No, it's not a personal thing against the president of Moody Bible Institute. I put the president's picture here only because I was given a reminder today as I caught the last few minutes of "Proclaim" this morning.He's doing a series on "God Proved His Love". Today was part 3. And while I only caught the last few minutes of the program, it demonstrated that nothing has really changed at Moody. After all, they publish the "Ryrie Study Bible". Charles Ryrie would argue against repentance being critical for saving faith.
What did I hear? The same thing you'll hear if you follow this link for the broadcast. At the point I turned my car radio on (which is unusual for me to do since it is 'dying' anyway...I have to crank it up all the way to hear anything and even then it may not be anything but static), I heard Dr. Michael Easley interviewing a person from "1-888-NeedHim". And I heard the same old thing that I expected to hear from them...having heard it from them myself, first hand a number of years ago.
While I would argue that the "needhim" ministry can be used of God to see actual converts, it was alarming to hear the person being interviewed describe how the ministry handles calls regarding "walking an isle, signing a card or going forward". What they do is ask a lot of questions and then tell the person "what happened when they did what they did". That, of course assumes that their conversion was genuine.
No, I don't think you can do that, sir. Not unless you could see an actual transaction taking place when the person signed a card, walked the isle or any other outward act made by 98% of those who do such things then fall away. Judas "walked with the Lord" for three years and died unconverted...and none of the other disciples knew he was the traitor of which Jesus spoke. So much for being sure of someone else's conversion.
How do I know I'm not misinterpreting him? Because years ago I called them because I had questions about my salvation. I was really struggling. Their response to me was, basically, "of course you're saved, you prayed a prayer didn't you?" Then they gave me a number to call for counseling since they were so sure of the reality of my conversion.
Excuse me but if I'm saved because of something I did, isn't that salvation by works? Isn't this "Salvation by saying a prayer" merely saying "God, you have to save me because I prayed a prayer"? For years I was a false convert, and that was my assumption. Little did I know at that time how utterly lost I was.
That, my friends, is scary stuff. It is not our ministry, nor is it the ministry of any human being to grant assurance of salvation to anyone. That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Whom alone knows the reality of anyone's profession of faith and related conversion. All we, as human beings, can do is look at the fruit in another Christian's life...something you can't do over the phone at all.
As you listen to Dr. Easley during this broadcast listen for the word "repentance". Oh, you'll hear "believe" and "trust" but you don't hear the word "repent" or any form of it at all. And that is half a gospel.
Again, this is not a personal assault aganst Dr. Easley. But I post this as an illustration as to how the "half gospel" has so overtaken Christendom.
While Dr. Easley did a good job of Biblically showing that we are sinners and Jesus died for sinners, He totally left out any mention of repentance. And that is the missing key.
I think a good subtitle for this would be "How to Sow Tares in the Church".
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