How Wrong Can A Preacher Be On God's Simple Plan Of Salvation And Be Saved?

By the phrase "fallen from grace" in Galatians 5:4, the Apostle Paul is simply saying that the Galatians have missed the only bus going to Heaven. God's grace is the only way to be saved! Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Here is a helpful excellent sermon, by Pastor Afshin Yaghtin of the New Covenant Baptist Church in Spokane, Washington. The sermon is titled: "The 'Repent Of Your Sins' Heresy."

In Galatians 1:6, Paul said that the Galatians had "removed" themselves from the Gospel unto "another gospel." NO ONE is born-again who is trusting in another gospel.

Albeit, I do understand your question. Where do we draw the line between who is saved and who is not? How wrong can a preacher be on God's plan of salvation and be saved? That is a great question!

We read in Acts 15:1, "And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." This false teaching confused the brethren (Christians). They got into a big theological debate, wondering if a man who believes on Jesus Christ is really saved if he hasn't been circumcized according to Mosaic law. So the matter was brought before the apostles, and this was their answer in Acts 15:24, "Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:"

So, clearly, the religious teachers in Acts 15:1 were in fact FALSE PROPHETS!!! The resounding answers is: "No, a person does not have to keep the law to be saved." What is the law? It is the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt not covet, et cetera. How then is keeping the law any different than turning away from one's sinful ways to be saved? It is the same thing.

If a man must cease from fornicating or stealing to be saved, then he is being required to KEEP THE MOSAIC LAW. Romans 3:19-20, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." The law was given for the primary purpose of giving mankind THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN.

We learn in Galatians 3:24-26, "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

The Bible is abundantly clear that NO ONE has ever been, nor ever will be, saved by KEEPING GOD'S LAW. Nor has anyone ever been saved by PARTIAL FAITH IN CHRIST, plus WORKS. All humanity are guilty sinners, as we just read. The Old Testament LAW shows us our sinnership, and then brings us to CHRIST in the New Testament to be saved by grace.

“The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.“ —Billy Sunday

Kindly, Pastor James Melton ASS-U-MEs that repentance is a change of mind about sin that will result in a change of behavior. Sadly, this is exactly what Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College errantly teaches. Pastor Jeff Redlin (their senior pastor at Campus Church) is angry at me, refusing to allow me to attend their church anymore, because I called them out on their heresy. It is a very big deal. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!

The big problem is that by associating a change of behavior with God's free gift of eternal life, it misleads many people to think that they are not really saved, unless their behavior has changed. So this compels people to try to avoid sinning to prove that they are saved. It confuses people. It instills fear and worry in them, wondering if they've really born-again because of the sin in their life (which we ALL have).

I heard infidel pastor, Paul Washer (a devout Calvinist), say that his own mother worried that she is not saved because of sin in her life. Her preacher son foolishly told her that her worry was proof of salvation. That is ridiculous! Judas felt bad, so bad that he gave back the 30 pieces of silver, but Judas still died in his sins and went to Hell forever.

To say that WORKS are required to prove that you're really saved, is just another clever way of saying that you have to have WORKS to be saved. There's no difference! So for James Melton to teach that a saved person WILL have works (a changed life), is the same as requiring works to be saved.

How can a preacher be saved who requires water baptism for salvation? That is a false gospel. That means all Church of Christ, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists and Roman Catholics are not saved, because they all require water baptism to get to Heaven.

It is no different when a bad pastor like James Melton, Marty Herron, Steve Pettit, John MacArthur, Ray Comfort, Gary Walton or 'UNSHACKLED' radio (by Pacific Garden Mission), perversely teach that you must repent "of your sins," by turning away from the old ways and forsaking a lifestyle of sinning to get to Heaven. They are LIARS!

Kindly said, how can those men be saved when they are wrong on God's plan of salvation? They will all lie to deceive, by claiming that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, but then they contradict themselves by teaching that if you don't have works in your life, your faith is not genuine, it is not real, and you were never saved at all.

What James Melton errantly preaches is the same as what the Seventh-Day Adventist cult teaches. They have a very different view of faith than what the Bible teaches. In the Bible, faith simply means to trust in Christ, but look what Miss Ellen G. White (SDA prophetess errantly teaches). ...

“That so-called faith in Christ which professes to release men from the obligation of obedience to God, is not faith, but presumption. 'By grace are ye saved through faith.' But 'faith, if it hath not works, is dead.'” ~SOURCE: Ellen G. White, Steps To Christ, p. 61.

So “faith” according to Ellen White is not simply trusting upon the Gospel to be saved. In addition, Miss White teaches that faith encompasses all of the obligations of living the Christian life. The Bible says that a faith without works is “dead,” but it is still faith. A dead faith is still faith! In other words, if people don't see holiness in you, then they won't be convinced of your faith, because it is a dead faith; however, God still honors your faith in His only begotten Son, and you cannot ever lose eternal life.

Pastor James Melton is in agreement with the cults! All of the pseudo-Christian cults teach to turn from sins to be saved. ...

• https://www.soulwinning.info/fd/lordship_salvation/jw_agree.htm
• https://www.jesusisprecious.org/false_doctrine/lordship_salvation/macarthur_mormon.htm

So to answer the question of: "How wrong can a preacher be on God's plan of salvation and be saved?," the answer can only be, Biblically: The moment that a preacher (or anyone) adds anything to the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ—namely, Christ's death on the cross, burial and bodily resurrection from the dead the third day—he is not saved, nor ever has been saved. The only prerequisite to being saved is that you realize your need as a guilty sinner, so that you will BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and be saved (Acts 16:30-31; John 6:28-29).

The 'Repent Of Your Sins' Heresy