Paul Washer has some competition. Lately it seems like everyone who is pushing a false, works based gospel idolizes Paul Washer and his “turn from your sins to be saved” mantra. Slice of Laodicea loves him, and his youtube clips are frequently posted there with great pride.
But today over on Slice, they had a link to another false gospel teacher: Tim Conway from Grace Community Church in San Antonio, Texas. I’ve watched a few Tim Conway videos now, and there are some striking differences between Washer and Conway. Paul Washer loves to get teary-eyed and choked up. Tim Conway gets manic, like Mel Gibson. But the message is the same: you can’t have the free gift of eternal life without paying for it by giving up all your sin.
He says sin is like nuts in a monkey trap and we’re like monkeys because we hold onto the sin so we can’t be saved. My favorite part is around the 7 minute mark when he says:
Most people will give up many things to have heaven, but they won’t give up everything. They have that 1 or 2 special nuts that they won’t give up.
There you have it, God’s free gift of eternal life can’t be had unless you give up all your special nuts. Fortunately for him, on July 4, 1990, he turned from all his sin! (I’m not sure yet if he’s the kind of false teacher who says he turned from sin and hasn’t sinned again since, or the kind of false teacher who turned-from-sin-but-still-sins-but-now-hates-his-sin-even-though-he-still-sins-except-not-the-big-ones-that-people-in-Matthew-7-must-have-kept-doing. I’ll let you know when I find out.)
(Hey, that reminds me. I have a free gift for anyone who reads this blog. It’s a new laptop computer! Just bring me $2,500.00 and this free gift is all yours!)
Ironically, he references Rev. 22:17, which says:
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
So which is it? Is the water of life free for all who are thirsty? Or does it cost “all your nuts”?
Speaking of the water of life, I love this passage in John 4:
7A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” ( For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
See how different the gospel that Jesus shared with this woman was from the false gospel espoused by Tim Conway? Jesus didn’t tell the woman to turn from her sin. He told her to acknowledge who he is and ask for the living water. Should she stop living in sin with a man she isn’t married to? Of course! But that’s not the plan of salvation, nor was Jesus offer of living water pre-conditioned on a change in her lifestyle.
So, there you have it: the gospel according to Jesus Christ, or the gospel according to Tim Conway. I know where I’m placing my trust.
Of course, I can’t resist posting in the comments. My favorite comment points out that “television is one of the sweetest nuts people won’t let go of.” So I asked, do you have to give up television to be saved? (After all, Tim Conway says we have to let go of ALL our nuts to get to heaven.) To which, he replied:
No you don’t is the simple answer.
But i do think if you get close to God you will give up the nut. Thats how i did it.
So I pointed out that that’s not what Tim Conway is saying. To which he replied:
The not so simple answer is, if you accept Christ’s free gift of salvation, you will want to give up everything that stands between Him and you. You walk a walk of faith and love towards the narrow gate that leads to life. You don’t have to give up your tv for salvation but watching tv is a sure sign your faith is dead and you are not saved.
The bible doesn’t teach this, either, but that’s another false teaching for another time. But, as usual, the phony gospel of life change doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny. It ALWAYS ends up being a version of this: believe on Jesus AND give up the sins that I have given up.
Wally said
Respectfully, you have missed the point. Paul Washer, John MacArthur, James McDonald and others do not teach works-based salvation. If you actually listen to them it is clear that they teach the same thing that the Bible teaches: people who are saved change… period. This stuff about there being no difference between those who belong to Christ and the rest of the world is insane. Read the New Testament and see for yourself.
Here is the basis for the problems faced by people in America today. People read PDL and other stuff written by men instead of reading their Bible. Men can write books that sound spiritual but are entirely misleading. PDL starts out saying that it is not about us then goes on to emphasize that it is entirely about us…our purpose, our fulfillment, our enjoyment of life…
The Bible teaches that we do not know peace or anything else until we get into the fellowship with God that He has designed via the God-designed salvation experience. We are made to serve God not the other way around.
Please let go of man-centered egoism and grasp the word of God. Remember Jesus said that God could raise up children of Abraham from the rocks if He chose to do so. Who or what movement you are associated with is meaningless unless you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Get off the broad road and enter the true gate that leads to the narrow path…
Wally
Miami, FL
jearwood said
Have you listened to Paul Washer’s sermons? He doesn’t teach salvation by faith alone. He teaches that you must “repent of your sins” to be saved. In this clip on youtube, Washer talks about a man with a terminal condition who came to him wanting to be saved. He said he believe the gospel, but just didn’t “feel it.” Washer talks about how he spent weeks with this man to get him to finally “repent” adequately enough. This is a different gospel than “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your household.”
Way of the Master claims to believe in salvation by faith alone, but they, too, teach salvation by faith plus works. These statements are on their website:
“The sinner should be told to repent—to confess and forsake his sins.”
“”Repent” means to have a change of mind. When the Bible tells sinners to repent, it means to change their direction, to turn from their sins.”
“How is one born again? Simply through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess and forsake your sins, and trust in Jesus alone for
your eternal salvation.”
So is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, or is it by faith PLUS forsaking our sins?
I’d also point out that having fellowship with God is a different thing than being born again. I don’t disagree that believers are made to serve God. Eph 2:10. But we aren’t saved by serving God, and we aren’t denied salvation if we don’t serve him.
Washer, Comfort and Cameron are teaching salvation by the works of the law by adding a requirement that we “turn from sin” in order to be saved. The only prerequisite for salvation is faith in Jesus Christ. It’s ironic that you accuse me of “man-centered egoism” when you apparently believe that you can qualify or disqualify yourself for the gift of eternal life based on something you do. I have all my hope in Christ, not most of it.
As to why you think I read Rick Warren’s fluff, much less put any stock in it, I can only imagine!
Gil All said
Keep sinning then! The bible saiys that no sin will enter heaven. I guess there is no point to attend church, to pray, to love others, etc, since you only have to believe to be saved. How absurd and blind you are!
jearwood said
The bible doesn’t say we have to “attend church, to pray, to love other, etc” to be saved. It says to believe Jesus Christ. Those are all good things, of course, but you can’t simply add good things to the gospel. The whole point of salvation by faith alone is that we aren’t good enough, and never will be. What do you possibly think you could bring to the table to make yourself worthy of salvation? You should consider Romans 4:4-5:
The bible does say that no sin will enter heaven. That’s why none of us will get in by our own deeds. We must claim the righteousness of Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21 says: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” That’s also why the same chapter in Romans also says: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
If you are trusting in your own righteousness, you will fall short every time. The only way to get to heaven is by becoming the righteousness of God, not through our own good life, but by faith in Christ.
Shawn said
Nice blog, I have been commenting the heck out of Conway’s youtube videos about his misconceptions or even sometimes just plain leaving parts of scripture that count out. The book of James said faith without works is dead so I can see where they are coming from. But If you didn’t have faith and did the works then you would be lost because we are saved by faith through grace. Not by works through grace. All works are is the manifestation of your faith. The whole works based salvation is referenced to Judaism, and that’s why it was made such a big deal in the Bible that this New Covenant God offered mankind wasn’t salvation by works, but by faith. They have alot of the sin stuff right, just in the wrong order. But without repentance, one would not recognize the need for salvation. Repentance isn’t going weeks without sin, it’s a mindset of “Hey, Jesus said this wrong and I am not going to do it” Later on Paul expresses what God offers for those who slip up and that’s Grace and Mercy. A righteous man falls 7 times but gets back up again. Notice in the Luke 13 when Christ talks about Judgment day and he says that many will seek to enter and shall not be able to, then it says”Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you. It didn’t say you lazy lethargic people who caused iniquity, but it said workers. Implying that they had tried to do something and it wasn’t enough.
jearwood said
Good points, Shawn. Remember the original “worker,” Cain in Genesis 4:2. Interesting parallel.
Luke KJBONLY said
Hi Josh, I typed “Tim Conway Works Salvation” into here and this came up. Feel free to join the forum in my link and discuss this stuff. I am always surprised at how many people love Paul Washer – they must be a sucker for punishment. They think they are being humble by repenting, when really, they are adding to the gospel of Christ, at least, their definition of repentance is.
I define it simply as agreeing with God that one is lost, and seeing our need for Him.
Ministry Addict said
Sounds like somebody’s been reading Zane Hodges…
jearwood said
Don’t know who Zane Hodges is, but googling now…
Luke KJBONLY said
Zane Hodges is a nut – don’t let the Lordship Salvation people lump you with him – he does NOT represent free grace. I’d rather saddle up with Paul Washer then Hodges. His “followers” have even said things like “The Mormon Jesus is the same as the Bible Jesus”.
Zane Hodges teaches a “crossless” gospel. He says the believing in Jesus (regardless of what you believe ABOUT Jesus or whether or not you even understand why he died) is enough to go to heaven. He also teaches millennial exclusion (bad Christians go to hell for a thousand years). He says the cross is not neccesary for salvation.
Ministry Addict is using an age old technique of “guilt by association”.
Luke KJBONLY said
Shame I can’t edit my post. It seems that Ministry Addict is a fan of Curtis Hutson, who was the one who actually change the lyrics in the Hymn books published by Sword of the Lord. His sermon “Another Gospel that is not Another” is a brilliant refutation of Lordship Salvation. He passed on a few years back. If I misunderstood the purpose of your post ministy addict, sorry and forgive me.
Ministry Addict said
That’s okay. I’m not easily offended. I’m not a big a Zane Hodges fan. I just finished one of his books (the only one of his I’ve read), and it had a similar exposition of the woman-at-the-well passage found in the above-post, so I thought maybe this site’s author and I had been reading the same book. I wasn’t trying to make anyone guilty by association.
Luke KJBONLY said
I think his book “Absolutely Free” is probably not all that bad, but in the few years before he passed on, he went off the rails
Ken said
You shall not bear false witness. A few of you should take another look at sermons you are commenting on. These men are saying works are the result of TRUE salvation, not that works are the cause. It seems that some, on this page, are arguing that a man can say the sinners prayer and live like a heathen for the rest of his life and still be welcomed into heaven. Am I wrong?
jearwood said
So what’s the plan of salvation? Is it believe and live your life in a non-heathen way? That’s works, my friend, and it’s exactly the teaching of Tim Conway. I linked to the very clip I was commenting on so anyone can listen for himself. TRUE salvation is found when a man puts all his faith and hope on Jesus Christ, not when he starts living a non-heathen life. I do like your strawman, however I’ve never said someone is saved by saying a “sinners prayer.” A person is saved only by believing on Jesus Christ….nothing more, nothing less. Anything else, no matter how high-minded and holy it might seem, is a perversion of the gospel.
Ken said
Ok, well so I, as an example, will rob, cheat, and murder for the rest of my life. But it’s okay because I have all faith in Christ. Is that kind of your point?
jearwood said
Depends what you mean by “okay.” No, it’s not okay with God if we disobey His commandments. God will chastise His children; the bible is full of examples: Saul, David, and Job come to mind.
But if by “okay” you mean that a born again believer who robs, cheats and murders will still be saved, then the answer is yes. We are not saved by our own merit. I’m not sure why this is so hard for people to understand. People constantly talk about the believer who lies, cheats and murders, but never about the believer who lusts, covets or is lazy at work. Why? Because deep down most people don’t really feel they deserve to go to hell for their sins. They feel that other people might deserve it –you know, the ones that do the sins they don’t do — but they really don’t think they’re doing anything bad enough that God won’t just overlook it.
Either we are saved by faith or we are saved by faith + living a minimally good life. Those are two different plans of salvation and only one is taught in the bible. We are called to good works. We are called to walk in the Spirit. But we aren’t required to DO anything to be born again. The only prerequisite to salvation is putting all of our hope and faith in Jesus Christ. If murder is a disqualifier, we are putting some of our faith in our our ability to not commit the sin of murder. If robbery is a disqualifier, we are putting some of our faith in our own ability not to rob another. In other words, if you believe you have some good works you MUST do to be saved, your faith in yourself and your own good life. That’s a belief you must repent of and call on the name of the Lord for salvation.
Ken said
Is a man who holds on to his sin truly believing on Christ? Can a man choose sin over his salavation? And no, I am not arguing for sinless perfectionism.
jearwood said
Nowhere in the bible does it say we must make a choice between sin and salvation. If we had to choose, we’d all choose our sin because our flesh loves to sin and hates the things of God. If our salvation was dependent on our choosing not to sin, no one would be saved.
If you’re not arguing sinless perfection, you’re suggesting that salvation requires us to give up some of our sin, or at least the “bad” ones, but we’re free to keep on doing the ones that aren’t so bad. But every time we sin, we are choosing to disobey God.
Going back to the passage I referenced in the original post. What did Jesus tell the woman at the well? “If you know who I am and the gift that God offers, you’d ask and I’d give you Living Water.” Even though we discover later in the chapter that this woman was living a very sinful life, Jesus did not precondition God’s gift on her willingness to give up any sin. This isn’t to say that Jesus didn’t want her to give up this sin in her life, of course. But if she had to give up something to receive the Living Water, would it still be a gift? This is why boasting is excluded. Romans 4:1-8 says:
If we are saved, even in part, because of something we do, we have earned something. We could boast about what we have done. But only when we understand that we play no part in our own salvation is boasting excluded and all the glory given to God.
Ministry Addict said
“Ok, well so I, as an example, will rob, cheat, and murder for the rest of my life. But it’s okay because I have all faith in Christ. Is that kind of your point?
Reply”
I’m not disputing the points already made in response to this, but I personally think that if you really have “all faith in Christ” it is extremely unlikely that you will rob, cheat, and murder on a regular basis for the “rest of your life” (assuming the “rest of your life” is more than, say, a few more minutes) at the same rate you robbed, cheated, and murdered back when you had no faith in Christ.
jearwood said
This is true for a couple of reasons. First, most people who understand the plan of salvation and believe on Christ will want to serve Him. I know that I do, and obviously it’s not because I’m trying to earn my salvation by a good life. I’m grateful for what God has done for me and I want to serve Him because I love God. Second, if a believer chooses to live a life of debauchery, God will chastise him even to the point of physical death. While God doesn’t just strike down every believer who commits a “big” sin, He will discipline everyone He calls a son, and if a believer chooses to live a wicked and ungodly life he does so at his peril. Of course, when that person who has been born again dies a physical death, he’ll be alive with Christ in heaven, not because of the good things he’s done, but because his sins are covered by the blood of Christ.
Even so, I always vigorously oppose the notion that Christians should be identified by the good life they live compared to the world because so many people are eager to add works to the plan of salvation. There are no works required for salvation, and salvation is not dependent on anyone’s ability or even willingness to give up any sin in his life.
Luke KJBONLY said
I like the way that Ken kind of retracts his statement after you said about coveting, lusting and being lazy at work. He gives an exception to his sinless rule of life for a Christian by adding “oh, I don’t believe in sinless perfection”, which basically translates to “I know I am not sinless, but I am definitely better than you because I talk about how a Christian shouldn’t lie and steal and rape and kill millions of jews, but I am okay, because my sins are only in my thoughts, and you will never see them”.
God does buddy.
WORKS WORKS WORKS.
Luke KJBONLY said
As for murder – J. Frank Norris killed a man, after he was saved. He claimed it was in self defense, but he was pretty trigger happy from what I hear. To understand what kind of man he was – he also preached a sermon while holding a dead man’s brains in a broken beer bottle. He apparently scooped the brains up from a car crash that involved alcohol.