BILLY GRAHAM'S HERETICAL TEACHING ON SALVATION

I read the Pensacola News Journal the other day and I turned to the column by Billy Graham. As I read the title, I immediately became enraged at the absolute HERESY that I saw. It said, "each time we sin, we must seek forgiveness." What? Doesn't the blood atonement of Jesus Christ offer forgiveness for ALL sins? Why then should we ask to be forgiven all over again when we sin?

And as I read through the piece, I couldn't help by be saddened by the GREAT heretical teaching that I found spewing forth from this so-called Baptist Preacher.

Mr. Graham's column is always a question and answer forum. And the question this time from a reader was: "If all our sins are forgiven when we come to Jesus, then why do we have to keep seeking God's forgiveness when we sin? If we're already forgiven, why bother asking for forgiveness when we sin?

This is an EXCELLENT question, for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary paid for all sins, PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE! And to be forgiven, one must receive that payment by FAITH, not by ASKING. In other words, you are forgiven when you TRUST the blood atonement of Jesus. It's not your beggings, pleadings, or asking for forgiveness that secures God's pardon. It's whether or not you have accepted the salvation that God offers by FAITH in his shed blood!

But how does Mr. Graham answer the question? I quote: "It's true that when we sincerely repent of our sins and turn to Christ for forgiveness, God completely forgives us and looks on us as if we have never sinned."

This is great! Mr. Graham should have stopped right there, for this is a sound Bible truth. However, he then adds: "But we will still sin -- and when we do, we need to confess it and repent of it, and ASK Christ to forgive us...when you sin, repent of it and seek God's forgiveness at once."

What? He just said prior to that that God forgives COMPLETELY and looks at Christians as if they have never sinned. But now he says that after we sin, we need to ASK Christ to forgive us. Why? Does that mean that God only forgives your PAST sins based upon his sacrifice on the cross, but all future sins are not paid for, thus you must seek forgiveness of them by confession? This is EXACTLY what Mr. Graham's answer leads us to believe. And this is utter HERESY!!!

Of course when Christians sin they should confess it to God and repent (feel sorry) of it. Mr. Graham has this right. But to teach that a man must then ASK God for forgiveness of that sin is not Biblical. This is not sound doctrine. Why ask God for something you already have?

To ASK God to forgive your sins is to beg God to do something apart from his sacrificial shed blood atonement and faith in it alone. You are either saved by FAITH alone, or by ASKING for forgiveness. Which is it?

To instruct a Christian to ask God for forgiveness is to instruct them to do something apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For when a person is saved, he HAS God's forgiveness already. Why then should he ask for it all over again. (Doesn't this imply DOUBT that a Christian even has forgiveness to begin with?) All a Christian needs to do according to the Bible is confess it and forsake it (Prov. 28:13). He does not need to "seek forgiveness" for it. For in Christ, he already has forgiveness. (Or as Mr. Graham put it before, "God completely forgives us and looks on us as if we have never sinned." This Mr. Graham has correct. But to turn around and then say that afterwards you must seek forgiveness is not only ILLOGICAL, but ANTI-SCRIPTURAL!)

Now, because a person is forgiven of all their sins in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, this does not give a man an excuse to sin more. Rather it's a great incentive to do all he can to stop sinning. Because Christ Jesus granted him forgiveness, he should want to live for God and sin less, not sin more. (It's because I'm saved and forgiven that I serve Christ Jesus, not in order to be saved or be forgiven.)

Mr. Graham has a warped idea of salvation. To tell people that salvation is by asking for forgiveness, is to tell a person that they can receive forgiveness by something THEY do, rather than trusting in what JESUS did for them in their place for their sins. This is a great blasphemy, because it gets the eyes off of Jesus as the FORGIVER, and onto the Sinner. God forgives, but he only forgives based upon one's faith in his finished work. He will not forgive anyone simply because they ask him to. How could Mr. Graham miss this? How could he say it correctly, but then turn around and negate what he said by saying that after a Sinner has forgiveness, and is viewed by God as sinless in Christ, that he must later seek forgiveness?

Why is that? Hmmm. Oh, yeah, I know why... it's because Mr. Graham doesn't preach the Blood Atonement of Jesus Christ for savlation. Rather, he tells people to simply "make their commitment" to Christ, or to "Ask Jesus into their hearts and lives." But these are BLOODLESS GOSPELS which emphasize that a person is to DO SOMETHING (i.e. works) rather than simply trust in what Jesus Christ has already DONE for mankind to offer them forgiveness of sins.

For more on this "asking" vs "trusting" heresy, please read the following article by clicking on it below:

ASKING VS. TRUSTING

For God does not give anyone forgiveness of their sins because they ask him to. Rather God only gives forgiveness to those who receive him by FAITH in his precious shed blood.

You would think if a person was truly saved, they would know this. How could a man who claims to be an evangelist tell you that you are saved and sinless in Christ, but then turn around and tell you that you have to ask for forgiveness later when you sin. That's not right. When you sin as a Christian, you should confess it to God, not man, and you should forsake it, but you already have forgiveness. That's how good God is. He forgave you before you even commited that sin! According to Mr. Graham, it sounds like you lose your salvation when you sin, and that's why you have to "ask for forgiveness" all over again. But that's a wicked HERESY, for the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews that if you could lose it, you could NEVER get it back again. So, Biblically, you either have forgiveness of your sins or you don't, and it's not by your asking, rather by your trusting God's finished work of his sacrificial blood atonement on the cross of Calvary. Could it be that those who "ask" for forgiveness do so because they AREN'T FORGIVEN in the first place? Could the be lost, and it's for this reason that they don't understand the Gospel of salvation and forgiveness by FAITH rather than by BEGGING?