Before
proceeding further I need to let it be known that:
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I
am a born again believer. |
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I
am an evangelical Christian. |
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I believe and accept the Bible as the fully and
uniquely inspired written Word of God. |
As
an evangelical Christian I believe that it is my responsibility
to seek to correct wrong whenever and wherever I see it
in the Body of Christ. What I am sharing in this booklet
is an area of concern that troubles me as a follower of
Jesus Christ and as an evangelical Christian. I do not
purport to have all of the answers on such matters that
are being addressed in this material. However, I am convinced
that many evangelicals are being led astray by persuasive
charismatic personalities into some areas of belief and
practice that are either deceptive or on the road to deception.
I am addressing but one of these areas in this article.
The apostle Paul issued the following warning,
“I
am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one
who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning
to a different gospel – which is really no gospel
at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion
and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even
if we are an angel from heaven should preach a gospel
other than the one we preached to you, let that person
be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so
now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel
other than what you accepted, let that person be under
God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:6-9) TNIV.[1]
What is a deception? According to a dictionary that I
have “to deceive” is “to give a misleading
impression.”
What you will find in this material is not considered
as either heresy or deception by the majority of theologically
Conservative Christians. In fact, I am convinced that
what I am addressing is honestly believed to be truth
by the vast majority of evangelicals, fundamentalists
and charismatic Christians. Yet, I view it as a form of
deception although it is sincerely believed and taught
by vast numbers of well-meaning sincere believers who
are seeking to win the lost to Christ. I believe that
it is leading many people astray by clinging to a false
hope. This teaching hinges on the very root of the biblical
doctrine of salvation, hence it is a very serious matter.
To those believers holding what I term “the evangelical
party line” my view will seem heretical. But is
it? I am of the conviction that my position is in accord
with New Testament teaching.
My basic problem with what is presently being widely taught
and stressed by the majority of fundamentalists and evangelicals
is what I view as a message of “easy believism”
or “cheap grace!”
Hear My Premise: Where in the New Testament is the sinner
exhorted to: “Accept Jesus as your personal Savior?”
The missing ingredient in this exhortation is that it
is seldom emphasized to the individual that he or she
needs to believe in and receive the LORD Jesus Christ.
The deception of “easy believism” separates
Jesus as Savior and Lord. In Scripture he is always referred
to as the LORD Jesus Christ!
I am aware that evangelists, pastors and others in their
witness usually refer to Jesus as “Lord and Savior.”
But what do they usually mean? They invariably proceed
to simply present him as personal Savior. That he is!
However, he is not Savior alone. He is Lord! “The”
Lord. The concept of authentic commitment is missing in
presenting an “easy believism” message to
“accept Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior”
Note how Paul and Silas put it when asked:
“
. . . Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house.” (Acts 16:30b, 31) KJV.
The above exhortation does not implore one to “believe
about” Jesus but to believe “on” or
“in” him. It must be noted that the word “believe”
is more than simply voicing intellectual assent. This
is really the crux of my premise. Involved in believing
is “to trust in, to reply upon, to commit to.”
An “easy believism” is simply head knowledge.
I am convinced that this deception is leading many people
to “claim” to be born again simply because
they have followed the prescribed formula set forth in
many modern pulpits. These folk have gone forward in a
church meeting, “said” a prayer and “zappo”
they are “told” that they have been born again,
that they are saved. But are they?
Undoubtedly there are many who do come into a personal
relationship with God in this manner. But what about countless
others who are not instructed as to what being born again
is all about?
Salvation is entirely of God’s doing. It is the
Holy Spirit who draws lost men and women to Christ. God
sent his Son Jesus to die for the penalty of sin. Sin
is the human problem. Jesus, in his death on the cross,
took upon himself the penalty of sin which is death; spiritual
and physical. He alone is Savior! He, who is Lord (deity),
has atoned for our sin. Without and until the shedding
of Christ’s blood God’s grace had not come
into full fruition. God’s grace is not “cheap
grace!” [2]
The gift of God is eternal life. This gift of God is received
through faith,
“For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith –
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
– not by works, so that no one can boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8 & 9)
The very next verse of this passage in Ephesians is often
ignored by many Christians,
“For
we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)
In other words once we are “in” Christ we
are new creations. We are now disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ. As disciples we are under his discipline. He is
both Lord as well as Savior. I’m not fully convinced
that you can have one without the other. He certainly
cannot be Lord of one’s life if he is not their
Savior. It also seems logical that when he is one’s
Savior he must be their Lord.
In my youth, as a zealous Christian and student in Bible
College, I would seek to button hole anyone who would
listen to me. In my witnessing I used such plans as “The
Roman Road” and “the Four Spiritual Laws.”
Upon becoming a pastor in Baptist and in non-denominational
churches I would plead with people to come forward at
“the Invitation” or “altar call”
to receive Jesus as their personal Savior. Those who came
forward, and there were many who did respond, were then
instructed to “say/pray” “the”
sinner’s prayer. They were then told, “You
are saved!” “You now have eternal life.”
But did they?
I believe that many of them went beyond mere intellectual
assent and did commit themselves to Jesus Christ as their
Lord thus becoming a disciple. Jesus must be taken as
Lord and Savior,
“If
you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that
you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth
that you profess your faith and are saved.”
(Romans 10:9-10)
Please hear me out on this. I fully understand that when
the individual is led by the Spirit of God to commit his
or her life to the Lord Jesus Christ all of the ramifications
of being a disciple are not fully known at that time.
Being a disciple takes time, effort and maturity in growth.
What I am saying however is that the new convert to Christ
needs to be aware of what is involved in their commitment.
Jesus is now LORD of the individual’s entire life:
body, soul and spirit. That which has taken place, if
truly of God, is not a passing fancy. It is a life. It
is new life. It is life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ,
“Whoever
wants to be my [Jesus] disciple must deny themselves and
take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to
save their life will lost it, but whoever loses their
life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good
is it for you to again the whole world, yet forfeit your
soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul?
If any of you are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed
of you when he comes in his Father’s glory with
the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34b-38)
“Whoever
wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, and take
up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke
9:23b)
On numerous occasions in the Gospels our Lord instructs
his disciples to “follow him.” In other words
I wonder about those many professed Christians who have
“said” the sinner’s prayer and “claim”
to have been born again but who have no idea or concept
of what biblical commitment to follow him as a disciple
is all about. Are they truly born again? Only God knows!
I am concerned that in the deception of “easy believism”
little if anything is ever said or taught about what being
born again, or what a disciple of Jesus Christ, entails.
Authentic believers (disciples) are instructed to follow
Jesus,
“My
sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow
me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who
has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can
snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father
are one.” (John 10:27-30)
Note this exhortation,
“Whoever
serves me must follow me . . .”(John 12:26a)
We have not been called to “make a decision”
rather we have been called to commit ourselves to Jesus
Christ as the Lord of our lives. We are called to a life
of following him; to being one of his disciples. See –
Matthew 10:42; 27:57; Luke 14:26-27, 33; John 8:31; 13:35;
15:8; 19:38; Acts 9:1, 26, 36; 11:26; 16:1; 19:1; 20:7;
21:16.
It is my prayer that my evangelical peers who are mistakenly
teaching a false premise of what salvation is will get
back into Scripture. Too many church leaders and ordinary
Christians appear to be so enamored with numbers rather
than truly winning lost souls to Jesus Christ who alone
is Lord and Savior.
It is my belief that God has a people scattered throughout
Christendom, who in spite of some false teaching, do acknowledge
and know Jesus Christ as their Lord. The Holy Spirit has
brought them into the family of God through spiritual
rebirth, i.e., being born again according to John 3. Salvation
is not an “easy believism” nor a grace that
is “cheap”. Note what the apostle Paul wrote
to the church at Ephesus,
“For
he [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world
to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined
us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance
with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his
glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One
he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches
of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all
wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery
of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed
in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach
their fulfillment – to bring unity to all things
in heaven and earth under Christ. In him we were also
chosen, having been predestined according to the plan
of him who works out everything in conformity with the
purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first
to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of
his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal,
the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those who are
God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”
(Ephesians 1:4-14)
Note
also what Paul wrote to the believers at Rome,
"And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called:
and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against
us?” (Romans 8:28-31) KJV
My friend have you trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord of
your life and only Savior?
