Thirty percent of so-called evangelical pastors do not believe that salvation is based exclusively on confession of sins, repentance, and accepting and belief in Jesus Christ as sole and exclusive savior.
In short, 30% of today’s evangelical pastors do not believe in a biblical worldview.
Those were two findings by George Barna in a recent survey of 1,000 so-called evangelical pastors. Three out of ten so-called evangelical pastors today believe in:
WORKS-BASED SALVATION!
So, the question becomes:
WHAT IS AN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN?
WHAT DOES THE SO-CALLED NEW EVANGELICAL BELIEVE?
Especially evangelical pastors.
How, I wonder, can any evangelical, pastor or layperson, believe that salvation, truly born again, occurs with both faith and works? Where in the entire 27 books of the New Testament is there any biblical justification for such a position.
Belief in works-based salvation directly contradicts and goes against so many passages of New Testament scripture including and especially the following:
FOR BY GRACE ARE YOU SAVED BY FAITH.
It is a gift (salvation) from God, and it is:
NOT OF WORKS
LEST ANY MAN OR WOMAN SHOULD BOAST!
EPHESIANS 2:8-9
Scripture makes it clear that salvation occurs as follows:
- Recognition and confession of sin
- Repentance of sin
- Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
- Believing totally and fully in faith in HIM!
There are two fundamental and essential pillars of salvation:
- GRACE
- FAITH
Grace, God’s unearned mercy provides us, all of us humans, with the gift of salvation. There is nothing we can do to earn that forgiveness, that acceptance, that new status of being BORN AGAIN, NOTHING! None of us can ever measure up to the standards of Almighty God, to His commandments, no matter what we do or how hard we try. We cannot earn forgiveness, much less complete salvation, except by faith in the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. THAT AND HE IS THE GIFT OF GOD AND THE HEART AND SOUL OF SALVATION.
Works indeed are essential but not FOR salvation. Works, after salvation, not in the salvation process. They are fruits of the Spirit; they show and prove our belief in our Lord and they are evidence of our deep love and gratitude for HIM. We are saved, the scripture says so very clearly, by grace and faith as a gift from God:
NOT FROM WORKS.
The works we do will show the world what kind of Christian we are.
In biblical terms, we all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God, the standards of God, miserable human failures in any attempt for righteousness. We need help, HIM! We need CALVARY at work, in us, forgiving, cleansing, redeeming. We need HIM not WORKS! So says the scripture, our inspired Bible, over and again.
No matter how hard we try, no matter how good we are, no matter how many good works we do, we cannot measure up. ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT! It is the full recognition of the fact that not only have we sinned, and with our nature as it is, and without Him, we will continue to do so, there is nothing more we can do to earn salvation. Salvation comes from Jesus Christ, for it is, says our Bible:
THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST WHICH CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN!
Not of works lest we would boast of what we have done to earn that salvation.
If 30% of evangelical pastors believe in works-based salvation, 3 out of 10, and almost 40% do not believe in a biblical worldview, 4 out of 10, that answers the oft-asked question:
WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA’S PULPITS?
The real, the true, the biblical definition of salvation is missing, not only in the preaching but in the life of the so-called new evangelical pastors. Far too many have been watered down, become woke, and willing to capitulate to the progressive thinking of today’s ever-growing anti-Christian cancel-culture society in which we live. These modern-day, woke, pastors are the new OURSELVES and they preach a blasphemous gospel that includes works in the salvation process.
The pulpit must return to the real salvation process, the biblical process, as Franklin Graham has so well stated:
“PEOPLE NEED THE TRUTH OF THE WORD OF GOD THAT HAS THE POWER OF GOD TO CHANGE HEARTS AND LIVES FOR ETERNITY.”
What about your church, your pastor? Do they preach the real gospel, with the saving message of Jesus Christ and faith in Him alone, without works, do they? If not, the power of the gospel is missing, and the pulpit and the pastor are weakened. It is time for you, all of us, to stand up and demand that pulpits and pastors proudly proclaim:
EPHESIANS 2:8-9
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man or woman should boast!
Any pastor who believes in work-based salvation is just simply not an EVANGELICAL! So says scripture.