By David J. Stewart
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” —Romans 10:9
As our text verse states, here once again is Romans 10:9 from the authorized King James Bible, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Now here's Romans 10:9 from the perverted New International Version (NIV)...
“That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
The Bible never requires us to make Jesus our “Lord” to be saved, only trust Him as our Savior (John 14:6). Peter shows clear evidence of this when he professed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” in Matthew 16:16. Peter never confessed “Jesus is Lord.” Rather, Peter received Jesus as the Messiah. Genesis 15:6 simply states that Abraham, “...believed in the LORD; and he (God) counted it to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:5 plainly states, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
The New International Version (NIV) of the Bible teaches the damnable heresy of Lordship Salvation. This does not surprise me in lieu of the fact that flaming homosexuals were on the translating committee of the NIV. Since 1984 the NIV has produced two generations now of Lordship Salvationists who foolishly believe that a person cannot be saved without making Jesus “Lord.” It is false religion.
The truth is that you DON'T make Jesus Lord, He is Lord. The very moment that you receive Jesus as the Christ, He is your Lord Whom you serve. The extra requirement that a person be willing to surrender their will to Christ's will to be saved, and to consecrate one's life to serve God at the time of salvation is a false gospel which cannot save. Biblical salvation is based solely in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to each believer by faith. Romans 4:6, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.”
The conversion of Saul (later to be renamed Paul) was nothing less than miraculous. Paul immediately consecrated his life to Christ, calling Jesus Lord (Acts 9:5). However, this was Paul's choice, for he had been resisting God's Holy Spirit conviction for a long time. This is why Jesus asked Saul if it was hard for him to kick against the pricks? Acts 9:5, “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Please understand that Saul's conversion experience is NOT the benchmark standard for all sinners. False prophets attempt to require a Saul-type experience for every convert. Saul's conversion was one-in-a-million, for Saul had been raised as a strict Pharisee, and he was a murderer of Christians, persecuting and wasting the church of God (Galatians 1:13). Saul was ready to be saved. He had been fighting Holy Spirit conviction for a long time.
Most people get saved much less
dramatically, quiet and undetected by others. Salvation is a miracle of God
in response to our faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is,
that Christ died, was buried and raised up miraculously three days later
(1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Jesus shed His blood to pay for our sins and wash
them away forever (1st Peter 1:18-19).
It's Impossible To Receive A Free Gift That Requires Payment (Works)
Consider carefully the following passage of Scriptures...
Romans 9:30-32, “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone.”
One of the biggest deceits today, which devils have crept into many churches, is the notion that salvation is a gift that must include human effort to obtain. Consider the teachings found at Creation Science Evangelism (CSE) website ministry of Paul Taylor, Eric and Kent Hovind. They teach...
Second, repent of your sin. This means that you must turn completely away from your sin. It is more than just saying sorry; it is a complete change of direction as you endeavor, by God’s power, to go His way, instead of the way of sin. [emphasis added]
Here is what the satanic Jehovah's Witnesses teach at their official Watchtower.org website (where their monthly AWAKE magazine is published)...
"Salvation is a free gift from God. It cannot be earned. Yet it does require effort on our part." [emphasis added]
SOURCE: What Must We Do to Be Saved? - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site
In BOTH cases, human effort is mandatory for salvation. Whatever happened to “the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23? Do you see how Satan has crept into our churches subtly, and has successfully perverted the gospel message, deceiving men, leading people into false religion and damnation? Remember, Jesus said in Revelation 2:13 that Satan's seat resides within the church of Pergamos. “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.” Satan owns the nightclubs, brothels, taverns and The White House, so he's not there. Satan is in the churches, where he doesn't have total control (in some churches he does!).
The entire teaching of Lordship Salvation adds self-righteous works to faith alone in Christ alone for salvation. As with nearly all false prophets, they DENY corrupting the plan of salvation. They still maintain that eternal life is a free gift, but they also say you have to forsake sinful bad habits to obtain it from the Lord. That's a perverted gospel that leads to damnation. God forgives sinners, not the self-righteous who trust in their own efforts. If a person must put forth human effort and ENDEAVOR as CSE claims, then in part, you are saving yourself. Neither you, nor I, have any part in the salvation provided and offered by God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches repeatedly that the just shall live BY FAITH. We are saved by faith in the Lord, because of His work of redemption. Jesus paid the price for our sins.
If you adopt a new dog as a pet, you are now its new master. The dog hasn't been trained and doesn't know you, so it probably won't obey you. Likewise, a new convert is like a baby. It would be just as ridiculous to expect a baby to run a marathon as it would be to expect a new Christian believer to forsake all of their sinful bad habits and wrong philosophies on life. A convert needs to be mentored by a mature Christian or pastor. That's one purpose of church, that is, to edify the saints (and to exalt the Savior and evangelize the sinner). 1st Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” The insane doctrine of Lordship Salvation totally eliminates the growing in grace process, which takes a lifetime.
Salvation is instant, it is a new birth. The new birth is conditioned upon a person's acceptance of Christ's sacrifice as payment for their sins, and not upon one's willingness to clean up their life of sin. Just as the physical birth requires a seed for conception, so also does the spiritual birth require the seed of God's Word (1st Peter 1:23). When the seed of the gospel is mixed with faith, a new life is conceived in Christ Jesus.
Roman Catholics have never been born-again by the seed of God's Word. Instead, there has never been any spiritual life, not even a still birth (which would mean conception had still taken place). Catholics have no spiritual life (Luke 8:12... the Devil takes the seed from their heart). It's all religion. I've visited Catholic mass and it's dead. The spirit of God is not there. All of the prayers are memorized chants, word-for-word. It's all religion, laid out carefully, from the cradle-to-the-casket. But those fools all think that God is pleased by their formalism, ceremonies and rituals. God is not a part of what they do. As Matthew 7:15 says, their heart is far from God, although they draw close with their mouth. Mark 7:6-13 says they've made the Word of God of none effect by their manmade traditions, and they knowingly reject God's Commandments. It's a greased, slippery, slope into the fires and damnation of Hell.
Read how
Catholics pervert the meaning of being born-again.
Let God Do The Saving And The Changing In Other People's Lives
The problem is that these false prophets (Ray Comfort, John MacArthur, Kirk Cameron, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Moody Ministries, Paul Washer and thousands more) are woefully ignorant of the Bible and are trying to force people to live upright. They detest the idea of a professed Christian living in gross immorality, so they corrupt the gospel by requiring sinners to stop sinning if they want to be saved. The truth is that when a person truly repents with an honest heart, turning to the Lord by faith to be forgiven of their sins, then God's Spirit comes into that person to live.
That person is indwelt with the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). Romans 8:10, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Thus, the new convert has found a new life which is in Jesus Christ. Whatever changes need to be made are God's department and you can rest assure that He will attend to that. Stop trying to do God's job! The Holy Spirit's job is to convict men, it's not our job to force righteousness upon sinners as a requirement to be saved.
“...our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you...in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest (twist), 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.” —2nd Peter 3:15-17
It is our faith upon Jesus as our Savior, because of the blood that He shed for our sins, that saves us (1st Peter 1:18,19). Making Christ the Lord of our life is a matter of Christian obedience; NOT Salvation. If one had to make Jesus the Lord of their life to be saved, then Lot, Samson, and Solomon would all be in Hell today. What about Ananias and Sapphira? What about the carnal Believers at Corinth? What about 1st Corinthians 3:15?
Hypocritically, Lordship Salvationists will quote Scriptures about being saved by faith alone; but then require people to have some outward self-righteousness to validate their faith. Clearly they are confusing the ROOT of a believer's faith, which Paul speaks of in Romans; in contrast to the FRUIT of a believer's faith, which is spoken of by James. For more information please read, "Are We Justified by Faith and Works?"
The NIV is from Hell, which is exactly where the Lordship Salvation gang is headed. Yes, this means John MacArthur is going to Hell. Don't be deceived my friend, if you believe that you have to do as little as give a cup of water to someone to be saved, you will burn in Hell for all eternity. The blood of Christ is what takes our sins away (not just the death of Christ), and ANY self-righteous efforts on our part is a total rejection of Christ's work of redemption.
Why would anyone use the NIV?
Proverb 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”
Jeremiah 26:2, “...all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.”
1st John 3:8, “...For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
The King James Bible Defended! | NIV Blasphemy! | NIV Exposed!
NIV 2011... the Feminist's Lesbian Bible!
