A newsletter came to our church mailbox, The Northwest Baptist (January-March, 2020), led by a front page by Bob Straughan with the title, “Hyper-repentance vs. Easy Prayerism Contrasted,” and its first lines:

I have written quite a lot over the years cheap shallow evangelism aka “easy prayerism.”  But I have said less about hyper-repentance aka “Lordship salvation.” . . . .  [I]t is fair to say that at least for some Independent Baptists, their way of making sure they are not practicing Hyles’ type shallow evangelism, (sic) is to overreact and embrace at least to some extent hyper-repentance.

Straughan describes this “hyper-repentance,” a term I’ve never heard, to be “Lordship salvation.”  I don’t comprehend the opposition to the inclusion of Lordship on the front end with the gospel.  Jesus is the Christ.  Someone must believe Jesus is the Christ to have eternal life.  Lordship is definitional to “the Christ.”  He is the Messiah, the King, the Lord.  People have to relinquish to that in order to be saved.  Not doing so is rebellion against Jesus Christ.  That isn’t salvation.  Straughan and all those like him do great damage and undermine the gospel with such writing.  Then Mike Haxton, who publishes the paper, uses it for such eternally harmful means.  It is conspiracy of the worst possible kind.  It distorts the gospel.

Straughan also says:

With the Hyper-repentance (sic) people there is this, “quest”, (sic) for true salvation.  Which is why you see so many people repeatedly going forward for salvation. (sic)

Is “quest” a technical term used by apparent “Hyper-repentance people”?  Remember, these are people who say belief in Lordship of Christ is part of believing in Christ.  I had not heard of these people or their favor for the word “quest.” Pack your bags, we’re going on a quest for true salvation, folks.  It’s as if men who support Jesus’ Lordship are inventing something.

What about “going forward” that Straughan mentions?   In his assessment, “going forward” is worth associating with true salvation, but Lordship is supposed to be excluded.  Someone doesn’t need to believe Jesus is his Lord, but he does “go forward.”  In the article, most times Straughan describes people being saved, he says they “go forward.”  Scripture says nothing about “going forward” as a part of biblical salvation.

I don’t know anyone I would call a “hyper-repentance” person.   I have not seen hyper-repentance.  It’s a term, maybe invented by Straughan as a pejorative.  It’s not helpful.  Who is hyper-repentance?He says pro-Lordship are hyper repentance.  There are many no repentance or false repentance people.  I estimate that might represent 90% of professing Baptists today.

There is only Lordship salvation.  No Lordship, no salvation.  That isn’t hyper anything.  That is salvation.  To call “Lordship” hyper is evil.  Lordship salvation is

• not hyper repentance.
• not a pendulum swing.
• biblical salvation.
• not a quest.
• not accomplished by going forward.
• not a way of making sure not to practice Hyles type shallow evangelism.
• actual repentance.
• not based on a concern to see more decisions made by people going forward.
• not related to being a Calvinist.

Every facet of God’s Word relates to authority and with God at the Top.  Even in the model prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ references the height of God the Father, “which art in heaven.”  The Lord Jesus sets Himself under the Father, which also doesn’t in any way diminish Him.  Just the opposite, He is elevated by His submission.  God the Father gave the Son a name above every name, because He had made Himself of no reputation (Philippians 2:5-8).

The word “church” in the New Testament translates the Greek word ekklesia, which means “assembly” or “congregation,” how Tyndale translated it in his New Testament, which predates the King James Version.  He was right.  It means “congregation” or “assembly.”  “Congregate” and “assemble” are the same thing.

Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse (v. 17).
For first of all, when ye come together in the church (Tyndale: “when ye come togedder in the cogregacion”), I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it (v. 18).
When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper (v. 20).
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another (v. 33).

Is the Mormon Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible?  The Moslem Jesus?  The Roman Catholic Jesus?  The Jewish Jesus?  The Charismatic Jesus?  Is the evangelical Jesus the biblical one?

There is only one Jesus, the One in scripture.  However, the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:4,

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Someone may preach “another Jesus,” just like there are other “gods,” according Exodus 20:3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  John writes in 1 John 2:18,

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

Antichrists will exist, even as they have through history since actual Jesus Christ.  The doctrine of Christ relates to knowing and believing the right Jesus unto which John again writes in 2 John 1:9,

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Just because other Christs were invented in previous ages and in different occasions of time doesn’t mean that more of them will not still come.  The false Christ relates to the imagination unto which Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5,

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Someone can have a false Christ crafted in his own imagination.  A common apostasy is the creation of an idol.  The idol doesn’t need to be a physical one, but also can be a spiritual one in someone’s mind.  He invents a Christ in his mind and that Christ conforms to himself, just as communicated in the warning of Romans 1:21-23:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.

What are the characteristics of man to which he would turn his god or his Jesus?  He would turn God or Jesus into the image of his own lust.  He would create a Jesus, who not only tolerates his lust, but accepts false worship characterized by lust, which is against the nature of God or the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is “another Christ.”

The perversion of Jesus into another Jesus either adds or takes away from the true Jesus.  One commonality of a false Jesus is He might not completely save or cannot do so, requiring then good works to save in addition to what he has done.  Many Christian denominations or religions do this.  Peter, John, and Paul all three in their epistles deal with what I’m addressing here.  John has much in his three epistles and in every chapter.

Just as an example, in 1 John 2:9, John writes:

He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

The person John describes is either deceptive or deceived.  He says he’s in the light.  He either knows he’s not or he thinks he is and he doesn’t know that he isn’t.  Two verses later (v. 11), John says this person is deceived:

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

This person doesn’t even know that he isn’t walking in the light, because darkness has blinded his eyes.  He thinks he’s right and he’s not.  Many professing Christians think they are right for various reasons.  What I’ve noticed in many of the instances is that they compare themselves with other professing Christians.  They must be right, because they know other people who are like them or worse.

Is this above described hate just something arbitrary or ambiguous, just a feeling or impression?  Does he detest this person?  It’s not like that in verse 10:

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

John brings two characteristics.  The one who loves his brother abides in the light, that is, he abides in doctrinal and practical light.  He is believing and practicing according to scripture.    Second, he brings no occasion of stumbling.  He doesn’t want to cause a brother to stumble.  How does someone cause someone else to stumble?  This is not a synonym of not walking in the light.  Someone can cause someone to stumble, according to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 8, by abusing a Christian liberty.  Paul said that eating meat offered unto idols caused someone to stumble.  Jesus mentions this same cause of stumbling twice in Revelation 2-3 and forbids it both times.

If someone dishonors and disobeys his parents, he is not walking in the light.  By dishonoring and disobeying his parents, he could also be causing someone to stumble.  Those two can overlap.  Paul says that someone hates his brother by not walking in the light and then by causing someone to stumble.  This is how someone hates someone.

John says much more in his epistle, but many people are deceived into thinking that have a true Jesus when they don’t.  Their Jesus approves of those who don’t walk in the light and those who also cause others to stumble.  Jesus is the light of the world.  We walk in the light as Jesus is in the light.  God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

I see perpetual disobedience to the Word of Christ, to scripture, by professing Christians, and yet they think they are walking in the light.  They are walking in darkness.  This is why they have no problem with sensual, worldly, and fleshly worship.  It’s not even that their Jesus accepts it.  They aren’t thinking about whether He receives it, because they are thinking about what it does for themselves.  They are shaping their music according to their own lust, and they think it’s good because they like it.  Those singing it look and act like secular performers and their style is one that conforms to the world.  This is unacceptable to the Lord (Romans 12:1-2).

If a professing Christian as a practice engages in false worship, is that walking in the light?  Is that loving a brother?  Is that causing others to stumble?

The only thing worse than a false Jesus to those with a false Jesus is pointing out their false Jesus.  They love the Jesus they can conform to themselves, not the one in the Bible.

Scripture does not teach self love.  It teaches against self love.  If one trait characterizes apostasy (2 Tim 3:1-3), it is self love.  When Jesus came to earth, He emptied His self (Philippians 2).  At the root of the gospel is self-denial and yet self-love grows today rampant among even professing Christians.  I thought perhaps new psychological studies on contemporary narcissism might flatten the curve for self-love into the foreseeable future, but it’s making a comeback like a second wave of Covid-19 with an acceleration of the number of cases.

Jesus tells three parables in Luke 15, all of which reveal the love of God the Father for the lost, unlike the religious leaders in Israel.  He searches for them like a lost coin, first parable, lost sheep, second, and lost son, third.  That states the correct view of God the Father and, therefore, also the view of every true believer toward the lost.

A certain man had two sons.

Many fathers are genuinely surprised to discover their children hate them.  They worked hard to pay the bills, bought the essentials, provided gifts, and paid tuition, and yet, after all their effort and willing contributions, their young adult hates them.

Sooner or later, they will demand the freedom to be themselves. If they resent the restrictions you placed on them year after year—refusing to allow them to make their own decisions, pursue their interests, and have the power to reject the sports or school subjects they had no interest in but you insisted they pursue—don’t be surprised if they hate you.

When Jesus said, repeating Old Testament law (Ex 21:24), eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth (Matt 5:48), some might call that overdoing or extreme.  They mock scripture.  In fact, God was modifying the typical overreaction to personal wrong.  If someone takes an eye, you don’t get to take a head. The response must be just, equal.  Taking the head instead of the eye might be what you want to do when you look in the mirror and see with your remaining eye that the other one is gone.  This speaks of proportion that is built into the perfection of God’s law.

Some hate the law of God unless it benefits themselves.  They don’t want it as it applies to their keeping it.  It serves as their own Gumby® toy to twist into what they want God’s law to be.  Millennials don’t often walk about quoting with warm embrace, honor thy father and thy mother.  Many of them hate that law and refuse to keep it.

Proportion is a scriptural principle.  God’s law brings proportion.  With proportion, what’s important, what’s of greatest value, is what gets the most accolades, mentions, time, energy, and love.  Giving in the Bible is proportional.  God wants the firstfruits, the first ten percent, of what we earn.

A reason that God does not want to be represented by images, either drawn, painted, or sculpted, is their lack of proportion to His majesty.  God can’t be contained in human devices.  God is greater than any of these things, so He designates the only means of revealing Himself:  Jesus Christ Himself in the flesh, symbols His has ordained like the Old Testament system of worship, and the Word of God.

99% plus of social media elevates the superficial to important and what or who is the greatest in value to almost nothing.  It is the worst kind of lie, as it fools people in a more effective manner than someone just saying that God or His Word are insignificant.  In the latter, at least God gets a mention.

The Lord Jesus communicates proportion in Matthew 12:41-42:

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.  The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

There is Jonah, Solomon, and then Jesus.  Nineveh repents at Jonah’s preaching.  The queen of Sheba repents at Solomon’s preaching.  First century Jews in Israel reject the greater, Jesus.  The judgment is proportional to the greatness of the Spokesman and His Message.

When someone talks about himself, herself, entertainment, television, sports, a house, a car, hobbies, music, recreation, trips, or just jokes with rare to no mention of Jesus Christ, that isn’t someone who loves Jesus Christ.  Proportion communicates this reality, loud and clear.  The Lord Jesus brings this truth in His warning to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:17, 19:

Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? . . . . Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

The gold and the animal brought to the temple and altar became greater than the temple and altar itself.  The temporal worldly things take on an unproportional significance in relations to God.  Proportion says the church is no longer about worship of God, but about self-help, about good feelings, about success, and about looking good and fitting into the world.  Proportion communicates through the sheer number of mentions, enthusiasm, excitement, and superlatives for what is meaningless, banal, and even profane in comparison to the paucity, near silence, and dullness of expression for the greatness, goodness, wonder, beauty of the holiness of God.

To expose missing or lack of right proportion, sometimes extreme forms of exposure of this wrong are required.  Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal for them to see that there was nothing beautiful or reverent about the religion of Baal.  When a friend or loved one loves something that is not lovely, sometimes the most helpful thing to do for him or her is to expose his or her beloved or revered thing to ridicule. God does this to and for Israel in Isaiah 44:9-20 (click to read).

The psalmist writes in Psalm 48:1:

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Movements even by definition have what we might call a “shelf life.”  Movements come and go.  The church isn’t a movement.  The question then remains, were the underlying principles of the movement true or right?  Fundamentalism started as a response to and stand against pervading institutional liberalism.  The attack on scripture and its authority first met by biblical defense led to a necessary practice of separation.  Thus began regular controversies over the grounds of separation.  Sermons were preached, conferences were held, new associations were organized, and books were written that attempted to draw lines and set boundaries for the protection and the propagation of the truth.  The ones constituted by fundamentalism were not scriptural.  They chose arbitrary lines that constantly shifted one way or another, so that when someone did separate, it often seemed just political.

Audio 2014 Session at Word of Truth Conference, Love Versus Sentimentalism


Earlier Posts One and Two


“Childish” is an adjective.  It’s not usually applied to children, but adults.  What is it when an adult is childish?  It’s when the adult is selfish.  The adult is behaving in a selfish manner.  He’s being self-centered, self-interested, or self-obsessed.  On the other hand, when someone behaves in a mature manner, being unselfish is most characteristic of that person.  He’s not focused on his own needs, but on the needs of others.  A mature person puts others ahead of himself, or even better, God ahead of himself.

As a child matures, he becomes more loving.  A common word in the nursery is “mine” and children fighting or crying over not getting their way.   Discipline, as seen in Proverbs, is required to drive selfishness or self-will out of a child.  If a child is coddled and given too much, he won’t mature as he ought, and so he’ll still be living for himself, deciding for himself, and talking about himself.  When he doesn’t get his way, he’ll still be complaining, whining, pouting, or becoming angry in some fashion over himself.  Selfish anger is sinful anger.  It’s seen in childish adults, who want their way, but are either not getting their way or their own way isn’t being accepted.

Selfish children and adults don’t recognize or acknowledge when something good is done for them.  They mainly focus on what they don’t get or what they didn’t get.  They aren’t talking about how they can help other people or how thankful they are for what others have done for them, but about what they want, what they’re going to do for themselves, how someone didn’t treat them like they wanted, or blaming their own problems or sin on others.

Children don’t love their parents.  They can’t love.  They are too immature to love their parents.  1 John 4:16 says,

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Until God dwells in them, love doesn’t dwell in them.  Parents, who have God dwelling in them, love their children.  How do they love their children?  John writes in 1 John 5:2,

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

[M]any children in particular communities were made to believe that Jesus’ love, or just love in general, comes at the cost of having to earn an ever elusive reception or acceptance of their abusers. The beauty of Christianity is that someone can’t earn Jesus’ love — it’s unconditional.