John 3:14-16, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The inspired King James Bible presents God's simple plan of salvation very plainly, so that if you take the Bible at face value there is no controversy. The problem arises when well-meaning, but men of corrupt minds, start tampering with the Word of God to satisfy their own whims and agendas. The raging debate over repentance is nothing new.
I get frustrated when I read articles by India missionary David W. Cloud, who likes to quote Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980) to support his perverted view that you cannot get to Heaven unless you are first willing to change your behavior. Mr. Cloud vehemently accuses professed Christians of not being saved unless their lifestyle clearly reflects it. This is a form of Lordship Salvation.
To Forsake Sinful Behavior Or Not To Be Saved
Here is one of the quotes that David Cloud likes to reference from Dr. Rice's religious tract: “What Must I Do To Be Saved?” (which was written in 1949) ...
To repent literally means to have a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin. It means to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart, and trust in Jesus Christ to save you. You can see, then, how the man who believes in Christ repents and the man who repents believes in Christ. The jailer repented when he turned from sin to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. —Dr. John R. Rice, 'What Must I Do To Be Saved?'
Uh, no, that is NOT what Bible repentance means. Respectfully said, Dr. Rice is very wrong! He clearly gives the wrong impression that to get to Heaven you must make a strong effort to forsake your sinful behavior, which is 100% works.
Ans yet, read what Dr. Rice wrote elsewhere in 1963 regarding repentance, totally contradicting his 1949 tract...
"There are those hyper-dispensationalists who think that John the Baptist preached a different Gospel from Christ when he commanded repentance (Matt. 3:2). But it is the same repentance Jesus commanded in Matthew 4:17, in Luke 13:3 and 5, and the same repentance that Paul preached in Athens that God “now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30 31). Repentance is not a different plan of salvation from having faith: it is part of the same plan of salvation. Or rather repentance is simply another way of describing or looking at the plan of salvation. One who turns from sin to God has done so by trusting in Jesus Christ. A change of mind toward sin is necessarily involved in saving faith. ...Everyone who genuinely repented under the preaching of John the Baptist put his trust in the Saviour John the Baptist preached, and was regenerated. There is no such thing as being “a disciple of John the Baptist” in any honest sense without being a disciple of Jesus, that is, without trusting Christ for salvation." —Evangelist John R. Rice, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pp. 251-252; Sword Of The Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; ©1963
Well, which is it Dr. Rice? Does a person have to turn away from sinning earnestly with all their heart to get to Heaven? Or can they simply trust the Lord Jesus Christ? It cannot be both ways! Dr. Rice's contradictory statements are confusing at best.
So, which is it, do we have to “turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart” to be saved; or do we simply trust Jesus Christ, and in so doing we have automatically turned from our sins? Dr. Rice's 1949 tract has stirred MUCH controversy in the religious world, providing ammunition for the Lordship Salvation cult who quote his bad theology.
Evangelist David C. Cloud (a missionary to Nepal in India for over 30 years) is a good man as far as good men go. But he is a bitter enemy against Pastor Jack Hyles, for which I do not respect him. David Cloud has horribly dubbed Dr. Hyles: "The King Of Shallow Soulwinning!" On the Day of Pentecost, the Bible says the Apostle Peter preached the Gospel and 3,000 people got saved. No one was interrogated. No one had to be watched to see if their life changed. No one was required to forsake their sinful lifestyle. They simply "gladly received his Word" (Acts 2:41). That is, they heard the Gospel and they BELIEVED it! (Galatians 3:2). Now, David Cloud can call that type of soulwinning "shallow," but it is the Bible way and the only way to be saved! I have read Mr. Cloud's plan of damnation, and it is not the free grace Gospel.
When David Cloud met with Pastor John Wilkerson (senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana) on April 12, 2022 (per Mr. Cloud's request), Mr. Cloud wasn't man enough to come by himself, he brought another pastor along to gang up on Pastor Wilkerson, who did come by himself. I don't know why Dr. Wilkerson bothered to meet with that scumbag, because as anticipated David Cloud used the meeting to criticize, further smear and tear down the First Baptist Church of Hammond and their pastors for preaching Easy Believism. SHAME on David Cloud and his Satanic plan of damnation (i.e., partial faith in Christ plus works).
It was David Cloud who started spreading the untrue garbage that Pastor Curtis Hutson and Dr. John R. Rice didn't agree on salvation. They both believed the same Gospel!!! They just presented it differently. The only difference is that Dr. Hutson refused to use the stupid phrase "turn from sin," but Dr. Rice unfortunately did and it confuses people still today.
From the quote I just shared with you from the book, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” Brother Rice made it very clear that he believed: "One who turns from sin to God has done so by trusting in Jesus Christ." That is the opposite of what we are hearing preached in 90% of Bible colleges and churches today! Look at this Satanic tommyrot preached at Bob Jones University (BJU) nowadays by Dr. Steve Pettit. BJU are ungodly Calvinists. RUN from that accursed cult!
Sadly, Dr. John R. Rice has hindered many people from getting saved by his sinful use of the unbiblical phrase “turn from your sin,” which is nowhere found in the inspired King James Bible. It is a wicked thing to read into the inspired Word of God what it doesn't say.
Likewise, I believe that cartoon artist Jack Chick was saved, but he also sinfully embellished the simple Gospel, requiring people to “be willing to turn away from sin (repent)” in billions of his Chick Tracts (on the back page, step number 2, in his perverse plan of damnation). Romans 5:6b plainly says, “CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY”!!!
There is no requirement to be willing to reform your life of sin before God will accept your faith in His only begotten Son. Although preachers will continue to debate and argue over this matter, the FACT remains that not one verse in the inspired King James Bible teaches that God won't save you unless you are first willing to reform your life of sin. Those wicked pastors are trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit, trying to force sinners to forsake their sinful ways to receive God's free gift.
I do believe that Dr. John R. Rice was saved, because he plainly stated that “One who turns from sin to God has done so by trusting in Jesus Christ.” Unfortunately, his foolish teaching in his 1949 tract requiring the reader “to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart” to get to Heaven, which impossible requirement would scare any sinner away. If someone had told me that in 1979, I never would have received Christ as my Savior, because I would have felt that such a requirement was too difficult for me to achieve.
Even when I was saved, I used to pass on the Lord's Supper in church, refusing to partake of it because of some ongoing sins (or I should say things that at the time I thought were sinful) I had in my life as a young teenager. I learned years later that the only qualification to partake of the Lord's Supper is to be saved. Had I know that truth, I would have partaken of the Lord's Supper and not pass on it, as I did for a few years. I took things serious as a teenager. So, if someone had foolishly told me that I have to be willing to turn from my sinning to be saved, I would have declined their offer, as does this woman on an airplane when Evangelist Ray Comfort pressures her to stop sinning to be saved. That is not the Gospel!
As much as I love and respect Dr. Rice, he really messed up by using unbiblical terminology, which has misled multitudes of people concerning what you must do to be saved. What irony! The very name of his booklet is: “What Must I Do To Be Saved?,” and yet he fails to accurately present God's simple plan of salvation to the reader.
Perhaps you ask, “What about John 3:20?” John 3:20, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” Yes, that is a powerful Scripture passage. Most people will not come to Jesus because of sin. John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 5:40, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Jesus said, “ye will not come”; He didn't say, “ye cannot come.” Most people won't come to Christ to be saved because of their love for sin.
No doubt this is why so many preachers require that you first be willing to forsake your sinful ways as a prerequisite to saving faith. However, please don't leave off John 3:21, “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” 2nd Timothy 2:25, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” Bible repentance is a change of mind. That is, it is acknowledging THE TRUTH.
Here is one of the best quotes that I've found on repentance by Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951):
“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)We learn from Matthew 7:21-23 and Luke 13:23-34 that many religious people (who do “MANY WONDERFUL WORKS”) are not saved and consequently, they are going straight to Hell when they die! There are far more religious people who do GOOD works than BAD works, who are unsaved and going to Hell. The point being, neither good works or bad works are conclusive evidence that a person is either saved or unsaved. The only true evidence of the new birth is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit (and that is something that only God can see).
If it weren't for 2nd Peter 2:6-7, we'd never know that Lot was saved, whose own family laughed in his face when he tried to warn them of the coming destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:14). Proverbs 25:19, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.”
The truth is that getting saved does not change a person's personal character one iota. Not one bit! The only difference is that the Holy Spirit has come to live inside the body of every believer (1st Corinthians 3:16-17; 1st John 3:34; Romans 8:9). You don't have to “decide to change” nor have a “change of direction” to be saved. Respectfully, I hear errant preachers attempting to use the Epistle of 1st John to teach that a person is not saved if they're still living a deathstyle of sin. 1st John 3:8, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” This means that a person committing wickedness is of the Devil, but the Bible doesn't say they are not saved. Even the apostle Peter was called “Satan” by the Lord for thinking contrary to the Scripture (Matthew 16:23).
The truth is that getting saved does not change a person's personal character one iota. Not one bit! The only difference is that the Holy Spirit has come to live inside the body of every believer (1st Corinthians 3:16-17; 1st John 3:34; Romans 8:9). You don't have to “decide to change” nor have a “change of direction” to be saved. Respectfully, I hear errant preachers attempting to use the Epistle of 1st John to teach that a person is not saved if they're still living a deathstyle of sin. 1st John 3:8, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” This means that a person committing wickedness is of the Devil, but the Bible doesn't say they are not saved. Even the apostle Peter was called “Satan” by the Lord for thinking contrary to the Scripture (Matthew 16:23).
And also, here is what Pastor Bob Gray Sr. rightly said about Bible repentance ...
“Repentance means to change your mind—change your mind—change your mind about how you want to get to Heaven to what God says you've got to do to get to Heaven. If you've got to repent of all your sins, you're still headed for Hell tonight.” —Pastor Bob Gray Sr., 'Why You Should Be A Part Of A Growing Church'
There is no controversy if you believe the Holy Bible dear friend. The only reason why so many preachers insist that you must be willing to turn from your sinful ways to be saved, is because they are attempting to force YOU to do the job of God's Holy Spirit. That is, they are requiring YOU to commit to live a changed life to be saved, or to prove that you are saved. Yet, repeatedly we are told in the inspired Holy Scripture that it is God's Holy Spirit who produces the “fruit” of righteousness in God's redeemed children, and not we ourselves.
To tell someone that they must be willing to give up their sinful bad habits to get to Heaven is effectively to require them to keep the law to be saved (Romans 3:19-20). It is very unfortunate that Dr. John R. Rice foolishly chose his words when he wrote his religious tract in 1949, because multitudes of people still today recognize and follow Dr. Rice as a leader in fundamentalism. But we must remember that Brother Rice was merely a man, fully capable of doctrinal error, and he is very wrong in his tract.
We must NEVER tell someone “to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart” to get to Heaven, because no such teaching can be supported with the inspired King James Bible. The very suggestion is intimidating to any sinner. The antithesis of John 3:20 is not turning from your sin, it is turning from your unbelief to trust the 'GOOD NEWS' of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day. The only change of mind regarding sin that you need to have, to be saved, is to admit that you re one. The only thing that you and I contribute to our own salvation is the sin that made it necessary.
