Some would say what I am doing here isn't right. But the Bible is cleary that we should expose false teachers:
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Colossians 2:8)
"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. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." (Paul the Apostle in Galatians 1:6-10)
David J. Stewart of jesus-is-savior and jesusisprecious took this one to his heart, and I admire him for that (even though his narrow minded acting does not make me that happy).
The teacher I am talking about today is Fritz Chery of biblereasons.com. I have already quoted in my article on Lordship Salvation. And yes, he teaches "once saved, always saved", but he also teaches that believing the Gospel means nothing until you have been transformed.
"The true gospel is not being preached today, which is a huge reason why we have an enormous amount of false conversions. In today’s gospel there is no repentance."
(http://biblereasons.com/false-converts/)
Yes, in the Gospel of Christ there IS repentance, however, repentance does NOT mean more than a change of mind (metanoia). THIS Gospel may be the one he means and sadly it is the one that is preached being less than the one he thinks is correct.
He also quoted Luke 14:27:
"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."
Yeah, that is true, but like so many preachers today he doesn't manage to seperate salvation and discipleship. Judas Iscarot tried his best to be a disciple and turned of his sins, however, he never trusted in Christ alone and went to hell after he died. How tragic!
Also, to proof his false teaching, he used Matthew 7:22-23 in the version of the CEB (Common English Bible).
"On that last Day many will call me Lord. They will say, ‘Lord, Lord, by the power of your name we spoke for God. And by your name we forced out demons and did many miracles.’ Then I will tell those people clearly, ‘Get away from me, you people who do wrong. I never knew you."
But here is what KJV says:
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Yeah, that's the difference I have with other Bible versions. They change several verses the way that they would teach works salvation.
"Reminder: Do you see God working in your life to conform you into the image of Christ. The sins you once loved do you hate? Are you growing in sanctification? Do you trust in Christ alone for salvation? Do you have new affections for Christ?"
(http://biblereasons.com/false-converts/)
What a contradiction! If we have to hate the sins we once hated and to grow in sanctification to get saved, then we cannot trust in Christ alone! Not saying we shouldn't do that, but not as part of salvation!
What puzzles me the most is how he defines a Christians:
"You will confess your sins daily and grow in repentance."
(http://biblereasons.com/how-to-become-a-christian/)
Huh? That's confusing! What if he forgets to do that one day? Will he then realize that he never was saved? That sounds horrible!!!
A statement he often he uses is that no Christian who practices sin will enter heaven. Well, how often does a Christian have to commit a certain sin until you can say he practices it?
"No one who practices homosexuality will enter into Heaven. Clear as day!"
"There is no such thing as a gay Christian just like there is no such thing as a Christian who practices premarital sex or a Christian who loves to murder people. If you say, “I don’t care, I’m going to still practice homosexuality” or if you say, “if Jesus is this good I can sin all I want” that is a clear indication that you are not a Christian and you’re knocking on the doors of hell.
Christians are a new creation through Christ just like 2 Corinthians 5:17 says. We won’t want to live a life of continuous rebellion. The spirit of God is living inside Christians. Homosexuality is telling God that you are right and He is wrong. It doesn’t matter what sin it is if someone is practicing sin without a care in the world and God lets them without bringing them to repentance, then they are not Christian and they are deceiving themselves."
(http://biblereasons.com/homosexuality/)
He used 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 to proof it:
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Let's look inside the dictionairy what "to inherit" means:
"to take or receive (property, a right, a title, etc.) by succession orwill, as an heir"
That is not the same thing as entering!
Of course we Christians should overcome sins, but not as part of salvation! That is the difference!
And about 2 Corinthians 5:17:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
Let's look at the following four verses (18-21):
"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Yeah, Christ made as righteous in the eyes of God! Only the spirit is reborn!
And he also used 1 John 3:8-10:
"Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."
Sadly the ESV (Easy Standard Version) completely goofed at this passage. Here the KJV:
"He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."
Yeah, the Holy Bible speaks about the ones not being spiritual new births. We have two natures: the sinful one and the new one. Here a great sermon by Ralph 'Yankee' Arnold about this topic:
Have you seen it? I hope so.
"Is there evidence that the Holy Spirit is living in you and working in you? Do you think, “I am under grace”? or “I can live like the devil”? That is a lie from Hell. Have you ever heard someone say that Jesus is so forgiving that I can sin all I want? That type of thinking shows that they have an unregenerate heart. We have forgotten that the way to Heaven is narrow. Only a few will find it. Those who have been saved by Christ will not practice sin.
There is no such thing as a Christian who lives in fornication, adultery, witchcraft, homosexuality, hatred, murder, worldliness, etc. This exhibits bad fruit and a false conversion. There is no fear of God in the unregenerate man because God’s Spirit is not in an unregenerate man. Leonard Ravenhill said, “you go to the cross, but you don’t get on the cross.” Have you gone on the cross? Are you dying to self?
John MacArthur said, “a gospel that does not confront sin is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.” There are massive false conversions going on in Christianity and the reason is because we do not preach against sin anymore and we give a watered down cheap grace. If Jesus looked you in the eyes right now would He call you a hypocrite?"
(http://biblereasons.com/salvation-and-being-saved/)
Sorry, but the term "cheap grace" makes me angry! Do you think it was cheap what Christ did? All Fritz is doing is downplaying the blood! I am not saying we should sin all the time. Absolutely not! I am not teaching Antinomianism (Crowleyism). But turning from sin is not part of salvation. The word "repent" appears neither in the Gospel of John nor in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
I totally agree with him on the prosperity gospel, it's heresy! Of course we need to know about sin. Without having realized you are a sinner you cannot get saved.
Watch this sermon by sincitypreacher (Luke Boozer):
A-M-E-N!
Another good one by Charles F. Stanley which explains what a happens if a person that trusts in the Gospel keeps living in willfull sin:
"Some people have wrongly criticized me for saying that Christians have a license to sin. They have deliberately taken my words out of context. Christians only have a “license to sin” in the sense that they have eternal security. If you believe otherwise, then you are saying that Christians can lose their salvation. I don't even like the term “license to sin,” because NO ONE has God's permission or blessing to commit sin. NO ONE!!! I only say that “Christians have a license to sin,” as a counter statement to the common saying which says, “Just because you're saved doesn't give you a license to sin” (as an attempt to teach the heresy of Lordship Salvation). The truth is that you can live in sin if you so choose, but there are always consequences (Hebrews 12:6-8)." (David J. Stewart)
Yeah, Stewart's right. That's what we Free Grace believers teach.
Also, Fritz COMPLETELY forgets about 1 Corinthians 5:1-5:
"It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
See? This man lived in gross sin and got executed, but he was saved by trusting in Christ!
You can also see that like so many other he misdefines the term "lukewarm Christian":
http://biblereasons.com/lukewarm-christians/
Let's go to Revelation 3:15-16:
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
And compare it to Verse 8-10:
"I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
Yeah, his word, not our word! Let's go to John 6:35-40:
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 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."
Yeah, we saints entirely rely on Christ's promise and not on our actions which are never good enough. The lukewarm ones were the religious people who never trusted in Christ alone. So Fritz actually is Lukewarm himself. Turning from sins is a work in the flesh and not part of salvation.
Overall Fritz Chery is a one point Calvinist who believes in Perseverance of Saints. OK, Spurgeon was a one point Calvinist too (Limited Atonment), but he at least believed that faith in Christ's finished work in the cross is enough.
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