Heresies Preached By Pastor Al Lacy

1st Corinthians 11:18-19, “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.”

I was listening to a heartfelt sermon this evening by Pastor Al Lacy (1933-2016). It is called: “No Unbelievers In Hell.” I love Dr. Al Lacy, but he says some heretical things in this sermon that don't set right with me. Please understand that I am not writing this blog to put down one of my heroes of the faith, God forbid. I love and cherish the man and ministry of Pastor Al Lacy. But as our text verse says in 1st Corinthians 11:19b, “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” Every preacher, without exception, says silly things sometimes! I have done it too. This is because no man has all the answers. No man has it all figured out. Some men may think they have everything figured out, but they absolutely do not! No one understands all of the Word of God. That is because we all have different levels of experience, intelligence and education. Discovering THE TRUTH is a lifelong journey, upon which all men are traveling.

Pastor Al Lacy teaches a blatant false doctrine in this sermon. He tells people to repent of their sin to be saved. You won't find any such commandment anywhere in the Word of God. Pastor Al Lacy falsely says, and I quote him verbatim: “The Bible says, you've got to repent of your sin to be saved.” No Sir! I dare you to show me that in the inspired King James Bible? Where does the Bible say to repent “OF YOUR SINS” to be saved. Yes, the Bible does say to “repent,” but it doesn't add the words “of your sins.” Religious men added that! No doubt Dr. Al Lacy heard other preachers make that false statement, and so he also adopted it. I'll tell you, if you are a preacher, you need to declare war on the things other preachers say! I decided a few years ago to start being 100% objective, filtering everything I see and hear with the inspired Word of God. And that is Biblical. 1st John 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” We must try (test) everything we hear and read with the Bible.

About one-third way into the sermon, Dr. Lacy presents the same exact challenge to a man that I am presenting to you now friend: “Where does the Bible say that?” Or, as I often like to word it: "What saith the Scripture?” Dr. Lacy tells the story about a man—a man who had sincerely told Dr. Lacy that murderers go to Hell. Pastor Lacy challenged the man to show him from the Word of God, where it says that murderers go to Hell? Pastor Lacy kindly said to the man: “Show me where the Bible says that murderers go to Hell?”

Now, I commend Pastor Al Lacy for using the inspired Word of God as our final and only authority! But then why didn't Dr. Lacy apply the SAME standard to the idea that we must “repent of your sin to be saved”? Because if you do apply such objective thinking, it will FAIL THE TEST. If you look in the Bible to find where it says to: “repent of your sin to be saved,” YOU CANNOT FIND IT!!! Only if you have one of the Devil's Bible—the modern corrupt perversions of the Word of God—can you find any garbage therein about forsaking sin to receive God's free gift of eternal life. You won't find any such nonsense in the inspired King James Bible!!!

Like I said, I love and admire Pastor Al lacy. When I gratefully attended Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993), in the summer of 1992 I thankfully attended a week-long King James Bible Seminar taught by Dr. Al Lacy. Brother Hyles asked him to teach it, and I am SO GLAD that he did. I met Pastor Gayle Russ and his son there from Evansville, Indiana. What a treat! I love those guys and their wonderful Faith Music Missions ministry. I sat on the edge of my seat and wrote down every word which Pastor Lacy spoke! So he is one of my heroes of the Christian faith.

Albeit, my first love and loyalty is toward my blessed God and Savior, Jesus Christ. If a man is wrong he is wrong, period. I won't cover or look the other way for my friends and favorite preachers! Pastor Lacy is preaching Satanic heresy, just as Jesus called the Apostle Peter “Satan,” when he tried to stop Him from going to the cross. So you see, even a child of God can be deceived at times by the Devil. In fact, you don't need to repent of your sin to get to Heaven.

Now, in fairness to Pastor Lacy, he does elaborate and explain exactly what he means by the phrase: “repent of your sin to be saved.” In the preceding MP3 excerpt from his sermon, “No Unbelievers In Hell,” Dr. Lacy makes it abundantly clear that he is not speaking about giving up your sinful behavior; but rather, he simply means that you must turn away from your false religion, self-righteous works and that which has been hindering you from BELIEVING to be saved. I fully agree with Pastor Lacy, because what he just said about repentance is 100% Biblical.

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,” Here we see THE TRUTH. Repentance is NOT from sin; but rather, from dead works (which includes all your righteousness and good works too). Christ didn't just die for your sins, He died for your righteousness too, because even our righteousnesses are filthy rags to God. 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.” Here is a beautiful quote by John Bunyan:

“I saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday and today and forever.” —Evangelist John Bunyan (1628-1688)

So Pastor Lacy gets it half right! Bible repentance simply means: “a change of mind,” period. But Dr. Lacy says repentance means: “a change of mind which results in a change of direction.” I don't like when preachers embellish the meaning of the word “repentance.” If God didn't add those extra words, what gives any preacher the right to? Dr. Lacy is wrong to ASS-U-ME that repentance means to turn 180 degrees away from sin and move toward the Savior. Why sin? Why not unbelief? You see, by saying that repentance is “from sin,” it opens a whole can of worms theologically. Because then people start insinuating that your life must change. They ASS-U-ME that since you have repented “OF YOUR SIN,” you cannot continue living in them as you did before. Dear reader, none of this is true!

Bible repentance is only from UNBELIEF, not from sins. Preachers get so messed up on this matter that they need to go seek psychiatric help. I'm not kidding. We've got a bunch of depressed, confused and miserable people in our churches today, because they've been LIED TO by preachers! They've been lied to about repentance, told that they must repent and turn away from their sinning to Get to Heaven. The Bible disagrees 100% with them!

Here is a wonderful excerpt from Michael P. Bowen's helpful book titled: “I NEVER KNEW YOU: The Horror Of The Great White Throne Judgement And How You Can Avoid It”:

Here is the gospel: God says that we are sinners and that no amount of good works or behavioral changes on our part could ever make us holy enough to enter heaven. God sent His Son to pay for all of our sins. Jesus paid for our crimes by dying on the cross for us all. His dead body was buried in a grave. On the third day, Jesus arose from the dead. The instant you believe this, He knows it and He saves you. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life”(John 6:47). The free gift is based solely upon your trust in what Jesus did for you and has nothing at all to do with what you do for Him. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). ~ Michael P. Bowen, “I Never Knew You,” p. xii

There you have it friend, how to know that you're going to Heaven in just 30 seconds! I love Dr. Lacy, but the plan of salvation that he gave in his sermon: “No Unbelievers In Hell” is utterly complicated. In the sermon he tells everyone to invite Jesus into their heart. That doesn't even make sense! The human heart is a muscle about twice the size of your fist that pumps blood. So how do you invite Jesus into your heart muscle? It confuses people when preachers stray away from the Gospel as taught in the Bible. Why not simply teach men to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST??? I mean, that is what Acts 16:30-31 teaches.

I am 100% convinced that Dr. Al Lacy is saved and up in Heaven today. I believe this simply because he very directly explains in the preceding sermon exactly what he thinks it means to repent of sin. Brother Lacy doesn't believe that you must clean up your life of sin to be saved. He doesn't believe that you must make Jesus the absolute Lord and the Master of your life to get into God's Kingdom. But Pastor Lacy is preaching THE SATANIC LIE that to be saved you must “repent of your sin,” because no such command is found in the Word of God!!! Even though he explains what he means, he is still in error to say to repent “of your sin.” The very statement confuses people!!!

Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) said it well:

“But we've so muddied the Gospel, that when men want to make a decision to trust Christ, we've made it so complicated that they can't make a simple decision to 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' We'll say, 'If you don't do this' or 'You don't do that' or 'You haven't done that,' you're not saved'; but the truth of the matter is that when asked in the Bible, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?,' one clear simple answer was given to him — 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'” — Pastor Curtis Hutson, “Things That Are Different Are Not The Same” (preached at Southwide Baptist Fellowship on October 3, 1994)

So why does Dr. Lacy say in the sermon, that you need to ask Jesus into your heart to be saved? A lot of Christians have ignorantly adopted this popular cliché (one of many that people foolishly use). It is not Biblical. As I said earlier, the human heart is a muscle about twice the size of our fist that pumps blood. How does a child understand the meaning of asking Christ to come into one's heart? It makes no sense. The bottom line is that this is simply NOT what the Bible teaches! Why stray away from the Word of God?

I understand that Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” But there's nothing said about the heart! The $64,000 question is this: Why present the Gospel is SOME OTHER WAY than the Bible does? Jesus warned us in John 10:1, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”

In the Gospel of John we are simply told to BELIEVE ON HIM. John 6:40, “ And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” And in Acts 16:30-31 we read, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” So why do preachers use terminology that is foreign to the Scripture? Why tell people to invite Jesus into their heart and life? Why tell people to have a relationship with Christ? Why not simply tell people to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST???

Here are some helpful quotes:

“Those who go to Heaven ride on a pass and enter into blessings that they never earned, but all who go to Hell pay their own way.” —Dr. John R. Rice

“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.” —Pastor Yankee Arnold, a quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

In closing, I am not against Pastor Al Lacy. I love him and intend to continue promoting his sermons, because his preaching is life-changing. Pastor Lacy was one of very few godly men who sided with the King James Bible only movement. Dr. Peter S. Ruckman (1921-2016) was another godly preacher who stood for the King James Bible, when being King James Bible only wasn't cool. So I am a big fan of Pastor Al Lacy. But he is WRONG to tell people to: “Ask Jesus to come into your heart,” and to tell people to: “Repent of your sin to be saved.” Those are heresies!

Consider that not once in the Gospel of John is the word “REPENT” mentioned. Not once! But we do find the word “BELIEVE” mentioned 88 times!!! Clearly the man who believes has also repented. It is automatic. The man who changes his mind has believed; and the man who believes has changed his mind. Please read what Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980) believed and taught, with which I agree. I just don't like the words “turn from sin,” but like Dr. Lacy, he gets it theologically correct (his terminology is wrong):

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. [emphasis added]

SOURCE: Evangelist John R. Rice, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pp. 251-252; Sword Of The Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; ©1963

Now, I agree with the theological statements of both Dr. Al lacy and Dr. John R. Rice; BUT, both of these men foolishly use the unbiblical phrase “turn from sin,” where the Holy Bible DOES NOT!!! So why use it? Why tell people to “repent of your sin” when no such commandment or wording is found in the Scripture? Doesn't that make sense? Sure it does. I NEVER tell lost people to “repent of your sin” to be saved. And if you do, you are preaching another gospel (unless you explain exactly what you mean, as did Pastor Al Lacy and Dr. John R. Rice).

Pastor Marty Herron is guilty of preaching another gospel, which cannot produce the new birth. And if you really want to see a false prophet who has left the ballpark completely, and taken leave of any theological sensibility, check out Dr. Steve Pettit's nightmare plan of salvation (this is pure Calvinism). Folks, this is what happens when men like Dr. Al Lacy stray away from THE GOSPEL, away from THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). If you stick to the simple Gospel, no one can misconstrue what you say. ...

“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.” —Pastor Yankee Arnold, a quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”

God knows that I didn't write and publish this blog to criticize my friend, Al Lacy. Rather, I am simply trying to help others, you dear reader, to keep the Gospel simple the way God intended for it to be. Here again is a helpful excerpt from Michael P. Bowen's helpful book titled: “I NEVER KNEW YOU: The Horror Of The Great White Throne Judgement And How You Can Avoid It.” This is the simple way that we should all be presenting the Gospel:

Here is the gospel: God says that we are sinners and that no amount of good works or behavioral changes on our part could ever make us holy enough to enter heaven. God sent His Son to pay for all of our sins. Jesus paid for our crimes by dying on the cross for us all. His dead body was buried in a grave. On the third day, Jesus arose from the dead. The instant you believe this, He knows it and He saves you. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life”(John 6:47). The free gift is based solely upon your trust in what Jesus did for you and has nothing at all to do with what you do for Him. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). ~Michael P. Bowen, “I Never Knew You,” p. xii

Now how does that compare to Pastor Al Lacy's THREE POINTS (in the preceding sermon I shared with you)? Dr. Lacy starts out by telling the audience that they must admit to being a guilty sinner. But then he adds another point to repent. Friend, repentance is not a separate step from admitting that you're a sinner. Nor is repentance a separate step from BELIEVING. There are no “steps” to being saved, you simply BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Acts 16:30-31), and in that moment you have fulfilled everything required by God to receive eternal life. It's that simple.

How To Know You're Going To Heaven In 30 Seconds

Acts 16:29-32, “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.”

Here is a wonderful excerpt from Michael P. Bowen's helpful book titled: “I NEVER KNEW YOU: The Horror Of The Great White Throne Judgement And How You Can Avoid It”:

Here is the gospel: God says that we are sinners and that no amount of good works or behavioral changes on our part could ever make us holy enough to enter heaven. God sent His Son to pay for all of our sins. Jesus paid for our crimes by dying on the cross for us all. His dead body was buried in a grave. On the third day, Jesus arose from the dead. The instant you believe this, He knows it and He saves you. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life”(John 6:47). The free gift is based solely upon your trust in what Jesus did for you and has nothing at all to do with what you do for Him. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). ~ Michael P. Bowen, “I Never Knew You,” p xii

Amen! There you have it friend, how to know that you're going to Heaven in just 30 seconds. 

We could stop right there and be done with this blog, but if you'd like to learn more, please give me the opportunity to elaborate a bit more on the subject of salvation. You are a guilty sinner and so am I. There is a penalty for sin, which is both physical death and the second death in Hell. But Jesus is the sinless Savior, the only begotten Son of God—Who died on the cross for our sins. He was buried. Three days later He bodily resurrected from the dead. Simply believe this GOOD NEWS (GOSPEL) dear friend and you are saved! Simply BELIEVE that Jesus did it FOR YOU!!! That's it, that's all, no more.

I was thinking this morning about how simple it is to be saved. I've been typing out Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold's helpful sermon titled: “Why Lordship Salvation Is WRONG.” It is time consuming, to make sure I get it all correct, but it is my privilege to do it for Christ! It took me eight hours just to type out half of the sermon, but I am having a wonderful time, and laying up treasures in Heaven while I'm at it. God willing, I will finish the sermon transcript today.

When I hear Pastor Yankee preach, my heart burns with joy over the simplicity of the Gospel. And I find myself compelled to do more to get people saved. So this is my way of contributing further to help preach the Gospel and get folks saved, and to help encourage other believers to share the Gospel, so that more people can be saved and go to Heaven (Proverbs 11:30).

Dear friend, you are a sinner. That is the bad news! There is a penalty for sin, which is death—both a physical death (Romans 6:23) and a second death (Revelation 21:8)—forever separated from God in Hell (Revelation 20:15). But the Good News is that Jesus loves you so much that would would rather die than live without you (John 3:16). So He came down from Heaven to earth, as the Christ—the only begotten Son of God—and He died for your sins and mine on the cross of Calvary's hill (Romans 5:6-9). Jesus died, was buried and three days later He physically resurrected from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). If you'll simply BELIEVE that Jesus did it for you friend, you will be immediately, irrevocably and permanently saved. That's it, that's all, no more! John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

That's it, that's all, no more! We are the SINNER, and Jesus is the SAVIOR! That is so simple. Acts 16:31b, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...” I suppose I could have titled this article, “How To Know That You're Going To Heaven In 2 Seconds“: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...” (Acts 16:31b).

You do need to know the FACTS of salvation to be saved. You must know that you are a sinner (Romans 3:23). You must know that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten (biological) Son of God (John 20:31). You must know that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins, and that He was buried and three days later resurrected from the dead. This is THE GOSPEL by which we are saved who believe it (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 1:16). These are the FACTS which a person must acknowledge and believe (put your trust in personally) to get to Heaven. Simply believe that Jesus did it for you!!!

Even a small child can understand that Jesus died on the cross, to pay for the things which we have done that are wrong. Even a small child can understand that Jesus didn't stay dead, but He came back to life and went back up to Heaven and is alive today. Any child can understand that they have done bad things, for which they deserve to be punished. But if we will simply trust Jesus, accepting His sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins, then we won't appear as guilty sinners anymore in God's sight. Instead, God will only see Jesus' blood that He shed to wash away our sins. The concept is so simple.

I fully agree with Pastor Yankee that the reason why most Christians today aren't telling other people how to get to Heaven, is simply because preachers today have made the Gospel so difficult and hard and complicated, that people just don't know what to say to lead others to Christ. But dear reader, it is so simple to be saved!!! God had to make it simple, otherwise dumb people and those who are mentally challenged, couldn't be saved. I say that kindly but truthfully.

Pastor John MacArthur's Hard And Complicated Gospel

As hard as it is to grasp, Pastor John MacArthur's Calvinist plan of salvation is so difficult and hard and complicated and corrupt, that he publicly said (and I quote): “There is no such thing as a childhood conversion.” Of course not, because John MacArthur's false gospel is so complicated that a child couldn't possibly understand it. That is NOT the simplicity that is in Christ, which is THE GOSPEL:

2nd Corinthians 11:3-4, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”

Sadly, John MacArthur preaches another gospel—a complicated and very difficult gospel to follow, which is comprised of partial faith in Christ plus human works. In MacArthur's hard plan of salvation, you are required to “turn away from your sin” to be saved. The Bible does not teach that requirement, which would be KEEPING THE LAW for salvation.

False Prophet: Pastor John F. MacArthur

On September 25, 1990 at the Calvary Baptist Church in Brewer, Maine (Pastor Larry Pawson), Dr. MacArthur was involved in a question and answer session which was publicly taped. During that session he said the following about child salvation:

"Now let me say this and I don’t want you to panic when I say it. Saving faith is an ADULT ISSUE. Saving faith is an ADULT EXPERIENCE. Salvation is an ADULT EXPERIENCE. Am I saying that a child cannot be saved? I’m saying that salvation is a conscious turning from sin to follow Jesus Christ with an understanding of something of the sinfulness of sin, its consequences and something of who Jesus Christ is, what He has provided and that I’m committing my life to Him. At what point can a child understand that?... I tell parents that salvation is an adult decision... There is no illustration in Scripture of childhood salvation. There is none. People want to throw the Philippian jailer and his household; well that’s talking about his servants so there is no reference there about his children. So there is no such thing as a childhood conversion." READ MORE

MacArthur is saying that if a child is to be saved he must understand as an adult, make an adult decision and have an adult experience. The Lord Jesus taught that to be saved adults must become as little children (Matthew 18:3); MacArthur teaches that to be saved children must become as adults.

I dearly love this man, and godly men like him; such as: Pastors' Curtis Hutson, Max Younce, Harry Ironside and others who preach a simple free grace Gospel. So many preachers today are preaching a difficult and complicated gospel message, which is NOT the truth. A counterfeit gospel message cannot produce the new birth. Jesus warned in John 3:3b, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again.

There are three FACTS that you must know and BELIEVE (trust, rely upon) to be saved:

• WHO Jesus is - He is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 20:31)
• WHAT He did - Jesus DIED, was BURIED and three days later RESURRECTED from the dead for the justification of our faith in Him (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)
• WHY He did it - Because we are guilty sinners, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)

If you accept these FACTS as the truth—choosing to TRUST IN THE GOOD NEWS of the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day—then you are indeed saved certain. Nothing more is required. If saved, always saved!!! 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.” I love that Bible verse!

Dear reader, if I haven't made it simple enough how to be saved, let me be as plain as possible—you must simply BELIEVE that Jesus did it for you! 

“I saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday and today and forever.” —Evangelist John Bunyan (1628-1688)

You see friend, it is as simple as this—you and I are guilty sinners! We have all done some pretty bad things in our life. I know I sure have, things that I am not proud of and I wish I could erase from my past, but I cannot; and so have you, if you'll be honest with yourself. Did you know that Christ died for our self-righteousness too? (MP3 sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles)

The Bible teaches that nothing defiled can enter into Heaven (1st Corinthians 6:9-11; Revelation 21:27). If you've ever commit even one sin, you cannot enter into Heaven! You don't have to be good to get into Heaven, you must be totally perfect! No one is perfect except the sinless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. That is why we need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (Matthew 6:33). We need God imputed righteousness credited to our record in Heaven (Romans 4:4-7). Amen! Jesus takes our sins upon Himself and He puts His righteousness upon us, at the moment of faith. This is the gift of God (Romans 6:23).

God loves you dear friend. He was willing to die for you! Romans 5:6-9 says some people would die for a godly man, some might even sacrifice their life for a good man, but who would die for a guilty criminal? Jesus, that's Who! CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS!!! Christ died for you and for me, paying a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt of sin that we could not pay.

The payment has already been made by Christ through the cross of Calvary's hill. The shed blood of the Lamb of God has been sprinkled upon the heavenly Mercy Seat, on our behalf in the presence of God the Father (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24). Therefore, you don't even have to "ask" Jesus to save you, because the payment has already been made for your sins. You must take it by faith! JUST BELIEVE!!! Forgiveness of sins and eternal life are a free gift from God, paid for by Jesus Christ, which you simply need to accept by faith. So you don't need to ASK God to save you, just BELIEVE that Jesus did it for you!!!

If you have never done so, simply take God's free gift of eternal life by faith dear friend, by taking God at His Word in the Holy Scripture. Just accept what God has already recorded in His Word concerning Christ—how that He died on the cross according to the Scriptures for our sins, and that He was buried, and according to the Scriptures He raised up from the dead physically on the third day. These THREE facts (Christ's death on the cross, burial and bodily resurrection) are Biblically called: “THE GOSPEL” (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). This is the GOOD NEWS! Simply BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS dear reader, and you will be instantly and forever saved!!! The chose is yours alone to make. Please don't delay, because today could be the last day of your life here on earth (Proverbs 27:1). Jesus is precious!!!

Acts 16:29-32, “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.”

Though Hand Join In hand, The Wicked Shall Not Be Unpunished

Proverbs 11:21, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”

The inspired Word of God teaches in our text passage, that though sinners join hand in hand, they shall not escape punishment. As I pondering the meaning of this Scripture today, it occurred to me what it means. You see, so oftentimes wicked people will join together in solidarity yo strengthen their cause against the righteous.

A perfect example is the homosexual agenda today in America. The LGBTQ movement is growing bigger each year, and gaining more momentum. In a very short time, I'd guess within the next generation of 20 years, we will see pastors being prosecuted in the United States as hate-spreaders for preaching the truth of Leviticus 20:13, that homosexuals are worthy of capital punishment. That doesn't mean Christians should go around killing gays, God forbid. It simply means that if our government feared God, which they absolutely don't, homosexuality would be illegal and a punishable crime.

As recently as 2003, homosexuality was a punishable crime in Texas. And in 1962 homosexuality was a punishable crime in all 50 states. Dear reader, God hasn't changed, humanity has changed over time. We humans cannot make up our minds what is good or evil, and since we disregard the inspired Holy Bible, we never will be able to govern ourselves.  Thirty years ago pot was illegal, but now it is legal in many states. Literally, there are people rotting in prison today for selling Marijuana, in states where it is now being legally sold. Go figure! We humans are a strange bunch.

Faithful Bible preachers today, who preach the inspired Word of God as they ought, are being labeled as public enemy number one. It is because the majority of pastors today are cowards, or only in their profession to make a living, that they refuse to fight in the battle for morality in the United States. Consequently, the small number of pastors who do faithfully stand nowadays are greatly outnumbered, making it much easier for the ungodly media to intimidate and silence them. A truly “free” society is only one in which it is safe to be unpopular!

Increasingly, Americans by the millions are jumping on the LGBTQ bandwagon, showing full support for this gross wickedness. But what saith the Scripture? Proverbs 11:21, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” The Bible assures us that the victory of the wicked will be short lived. Job 20:5, “That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?” We all need wisdom from the Old Testament book of Proverbs.

I couldn't help but think of the pathetic attitudes of the leaders at Campus Church and Pensacola Christian College today. When I first started attending Campus Church in July of 2021, I kindly confided in Jeff Redlin (their senior pastor) that I am a divorced man, he couldn't have cared less. He expressed no sympathy or empathy for a hurting man. The fact that my former wife divorced me in 2006, 15 years ago, meant nothing to him. You see, at PCC they look down on divorced people who desire to remarry. PCC is a cult in many respects. They abuse hurting people who have broken lives. Sadly, PCC is a mere academic institution, a place intended to provide religious services for students, and nothing else.

So when a real person like me comes along, who is suffering in pain of soul from a broken marriage, Jeff Redlin just threw me under the bus to die. Literally, that wicked pastor scolded me for saying that I hoped to find a wife at Campus Church. Who does that? What kind of pastor berates and belittles someone for being divorced, and lonely, and hoping to remarry after 15 years? Jeff Redlin is a horrible human being, with poor character, and he ought be fired from Campus Church and not allowed to stand behind any pulpit in America. Sadly, PCC pays him over $100,000 a year! You see, Mr. Redlin doesn't have to care, because he still has 9,999 more people that all support him. So who cares about one lost lamb, right? Thankfully, Jesus cares and Jeff Redlin's days of arrogance are numbered until God judges him. 1st Thessalonians 4:6, "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified." Pastor Redlin horrible defrauded me! He abused my trust, wounded my feelings and drove me out of Campus Church by his hatred, throwing slanderous gossip in my face that he read in the ungodly internet, and his unwillingness to embrace me as a fellow brother.

In front of his wife, Pastor Redlin told me that if I did find a woman to marry, he refused to perform the wedding. What did I do to cause such hatred in this pastor? What pastor, after only knowing a hurting man for 2 weeks, would speak such cruel and hateful words against him? Dear reader, that is Pensacola Christian Collège today, a bunch of self-righteous religious hypocrites. Yes, PCC is a CULT!!! Run from the place. If you don't believe me, ask Samantha Field. She should sue Pensacola Christian College for emotional neglect, failure to report a crime and other illegal activities that went on on campus!!!

You see, PCC couldn't care less. They are full of lame excuses to excuse their poor unchristian behavior. Proverbs 11:21, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” I came to Campus Church with a kind, loving and open heart. But Pastor Redlin abused me! As a divorced person, Redlin made me to feel like total garbage! You simply don't tell someone that you've only known for 2 weeks that he shouldn't be looking for a wife at church, and if you do find a woman to marry, I won't perform the wedding. I am still shocked that a pastor would even stoop so low as to express such contempt, disregard and hatred for hurting man.

Jeremiah 10:21, “For the pastors are become brutish [lacking good sense], and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.”

Woe unto America's uncaring pastors today! The flock doesn't belong to any pastor. The church flock belongs to God alone! Jesus told Peter to feed "MY" sheep. They weren't Peter's sheep. They're not Jeff Redlin's sheep. They're not Sean Quinlan's sheep. When I visited the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Guam, my former wife also attended there. Pastor Sean Quinlan shamefully didn't life a single finger to even try to patch-up our marriage. That wicked pastor never once offered to pray with me. Kindly said, Sean Quinlan is nothing but a salary-sucking parasite on the churches today, just like Jeff Redlin.

These ungodly religious men think they are full of love for inviting people into their home on occasion. But hospitality is not God's love. Love would have been Jeff Redlin comforting me as a divorced person, praying with me, offering me counsel and trying to help me in a spirit of meekness as the Bible says in Galatians 6:1-3. Instead, he sinfully condemned me for being divorced, making me feel like a criminal for even daring to hope to remarry someday. I am not an 18 year old college student at PCC, I am a 55 year old man. Who does Jeff Redlin think he is anyway? I'll tell you, he is an ungodly man who has grown TOO BIG for his own britches! He's now the big man on campus at PCC, and it has gone to his head, making him look down on sinners like me. One day Pastor Redlin is going to realize that he is a dirty sinner too!

When I told Pastor Quinlan that my younger sister died of a drug overdose in Chicago in 2016, he just sat there at Lighthouse Baptist Church like a little boy, saying nothing. When I told him on another occasion that I didn't have anybody else to talk to than him about spiritual matters, he ignored me. This is the lousy quality of Baptist pastors today, totally INCOMPETENT!!! I am so glad that Quinlan quit. Unfortunately, he is now at PCC doing damage there instead. Proverbs 11:21, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” The reason why these wicked men that I have mentioned are so haughty, defiant and refuse to repent, is simply because they are part of a giant organization that backs them up. They are the wicked joining hand in hand.

That is why Bob Jones University today is so untouchable. Have you seen the Satanic garbage being preached at BJU? Dear friend, I am not barking up an empty tree here. I know what I am talking about. I just took the time yesterday to type out one of Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold's sermons. It took my 5 hours but was worth the time. The sermon is one of my favorites, called: "Lordship Salvation: Caught Between Grace And Works." All of the preachers that I just mentioned are GUILTY of either preaching a false gospel, or of bidding Godspeed to false prophets! RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

I don't get paid to do this, that is, to write. I do it because as David said in the Old Testament when he went out to fight the giant Goliath: "IS THERE NOT A CAUSE?" (1st Samuel 17:29b). I love what Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001) said:

“The world will go to Hell unless somebody is authoritative!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “I Shall Not Be Moved”

Ladies and gentlemen, I care! If that makes me a troublemaker like the prophet Elijah, then so be it. 1st Kings 18:17, "And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" I am known at the failing institution of Pensacola Christian College as the troublemaker! Oh, they are growing in numbers and popularity with man, but quickly dwindling in favor with God (Revelation 3:15-17). I am known at the apostate Harvest Baptist Church on Guam as the troublemaker! So be it! If TELLING THE TRUTH that Lordship Salvation is of the Devil, then I'll gladly be the TROUBLEMKER!!! If taking a godly stand against the Devil's corrupt modern Bible revisions makes me the BAD GUY, then I volunteer! If exposing the fraud Martin Luther (1483-1546), who preached the heresy of Baptismal Regeneration (i.e., you must be water baptized to get into heaven) his entire life makes me the bad guy, then praise God that I'm the bad guy! I must preach THE TRUTH.

Proverbs 11:21, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” The Bob Jones crowd are laughing at my ministry and articles. They mock my blogs. I have literally seen them laugh in my face, and belittle me. One hateful staff member at the shameful Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, told his wife not to even smile at me, which I clearly heard him say TWICE, as they passed by me while we were all walking. Isn't that a crying shame? What was my offense? I loved them enough at Harvest to warn their pastors about the counterfeit Gospel they are preaching, called Lordship Salvation.

I warned them about the deadly false prophet, and BJU alumni, Pastor John MacArthur. Mr. MacArthur says, and I quote: "There is no such thing as a childhood conversion." You see, in John MacArthur's ungodly world, his plan of salvation is so hard and complicated that no child could ever be saved by it. That is a false gospel!!! I just typed out a portion of Pastor Yankee Arnold's sermon called: "Easy Believism." These are great words:

"Now, I spent just a few minutes explaining the Gospel to Him. But it's simple enough so that he can share it with somebody else, and somebody else, and somebody else. Now, I believe that there are a lot of preachers who will never have the joy of this, for the simple reason, they gotta make the Gospel so hard and complicated that they won't share it. I can share it with anybody at any given time, and it makes sense, and they trust the Lord. And I've seen their lives change. When they simply believe it. I didn't try to change anybody's life, but I've seen it happen, 'cause I know that the power of the Gospel works on people." —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, a quote from his beautiful sermon: "Easy Believism"

Oh why do men complicate everything? Pastor Jack Hyles said these helpful words:

“More people will die and burn in Hell, because they're trusting too much!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”

“Everything that's hard and complicated about salvation is God's side of it!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”

The simple, free and easy Bible way to be saved is to just BELIEVE the Good News of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, Who was crucified, buried and ressurected from the dead three days later. He did that FOR YOU dear friend. Just BELIEVE IT and eternal life is yours!!!

God knows that I don't hate the shameful pastors that I have named. I pray for them to get right with God. I have personally dealt face to face with these wicked men, and they shirked off and rejected the truth, instead berating me for preaching THE TRUTH. The PCC camp are upset with me for exposing them, because they have caught STD's (Spiritually Transmitted Diseases) from the corrupt Bob Jones University crowd. BJU is now the fountainhead of the corrupt Westcott and Hort Greek text. Dear reader, if you don't have a King James Bible, you don't have an inspired Holy Bible!!! ALL of the modern perversions are corrupted by Satan!

Even communist Cuba has enough sense to reject the Devil's fake Bibles!!! So what is wrong with over 95% of pastors today who foolishly accept and use them? In every church I know of that uses the Devil's Bibles, the place is spiritually corrupt and dead, and the Devil's curse of Lordship Salvation (i.e., Calvinism) is preached. Please pardon my rudeness at times, I don't mean to be, God knows my heart. 2nd Corinthians 11:6, "But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things." Somebody's got to "REBUKE THEM SHAPLY, that they might be sound in the faith" the Bible says (Titus 1:13b). Unfortunately, neither the BJU or the PCC camp are listening to a word I preach, because they are full of pride and arrogance and set in their corrupt and horrible ways. Like the Apostle Paul, I am set for the defence of the Gospel, and so also should you be dear saint of God. Philippians 1:17, "But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel."

They aren't listening because they are strong in numbers, the wicked joining hand in hand. But their day of reckoning will come soon enough, because "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:b7). What saith the Scripture? Romans 3:4, "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." I am preaching THE TRUTH, while ungodly pastors like Sean Quinlan and Jeff Redlin continue to sinfully and shamefully bid Godspeed to the infidel Bob Jones camp. I speak this all in Christ's love. 1st Corinthians 16:24, "My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."

Easy Believism

Acts 16:30-31, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

by Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold

I got back. I thought I'd just check some of my emails. I had sent out one letter. [I was] just excited about all those things, that, you know, the things the kids are doing when they go on Friday night soul-winning. And I get excited about, you know, some people giving some money for the college, so the college kids can have their bills paid. Sometimes they wonder how things are going to work out. And it increases their faith. And so, I get excited about that. And the thing about night school, I get excited. I get excited easy, about a lot of things. But no, there's some people who don't get excited about anything.

But anyway, I sent the letter out. But I did get one letter back. And this was a letter that I got back. [I] thought I would just share it with Ya. It says:

"Brother Yankee [Now this is from the pastor of an independent Baptist church]. We love you, but must tell you that the only exciting news from Florida Bible College, would be that you have repented of your apostate church state position; and was teaching the truth at FBC, that Jesus is to be the sole head of our churches, and that you had also repented of your Hyles-style easy-believism that is devoid of true repentance."

Now isn't that wonderful to come home to? And this is from the pastor of an independent [Baptist Church]. All those people that said they trusted Christ as their Savior. And he said: "that easy-believism!" Well what would you rather have . . . hard-believism?

[Do] you know what this is? It's a pen. But that's too easy to believe. Believe hard! When the Bible says: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Even those that are not educated. Even children. Do you think it was something they should be able to understand? Then, what preacher has the right to make it hard, though when God made it easy? He did the hard part. All we have to do is accept it. They're trying to make more out of the word "believe," than BELIEVE.

Because you see, they've got to get people to change their lifestyle, to stop all their bad habits, and their sins, and so forth. I know where he's coming from. I've preached in a lot of Baptist churches all over America. And there's a lot of them that just don't get it. They believe that you have to turn from your sins and so on, to be saved. This is why they can't just explain the Gospel to somebody and have them trust Christ as Savior, because they've gotta give them (you know) the whole buffet. They gotta let 'em know: "Now this is the desert. And this is the salads. And this is the meat and potatoes. Now, you have to eat all of this, and that's going to take awhile."

When I want somebody to get saved, I just tell them what they need to do to get saved. I'm not trying to give them a theological discussion and all the aspects of all the, you know: Bibliology, Angelology and Soteriology, and Christology and Physiology. I'm just trying to tell 'em how to go to Heaven. Now, there's a lot of things we should know, a lot of things we should do, as a child of God. But to become a child of God, it's just BELIEVE that what He said is the truth. He said something and can I believe that? He that believeth hath everlasting life. Well, when do you have it? Well, when you believe it. Well, how long does it take to believe something? If you tell a story, and when they get through telling the story, that made sense—hearing the Word, they believed. How long does that take? Well that's too easy. Alright, well, who has the authority to make that hard?

So, yes, I have a problem with certain things. I hope while he's preaching today that he'd get the hiccups . . . lol. During his whole sermon . . . lol. Now, I'm saying that out of Christian love, because I would just love to hear that he did it . . . lol.

I got another letter. Do you remember that I mentioned to you just a while ago, that I was going to ride this Zipline. And so we went an hour and a half down into the jungles. I didn't know that it was that far. But anyway, we went. And they cancelled out another part, so, there was only six of us on the whole bus. And there were about seven cruise liners that had docked there, and everybody had cancelled out. Everybody cancelled, except six. And me and Betty and Treena was three of them. There's just something feisty about us. We don't easily give up.

So, down into the jungle we went. And when we got there, they put these harnesses on us, and they take us up to the top of this no man's land. And we had four different zips, or five, something like that. I'm glad that I know where I'm going when I die . . . lol. But we did get some personalized attention, because we were the only six, and they had that many helpers. And so each one of us had our own personal attendant. But anyway, I got a chance to start talking to the guy who was the head of it. His name was Gavin. Gavin. He was from Belize and so we kind of started talking a bit.

So were standing there and getting ready to go. And I says: "Where are you going when you die?" He probably should have been asking me that question . . . lol. I said: "Where are you going to go when you die?" He says: "Well uh, well I uh, uh." I said: "You hesitated, that means you're not sure." And he wasn't sure. And I says: "Well I know I have eternal life. I know that I'm going to Heaven when I die. I'm ready to go!" So they hook me up to the thing. He says: "How do you know?" I says: "I'll tell you after while when we get through." This is going to put the fear of God in you, 'cause he was going to go with me (he hadn't been there in a long time). But anyway, we had a lot of fun. When it was all over with I explained the Gospel to him and he accepted Christ as his Savior.

And we went into the little shed there, and was talking to a couple of the people behind the counter. And he had mentioned somebody's name and I thought that name sounded familiar, that I think I know that guy." And anyway, he had asked the lady behind the counter: "Do you know blah blah blah?" She said: "Yeah, I know him." And so I thought, "There might be a connection here." This is an hour and a half down in the jungle. I mean off the beaten path, way down in there. I says: "Have you ever heard of Greg Stier and Dare 2 Share?" [She says] "Yes, I have!" I says: "Do you know where you're going when you die?" And she was hesitant. And I said: "You hesitate, that means you're not sure." Because usually if they know, they know; when you're not sure you hesitate, trying to figure what's the best way to answer to get out of this.

And so it didn't take long. And the thing that got her is a little statement that I use every once in a while. I said: "Did you know that God loved you so much, that He would rather die than live without you?" Then, I mean, it just did something, that one statement, she just started welling up with water in her eyes. And I says: "He loved you that much, that He was willing to die to pay for your sins, so that you could have eternal life." And I went through and I explained, and I says: "The 'Gospel' is the 'Good News' that He will give you as a free gift, everlasting life, if you should simply BELIEVE that what He did, He it for you." I says: "Can you handle this?" She smiles and she says: "I can handle this." Just like that, "I can handle this." I says: "Will you believe it?" She says: "I believe it." It was so neat. It was just so neat. It's just certain ways and things that you say, you know, that sometimes it catches a person.

Well, we got back and I saw I had an email from Gavin. He says: "Hi Doc." (He calls me Doc) How are you doing? It was with great pleasure to meet with you and your family, as well [as] the knowledge that you openly shared with myself and the people. Everywhere I go now, that's a question that I ask. Where do you go when you die? And the conversation becomes endless. And he says: "Well Doc, in the next couple days I'll be seeking the law of rules and regulations regarding some conversation we had. He's even talking about maybe wanting to come to college. I don't know. But he says, "Now," he says, "That's all he talks about."

Now, I spent just a few minutes explaining the Gospel to Him. But it's simple enough so that he can share it with somebody else, and somebody else, and somebody else. Now, I believe that there are a lot of preachers who will never have the joy of this, for the simple reason, they gotta make the Gospel so hard and complicated that they won't share it. I can share it with anybody at any given time, and it makes sense, and they trust the Lord. And I've seen their lives change. When they simply believe it. I didn't try to change anybody's life, but I've seen it happen, 'cause I know that the power of the Gospel works on people.

In this verse I wanted to share with you. Look there in verse 4, where it says in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2, in verse 4: “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust...” with that easy-believism. The Gospel should be presented in such a way that it's easy for people to understand it. If they can understand it, they can believe it and trust Him. But when you make it hard and complicated, that's when you gotta work on 'em. You gotta work on people. You've gotta make sure that they're willing to stop all their bad habits, and cut out all of their sins, and be willing to turn from their sins. They gotta really mean business for God! You see, God said they don't have to do that. That's not required.

I'm talking about just telling a person what's required. And it's Good News to say: "Look, it's free." But if you tell them: "You gotta stop all your bad habits," that's hard! That's hard for people to stop. Can you stop all of your sins? Have you? Now, don't answer . . . lol. I've thought about becoming a Catholic and opening a little booth, so ya'll can confess . . . lol. It would really enhance my sermons . . . preparation. I could use more of you for illustrations . . . lol. But anyway. That the Bible says that, “we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” So God has given to us a message that will work. And work it will!

Now turn in your Bible to Romans to chanter one. I had just one guy that came by, and he was waiting on us. And so, it didn't take long before I asked him if he knew where he was going when he died. He didn't have a clue. So after I talked to him for awhile, he trusted Christ as his Savior. You say: "How do you know he trusted Christ?" 'Cause he said that he did! There's some people that don't ask. They never ask anybody because that would be a work of the flesh. Fiddle-faddle. If I want to know if you've trusted Christ as your Savior, I ask you: "Have you trusted Christ as your Savior?" And you could say: "Yes." Well then, I didn't save you. All I did is ask you a question. You said you were saved. So, if ten people said they trusted Christ as Savior, who am I to question whether they did or they didn't? "Well they may not have meant it." Well then let it be on them, not me, I didn't lie, they did. Are you understanding me?

Watch the rest of the sermon if you'd like...

Easy Believism

The Clear Gospel In 4 Minutes

(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)

Lordship Salvation—Caught Between Grace And Works

Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

by Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold

       There is a message being preached today in many Bible-believing churches, by born-again pastors, preachers that really know the truth. But for some reason or another they have slipped into error and teach things that they don't really believe, but because they hear others preach it—it sounds so good—and they sound so successful that they copy them.

Years ago a man by the name of Billy Graham, made very popular the idea of coming forward in a church by doing it in his big crusades that he has around the country. Which was really started by a guy by the name of Billy Sunday. When he used to have these, I'd say "Tent Meetings" in logging camps. There'd be so much mud, that they would bring in a lot of sawdust and they would put sawdust down the aisles and in the front. And he'd tell people to hit the sawdust trail. And so they would come down and come to what they would call the "Mourner's Bench." And many people got to where they didn't think you could actually be saved unless you hit the sawdust trail. And you had to come to the Mourner's Bench and weep and wail and pray through, and people would get around you and lay their hands on you, and pray that you could get saved.

And all the time, it was a gift. It's a free gift. And you you had to do was believe on what Christ did for you. And that you don't have to beg God to save you. You don't have to plead with God to save you. That is so wrong. God's already done everything He can do to save you! There's only one thing left, will you believe that He died for you, and paid for your sins? It would solve a lot of problems. But because Billy Graham was so successful, all those people that saw and heard what he said and did, they copied and sometimes they don't really believe that's what you have to do, but they didn't know a better way to do it.

And I believe there's people today, who know the Lord, love the Lord, and they're just preaching a muddy message, without knowing what they're doing, or thinking things through. You see, I was saved, and before I went to Florida Bible College I also had some errors in my message. I remember preaching in a rescue mission one time and I told the people, I says:

"It's just like you hanging over a cliff. And you're hanging onto all these roots and they keep breaking. And you keep hanging onto all these roots, and you know that if you don't hang on you're going to fall. And an angel comes up behind you and tells you, 'Let go and simply trust me." And you are hanging onto your sins, and you've got to let go of all your sins and simply trust the Lord.'"

Now it sounded good. It really sounded good—just let go! But you know, if you're hanging on and you can't see the angel behind you, it scares you to death. So you don't know whether or not to hang on or let go. And I knew the truth, I just didn't know how to explain the truth. So unless you see and understand it, you will be surprised how messed up you can get.

So look there at the statement—"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him Lord of your life and you will be saved. You must make Him Lord of all and if He's not Lord of all, then He's not Lord at all." This doctrine has been termed "Lordship Salvation," making Christ the Lord of your life, and has absolutely no support from the Word of God.

The next statement: "Christ is the Savior!" The reason why that one statement is so important is because CHRIST IS THE LORD! You don't make Him Savior and you don't make Him Lord. You see, that's Who He is. He is Lord! He is Savior! He is Savior because that's what He does, He saves. When you mix the grace of God with the efforts of man, you rob the Gospel of its power to save. Man needs salvation. He cannot save himself. He needs a Savior. Jesus Christ is the Savior! The people of Samaria said unto the woman, "Now we believe. Not because of thy saying, for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. John 4:42, "And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."

You see, in the Old Testament they looked forward to the Christ, the Messiah, Mashiach. They looked forward to the messiah coming, but they understood in the Old Testament that the Messiah would be the Savior of the world. And that's why when John, when He saw Him, says: "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." So even though in the Old Testament they may have made sacrifices, but they knew that the messiah—Christ coming into the world—is to be the Savior of the world. He was to make a payment for the sins of the world. He was to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world.

So then is the whole world saved? Well no. Then how can He be the Savior of the whole world? Because He's the only Savior in the world, and He's able to save the world, but the world has to believe on Him.

The next statement: "Christ can be a Savior without being your Savior." There's only one Savior for the world and that is Christ. But it's up to each individual whether or not he or she will trust Him for their salvation. See, Christ is the Savior of the world, there is no other. But you as an individual must accept Jesus Christ as YOUR Savior in order for Him to save YOU. There is no one else who can save you. You cannot save yourself, it is not by works of righteousness which we have done.

The next paragraph says: "When He was born, the angels declared." In Luke 2:11, " For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Christ the Lord is His title, that's Who He is. He is the Savior, and He was the Savior of the world on the day He was born. Even though He hadn't made a payment. Even though you could say, "Well He hadn't saved anybody yet." But He was the Savior. See, that is Who He is. This is what He came to do—He came to save.

And the prophet Isaiah quotes God as saying: "I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour" (Isaiah 43:11). When it's capital: L, O, R, D, it means Jehovah. It's a reference to God Himself. And beside me there is no Savior. And beside me there is no Savior. Well if Jesus comes and He claims to be the Savior of the world, and God says: There is no Savior beside Him, then Jesus must be God. Jesus must be Jehovah. Yes, it's hard for us sometimes to understand all of that. The Scriptures are emphatic, that God took on flesh in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ then became man's Savior.

John chapter one, very interesting, that "In the beginning God" (Yes, "created the heavens and the earth" in the book of Genesis); but here, God was in the flesh, and He was in the world, and the world was made by Him. And it says, He was God. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." You see Jesus Christ is God. He created all things, "and without him was not any thing made that was made." So the Bible tells us Who Jesus is and what He did. Not only did He create the heavens and the earth, the Bible says He took on flesh, comin' into this world, and He came for a reason

The next statement that I want you to see there is this: "'Christ the Lord' is Who He is. It is His title. 'Savior' refers to what He does. He saves. He saves." When you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, He saves your soul from the penalty of sin in Hell. That very moment. So you understand that when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, He saves you from the penalty of sin in Hell. When you accept Jesus Christ as the Lord or Master of your life, after you're saved, you're trusting Him to save you from the power of sin in your life.

So one, you trust Him as the Savior to save you from the penalty of sin, which is in Hell; and the second thing, after you trust the Lord, we should allow the Lord to be the Master of our life; and as we yield to Him He gives us the power to deliver us from the power of sin in this life. So, after we are saved we have a life to live. So there is a place for Christ being the Lord of our life—the Master of our life. And there's nothing wrong with that. But when you try to make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life in order to be saved it's wrong. That is why sometimes people put on there (and I've seen it just recently on there websites), that you must accept Jesus Christ as your "Lord and Savior." As your "Lord and Savior." But what does that means? And they generally mean that you must accept Him as the Lord and the Master of your life, be willing to change your life, turn from your sins, make Him in charge of your life, in order that He might save you. That is heresy!

And yet it looks like it's so close, and yet it's so disastrous, because the consequences is Hell. And they use a lot of the same words, terminology, but it it's just so wrong. We have to be careful of the things that we say. The words that we say. The message that we tell people. Because you see, we will have to answer to the Lord for the Gospel we preach. It's not left up to you and I to change it. To manipulate it. And just because we see the wickedness in so many Christian's lives, you can't change the Gospel message to solve the immaturity in Christians. You have to hit them with the doctrines of other things that pertain to the child of God. But salvation is totally separate.

But because many preachers don't know how to do that, they put the disciplines of discipleship with the clearness of the Gospel and put it all together, and give them a glass of mud. That they cannot discern. So now they don't know if they're really saved or not, because now they have to look at these works to do, how to live, and it produces turmoil. It produces fear. It produces terror. Because there's no absolute, there's no surety, there's no confidence.

So in this statement I have here: "After salvation, you're yielding to the Lordship of Christ will save your life from the power of sin, but it cannot save your soul from Hell." People can seek to make Christ the Lord and the Master of their life in how they want to live, but that cannot save your soul from Hell. Impossible! To be saved from Hell, you must accept the payment He made for your sins. And that is made by you trusting in Christ, and Him alone without any works of yours whatsoever.

The next statement, in the book of Acts in chapter 4, in verse 12, it says: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." According to that verse, there is no Savior outside of Jesus Christ. Christ is the Savior. You can choose whether or not to accept Him as your Savior. Accepting Him as my Savior does not make Him a Savior. He already is a Savior. I am just allowing Him to save me. But if I don't trust Him as my Savior, He is still a Savior, that's what He does. I am thankful that I can stand here and say: "He is my Savior!," because he has saved me. If He has not saved me, He is not my Savior. And if He has saved me, then I cannot be seeking salvation. Those who are still seeking to be saved are saying that they are not yet saved, and still need to be saved; and therefore, they think they have to wait 'til the end of their life to see if they're going to make it or not. Salvation is a gift.

Look at the next statement: "Man's belief or lack of belief in the Saviorship of Jesus, does not change the fact that Jesus Christ is truly the Savior." When a man (this is a very important statement here) recognizes the fact that Jesus Christ is truly the Savior, and trusts Him to be His Savior, then and only then, does that man receive the benefits of Christ's saving power. Outside of that there is none. You see, the new birth is a miracle. The new birth is a spiritual birth. The new birth is of God. And God has to do it. Man cannot give himself a new birth. Then it would be of the flesh, but the will of man; and it is by the will of God.

The next statement: "Christ died and rose again for all." Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9, that Jesus Christ "was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death," that He might "taste death for every man." So that every man can have salvation. In first John chapter 2, in verse 2, it talks about how that Jesus is our propitiation. He is the satisfaction for our sins. God was satisfied with the payment Christ made for our sins. But He also says, "and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." So not just those who believe. He also paid for the sins of those who don't believe. But the payment is not put to their account unless they believe it. They still must have the righteousness of God given to them as a gift in order to go to Heaven.

The next statement here: "But He saves only those who trust Him, that is to say, even though He is the Savior of the world, He saves only those in the world who personally and individually receive Him by faith. God invites "whosoever will" to trust in His Son. But it is an amazing truth of God's Word that men can forbid the Savior to save them. Such men die without a Savior, though One was available to them all the time, like in:

John 3:16 "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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

The last paragraph on this page. Just as you receive the Savior by faith, and He becomes your Savior; when you allow Christ to control your life, He becomes your Lord. He is Lord, but see, there is a great benefit in submitting your will to His will. There are great blessings in the life, by the Lord being the Master of my life. In other words, someone who can tell me what I should and should not do. But God wants us as His children to voluntarily yield to His authority. Now you can if you want. You can rebel if you want. But to yield to Him, God will bless your life and reward you when you get to Heaven. If you do not, then God is going to have to chasten and discipline, maybe take you home before your time.

But now notice, there is an increasing number of evangelicals today who are preaching, that in order for a man to be saved, he must not only receive Christ as his Savior, but also must make Him absolute Lord and Master of his life. Christ is the Lord. He is the Lord Jehovah, God in the flesh. And "Lord" can also mean "Master." And that is Who He is.

In Mark chapter 12, verses 28-33, I want to read these verses to you, and then I want to make some comments. Because you see, if Christ must be the Lord and the Master of my life, what am I actually doing with an individual? If I tell a lost man: "This is what you must do in order to be saved: 'Christ is not your Savior or your Lord, unless He is Lord of all, [Unless He is Lord of all], He is not Lord at all; and therefore, you must make Christ the Lord and the Master of your life.'" That sounds so spiritual, sounds so good. It's just the same as telling a person: "You must love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, body, soul and strength, and you must love your neighbour as thyself." I wonder where I've heard those before. Look at verse 28 of the book of Mark:

Mark 12:28-33, "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Do you notice there's a word, a three little letter word. Not "IRS." The word "all." [It is] mentioned over and over and over and over. Do you know the main thing about the "Lordship Salvation" [is] He must be Lord of all or He is not Lord at all. But what does that mean? This is what it means. This is THE LAW. When you tell a person that He must make Christ the Lord and the Master of his life, you are placing that person under the law to obey the law, all the law, every law. Look what He says, in Verse 30, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." This is a commandment.

So when you tell a lost man: "This is what you must do. He has to be Lord of all!" You are putting that person under the law to be saved. Which means that you're telling a lost man that he has to prove that he's worthy of salvation, by the commitments that he's made, by the life that he's lived, by the sacrifices that he's made. All of that. All boiled together. And not just between him and God, but the second commandment is likened unto this: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." So it's not just you living holy between you and God, you must live a certain way with people. And if you don't, you've failed the law. And the penalty for breaking the law was death. And yet there's preachers that take lost people; it's as though Christ's crucifixion—His death, burial and resurrection—had absolutely no effect, meant zero, and their trying to keep people under the law. And there's a lot of people on radio, and television, that preach this damnable message.

In the little box there, I wrote this: "Lordship Salvation is totally the keeping of the law. Lord of all or not Lord at all, which is shown to be impossible to perform. Can a man save himself by his works? No he cannot. And yet that's what that message presents to the lost man. It gives them and impossibility."

The next statement: "He is the Savior and He is the Lord. You may or may not accept Him as your Savior. You may or many not accept Him as your Lord. What you do or don't do does not change Who He is. He is Who He is. He has done what He has done." I believe that it's a shame and a disgrace for preachers, to take that wonderful sacrifice that Christ made for the sins of the world, because of the love of the Father, and to totally annul that sacrifice as though it has absolutely no effect, no power, it didn't have to be done. Because if a man can serve God and earn the right to be saved, why did Christ have to die? Then He died in vain, there was no reason for Him to die, because there was another way.

And yet the Bible tells us that there was no other way. And there is no other name under Heaven. That is the exclusivity of the Son of God. There is no one else that can save, accept Jesus Christ and Him alone.

Look at the next statement: "Jesus Christ is the all-knowing, all-powerful, Creator and Controller of the universe. Colossians 1:16, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" Verse 17 adds: "by him all things consist" (or are held together). God led Paul to write that Jesus Christ is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" That's Who He is. The One Who was crucified on Calvary, was none other than the Lord of glory. And he says: If the princes of this world had know Who He really was "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." That's how blind they were. That's why they did what they did.

But what's the excuse, that so-called "Bible-believing teachers" have for creating such a monster, as to cause people to believe something that God totally is against, and why Christ died because there was no other way? So just to say, you know, "There's people who believe in Lordship Salvation," as though it's no big deal. IT IS A BIG DEAL! It's wicked! And it's wrong! And the preachers have no authority to preach such a message! [It] makes me upset.

Some may ask, if Jesus was really Lord when men by wicked hands crucified Him. Absolutely! You mean when Jesus Christ was here, and they nailed Him to a cross, He was still the Lord? Yes, He was. Do you realize that because He was the Lord, and He had all power and could have done anything He wanted to do—He says I have the power to lay my life down and to take it up again—He could have stopped anybody from doing anything—He was still in charge when they put the spear in His side and they put the nails in His feet—when He was crucified on the cross—He was still the Lord. He says: "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." He is the Lord now, although some men refuse to let Him rule in their lives.

Certainly the Bible says: Know "assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Their unbelief did not change the fact about Who He is or what He has done. Jesus Christ is the Lord. And the Bible says one day, one day, "every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Until then, understand this, Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He is the only Savior of the world. He is the only remedy for all mankind. There is no other hope. There is no other way, therefore, we preach Christ. We preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified, dead, buried and rose again from the dead, and that He is alive and that He's coming back again someday.

Because we believe that, we have eternal life. We have the free gift that will last forever, and because we have eternal life I now have an option as far as my life goes. I can be an obedient child of God, or I can be a disobedient child of God. But I am still a child of God. But because of Who He is and because I know what I am. I need. I need someone to direct my paths. I need someone to lead me. I need someone to guide me. I need someone to protect me. And there's only One Who can do all of that, and that's the Lord.

I want Jesus Christ, Who is my Savior to be my Lord. I want to worship the Lord, because of Who He is. He is God and as you study the book of Revelation, it keeps making this statement: HE IS WORTHY TO RECEIVE PRAISE AND HONOUR AND GLORY AND MAJESTY and all these things that's listed there. Over and over again, He is worthy to be worshipped. He is worthy of our submission. He is worthy of our surrender. It behooves every child of God to submit his will to the will of God. Nobody can make you do that. And if you don't, He is still Lord. And because He's still Lord He's still has the power, the ability, to manipulate anything in this world that He wants to, and to bring whatever catastrophe in this world He wants to against you. And He can chasten you in such a way that you'll never forget it. And He may even take you home before your time. So how can He do all that? Because He is Lord. He is the Lord. And the sooner we recognize it, the better off we'll be.

So we trust Christ as our Savior, that gets us to Heaven. But we're not there yet. All rewards that are earned is only because Christ was not only your Savior, but He was the Lord and the Master of your life.

The Clear Gospel In 4 Minutes

(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)