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.”
Tragically, a false gospel of partial faith in Christ plus works is being preached today from nearly every pulpit, every religious television channel, every religious website and every religious radio station. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again. The following helpful excerpt is from my ministry friend Michael P. Bowen, taken from his book: "I NEVER KNEW YOU"...
At this time, I would like to draw your attention to the plan of salvation according to Franklin Graham.
If you will visit his Franklin Graham Festivals Website and click upon the “Peace With God” link, you will be taken straight to the salvation statement issued by Billy Graham at the BGEA Website. Franklin uses his father’s plan of salvation rather than issuing a statement of his own. Essentially, Franklin is just a younger version of Billy, only Franklin does not deliver his sermons in the same forceful manner in which his father did when he was Franklin’s age. Franklin delivers a much kinder, more inclusive call for people to come forward and surrender their lives over to the Lordship of Christ.
Because Franklin uses the exact same plan of salvation as his father, I will take you to the plan of salvation given by Billy Graham at his BGEA Website. Now, because of potential copyright issues, I will paraphrase for you what salvation is according to the Grahams’. First of all, we are told that God loves us and wants to give us an abundant life. Second, we are told that we are sinners. Third, we are told that Jesus died for us and that He is the only way to heaven. Fourth, we are told to turn from our sins and to receive Christ as both the Lord of our lives and as our savior, which, according to the Grahams’ means that we are to trust that Christ paid for our sins by His death on the cross and that we are to follow the Lordship of Christ over our lives in strict obedience (for the rest of our lives) “in order to” get to heaven.
In virtually every sermon you hear given by Franklin Graham, he makes surrender of one’s life to Christ sound more appealing to us than a hot-fudge sundae could ever appeal to a child. What Franklin says about giving our lives to Christ is truly beautiful. At the end of his messages, I would follow him in prayer, trusting Jesus Christ and then giving Him rule over my life by determining to follow Him in obedience for the rest of my life so that I, too, could go to heaven when I die.
When I thought I was saved as a result of trusting Christ the way both Billy and Franklin told me to do, from the years 2002 through 2005, I decided to make my decision “public” the way they said we all have to do in order to go to heaven. I literally became “high” on Jesus. I was so “on fire for Jesus” that I became a pamphleteer in order to get the “plan of salvation” out to everybody. I bought a paper cutter and began to make my own salvation pamphlets using the Grahams’ salvation message as a blueprint.
I made so many pamphlets (or tracts) that I literally wore out the paper cutter and had to buy another.
I had the most fun making these pamphlets because I just knew I was doing the will of God by making them and giving them out to everyone. I would go to grocery stores and watch people with a careful eye. As customers would lean over to inspect a food item, I would drop a pamphlet into their grocery cart and quickly run away and watch their reactions as they discovered this “pamphlet from nowhere” in their baskets! I saw many people pick them up and start reading them. I would see some look around as if, “Where did this come from?” and I would get the biggest thrill out of giving them “a chance” at eternal life through my pamphlet based upon the teachings of the Grahams’.
In 2005, in an attempt to find some specialized information about the gospel to present to my Mormon co-worker, I came across a great article about Mormonism that was written by a pastor who, up until that point, I had never heard of. This pastor’s name was Hank Lindstrom. I was so impressed by his article on Mormonism that I began to study other articles that he had written. The one that drew my attention the most was the article he wrote about “repentance.”
I was always afraid of the word repentance because I was never really sure if I had repented correctly or if I had, in fact, repented enough to be truly born again. To make a long story short, what I found in the bible (through Dr. Lindstrom’s article on repentance) changed my life forever. When I learned that the bible refers to “repent” as being “a change of mind” rather than meaning to “turn from your sins” or to “quit sinning altogether,” I was thoroughly awestruck and then immediately the plan of salvation according to Jesus Christ in the bible became clear to me for the first time in my whole life.
For three whole years I had been going about trying to establish my own righteousness before God through my own efforts, when in actuality Christ had, by His own righteousness, paid for all of my sins by His death, burial and resurrection from the dead 2,000 years earlier. When I learned the bible said I could have the free gift of everlasting life by believing solely upon what Christ had done for me by His death and subsequent resurrection from the dead, I believed His message immediately, hungrily, and to the exclusion of all the other counterfeit plans of salvation that I had been led to believe by today’s biggest hitters in Christianity. I was finally “free.” I was finally born again, and I knew it beyond any doubts at all.
God put an end to my pamphleteering of false gospels. Now, I preach His plan of salvation via my personal Internet page, by face-to-face discussions with people, by tract, by CD, by DVD, as well as through the use of email. Today, I am now proclaiming Christ’s free gift via this book you are holding in your hands now which shall eventually go all around the world.
The plan of salvation according to Franklin Graham is different from the plan of salvation according to Jesus Christ. Let me explain His plan a little more fully for you. First of all, I would like to draw your attention to a very important statement that Jesus made: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5). Upon first glance of this passage, one may assume that Jesus was referring to some strange person who would rise up and claim to be Jesus Christ. There have been many instances in our history where people have done that, successfully. Charles Manson comes quickly to mind because he claimed to be Christ and his followers believed him. But when you look more deeply into this verse and what Christ was trying to convey, you will notice that He is saying many false preachers will agree with you about Jesus being “the Christ,” that He really is who He claims to be. In fact, all of the pastors and bible teachers I talk about in this book agree that Jesus is, in fact, “the Christ” of the bible. But directly after Jesus mentions that in the aforementioned passage, He says, “and shall deceive many.” What is the deception of which He is speaking? Christ is telling us that many will claim to be Christians, that they will agree that Jesus is “the Messiah,” that He is deity, but that they would deceive everyone with a faith plus works message that cannot save anyone at all. What is so frustrating about this clever form of deception is the fact that people who have fallen for a faith plus works message do not even realize they are deceived by a doctrine that is not of Christ. It is a doctrine of man, not of God.
Nowhere does the bible state or imply that a person must turn from their sins and follow Christ in obedience “in order to” be saved. People can twist the bible to make it say virtually anything they want it to say, but when you see the words of Christ and understand what He says about salvation, no one can refute or debate what He says. For example, Jesus says “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47). Who can argue with that statement made by Christ Himself? Who can interpret this verse as anything other than eternal life being a gift from God made available to anyone the instant they “believe” on Christ as their savior? To say otherwise is to call Him a liar. To add man’s efforts, such as turning from sins, making a public profession, forsaking sins, giving tithes and money, joining a church, etc., or any other “thing of self” is to call Christ a liar; after all, according to the bible, heaven is a free gift that is given to the individual who places his or her faith in the finished work of Christ and has nothing to do whatsoever with what we do for God. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Reader, what we all must realize is that there are built-in consequences to 1) choosing man’s way of salvation, which always includes “something of self” and denies Christ His rightful place as the one and only savior of mankind, and 2) choosing Christ’s way of salvation, which always excludes all forms of human effort or merit and makes Christ the absolute savior of mankind.
SOURCE: Michael P. Bowen, "I NEVER KNEW YOU," pp. 123-127
Oh, dear friend, this matter is so critically important. Where will you spend eternity? I encourage everyone to listen to Pastor Hank Lindstrom's (1940-2008) life-changing sermon titled: “HOW PERMANENT IS YOUR SALVATION?” If you are not saved forever, you are not saved! Eternal life and eternal security are not two separate doctrines; they are one and the same teaching. That is, the man who has eternal life has eternal security.
Tragically, Franklin Graham's ministry project, Christmas Child, has already sent out 209,000,000 boxes to 170 countries. In each gift box for poor children is included the religious booklet, 'The Greatest Gift Storybook.' At the conclusion of this evangelistic tool, a false plan of salvation is presented to the reader, which reads: “Jesus invites you to be His friend and follower. ...There is only one way to be friends with God and spent forever with Him. We must trust in what Jesus has done for us, and follow Him with our lives.” Nowhere in the Word of God does it teach that we must follow Jesus with our lives to get to Heaven. That is works! That is Lordship Salvation!
May I kindly remind you dear reader that the doomed false prophets, whom Jesus denied knowing as His sheep in Matthew 7:21-23, boasted that they had faithfully followed Jesus in service to Him. They boasted of their “many wonderful works.” They called Him, “Lord, Lord.” (There's the Devil's falsehood of Lordship Salvation). Yet, they are spending eternity burning in the fires of Hell because they failed to do the will of the Father, which according to John 6:40 is to wholly BELIEVE ON JESUS' name for salvation!!!
The Christian author, Pastor Edward Mote (1798-1874), had it exactly right when he wrote the 1834 hymn titled, “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less.” ...
My hope is built on nothing lessThan Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
To be saved and go to Heaven, you must WHOLLY trust in the name of Jesus. Franklin Graham's false plan of salvation teaches to trust Jesus Christ, and then give Him rule over your life by determining to follow Him in obedience for the rest of your life. That is not wholly trusting Jesus as your Savior!
If you sincerely think that this is merely a matter of semantics, dismissing it as “every preacher presents the Gospel a little differently,” then you are woefully deceived by the Devil. Those people in Matthew 7:23-23 were very sincere. They diligently served Jesus. They did not just a few works, but “many wonderful works” in Jesus' name. They prophesied (preached) in Jesus' name. They did it all for Him! Yet, Jesus denied knowing them as His sheep. Dear reader, no amount of sincerity, service and semantics can substitute for the new birth, which happens only by faith without works in the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and bodily risen the third days from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).
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