Daily Devotion

 With Pastor Ancel Presnell

“THE DAMNING EFFECTS OF EASY BELIEVISM”

There are two extremes of thought concerning salvation; one of which Apostle Paul obliterates all throughout the book of Romans, and that is works based salvation. No one is nor can be saved based upon good works or any human effort (Ephesians 2:8, 9; Romans 10:4). The other extreme thought is that salvation is simply believing the tenets of the Christian faith, and belief does not always result in a new life or behavior patterns. There is one itty bitty problem with this thought; there is no indication in the Bible that any person ever believed upon Christ and remained the same!

A term that is often ascribed to the latter thought is easy-believism. Easy believism has plagued the evangelical world for decades. Easy-believism has been propped up by evangelical leaders and pastors across the board. It saddens me to think that the denomination, that I have grown to love for many years, the Southern Baptist Convention, has many preachers and ministry leaders within that promote and prop up this very notion of easy-believism.

What exactly is easy-believism? It is the theological belief that the profession of belief, or a cited “sinners-prayer” is equivalent to biblical salvation. This belief divorces itself from regeneration and repentance. The infamous sinner’s prayer is not under attack here, but belief that the sinner’s prayer is what saves apart from the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit is under attack, and it should be.

Let’s examine just a few converts in the New Testament and see if they remained unchanged following their belief. Saul, later becomes Paul, was a murderer and persecutor of the church. Once saved, he became a preacher that wrote 1/3 of the New Testament. Peter was an impulsive fisherman. Once converted, he became a chief apostle with boldness, and he was instrumental in the founding of the church! Zacchaeus was a tax collector, hated by his ethnic Jewish contemporaries due to his guilt of extortion and greed. He trusted Christ as Savior and became a disciple of Christ who restored those whom he cheated 4 times over.

Too often, we accept the easy-believism professions of faith as authentic, all while seeing those same people continue to live the same lives conducive to those of which are unconverted! We must not ease our conscience with such unbiblical thought, but rather, we must believe what scripture says about salvation. There must be confession, profession, and genuine belief from the heart.

Romans 10:8—” ⁸ But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach”