A Deadly Misunderstanding Of James Chapter Two

James 2:17-24, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”

This is one of the most misunderstood, hotly debated and abused passages of Scripture in the Bible. I love something that Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) said: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” There is no argument that James chapter 2 is an obscure passage, which is exactly why it is hotly debated in theology circles. In sharp contrast, the Gospel of John is very plain. John teaches the reader simply to “believe” 85 times, without any mention of repentance, confessing Christ publicly, water baptism, turning away from sinful bad habits or growing. The Gospel of John is abundantly clear, with no obscurity, concerning how to get to Heaven. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

There is a deadly heresy commonly taught by the Lordship Salvation crowd, which says James chapter 2 is teaching that faith alone cannot save a person. Advocates of Lordship Salvation claim that if a person's life has not changed, they are not saved because their faith is not genuine. So effectively, advocates of Lordship Salvation have a different understanding and definition of faith than the Bible does. This wrong meaning of faith held by the proponents of Lordship Salvation, is the SAME theological error held by the Seventh Day Adventist cult. Likewise, the Mormon religious cult also teach the SAME Lordship Salvation as do Marty Herron, Faith Baptist Bible College And Theological Seminary; Sam Horn, Master's University (John MacArthur's school); Steve Pettit, Bob Jones University; Gary Walton, Harvest Baptist Church on Guam; Charles and Daniel Phelps, Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana; Ray Comfort, Living Waters; and countless more theological frauds and pulpit devils. All of these heretics are hellbound without true salvation.

Pastor Curtis Hutson rightly exposes these wicked false prophets, preaching THE TRUTH that they cannot be saved until they repent of their wrong idea of what it means to repent...

The Bible meaning of repentance is simply “a change of mind,” not a change of lifestyle. Advocates of the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation wrest (torture) the Bible to their own destruction (2nd Peter 3:16-17). They totally ignore the clear teaching of the entire Gospel of John, wresting an obscure passage of Scripture to bolster up their straw man heresies of turning away from sin, surrendering all to Christ, following Jesus as “Lord” no matter what the cost, faithfully running the race and exchanging all that you are for all that He is, to be saved. These are the crazy theological things that the aforementioned false prophets all preach!!!

I was listening to a heretical sermon today by the son of Pastor Church Phelps (the pastor who shamefully covered up for a rapist in New Hampshire). Daniel Phelps preaches this heretical sermon titled: “Faith That Works.” In the horrible sermon, Daniel teaches that someone's faith in Jesus Christ as Savior is ineffective to save, if that faith does not INCLUDE works, which he heretically defines as:

• Real faith is demonstrated by our activities.
• Real faith is proven by testing.
• Real faith is rewarded by God.
• Be motivated by the reward your perseverance is sure to bring.

These false teachings by Daniel Phelps are NOT what the inspired King James Bible teaches! I receive so many emails from worried professed Christians, scared that they might not be saved because of an abundance of sins in their life. They are worried after hearing corrupt preachers from the Bob Jones University camp, like Charles and Daniel Phelps, and Marty Herron, and Gary Walton and John MacArthur. These evil men are all infidels!!! They are the ENEMIES of God, corrupters of God's free gift of grace and eternal life (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The famous author of the book Pilgrim's Progress, and Gospel preacher, John Bunyan said it well:

 “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)

Daniel Phelps (like his perverse father) are corrupt on God's grace, both preaching ANOTHER GOSPEL (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4; Galatians 1:6-9). The Bob Jones camp cast stumbling blocks before their students, infiltrating and infecting thousands of Baptist churches with the deadly poison of Calvinism. I am sick and tired of hearing these reprobates of the faith, who ADD living a changed life to faith alone. They lie and still maintain that salvation is wholly by grace alone, yet they insist that you must live a changed life to proven that your faith is genuine. That is NOT faith.

Dear friend, if I offer you a gift for your birthday, all you would need to do is take it. But what if I said that I am going to be watching your behavior over the coming year, to see how you are doing? And what if I tell you that you will lose the gift I am handing to you, if you fail to live a certain way? First, you would think I am a nut. Second, you certainly wouldn't feel like it is a gift. So why is it that when it comes to God's gift of eternal life, by faith alone in the GOOD NEWS (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and bodily resurrected from the dead the third day, we can no longer conceive the meaning of a free gift?

At the end of the perverse sermon, Daniel Phelps says that those who “persevere” will receive the “reward” of Heaven. This is the same damnable garbage that Dr. Steve Pettit (shameful president of Bob Jones University) preaches. These wicked men are NOT true believers! They preach a false gospel of partial faith in Christ plus works. There is no assurance of salvation in their theology, because you cannot KNOW you are saved until you've proven that it is real, by living a holy life, activities, testing and persevering. These corrupters of grace cast stumbling stones before the people, confusing sanctification within by justification without. The Christian believer is justified by faith alone in an instant; but sanctification (growing in the Lord) takes a lifetime. Millions of believers choose to live in sin, and do not attend church. They have dirty minds. They drink booze. Many live in the sin of fornication, with no intention of getting married at any time. The Lordship Salvation camp says they are not really saved, because they have never repented of their sins. They are WRONG!

Dear reader, I hope you are listening. I am telling you THE TRUTH. God's free gift of eternal life is obtained without any obligation to you whatsoever to change your life. Reformation (turning away from sins) is not repentance (a change of mind). Penitence is sorrow for sins, not repentance. Penance is trying to make a mend for sin, not repentance. Repentance is realizing that you are a guilty needy sinner in the sight of a Holy God (Romans 3:19-20), which compels you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be forgiven and saved eternally (Acts 16:30-31). Tens of millions of churchgoers are being led into the fires of Hell by the Bob Jones University camp today, with their damnable lies of Misunderstood Repentance and Lordship Salvation. Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) also faithfully exposes BJU's False Bibles, which is the source of their damnable heresies. 

James chapter 2 simply refers to being justified in the eyes of men. The key verse is James 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” Carefully notice that James says I WILL SHEW YOU! James wasn't speaking about being justified in the sight of God. The Apostle Paul speaks of justification in the sight of God in Romans 4:4-6, which is BY FAITH ALONE WITHOUT WORKS. The Bible even says that in Romans 4:5! Yet, these theological liars (like Marty Herron, Chuck and Daniel Phelps) will tell you salvation is still by grace, while insisting that you must WORK to prove that your faith is real. Even a small child can see that this rotten apple has worms!!!