Luke 13:23-24, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
Strive to
enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
In
a YouTube video titled, “Ray Comfort
Addresses Accusation of Heresy,” he affirms the Bible truth that
salvation is by grace through faith and not of ourselves. At first he sounds
Kosher, like he is on cue doctrinally. However, Ray goes horrible astray and
horribly contradicts himself when he states:
“We've got a problem in
contemporary Christianity. Millions are being told not to repent AND
believe in Jesus, but simply to believe. The fruit of this unbiblical
gospel is that it's filled the church with false converts. Tares among
the wheat, foolish virgins among the wise, bad fish among the good,
goats among the sheep—those to whom Jesus will say on the day of
judgment, 'Depart from Me you worker of lawlessness (you worker of
iniquity), I never knee you!'”
SOURCE: Ray Comfort
- Living Waters -
Ray Comfort Addresses Accusation
of Heresy (Time in video: 27)
I want you to consider dear reader that
God authored an entire book of the Bible for the sole purpose of getting you
saved. That wonderful book is the Gospel of John. 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.” Literally, the
Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract! In
the Gospel of John we find the words “believe,” “believeth” and “believed”
mentioned 87 times, but the word “repent” is not mentioned even once. That
speaks volumes! Clearly, repentance and faith happen simultaneously and are
inseparable. One who believes has repented, and one who repents has
believed.
If repentance were a separate act from BELIEVING to be saved, no
doubt God would have made sure to tell us so, but he didn't. John 14:2b,
“if it were not so, I would have told you.” Nowhere in the Gospel of
John are we taught to turn away from sinful behavior to receive the gift of
eternal life. What saith the Scripture? 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.”
Oh, how wonderfully plain it
is to see the simplicity of the Gospel! Bible verse after Bible verse
throughout the Gospel of John teach us to simply “BELIEVE” to be saved, and
no mention is made of turning away from sinful ways.
Ray Comfort totally ignores the Gospel of John.
Instead, he cherry-picks selected Scripture passages to fit his agenda.
Throughout the Gospel of John the Lord Himself teaches us that the way of
salvation is simply TO BELIEVE. John 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am
the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live.” There is no mention of
repenting from sin to be saved. Again, please notice Acts 10:43, “To him
give all the prophets witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
We find no mention of turning away from anything to be saved.
Kindly, Mr. Comfort is a woefully
ignorant and arrogant man. 2nd Peter 3:16-17, “As also in all his
epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to
be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye
also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
stedfastness.” Ray Comfort is a dangerous false prophet!
I love what
Pastor Harry
A. Ironside (1876-1951) says, who is 100% correct on repentance...
“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?
If you are struggling dear
reader with the subject of repentance, then I strongly encourage you to
delve into the excellent doctrinally-sound book by Dr. Ironside called,
“EXCEPT YE
REPENT.” God wants each and every Christian to absolutely KNOW,
beyond any shadow of a doubt, that you are saved and on your way to
Heaven. If you do not have that blessed assurance, then I plead with you
to diligently pursue that peace until you obtain it. I can help you, by
God's grace, which is why I wrote a lengthy .PDF book titled, “SALVATION.”
Is repentance necessary for
salvation? Yes, of course. But the man who believes, has repented.
Repentance is an automatic thing. If a person didn't repent, they would
never come to Christ. John 3:20 makes that very clear, “For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved.” Here is a very helpful quote
from Pastor Ironside...
“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).
My intend is not to personally
attack Ray Comfort, God forbid. He has every right to his opinion as an
America, and I support his right to disagree. That is what makes America
great, that we can agree to disagree with one another. A truly free society
is only one in which is it safe to be unpopular. We'll find out in eternity
who is right, me or Ray Comfort. We both claim to believe the Bible, but we
both cannot be correct. We may both be wrong, but we cannot both be right!
The raging battle over repentance has endured for centuries, which
perpetuates the conflict between the theologies of Abel and Cain.
Here are some helpful articles to
make sure you are saved and on your way to Heaven my friend...
1st
Corinthians 16:24, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.”
Eternal Security
