1. Shooting Gallery: Air guns are armed with tiny BBs, air pressure is lowered and the sights are bent to skew the shots.
2. Land the Dime on the Plate: Plates are sprayed with silicone to make the coin slide right off.
3. Milk Bottle Pyramid: Lower bottles are filled with lead weights. Softballs are very soft indeed, being filled with straw or sawdust.
4. Basketball Shoot: Balls are overinflated; rims are undersized, sometimes slightly oval shaped and set higher than regulation height.
5. Balloon Dart Throw: Darts are lighter that store brands; tips are filed and dulled; balloons are underinflated and thick.
6. Ring Toss: Rings are made of hard bouncy plastic; their openings are only a fraction of an inch larger than the bottle tops on which they are supposed to land.
7. Sledge Hammer Ring the Bell: Hammers large but underweighted; carnival operator can apply “brake” as desired.
In many ways, Calvinism is very much like a rigged carnival game. For the Calvinist, some are prechosen to win and others are prechosen to lose. The individual has no say in his own destiny, no opportunity to trust in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone for salvation, as the Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:16-18, 36; John 5:24; John 6:29, 40; John 11:25-26; Acts 16:30-31; Romans 4:5. But in the case of Calvinism, “losing” involves much more than spending a few dollars at a carnival; it means spending eternity in hell, sent there by a whimsical Calvinist “god.” Yes, Calvinism is a rigged “game” and a very deadly one as well.
James 2:19: Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
James 2:19 is one of the favorite verses that Lordship “Salvationists” quote to try to convince themselves and others that one has to do more than trust in Christ to receive eternal life. Incidentally, you will usually hear them say “demons” instead of “devils”, because that is how the NIV and other LS Bibles have translated this verse.
But, besides a demon’s belief, is there a belief that doesn’t save? Is it possible for a human being to believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead and still not have eternal life? The answer to the above questions is a resounding YES. There is a belief that doesn’t save. In fact, there are all kinds of beliefs that don’t save, but not for the reasons that Lordship “salvationists” espouse.
The Lordship “Salvationist” does not believe that Christ paid the FULL PRICE for our sins, leaving us nothing to pay. He believes that Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection were necessary, but not sufficient. He believes that he must add to Christ’s finished work with his repentance from sin, commitment, or perseverance. In other words, the Lordship “Salvationist” has accepted Jesus as Lord and Helper, not Lord and Savior.
Can a person believe in Christ alone and not be saved? The answer to this one needs less explanation. The answer is NO.
Matthew 21:12-13: And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Jesus was dismayed that His house had been turned into a place of business, including the exchange of currencies. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and referred to them as thieves.
Those of us who have traveled to different countries are familiar with having to convert our money into local currency in order to buy things in that country. We hear about the interactions of different currencies in the world of finance, and the impact of those interactions on global trade and the economy.
In God’s economy, there is only one currency that will pay for our sins: the blood of Jesus.
Romans 3:24-26: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
But the moneychangers continue to ply their trade, trying to convince people that other currencies will take away sin and save us. In God’s economy, currencies other than the blood of Christ are useless counterfeit.
And so what does Satan do?
He deals with counterfeit messages. He deals in messages that sound good or even close to the real thing. But folks, if they’re not the real thing it’s false. It’s counterfeit. It’s from the devil.
And the closer he can get to the real plan of salvation and yet not be the plan of salvation more people will be deceived into that.
So, what are some of the more common counterfeits being offered by the Lordship “salvationists” today?
Repent of your sins to be saved. Follow Christ to be saved. Forsake your sins to be saved. Count the cost. Put Christ on the throne of your life to be saved. Surrender your life to Christ for salvation. Give your life to Christ for salvation. Allow God to change your life to be saved, and on and on.
So, are the false teachers promoting these various and sundry counterfeit currencies today like the moneychangers that Christ drove out of the temple?
Notice that Jesus uses the term “thief” to refer to anyone who tries to enter into salvation in any other way than through Him – the same term that He used to refer to the moneychangers.
As Christians, we are the temple of Christ. We must not let these thieves have any place in our temple.
I’m down on them because they are preaching a false gospel that will not save.
Praise God for the truth they do say. But, I’m not going to praise God for the error that they promote. And you shouldn’t either. You shouldn’t either.
You be careful folks of what you take in. What you listen to. What you read. You better be careful!