A Damned and Perverted View of the 'Romans Road'
by David J. Stewart | July 2017
Galatians 1:6-8, “I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed.”
Please read our text verse again. I couldn't agree more with the apostle Paul, still today 2,000 years later.
As Paul, I am amazed and astonished that so many independent Baptist
churches today, which just 50 years ago were considered the strongest in the
Christian faith, are now hellholes of apostasy and cesspools of false
doctrine. But it's not just Baptist churches, Satan has crept heresy into
nearly ALL the churches! Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001) defends the simplicity
of the Gospel in his timeless MP3 sermon titled, “FUNDAMENTAL
HERESY!” The great need of the hour is preaching preachers! I love what
Brother Lester Roloff (1914-1982) said, “We need porcupine preachers, so
that the people will get the point!” Amen Brother Roloff, amen!!! That's
one of the reasons why I love Pastor Hyles' preaching so much, because he
says it like it is, and THE PEOPLE GET THE POINT!!!
The “Romans Road” has been a popular method of
winning souls to Christ for several decades now. It is simply a way of
teaching people the plan of salvation by using Scriptures found in the book
of Romans. Although I am not against using the Romans Road,
I have
written some articles warning people about
mishandling the
Scriptures if the Romans Road is not presented properly. I won't get
into that topic now, because you can read the articles (if you'd like) by
clicking on the hyperlinks I just provided.
“The Romans Road” Has Been Perverted to
Lead People into Hell
In this article I want to expose a whole new
problem, a MAJOR HERESY, that is being taught using the so-called “Romans
Road.” This heresy appears to have originated with a corrupt website
ministry at AllABoutGod.com. The
ministry boasts of
endorsements from a handful of crummy ecumenical groups that would make
a Billy goat puke, and it certainly makes God puke (Revelation 3:15-16). I
wouldn't give you a dime for the whole lot of them! The following is a
PERVERSION of The Romans Road, and could not lead a sinner to
Christ...
The Roman Road: Are You Ready?
The Roman Road shows you the path – are you ready to accept God’s gift of
Salvation now? If so, believe in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross,
repent of your sins, and commit the rest of your life to Him. This is not a
ritual, just a prayerful guideline for your sincere step of faith:
“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me
from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful
life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I
believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from
the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord
of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send
your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my
life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.” [emphasis added]
SOURCE:
http://www.allaboutgod.com/the-roman-road.htm
I did a quick search on Google, looking for the
preceding quote. I placed the prayer in “quotation marks” (which returns exact
results in a search). I was saddened to find 6,530 results!!! Folks, the preceding
demonic prayer has been REPEATED 6,530 TIMES elsewhere on the internet!!!
That is cause for spiritual alarm!!! That's how powerful heresy is!!! According to our text
passage of Scripture, this is
an accursed Gospel from AllAboutGod.com. It is cursed by God because it
sends lost souls to Hell. What “AllAboutGod.com” teaches IS NOT WHAT THE
APOSTLES ONCE DELIVERED UNTO THEN SAINTS (1st Corinthians 15:1-6).
Therefore, it is a cursed gospel that must be exposed. We must “rebuke
them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:10-13).
Here's a very short list of seven churches
and one mission that I found online, who have apparently copied the exact
quote from the AllAboutGod.com website. All these religious institutions are
helping Satan to hinder folks from being saved. How can people be saved, if
they cannot see the Gospel, because it has been OBSCURED by Alexandrian
theology.
ALL of these churches and groups teach A
FALSE GOSPEL (perverted Romans Road)...
Bible Way Baptist
Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Herrick
Baptist Church in Herrick, Illinois
St. Stephen's
Anglican Church in Lowell, Massachusetts
San
Bernardino City Mission in San Bernardino, California
Real Life Church in Salem, Ohio
Bethel Pentecostal
Assembly in Goderich, Ontario
Second
Macedonia Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Let's examine this horrible perversion of the
Romans Road. And may I say, it is also a horrible perversion of God's plan
of salvation for man.
The Gospel is “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4).
Here are some gross theological errors taught
in the FALSE Romans Road presentation in ALL of the churches I
listed...
-
I AM TRULY SORRY.
-
I
WANT TO TURN AWAY FROM MY PAST SINFUL LIFE TOWARD YOU.
-
HELP ME AVOID SINNING AGAIN.
-
I INVITE JESUS TO BECOME THE
LORD OF MY LIFE, TO RULE AND REIGN IN MY HEART. FROM THIS DAY FORWARD.
-
PLEASE SEND YOUR HOLY SPIRIT
TO HELP ME OBEY YOU, AND TO DO YOUR WILL FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.
Ladies and gentleman, NONE of these
things have anything to do with getting saved. None of these things comprise
the Gospel. You could do all these things and still go to Hell. Jesus
said... “YE MUST BE BORN-AGAIN”!!! (John 3:3-7). God hates all
the politically correct garbage in our churches these days, which pushes
manmade agendas like turning from sins, committing one's life to obey God
for the rest of your life, inviting Jesus to become the Lord of your life
and reign in your heart... ALL OF THIS HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH
BEING SAVED!!!!!!!
Living a consecrated Christian life requires
growth in grace (1st Peter 2:2), and is not mandated for salvation. What we
have here is very simple... The Devil has intentionally combined and
confused DISCIPLESHIP with SALVATION, to con men into living the Christian
life, but without ever being born-again. Our Baptist churches are filled
with dedicated lost religious people. Anything that obscures the light of
the Gospel is a threat, an enemy and a grave danger to the cause of Jesus
Christ!!! Let him who hath ears to hear, hear what I say!
And may I say, you DON'T have to ask the Holy
Spirit to come to indwell you, that happens automatically the moment you
trust the Savior (Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). And also, the fake Roman Road
that I quoted to you, says to ask the Holy Spirit to help you OBEY His will
for the rest of your life. Folks, this is NOT a part of the Gospel. You
don't have to be willing to obey God for the rest of your life to be saved.
Satan has crept into the churches! More than HALF of the 6,000 independent
Baptist churches in America are now teaching the damned heresy which says to
“turn away from sins” to be saved.
Repentance is always
“toward God,” never from sin, to be saved. That is exactly what Acts 20:21
teaches. Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the
Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ.” Anyone who teaches that you must repent by turning away from
your sins to be saved is a false prophet. You get saved by turning toward
Jesus Christ in faith to be saved. Obviously you need to turn “FROM”
something in order to turn “TO” the Gospel. But that something you turn FROM
is not what saves you, nor is it a requirement to be saved, as many false
prophets claim these days. If you place your faith in Christ's sacrifice on
the cross, as payment for your sins, believing that Jesus was buried and
bodily raised up three days later, you are immediately, permanently and
forever saved!!! The man who believes has also repented! This is why we find
the words “believe” and “believed” mentioned 85 times in the Gospel of John
(which was written to convince men to be saved - Acts 20:31), but the word
“repent” is never mentioned even once! John 20:31, “But these are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing ye might have life through his name.” That's
really good stuff, I hope you got all that.
In the bogus, shallow, and satanic ROMANS ROAD
plan of salvation (as horribly presented by AllAboutGod.com), you are
falsely required to commit your life to serve Christ from now on. You are
also required to turn away from past sinful activities, which is a play on
words. Why don't they stop trying to trick people and just be honest for
once, telling the truth. The truth is that they want you to turn away from
PRESENT SINS. How can anyone turn away from “past” sins, since they are
already buried in the past? Why don't they just be honest and tell
you upfront, that to be saved you must stop doing the sinful things that
you're presently committing. Of course, this is the Devil's way of
damnation, certainly not God's Gospel plan of salvation in Christ Jesus.
God's gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins are free gifts. They are
a “FREE GIFTS” Romans 5:15, “But not as the offence, so also is the
free gift. For if through the offence of one many
be dead, much more the grace of God, and the
gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto man.” What a blessed Savior!!!
The following picture is worth 1,000 words.
Eternal life is a GIFT from God. Romans 5:15 and 18 even call it a “FREE
GIFT.” If a person has to turn away from intentional sinful behavior as a
requirement to be saved, then it CANNOT be a gift, and it ceases to be
GRACE. The doctrine of forgiveness of sins and eternal life being A FREE
GIFT is a forgotten TRUTH in today's churches...
Romans 6:23, “For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Holy Bible says that God JUSTIFIES THE
HEATHEN THROUGH FAITH!!! Did you hear that all you corrupt teachers of
Lordship Salvation? Did you hear that Pastor
Charles Lawson? Did you hear that Evangelist Ray Comfort? Did you hear that
Dr. John MacArthur? There is no turning away from sins required of the
heathen to be saved, but ONLY FAITH...
Galatians 3:8, “And the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all nations be blessed.”
Dr. Harry Ironside and Dr. Hal Lindsey
Have Repentance Absolutely Correct
Here is one of the best quotes that I've found on
repentance, by Dr. Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951):
“Which comes first, repentance or
faith? In Scripture we read, 'Repent ye, and believe the gospel.' Yet we
find true believers exhorted to 'repent, and do the first works.' So
intimately are the two related that you cannot have one without the other.
The man who believes God repents; the repentant soul puts his trust in the
Lord when the Gospel is revealed to him. Theologians may wrangle over this,
but the fact is, no man repents until the Holy Spirit produces repentance in
his soul through the truth. No man believes the Gospel and rests in it for
his own salvation until he has judged himself as a needy sinner before God.
And this is repentance.” (Except Ye Repent,
p. 16)
Also, Dr. Hal Lindsey has repentance Biblically
correct, who states:
“Repentance, as it relates to
Christ, means to change our minds about Him, who He is and what He's done to
provide forgiveness, and deliverance from our sins. When we place faith in
Jesus as having taken our place personally on the cross and borne the
penalty due our sins, then we're automatically repenting, because we
couldn't accept Him in this way without having to change or minds in some
way concerning Him.” (From the Liberation of the Planet Earth, by Hal
Lindsey. (p. 133).
The Great Meaning Of The Word “METANOIA”!
Satan Secretly Brings False Doctrine
into the Churches
Dr. Jack Hyles (1926-2001) explains from the Holy Bible how the Devil sneaks
into churches with false doctrines...
We need to be right on the
man of God, the word of God, and the plan of salvation. The false teachers
mentioned in II Peter are unsaved people who were trying to bring something
other than the true Gospel from the true Word of God.
The word privily means, to sneak in somebody or something. It means that
something is hiding behind something else in order for it to also get in. In
this passage we see that damnable heresy had snuck in by hiding behind
something that was not a damnable heresy. These false prophets have a false
doctrine they want to spread. They know we will not accept it, so they hide
that false doctrine behind one with which we do agree.
For there are certain men who crept in unawares, who were before of old
ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God
into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus
Christ. Jude 4
The phrase crept in unawares is used for two things in the Bible.
1. It is used for masquerading. It is false teaching being masqueraded.
2. It is used as entering in the side door.
SOURCE: Dr. Jack Hyles, quote from the excellent book titled,
THE CHURCH, chapter 24,
How the Wall of Separation Is Broken Down.
Dr. Hyles is exactly right! Heresy is creeping
into our Independent Fundamental Baptist Church by the hour. The false
doctrine of
Lordship
Salvation is rooted in the satanic Alexandrian Bible versions!!!
Romans 11:6,
“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more
work.”
Consider the preceding passage of Scripture
from Romans 11:6. The very moment that anyone adds “turning away from
sins” or “making Jesus Lord of one's life,” as a requirement to receive the
free gift of eternal life... GRACE IS NO MORE GRACE!!! And that's exactly
what is happening in hundreds-of-thousands of churches today, including once
(no longer) fundamental Baptist churches (which are now fun centers). That's
what it's all about today folks. GRACE IS NO LONGER GRACE!!! For GRACE to
remain GRACE, salvation cannot be of WORKS. Turning away from sinful
behavior is a WORK, but Pastor
Charles Lawson doesn't think so, teaching an ungodly perverted view of
repentance. Dr. Charles Lawson wrongly accuses Pastor Jack Hyles of leaving
off repentance, which is a lie of the Devil. Brother Hyles taught
repentance, but he taught it's
correct meaning, and not the
Roman Catholic meaning which everyone uses today. If a man must cease
from intentional sinful behavior to be saved, that is works and cannot be
GRACE for salvation. And may I say, kindly,
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SORRY
FOR YOUR SINS TO BE SAVED!!! Read the Holy Bible again...
Romans 11:6,
“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more
work.”
Lordship Salvation Heresy
Rooted in Self-righteous Hypocrisy
I believe that the Lordship Salvation crowd are
sincere, but sincerely wrong. I understand where they are coming from. I mean,
I'm sick and tired of meeting professed "Christians" too who are as phony as
can be; but, Christians at best are people, and people at best are sinners. No
one is above sin. Truthfully, whether you want to admit it or not (in your
sanctimonious high tower of self-righteousness)--we are all phonies to some
degree.
Can anyone live perfect? No! I'll tell you what
bothers me as much as worldly believers, it's the staunch sanctimonious
believers who are filled with contempt and hate towards worldly believers. We
are supposed to RESTORE a brother who is weak in the spirit of MEEKNESS.
The hidden agenda behind the Lordship Salvation crowd is one of
hostility towards worldly believers. They refuse to recognize carnal
believers as BABES IN CHRIST, as the Apostle Paul saw them in 1st
Corinthians 3:1.
If you'll check the Bible, some of the Jews who
wandered in the Wilderness DID go to Heaven, even though they never made it
to the promised land. Just because a believer isn't carrying their cross
for the Lord doesn't mean they're not saved. There are some believers today,
who are rotting behind prison bars for crimes committed. Though some
hypocritical believers would like to conveniently claim that all criminals
aren't saved, it's simply not true.
Born again believers are sinners just like anyone
else. I agree that we are living in a generation of milquetoast, weak-kneed,
believers; but that doesn't mean they're not saved. God uses sinners, and it's
a good thing or He wouldn't have anyone to use. Remember, one third of the
Bible was written by murderers.
Biblical Repentance is Simply a Change of
Mind, Nothing More
So does a person need to REPENT to be saved? Of
course, but not the type of repentance that the Lordship Salvation
crowd is propagating. There is a common misunderstanding about
Biblical repentance. Many sincere people believe that repentance means to
"cease from committing sin," but it does not. Ceasing from sin is a
by product of repentance. Doing righteousness is also a by-product
of repentance. Repentance is "a change of mind" that should eventually lead to
a changed life. For some people, it is right away; yet other may take much
longer.
Repentance is a process that begins at salvation,
although being born-again itself is not a process. The new birth is immediate,
but the process of sanctification takes a lifetime. This is what ministers
like Ray Comfort and Paul Washer intend to teach, but they have fallen prey to
the cultic teachings of John MacArthur. Instead, these false prophets teach
that a person must commit to forsake personal sins as a prerequisite to
placing their faith in Christ. This is totally unscriptural. The very fact
that a sinner is coming to Jesus Christ to be forgiven of their sins is solid
evidence that some degree of genuine repentance has taken place already in
that sinner's heart. If there were no true repentance, then according to John
3:20 that sinner NEVER would come to the light to be saved.
Some people are very slow to change, but
ultimately they become the best Christians, because they are... slow to
change. Everybody responds differently. It is one's attitude toward sin and
the Savior that changes at the time of salvation, not necessarily departing
from the act of sin itself. Repentance begins in the heart, not in our
lifestyle.
Pastor Aiden Tozer (1897-1963) is revered by ecumenical
ministers for his lifelong Chicago ministry and plethora of religious books
which he authored. Unfortunately, in one of his sermons Mr. Tozer errantly states:
"In the Bible the offer of
pardon on the part of God is conditioned upon intention to reform on the
part of man. There can be no spiritual regeneration till there has been a
moral reformation."
(The Best of A.W. Tozer, Book 2, pg. 115-117; Compiled by Warren W.
Wiersbe)
Wrong! Salvation is receiving, NOT giving. Mr.
Tozer requires sinners to "reform" themselves before they can be saved. This
goes totally contrary to the plainest teaching in the Bible. Romans 4:5
states: "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
Mr. Tozer is teaching works salvation!!! Salvation is a free gift, freely
given and freely received. In fact, the truth is the opposite of what Pastor
Tozer teaches. That is, there can be no spiritual; reformation in a person's
life until there has first been REGENERATION (i.e., the new birth).
Biblical repentance is a "turn around" (U-TURN).
Salvation does NOT hinge on departing from our sins, but rather upon getting
our sins forgiven. 1st Peter 2:2 speaks of growing in the Lord... as new
born babes. Surely, you wouldn't expect a little baby to walk around the
house, let alone run without first learning to crawl. When a lost sinner comes
to Christ for salvation, the salvaging process only begins.
Salvation is
more than being saved, and it happens over a lifetime.
When we receive Jesus Christ as our personal
Savior, we instantly become a child of God and our name is written in Heaven.
But now the lifelong process of growing in the Lord begins. Just as a baby is
physically born into the world and grows for the rest of his or her life, so
does a spiritually born (i.e., born again) person grow throughout the
remainder of their life. Sadly, many believers are midgets, suffering from
stunted growth. Every Christian needs the milk of God's Word to grow into a
healthy mature believer.
The Horrible
Misrepresentation Of Evangelist Alexander Marshall
Jesus Promised Never To Turn Anyone Away
Jesus clearly said that he WILL forgive all who
come to Him...
“All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.”
—John 6:37
Jesus will save the vilest sinner, the most
wicked murderer, the sleaziest adulterer... If they will simply come to Jesus
for forgiveness (Isaiah 1:18). Jesus only asks that we believe on Him (John
3:16; 6:40; 10:1).
When does repentance take place? Repentance
occurs that very moment when we turn to God for salvation. When you BELIEVE
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and turn to Him for salvation, then you have
already turned your back on sin. You have repented in your heart and mind. You
can't be saved without admitting to God (i.e., realizing one's guilt) that you
are a sinner justly deserving of Hellfire. It was your repentance that caused
you to realize your sinful condition and then turn to God. If someone has the
flagrant attitude that they can ask Jesus to forgive them, and then continue
living in sin... GUARANTEED... that person is NOT saved. Why? Because
salvation is of the heart and your heart is not there. If you have repented OF
your sins, not FROM them, then your mind should be changed about sin. You
cannot fool God.
Some people just can't stand the thought that a
person can be saved and still have sin in their life. Folks, that is true of
every single person who has ever been saved! Is anybody without sin apart from
our Lord? No! I am not condoning sin, not at all. I am simply saying that
following Jesus is NOT a Biblical requirement to be saved. Making a commitment
to Jesus is NOT a Biblical requirement to be saved. Making Jesus the Lord of
your life is NOT a Biblical requirement to be saved. All that God requires is
for us to realize our GUILTY, and just condemnation under God's Law, and then
place our complete trust on the precious Savior—Jesus Christ.
Repentance Towards God
It is dangerous to separate repentance from faith
in Christ. The Lordship Salvation crowd has attacked simple faith in
Jesus Christ, demanding that REPENTANCE from sins be added to salvation. If
you realize that you're a hell-deserving sinner, and believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God Who shed His blood upon the cross for your sins, and you are
willing to rely upon Him alone for salvation... then all you need to do is to
call upon the Lord to forgive you. If you were sincere, then you are not going
to have the attitude that you have a license to sin.
You are going to be thankful and want to change
some things in your life. But this is all after-the-fact. I've never led
anyone to the Lord who didn't have a desire to please God to some extent
AFTERWARDS. I realize that the Bible speaks MUCH about REPENTANCE, but
repentance concerning salvation is the repentance of faith towards God, not
from sins...
"Testifying
both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God,
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."
-Acts 20:21
Our repentance is TOWARDS GOD. Isaiah proclaimed
that anyone who would look to the Saviour would live. Jesus spoke of the Water
of Life, the Bread of life, the Door, the Resurrection, the Way, the Truth,
and the Life. It is ONLY through Jesus Christ that anyone can be saved. To
teach that lost sinners must "follow" Jesus to be saved is heresy. No, lost
sinners must only TRUST Jesus to be saved.
New converts need to be taught. We must teach
them the Bible, prayer, faithfulness to church, soul winning, baptism, holy
living, separation, etc. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work in their heart
and not try to do the Holy Spirit's job. If they are truly saved, we should
see some signs of God working in their life, some desire for the things of
God. I have known professed believers who never showed any signs of being a
Christian.
If you asked them about their salvation, they
knew all the correct lingo. Are they saved? I sincerely doubt it, but only God
knows for certain. I doubt very much that George W. Bush is a believer, he
shows more signs of being an occult member than anything. Is Billy graham a
Christian? I doubt it. Yet, we must keep in mind that some of the most sinful
men in the Bible (like Lot and Solomon) were believers.
Unbiblical Repentance
The purpose of this article is not to try to
decipher who is saved and who is not, the purpose of my article is to
expose the heresy about unbiblical repentance. Unbiblical repentance is
when someone teaches that a person must depart from sins or follow Christ to
be saved.
I NEVER ask anyone to receive Jesus Christ as
their "Lord and Savior"... only as "Savior." The Greek Word for "Lord" is
simply "KURIOS" ("Supreme in authority," i.e., God Almighty). Jesus is God,
Almighty God! A true believer recognizes Jesus Christ for who He really is...
Almighty God! Many false religions portray a distorted image of Christ,
"another Jesus," as the Apostle Paul warned us about (2nd Corinthians 11:4).
If you believe that Jesus Christ is Almighty God
(John 10:33; Colossians 2:9), who came in the flesh in the form of a man (John
1:1,14; 1st Timothy 3:16), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), to atone for our
sins with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18,19), then you have seen the true
Savior. John 6:40 says that God's will is for us to believe upon
the Son...
“And
this is the will
of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on
him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
—John 6:40
I don't see anything in the above Scripture about
making a commitment, turning over a new leaf, following Jesus, making Jesus
Lord, or anything even similar. I only see what the Bible says, "...that
every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life..."
It is not that these people haven't repented, it
is because they are immature in the Lord... BABES IN CHRIST (1st
Corinthians 3:1). Very few believers are fortunate enough to have a caring
pastor with a hungry heart for souls. Most pastors are just making a living,
and the people in his congregation are idly following him. Judgment MUST
begin at the house of God (1st Peter 4:17).
When Charles Spurgeon was asked what to do about
people who fall asleep in church, he wisely responded "Wake the preacher!"
America's pulpits are DEAD, and so our pews are dead as well. Instead of
standing-on-the-promises, most believers are sitting-on-the-premises. Again,
it is heresy to try to force a person to forsake their sins to be saved. Jesus
never asked us to give up anything to be saved.
Discipleship Comes After Salvation
The Apostle Paul said...
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.”
Paul is asking these BELIEVERS
(brethren) to make a
commitment to God. They are ALREADY saved, but they have NOT yielded
themselves to God yet. According to the Lordship Salvation crowd these
people were never saved. How ridiculous! When a baby is born into this world
physically, everything is new to him/her.
The same is true about being born-again,
everything becomes new, a whole new world of understanding is
opened (2nd Corinthians 5:17). Now the growing process has begun and God's
Holy Spirit will nurture that child of God, through the Word of God and
preaching (1st Peter 2:2; Titus 1:3).
Sadly, many believers have lost their fire for
God. It is tragic that the world is going to Hell while believers across
America are merely playing church. Thank God for the zealous few Christians
who are trying to make a difference for God in this world; HOWEVER, we are
talking about Christian maturity here, not salvation. America is filled with
immature believers. My guesstimate is that 95% of all true believers are as
carnal as can be, caught up in the cares and riches of this life (Luke
8:14).
Many of them look like good Christians, but as I
have often found... they are only "Christian" to a degree. Still, this doesn't
mean that they are not saved. It does mean that they're backslidden or have
never matured in the Lord to begin with. We can only teach them, pray for
them, and CHALLENGE them to live for God by exemplifying Christ in our own
life.
Beware of Heresy Creeping into the
Churches
So please BEWARE of the new perverted ROMANS ROAD
that is being taught in many churches today. Originally, the Romans Road
simply presented a handful of Scriptures from the book of Romans, as a
convenient way of leading a person to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately,
well-meaning people have embellished (added to) the Romans Road, totally
perverting it!!! THE GOSPEL must
not be altered in any way, if a lost person is to see THE TRUTH and be saved.
“The mark
of the child of God is that he loves everybody!”
(a quote from Pastor Jack
Hyles' classic MP3 sermon, “FORGIVENESS”)
“Our
Mixed Up Fundamental Christianity”
(by Brother Jack Hyles)
The Religions Of Cain And Abel
Ye Must Be Born Again!
You Need HIS Righteousness!
Believe The Gospel
