Dr. Steve Pettit Agrees With Joseph Smith

Galatians 1:6-8, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” 2nd John 1:10-11, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

Mormon founder Joseph Smith uttered these words on the occasion of the founding of The Church of Latter-Day Saints in April of 1830 (20. Revelation through Joseph Smith, April 1830; History of the Church 1:64-70):

20:29 - And we know that all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and worship the Father in his name, and endure in faith on his name to the end, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God. 

20:30 - And we know that justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true; 

20:31 - And we know also, that sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true, to all those who love and serve God with all their mights, minds, and strength. [emphasis added]

SOURCE: https://sacred-texts.com/mor/dc/dc020.htm

Dr. Steve Pettit (president of Bob Jones University since 2014) preaches the same garbage:

“You can't just speak about getting saved, and you accepted Christ, and then that's it! There is a justification; There is a sanctification; There's ultimately a glorification, and though there are three parts, they are all part of the whole, and you cannot separate them. In order for you to qualify for the award, you have to get into the race, you have to stay in the race, and you have to finish the race. If you want to win, you have to run to the end; and winning in the Christian life is everything, because if you lose—if you don't finish—you lose everything—you lose your SOUL. And so, the Christian race is the life of faith that begins, is run, and is finished when we cross over into Heaven!” [emphasis added] —Dr. Steve Pettit (“What Does It Mean To Run 'The Race'?” - 11:34)

Both Steve Pettit and Mormons preach that a person must ENDURE unto the end to be saved. Sadly, Bob Jones University has gone full-blown Lordship Salvation, preaching that in order to be saved, a person MUST forsake their sinful behavior. This is an entirely different mindset than what is taught in the inspired King James Bible! There is nowhere taught in the Bible, where it says a person cannot know they are saved, unless they must persevere in repentance and faith until they make it to Heaven. That would make getting saved a process, instead of a free gift and an instantaneous new birth! What a horrible perversion of grace! What a horrible burden to bear, never knowing if you are really safe in Jesus Christ, because you must continue having faith and turning from your sins. This is not a Biblical mindset.

I was born-again at age 13. The blessed Holy Spirit came inside me to live since I got saved. Theologically we call that being “indwelt” by the Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit sealed me when I got saved (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Bible promises in Hebrews 13:5 that He will never leave nor forsake me. Mormons and the Lordship Salvation crowd have it all backwards and wrong! Getting saved is not a matter of one's persevering in faith, it is a matter of believing on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30-31), and then God's Holy Spirit comes inside the believers to live. THE HOLY SPIRIT PERSEVERES IN EVERY BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER!!! 

Ephesians 1:13-14,  “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Clearly, when a needy sinner comes to God, receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins, believing that Jesus is bodily risen, is immediately and forever saved. At the very moment of receiving God's free gift of eternal life, through faith alone in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:9), all that person's sins are instantly and forever forgiven (1st John 1:7), and they are safe in Jesus Christ (John 10:29). John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

In a wicked attempt to legitimize the cult of Mormonism, a Mormon speaker told 7,000 Mormons in Salt lake City in 2004 (at a speaking conference featuring Dr. Ravi Zacharias), that John Stackhouse at Regent College heretically said:

“God cares about people more than He cares about truth in the abstract. Jesus didn't die on the cross to make a point, He died on the cross to save people whom He loves.”

God does care about people, and Christ did die to save everyone, but Mormons are accursed by God for preaching another Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). God's love does not disregard truth! Mormons teach that to be saved a person must turn from their sins and be water baptized, both of which are untrue! Mormons preach another gospel. In Meridian, a magazine for Latter-Day Saints Of Jesus Christ, they feature an excerpt from Robert Starling’s new book “Really Inside Mormonism: Confessions of a Mere Latter-day Christian,” in which he says:

Faith without Works?

In James 2:20 we read that “faith without works is dead”. James also says “shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (2:18).  

Admittedly this verse is unpopular with many Christians today (and unknown to many). In fact, Martin Luther wanted to kick the epistle of James out of the canon of the New Testament primarily because of this verse. He called it the “Epistle of straw” and felt that it should be deleted from the Bible. That was a bit presumptuous and arrogant on Luther’s part when you think about it. 

Martin Luther himself is said to have coined this phrase (and I’ve heard a number of evangelical pastors and teachers repeat it,) that “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone” The contemporary Christian teacher RC Sproul says it this way: 

“if good works do not follow from our profession of faith, it is a clear indication that we do not possess justifying faith. The Reformed formula is, “We are justified by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone.”[vi]

I suppose it could be viewed as either a rhetorical cop-out and verbal gymnastics, or a sincere attempt to explain that true faith in Christ is never really “alone”. I like the latter better. And that’s what we Mormons believe.

Do you see dear reader that Dr. Steve Pettit and Bob Jones University are in sinful agreement with the Latter-Day Saints of Jesus Christ? Please notice the the author of the preceding heretical article quote praises R.C. Sproul and Martin Luther, for their heresy that a person must turn from sins to be saved! You cannot show me one verse in the Holy Bible that teaches to “turn from sin” or “repent from sin” to receive God's free gift of eternal life. We are saved by faith alone. Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” In hundreds of places in the New Testament we are taught to simply “BELIEVE” to be saved, nothing more. 

You must know you are a sinner to be saved. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins! No one ever got saved who didn't admit to being a guilty sinner (Romans 3:19-20). Kindly said, Dr. Steve Pettit doesn't understand LAW and CHRIST (or respectively, OLD and NEW TESTAMENTS). Law shows us our sinnership, and Christ saves us by grace through faith! Getting saved is that simple. Turning from sins has absolutely nothing to do with receiving God's free gift. Beware of any preacher who heretically says you must “repent of your sins” to be saved!!! 

Please, please, please listen dear reader! Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Calvinists, Pacific Garden Mission (Unshackled radio), Roman Catholics, Ray Comfort, John MacArthur, Bob Jones University, Steve Pettit. Moody Bible Institute, Marty Herron, Sam Horn, Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, and every pseudo-Christian cult, demand that you turn away from the old sinful ways or else you cannot be saved! That is works for salvation!!! What saith the Scripture? 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.”

The teaching that you must “ENDURE” in repentance and/or faith to be saved is of the Devil. The moment that you place your trust in Jesus Christ, you are born-again instantly. You immediately become a child of God. If you are truly saved, then the indwelling Holy Spirit will NEVER leave nor forsake you! If a person claims that they used to be a Christian, they were never saved at all! We don't persevere as saints to be saved, Christ paid the full price for our sins on Calvary's cross. We are saved solely BY GRACE!!! You can be saved in an instant, and KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt that you ARE 100% GOD'S REDEEMED CHILD! Beware of anyone who says that you cannot KNOW you are saved (1st John 5:13), falsely saying you have to continue repenting and believing until you get to Heaven. That is another gospel (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4) which cannot produce the new birth in Jesus Christ, and is a sure road to Hell, fire and damnation.