When the Scriptures speak of denying self, losing ones life, taking up the cross, forsaking all, and following Christ, such as found in the four Gospels preached by Christ, notably: Matt. 10:32-39; 16:24-26; Mk. 8:34-38; 10:21; Lk. 9:23-26, 57-62; 14:25-15:32; Jn. 12:24-25, the subject is indisputably a call to salvation (read also here). The call to discipleship is a call to salvation. They are one and the same. When Christ preached to the lost multitudes and professing believers/disciples that followed Him, He was always preaching His Gospel (the first four Books are rightly called The Gospels for a reason). That includes the above passages. He wasn’t teaching lost people how to be better Christians. He was teaching them how to become Christian.
The False Gospel Call for "Christians" to Become Disciples
Though these passages listed above are easy to be interpreted, self-explanatory we could say, they are frequently perverted amongst Evangelicals, Protestants, Catholics and even Baptists (most in fact today), and others. For instance, in a sermon preached in April of 2022, Abe Klassen (a missionary to the Indian people for the Evangelical Bergthaler Mennonite Conference [EBMC] denomination in Alberta) consistently confused and twisted what the passages in Matt 8:18-22; 19:16-30 and Lk 14:25-33 are teaching, preaching to the professing Christian audience before him that they need to make greater commitment and surrender to Christ, because Christ has called them to discipleship. This is the scripted and parroted call by evangelicals, protestants and Baptists everywhere, completely missing the boat on what Christ is preaching on these passages and what the real issue is as to why people are so stagnant, non-spiritual, ignorant to truth, disobedient, worldly, non-committed, etc, in their ranks.
In his sermon, Klassen covered a number of salvation passages, in the following order: Matt 19:16-30 and Matt 8:18-22 and Lk 14:25-33 but he didn’t preach the truth of what they mean. He corrupted and perverted their meaning by assigning them to a people that he sees as being saved Christians, persons that profess Christ but maybe aren't living up to the standard of a disciple of Christ. Concerning Lk 14:25-33, he claimed that this is Christans giving up things in their life and giving them over to the Lord to be used for His glory, such as a phone, TV, computer. But this is not what Lk 14:25-33 is teaching. The passage is all about salvation, about what it means to repent and believe, click that link or read more further below within the article The Call to Discipleship is a Call to Salvation. His main text was Matt 28:18-20, which he correctly taught as the gospel call, but then twisted the "teaching them to observe all things" in v. 20 as the call to make believers into disciples. This is the false gospel of Keswick/ Higher Life/ Deeper Life heresy, that typically takes the place of the true gospel in evangelical (and many Baptist) churches. I digress momentarily. Keswick doctrine divorces justification completely from discipleship and sanctification (i.e., allegedly not every Christian is a disciple, not everyone is "abiding" in Christ — only some Christians are disciples, only some are abiding in Christ, which is those that have had the “crisis” or “surrendered” or "committed" or “second blessing” moment) which creates a two-tiered Christianity that exists absolutely NOWHERE in Scripture. Keswick theology largely minimizes and corrupts the new birth and makes the view of sanctification everything (i.e. making Christ Lord of your life, rededication, recommitted, and finally deciding to become Christ’s disciple — while these things actually occur for salvation), due to a foundation that is faulty.
In Matt 28 the word "teach" in v. 19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations," which is the clarion call and commission to preach the gospel to the unsaved, is translated actually from the exact same word as "disciple" ("matheteuo"), used in the sense here to go and preach the gospel and make disciples by having people come to repentance (Lk 24:47) and faith (Mk 16:15-16), and thus receive the remission of sins (Lk 24:47; Mk 16:16; Jn 20:23), after which the believers/ disciples should be baptized (v. 19; Mk 16:16). The response to the preaching of the gospel is people becoming disciples by the new birth (Ac 14:21), for one is discipled or taught “unto the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 13:52) by the “foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor 1:21). Its also noteworthy that the word "teaching" in v. 20 (i.e. "teaching them to observe all things," which takes place after conversion and baptism), is a different Greek word than "teach" or disciple unto salvation (v. 19), and that is the word "didasko," which means to teach or hold discourse with people to instruct them like a teacher. "Matheteuo" carries the meaning of actually making the disciple while "didasko" is teaching the made disciple. The obvious truth that is being purveyed here is that the new birth makes disciples (v. 19a), and all truly born again believers are disciples that continue in God's Word (vv. 19b, 20).
In the sermon Klassen makes a hypothetical comparison between a man and his list that he wanted to do for God (while unsaved, though Klassen did not say that, but it was obvious according to how he was being described) with that of the rich young ruler in Matt 19 (who apparently also had a list according to Klassen, but Klassen completely missed the point that the law is our school master to bring us to Christ, Gal 3:24), which is both rubbish and unbiblical, and completely corrupts the meaning of this scripture. The rich young ruler didn’t have a list, but had other issues, which were his refusal to repent and submit to Jesus Christ as Lord. The account of “the rich young ruler” presents a huge problem for those who wish to hijack the salvation explanations of Jesus and twist them into something more convenient to superficial professions of faith, while absent of disciple-status. (click link to read more about The Religious Rich Young Ruler (Mt 19; Mk 10; Lk 18): The Standard of Christ’s Gospel Preaching).
At one point he says, “Jesus didn’t say, go and make converts, go and make believers. Jesus said, go therefore and make disciples.” Really. That is all He said? He didn't say anything about making converts or believers? Jesus did indeed say "teach them" or make disciples in Matt 28:19 but what did He also say in Mk 16:15 or Lk 24:47-48 or Mk 1:15? And what did the apostles do, like in Ac 3:19; 17:30; 20:21; 26:18, 20; etc? Yes we go out and make disciples but we do that with the gospel, by preaching salvation, by calling people to repent and believe the gospel (Mk 1:15; Ac 20:21) and be converted (Ac 3:19). So Klassen privately interprets Matt 28:19 completely detached from the rest of the Scripture, which is what 2 Pet 1:16-21 speaks of as a mark of a false teacher privately interpreting the Scriptures. Furthermore, what he says almost sounds as if he is referring to salvation. But he is not, when we consider the fact he is actually dividing or separating salvation words: converts, believers, and disciples, and furthermore, contextually, what he preached before and after, is not salvation, and then most importantly, how he handles the salvation passages in question here (Matt 19; 11; Lk 14) clearly implies that salvation is not his subject. There was a lot of confusion in this sermon, and ambiguous as to who is really being referred to. Even if Christ did only command this everywhere, in the absence of commands to make converts or believers, is Klassen actually doing that? Is EBMC actually doing that? I mean are they making true disciples by preaching the true gospel of repentance and faith and surrender to Christ so that the lost can be saved and be His disciple and follow Him? I know of no door to door evangelism like the apostles did (Ac 20:20-21) or going out and preaching the gospel on a weekly basis to the community and surrounding communities, which is to be the heartbeat of every true local church (Matt 28:19-20; Mk 16:15: Lk 24:44-48; Ac 1:8; 2 Cor 5:17-6:2). Evangelism is practically non existent in these churches, including by their "missionaries." A biblical missionary however is an evangelist, and his main job is to preach the gospel and contend/fight for the faith, just like Paul the apostle exemplified and his writings, the inspired words of God, commanded. They also aren't obeying the command because making disciples comes after salvation apparently, so you can have "believers" that aren't disciples.
That was followed by the question “what’s the difference between a disciple and a believer,” but he never actually answered the question clearly, and definitely not from Scripture and instead brought greater Biblical confusion than which already existed at that point. He gives an account of a guy that allegedly believed the gospel and everything that Klassen had told him, so “he was a believer, but ‘its not for me.’ He believed it but refused it at the same time.” No he didn't actually believe it, though he gave lip service to it, but was a false and deceptive “believer,” which the Bible talks about (e.g. Jn 2:23-35; 6:60-66; Ac 8:13-24; 1 Jn 2:19; etc), and had he been a true believer, he would’ve also been a disciple of Christ. "The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. . . . The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge." (Pr 14:15, 18). The audience he is preaching to is full of this type of individual, while continuing in their religious conforming ways, but never are they preached to pointedly like the Bible commands and demands.
In another part of the sermon he spoke about a person that had been close to salvation (example given out of a Charles Price book) and said, “We would like to think, just get him to say this prayer but being a disciple being a true follower of Jesus requires a little bit more than that. It requires actually following him.” There is some truth to that, yet he gives examples in his "Cross Cultural Ministries" course of people that did just that, prayed a prayer, and were considered saved people, even though there was no repentance, little to no true evidence and fruit of Biblical Christianity, and then things that occurred after clearly revealed that they were unsaved. But they are treated by Klassen as saved. Salvation, becoming a follower of Jesus Christ does require more than just some prayer; it requires true Biblical repentance and faith which is much more than just a "change of mind."
As Klassen goes through his sermon, he consistently mishandles salvation passages as something applied to practical sanctification, post-salvation. He would quote the passages and then speak about being Christs disciple, yet never indicating whether salvation was in mind or not, never making it clear who the intended audience was, even though the Bible makes a HUGE difference between passages referencing unsaved people (salvation passages) and saved people (practical sanctification), and the Bible being very clear as to who the intended audience is. There is no confusion with these differences in Scripture but there is plenty of confusion in sermons like this, where either the speaker does not know what he is speaking about (because he is unlearned or unsaved or both), or he is so deeply compromised, he won't speak the truth out of fear of man (which is probably still an unsaved person as well, though there is a possibility of regeneracy). In either case, its bad to be twisting and wresting the Scriptures and the Bible provides such a person with zero hope as to being saved, calling such a one out as "wicked" in 2 Pet 3:16-17. It was difficult to see where he was going with his preaching, at times almost appearing as if he was applying the passages to salvation (such as when he gave the quote from a book by Charles Price), but then mostly implying that saved people need to become disciples. It was unclear and confusion, which is normal in neo-evangelical land where people are kept in the dark with the vague, watered-down, compromised and eisegetical (God dishonouring) preaching, but overall the theme seemed to be Christians absent of discipleship. Also, instead of using Biblical language, he would say such things like "Jesus asks them to do life with Him." What does that even mean, since nothing of the sort is found in Scripture! But then as he headed towards the finish line, he makes a statement about a conversation he had with a friend, that removes all the smoke and mirrors and doubts as to who is central figure here, clarifying explicitly who he had in mind concerning these passages about becoming Christ's disciple, following Him, forsaking all, etc — Christians! Those that he would label as already saved people.
Klassen reflects back on a “seminar thing, a native friend had a booth there” which he attended, about a year and half before preaching this sermon. He recounts,
“My friend . . . made an interesting comment. We talked about unreached people groups and he said our native people, and him speaking as a native, are not an unreached native group, they are an un-discipled people group. Most of them have heard the gospel in some form many times but few have ever actually been discipled, that have actually been trained to walk with the Lord. That is a call that Jesus puts on us, not to just make people more believers, but to make disciples. To teach people wherever we are, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe, not just to see, but to observe and actually do, to live, to live out this faith, to observe all things I have commanded you. So what do we teach these new disciples? We have to teach them our cultural practices, our traditional values, we gotta make them like us, right? Teaching them to observe all things I commanded Jesus said, not the things you have commanded, but what I have commanded. . . . Another interesting thing is we are not teaching anyone to do anything new, we are only asking them to do what we ourselves are called to do. We are only teaching them to observe what God has commanded us to do.”
1. First of all, the confusion and contradiction to truth present here is mind-boggling but its totally normative in evangelical churches, including at EBMC. How can someone be discipled, if they are not true born again believers? How can they learn to walk with the Lord if they have never been saved? The friend, yet affirmed by Klassen, completely put the cart in front of the horse.
2. Secondly, obedience to the Word of God is an absolute massive evidence of salvation (read Num. 15:39-41; De. 12:32; 13:3-4; 26:16-19; I Sam. 15:22-23; 1 Ki. 8:23, 57-58, 61; Ps. 103:17-22; Matt. 7:20-21, 24-27; 12:47-50; Mk. 3:31-35; 4:21; Lk. 17:10; Jn. 7:16-18; 8:31-32, 51; 10:25-27; 14:15, 21-24; 15:10-14; 17:6; 2 Cor. 2:9; Eph. 2:10; Heb. 10:36; Jam. 1:22-25; 2:14-26; Jam. 5:7-11; 1 Jn. 2:3-6, 15-17; 3:22-24; 5:1-3; 2 Jn. 1:5-6; Rev. 22:14-15), so those who do not "walk with the Lord" and do not "live out this faith" and do not "observe all things I have commanded you" are very simply unsaved. That means they are false professors, like the Bible warns of many, many times. Just taking one passage out of all the above, and there's even more, proves this to be the case:
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." (1 Jn 2:3-5)
Salvation always produces substance. Evidence (Heb 11:1). It’s undeniable. It starts at salvation (Col 1:4-6). The new birth is as dramatic as the birth of a baby. Salvation is described as the wind (Jn. 3:8): invisible to the naked eye (because it’s internal) yet full of evidence (external). Faith is proven by good works (Jam. 2:18) by obedience to God’s Word (1 Jn. 2:3-5; Jn. 14:15-24). The faith that is void of good godly works in line with Scripture, is faith that is dead (corpse-like) and propagated by vain (empty of the Spirit, dead) men (Jam. 2:20). To read more on this subject of salvation evidence, see Evidence of Salvation in John's Epistle's.
3. Thirdly, this is where the heresy hits a new gear. Klassen says, "That is a call that Jesus puts on us, not to just make people more believers, but to make disciples." Believers and disciples however are the exact same people in the Bible, if they are truly saved. You could even use the terms interchangeably, like Scripture does. You can have false believers (e.g. Jn 2:23-25; Ac 8:13-24; etc) and false disciples (e.g. Jn 6:60-66; 1 Jn 2:19; 3 Jn 1:9-11; Judas, Balaam; etc) but you CANNOT have true believers that aren't disciples. Every true born again believer is a disciple of Christ, and it comes with salvation: e.g. Ac 11:26; Mk. 6:1; Matt 8:23; Lk 14:25–15:32; 22:39; Matt 10:42; 28:19; Jn 8:31-35; 13:33; 14:1; 18:15; 21:20. The call to discipleship is a call to salvation and the call to salvation is a call to discipleship, as noted in the NT (see Matt 10:32-39; 16:24-28; 28:19; Lk 9:57-62; 14:25-35; 18:21-30; 19:1-10; Mk 1:14-20; 2:14, 17; 8:34-38; Jn 12:24-25; etc), and in the OT (e.g. Jos 22:15; 24:14-15, 18-21; 1 Sam 12:20-25; 2 Ch 30:8) — yet not every disciple is a born again believer. That is what the Bible teaches everywhere, consistently, which will be proven even further, further below. Those that aren't disciples, i.e. following Christ in obedience and glorifying Him (cf. Jn 14:15-24; 1 Jn 2:3-5; Eccl 12:13), are not true believers at all. They have never been saved and that is their issue. But sadly, this truth is grossly perverted and neglected today, in these last days of apostasy, including here.
4. Fourthly, in this statement, and sermon overall, we see how the process goes of making religious false professors — in a nutshell. It proves my point over and over, that “evangelical” denominations like EBMC are loaded with false religious professors, where salvation is not enough because they do not know salvation. They have to add to salvation and change it, because they do not know it. They try to replicate the things that actually occur at salvation at some point after what they would deem their profession of faith. That is why Keswick theology is so popular today, even though many don't even know the label for it.
This is where the rubber hits the road, revealing exactly what he means in his sermon about what it means to be a disciple of Christ, to be a follower of Christ, something that is allegedly absent in many believers. It does flow with the rest which is vague on some points as to who he is referring to (saved or unsaved); so this clears up any confusion there was to be had. It also reveals precisely why there is so much heresy, false teachings, false professions, amongst “evangelicals,” with majority in their churches being unconverted nominal “Christians,” hence why sermons like this get preached. But sermons of this nature only compound the problem and enhance the damage, making many twofold children of hell in the process, and full fledged hypocrites (Matt 23).
Matt 19:17-30; 8:19-22; Lk 14:25-33 are all in the context of what is required to get into the kingdom, to have eternal life, according to God the Son. It reflects both repentance and faith. To turn these accounts into ‘discipleship” or “dedication” for Christian's is to rip them from their context, to confuse what is required for salvation. It essentially perverts the gospel, diminishing saving faith to the intellect. That is a clear implication of these passages. People wish to keep their lives for themselves, and be saved in essence by a less than scriptural Jesus and less than scriptural faith. Lots of people want Jesus as Saviour. The ruler wanted eternal life from Jesus, but he didn’t want Him as Boss. This is the apostate of 2 Pet 2:1 who denies the Lord who bought him. He "believes" in Jesus but won't surrender to Him and truly be His disciple, which is salvation. People that "believe" but aren't disciples or living like Christ' disciples, want to keep their lives for themselves, and the underlying problem is a refusal to repent and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord. It's a refusal to be genuinely converted, like those in 2 Pet 2:17-22 and Ju 1:4 and many other places. They don't want to actually do what Christs says, to obey all His words, and that is also evident in how they live, or the way they dress, or the music they listen to, or refusal to be judged and reproved over their sin and error, or the absence of discernment, and in many other ways. They aren't actually willing to trade a temporal worthless life out of faith for eternal life in glory, though they make that profession, attend church, appear even pious. They don't have genuine faith, a legitimate Biblical profession, thus they refuse to give their bodies a living sacrifice as the Bible calls for (Rom 12:1) and refuse to completely turn from the world (Rom 12:2), evident by their love of ungodly worldly music like CCM and country music and other even worse stuff, so they don't know Gods will (and that is why no evangelism takes place for instance), and hence are representive of the dead faith of the stony soil scorched by the sun. They have no root. Jesus tests their professions which don't sustain the test of His commands. If they really did believe in Christ, they would've given up their lives and their stuff and sin, they would be disciples of Christ obeying His every word, even as Abraham obeyed Gods Word and could offer up Isaac by faith. Unsaved professing "Christian's," hypocrites, inevitably fail Gods test.
5. Fifthly, the gospel the Indian people have been exposed to for the most part has been heretical since discipleship and salvation are habitually separated by missionaries like this, self-evident according to the conversation between him and his friend. They have also heard the false gospel of Catholicism and Neo-evangelicalism, which is easy believism (see also here) and quick prayerism. They have for the most part in our modern times, not heard the one true gospel that is preached by Christ in the Bible and presented throughout the Bible. There is a great contrast between contemporary so-called missionaries, and the pillars of yesteryears who were missionaries to the Indian people, such as David Brainerd and Egerston Ryerson Young.
6. Sixthly, and lastly, sometimes cultural practices, traditional values are Biblical, so we do teach them those things, as we "teach them to observe all things whatsoever [Christ] have commanded you." (Matt 28:19). Right. It makes civilians out of savages. And hypocritically he says, almost in a condescending type of attitude towards colonialism and white mans conquering of the nation, "we gotta make them like us, right" (also a piece from the "Cross Cultural Ministries" course he taught at EBMC) even though in the same breath he says, "Another interesting thing is we are not teaching anyone to do anything new, we are only asking them to do what we ourselves are called to do." Yes that is hypocritical. If we are teaching them to do what we are doing, then we are making them like us... right? Me thinks so. His comments about cultural practices, traditional values, making them to be like us, actually has a background. It didn't just pop out of thin air, or from some form of opposition to a works-based gospel. It is the product of the heresy that he has adopted into his missionary work, i.e., “Cross cultural Ministries,” which is actually a heretical, woke, false gospel course he taught at EBMC that advances Indian, and other pagan victimology and teaches a false and corrupted gospel (Gal 1:6-9; 2 Cor 11:4). That is its basis, and its woke. And woke is just another way of saying "worldly or unruly evil." No, true missionaries of God did not cross land and sea out of motivation to make people like them, to force people to adopt their cultural and traditional values, but rather to preach the truth to them so they could be saved and civilized, since many of them were savages, including the North American Indians. Maybe Roman Catholics forced people to conform to their desires, but true missionaries never forced anyone. Nevertheless, is having a pagan, savage, become civilized and sober minded and godly, righteous and holy (like the demonic of the gadarenes), which then would conform him to the Judaeo-Christian culture, wrong? Absolutely not. I think the big issue is this; Indians and others wanting to keep their ungodly culture but also having Jesus to, and then missionaries come along who purpose to give them their desires. That also fits into the paradigm of being Christian's or believers, without being true disciples of Christ.
Additionally, in the "Cross Cultural Ministries" course, Klassen promoted a terribly unBiblical and heretical book called "The 3D Gospel," a book which actually played an important part in the course. Here is a brief exposé of this book, which will be followed in the future with a more detailed one here. The 3D Gospel...
Teaches a false and perverted gospel of easy believism and quick prayerism and continually gives positive assurance to false professions;
Teaches contemplative mysticism (surprise, surprise, considering its author, Jayson Georges, is a graduate from the extremely heretical and apostate, contemplative mystic school of Talbot);
Teaches mythology derived from seeker sensitive and emerging church gurus but not the Word of God and in fact works actively against the authority and sufficiency of Scripture;
Is thoroughly pragmatic in methodology which is unscriptural and heretical, indicative in the very structure of the book which is: cultural observations yield theological conclusions, which then determines practice;
Seeks to primarily influence western-based Christians on how to contextualize the gospel, so that it is great news to all cultures, since these peoples apparently have “put God in a box” —in others words, they have bound God by His Word—because they have taught only fragmented pieces of the gospel and not a "complete salvation" that allegedly changes according to the culture;
Teaches that culture essentially determines the content of the gospel, or at least what people are capable of understanding about the gospel;
Completely diminishes and undermines the seriousness and evilness of sin in his version of the "gospel," which then diminishes Christ’s work as well;
Repeatedly corrupts scripture by proof texting God's Word, pulling texts out of their canonical context, privately interpreting these passages (2 Pet 1:16-21) which allows him to make each text refract his sociological presuppositions, and makes it appear the Bible says things that it actually doesn't;
The utter heretic Georges seeks to change the gospel to fit cultures so that world cultures will engage the gospel “through meaningful forms,” i.e. making it more palatable to unbelieving people, all of which works completely against the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.
Et cetra.
The "3D Gospel" is a “another gospel,” which is not “another” but a “pervert[ed] . . . gospel of Christ” which reaps Gods curse (Gal 1:6-9). Everything that is wrong with evangelicalisms false gospel and man-centred pragmatism could be summarized with this book, and is presented in the book in a positive light, on how to do the gospel, yet it is accepted by Klassen and EBMC as good Christian fodder. Unbelievable. Where is the discernment?! It is simply heresy and apostasy and it can only produce false “believers,” which is exactly what we see on every hand in evangelicalism today, also evident in their lack of discernment concerning error, heresy and apostasy (cf. 1 Cor 2:15-16; Ac 17:11; 1 Th 5:21-22; 1 Jn 4:1; 2 Tim 4:1-4), like the book 3D Gospel.
Much of what was taught by Klassen in this sermon, has similar connotations and nuances with the 3D Gospel, including the pragmatism, besides the contemplative stuff. If Klassen was trying to preach the gospel to a people (his audience) that he fears might be unsaved, this is NOT how you do it. The Bible speaks of plainness and boldness, which comes with being filled or controlled by the indwelling Spirit of God, and to make it clear what is being preached, and not confusing Scripture and doctrine, and not corrupting the gospel and scripture in the process, which is a major reason for the many false professions and apostasy today.
On one final note here concerning this sermon, a serious error was noted towards the start worth mentioning, where he stated that Jesus was not God while on earth. That God the Son gave up His authority and position as God while on earth, which was stated in his exposition of Matt 28:18,
“Let’s unpack this a bit. All authority is been given to me. Jesus, for a time had kinda given up His authority. He gave up His position as God, and He took on the form of a human being and came to this earth as a little baby. But now that authority has been given back to Him,” after which he quoted Phil 2:9-11.
NO, Jesus did not give up His position or authority as God while on earth. Absolutely nowhere does the Bible ever say that, but rather contradicts it. This is unequivocal heresy to be sure and it has a name. It is the heretical doctrine of Kenoticism, and in a few sentences from now you will see where this word comes from, albeit twisted from its meaning. Kenoticism, also known as kenotic theology or kenotic Christology, is an unbiblical view of Christ’s nature. Kenoticism is an attempt to redefine the nature of Christ. Interestingly, it is only the divine nature of Christ that kenoticism calls into question, not His human nature. Kenoticism teaches that the divinity of the Son of God was somehow lost or lessened when the Lord took on human flesh and entered our world.
God the Son NEVER ceased to be God while on earth. Many proofs of that in Scripture. If He had ceased being God, the Devil would have left Him to Himself, since He wouldn't have had the divine power to influence humanity. He didn't though, as we see in Matt 4, and his demons were repeatedly submitting themselves to Christ, not in submission to His humanity but to His Lordship. Jesus's ongoing authority was also revealed by His power to forgive sins. If He had ceased being God, He wouldn't have been able to forgive sins. In Jn 3:13 we see that His office of God was still very much active: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” He is speaking of Himself, saying that He came down from heaven, yet is still in heaven at the same time. How? Because He is God, and God resides in Heaven, and is omnipresent. That is one of His attributes.
Let's consider God’s attribute of omniscience. God knows everything. Many times Jesus showed omniscience in His earthly time. He could read people’s minds He knew what they’re thinking in a supernatural way (Matt 9:4; 12:25; Mk 2:8; Lk 11:17; Jn 13:5). Jesus told the woman at the well things that He could not have known about her unless He was God (Jn 4). At the same time, in the Olivet Discourse Jesus said in Mk 13:32, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Jesus didn’t know this. Only the Father knew it. This is an example of Jesus limiting the free exercise of His attributes. There were other ways that He did, but you get the point.
If Jesus divested Himself of all His divine attributes, as Klassen teaches, and as Kenoticism teaches, then we have some serious theological problems. First, emptying Himself of any part of His divinity would render Jesus less than fully divine. If He had temporarily laid aside His omniscience, omnipotence, etc, He would have ceased being the divine Son of God, since being Son of God made Him God (Jn 10:32-36). But God cannot stop being God, even for a moment. Another significant problem with the false Kenoticism Christology involves the eternal destiny of all who follow Christ. No mere human being can fulfill the role of Saviour. If Jesus were not the infinite second Person of the Triune God, His sacrifice would be insufficient. If Christ were not divine, if He had given up His divinity at any point in time, the efficacy of His sacrifice on the cross would be nullified. To be the Saviour, Jesus was at every moment both fully God and fully man.
Phil 2:6-7 are some of the best passages where we see His complete humanity (100% man) coming together with His complete Deity (100% God), often called the hypostatic union. Phil 2:6 reads, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:" While He certainly did not cease being God, as this passage is clear, He did humble Himself into the form of a servant in the likeness of man, as the very next passage tells us: "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:" (Phil 2:7). In becoming man, Jesus did not give up His attributes of power or authority as God (Phil 2:6) but rather gave up the free exercise of these attributes (Phil 2:7). The words “made himself of no reputation” translate two Greek words, "eautou kenoo," the second of which translates into the four words, “made of no reputation.” "Kenoo" is the basis for a doctrine called, “kenosis.” The two words, "eautou kenoo," mean literally, “he emptied himself.” Of what did Jesus empty Himself? The doctrine of kenosis (not Kenoticism) says that when Jesus became man, He was still completely 100% God, but He emptied Himself of the free exercise of His attributes. This is saying that He had all these attributes. He kept all of them. He just did not exercise these divine attributes freely. This was an aspect of His condescension and humiliation, which is taught in Phil 2:3-10.
The Biblical truth is that Jesus Christ fully possessed both a Divine nature and a human nature, and the two natures co-existed, a hypostatic union. Jesus’ two natures, human and Divine, are inseparable. The purpose of God necessitated the incarnation. Jesus must become man, while remaining fully God. He would not fulfill the Davidic covenant without a human lineage. Jesus rose from the dead with Divine power, but He was dead because He was human. As a human He could pay sin’s price for humans and yet rise again as God. Still a tension exists. Jesus said in Lk 22:42, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” Wait a second. Wasn’t the will of the Father and the will of the Son exactly the same? They had the same will, right? This is where we understand something further in the doctrine of kenosis. As a human being, Jesus must submit His will, His human will, to the will of the Father. As a human being, Jesus must learn obedience. That might sound impossible, but a verse teaches this. Heb 5:8 says, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." Did Jesus need to learn anything? Yes. He didn’t need to learn obedience as God. He and the Father forever had the same will. His subservience to the Father’s will, His submission to the Father’s will, was an aspect of His humanity. Like other human beings, He learned that. This was again part of His emptying Himself of the free exercise of His attributes.
The doctrine of kenosis is what the Bible teaches, while the doctrine of kenoticism, what Klassen teaches, is heresy. Kenoticism produces a lot of confusion in Scripture, false doctrine and apostasy, while kenosis harmonizes perfectly with all of Scripture and exalts God the Son.
In conclusion, the "not-necessary-a-disciple" gospel is not the only false gospel being preached at EBMC. There is also the "you can lose your salvation" works gospel, and the "ask Jesus unto your heart" false gospel, and the "repentant-less" and "non-Lordship" (they typically go hand in hand) false gospel, and other elements of a false gospel. What you are left with is a building full of 'yes' tithers who are fully fledged hypocrites (Matt 23). We see this sort of destruction on every hand today, so many families falling apart, men and women living in sin, in worldliness (which is also sin), yet having some flimsy profession of faith that garnered them church membership. They are unsaved hypocrites treated as Christians who just haven't been discipled to walk with the Lord. Man-centred, pragmatic, nauseating false doctrine and heresy produces hypocrites and that is exactly what we see at EBMC. And it's just getting worse.
The sermon itself illustrated serious confusion over Biblical discipleship and whether it's even necessary for conversion, corrupting some of the many scripture passages where Christ is preaching His gospel/salvation as a call to be His disciple, to follow Him, to take up the cross — into something post-salvation, into something where professing Christians (nominal) need further commitment or surrender, rather than self-examination as to whether they're even saved to begin with (cf. 2 Cor 13:5; 2 Pet 1:10). Nothing bothers me more than wrong teachings about salvation, much of which are found in professing evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Nothing matters more to an individual than whether he’s ready for eternity or not. Being deceived about this is the most damning thing that could happen to a person, far worse than even genocidal murder on a scale of bad. It is unsurprising that so few people are genuinely converted in these environments when the gospel is being perverted (Gal 1:6-9). The preacher tries to make it easy and doesn't teach what the Scriptures actually say, obfuscating the truth of the gospel, while Christ made it about as difficult as possible (e.g. Mk 10:17-31; Lk 13:23-24), but clear as possible.
Scripture has only one meaning. There may be more than one application, but never more than one interpretation or meaning. Scripture is plain and perspicuous (meaning clearly expressed and understood—Pr 8:8-9), and all its words are important since we’re to live by its every word (Matt 4:4). The doctrine of perspicuity is about absolute truth, and it, like all scriptural doctrine, is under great attack.
Ps 119:160 tells us,
“Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
Jn 8:31-32,
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Jesus prayed to the Father for believers, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (Jn 17:17). He is asking that believers in Him be set apart by truth, which is His Word. What’s being established by these verses and many, many more that could be provided is this: The Word of God is truth. It is absolute truth. All things that are consistent with the Word of God are true. Anything that is contradictory to the Word of God is false. It’s a lie. This is the basis for discerning truth from error. A born again believer needs only to search the Scriptures to know whether or not a teaching is true. We’re told to look to the Word of God (Ac 17:11), and if what’s being put forth by teachers regarding a doctrine or practice is not according to Scripture, “it is because there is no light in them” (Is 8:20). They are false teachers and their words are not true.
And that is what we see with this false teaching of true believers not being disciples, even though the Scriptural call to discipleship is a call to salvation. It is false because it completely contradicts the truth of scripture, which I will now further prove below.
The Call to Discipleship is a Call to Salvation
Gods Word is not teaching that discipleship (e.g. Mk 8:34-38; 10:17-31; 19:17-30; Lk 9:23-26, 57-62; 14:15-15:32) begins after salvation, but that the call to discipleship, to follow Christ, is a call to salvation. Even just a cursory analysis of these passages makes that crystal clear.
The True Gospel Call for False "Christians" to Become Disciples of Christ Through Conversion, the new Birth
A careful, and diligent study of these passages, interpreting them exegetically and in their context and grammatical sense and then comparing them with other similar Scripture (such as the rich young ruler and testimonies of salvation in scripture), reveals very clearly and plainly, perspiciously plain, that these passages refer to salvation and not something post-salvation. Our appeal must always be to the Word of God alone for it stands on its own as our authority for all faith and practice.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15).
The following is a brief exposition on these passages, using Mark 8:34-38 as the basis.
Mark 8:34-38:
“And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
1. The text in Mark teaches that one who does not become a disciple of Christ (a follower of Christ) will be eternally damned. In v. 34, denial of self and taking up the cross is a representation of the sinner coming to the point of saving repentance, with a resultant lifestyle of continued following of Christ. In this verse, the Lord addresses “the people . . . with his disciples also.” Jesus is teaching the unconverted multitudes, “the people,” because vv. 34-38 was a call for them to repent and receive salvation, not how lost people can be better Christians. He also addressed His professing disciples because not every disciple is a true believer (e.g. Judas, the “many of His disciples” in Jn 6:60-66, later on Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8, etc).
2. Christ’s call to sinners to “follow me” (v. 34) was a call to salvation, since the Lord’s “disciples follow him” (Mk 6:1; Matt 8:23; Lk 22:39; Jn 18:15; 21:20). Matthew the apostle was converted in this manner (Lk 5:27-28), as were the two sets of brothers (Mk 1:15-20; Lk 5:1-11) — according to the apostles themselves: Mk 10:26; Matt 19:27; Lk 18:28, and confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ: Mk 10:27-31; Matt 19:28-30; Lk 18:29-30.
3. One who was bearing a cross in the land of Israel in Christ’s day was on his way to the shameful and extremely painful death of crucifixion (Jn. 19:17) — repentant faith in Christ involves losing one’s life, that is, turning from our own way of living and sinful ways, from exaltation of self and comfort, to surrender to Christ as unconditional Lord (Mk. 8:35). It’s an exchange of masters (Matt 6:24).
4. The person who wishes to continue to live his own way and life, to “save his life,” will eternally lose “both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28, 39), while one who turns from his own way, denying himself, taking up the cross, and losing his life for the sake of Christ and the gospel, will save his life or soul (same Greek word “pseuche”) by receiving eternal life. “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (Jn 12:25).
5. To encourage the lost to give up their own way and surrender to Christ’s Lordship for salvation, Christ reminds them it profits them nothing if they gain the whole world, but lose their souls (Mk 8:36-37).
6. Those who, rather than being ashamed of their sins (Rom. 6:21; cf. Rom. 1:16; 2 Tim. 1:8, 12, 16) are ashamed to follow Christ and His Words in this evil and adulterous world will have Christ be ashamed of them at His return and thus be eternally damned—for Christ is “not ashamed to call [true believers] brethren” (Heb 2:11), and “God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:16; Lk. 9:26). No text in Scripture indicates that God will be “ashamed” of His people—he is not ashamed of them (Heb. 11:16). Mk. 8:34-38 clearly teaches that all saved people are disciples, and that one who refuses to become Christ’s disciple will face an eternity in hell.
Other Illustrations from Scripture
The Rich Young Ruler (Matt 19; Lk 18; Mk 10). The case of the rich and religious young ruler in Mk 10:17-31 (parallel Matt 19 and Lk 18) exemplifies the teaching of Mk 8:34-38. Christ told the rich ruler who wanted to “inherit eternal life” (v. 17) to forsake all “and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (v. 21). There were five commands given: “Sell, distribute, come, take up the cross and follow me.” What Jesus preached here in Mk 10:21 is the very same thing He preached in Mk 8:34-38; Lk 9:23-26 and Matt 16:24-26, what many would call “discipleship passages" (I.e. discipleship after salvation passages). Jesus is preaching to a lost Jew — why would He talk about post-salvation discipleship with a lost person?! (hmmm, suspect indeed). This is the response that should be called for in order for someone to be saved. This is what is required to get into the kingdom, to have eternal life, according to God the Son. To turn this account into "discipleship” or “dedication” is to rip it from its context, to confuse what is required for salvation. It is a dastardly perversion of the gospel, diminishing saving faith to the intellect. Salvation does indeed come from believing in Jesus Christ. He must however be the Jesus of the Bible, Who is God and Lord. That is a clear implication of the young ruler passage. Non-lordship or anti-lordship people will shrink or depreciate the identity of Jesus. They make Him more palatable to a worldly audience. But in so doing, they make their hearers two-fold more the children of hell they once were. The rich young man refused to obey God the Son, for he was unwilling to forsake his riches, he was unwilling to repent of his covetousness, so he did not inherit the kingdom of God (vv. 22-24). Those who do leave and forsake all to follow Christ (vv. 28-29 — the apostles testimonies, which occurred in Mk 1:15-20; Lk 5:1-11, 27-28) become God’s “children” (v. 24) and will “receive . . . in the world to come eternal life” (v. 30), having submitted to Christ as Lord and Saviour with a contrite and broken spirit and the humble faith of a little child (vv. 13-16).
The Multitudes in Luke 14:15-35. Similarly, in Luke 14:15-35, to the “great multitudes” Christ preached that “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath” (vv. 33, 26) to “bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (vv. 27, 33); those who refuse to put Christ before self (v. 26), before property (vv. 18-19) and before family and other people (vv. 20, 26) will not “eat bread in the kingdom of God” (v. 15), but be “cast out” (v. 35) of the eschatological feast of the saints (v. 24) into hell, while God rejoices over the repentance and salvation of those who become disciples in the way people rejoice over the recovery of a lost sheep, coin, or son (Lk 15 — the entire sermon of Christ goes from Lk 14:15–15:32).
The verb “cast out” in Lk 14:35, out of 125 instances in the NT, is never employed for a judgment where believers are cast out by God, but the lost are, over and over again, said to be cast into the fires of hell (e.g. Matt 3:10; 5:13, 25, 29-30; 7:19; 13:42, 48; 18:8-9; Mk 9:42 [cf. vv. 41-48], 45, 47; Lk 3:9; 12:58; 14:35; Rev 2:22; 12:4, 9, 13; 14:19; 18:21; 19:20; 20:3, 10, 14-15). Note as well the texts Matt 5:13; 13:48; Lk 14:35; Jn 15:6, where the lost are those who are cast out each time (the only remaining text, 1 Jn 4:18, does not speak of anything eschatological, whether judgment or deliverance).
When Jesus stated in Lk 14:26-35 that lest you meet His requirements and criteria to be His disciple, He was declaring to his mostly unsaved audience that you cannot be my disciple. In other words, Jesus was saying that you cannot be saved. Jesus is not teaching lost people how to be better Christians and disciples. We know that among “the great multitudes” (v. 25), the vast majority were unsaved and would remain unsaved, noted in the very context (15:1-2), and further in Jn 6:2, 60-66 where the same people are referenced, “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” Jesus never had more than just “a little flock” (Lk 12:32). After His death and ascension back to Heaven, there was 120 meeting in an upper room in Jerusalem in Acts 1, tarrying for the promise from God the Father to be "endued with power from on high.” (Lk 24:49). The Bible says the last days will be like the days of Noah and Lot (Lk 17), and how many were being truly converted in those days?
Parable of the Sower, Seed and Soil (Matt 13; Mk 4; Lk 8). Jesus shows us in the parable of the sower (Matt 13) who is a true disciple. Out of the four soils, only one is saved, the good ground. It is the only ground that is fruitful and with understanding, the only one that is a true disciple of Jesus Christ. The stony soil gets offended over the truth, over the cost, over some hard reproof or teaching. The offence in the heart, maybe in your heart, reveals that they are yet unsaved. Jesus is only an ornament in their heart, having receiving a false Jesus and a false gospel (2 Cor 11:4). The thorny soil also professes to believe, attending church, speaking the lingual, and pretending to be a Christian, but has never turned from his love of the world and riches. 1 Jn 2:15 warns, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” If you “have not the love of God in you” (Jn 5:42), then you are unsaved like the Jews Jesus was addressing in Jn 5:38-42, since then "ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he [the Father] hath sent, him ye believe not. . . . And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." (Jn 5:38, 40). The thorny soil continues to be obsessed with “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things” (Mk 4:19) including the “pleasures of this life” (Lk 8:14). This is major characteristic of "evangelicals" today, and other professing Christians. They never exchanged masters from mammon to God (Matt 6:24), thus continue to the serve the evil task master of money and the world.
As we see, parallel passages confirm the plain teaching of Mk 8:34-38—disciples get eternal life, the call to discipleship is a call to salvation, and those who do not become disciples are damned.
The Greek Word for Disciple(s) Indicates Believer(s). The Greek noun “mathetes,” translated into "disciple(s)," is found 255x in the NT and means someone that is a learner or a pupil of a master. The word is used interchangeably with believer throughout the NT, and in John 2 those that came to salvation in Christ were already called disciples, "and his disciples believed on him." (v. 11). The act of making disciples is expressed with the Greek verb “matheteuo.” Making disciples (Matt 28:19) — the word translated into "teach" in this passage, the great commission, "Go ye therefore, and teach the nations..." — takes place by preaching the gospel and having people come to repent (Lk 24:47) and believe (Mk 16:15-16), and thus receive the remission of sins (Lk 24:47; Mk 16:16; Jn 20:23), after which the believers/disciples should be baptized (Matt 28:19; Mk 16:16). The response to the preaching of the gospel is people becoming disciples by the new birth (Ac 14:21), for one is discipled or instructed “unto the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 13:52) by the “foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Cor 1:21).
As with the noun “mathetes,” the verb “matheteuo” indicates one becomes a disciple by becoming a believer. No text teaches or implies that disciples are an elite subcategory within a larger group of Christians. Disciples are regularly contrasted with the unregenerate, but never with an underclass of truly saved people who have not yet become disciples. The usage of the noun and verb forms for disciple make the equation of believers and disciples exceedingly plain. Indeed, the terms Christian and disciple are explicitly equated (Ac 11:26). Scripture teaches and affirms the truth that one becomes a disciple at the moment of saving faith, and that those who do not are unbelievers who will be damned.
When Paul preached the gospel message that “by [Christ] all that believe are justified from all things, from which [they] could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Ac 13:39), those who “believed” received “eternal life” (Ac 13:48) and thus became “disciples” (Ac 13:52; cf. 14:1, 21-23). When people heard the gospel, they either became “disciples” or they rejected the Lord and “believed not” (Ac 19:9). Scripture clearly and regularly equates the categories of believer and disciple, and promises those who are in these categories the same eternal felicity, and warns of eternal damnation for all who do not become disciples or believers.
Very strong exegetical evidence from many Scripture passages establish that one becomes a true disciple of Christ at the same moment that one becomes a true believer, so that discipleship begins at regeneration, and all the people of God, not some elite minority (as Keswick-Second Blessing-Victorious Life-Higher Life theology teaches), are identified as disciples in Scripture. No verse in Scripture teaches that believers become disciples at a post-conversion crisis or that only some of the regenerate are disciples. Rather, it was the “disciples [who] were called Christians” (Ac 11:26). While not all disciples are true Christians (e.g. Jn 6:60-66), all true Christians are disciples — they are a single class, the redeemed people of God. Discipleship begins with the new birth, the call to discipleship is the new birth.
John 8:30-32 indicates that disciples are those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ’s true “disciples follow him” (Mk 6:1; Matt 8:23; Lk 22:39; Jn 18:15; 21:20). The NT call to discipleship is call to salvation, not a call to post-salvation discipleship as frequently interpreted. Clearly Mk 8:34-38 and parallel passages (Matt 10:32-39; 16:24-26; Mk 10:21; Lk 9:23-26, 57-62; 14:25-35; Jn 12:24-25) are referring to salvation. They teach that saving conversion involves giving up one's own way for Christ's way and surrendering to Him as Lord. Through that response of saving faith, the true child of God will bring forth spiritual fruit, a holy life and good works by the grace of God (Ti 2:11-14).
Turning these Passages into Sanctification is Corrupting and Wresting the Scriptures
We don’t become disciples of Christ at some point after we are converted. This is heretical two-tiered Keswick “Christianity.” There are not three categories of men, two of which are different types of Christians, but two only! People want salvation without paying the cost. Without self-denial but rather self-gratification. Without turning from their sinful and wicked ways. Without having to give up the world and all the evil it comes with. People want Jesus and Heaven while loving the world and their lives and their families and everything else. That is the state of Christianity in our day, as it has been for at least a century. But it’s false and heretical, inoculating unsaved false professing believers to the truth and making them two-fold children of hell. Some however aren't inoculated; they just hate the truth and the light (Jn 3:19-21).
Today and about the last century, many men have been corrupting these passages by reading into the Bible a new doctrine, a new “salvation,” using these passages especially (and others like it such as Mk 1:18-20; Lk 5:1-11) as proof texts. Proof texts for a Lordless and repentant-less and non-changing gospel of easy believism. This false interpretation methodology is called eisegesis, and it derives from Rome. A subjective approach, eisegesis allows someone to make a text mean whatever he wants. He might start with what he'd like the Bible to say or perhaps defend his own thinking by finding a passage to say it. This changes God's Word as much as adding or taking away from the words, maybe worse.
Subjectively, the eisegetical interpreter introduces his own opinions as opposed to expounding literally, in context, giving careful attention to the God-inspired words employed (1 Jn 2:20-21, 27), comparing scripture with scripture (1 Cor 2:13-16) and rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15), expositing what the text actually says which is exegesis. Rather, they eisegete. They put in rather than pull out. They force ideas and views into the text that aren’t there. In this case it’s turning Christ’ salvation message into practical sanctification, which then dramatically changes the Gospel message, denies salvation and produces false pretending “believers” as two fold children of hell.
On top of this often exists a corrupted view of pastoral authority that says the critic is "touching God's anointed" or usurping authority. This has it's parallels with Catholicism too, the preacher behaving like a little pope in his given situation. When you question the wrong preaching, you're causing division and sowing discord and maybe even trying to split the church. If you question it from afar, you are intervening in matters that are solely for that church, undermining its authority and preacher. Surely you've got sinister motives too—you couldn't be doing it because you love them, even though nothing is more dastardly than what is happening to them. Your love is called hatred, so love too is a casualty.
All this lends itself toward the worst kind of preaching. But I won’t play the game. I can’t sit by while people who pose as though they respect the Word of God treat the scriptures like tomatoes falling of the back of a produce truck (and most of these men do not respect the Word of God, plainly evident in their use of perverted versions of Scriptures). Twisting these passages into something post-salvation is a form of wresting scripture (2 Pet 3:16-17) and those who are guiltily, what Gods Word here calls an "error of the wicked" (2 Pet 3:17), cannot escape the judgment of God. For the truly regenerated believer God’s Word is perspicuous, that is plain (Pr 8:8-9; 22:20-21), and he knows the truth and is taught the truth by the indwelling Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 Jn 2:20-21, 27).
If someone really loves the KJV, then he should be careful with it and preach what it says, instead of perverting it (those who don't love the KJV in spite of the overwelming facts and Biblical proof, need to further examine themselves whether they be in the faith, 2 Cor 13:5, since there is no more important subject concerning God -- the Holy Spirit does not lead or direct someone that He indwells to use corrupted versions of His Word).
The power of God is in the message of a passage, not in the formulation of a sermon that doesn't communicate what a passage says. All of Gods words (Pr 8:8) are “plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.” (Pr 8:9). They “know the certainty of the words of truth;” (Pr 22:21a). They know and love the truth (1 Jn 2:20-21; Ps 119:127) and “hate every false way.” (Ps 119:128).
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