by David J. Stewart | May 2016
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.”
I found a cartoon religious tract yesterday titled, “What Is Your Life
Story?,” published by “Operation Somebody Cares” in Collinsville, Virginia.
It looks just like a “Chick Tract,” but it doesn't have Jack Chick's name on
it. So I
checked online and found out that a man named Will Cosby worked with
Jack Chick between 1973 and 1993. Mr. Cosby started his own religious
organization titled, “Operation Somebody Cares.” Mr. Cosby died in 2005.
The track by Will Cosby is absolutely horrible, perverting the Gospel message. As with Jack Chick's heresy, the back page of the cartoon tract is loaded with dangerous teachings, satanic heresy, a false plan of salvation. On the back page Mr. Cosby's tract reads, “THE BIBLE SAYS THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO HEAVEN!” And here's what he says that you must do to get to Heaven:
- ADMIT you are a sinner, and that only the Lord Jesus can save you. (Romans 3:23)
- REPENT: be willing to turn away from sin and submit to GOD. (See Luke 13:5)
- BELIEVE that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood to pay the price for your sins, and that He arose again. (See Romans 10:9)
- ASK God to save you. (See Romans 10:13)
- ASK Jesus Christ to be the Lord (take control) of your life. (See Romans 12:1,2)
IF YOU REALLY MADE JESUS YOUR LORD...THEN YOUR LIFE SHOULD REFLECT IT!
There are at least FOUR things wrong doctrinally with what you just read.
First of all, repentance is seeing yourself as you are (an unclean sinner deserving of punishment in Hell) and seeing God as He is (a holy God Whom we've all offended by our sins). The Greek word used in the Bible for “repent” is metanoia (a noun meaning “a change of mind”) or the verb form metanoeo, “to think differently.” Metanoia is a change of mind unto the Gospel itself!
Secondly, nowhere in the Word of God are we taught that a person must “turn from their sins” to be saved. Who can turn away from all their sins? That's right, no one! (1st John 1:8-10; Romans 7:14-25). To “repent” does not mean to turn away from sin, unless you consult the English dictionary; but this is not the Biblical Greek meaning, as I just showed you. Acts 20:21 speaks of “repentance toward God” to be saved. Repentance is TOWARD GOD from everything else that kept you in unbelief for so long. Repentance is unto the Gospel itself. When you simply CHANGE YOUR MIND and BELIEVE THE GOSPEL, you are saved immediately, securely and permanently. The Bible calls the Gospel, “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). Galatians 3:2 shows us just how simple it is to be saved . . . Galatians 3:2, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” If you believe the Gospel when you hear it preached, you are saved!
The track does get the Gospel correct in step three, mentioning the cross upon which Christ died, and His resurrection from the dead. However, the things (unbiblical requirements) which Will Cosby has added, perverts and negates the Gospel. You cannot get saved if you follow this false plan of salvation, because it includes human effort (works).
Thirdly, there is nothing in the Holy Bible which requires a person “to ask” Jesus to save them. The word “call” in Romans 10:13 means “to invoke, to appeal unto.” It simply means that you go to the Lord by faith to be saved. What if your tongue has been cut out, as has happened to many people throughout history? Can mute people still be saved? Of course they can, because believing is done in the heart, not with the mouth (Romans 10:9 - All Scripture references are ONLY from the precious, King James Bible). 1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Amen! God saves THEM THAT BELIEVE!!! If you believe the Gospel (for you personally, making it your only hope for eternal life and forgiveness if sins) you are saved.
And may I say, Jesus does not forgive sin! That is correct. Jesus has already paid your debt of sin, and mine, and everyone else's. Forgiveness of sins is a gift, that you simply receive by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (i.e., the Gospel). “The Gospel” according to 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 is that Christ DIED on the cross for our sins. He was BURIED. And Christ bodily RESURRECTED three days later for our justification. Believe it, Oh sinner, and you are saved!
Fourthly, nowhere in the Scriptures are we taught to ask Jesus to be our Lord and take control of our life. Will Cosby is woefully ignorant of the Word of God. He cites Romans 12:1-2, but the apostle Paul here is clearly pleading with Christians (“Brethren” in Romans 12:1 and “the called of Jesus Christ” in Romans 1:6) to present their bodies as “a living sacrifice unto God” in service. Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Hence, this Bible passage has absolutely NOTHING to do with salvation; but rather, discipleship. Here are some comparisons between salvation and discipleship to help you see the big difference. It is heresy to require a person to ask Jesus to be their Lord to be saved. All of the modern Bible revisions are based upon the corrupt Alexandrian, Egypt texts used by Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort in 1881. You cannot trust the modern paraphrases and revisions, which are nearly all based upon (or at least contaminated by) the Alexandrian manuscripts.
Will Cosby is wrong to teach sinners to ask Jesus to “be the Lord (take control) of your life” as a requirement to be saved. IT IS A SATANIC LIE!!! Mr. Cosby is sinfully teaching that if a person is unwilling to clean up their life of sin, or let God clean up their life of sin, God won't save them! I heard in some stupid religious film titled, “Time Changer,” that “We know that Jesus won't save any man that He cannot command.” That is Satanism!!! Jesus will save whosoever BELIEVETH ON HIM!!! We read in Genesis 15:6 that Abram (Abraham) believed the Lord and it was counted (imputed) unto him for righteousness. Jack Chick is a doctrinal hypocrite, talking double-speak, saying on one hand that we are saved by Christ imputed righteousness, but then on the other hand he tells people that God won't save them unless they are willing to try to stop living in sin. That is reformation, not regeneration (being born-again)!!!
I can give you umpteen Scriptures to support what I am teaching; whereas Jack Chick wrestles the Scriptures in a lame attempt to bolster up his strawman argument. For example: 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.” There is the simple Gospel! There's no mention of “turning away from sins” or “asking Jesus to be one's Lord” or “letting Christ take control” to be saved; but rather, simply BELIEVING the Gospel (i.e., Christ died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and raised up the third day from the dead). This is “THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST” (2nd Corinthians 11:3). The only requirement to be saved is to realize that you are a guilty sinner in God's holy eyes, otherwise why would you need a Savior? Repentance is the admission that I am as guilty a sinner as God hath declared me to be in His Word. For an excellent book about repentance, please read “EXCEPT YE REPENT” by Dr. Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951).
The Devil has many methods for destroying the work of God. Sometimes he hides a lie between multiple truths to confuse and deceive his victims. Sometimes Satan will lie by changing what God said, to trick his victims. Sometimes Satan will use the bait-and-switch method, giving you something other than what you thought you would receive. Satan oftentimes will state the obvious, tricking you into thinking that he is your friend, but he does not tell you the truth. A good example of this is Fox News. They continually criticize the government for open borders, which is very obvious. But what they won't criticize, which is 10,000 times more of a threat to Americans than open borders, is the fraudulent Federal Reserve Banking System since 1913, which has financially enslaved nearly every American and is bankrupting our nation by design. The notorious gangster Al Capone was a good man in comparison to the private banking cartel who control the United States money system. Hell will be hot enough! I digress.
A changed life is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which indwells every Christian (1st Corinthians 3:16-17). Changing one's life is not a requirement to be saved. If you have to “ask Jesus to be your Lord” to be saved, then behavior modification is required to receive the gift of God. That is so unbiblical! Friend, you don't make Jesus Lord, because JESUS IS LORD!!! There's not one verse in the Bible that requires anyone to ask Jesus to be their “Lord” to be saved. You need only receive Him as your Savior. John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” 1st Timothy 4:10, “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.” I love that Bible verse. Jesus is the SAVIOR of ALL MEN, especially of THEM THAT BELIEVE!!! In order to go to Heaven, you must receive Jesus as your Savior!
All of the modern Bible revisions which are Alexandrian based corrupt Romans 10:9, changing “confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus” because you are saved, to saying “Jesus is Lord” as a requirement to be saved. I'm talking about the satanic New International Version (NIV), which is sadly the most popular Bible revision in the churches today. It ought to be called the “Non-Inspired Version”!
I was listening to a sermon by brother Hyles today, and he made the following good statement:
“When we change our mind, God changes our heart.”
SOURCE: Dr. Jack Hyles, from the sermon, “The Importance Of One Decision”
I immediately thought about salvation. When we change our mind (repent) and believe the Gospel, God saves us. And then, as a baby believer, God's great indwelling Holy Spirit begins to work on us, convicting, teaching, comforting, rebuking, guiding and conforming us into the image of Jesus. It is God Who changes a saved man's life, and not we our selves. A changed life is a matter entirely of discipleship, and has nothing to do with receiving the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).
It disgusts me when I look at Jack Chick's website and he mentions that he believes in the “imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ,” but then he teaches in all of His Chick Tracts (on the back page) that you must “be willing to turn from sin (Repent).” To “be willing” effectively implies the very act of turning from sinful bad habits to be saved. It is works for salvation! The truth is that you DO NOT have to be willing to forsake deliberate sinful behavior to be saved. Otherwise eternal life is not a free gift!!!
Now, please don't misunderstand me, NO BELIEVER has God's permission to continue in sin. Romans 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” But if a believer does choose to continue in sinful living, they can NEVER lose or jeopardize their salvation! The Holy Spirit will convict a true believer about their sins, or else they were never saved at all. This truth is made very clear in Hebrews 12:6-8. God chastises and scourges His children when they disobey. Eternal life is a “gift,” and a gift cannot be forfeited or returned once it is taken. There is not one verse in the Bible which teaches that salvation can ever be lost. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!!! Once you are born-again, you cannot be unborn! The physical birth is irreversible. Once you are born, you cannot be unborn. Likewise, once you are born anew spiritually into God's family, you cannot be unborn.
If someone denies the Lord, claiming they were once a Christian, they are a liar. They may have ascribed to the principles of Christianity, but they never were born-again! They may have may joined a church, having churchianity, but they never had true Christianity. If saved, always saved!!! The entire reason why there will be a completely separate Judgment Seat Of Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:9-11) exclusively for the saved, is because a believer CANNOT lose God's salvation. Salvation is of the Lord, not man (Jonah 2:9). Our part is simply to BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Somebody does care my friend, and it is me. I care because God cares, and His Holy Spirit indwells me as a true Christian believer. I care about the purity of the Gospel. Philippians 1:17, “But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.” There is only one Gospel, not variations of it. God does not require us to give up anything to be saved, not even our unbelief. If you believe, despite any doubts you may still have, God will save you. Mark 9:24, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” Faith is not the absence of doubt, but the presence of belief (trust) in the Gospel (Good News) of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you by faith have received Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full-payment for your sins, believing that He resurrected from the dead the third day, you are SAVED!!!
Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved. I fear that Will Crosby did not go to Heaven. If he sincerely believed that turning away from the deliberate acts of sin was necessary to be saved, and letting Christ control your life, then he ADDED to the Gospel. So that would mean he did not go to Heaven. Only God and Mr. Cosby know for certain.
“Lordship Salvation” was rightly called by Pastor Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008), “FRONTLOADING THE GOSPEL” (i.e., requiring everything of the Christian life upfront at the time of salvation). Lordship Salvation is certainly not the Gospel.
