Please Remember My Health Afflictions In Your Prayers

Psalms 145:9, “The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

Please keep me in your prayers. I don't mention my own suffering very often, because I want to stay focused on the things of God. I was rear-ended by a full-sized 72 passenger school bus in 1992 while driving a church bus for the Lord, at the First Baptist Church of Hammond. I was also driving a full-sized bus. Someone irresponsibly left an abandoned car on the roadway, which set up the accident involving three church buses from Hammond. I slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting the car, but the guy behind me wasn't paying attention. The driver struck our bus so hard that his bus was totaled. His engine and transmission were shattered into hundreds of pieces on the ground. Vehicle fluids were everywhere.

At least two dozen ambulances came to the accident scene. The head of the bus worker sitting in the back seat of the bus went through the window. I saw blood and a big hole in the glass. The insurance company didn't even try to repair the other bus, they just bought a brand new bus for the Illinois Bus Company. Bus director Danny Club said it was the second to worst accident in the history of the First Baptist Church of Hammond. The worst was when a boy stuck his head out the window, and as the bus dipped over the curb leaving the church parking lot, his head was pinched between a telephone pole and the bus, and he died. His mother was sitting right behind him, spattered with his blood. It is so heartbreaking.

That's why there are rules not to lower the window below the halfway line, but I could mention some names (but I won't) of men that I went to school with, who are pastoring today, who broke the rules all the time. It sickens me still today, 35 years later. I actually had one bus captain ask me to drive the church bus over train tracks while the lights were flashing and the gates were down. I refused to do it. Sadly, a lot of young guys are IDIOTS!

Anyway, my driver's seat was broken off its hinges. Try to imagine the amount of blunt force energy required to pass through the chassis of a 72 passenger full-sized school bus, to break the driver's seat off its hinges. I went to the hospital and they took x-rays, but they weren't trained to look for misalignment of my spine. Nothing was broken, but my neck was crooked, and I didn't know it at the time. That misalignment of my cervical (neck) spine 12 years later led to Degenerative Cervical Disk Disease (which essentially means my neck is falling apart slowly as I grow older).

After 4 months of taking my money and doing nothing, I told the chiropractor that enough was enough. So, he sent me to Chicago MRI in 2004 and they diagnosed me with protruding disks at C4-C5-C6-C7. My chronic burning neck pain and stiff tension literally started over night. I had experienced mild tension previously, but it became much worse in February of 2004.

I wasn't a candidate for neck surgery at the time, because I didn't have any radiating pain, yet. In 2005, I tumbled 15 feet down a mailslide at the U.S. postal Service. Some packages on a conveyor belt had buckled, breaking two fluorescent bulbs. I worked in maintenance and was called to replace the bulbs, which I did. The packages had been sticking to the slide, so my boss in his infinite wisdom handed me some baby powder to give mail processing to make the packages slide better. Well, I slipped on the baby powder and as they say, "The rest is history!" I fell hard which worsened my existing neck injury. I now felt sharp radiating pain down both arms, and 80% on the right side of my body. I was then a candidate for surgery.

By 2009 I couldn't take the pain anymore radiating down my right arm. So I had my first Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) surgery done at Cedar's Sinai in Los Angels. I lived on the island of Guam at the time. My primary care doctor on Guam said afterwards that they did the bare minimum, so in 2010 I had the surgery redone in Long Beach, California. That second surgery made me 100% worse, leaving both of my arms feeling inflated with air all the time. My right leg still today goes numb and the whole right side of my body feels half asleep all the time.

The constant agonizing osteoarthritic pain in the bony area of the back of my neck is debilitating. I also suffer from constant neck tension, which I've had for 34 years now. I had totally forgotten about the rear-end collision in 1992, and I remember that at work I used to often wonder why my neck was so tense, when nothing was wrong to make me tense. I had totally forgotten about the whiplash. After the accident, for about 2 weeks it felt like an iron rod was put inside my neck. I felt horrible tight tension until the trauma of the accident had diminished, and then I forgot about the accident, not realizing that my spine was misaligned.

It wasn't until 2004 that a chiropractor told me what had happened, and showed me from an x-ray that I have what is medically known as, "Reverse Cervical Curve." That abnormal alignment on my cervical spine caused the junction between the cervical and thorax spine to eventually deteriorate, which injury is permanent.

I also suffer from constant burning nerves throughout my upper body, which very unpleasant feeling I cannot express in words. It feels like I am on fire, not fire fire, but nerve fire. Both of my arms still feel pumped up with air, doubled in size all the time. I suffer from neck atrophy (stiffness), sometimes scraping the bald top of my head when I get into my car. I have to do regular stretching exercising to prevent further atrophy. There is no medical cure for my adverse afflictions. I've undergone 5 months of torturous physical therapy, 3 useless steroid injections, multiple worthless TENS unit, useless cold and hot packs, non helpful multiple chiropractors, two major surgeries that made me much worse, et cetera. I have prayed hundreds of times over the decades for the good LORD to heal me, but this is my thorn in the flesh. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

To make matters worse, doctors are afraid of the government today. At one time on Guam (around 2011) I was prescribed 140 mg daily of OxyContin (and another 60 mg of Morphine Sulfate). The good ole days! Now, in Pensacola, Florida, the only pain doctor I could find who would accept me as a patient only prescribes 40 mg a day, which is not near enough pain drugs. Thankfully, she also prescribes 2 pills of Percocet 10/325, which helps for 5 hours a day. I have no complaints to the dear LORD. I see miserable people completely paralyzed in wheel chairs and hospital beds, totally incapacitated. So I count my lucky stars and bless the LORD. Pastor Jack Hyles said that when palsied people came to counsel with him, sometimes after they left he would jump up and down, praising and thanking God for his health.

By the time Dr. Hyles reached his 70's, he suffered from 10 different medical afflictions. He wore hearing aids in both ears. He had a hernia that he never had fixed and died with it. he suffered from cataracts in both eyes. He had a physical heart condition, which he learned about the very same day that his dear grandson was sadly killed in an accident in Florida. Brother Hyles had health issues with his feet. As we grow older, we collect injuries, scars and health problems. It's just the way of life. King David in the Bible speaks of his rotting teeth, the stench of his disease (likely venereal disease from all his philandering with women) and his poor eyesight. Getting old is no fun.

That all being said my ministry friends, please remember me in your prayers. I am hurting much. I rarely feel like going onto social media. I have had to kindly tell several dozen people on social media that I do not "chat" online. I don't have the patience for pen pals, buddies or making small talk online. I welcome and love answering Bible questions, by God's grace, but due to my health afflictions I don't have the energy to chat with people in conversation. I do it from time to time randomly, but try to avoid it as a practice.

One of my favorite sermons by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) is titled, “The Patient Waiting Of Christ,” in which he talks about having a burden that will never go away. My heath afflictions are permanent, 'til death do us part. It is only God's grace that sustains me day by day...

James 5:10-11, “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

Gratefully, God has given me the perfect website ministry, which I can work on night or day at my leisure. I can and often do walk away from my computer just to go lay down. I need a calm harbor in my life more than anything.

I just turned 59 years old, by God's goodness and grace, and I simply cannot process chaos like I could in my 30's. I live a simple life. I don't sign anything unless I have to. I check my mailbox once a week. I never answer my phone, I let T-Mobile's Voice Mail record all incoming messages. I have a sweet deal with T-Mobile. I only pay $15 a month for unlimited calls and text. I bought my Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus on Amazon refurbished for $250 and love it. I digress.

I rarely feel like doing anything, going anywhere or being around people. It is difficult for me to sit though a church service. I have to make myself doing anything. I love playing stringed instruments, but rarely feel like playing them. I have to make myself do it, but can only play for awhile before I need to stop and go rest. I push myself on some days, but due to my pain and related bodily afflictions I am easily irritated and frustrated. One of my all-time favorite sermons by Pastor Jack Hyles is titled, "At First You Just Exist."

I think about that sermon probably more than any other sermon by Brother Hyles, because it is very applicable to my life. Oftentimes I just have to exist, even though I don't want to. I am not suicidal, I just want to go home to be with Jesus. Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” You won't hear me often complaining about my health afflictions. First, it doesn't make anything better. Second, people don't want to hear it all the time. Third, I have spent the past 24 years of website ministry focusing on helping others, which has given me strength to keep going for Christ. David said in 1st Samuel 17:29b, “Is there not a cause?” Yes, there is a cause and by God's grace I am fulfilling it for my dear Savior. Colossians 4:17, “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.” One day at a time!

Thank you for visiting my Facebook page and for reading my rants and posts. Also, for those of you who regularly visit my ministry Facebook page, blogs and websites, you know that I can get emotionally upset sometimes, which shows in my writings. I am a musician and musicians are emotional people. That is what drew me to the pedal steel guitar, because it is such an expressive instrument.

Add to that my health afflictions which cause constant pain, burning and suffering and it's not difficult to see why I get so upset at times. But I am doing the best I can by God's grace. I have always believed that when I get upset, that God is glad to see that someone else cares enough about right doctrine, the purity of the Holy Bible and the accuracy of the Gospel to get worked up and angry over it. Throughout the Bible God often got angry. He wanted to kill the Hebrews at Mount Sinai. The Lord wanted to kill Moses for not circumcising his son. God has a righteous temper (Psalms 6:1). Dr. Hyles had a righteous temper. God pity the Bible preacher who never gets angry over sin, heresy and corruption.

My constant debilitating burning neck pain, inexplicable horrible burning nerves, the right side of my body feeling half asleep all the time, stiff neck tension, adverse drug side effects and related bodily afflictions keep me humble in the LORD. God is faithful (1st Corinthians 1:9). Trying to explain to others what I am suffering through is like trying to describe what it feels like to get hit by a car versus getting hit by a car yourself. There is no comparison!

Thank you for your patience with this broken fundamentalist Bible preacher. Fundamentalists are much hated by ungodly neo-evangelicals today. That is why I have been kicked out of most of the churches I have attended over the past 15 years, including Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College and Family Baptist Church in Pensacola. Devils in the pulpit! Neo-evangelicals don't care! They're in the ministry for the income, not the outcome (Romans 16:17-18).

Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) was so right...

“You can't love anybody until you love everybody!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “The Test Of Spiritual Maturity”

My favorite preacher, Brother Hyles, used to often sing this precious song to encourage the church and Hyles-Anderson College students, which I often sing myself... 

My Lord Knows The Way
Through The Wilderness;
All I Have To Do Is Follow.

My Lord Knows The Way
Through The Wilderness;
All I Have To Do Is Follow.

Strength For Today Is Mine Always,
And All That I Need For Tomorrow;

My Lord Knows The Way
Through The Wilderness;
All I Have To Do Is Follow.

My Lord Knows The Way

Actor Chuck Norris Preached A 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.”

I was looking back in 2016 at Hollywood actor Chuck Norris' (1940-2026) website, at a resource page titled “FREE GIFT” (his website no longer exists, but I will leave these dead links as evidence that they once existed). Chuck Norris was a professed Christian. Although I admire Chuck's good reputation and his work to help youth, he was theological wrong in some of the things he taught.

First, repentance concerning salvation is always defined as “a change of mind,” and never to “turn from sins.” Mr. Norris has been deceived no doubt by some of today's apostate religious leaders. On Chuck Norris' website (see quote below) they teach the heresy, “If you are willing to repent of your sin, He is waiting to forgive you.” That is not THE GOSPEL. Where in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 are we told that we must be willing to forsake sinful bad habits and cease from intentional sinful behavior? My friend, at best, the only thing you could do is replace your sins with self-righteousness (which is a sin too)!!! Kindly, Mr. Norris has it wrong!

Here is a more lengthy quote:

“Jesus died for you. You can be saved by asking Him for forgiveness from your sins. If you are willing to repent of your sin, He is waiting to forgive you. It doesn't matter what you have done in the past, if you cry out to Jesus for forgiveness, He will not reject you. The word 'repent' literally means 'to turn away from.' You need to look at your life, admit that you are a sinner, genuinely desire to turn your back on that sin, and ask Him to forgive you. If you do this, He promises to forgive you.”

SOURCE: Chuck Norris, personal website, Christian resource Page: 'Free Gift' (these are now dead links, but there is no reason to believe that Chuck Norris recanted any of these heretical beliefs)

Mr. Norris fails to understand that we don't need to ask Jesus to forgive our sins, but that error in itself won't prevent someone from being saved. But to be biblically accurate, Jesus Christ has already paid for everyone sins on the cross with His precious blood. Therefore, forgiveness is a “gift” that we simply receive to have eternal life.

But more importantly, the word “repent” does not literally mean “to turn away from.” This false understanding can and will prevent the new birth, because it is DEBT incurred by WORKS, not grace. Romans 4:4, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” God does not require anyone to “turn away from” sinful behavior to receive what He has already paid for in full on the cross. Kindly said, Chuck Norris makes three damnable statements, by requiring the unbiblical forsaking of your sinful behavior to get to Heaven:

1. If you are willing to repent of your sin.
2. The word 'repent' literally means 'to turn away from.'
3. Genuinely desire to turn your back on that sin.

No Sir, that is not the Gospel presented by the Apostle Paul (which Gospel Paul received directly from Jesus according to Galatians 1:12)...

1st Corinthians 15:16, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”

Now that is the biblical Gospel (which word means “Glad Tidings” or “Good News”). The Gospel is three things (none of which involve turning away from your sinful behavior)...

1. Jesus DIED on a cross to pay our debt of sin.
2. Jesus was BURIED (verifying that He was indeed deceased).
3. Jesus RESURRECTED physically from the dead three days later.

The Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract according to 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.” Yet, not once do we find any mentioned of repenting, following, submitting, confessing, serving or turning from your sins to get to Heaven. We do find the word “believe” mentioned in the Gospel of John 85 times. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

Chuck Norris no doubt followed what some dingleberry neo-evangelical preacher errantly taught him. To the carnal mind it makes sense that you cannot expect God to forgive your sins when you have no intention of forsaking them. But that is not a gift! Such a requirement to turn from your sinning would make salvation an exchange, a trade of sorts. A “gift” means that you simply take something. I never hear corrupt neo-evangelicals focus on salvation being a gift. I never hear them talk about the imputed righteousness of God.

In fact, in Ray Comfort's 'THE EVIDENCE BIBLE' (2011), he fails to even comment on any of the eight New Testament Bible passages which mention the word “impute.” The damnable heresy that God will not save you unless you first commit to forsake your sinful bad habits is of the Devil. No such requirement is taught in the inspired King James Bible. Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) nails repentance in this helpful sermon excerpt.

By the way, I cannot warn you enough to stay away from all modern English Bible revisions. The publishers are all blatant liars, who despite claiming that they used the most reliable ancient texts, their work is just another Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort clone. Case in point, the Amplified Bible (AMP) removes all eight mentions of the word “impute“” from the New Testament. With this tragic fact in mind, it is not hard to see why Ray Comfort never once comments in his Bible commentary on the great doctrine of imputation in God' Word. Ray is using the Devil's corrupt seed. Please use only the inspired King James Bible.

The truth is that to be saved you simply come to God as a wretched sinner, just as I am without one plea, and you freely accept by faith (taking God at His written Word) Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, but then raised up from the dead the third day. That's all that God requires. This is the only Gospel by which all who BELIEVE IT are saved (Romans 1:16). Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

Wicked Men Changed The Bible Meaning Of Repentance

So, where in the world did religious men everywhere in the world get the faulty unbiblical idea that you cannot get to Heaven unless you are willing to forsake your sinful bad habits? They got it from the Devil, that's where. All of the modern corrupt Bible revisions tamper with the Scriptures, redefining “repentance” to mean forsaking you sinful ways, rather than leaving it alone to simply mean “a change of mind” (Greek noun: metanoia). Here is an example of how the Devil's modern perversions have corrupted the true meaning of repentance.

King James Bible (KJB) - 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.” 

[emphasis added]

Easy-To-Read Version (ERV) - Hebrews 6:1, “So we should be finished with the beginning lessons about Christ. We should not have to keep going back to where we started. We began our new life by turning away from the evil we did in the past and by believing in God.” [emphasis added]

Whoa! What gross incompetence by the ERV translators! The trustworthy King James Bible teaches to repent from DEAD WORKS. That is, all self-righteous works that you have been foolishly trusting in to get you to Heaven, which includes good works and bad works alike. Turning away from your sins to be saved would fall under DEAD WORKS! Salvation is WITHOUT WORKS (Romans 4:5-7). To turn from your bad works is a good work!

The ERV blatantly perverts the truth of God's Word, requiring the reader to TURN AWAY FROM THE EVIL YOU DID IN THE PAST. Ladies and gentlemen, that is 100% WORKS; not God's saving GRACE, which is by childlike faith alone in the Gospel. The ERV is of the Devil, as corrupt as can be concerning God's simple plan of salvation. I have shown you just one of Satan's perverted Bible revisions today, but there are hundreds of similar corrupt English versions being sold on the market today. It is filthy lucre and blood money! RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

 

In this lame video, Chuck Norris in no way indicates that he has ever been born again. I seriously question whether the 86-year-old actor went to Heaven. YouTube is filled with similar lame say-nothing-of-essence type videos featuring Chick Norris' so-called Christian testimony. I cannot say with any certainty that Mr. Norris went to Hell, but neither can I say that he didn't. I do know of a certainty on the authority of God's inspired Word, that what Chuck Norris posted on his personal website in 2016 is a counterfeit plan of salvation; a false gospel that simply cannot produce the required new birth to enter into God's Kingdom (John 3:1-7).

Chuck Norris tragically adhered to the Roman Catholic definition of repentance, not the true biblical Greek meaning. In Acts 20:21, the Holy Bible speaks of “repentance toward God.” Who says repentance means “to turn away from”? Why not toward God? Friend, repentance is toward God from unbelief. It may be that a man's sinful ways hinder him from coming to Christ to be saved (John 3:20). But that sinner doesn't need to repent from his sins to be saved, he needs to repent TOWARD GOD from his unbelief, believing the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and bodily risen from the dead the third day! 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

When a man “repents,” he thinks differently. He acknowledges that he is a guilty sinner in need of a Savior. He believes the Gospel by faith to be saved. The entire notion of a man turning away from sins to be saved is self-righteousness—a works-based plan of salvation which does not produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God.

Galatians 3:2, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Notice carefully in the preceding Scripture passage that no mention is made of “turning from sins” nor of “being willing to turn from sins” to be saved. No, rather, we are saved by simply receiving the Gospel by faith when we hear it preached. It is that simple to be saved. On the Day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter preached the Gospel and 3,000 souls were saved in one day. Acts 2:41, “Then they that gladly received his word...” Those 3,000 sinners got saved by simply BELIEVING the Good News about Jesus' crucifixtion, burial and resurrection which they heard Peter preach unto them.

Likewise in Acts chapter 10 regarding Cornelius the Italian centurion. The Apostle Peter never told Cornelius and his companions to do anything. Peter simply preached the light of the truth of the Gospel unto them and they were saved they moment that they believed it. Acts 10:44, “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.” They put their faith in the Gospel they heard and were immediately saved and indwelt with the Holy Spirit, which is also what Galatians 3:2 means, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

John 3:20, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” Repentance is not “from sins”; but rather, from the “unbelief” that has been hindering you from being saved. Carefully notice in John 3:21a that the Bible doesn't say, “but he that turneth from his sins cometh to the light.” No, it says, “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light...” I humbly think Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951) said it best...

“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)

Amen and amen, I fully agree.

Mark 6:6 and 12, “And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching. ... And they went out, and preached that men should repent.” You don't need to pray to be saved. The Scriptures tell us that whosoever BELIEVES is saved. 1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

Right Doctrine Matters

Beware of all the dangerous false teachers nowadays which tell you to: “Invite Jesus into your life,” “Ask Jesus into your heart,” “Confess Christ before men,” “Turn from sins,” “Follow Christ,” “Pray a Sinner's Prayer,” “Have a relationship with Jesus” and “Say 'Jesus is Lord'” to be saved. None of these things constitute “the Gospel.” Here's a helpful writing by Pastor Harry Ironside titled, 'WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?'

The Gospel... The Gospel... The Gospel.

Let that be our proclamation!!! We must refute the popular false teachings nowadays to “Invite Jesus into your life,” “Commit your life to Christ,” “Ask Jesus into your heart,” “Pray a Sinner's Prayer,” “Say 'Jesus is Lord'” and “Follow Christ” to be saved. Again, none of these things constitute THE GOSPEL. You may do all these things and yet split Hell wide open when you enter into eternity!!! Satan is smarter than any man. The Devil knows that the best way to take people to Hell is to substitute religion in their life for THE GOSPEL (Matthew 7:21-23). Here is an excellent writing by Dr. Harry Ironside titled, “WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?” Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again.

We can only hope that Chuck Norris went to Heaven. Since the only salvation testimony that I could find from Chuck Norris is of him requiring forsaking your sinful behavior to be saved, I doubt his salvation. That is not the Gospel. God does not allow variations of His simple plan of salvation, and if He does, then how much can someone be off the mark concerning the Gospel and still be saved? What about Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church of Christ, Seventh-Day Adventists and Roman Catholics who require water baptism to get to Heaven? Are they still saved even though they are in error concerning the Gospel?

How about those who add keeping sacraments to faith, which Lutherans are guilty of doing? Does God cut them some slack because they are sincere in their ignorance? I humbly think not dear reader. What saith the Scripture? Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” If God were to allow an exception for some, but not for others, then He would be a respect of persons. God is not a respecter of persons (Romans 2:11). I contend biblically that the moment you add anything to trust alone in Christ alone, you have perverted the Gospel and cannot be saved.

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU. The sad fact that Chuck Norris thought it was necessary to cease from his past sinful behavior to get to Heaven, is not the Gospel taught in the inspired King James Bible. The bottom line dear reader is that what Chuck Norris teaches concerning how to get saved, doesn't match what Jesus teaches in the Bible concerning how to get to Heaven. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!

I fully understand that Chuck Norris was not a Bible preacher or theologian, which is exactly why people like him ought not teach others the inspired Word of God, which they do unto their own destruction and the destruction of those who follow them (2nd Peter 3:16-17). I am glad that Chuck took his website down. I tried to find out why Mr. Norris removed his website, but couldn't find any information.

I tried today to find a clear salvation testimony on social media from Chuck Norris, but there is nothing. I found this article that says Chuck gave his life to Christ at age 12, but that is not the Gospel. Judas Iscariot also gave his life to Christ too, and is burning in the fires of Hell forever. The false prophets in Matthew 7:21-23 cast out Devils, just like Judas was given power by Christ to do in Matthew 11:1.

In all his video testimonies, Chuck Norris merely says that in Hollywood he wandered away from his childhood faith which was instilled in him by his mother, and then decades later his second wife Gena influenced him to return to his childhood faith. But Norris fails to tells the world what he actually has faith in, other than Jesus. Every pseudo-Christian religious cult believes in Jesus! The only testimony that we have to go on is from Chuck's website in 2016, which was unfortunately a counterfeit plan of salvation.

According to Conservative Underground News...

“Chuck Norris accepted Christ at age 12 at Calvary Baptist Church, then rededicated his life as a young man at a Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles.” SOURCE

On their website for Calvary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, where Chuck Norris claims he was saved as a 12-year-old boy, here is what they write about repentance...

“We believe that repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God prompted by the Holy Spirit; that it is characterized by godly sorrow for sin as offensive to God and ruinous to the soul; and that the true repentance is inseparably needed and related to saving faith. We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition to salvation.” SOURCE

Show me that in the inspired King James Bible! In fact, Bible repentance is “a change of mind,” period. We don't even know what to change our mind about from the word alone, supplemental information is needed. The context of a particular Scripture passage, and comparing Scripture with Scripture, provides that supplemental information.

When the Apostle Peter preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his companions in Acts chapter 10, the word “repent” was never mentioned even once. In fact, you won't find the word “  ” mentioned even once in the entire Gospel of John, which was written for the express purpose of showing the reader how to go to Heaven (John 20:31). In Acts chapter 16, where Paul and Silas show the Philippian jailer at Rome how to be saved, the word “repent” is never mentioned even once. Dear reader, it couldn't be more clear from the inspired Word of God that repentance is automatically included in believing the Gospel. That is, you have changed your mind from unbelief to belief.

Evangelist Alexander Marshall (1846-1928) gets repentance absolutely correct...

“I HAVE NOT REPENTED ENOUGH”

What do you mean? “I am not sorry enough for my sins.”

And if you were very sorry, would God be more willing to save you than He is now? “I think so.”

Then you are completely mistaken.

“But does it not say, unless we repent we shall perish?”

Yes; but what do you think is the Scriptural significance of “repentance”? If you say “sorrow for sin” you are wrong. It does not mean sorrow for sin: it means a CHANGE OF MIND (Matt. 21:29). This change will doubtless produce sorrow; but sorrow and repentance are two very different things (Heb. 12:17. margin, and II Cor. 7:9). When God calls on you to “repent, and believe the Gospel,” He wishes you to lay aside your wrong thoughts, and believe the glad tidings that He proclaims to you. Formerly you may have imagined that you were required to feel very sorry before being saved. Change your mind. You may have supposed you must first “feel” some great change in order to know you were saved. Change your mind. First believe in God's great love to you, as revealed in His gospel, and you will KNOW that you have eternal life (John 5:24).

Yes, that is excellent. Alexander Marshall is 100% correct! Yet, some unlearned heretical person changed his tract, completely removing the preceding section on repentance (that I just quoted) from the work, “God's Way Of Salvation.” Marshall plainly says that sinners are saved by BELIEVING THE GOSPEL, that is, he says: “to lay aside your wrong thoughts [Repentance], and believe the glad tidings [Gospel] that He proclaims to you.” That is absolutely biblically CORRECT!!! Bravo to this dear saint of God!

I Hope Chuck Norris Repented Of His Wrong Repentance

You cannot biblically say that Chuck Norris came close enough in his salvation beliefs, and so God understands and will let him slide; because if that were true then Roman Catholics (who are very sincere) with their Seven Sacraments (sacramental salvation) would be saved too. But I assure you on biblical authority they are not! There are no extenuating circumstances in God's courtroom when it comes to the Gospel. You either have the Gospel facts right, or you are damned for trusting in ANOTHER GOSPEL (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4).

I cannot say with any certainty that Chuck Norris went to Hell. But I can say upon the authority of the inspired Scripture that what Mr. Norris posted on his personal website in 2016 is a false gospel which cannot produce the required new birth to enter into God's Kingdom. Not one verse in the inspired King James Bible teaches that to get to Heaven you must first be sorry for your sins and be willing to forsake them. That is not how salvation works!

The correct biblical mindset is that you simply come to God by faith (taking God at His written Word) as a wretched sinner, and you accept Christ's sacrificial death on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that Jesus was buried (proving that He was indeed dead), and then physically resurrected from the dead three days later (because if Christ didn't raise up then our faith is in vain and He cannot save us). This is the official and only “Gospel” according to 1st Corinthians 15:1-6.

And then the moment you become born again, God gives you the gift of His Holy Spirit to indwell, teach, comfort, guide, chastise and seal you permanently. The change has nothing to do with the sinner! This is where neo-evangelicals have gone horribly wrong! They require the sinner to be sorry and willing to change their behavior to be saved, placing the burden upon the sinner's shoulders instead of upon Christ who died for our sins on Calvary's cross.

A changed life has nothing to do with repentance or getting saved. A changed life is the “fruit” of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25). But we have a daily choice as saints to either by default walk in the carnal flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), or to deliberately walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). No child of God chooses to walk in the Holy Spirit 100% of the time. Although I can walk in the Spirit at any given time, I won't always make that right choice because I am still a dirty sinner (and so are you). The Apostle Paul is very transparent in Romans 7:14-25, admitting that he loses the struggle between good and evil on a regular basis.

In other words, just because you are saved (alive in the Spirit), DOES NOT guarantee that you will walk in the Spirit. The world is full of carnal, worldly, immature and backslidden believers (1st Corinthians 3:1). This is correct theology. “Your Salvation Did Not Change You A Bit” (a helpful sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles).

Most professed Christians are wrong on God's simple plan of salvation, as was Chuck Norris. Only Chuck and God knows where he went in the afterlife. I know that a lot of people are going to be upset with me for questioning Mr. Norris' salvation, because he was a good man. He lived above reproach and spent his life helping and mentoring troubled young men, and I admire him tremendously for that. I don't think you could find a better man than Chuck Norris. But consider that Cornelius was also a good man in the Bible, but lost (Acts 10:1-2). Cornelius didn't get saved until Acts 10:44. So, just because Chick Norris was a good man doesn't mean that he was saved. Please understand that I didn't write this blog to cast a negative light on an American hero, God forbid. Chuck Norris is an American hero.

I am simply using Mr. Norris' death as a ministry opportunity to address the tragic reality that Chuck Norris was wrong on God's simple plan of salvation. He had (and still does) have influence on millions of people. Norris' so-called Christian testimony is as lame and vague as can be. He claimed to have received Jesus as his “Lord and Savior” at age 12, but every hellbound Roman Catholic will testify the same thing. Catholics plainly add WORKS to faith. For someone to merely say that they received Jesus as their “Lord and Savior” says nothing. And Chuck Norris foolishly taught that to be saved you must forsake your sinning.

This is so serious a doctrinal matter dear friend, please do not glibly dismiss it as a mere matter of semantics. There is only one Gospel according to Galatians 1:6-9. The false idea that you must be sorry and turn away from your past sinful behavior to be saved is a completely different gospel; than to simply accept Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, but bodily raised up after three days.

I love what U.S. President Abraham Lincoln said:

“In great contests [battles], each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God—both may be, but one must be, wrong—God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time!” —President Abraham Lincoln

Why did Mr. Lincoln say that? It is because both the Northern Union and the Southern Confederacy claimed to be doing “God's will” in fighting The Civil War (1860-1965). Both President Jefferson Davis in the south, and President Abraham Lincoln in the north, said they were doing “God's will.” As Mr. Lincoln wisely points out, that is IMPOSSIBLE! When two opposing parties, who are warring against each other and claim to be doing God's will, obviously someone is WRONG! That is why Abraham Lincoln made that powerful statement!

Likewise, the Bible is abundantly clear that there is only one Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). I hear misguided neo-evangelical pastors frequently tell the audience to become “Christ followers” to be saved. Folks, that is another gospel! The accursed false prophets in Matthew 7:21-23 followed Christ. They did “many wonderful works” in Jesus' name. They preached in Jesus' name. They cast out devils in Jesus' name. So also did Judas Iscariot have power to cast out devils (Matthew 11:1). Yet, Jesus denied knowing those false prophets in Matthew 7:21-23. They had never simply rested in what Christ did for them through Calvary's cross (John 6:40).

Tragically, 99% of what is being preached from nearly every pulpit today is NOT the Gospel. Unquestionable, Chuck Norris was misled by ungodly false teachers. Most of the sinners burning in the fires of Hell forever are there because they were lied to by a wicked preacher. Jesus didn't exhort us to follow the pastor. No, Christ said to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES! John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

Hellbound Mormons also believe in taking Jesus as their “Lord and Savior.” The hellbound heathen world does not see a distinction between biblical Christianity (being born again) and the plethora of pseudo-Christian false religions. My point dear reader is that Satan is very subtle, sneaky and crafty and has filled the world with distortions, embellishments and perversions of the Gospel to blind men, “lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2nd Corinthians 4:4b).

How Permanent Is Your Salvation?

(Pastor Hank Lindstrom, 1940-2008)

“Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “God's Reversal Of Psalm 51”

1st Corinthians 16:24, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

Why Do Some People Believe But Others Don't?

Acts 28:24, “And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.”

I've often wondered why different people adhere to different beliefs and even cults. Why are there 8 million JW's, 16 million Mormons and 21 million SDA's? That is interesting to me. Why is it that one preacher reads the Bible and sees Lordship Salvation, but another sees free grace?

I cannot answer these questions, but I am reminded of Jesus' words in 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘄 𝟱:𝟴, “𝗕𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁: 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗱.” I humbly believe that anyone who is pure of heart, meaning that they sincerely desire to find the truth, will end up at Jesus' feet, for He is the truth (John 14:6). They will end up at the inspired King James Bible. They will end up where they belong. John Bunyan understood this truth very well, as illustrated in his book Pilgrim's Progress. There are many detours, pits and traps along life's way. The inspired Word of God is the light (truth) that will show men the way.

Social media is full of false teachers. They are proud, arrogant and unlearned in the Scriptures. Dan Corner is one of them, who teaches that you need works to get to Heaven. He denies eternal security. It is so sad. There is a Satanic army of Calvinists, eternal security and Trinity deniers, et cetera. 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟭𝟰:𝟯𝟴, “𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁, 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁.”

Things I Learned From Dr. John R. Rice (by Hymers Jr.)

Pastor Robert Leslie Hymers Jr. (born 1941) is a conservative Baptist preacher noted for his evangelistic sermons and for his emphasis on classical Protestant conversion. He is the founding pastor of the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles. This is one of his sermons...

THINGS I LEARNED FROM DR. JOHN R. RICE

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Evening - September 2, 2012

“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).

When I was a teenager I read the life story of James Hudson Taylor, and I felt that God was calling me to become a missionary to the Chinese. I joined the First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles. That fall I went to Biola College (now University). I was finally saved there when I heard Dr. Charles J. Woodbridge preach from the third chapter of II Peter. I failed my classes there, except for the class on soul winning. I got a job and worked in the Chinese church on Friday and Saturday nights, and all day Sunday. About that time I read the Journal of John Wesley, and learned what a revival was. I was praying all the time for revival to come to the Chinese church. I started going to college at night, while working forty hours a week in the daytime, and working all weekend at the Chinese church. I graduated from Cal State L.A. in the spring of 1970. A few months earlier revival began to sweep through the Chinese church. Hundreds came into the church and were converted. From 1969 to about 1973 the church was in the midst of a mighty series of revivals, led by the pastor, Dr. Timothy Lin.

In the Fall of 1970 I went to Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary near San Francisco. During the second year at Golden Gate I started a church there with the help of two friends from the seminary. All three of us were grieved over the attacks on the Bible at the school, but I said little about it for two years. During my third and final year at seminary I was elected the editor of the school’s student paper. It was then that I began to defend the Bible, both in the paper and in class. I was told by the president of the seminary that I was getting a bad reputation that would keep me from being hired by a Southern Baptist church. After a great struggle I decided that didn’t really matter and went ahead defending the Bible. The professors spoke strongly against the Scofield Study Bible, and against Dr. J. Frank Norris and Dr. John R. Rice. I figured that the Scofield Bible must be good or they wouldn’t criticize it so much, so I bought one and have preached from it ever since. But I thought that Dr. Norris and Dr. Rice were weird. I never read anything by either of them. I judged them without really knowing anything about them.

After I graduated I continued to vigorously expose the liberalism at the seminary. I sent mailings and videos exposing the attacks on the Bible at the seminary to the chairman of the deacons of all the Southern Baptist churches in California. One of the liberal professors had to resign, and one of the compromising presidents had to resign in the middle of a semester, as a direct result. Our church sent $600 each month to Dr. Bill Powell to help him mail copies of his Southern Baptist Journal, which exposed theological liberalism, to all the Southern Baptist churches in America. My wife and I went each year to the Southern Baptist Convention to pass out the Journal. People screamed at us, and threatened us. At the last convention my wife was over six months pregnant. They spit in her face and threw things at her, even though she was great with child. When we got back to our room she said, "Robert, how could those people be Christians?” I bowed my head in shame.

As I had been warned, I was “blackballed” by the seminary. They put out letters and mailings against me, and my Southern Baptist friends of a lifetime turned against me. I was deeply discouraged and heartbroken. It was in the midst of this time of deep depression that a friend gave me a copy of Dr. Robert L. Sumner’s biography of Dr. John R. Rice, titled Man Sent from God. I sat down to read a few pages of it one night, but I couldn’t put it down. I read all night long, finishing it about 9:00 in the morning. I was struck by the similarity of Dr. Rice’s experiences with the liberal Southern Baptists and mine. Within a few months I purchased nearly all of Dr. Rice’s many books, and eagerly read them all. John R. Rice became one of my guides and mentors, along with my pastor of 23 years, Dr. Timothy Lin.

In the fall of 1980 I went to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to Dr. Rice’s office, and videotaped an interview with him. He passed away a few weeks later, but I have continued to read his many books and sermons on an almost weekly basis. I have learned many useful and helpful things from Dr. Rice, and I am going to share a few of them with you tonight.

At the beginning of the sermon I read Dr. Rice’s life verse,

“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).

That was the theme of the life and ministry of Dr. John R. Rice. He was a great scholar and Bible student, but he never lost sight of his main calling as an evangelist, soul winner, and advocate of Heaven-sent revival. Here, then, are four of the things I learned from him. I didn't agree with him on storehouse tithing, the signs of Christ's coming, and some other matters, but he deeply influenced me on these four points.

I. First, I learned a lot about preaching from Dr. Rice.

When I first started preaching in the 1950s I consciously copied the evangelistic style and sermon construction of Billy Graham. He was a great preacher back then. My friend Moishe Rosen, of Jews for Jesus, said his preaching was "electrifying" in those days. But later I was told to preach so-called “expository” sermons. I struggled trying to do that for several years. But I felt constrained and held back by trying to preach from convoluted, intricate outlines on many verses of Scripture, with points, subpoints, and sub, subpoints. I felt strangled and enslaved, held in bondage and restrained, by what I was taught about so-called “expository” preaching. Then I read what Dr. Rice said on this subject. Dr. Rice said,

No sermon that Jesus preached...did He ever preach what is now called an expository sermon. And so with the sermons in the book of Acts by Peter, by Stephen and by Paul – none were expository sermons. In every case a preacher stood up to preach to get a certain result, and he preached toward that result. So ought preachers today preach toward a certain end, not simply to expound the Bible itself for its own sake (John R. Rice, D.D., Why Our Churches Do Not Win Souls, Sword of the Lord, 1966, pp. 74, 75)

I learned from Dr. Rice that so-called “expository” preaching did not come from our Baptist or Protestant forefathers, who all preached from one or two verses of Scripture. Dr. Rice said the modern “expository” sermon came from the Plymouth Brethren and was popularized by Dr. Harry Ironside, a Plymouth Brethren preacher. Dr. Rice said that Wesley, Whitefield, Spurgeon, and Dr. Torrey preached, “Bold, uncompromising, controversial [sermons] that condemned sin.” He said we need “preaching that condemns sin, that fights heresy, that shows the way out of trouble, that warns people of the wrath of God” (ibid., pp. 77, 78). Dr. Rice said,

Whence came this horrible breakdown in standards in America? Why is sex everywhere pressed on people, and movies and magazines are more lewd, and women less virtuous, and men more profane than before? Because America, with its millions of church members, has relatively few strong...preachers. There are not many preachers who preach on sin, on the coming judgment, on the awful Hell for Christ-rejecting sinners...The pulpit has failed the churches, and the churches have failed America (John R. Rice, D.D., Bible Doctrines to Live By, Sword of the Lord, 1968, p. 311)

The Bible says,

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).

Dr. Rice said,

The first aim of every preacher called of God should be to win souls. A minister may say, as an alibi, “I am called to be a teaching pastor. My ministry is to the church. I must feed the flock of God.” But that, I insist, is an alibi for outright disobedience to the plain command of God. The Great Commission is still binding on preachers. The Gospel is to be preached to every creature...Charles Spurgeon was a pastor all his days and never called himself an evangelist. Yet multiplied thousands were saved under his ministry, and [Spurgeon’s church] was called a “soul trap.” The preaching in the church services ought to be strongly evangelistic, as well as in other places (John R. Rice, D.D., Why Our Churches Do Not Win Souls, ibid., pp. 67-69)

I agree with Dr. Rice on those points of preaching. He has encouraged me to follow the old-fashioned, soul-stirring method of presenting the Gospel. And Dr. Rice believed that the Gospel should be preached in every service, telling lost sinners that Jesus loves them, and that He will save them. Dr. Rice said,

Oh, what a fountain of mercy is flowing,
Down from the crucified Saviour of men.
Precious the blood that He shed to redeem us,
Grace and forgiveness for all of our sin.
(“Oh, What a Fountain!” by John R. Rice, 1965).

He loves so long, He loves so well,
He loves you more than tongue can tell;
He loves so long, He loves so well,
He died to save your soul from Hell.
(“He Loves You Still” by John R. Rice, 1960).

II. Second, I learned a lot about defending the faith from Dr. Rice.

The Bible says, “Ye should earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 3). Dr. Rice strongly contended for the faith throughout his ministry. Dr. Rice said,

The pastor who does not expect to win many souls can preach nice little sermons on brotherly love. But the man who expects to arouse the conscience, stir the emotions and bring the will to a holy repentance must preach on great truths of the Bible. The great themes of the depravity of the human heart, the atoning death of Christ, the need of the new birth, salvation by grace through faith, a literal Heaven and a literal Hell are all evangelistic themes. And they necessarily involve the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, and they are the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

It is no accident that the great soul winners have been defenders of the faith. Spurgeon carried on a noble campaign against “the Downgrade Movement,” now called modernism, and left the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland at a cost of great reproach, and led that great church out, because of sin. And Spurgeon preached wonderfully, upholding the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the deity of Christ and other fundamentals of the faith (Dr. John R. Rice., 'Why Our Churches Do Not Win Souls,' ibid., pp. 71, 72)

Dr. Rice said,

As long as there is doubt in the mind of the preacher or in the minds of the hearers as to the absolute authority of the Bible as the infallible Word of God, his message is weakened, the impact on the community is watered down, the reason for soul winning is diminished (ibid., p. 73).

Why should I murmur, hold back from sorrow,
Dread to lose money or friends in His name?
Oh, I should welcome perils or scourging
If I might thus have some part in His shame!
All my heart’s love, all my fond dreams,
Make them, Lord Jesus, only for Thee.
All that I am, all I could be,
Take me, Lord Jesus, Thine e’er to be.
(“All My Heart’s Love” by Dr. John R. Rice).

Sing the chorus with me.

All my heart’s love, all my fond dreams,
Make them, Lord Jesus, only for Thee.
All that I am, all I could be,
Take me, Lord Jesus, Thine e’er to be.

III. Third, I learned a lot from Dr. Rice on the subject of revival.

The Bible gives us a prayer for revival when it says,

“Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” (Psalm 85:6).

Dr. Rice believed in supernatural, God-sent revivals. He said,

“Let it be settled once for all that revivals are divine manifestations. A revival is a miracle of God. It is not natural, but supernatural. It is not ordinary, but extraordinary. It is not human, but divine. Only God can give a revival” (John R. Rice, D.D., The Soul Winner’s Fire, Sword of the Lord, 1969, p. 79)

In his book, We Can Have Revival Now (Sword of the Lord, 1950), Dr. Rice said,

“The greatest revivals the world is ever to see are yet future. Greater revivals are to come than the world has ever experienced. That is plainly taught in the Word of God, and what a comfort it ought to be to our hearts! When we find that God has plainly promised greater revivals than any the world has yet had, that will certainly prove that the day of revivals is not passed” (p. 29)

Dr. Rice said that in 1950. The Communists were driving all the foreign missionaries out of China when he said that. Over 25 years of torture and imprisonment lay ahead for the Christians in China when he said that. But since 1980, the year Dr. Rice died, one of the greatest revivals the world has ever seen has exploded in the People’s Republic of China! Today it is estimated that there are over 120 million Christians in China. More people are now in church on Sunday morning in China than in America, Canada and the United Kingdom combined! Dr. C. L. Cagan estimates that there are over 700 conversions to Christ in China every hour, night and day, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week! Think of it – 700 conversions every hour! Dr. Rice was completely right when he said in 1950, “The greatest revivals the world is ever to see are yet future” (ibid., p. 29).

I myself have been an eye-witness to three “supernatural,” God-sent revivals. At the First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles, between 1969 and 1973, I saw the miraculous power of God draw over 2,000 people into our small church of about 125 people, making it one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in California. I saw services that went on all day Sunday, with tears of repentance and miracle conversions. I myself preached in one of those services where 46 young people were converted, and that was just one of the services that went on night after night! I checked recently and found that nearly every young Chinese person that was saved that night is still in that church forty years later! When my wife and I went there in May, for the 60th anniversary of the church, one Chinese young person after the other came to tell me they were saved during times when I preached in that great revival!

In Marin County, north of San Francisco, in a church I started there in 1972, we saw about 600 Hippies get saved in a few months, stopping their sinful life-style and drugs, and becoming solid Christians. This was the second revival that I saw with my own eyes.

In 1992, my wife and our boys and I attended a conference on Fundamentalism at Dr. Rod Bell’s church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. At the very end of the conference, on the last Sunday night, I was scheduled to preach. A member of the church told me, “Whatever you do, don’t preach an evangelistic sermon. Everyone in the church is already saved.” That made me very nervous because God had laid on my heart to preach a simple evangelistic sermon. Great and famous men of God would be in the congregation. What would they think if no one came forward? I was sweating. I asked my wife to take our boys out of the motel room for a few hours that Sunday afternoon. I fasted and prayed and called on God all afternoon. I was still praying and sweating when we got to the church. They sang and the pastor introduced me. Suddenly I felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit flash through me. I preached that simple sermon with great ease. Three grown men came forward.

One of them was the associate pastor, the pastor’s own son! He came forward to be saved with tears streaming down his cheeks! Then the Holy Spirit came down like a cloud. An old man who had been in the church for years crawled on his hands and knees down the aisle screaming, “I’m lost! I’m lost!” A quartet of young girls went to the platform to perform, but they couldn’t sing. Tears were streaming from their eyes as they called on Jesus to save them. The service went on until midnight. Seventy-five people were hopefully converted that night in a church where they thought “Everyone is already saved.” Ian Paisley’s son said to my wife, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Then the revival really broke out. I flew back from Los Angeles to speak for that pastor again a few days later. In the next three months over 500 people were hopefully saved and baptized in that church!

These are eyewitness accounts of what I have seen God do in three revivals – which Dr. Rice called, “a miracle of God.” I know you can’t “work up” a revival by human means. But I also know Dr. Rice was right when he said, “We can have revival now.” We are praying for God to send a revival to this church in our times of fasting and prayer. One of Dr. Rice’s songs says,

Today we reap, or miss our golden harvest!
Today is given us lost souls to win.
O then to save some dear ones from the burning,
Today we’ll go to bring some sinner in.
(“So Little Time” by Dr. John R. Rice).

I wish I could take time to talk about Dr. Rice’s belief in the need for the preacher and his people to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I wish I could take time to speak about Dr. Rice’s belief that a Christian should be a fundamentalist but, as he said, “not a nut.” I agree with Dr. Rice that we should not defend the false idea that the King James Bible is itself given by inspiration, and corrects the Hebrew and Greek from which it was translated. I wish I could take time to tell you what Dr. Rice said about making the local church a place of joy and great happiness. I wish I had time to tell you why Dr. Rice said, “I love Christmas.” And I wish I had time to talk about his great book on “The Home, Courtship, Marriage and Children.” I agree with Dr. Rice on those great Bible themes! How I wish that pastors everywhere would go back and read what Dr. Rice wrote on those subjects. But I will end with one final point.

IV. Fourth, I learned a lot from Dr. Rice on the subject of prayer and fasting.

God said through the prophet Isaiah,

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6).

In his great book, Prayer: Asking and Receiving, Dr. Rice said,

I know that real fasting and prayer and humiliation of mind as we wait on God will get the blessing God wants to give us! Have you tried fasting and praying and waiting on God until the victory came?...Dear child of God, do you feel led to try it? Then fast and pray until God meets you in blessing (John R. Rice, D.D., Prayer: Asking and Receiving, Sword of the Lord, 1970 edition, pp. 230, 231)

We will be fasting and praying as a church next Saturday. If you have medical problems, please ask your doctor before you fast with us. Those who are very old or sick may wish to join us in a partial fast by drinking only tomato juice, or some other juices or soups, during our fast day next Saturday. Be sure to drink plenty of water all day. And be sure to take special time to pray during the day that God will bring in many new people to our church this Fall. Pray by name, if possible, for new people that have come in the past few weeks, and for others we will bring in next weekend, and in the weeks to come. Pray that they will be stay in our church and be saved. And remember the life verse of Dr. John R. Rice,

“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).

Please stand and sing the last song on your song sheet, “The Price of Revival,” by Dr. John R. Rice. ...

The price of revival, the cost of soul winning,
The long hours of praying, the burden, the tears;
The pleading with sinners though lonely, a stranger,
Is repaid at the reaping up there.
Reaping, heavenly reaping! For souls won down here.

The treasures of earth, oh, how vain and how fleeting;
They vanish like mist and they wither like leaves;
But souls who are won by our tears and our pleading
Will remain for our reaping up there.
Reaping, heavenly reaping! For souls won down here.

To come to that reaping with wood, hay and stubble,
How sad to appear at the Lord’s judgment seat,
With no one we’ve won to trust Jesus our Saviour
To present at the reaping up there.
Reaping, heavenly reaping! For souls won down here.

Please come up here on the platform, and stand in front of the pulpit, as we sing the last stanza, and Dr. Kreighton Chan will lead us in prayer for our time of fasting and prayer next Saturday, and for the success of our soul winning efforts this Fall.

The wise, they shall shine like the firmament glory
When payday shall come for the winner of souls!
Then they who’ve saved many by salvation’s story
Like the stars, blest forever, shall shine.
Reaping, heavenly reaping! For souls won down here.

(Prayer). You may be seated.

If you are here tonight and you are not yet a born again Christian, please listen very carefully. The Lord Jesus Christ came down from Heaven and was nailed to a cross, where He died to pay for our sins. They put His body in a tomb, sealed it, and set a Roman guard to protect it. But the Lord Jesus Christ rose physically, flesh and bone, on the third day. The risen Christ had fellowship with His followers for forty days. They handled Him, and saw that He was not a spirit. At last Jesus ascended back to Heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. When you turn from your sinful life-style and trust Jesus, His precious Blood will cleanse you from all sin, and He will give you eternal life. We are praying that you will come to Jesus and trust Him, and be saved very soon. And whatever you do, be sure to come back here to church next Sunday! God bless you! Amen. SOURCE

Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) and Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980)

Back When People Bought Tickets To Attend Church

Luke 14:21-23, “So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899) was known for his innovative methods of attracting children (e.g., free pony rides and candy) and adults to his Sunday school and church services, often using engaging activities and personal outreach.

Pastor Moody purchased seats in churches so that poor children could attend, as seats were sold like concert tickets at that time. Wow, can you imagine that? It's hard to just get people to come to church nowadays, but back then churches sold tickets! It is quite obvious how the television has woefully diminished church attendance. I wish the television has never been invented. Our world was much better off when life was simple and mundane, so that nearly everyone looked forward to going to church on Sundays. Tragically, the entertainment industry has led America to apostasy!

By purchasing church seat tickets, Pastor Moody aimed to include those who otherwise could not afford to go to church. What a faithful servant of our great Savior!

In 1900, church attendance in the United States was significant, with about 36% of the population attending services regularly.

In 2026, church attendance in the U.S. has stabilized after years of decline, with about 20% of adults attending weekly and around 41% attending at least once a month. SOURCE

Americans are leaving the churches by the droves! I think it was beautiful back when so many people in the United States wanted to attend church that they had to sell tickets.

God deliver us from today's shameful neo-evangelical churches, and corrupt neo-evangelical Bible colleges like Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary, Moody Bible Institute, Pensacola Christian College, Bob Jones University and Southern Theological Baptist Seminary, to name but just a few cesspools of spiritual sewage, rot and iniquity. Sadly, 99% of clergy today are only in the ministry for the INCOME, not the OUTCOME. I started my Jesus-is-Savior.com website ministry 24 years ago in April of 2002 for the OUTCOME, there has never been (nor ever will be) any INCOME. The LORD deserves our very best.

That all being said, I cannot blame people for not wanting to go to dead churches anymore. You'd be much better off just staying home and listening to fundamentalist Bible preaching on the internet, than to attend a rotten neo-evangelical cult like Family Baptist Church in Pensacola that preaches Satan's lies of Lordship Salvation [i.e., mixing service (works) with salvation (grace)], and Wrong Repentance (i.e., repenting of your sinful behavior) to be saved. Tragically, most Baptist pastors today are woefully unlearned concerning the inspired Holy Bible, corrupted clowns who arrogantly refuse to repent of their perverse thinking, fools.

One of the biggest mistakes you'll ever make is to trust and rely upon your pastor to keep you spiritual. If you're not careful, he'll lead you away from God and the truth, and ultimately take you to Hell with himself forever. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

What About Pastor Steven Anderson?

John 15:12, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

I love and respect Pastor Anderson tremendously. We don't agree on everything, just like you and I dear reader won't agree on everything. That is human. Brother Anderson has a right to believe and preach what he believes God wants him to say, and I respect that.

In 2025, the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, led 10,121 souls to Jesus Christ. Pastor Anderson personally led 182 people to Christ. I thank God for Brother Anderson and his soulwinning ministry. We are laborers together with God (1st Corinthians 3:7-9). Gotta love faithful soulwinners!

Pastor Anderson has stepped on my toes at times, and I his, and that is okay. We're both mature enough in the Lord to understand that no two fundamentalist Bible preachers agree on everything. Dr. Jack Hyles used to wisely say that there are more opinions per square foot at Hyles-Anderson College probably more than anywhere else in the world. That being said, we do agree on the two big "deal breakers" (as Pastor Anderson rightly calls them, which is: 1) The inspiration of the King James Bible; and 2) A free grace plan of salvation (aka, "easy believism"). All other doctrines are minor issues.

I agree with Pastor Anderson that those preachers (e.g., Peter S. Ruckman, William P. Grady, David A. Hoffman and Robert Breaker) who teach multiple plans of salvation are damnable heretics! Pastor Hoffman in his 'The Common Man's Reference Bible' for 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 literally teaches that there are SEVEN plans of salvation. That's crazy!

I also agree with Brother Anderson that most believers who ascribe to a pre-Trib Rapture haven't done their homework, they are merely following what their pastor told them. And likewise, the same problem holds true of the New IFB as well. Sadly, 95% of churchgoers merely believe what they hear and go along with whatever their leader says, which is why over 90% of all Baptist churches today have been woefully corrupted with the deadly false teachings of Misunderstood Repentance (i.e., turn from your sinning to be saved) and Lordship Salvation (i.e., mixing works with grace; combining service with salvation). These are both damnable false teachings, doctrines of devils.

As Bible preachers we are continually challenging our followers to do their own Bible study and homework, so they can KNOW for themselves why they believe what they believe. I can respect someone who ascribes to a pre-Wrath Rapture position, just so long as they can take an inspired Holy Bible and show me why they believe as they do, even though I am strongly pre-Trib in my faith.

I also fully agree with Pastor Anderson that Dispensational teaching is heresy (all of the nuts I mentioned earlier in the Ruckman camp are dispensationalist wackos). Simple Scripture passages such as Acts 10:43, Romans 3:19-23, 4:4-7 and Galatians 1:6-9 prove that NO ONE has ever been saved by works, which would have made salvation by debt that God owed (Romans 4:4); instead of by grace alone through faith alone. I detest manmade theology and manmade dispensationalism, which just confuse the Bible study rather than edify.

Pastor Jack Hyles exposes Dr. Peter Ruckman's heresy on multiple plans of salvation...

“And I'm sick up to there, with people talking about three or four plans of salvation. Now you hear me and hear me well. And if you don't believe this, and you teach in our schools, get out! John the Baptist preached the same Gospel that Paul preached. And people will get saved in the Millennium the same way they get saved tonight. Never has been but one plan of salvation. Never will be but one plan of salvation. Why don't you decide to put up all those books by a bunch of pinkos and read the Bible. And I'll fight you to the finish over that! I'll close the doors of Hyles-Anderson College before we'll preach that kind of garbage. We'll padlock the doors! I'm sick of it! I hate it! And beside that, don't like it. That college wasn't put out there to preach a bunch of hyper-dispensationalism!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “He Purposed In His Heart"

Here's a shocking heretical excerpt from Ruckman's sermon titled, "Repentance," in which you can hear him listing all the sins you must forsake to be saved. What an ignorant unlearned fool! Tragically, I am fully convinced that Peter Ruckman is burning in Hell forever.

Right doctrine matters!

I heard Pastor Anderson today in a sermon exposing "Hypostatic Union" and "Divine Simplicity," two complicated theological rabbit trails that lead nowhere—blatant hogwash, tomfoolery, balderdash, poppycock and ineffable nonsense. Just give me the old flat-black 66 — the inspired King James Bible. Thank you for reading my ministry blog. Jesus is precious!!!