The Lie Of Believing With The Mind But Not The Heart

Romans 10:8-10, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

This is one of the most obscure and debated passages of Scripture in the Bible. And let me say, there is no such thing as believing in one's mind without believing in one's heart. That is utterly impossible. I love Pastor J. Vernon McGee (1904-1988), but he wrote a religious tract once that I absolutely hate. It is called, "Missing Heaven By 18" Inches." I wrote an article refuting this horrible lie.

The heart is a muscle about twice the size of one's fist that pumps blood. The "heart" mentioned in the Bible is part of the human brain, our subconsciousness. No one has ever trusted in Christ with their mind, but not their heart. That is impossible, because our mind and heart work together. I think what Dr. McGee meant is that it is possible to have head knowledge of the facts of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, but THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS TRUST. To "trust" the facts of the Gospel means that you personally have decided to make those facts your only hope for eternal life. This is faith, not mere knowledge. I love how Pastor Max Younce expressed this truth:

"Christ died, that's history; Christ died for me, that's salvation." Amen and amen.

So, if you my friend are relying (which is what trusting and faith is) upon the biblical truths that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 20:31); who died in your place on the cross, was buried and physically resurrected three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-6; John chapter 19), then YOU ARE ETERNALLY SAVED. Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold says it this way: "To be saved just believe that Jesus did it all for you." By the way, I highly recommend that you regularly listen to Dr. Yankee Arnold's Bible preaching. He is one of the best free grace Gospel preachers today. It will help you become more doctrinally sound, as it has myself.

Matthew 9:4, “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?” Here Jesus plainly confirms that the mind and the heart are essentially the same thing. Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” The Bible mentions thinking with our heart. So, we see clearly that the idea someone can only believe with their mind without the heart is utter foolishness. The heart is one's subconscious mind, which is involved in all thinking and decisions.

In Romans 10:10, the Apostle Paul says that we are saved by believing in the heart. This would automatically include the mind as well, since the heart is located in the brain. The human soul is comprised of THREE things: A mind to THINK, a heart to FEEL, and a will to DECIDE. These all work together. The spirit is our person, who we are, created by God. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says when we die, our spirit returns to God who gave it.

Singer "Sting" of the band, The Police, has it right we he sings, "We are spirits in the material." We are not a body with a spirit, we are a spirit with a body. When the tabernacle of this human fleshly body can no longer house the spirit, we go home to be with God (2nd Corinthians 5:1). Unbelievers perish into Hell beneath.

When Paul says in Romans 10:10 that "confession is made unto salvation," he is simply saying that we testify with our mouth what has happened in our heart. This is biblical. Matthew 12:34, "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." It is out of a believing heart that one's mouth confesses that he or she is trusting Jesus alone to save him. Many Bible students go astray by focusing on this sole passage of Scripture, while totally ignoring the entire Gospel of John.

Pastor Curtis Hutson wisely taught: “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” I love that truth! It is a mistake to base a doctrine solely on Romans 10:10 (which is what many fools have done), while completely ignoring the entire Gospel of John. Several dozen times in the Gospel of John, we are simply taught to BELIEVE ON JESUS to have eternal life. For example: John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” It would be wrong to teach that to get to Heaven a person must confess with the mouth, when no such requirement is found in the entire Gospel of John.

If you as a needy sinner are trusting (relying) upon Jesus Christ alone, because of what He did through Calvary's cross to pay your debt of sin, believing that He was buried, but then resurrected from the dead three days later, you are saved. There's no such thing as believing with one's mind but not the heart. That would be IMPOSSIBLE! It is unfortunate that some preachers are needlessly confusing people about this matter. If your only hope for forgiveness of sins and eternal life is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved. Simply believe that Jesus did it all for you. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.

You Don't Have To Give Up Anything To Be Saved

Titus 2:11-15 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.”

Jesus gave His life on the cross to pay for your sins, He doesn't demand that you meet Him half way. He doesn't demand that you give up your sins or follow Him as “Lord” to receive His free gift of eternal life. All God requires is for you to believe that Jesus did it all for you. That's it!

I cannot warn you enough to RUN from today's corrupt Baptist churches (or any so-called church) that requires you to first be willing to forsake your sinful bad habits to get to Heaven. That is a works-based plan of salvation (damnation), not Bible salvation. For example: Here is a quote from their Statement of Faith at the Baptist Christian Church in Royal Center Indiana...

We believe that repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God brought about by the Holy Spirit. Repentance is characterized by godly sorrow for sin which is offensive to God and destructive to the soul. True repentance is inseparably related to true faith causing one to purposely turn away from sin and move instead toward God as an act of faith. (Luke 13:1-3; Luke 15:7; Acts 8:22; Acts 20:21; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:10) SOURCE

There are THREE major heresies in the preceding Statement of Faith:

1. Repentance means a change of mind, period. Nowhere in the Bible do we learn that repentance also includes a change of purpose toward God. Wicked people added those extra words to God's Word (Proverbs 30:5-6).
2. Nowhere does the inspired Word of God require someone feel sorry for their sins to get to Heaven. I triple-dog dare you to show me where the Bible says that! When the Apostle Paul mentioned godly sorrow in his second epistle to the church at Corinth he was addressing saved Christians, not the lost.
3. Nowhere does the inspired Holy Bible teach that we must turn from our sins to get to Heaven. In sharp contrast, Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. He does not require that we be willing to forsake a lifestyle of sinning to be saved.

Do you see how bad churches today wrest the inspired Word of God, teaching false doctrines which poison men's souls and damn them to the Lake of Fire forever? Dear reader, you don't have to be willing to give up anything to be saved, Jesus gave up His life for you on the cross. 

All you need to do to be saved is simply come to God by faith as a needy sinner. “By faith” I mean to just take God at His promises as recorded in the written Holy Bible. If you'll simply receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that Jesus died, was buried and physically resurrected three days later, you will be instantly and forever born again (saved). This is the Gospel as recorded in the Bible...

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “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:”

That is the official “Gospel,” which means, “Good News”:

1. Jesus DIED for our sins on a cross
2. Jesus was BURIED.
3. Jesus RESURRECTED three days later.

If anybody SUBTRACTS or ADDS to the Gospel, he or she is preaching another Gospel. The only thing that you need to know to BELIEVE THE GOSPEL is why you need to be saved, which is because you and I are guilty sinners, and the penalty for our sins is eternal damnation in Hell's fire and brimstone (Romans 3:19-20; Revelation 20:11-15, 21:8).

NO ONE has ever been saved who refused to admit that he or she is a SINNER (1st John 1:8-10).

One of my favorite historical preachers was Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951), who made this excellent observation concerning the Gospel...

“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …

Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”

SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the sermon: 'What Is The Gospel?'

Amen and amen! I encourage you to read Pastor Ironside's Gospel tract, 'What Is The Gospel?' Please don't allow any false prophet, who is really a wolf in pastor's clothing, to take you to Hell forever with himself. Jesus paid your debt of sin through Calvary's cross. He raised up from the dead and ascended into Heaven. Jesus sprinkled His literal liquid blood upon the heavenly Mercy Seat in the presence of His Father (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24). All you have to do to be saved is to BELIEVE that Jesus did it all for you!

Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do. 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! 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. 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? The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

And remember, In Jonah 3:10 God repented, that is, He changed His mind not to destroy the people of Nineveh. If repentance means to turn from your sins, then how could God repent, since He is incapable of sinning? Tragically, many Baptist preachers (pastors and clergy) today are bold-faced theological LIARS! They are mere fools parroting and regurgitating the things that they've heard other fools saying, propagating the lies. This is why the inspired Word of God exhorts every believer to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES (John 5:39; Acts 17:10-11), so that we may RIGHTLY DIVIDE the Word of Truth (2nd Timothy 2:15).

No one has ever turned from his or her sins. The very idea is preposterous! That is why Jesus Christ had to die on a cross to pay our massive debt of sin, so that we wouldn't have to burn in the fires of Hell forever to pay for our own sins. You may clean up your life superficially, so that you cleverly hide your sins from others (living above reproach), but God still sees your sins. No human being has ever achieved sinless perfection (Romans 3:10-23). Jesus was the only person who was completely without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus is the sinless Lamb of God (John 1:29).

God freely offers the gift of eternal life to anyone who wants it. You need not give up anything to receive it. Just come to God as a needy sinner and take His gift by faith, by simply BELIEVING the Good News of Jesus crucified, buried and risen the third day. There is nothing else that you need to do, nor that you are allowed to do, to get to Heaven.