2nd Corinthians 11:3, “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.”
The Bible teaches EASY-BELIEVISM. I agree that there is a danger of wrestling the Gospel into a mere prayer. For decades now I have avoided leading lost sinners in saying a prayer to be saved, for this very reason, because it runs the risk of the lost person misunderstanding what is required of them by God to be saved; and also because using a prayer runs the risk of confusing the person (as it did me for several years after I was saved at age 13). The truth is that the Bible does not require prayer to be saved. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.
Albeit, I have seen many preachers errantly go from one heretical extreme to another. In this case, many preachers commit the horrible sin of leading lost sinners to deceitfully think they got saved by saying a prayer. Prayer never saved anybody; but rather, the Bible says a man is saved by faith from a believing heart (Romans 10:9-10, 15). A sinner is compelled to pray (call, ask) upon the name of the Lord to be saved, because he or she first BELIEVES in their heart. When a person responds to an altar call to walk down an aisle in a church, they were already saved before they even left their pew, because of the faith that made them respond. Faith saves!
But then there is another sinful extreme that preachers are often guilty of, where they complicate God's simple plan of salvation. They use unbiblical terms; such as, "greasy grace," "easy-believism," "empty-believism" and "cheap grace" to disparage free grace Gospel preachers. Grace is not "cheap" dear reader, it is 100% free, paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1st Peter 1:18-19). We must not make getting saved hard, when God intentionally made it very simple, free and easy to obtain for humanity.
Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980) refutes the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. Just because somebody professes faith in Christ, but continues to live a life of open sin and shame, does NOT mean that they didn't get born-again. It just means they haven't been mentored. Just because a soulwinner wins multitudes to Jesus Christ, but then none of those converts ever mature to become disciples of Jesus, doesn't necessarily mean they didn't really get saved. Most likely it means that no one ever followed up with them.
Statistics show that 82% of people only come to church because someone invited them. The problem behind carnal Christians today is not false conversions because of a poor Gospel presentation; but rather, it is because pastors are no longer preachers. It is because churches fail to follow up with the people they led to Christ. It is because pastors no longer preach against sin. The problem is not a flaw in God's plan of salvation; but rather, the problem is a woeful lack of Spirit-filled preaching preachers today.
Neo-evangelicals (e.g., the cult at Bob Jones University) with their corrupt Bible revisions, damnable lie of Lordship Salvation and misunderstood repentance are greatly to blame for the destruction of tens of thousands of churches today. Any admitted guilty sinner who receives Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins, believing that Jesus was buried, but then resurrected from the dead three days later, is securely saved instantly, irrevocably and eternally.
Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty! The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
Albeit, I have seen many preachers errantly go from one heretical extreme to another. In this case, many preachers commit the horrible sin of leading lost sinners to deceitfully think they got saved by saying a prayer. Prayer never saved anybody; but rather, the Bible says a man is saved by faith from a believing heart (Romans 10:9-10, 15). A sinner is compelled to pray (call, ask) upon the name of the Lord to be saved, because he or she first BELIEVES in their heart. When a person responds to an altar call to walk down an aisle in a church, they were already saved before they even left their pew, because of the faith that made them respond. Faith saves!
But then there is another sinful extreme that preachers are often guilty of, where they complicate God's simple plan of salvation. They use unbiblical terms; such as, "greasy grace," "easy-believism," "empty-believism" and "cheap grace" to disparage free grace Gospel preachers. Grace is not "cheap" dear reader, it is 100% free, paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1st Peter 1:18-19). We must not make getting saved hard, when God intentionally made it very simple, free and easy to obtain for humanity.
Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980) refutes the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. Just because somebody professes faith in Christ, but continues to live a life of open sin and shame, does NOT mean that they didn't get born-again. It just means they haven't been mentored. Just because a soulwinner wins multitudes to Jesus Christ, but then none of those converts ever mature to become disciples of Jesus, doesn't necessarily mean they didn't really get saved. Most likely it means that no one ever followed up with them.
Statistics show that 82% of people only come to church because someone invited them. The problem behind carnal Christians today is not false conversions because of a poor Gospel presentation; but rather, it is because pastors are no longer preachers. It is because churches fail to follow up with the people they led to Christ. It is because pastors no longer preach against sin. The problem is not a flaw in God's plan of salvation; but rather, the problem is a woeful lack of Spirit-filled preaching preachers today.
Neo-evangelicals (e.g., the cult at Bob Jones University) with their corrupt Bible revisions, damnable lie of Lordship Salvation and misunderstood repentance are greatly to blame for the destruction of tens of thousands of churches today. Any admitted guilty sinner who receives Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins, believing that Jesus was buried, but then resurrected from the dead three days later, is securely saved instantly, irrevocably and eternally.
Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty! The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
Dear reader, I loathe the false doctrine of 'EMPTY BELIEVISM.' You'll find an assortment of foolish articles on social media (especially Facebook), that promote the Devil's lie of 'Empty-Believism." This heresy falsely claims that if you place your trust in Jesus as your personal Savior, you didn't really get saved unless there follows a drastic change in your thinking and behavior. It's just another backdoor approach to Lordship Salvation. Lordship Salvation falsely teaches that faith is not enough to get to Heaven. In addition, proponents of Lordship Salvation require that you surrender all to Jesus as the absolute supreme "Lord" of your life. They also require that you forsake a lifestyle of sinning to get to Heaven. These are 100% self-righteous WORKS, and not childlike trust in the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Satan is relentlessly trying to get preachers and laymen alike to live the Christian life without ever being born again. The Roman Catholic church are woefully guilty of doing that. Catholics diligently attempt to live the Christian life, but they have never been reborn from above. Jesus warned in John 3:7b... YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN!!! Religion cannot produce the new birth. Salvation is NOT found in any religion, but in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion wants to show us the way, but Jesus says: “I am the way...” (John 14:6a).
God deliberately made His plan of salvation simple. So simple in fact that even a small child can be saved. All God requires is that a person acknowledge being a guilty sinner. You've got to know why you need to be saved. There is a penalty on sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). This includes a second death in Hell (Revelation 21:8). The GOOD NEWS (Gospel) is that God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on a cross to pay our debt of sin (1st Corinthians 5:1-6). The GOOD NEWS is that Jesus died on a cross to pay our debt. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. Jesus was buried. Three days later He resurrected physically from the dead. 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 tremendous Bible verse!!! Anyone who BELIEVES that Jesus died on a cross and raised up from the dead is saved. This is THE GOSPEL.
Did you see anything in 1st Corinthians 15:1-6, 1st Thessalonians 4:14 or anywhere else in the inspired King James Bible, that requires you to live the Christian life to be saved? No, you cannot and neither can I or anybody else. Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.
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