What Other People Think About Us Can Affect Our Prayers

Luke 7:1-5, “Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.”

This dear Roman Centurion (a military leader over 100 soldiers), had a sick servant whom he loved. This servant was sick and about to perish in death. The centurion had heard about a good man named Jesus, who went about healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, giving the ability to hear sound to the deaf, and even raised the dead. So the centurion humbly requested and sent the elder of the Jews to Jesus, pleading that his servant would be healed so that he would live and not die.

But the centurion never told the Jews to tell Jesus that he was worthy. They Jewish elders spoke those words of praise, regarding the centurion, on their own accord. This is but one of numerous examples found in the Scripture, where the way a man treated other people had an impact on whether his prayers got answered or denied.

In another popular Bible passage we read:

Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

Dear friend, God DOES care about how you and I treat other people. Right doctrine matters, and so does the way that we treat people. When I attended Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College in 2021, Pastor Jeff Redlin mistreated me. In fact, he was downright abusive! When I told him that I was sleeping in Walmart's parking lot on July 4th, 2021, he was indifferent and just walked away. That wasn't cruel, it was just terrible. That is no way to treat a fellow Christian brother.

But when I emailed him a few days later to share my testimony and broken life with him, he was cruel. I told him as a friend that my former wife had divorced me 15 years earlier, and that I have lived alone since, suffering inexplicable pain of soul from loneliness and lack of companionship. I told him that I sincerely hoped to find a wife at Campus Church. His cruel response was to actually scold me for coming to church to find a wife. This was the first time I had ever written to him. As the pastor of a church (who receives a 6-digit salary), Jeff Redlin behaved very shamefully that day. You don't scold a 54 year old man as a little child for sharing his heart about desiring to fid a Christian wife. Pastor Redlin's cruel words cut to my heart. I never told him that I came to church to find a wife, which he foolishly assumed. I simply said that I hoped to find a wife at Campus Church. SHAME on Pastor Jeff Redlin!

Sadly, when all was said and done, the terrible shallow pastors at PCC's Campus Church banned me from attending their church anymore. I kindly asked all the pastors of Campus Church in June  and July of 2022, if I could please come back to church. They totally ignored my letter that I mailed to them in June. So I wrote them again in July (sending a courtesy copy to PCC too, so they knew of the situation), apologizing deeply from my heart for offending them. I kindly explained my health problems, broken life, catching COVID-19 in 2021 and loneliness of soul without a wife for the past 16 years. Those ungodly cult leaders couldn't have cared less. So in August of 2022 I lashed out on social media against them, which they were waiting for, so they could use it as an excuse to tell me I couldn't come back to church. Ladies and gentlemen, those wicked PCC pastors are not right with God. They mistreat, ignore, abuse and esteem themselves as being better than others (Philippians 2:3-5).

Dear reader, God watches everything!!! Hebrews 4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” God never misses anything, not even a little bird that falls from the sky, or the number of hairs upon our head (Matthew 10:20-30). I have lost most of mine...lol. Praise the Lord anyhow! God is always good!!! I love Pastor Redlin and pray for him often, that God will break his heart and teach him how to love people. Kindly said, there is a woeful lack of God's love at Pensacola Christian College. The Bible warns that the letter of God's law killeth, but the Spirit of God giveth life. 2nd Corinthians 3:6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” If we preach the truth to people, but without showing forth God's unconditional love to them, we will do more damage than good. 1st Corinthians 13:3, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” There must be a balance between truth and love in every preacher's sermon.

My friend, you can pray all day and all night, but God likely won't regard your prayers if you are unkind, abusive and intolerant toward others. It matters how we treat our fellow human beings. Notice what the Bible says concerning the atrocities being committed by the wicked in the Old testament city of Sodom. Genesis 18:20-21, “And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.” God hears THE CRY!!! God hears the cry of the innocent, of the victims, of the hurting and weeping children of men.

Genesis 4:10, “And he said, What hast thou done?  the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.” God heard the innocent blood of slain Abel cry out from the ground, which was shed by his angry brother Cain. Do you think that God hasn't heard THE CRY of the 63,000,000 murdered aborted babies since 1972 in the United States? You had better believe that God has heard THEIR CRY!!! And God will hear THE CRY of anyone that you and I hurt too! Who is it in this world who is cursing your name? Who is it that hopes you will someday get what you deserve coming to you? God knows. God cares. 1st Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

What saith the Scripture? Matthew 18:6, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Jesus said “ones which believeth on me,” which clearly weans that anyone who defrauds, injures, insults, offends, hurts or in any way messes with a born-again child of God is in BIG TROUBLE.

In Matthew 25:40 Jesus warned, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” The Lord is essentially saying: “We are in this thing called Christianity together. We are on the same team. One for all, and all for one! If you are one of my beloved sheep trusting in Me, whatever anyone does (or doesn't do) to you, as far as I am concerned they have done it to Me too!” What an awesome Savior, God and Lord!!!

The inspired Word of God specifically addresses husbands and wives, warning them to treat each other properly, or else God WON'T answers their prayers. 1st Peter 3:7, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” Dear beloved reader, I humbly think I have the great mind and heart of God, which is shed abroad in my soul by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). 1st Corinthians 2:16, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Having made that profound statement, I sincerely believe that you can be mean, unkind and even abusive in your words toward God, because He loves you and me so very much; but God will not tolerate you and I mistreating, ignoring, hurting, cheating or in any way being malicious toward another human being. Psalms 103:14, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” God knows that we are weak, and that we easily get frustrated and discouraged. I think I am right in saying that God will put up with a lot from His children, but I think He draws the line when we hurt other people. 

I kindly challenge you dear friend, whoever you may be, to purpose in your soul to treat everyone as you would like to be treated. After all this is The Golden Rule taught in Matthew 7:12, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” I don't know about you, but I am going to do all that I can. by God's grace with His help, to love everybody. People just want to be loved. They really do! There isn't much love in most religious circles today; but rather, only sinful compromise, which is rooted in the love of money, and not God's concern for the souls of humanity. May our great Savior God wonderful God do a work in your heart dear reader, that you and I will LOVE PEOPLE the way that we want to be loved.

Of course, that means that we must first let God love us. You'll never be able to love anyone, until you first love yourself with God's love. He loves you dear friend. Oh, yes God does! If you were the only human being who had ever been created, Jesus would have died just for you!!! You are not just another insignificant number in the massive sea of humanity. The last I checked, the world's population is now up to about 7,900,000,000 people. I have read shocking estimates that by the year 2050, the world's population will have soared to an astounding 50,000,000,000 people! Wowza! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!!!

I care about you friend. I don't get paid to serve God. I have labored day and night since 2002, for the past 20 years, trying to be a VOICE in cyberspace for the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope my humble words in this blog have challenged you dear reader, to LOVE God and your neighbour. The two greatest commands in the Holy Bible are to love God with all our heart, soul and might; and the second is like unto the first, to love our neighbour (all mankind) as our self. I agree with Evangelist Lester Roloff (1914-1982) that these two great commands are really just one—TO LOVE. Amen and amen. May we all learn to yield, to let God love others through us, which is the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).

Repentance Does Not Result In A Change Of Behavior

Acts 3:19-21, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Romans 2:4, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

One of the most evil things that a preacher can do is embellish the Scriptures, adding to the inspired Word of God things that God didn't say. Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

Yet that is exactly what ungodly preachers like Marty Herron, Steve Pettit, John MacArthur, Ray Comfort and Billy and Franklin Graham have wickedly done!!! ADD THOU NOT the Lord warned!!! Yet, all the aforementioned false prophets horribly ADD their own manmade commandments to God's inspired Word.

I had attended the Campus Church on the grounds of Pensacola Christian College (PCC) during this past summer of 2021. I was sickened in my soul one Wednesday night at Campus Church, as I listened to associate pastor Tim Zacharias teach 1,000 church members that repentance leads to a change of behavior. Here is what he said, verbatim: “Repentance is a change of mind resulting in a change of behavior.” Here is a screenshot from the video they showed at Campus Church to accompany their Bible study (I added the appropriate cancellation symbol, because this is FAKE NEWS at Pensacola Christian College!)...

Repentance unto salvation does NOT result in a change of behavior!

It is sad and shameful that such a big religious educational institution like PCC and Campus Church, still haven't got the most basic of Bible doctrines (repentance) correct yet. Go figure!

I mean, this is ridiculous and horrible. The Greek word for “repent” in the New Testament concerning salvation is either the noun form metanoia (a change of mind), or the verb form metanoeo (to think differently). Repentance when applied to getting saved NEVER means that your behavior will change. Anyone who teaches that repentance results in a change of behavior is preaching “another gospel” accursed by God (Galatians 1:6-9).

The sole focus of redemption must be upon Christ alone, and not upon the sinner in the least; otherwise it is a counterfeit gospel. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. For the Gospel to be valid, ALL of the burden of sin must fall square upon the Savior's broken body on the cross of Calvary, and none be borne in the least by the sinner. 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.

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU. 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? It makes no sense!

Why does a man need to change his mind? Obviously, so that he will come to Christ by faith to be saved. A man takes a bath because he perceives (sees and smells) that he is dirty. That is what the law does, it sensitizes humanity to the awfulness of sin (Romans 7:13). Unless a guilty man sees himself as a needy sinner in God's sight (Romans 3:19-20), he will not come to the light of THE TRUTH of the Gospel to be saved (John 3:20-21). So it is imperative that a sinner repent, so that he or she will BELIEVE. 

Here is some solid Scriptural support for what I just said:

Matthew 21:32, “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”

Mark 2:17, “When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The two preceding passages of Scripture perfectly shed light one upon the other. Unlike the harlots (prostitutes) and publicans (greedy tax cheats who took advantage of people), the self-righteous Pharisees refused to come to Christ. The harlots and publicans, upon hearing John the Baptist preach the Gospel, quickly acknowledged their sinfulness and need for salvation. But the pious Pharisees foolishly thought they were already righteous of their own accord, because they tried to keep the law. Of course, no human being is capable of perfectly keeping God's law, except Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:15).

Contrary to what some Christians have been misled to believe, God never intended for Old Testament saints to keep the law (works) to be saved. The Apostle Luke tells us in the following Bible verse, that NO ONE has ever been justified by keeping the law of Moses (that must also include Old Testament saints). Acts 13:39, “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” If they couldn't be justified under the Mosaic law, then they needed another way.

The Apostle Luke tells us in the next verse that ALL THE PROPHETS give witness that remission of sins has ALWAYS been only through FAITH IN THE MESSIAH. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” People were saved back in the Old Testament the SAME way that we are today, which is by grace through faith in Christ.

Carefully notice that the following passage says repentance led to BELIEVING, not to turning away from their sins or a change in their behavior. Matthew 21:32, “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.” The reason why the wicked Pharisees didn't believe on Jesus is because they refused to repent. That is, they refused to change their thinking! They thought they were whole, having no need for the Great Physician. They refused to acknowledge their sinnership!

I heard a wonderful sermon today by my favorite preacher, Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001). The sermon I heard perfectly applies to this blog article. Here is a fantastic quote:

“The first thing necessary to get saved is to get bad!” —Pastor Jack Hyles (“God Only Saves Bad People”

“Nobody goes to Heaven because he is good; you go to Heaven because you know you're bad, and you flee to Jesus Who died to save sinners.” —Pastor Jack Hyles (“God Only Saves Bad People”

Wow! I couldn't have found a better quote to go along with the self-righteous Pharisees in Matthew 21:32 and Mark 2:16-17 who refused to repent (i.e., they refused to change their wrong way of thinking):

Mark 2:16-17, “And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

God doesn't expect us to give up our sins to be saved, for eternal life is a free gift (Romans 6:23); but God does  expect us to walk in His Son when we get saved, so as to obey and please Him, lest we be scourged and chastised by our heavenly Father (Hebrews 12:6-8).

I actually had a very honest unsaved co-worker once refuse to get saved, because he openly admitted that he didn't want the indwelling Holy Spirit, knowing that the Holy Spirit would convict him continually about sin and expect him to live a holy life. That is exactly what John 3:20-21 means, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” This is why there is no need to tell sinners to “turn away from sin” to be saved, because it is automatic. A lost man won't even come to Christ to be saved, unless he has first agreed with God's Word that he or she is a guilty sinner! That is why they are coming to Christ to be saved in the first place!!!

Repentance is not a separate event from faith, although they are not the same thing. Here is the best quote that I've found on repentance, by Dr. 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)

For a person to BELIEVE on Christ, we must have “repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2nd Timothy 2:25b). You don't repent AND believe; you repent TO believe. Repentance is simply the admission that I am as guilty a sinner as God hath declared me to be in His holy Word. You don't need to give up anything to be saved, except to turn from unbelief to BELIEF! You don't even have to give up all your unbelief, evidenced by Mark 9:24, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” So even if you still have some uncertainties, fears or doubts, God will still save you if you'll just act on what little bit of faith you have.

I love the classic chair illustration! Let's say you need to replace a defective lightbulb on your front porch, and all you have to stand upon is a flimsy old chair. I actually have an old shaky chair like that...lol. Let's say that you decide to go ahead and trust that chair, even though you are not sure it will support your body's weight. Dear friend, even if you are 99% certain that the chair will fail, and not hold you up, it is no less than 100% faith just so long as you place all your unsupported weight upon that chair. Isn't that beautiful? Now you understand why Jesus said in Matthew 17:20b, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” The mustard plant has one of the smallest seeds in the world, yet these robust plants grow to be 7 feet tall in Israel. Even the tiniest amount of faith SAVES! ...

“It's not the size of my faith that gets me to Heaven, it's the object of my faith!” —Pastor Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold; sermon: “Where Is Faith?”

Repentance and faith happen at the same time, instantaneously. This is why the Gospel of John mentions the word “believe” 88 times, but the word “repent” is not mentioned even once. You don't have to clean off your dirt before you get into the bathtub, you simply need to get into the bathtub. Likewise, you don't need to forsake your sinning to be saved, you simply BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO BE SAVED (Acts 16:30-31).

You don't have to promise not to get dirty anymore to be clean, you simply get into the bathtub. The precious BLOOD of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin!!! 1st John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” God doesn't want you to turn away from sin to get saved. Don't you dare if you want to be saved. Whether it be your sins, or your righteousness, Christ had to die for all of it, because it's all filth to God (Isaiah 64:6).

He Died For Your Righteousness Too! (MP3 sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles)

You don't have to promise God to do better, or clean up your dirty life, to be saved. You simply by faith receive His sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins. Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6-9). We are all ungodly sinners, by nature and by choice (Romans 3:10-23). Jesus died for all mankind, for both the good and the bad. God only saves BAD PEOPLE!!!

It loathes me when pastors pressure people to depart from a lifestyle of sin if they want to be saved, or pressure people that their behavior will change if they are really saved. How then is eternal life still the free gift of God? Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” There are no toll booths to enter into God's Kingdom. All this talk about grieving over sin, changing one's behavior, being faithful to run the race to the end, living a lifestyle of repentance, and experiencing repentance in the full moral sense is all rubbish! It is reformation (turning from sin), penitence (sorrow for sin) and penance (amending one's sins), but not Bible repentance (a change of mind). Remember, God called the Gospel “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4).

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

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

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

The Gospel of John mentions the word “BELIEVE” 88 times to have eternal life. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” The Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract. John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” That is so simple! Repentance is automatic. When we witness the Gospel to a lost person, we simply need to make sure that they know they are a guilty sinner in God's sight. They need to know what they are being saved from. Nothing more is necessary or permitted.

Christ does the saving—all of it. Our part in salvation is to cease from our own labors and get out of the way, resting completely in Christ's finished work through the cross of Calvary, by the precious blood that He joyously shed for our sins (1st Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 1:5).

No one has ever been saved who didn't first admit that he or she is a guilty sinner in God's sight (1st John 1:18-10). Pastor Jack Hyles makes this truth very clear in this classic sermon titled: “Fundamentalist Heresy.” The Dr. Jack Hyles' camp have often been accused of running people through a quick-prayer “1-2-3, follow me” gimmick shallow type of salvation profession, just to count numbers and then brag to others. In the preceding sermon Dr. Hyles refutes those who would dare claim somebody as being saved, who hadn't been properly dealt with concerning sin and the Gospel.

What must a person do to be saved. The Bible already answers the question in Acts 16:30b-31, “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.” Did you see anything in there about grieving over your sins, repentance in the full moral sense, forsaking the world, repenting of sin, following Christ, counting and paying the cost, living a lifestyle of repentance, or behavior modification? I sure don't, but maybe my glasses aren't working. You tell me.

Dear friend, the only requirement for you to be saved is to simply come to God as a needy sinner, and to place your trust (reliance) in His only begotten Son Jesus. Simply receive His sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, believing that He was buried and bodily resurrected from the dead three days later. This is very simple and historically true. Christ died, that's history; Christ died FOR ME, that's salvation!

Pastor Tim Zacharias (at Campus Church on the property of Pensacola Christian College) makes the Gospel sound utterly complicated. He arduously states:

“I need to be clear, there can be no salvation without repentance in the full moral sense. You need to be grieved about your sin. You need to come to a place where you understand the consequence of sin. You come under the condemnation and conviction of the law of God, and it causes you to change and to turn to Christ, and to call out to Him for salvation.” SOURCE

Friend, do you think those simple folks—the harlots and publicans to whom John the Baptist preached—experienced all that? They simply knew that they had messed up in life, that they were big time SINNERS! They knew they deserved to go to Hell. Whether or not they felt sorrow doesn't matter as far as eternal life goes. The Bible doesn't require that you feel the emotion of sorrow to be saved; but rather, that you simply come to God as a needy sinner. I love how Evangelist Alexander Marshall (1846-1928) explained repentance:

“I HAVE NOT REPENTED ENOUGH”

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

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

Then you are completely mistaken.

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

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

Where does the Bible say all that junk? I fully agree that a person must admit they are a guilty sinner, so they will see their need for redemption in Christ (Romans 3:19-23; Galatians 3:24-26). But the way Pastor Zacharias explains it, it would scare a person! Where does the inspired King James Bible say we must “change” to be saved? It does not. Repentance is a change of mind unto the Gospel itself, not a profound willingness to reform, grieve, change and depart from sin. Oh why can't men just leave the Gospel alone? I know some people will accuse me of splitting hairs, but I am against anything that complicates or obscures the simplicity that is in Christ. Dear friend, if you know you are a guilty sinner and will place your confidence in Jesus Christ, believing that He died in your place on the cross, was buried, and three days later resurrected from the dead, and that is your only hope for eternal life, you are saved! Nothing more is required or allowed by God. God the Father simply wants you to trust in His only begotten Son (John 3:16-18; 6:40).

I Was Saved Simply by Believing the 'GOOD NEWS' of Jesus Christ

I got saved when I was 13 years old. I did know that I was a sinner, and for the first time in my life I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The church pastor said that Sunday morning, that if you don't have the indwelling Holy Spirit convicting you about sin you're not saved. I knew there and then that I wasn't saved. That morning from my pew, I called out to Jesus for the first time and asked Him to save me. I believed that Christ died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and resurrected three days later. I knew that. I believed THE GOSPEL (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).

I found out many years later that I could have just BELIEVED on Christ, without calling, and still been saved. We are saved by BELIEVING, even before we call. I didn't feel grieved over my sins. I didn't experience REPENTANCE IN A FULL MORAL SENSE. I wasn't a theologian back then, and thank God I'm still not a theologian today 41 years later! God deliver us from theologians!!! I just knew that I had been a bad boy! God saved me because I trusted Christ. Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

I dare you to show me even one place in the New Testament, where we are taught to do all this repentance junk that we hear from preachers today. Over and over the Word of God simply teaches us to BELIEVE. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” It is high time for all preachers to stop focusing on what the Bible does not!

I think Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980) had the right idea about repentance and faith:

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. [emphasis added]

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

I couldn't agree more. The way you repent is by BELIEVING. Dr. Zacharias rightly teaches that sometimes in the Bible “repentance” is used as a euphemism (the substitution of an expression) for salvation. For example: Luke 5:32, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” That is essentially what Dr. Rice just explained. Jesus was calling them to salvation. The man who believes has repented! So why teach that a person can BELIEVE in the name of Jesus, but still be lost if they have never repented of their sins? It is IMPOSSIBLE to believe on Christ and still be lost. You may follow Jesus, or call Him “Lord” and not be saved (Matthew 7:21-23), but those who believe on Him as Savior are saved (Acts 16:30-31).

Now, in fairness to Dr. Zacharias, I think what he intends to teach is that you cannot merely add Jesus to your life in a positive sense, without realizing the negative aspect of one's sinnership and deserved penalty in Hell. You've got to know what you are being saved from. You must admit that you are a sinner to be saved (1st John 1:10). Pastor Jack Hyles preached a helpful sermon titled: “The Sin Question And The Son Question.” In this sense I fully agree with Pastor Zacharias, and he does cover this aspect of salvation in his Bible study.

The true Gospel always points you to Christ; a false gospel always points to you. I am tired of being the bad guy for telling THE TRUTH and defending the Gospel. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 13:6 that love “rejoiceth in THE TRUTH.”


If A Man Is Wrong On Repentance, You Cannot Trust His Theology

Repentance does not mean a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior. That is manmade reformation, not the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer (Galatians 5:22-25). I am unalterably opposed to the heretical teaching that repentance means more than a change of mind (because that is what it really means).

I love you all. I am just a fool for Christ. Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Matthew 12:34). I cannot help but write about the things I see and hear (Acts 4:20). My neck hurts so bad with burning pain. My nerves burn throughout my body from my neck injury. I am just taking things one day at a time. Love me or hate me, I am telling THE TRUTH. I am not leaving Campus Church (as long as they will have me), at least for the foreseeable future. They are great people and I am happy to have a church family, but time will tell if they embrace me or shun me. The satanic Bob Jones crowd rejected me, because they are snobs, but I never rejected them.

It is not easy being a truth-teller. The Gospel is very simple. One of my favorite sermons is by Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold titled: “Caught Between Grace And Works.” Anybody who talks about repentance leading to a change of behavior doesn't understand the Gospel. Anybody who talks about repentance leading to a change of behavior is corrupting the Gospel of free grace. Friend, your behavior has absolutely NOTHING to do with the free gift of God, which is eternal life. You don't have to reform or beg God to save you, you simply need to believe what He did for you on the cross. Jesus paid for your sins. Christ is risen! Trust Him oh sinner!

So what am I saying? I am saying keep an eye of Campus Church moving forward. If you ever hear any of their pastors teach that repentance means more than a simple change of mind unto the Gospel itself, RUN! The $64,000 question was asked by the fearful Gentile Roman jailer: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30b). The profoundly simple answer was once and for all settled by the Apostle Paul: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31b). The invitation to believe was extended to the man's entire house, as it is also extended to you dear friend.

Repentance Does Not Result In A Changed Life

Galatians 2:20-21, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”

Galatians 5:22-26, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”

The Devil is working double time on the seduction line to infiltrate, corrupt and destroy today's churches. Baptist churches at one time were the last bastion of great churches in America, but those days are long gone. The primary culprit, in a twisted sick paradox, are America's incompetent Bible colleges.

A perfect example is Pensacola Christian College(PCC) in Pensacola, Florida. I had attended their Campus Church for the summer of 2021. I was sickened as I sat and heard associate pastor, Timothy Zacharias, teach over one thousand people the following heretical tommyrot (preached on July 21, 2021 at a Wednesday night Bible study). Pastor Zacharias said, verbatim: “Repentance is a change of mind resulting in a change of behavior.” Dr. Zacharias cannot support that statement with the inspired King James Bible.

You cannot show me even one Scripture that says to repent “of your sin” or to “turn away from your sins” to be saved. I've been watching an intriguing show on YouTube called: “Wonders.” The program is all about why disasters happen, showing what investigators found. This week I watched a couple dozen shows, each one about an hour long. I learned about dozens of deadly plane crashes, which caused thousands of deaths, and why those crashes happened.

I've learned from these shows that no matter how much the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) improves employee training, no matter how much government regulatory changes are made to prevent crashes, no matter how many safety improvements are made in technology and methods—people will always tend to revert back to their old lazy, selfish, greedy, complacent and indifferent ways (up to 80% of all plane crashes are caused by human error).

As I watched several episodes of Wonders, I realized that the same sore evil can be said of religion and churches. No matter how much a faithful pastor may train his people, teach them the truth and prepare them for the future—people always tend to go back to their uncaring ways, tolerating heresy, embracing falsehoods, becoming too arrogant to admit that they have been deceived. Author Mark Twain said it well: “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”

A classic example of what I just shared with you is the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. At the time Dr. Jack Hyles was their longtime pastor, he taught his congregation that the only inspired Word of God are in the King James Bible.

“The only inspired Words of God are in the King James Bible!” —Dr. Jack Hyles (an awesome quote from the needful sermon: “THE REAL BATTLE!”)

Listen to what Pastor Hyles said: DR. JACK HYLES, “DON'T YOU LET A HALF A DOZEN MEN CHANGE THIS CHURCH WHEN I DIE!” Sadly, it was exactly 10 years later that First Baptist Church allowed their new younger whipper-snapper pastor to deny the inspiration of the King James Bible, which to this day in 2022 is still the new unbiblical position of FBCH and Hyles-Anderson College (which they own and control). It is tragic and shameful. The infamous atheists Voltaire said this about inspiration:

"The Bible is not the inspired, inerrant and 100% historically true words of God. ... If we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first of all destroy man's belief in the Bible." [emphasis added] ~Voltaire (French philosopher and former unbeliever 1694-1778 - He now knows better [in Hell])

It is mind boggling to grasp that the biggest enemy of the inspiration of the Holy Bible today is Bible colleges!!! Go figure! You show me a pastor of a church who denies that we have an inspired Bible today, and I'll guarantee you that he attended some damned seminary or religious college. Sadly, I'm talking about Pensacola Christian College (PCC), Bob Jones University (BJU), Moody Bible Institute (MBI) and nearly every religious institution today. Voltaire would be proud of these incompetent Bible colleges, and the tens of thousands of victimized churches they have corrupted. Christian parents, please do not give your hard-earned money, nor send your children, to some corrupt Bible college that doesn't even believe God has preserved His incorruptible and inspired Words, perfectly for humanity today.

getting back to the heresy that PCC preaches about repentance, they cannot backup their false teaching with the Holy Bible. I chose Galatians 2:20-21 and Galatians 5:22-26 as our text verses. Your salvation did NOT change you a bit. Repentance does not result in a change life. By the way, Pastor Tim Zacharias isn't the only guilty one. Pastor Jeff Redlin has blood all over his hands, for preaching the same falsehood. Teaching people that repentance results in a change of behavior confuses them, blurring the important doctrinal line between sanctification and justification. 

“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)

I love that wonderful quote from John Bunyan. Kindly said, Campus Church and PCC are corrupting the Word of God, and casting stumbling blocks before their thousands of church members and students, by errantly teaching everyone that they aren't really saved unless their behavior has changed. The Bible doesn't agree with Jeff Redlin and Tim Zacharias. By the way, this is the official doctrinal position taught to every new church members in Campus Church's “Foundation's Class.” I personally confronted Pastor Redlin, kindly, about this matter on Thursday, July 22, 2017, complaining about Tim Zacharias' false teaching. I was disgusted when Jeff Redlin said he teaches the same thing, and I found out that this is what the entire PCC camp believes and teaches. Dear reader, just because you get saved DOESN'T mean that your behavior will change. PCC is WRONG!!!

The correct Bible position doctrinally is that when you get saved (which is by faith alone in the Good news of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day), God indwells you (moves inside your body, soul and spirit to live) with His Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). It is the blessed Holy Spirit who works to convict, teach, guide, comfort, scourge, chastise and conform every child of God into Christ's image (John 16:13; Romans 8:29; Hebrews 12:6-8). Not every believer grows the same as others.

Some believers grow quickly, and changes are evidenced right away. When I got saved at age 13, the Holy Spirit began to deal with my soul immediately about the sins in my life. The first thing I remember, in hindsight, is that God convicted me about sassing my mother. One evening my mother said to me: “You've changed.” She saw that my attitude had improved toward her. She saw that I was reading my King James Bible every night, falling asleep under my night lamp, which she would turn off. But I had Christian parents. They weren't perfect, but I saw their faith, and it made growing in grace easier for me.

Now, there are other believers who grew up with unsaved parents. Growing in grace is much harder for them, so that without proper mentorship they might never show any evidence of growth. Prisons are full of Christians who Satan has sifted as wheat, as Jesus warned the Apostle Peter. All it takes to end up in prison is to get your priorities wrong in life! If you allow lusts, temper, hatred and greed to become a higher priority in your life than your love for God, anyone is capable of anything!!! That is why the Bible teaches believers in 2nd Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” This verse teaches us how to live right, not how to be saved or prove we're saved.

I could go on all day teaching about this vital subject. I encourage you to listen to this helpful MP3 sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles titled: 'Your Salvation Did Not Change You A Bit.' In this sermon, Dr. Hyles explains that there used to be a strip joint down the street from the First Baptist Church of Hammond. The immoral business and its patrons regularly mocked and made fun of soulwinning church members who came over to share the Gospel with them. The owner hated the Christians and persecuted them.

But one day the business closed down and nothing more was heard from them. A couple years later, Pastor Hyles received a letter at the church, from the owner of the strip joint. He offered to sell the building to the church, and Dr. Hyles agreed, so they bought it. As it turns out, the former owner of the immoral business had come to Jesus Christ, was training for the ministry, and told Brother Hyles that it was because of the consistent testimony of the member of FBCH.

Dr. Hyles uses buying that building as a helpful illustration of getting saved. The building had changed OWNERSHIP. When a person gets saved, ownership has changed from the Devil to God. But the building was still a strip joint. It still had filthy photos hanging on the walls. It was still in its unconverted immoral condition. It still had a dance floor and stripper pole. So the church needed to go in and renovate the building into something useful. That is how salvation works. Just because you get saved doesn't mean that your behavior will change. And it certainly has nothing to do with your repenting of your sins!!! I hate that lie of the Devil. Any preacher who tells you to repent “of your sins” is a LIAR!!! You cannot show me that garbage in the King James Bible, only in the Devil's modern corrupt perversions.

RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

Sadly, money is what matters most to Pensacola Christian College cult, Bob Jones University cult, Harvest Baptist Church cult on Guam, et cetera. These organizations all sinfully bid Godspeed to evildoers! PCC wickedly bids Godspeed to Harvest and BJU, and they wickedly bid Godspeed to Dr. John MacArthur (a diehard 5-point Calvinist). The Bible warns that the love of money is the root of all evil. All of these money-making oriented Bible colleges today, have become sinfully ecumenical, hobnobbing with cults that preach the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. PCC is in bed with BJU, and it makes God vomit (Revelation 3:15-17).

I am just a VOICE! I am telling THE TRUTH. I haven't made a single penny since I began my website ministry in 2002. Jeff Redlin has been paid over $1,000,000 for his religious work. Since 2018 he has been getting paid over $100,000 a year as senior pastor of Campus Church at PCC. I have tried to make peace with Pastor Redlin, Campus Church and PCC, in three separate letters that I wrote and mailed to them. To no surprise, they are so hateful and woefully lacking God's compassion, that they adamantly refuse to forgive me or even allow me to attend their church services. God's blessing is no longer upon the PCC camp. They are making lots of money, but so is Rick Warren, John MacArthur and Joel Osteen. Financial success is NOT evidence of God's blessing. The Devil will financially bless a corrupt ministry, so more people will join and be deceived. Sadly, PCC has succumbed to the damnable heresy being preached by BJU and their corrupt alumni. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

Be A Child, Juvenile Adult

My hero of the Christian faith is Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001). Brother Hyles cared about God, people and truth. That is why I love him so. The Bible teaches in Galatians 2:20 that we don't live the Christian life in our own human strength, but that Jesus Christ lives the Christian life through us, by God's grace, the same way we got saved.

The following life-changing truth is from Dr. Jack Hyles' helpful book titled: “Grace and Truth”:

A child is not a complete person. He cannot enjoy many things that maturity will allow him to enjoy. For him many wonderful, enriching experiences yet wait that he cannot enjoy until he reaches adolescence and adulthood.

The adolescent is not a complete person, for there are many rich and satisfying endeavors that can be enjoyed only by adults.

The adult may or may not be a complete person; that choice is up to him.

The child-adolescent-adult is a complete person. This is a person who, when he became an adolescent did not substitute adolescence for childhood, but ADDED adolescence to childhood.

Then when adulthood came, he did not substitute adulthood for adolescence but rather added adulthood to adolescence and childhood. He retained his childhood enjoyment and added to it the enjoyments of adolescence. He then retained his childhood and adolescent enjoyments and added to them adult enjoyments. He then became the complete person with a complete set of appetites, delights and fulfillments.

Why riot make a list of all the enjoyments unique to childhood. Have you retained them, or did you trade them for the enjoyments of youth? Everyone enjoys a teenager who, while possessing the maturity of youth, still possesses the excitement, exuberance and warmth of a child. We all know of adults who have added adolescence to childhood and adulthood to adolescence. This may be what charisma really is. There is a bit of little boy in every attractive adult male personality. There is an obvious pleasance or a bit of adolescence in every adult male personality. Likewise the attractive woman has a bit of little girl in her. She also has retained the flavor of adolescence in her mature, adult personality.

In many of our schools the best teaching is done in the lower grades. Such teachers can appeal to a child because they have retained a bit of childhood in their personalities. The same is true with a youth worker. Perhaps a youth worker is one who has kept his youth while becoming an adult. He was not willing to sacrifice youth for maturity and adulthood, but rather chose to retain his youth while adding the maturity of adulthood.

Think for a moment of some people whose presence you enjoy the most. Notice carefully and you will see that these people are childish, juvenile adults. This is why little children enjoy their presence. This is the reason that young people love to be with them and that other childish, juvenile adults enjoy their company. To be sure, such a person may draw criticism from incomplete people. The suave teenager may not like the teenager who has retained a touch of childhood. The drab adult may not enjoy the presence of the childish, juvenile adult. Perhaps the incomplete man will even develop a jealousy for the complete man. This perhaps is prompted by envy and covetousness.

All of us know of a young person who has gone off to college and has come home a different person, much to the dismay and disappointment of his parents. We also know of a young person who has gone off to college to return the same person who is just more mature and able to enjoy more of life. Such people bring delight and satisfaction to their parents. A farmer worked hard to send his son to the state University. While working in the field one day a neighbor asked him if he had noticed any difference in his son since he had been to the university for a fear The farmer replied, "Yep. You ain't never seen so much change in one young'in'. Before he went to the university, when he would plow, he would say to the mule at the end of the row, 'Whoa, Reb. Turn around and giddup.' Now that he has been to the university for a year he says, 'Halt, Rebecca, pivot and proceed.'" (It is the opinion of this author that "the mule walked on.")

The childish, juvenile adult enlarges his potential for service to mankind. He is not a specialist able to work just with children, nor is he a specialist able to work just with teenagers, nor is he limited to working only with adults. He has enough child in him to work with children, enough youth in him to work with young people and enough maturity to work with adults. Fortunate is such a person and fortunate are those privileged to be near him.

I am thinking now of a great preacher whom I found one day playing hopscotch with some children. I think Of another great man of God whom I found One day Playing marbles with some junior boys. Such IL Person makes a better pastor, for he can appeal to all ages. He makes a better parent, for he can have the proper rapport with his children at every stage of development. He will have a richer life, for he will be able to enjoy the company of any age. 

He will be a better leader, for he will know the heartbeat of each follower. He will be a more desirable person, for all ages will enjoy his presence. He will be more versatile in that his appeal will span all of life. He will never really grow old, for even in his senior years, he will still in some ways be a little boy and a young man. I think of my mother, who at this writing is 86 years of age; yet every time I talk to her I see the twinkling eye of a child, the mischievousness of childhood, the optimism and expectancy of a teenager, the glamour of a young woman, the endurance of youth and the wisdom of adulthood wrapped up in one personality. This is why she, at the age of 86, attracts little children and teenagers as well as adults. There are people in their forties who are older than Mother. 

She is a childish, juvenile adult who refused to trade the joys of childhood for the joys of adolescence, or the joys of adolescence for the joys of adulthood. She has retained them all and in so doing has kept her appeal to others and her enjoyment of others regardless of the age. In 2nd Peter 3:18 we are admonished to grow in grace. The word "grow" could be better translated "increase." It means to keep what you have and add more. It is like a growing tree. While the tree adds branches, it keeps its trunk. While it adds leaves, it keeps its branches. It is like an army which takes ground. It does not give up what it had; it adds new land to the land that already has been conquered. In other words, growing in grace is "adding to," not "substituting for." 

1. Do not exchange poverty for riches. The wise person will add riches to poverty. There are some enjoyments that are unique to poverty. How tragic it is when one gives up these enjoyments that are so rich that they cannot be bought with money in order to exchange them for things less valuable which can be bought with money. Such a person becomes poverty stricken because of his riches and trades that which cannot be bought by money for that which can be bought by money. This type of individual can be the poor rich man or the rich poor man.

I think of my good friend, Russell Anderson, from Ypsilanti, Michigan. Though his wealth enables him purchase whatever he would want, his wife Maxine still sews for the children and makes their clothes. She often trades at discount stores where the common person trades. They often raise a garden. In other words, because they were once poor they learned the enjoyments of the poor. Now that they are wealthy they have kept their poverty and have doubled their enjoyment rather than substituted one for another. 

2. Do not trade simplicity for profundity. Though every Person should strive to become as profound in profession and field as he possibly can, he should not with the acquiring of profundity discard the pleasures of simplicity. In reality no one can be profound who has not retained his simplicity, for he will be completely unable to transfer his profundity to others. Simplicity is the tool with which profundity is transferred. Simplicity is the conveyer by which profundity is transported. Without simplicity, profundity is a house built upon the sand. Our Lord was the master at adding profundity to simplicity. He could take the deepest and most profound truths and wrap them with the simplest of terms. 

The deepest of doctrines were conveyed to us by such stories as a boy running off from home, a lady losing a coin, a lamb getting lost from the flock, a man going out to plow, a farmer sowing in the field, etc. When one becomes profoundly simple, richly poor, simply complicated, discerningly naïve, weakly strong, conservatively aggressive, excitedly serious, unpredictably stable and unknowingly educated, he has arrived at a place to where he can live the rich life of being a childish, juvenile adult.

1st John 3:9 Says We CANNOT Sin As Redeemed Saints

1st John 3:8-9, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 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. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

Dear reader, the reason WHY we cannot sin as God's redeemed children is simply because there is no law to sin against anymore!

Romans 3:19-26, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

We are not saved by fulfilling the righteous of the law (which no one has has achieved); but rather, we are saved by the imputed righteousness of God, which is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. God's righteousness is given to ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE!!! Romans 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:” Amen and amen. Whether Jew or Gentile, God saves (by His own righteousness) ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE!!!

So when we choose to sin as believers, no sin is counted (imputed) against us by God. Romans 4:6-7, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” When a child of God sins, even the most heinous and offensive crimes against another human being, God's grace abounds, so that no sin is ever imputed to that person.

I am aware of a handful of Christians who are either serving life sentences in prison for committing unthinking crimes, or they are serving decades behind bars in a correction center for their crimes, or have already served much time incarcerated for their crimes. They all have a felony criminal record here on earth. But I tell you upon the authority of the inspired Word of God, that if they are truly saved they have NO RECORD in Heaven!!! Despite being despised by humans upon the earth for the rest of their natural lives, in God's sight they are as sinless, perfect and pure as wool, having no sins counted (imputed) to them in Heaven. Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

No convicted criminal here on earth has a rap sheet up in Heaven. Psalms 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Do you know why the Bible says “east is from the west” and not “north is from the south”? It is wonderfully because east and west never meet! You can travel the direction east for eternity, but you will never find west. Likewise, you can walk, bike, swim and fly west forever, but you will never find east. But you can only travel as far as the north pole until you will be going south. And you can only make it down to the continent of Antarctica before at some point you'll be heading up north again. I LOVE THAT TRUTH!!! What our great forgiving God is saying is that once He pardons our sins by faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, they are gone, gone, gone forever!!! Micah 7:18, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?  he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Now ransomed from sin and a new work begun

Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Glory, I’m saved! Glory, I’m saved!

My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone!

Glory, I’m saved! . . .

So let's look at our text passage of Scripture again:

1st John 3:8-9, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 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. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

No child of God can sin, because there is no law to sin against anymore. The moment that we accepted Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior (which I did at age 13 in 1980, in Chicago at an old-fashioned Baptist church, on a beautiful sunny summer morning), God forever removed us from under the power and curse of the Old Testament law. We were then, now and forever under GOD'S SAVING GRACE!!! So it is true that when we sin as saints (and we do each day), we FALL IN GRACE, but never FALL FROM GRACE.

The only way to fall “from grace” is to trust in the Devil's heresies of Lordship Salvation (which is Calvinism), or think that you must forsake sinful behavior to be saved (which is trying to be justified by keeping the Old Testament law), or trusting in some other forms of partial faith in Christ plus works. Galatians 5:4, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”

I read some helpful words recently, in one of my favorite books authored by Evangelist Michael P. Bowen, “I NEVER KNEW YOU,” on pages 51-52:

A surefire way to success in the Christian business is to present a false plan of salvation that sounds like the real thing. Satan will then bless the ministry financially so that masses of people will buy into the lie that he, the father of lies himself, has been propagating ever since he brainwashed Cain with murderous jealousy toward Abel over God’s denial of his harvested offering and His acceptance of his brother’s animal offering. It does not matter how successful a false ministry may become over time because that success is not a measure of God’s blessings upon that ministry. For instance, let us examine Jesus’ temptation while fasting at the beginning of His ministry. Satan tempted Christ to show off His power by throwing Himself from a high place knowing all along that He would not sustain injuries from that fall. Satan also tried to make Christ turn stones into bread. And Satan also offered to give Christ ruling power over earthly kingdoms. You see, Satan had the power to give Christ all the kingdoms and wealth of the world if He would just bow down and worship him. In a similar manner, Satan has the power to bless financially all the ministries that promote false plans of salvation for the sole purpose of making people think they are saved by living the Christian Lifestyle without ever actually being born again in the first place. It is a most cruel form of deception from which few are ever rescued, no matter how many times they hear the true plan of salvation after they have been indoctrinated by this satanic deception; likewise, those who trust in CBN’s plan of salvation, rather than in Christ’s plan of salvation, are at a tremendous disadvantage and are apt never to pay attention to what the Lord Himself says about being born again because they have been convinced by satanic deception, i.e., the “genuine warmth and compassion of the voices and the faces to which they are drawn” that, in reality, only draws them away from Christ’s simple, solitary requirement of “belief in Him alone,” and toward the false path of instructing them to commit their lives to Christ in discipleship “in addition to” partial faith in what Jesus did for them at the cross, despite the fact that Robertson contradicts himself with his own words initially when he says outright that our own efforts do not count toward this gift of salvation; yet, because he employs a bait-and-switch technique that first says “no works” and then subtly “adds works” later in his fourstep process, thereby canceling Christ’s grace with the corruption of human works, Robertson’s gospel is not the true gospel of the bible. It is a counterfeit gospel; it will never save those who place their trust in it. 

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).

That is the sad reality of adding human works to God’s grace, yet, of course, you are free to choose this day whom you will believe.

SOURCE: Evangelist Michael P. Bowen, “I NEVER KNEW YOU,” pp. 51-52 

I couldn't have said it any better myself. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again. There is a fine line between faith and foolishness. The woeful danger of embellishing THE GOSPEL with extra add-ons (e.g., turn from your sin, invite Christ into your life, make Jesus the supreme “Lord” of your life, surrender control of your life to Christ, follow Jesus, invite Jesus into your heart, repent of your sins, count the cost and pay the price, live a lifestyle of repentance, forsake the old sinful ways, persevere in holiness, run the Christian race faithfully to the end of life, publicly confess Christ, get water baptized, et cetera) is that the Devil knows you CANNOT GET BORN-AGAIN by doing any or all of those things!!!

What is THE GOSPEL taught in the Holy Bible? I'm glad that you asked by dear friend...

1st Corinthians 15:1-6, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”

There you have it, right from the inspired King James Bible:

1. Jesus DIED on the cross for our sins.
2. He was BURIED.
3. Christ physically RESURRECTED three days later.

Anyone who comes to God as a confessed guilty sinner (i.e., seeing his need for redemption), and places childlike faith (trust, confidence) in Jesus (the only begotten Son of God, the Christ) is saved. It is that simple. John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” If you are born-again, then you CAN sin with impunity (i.e., live like the Devil without jeopardizing your position in Christ as God's adopted child) as far as eternal life is concerned, because you've been born of God. Romans 5:20-21, “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”