-26 is addressing discipleship, not sonship. Nowhere does the Holy Bible teach that you must follow Christ in service to get to Heaven. God specifically authored the Gospel of John to show us how to have eternal life (John 20:31).

Dear reader, ask yourself, where did the FBCP (and other false teachers today) get the wrong idea that you must do these extra biblical requirements to be saved? I am so sick and tired of religious people ADDING things to God's inspired Word. Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” It is a serious violation to tamper with God's Word. Again, you cannot show me anywhere in the inspired King James Bible where it says to “repent of sin” or “place faith in Jesus as your Lord” to be saved. Wicked, but well-meaning, people ADDED these things!

There are two main reasons why pastors today preach a counterfeit plan of salvation:

1. They have been adversely influenced by other corrupt preachers.
2. They have been adversely influenced by Satan's false bibles.

Peer pressure is a dangerous thing. The FBCP is 1 of 45,000 member churches in the apostate Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Sadly, most pastors and churches today prioritize prosperity over pleasing God. That is, they prioritize increasing their church attendance and keeping the money flowing in. The same sad thing is true of most religious colleges today, like Pensacola Christian College who also preach a counterfeit plan of salvation.

I thank God for doctrinally sound preachers like Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951), who wrote these edifying words:

“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …

Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”

SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the sermon: 'What Is The Gospel?'

Amen and amen! Bravo Pastor Harry Ironside!

God's Curse Is Upon Anyone Preaching Another Gospel

Sadly, Moody Ministries today (77 years after Dr. Ironside's pastorate ended in 1948) has become doctrinally corrupted by false prophets such as Dr. John MacArthur (Moody publishes all of MacArthur's new books and have repeatedly honored him at their Founder's Week for many years). John MacArthur plainly teaches a false plan of salvation in his heretical book titled, 'HARD TO BELIEVE.'

“There's no room for passive spectators: words without actions are empty and futile... The life we live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny" (Hard to Believe, p. 93).”

First, it is not hard to believe. The reason why most people aren't saved is NOT because it is hard; but rather, because they love their sins and won't come to Jesus to be saved (John 3:20; 5:40). It is a matter of unbelief and not of forsaking one's sinful bad habits. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). Jesus came to save us from our sins, not demand that we promise to reform as a condition of salvation.

The upright life that we try to live as believers is the FRUIT of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and not a part of the ROOT of saving faith (Galatians 5:22-25). We live righteousness because WE ARE saved (as we grow in grace), not as a requirement TO BE saved. The Holy Bible teaches that Jesus Christ lives the Christian life through us. Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The life we live cannot get us to Heaven, because God does NOT accept works of self-righteousness. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

We are saved by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (that is, Christ's robe of righteousness), and not our own. I try to live upright because I love my Lord and don't want to grieve Him. I fail horribly sometimes, and it makes me mad at myself, and I get up and ask God to help me to do much better. That's how the Christian life is lived, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Even the best Christians are still sinners who battle daily with the flesh.

Misunderstood Repentance: An Enemy Of Soulwinning (a doctrinally-sound book by Dr. Jack Hyles)

The word “repent” (metanoeo, such as in Mark 1:15, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel”), simply means “a change of mind.” Evangelist David Cloud errantly defines the meaning as “a change of mind that results in a change of life.” That's not what the Bible teaches. Biblically, a changed life is the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is not required for salvation.

I think Michael P. Bowen, in his excellent defense of the Christian faith titled, I NEVER KNEW YOU, says it best...

I am at eternal odds with the false, counterfeit messages of salvation-by-works that are taught from virtually every pulpit today, on every television channel, and on every Christian radio station; however, I am not at eternal odds with the individuals who preach these counterfeit messages. My heart literally goes out to all of them because they simply do not understand Christ’s plan of salvation. They have been lied to by a crafty enemy named Satan, whose sole aim is to take as many people with him to the lake of fire as he can possibly manage to steal away from God using a counterfeit plan of salvation that appears so real, so genuine, and so holy that few ever realize they have been deceived by it. Oh reader, so many of today’s professing Christians who think they are going to heaven when they die are not going to make it to heaven as they had assumed because they’ve been lied to by today’s error-filled gospel messages.

SOURCE: Michael Patrick Bowen, 'I NEVER KNEW YOU,' p. 17; © 2009, Xulonpress.com Hard Copies Available

A tree without fruit is still a tree with roots. This is evidenced by the parable of the sower and the seed in Luke 8:12-15. Of the four groups, only the first are unsaved, because the Devil removed the seed from their heart before it could sprout into new life. The second and third group represent believers who never mature to bear fruit (leading others to Christ). They never mature into fruit-bearing Christians because of shallow roots, or because they are choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of this life. Ah, but the fourth group mature, having an honest heart, keeping the Lord's Word, bearing much fruit unto Christ (John 15:1-7). Just because the second and third groups don't bear fruit doesn't mean that they are not saved, as Ray Comfort and David Cloud errantly teach.

Wrong Repentance = No Salvation
(MP3 by Pastor Hank Lindstrom, 1940-2008)

Most pastors today are full of pride, arrogant and unapproachable on the matter of correcting their false teachings. Dr. Jack Hyles was so right: “Unsought advice is seldom taken and usually resented.” So I don't waste my time trying to correct corrupt pastors, because I have been literally forced out of numerous churches when I did do.

When I lived in Guam for 17 years, I was listening to KMHG 88.1 FM, a local radio station broadcast by the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. While listening to their radio station, I heard the following wonderful statement: “A friend helps a friend to see.” Ironically, when I befriended their pastors at Harvest with the truth in 2014, they threw me under the bus! I showed them Scripturally that Lordship Salvation, Misunderstood Repentance and False Bibles are of the Devil.

I also kindly showed them that Martin Luther (1483-1546) taught the damnable heresy of Baptismal Regeneration all his life, and they ought not be promoting Mr. Luther as a born-again believer to their hundreds of students in their school. For trying to open the eyes of those wicked pastors at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, I was forced out of church and banned from returning! God will avenge my preaching in eternity. God knows that I pray incessantly for that glorious day of reckoning, when my truthful preaching will be justly vindicated! Martin Luther taught Sacramental Salvation and is sadly burning in Hell forever. No one goes to Heaven who adds trusting in water baptism to their faith in Christ (Acts 15:1).

My heart goes out to the First Baptist Church of Pensacola. It breaks my heart, it really does! The church had humble beginnings, originating back in 1848. What a beautiful heritage! Yet, like so many churches today, the FBCP have fallen prey to the neo-evangelical fallacies of Lordship Salvation, Misunderstood Repentance and the Devil's False Bibles.

There is only one Gospel dear reader. Either you must turn from your sinful bad habits to be saved, or you do not, but it cannot be both ways. Either you must follow Christ in obedient surrender in your daily life to make it to Heaven, or you don't, but it cannot be both. The Bible says that eternal life is the free gift of God (Romans 5:15-18). A gift cannot have any stipulations, requirements or demands, except that you simply take it by faith.

And let me also say, I sincerely think the reason why so many pastors are perverting the Gospel is in an attempt to force people to live a holy life. Although I can understand their frustration, that doesn't justify perverting God's simple plan of salvation. The reason why there are so many professed Christians today living wicked lives is not because of a shallow Gospel message; but rather, it is because cowardly pastors refuse to preach hard against sin—afraid of a bully Pulpit Committee or afraid of losing their career. Isaiah 58:1, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

The problem today is not insincere conversions; but rather, compromised preachers! Jeremiah 23:1-2, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.” The pastors weren't caring about the people! I have attended several Baptist churches around the city of Pensacola and am utterly disappointed in what I have found. People are sadly expendable in most Baptist churches.

I have visited FBCP numerous times since I moved to Pensacola in July of 2021, but not once has Pastor Snyder ever bothered to introduce himself to me. Not once has their pastor even shaken my hand. I have attended numerous Wednesday evening services, enjoying eating a meal with some of the people. I went to their Christmas Candle Service on Christmas Eve in 2024. I had a good time...

1. https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/FBCP_01-12242024.jpg
2. https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/FBCP_02-12242024.jpg
3. https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/FBCP_03-12242024.jpg
4. https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/FBCP_04-12242024.jpg
5. https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/FBCP_05-12242024.jpg
6. https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/FBCP_06-12242024.jpg
7. https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/FBCP_07-12242024.jpg

I attended the FBCP picnic at Bayview Park for the past two years in the spring. They are some of the best people you'll find. The FBCP does a lot of good works to help the poor, hurting and needy, but none of that matters since they are WRONG on the Gospel. There are not variations of the Gospel. The Apostle Paul warned that there is only ONE GOSPEL (Galatians 1:6-7). In hundreds of Scripture passages we are told to simply BELIEVE ON JESUS to have everlasting life. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

I triple-dog dare you friend to show me one place in the inspired King James Bible where it says to repent of sin to get to Heaven. Acts 20:21 says to repent toward God. 2nd Timothy 2:25 says to repentance to acknowledge the truth. But nowhere does the Bible teach to repent of your sin, or to turn from your sin, to be saved.

A commonly misinterpreted Scripture passage is Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Carefully notice the invitation to “RETURN” unto the Lord. This passage is addressed to backslidden Israel, not lost sinners. It never ceases to amaze me how people will totally ignore the entire Gospel of John, which doesn't teach to turn from sin or follow Jesus as Lord to be saved. The Book of John is God's Gospel tract (John 20:31).

I love what Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) wisely said: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” It is poor scholarship and just plain wrong to base a doctrine on a single passage of Scripture while ignoring dozens of clear passages. 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.”

Again and again we are taught in the inspired Holy Bible to simply BELIEVE ON JESUS to be saved. That is, to believe on the 'GOOD NEWS' of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day (1st Corinthians 15:1-6; 1st Thessalonians 4:14). So, where in the world do preachers get the erroneous deception that you cannot be saved unless you are willing to first forsake your sinful bad habits, and surrender to follow Jesus as “Lord” of your life from now on? Their neo-evangelical poison may sound good to the carnal mind, but it is completely unscriptural my friend.

Good works are not the payment for sin, the payment for sin is death.

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.

A Double Standard Exists At The FBCP

I visited their Contemporary Service last year at the FBCP. They also have a Traditional Service at a later time every Sunday. The Contemporary Service is way too contemporary for me (with their electric guitars, boring modern religious music and emotionalism). And the Traditional Service is way to traditional for me (with their lifeless deeper-life Episcopalian type hymns and formal worship of which they pride themselves).

I attended their Discover Class for potential new members by request in 2022. I was encouraged at first, when the associate pastor who held the class said that the church simply believes that you get saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Tragically, several weeks later when I attended one of their Traditional Services, Pastor Snyder broke my heart by preaching hardcore Lordship Salvation. I cringed as I lowered my head in my pew in disappointment. What is wrong with pastors today? Why don't they search the Scriptures as Jesus commanded in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

Pastor Dave Snyder preaches for both services. He wears blue-jeans for the Contemporary Service, and a suit for the Traditional Service. I heard Pastor Snyder last year announce at the end of a service that a 12 year old boy had been saved that morning, by deciding to become a Christ follower. Ladies and gentlemen, that is NOT how you get to Heaven! Matthew 7:21-23 tells the story of a group of people who followed Christ—who did many wonderful works in Jesus' name, who prophesied (preached) in Jesus' name—yet the dear Savior Himself rebuked them, calling them all WORKERS OF INIQUITIY, and they went to Hell forever in their sins. You see friend, you cannot merit your way to Heaven by becoming a Christ follower, you must be BORN AGAIN (John 3:1-7).

According to John 6:40, the will of God the Father is for you to BELIEVE ON JESUS to be saved. There is no other way to enter into God's Kingdom, except through faith in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:10-12). You must place your childlike faith in the GOOD NEWS (i.e., the Gospel) that Jesus is the Christ—the only begotten (biological) Son of God—who died in your place on the cross of Calvary. He was buried and then three days later resurrected from the dead. Jesus raised up forevermore as every believer's heavenly High Priest (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:14-16). All you need to do to be saved is simply BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Acts 16:30-31). Just believe that Jesus did it all for you!

Sadly, they have a Double Standard at the FBCP. What was told to me in their Discovery Class in 2022, does not match up to what Pastor Snyder actually teaches from the pulpit. Their website confirms what the church believes and teaches, which I have refuted in this important blog article. Folks, RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!

You Don't Have To “Repent Of Sin” To Be Saved

I love what Pastor M.R. DeHaan (1891-1965) said on the issue...

"There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer, while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel, to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our faithfulness." —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, “Hebrews”; Zondervan Publishing House; 1959 (p. 117)

John Bunyan (1628-1688) fully understood the dire consequences of mixing sanctification (service) with justification (salvation)...

“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —Evangelist John Bunyan

They are not able to rightly divide the Word of Truth at the FBCP, because they have refused to make a distinction between salvation (Galatians 3:26) and service (Romans 12:1). Until you settle it once and for all in your mind that sanctification has nothing to do with justification, you will continue to wallow in confusion, doubt and worry about eternal life.

By faith alone in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, I became a born again child of God in 1980 at age 13. It doesn't matter how I choose to live my life, as far as going to Heaven is concerned. We will all be held accountable by God in eternity for the choices that we make on earth (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Romans 14:10-12). Some believers will receive no rewards (1st Corinthians 3:11-15), because they didn't earn them (1st Corinthians 3:7-9). Others will shine as the stars forever, cherishing their many converts (Daniel 12:3).

The life that we live now on earth is strictly a matter of Civil Court and potential rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Revelation 13:14; 2nd Corinthians 5:1-11). The unsaved damned will be tried in Criminal Court at the Great White Throne of Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). Oh to God, that churches today would embrace the biblical truth that eternal life is the free gift of God, which is without works.

Sadly, most Baptist colleges and churches today have adopted the demonic lie that the unbiblical requirement to forsake a lifestyle of sinning is not works, but it definitely is salvation by works. Jonah 3:10, “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” The people of Nineveh did not get saved, they merely repented of their sins.

Did you know that Judas in the Bible repented of his sins? Matthew 27:3-4, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.” Judas was sorry (penitence) for what he had done to betray Jesus. Judas even returned the 30 pieces of silver (penance). He was a changed man (reformation). Judas changed his mind about his sins. But tragically, Judas failed to repent of his unbelief, which is the only sin that can keep someone out of Heaven. Judas hung himself and died in his sin of unbelief. Judas sadly went to Hell to burn forever. He could have been saved, but Judas didn't believe Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the Christ (John 20:31).

God knows my heart, that I hold no animosity toward the FBCP. I know a few people there, whom I feel sorry for, having been blinded by deceived religious leaders. The FBCP take in about $5,000,000 annually in revenue. The church pays an annual fee of $50,000 just to continue being a member of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). What a waste of money! I wouldn't join the ungodly SBC even if they paid me $50,000 a year!

The inspired Holy Bible warns in Galatians 1:6-7 that there is a curse upon anyone who preaches ANOTHER GOSPEL. Argue as some people will, the fact remains that nowhere does the Bible teach you must repent of your sins, or trust Jesus as your Lord, to get to Heaven. Hopefully this won't seem like a trifle matter to you dear reader. If you've been paying attention, they you know that the Gospel is being embellished everywhere today. There is a drastic difference between teaching that Christ died for our sins, versus teaching that God won't save you unless you're first willing to forsake a lifestyle of sinning. The former is grace, the latter is works. Romans 4:4, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” True salvation only comes to the individual who rests solely in Christ's redemptive work apart from all else (Hebrews 4:10-11).