Without question, Jimmy Swaggart's mention of the "cross" is misleading! Certainly, the cross of Christ is a cornerstone in Christianity, but how it is viewed has often been misused. Jimmy Swaggart is no exception to that as he revealed his personal view on the believer's security and placed a noose around his own neck by doing so! You can hear and read Jimmy Swaggart's own words for yourself, which have been transcribed for your convenience and careful examination. The biblical command to test everything (1 Thess. 5:21) will follow. To hear Jimmy Swaggart's actual words click:
(1) So, this also causes the unscriptural doctrine of unconditional eternal security to fall to the ground.I want to deal with that a few moments because this is a major doctrine - unconditional eternal security. We believe in eternal security, but we believe in conditional eternal security. (2) What do I, what do I mean by that? It was faith that got the believing sinner in. That means me, you, they, them, whoever. It's faith in Christ and what Christ did at the cross. The believing sinner, to be frank with you, doesn't know anything about it. He just knows he's under conviction. He feels like he's going to fall into hell at any moment and he, there's something in him that's pulling him toward Christ. But as far as having knowledge of it, he doesn't really have any knowledge of it, and God doesn't expect him to have.
But he just accepts Christ, that's all, as his Savior. And then that person is saved. (3) Um, thereafter, that person may have problems. They may fail many times, sometimes very severely, but they don't lose their soul in regard to that. (4) Now there's another question that we might should discuss a little bit of individuals who just keep right on trucking, they keep right on in the clubs, they keep right on in whatever they're doing, the vices and claiming, well, I've accepted Christ so I'm fine. No, no.
Salvation changes a person's heart and changes their lifestyle. If it doesn't, you need to get saved to be frank with you. But at any rate, it's faith in Christ. (5) We're talking about a person now who's truly born again, who wants to live for God, who loves God, but yet they're having problems with whatever the case. And that person doesn't lose their soul when they fail the Lord, as long as their faith is in Christ. Now sin will cause them problems.
Sin always causes terrible problems, but the loss of the soul, no. (6) Now, if that person ceases to believe, they no longer believe the Word of God, they no longer believe in Christ, they no longer believe that you have to, to, to have faith in him and believe in him to be saved. They, they don't believe it anymore. Then that person reverts from a saved condition to an unsaved condition. [Jimmy Swaggart, Study In The Word, 4-14-15]
The established definition of eternal security includes an unconditional salvation security for the person once saved. It doesn't matter what he does or doesn't do! According to that doctrinal myth, he is irrevocably and unconditionally saved and cannot lose his salvation over anything. Hence, the term "once saved always saved" is also used to refer to the same teaching.
The Calvinists sometimes call it the perseverance of the saints when not referring to it as eternal security! So what Jimmy Swaggart has identified himself with is an impossibility with the established definition of eternal security! He has inserted something into it which doesn't exist, namely a condition for salvation with an unconditional doctrine! It is logically impossible to have conditions on something which is unconditional!
(3) According to Jimmy Swaggart, a true Christian may thereafter "fail many times, sometimes very severely," but not die spiritually [or "lose his soul" as Swaggart says]. Jimmy Swaggart avoided the use of the term "sin," but that is what he clearly referred to. He explicitly taught the Christian may fail [sin] many times and VERY SEVERELY [SIN] and remain saved even in those very severe sins! In other words, sin will NEVER cause loss of salvation, regardless how often it is committed or how severe it is, according to Jimmy Swaggart's cross message. That is a doctrine of demons and license to sin! The Apostle John demolishes Jimmy Swaggart's powerless false image of a Christian:
The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:4)By teaching the way he does, Jimmy Swaggart is inferring there are Christian adulterers, Christian drunkards, Christian thieves, Christian rapists, Christian idolaters, Christian swindlers, Christian witches, etc., which has no connection with true Christian beliefs! Though Jimmy Swaggart frequently mentions Jesus' death on the cross, it is his twisted version of the "cross." With Jimmy Swaggart's cross message, a real Christian is presented as one who can sin many times and sin very severely and remain saved in those sins! Hence, there is no essential difference for the Pentecostal parishioners listening to Jimmy Swaggart or them listening to staunch eternal security teachers Charles Stanley or Joseph Prince! Their gullible following have all been deceived into thinking king David remained saved in his adultery and murder, exactly the same as any license for sin teacher declares. Jimmy Swaggart is a deadly snare to souls with his distorted and warped cross message and so-called "conditional eternal security" teaching.
That is why the devil tempts the saints. The evil one is ever trying to reclaim souls he lost to the Lord Jesus through salvation. The devil knows the destructive powers of sin and waits for an opportunity to destroy souls in various ways, including sin. There have been many apostasies and mention of such in the New Testament. Furthermore, some Christians quickly fall away (Gal. 1:6; etc.).
With others it could be a slow gradual lukewarmness which sets in (like the Laodiceans in Rev. 3:16), while others may remain faithful (like the Apostle Paul -- 1 Thess. 2:10; etc.). Some people are in and out of salvation, as they backslide and wisely repent for salvation (James 5:19,20; Luke 15:24; Rom. 11:19-23). There are other spiritual dangers too like unfruitfulness, unforgiveness, hate, greed, lust, ministry competition, etc. Hard is the road to life (Mt. 7:14). Those are the brutal facts about the Christian battle. Don't allow the devil to use on you any popular slick talking preacher, who minimizes the soul-damning effects of sin on a Christian's soul, including Pentecostal Jimmy Swaggart!
"And that person doesn't lose their soul when they fail [sin against] the Lord, as long as their faith is in Christ. Now sin will cause them problems. Sin always causes terrible problems, but the loss of the soul, no."Jimmy Swaggart's salvation security, presented as saving faith in Jesus Christ under the cross of Christ, keeps a person saved who is sinning often and severely, but somehow has also had a lifestyle change away from sin and "loves God"!
Doesn't Jimmy Swaggart know that we love God by obeying God (Jn. 14:15; 1 John 5:3)? Just giving lip service to such is not loving God! It takes obedience. Jimmy Swaggart also thinks salvation cannot be negated by sin, and saving faith in Jesus Christ doesn't have to obey! SHOCKING! In contrast, the Lord Jesus was clear as he taught and warned those already saved about the danger of them going to hell through sin in Mark 9:43-48. In verses 47 and 48 the Lord Jesus focused on mental adultery:
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' (Mark 9:47,48)
The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book." (Exodus 32:33)
If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. (Ezek 33:18)
Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so DESTROYS HIS OWN SOUL (Prov. 6:32, NKJV).
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mat 13:42)
But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. (Luke 12:45,46)
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live (Rom 8:12,13)
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. (1 Cor 3:16,17, NKJV)
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9,10, NASB)
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. (Eph 5:5-7)Sincere Christian, don't allow Jimmy Swaggart's mention of the cross of Christ to deceive you with empty words! Remember, No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Gal 6:8,9)
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:26-29)
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. (Rev 3:4,5)
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Rev 21:8)[See The Believer's Conditional Security, chapter 12 for more information on how sin, as well as disowning Jesus during persecution and preaching a false gospel, can cause loss of salvation.]
(6) Jimmy Swaggart explicitly reveals the one and only way a person can lose his soul, according to his sinister view of the believer's security and the cross. This is also his invented "conditional eternal security." Jimmy Swaggart's limited view of salvation danger is, if a Christian becomes an unbeliever then he loses his salvation! In other words, Jimmy Swaggart denies there are any Christian atheists, but maintains there are Christian adulterers, Christian drunkards, Christians addicted to pornography, etc. It is that simple!
In Jimmy Swaggart's warped theology, all backsliders remain saved regardless how often and severe they sin, as long as they don't become atheists, agnostics, etc. He thinks backsliders have saving faith while living like the prodigal, who visited prostitutes! [Perhaps his doctrine is also how Jimmy Swaggart could also "marry" his own son into a remarriage adultery union, which lasted a few years before their divorce with Donnie remarrying Debbie again.]
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil .... (1 John 3:7,8)Jimmy Swaggart, in antagonism to scripture, wants us to believe a different message! Jimmy Swaggart is really teaching -- "He who does what is sinful could be a Christian, if ever saved," just like the stone-hard Baptist preachers! NOTE the warning from the apostle John regarding being led astray about this issue, is the very issue, which centers around eternal security and which Jimmy Swaggart is leading people astray about! Dear reader, take warning!
As with David Wilkerson, who became a doctrinal apostate and who apparently has affected Carter Conlon and his own son Gary Wilkerson to teach a license to sin, Jimmy Swaggart has also apparently adversely influenced his son Donnie Swaggart! How can we be sure? Because Donnie Swaggart thinks Peter remained saved though he disowned Jesus! Surely, if Jimmy Swaggart was asked to comment on Peter's thrice denial of Jesus he would maintain the same. To teach a saving faith and a believer's security like that is to indirectly call Jesus Christ a liar!
But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Mat 10:33)
Such is identical to the unconditional eternal security teachers (Charles Stanley, John MacArthur, Joseph Prince, etc.), who Jimmy Swaggart says are wrong! Folks, it is splitting hairs to say they are wrong, while they and the Swaggarts all teach you can disown Jesus and remain saved. The adverse effect on listeners will be equally devastating! When the real Antichrist comes into power, their followers will readily think they can disown Jesus and take the mark of the beast yet remain saved! If such deceived people believed Jimmy Swaggart or Charles Stanley it makes no difference. The spiritual harm to their soul will be the same.
Thank you for sending us the article on Jimmy Swaggart. Wow! He has become more open in his apostasy. A few years ago he would not have used such clarity of speech. That is what sin does! I noticed how deceitfully he tries to hide the word SINNING by using failing severely. He also believes that Rom. 7 was the apostle Paul's life style AFTER salvation, as the rest of other OSAS teachers. U worked hard, Dan. May the Lord reward you for your faithfulness to the body of Christ! This man invented this doctrine to justify his past immoralities and his constant refusal to truly repent before the Lord. He claims that a saint can not live a sanctified life UNLESS he understands the cross, hence he is justified in his sins of death, while REMAINING saved all along. Amazing!Dear reader, warn others you know and love about Jimmy Swaggart and Jimmy Swaggart Ministries!As u have mentioned, the sinner, at the point of initial salvation, receives forgiveness for his past sins and INSTANT heart purification along with the Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit to guide him. The fact is that a bible-defined Christian has Divine assistance to live a holy life. There is no excuse to backslide, yet many do, and many NEVER return! How sad. Jimmy Swaggart also teaches that when the Lord Jesus said that whoever does not carry his own cross and follows Him can not be his disciple, He was referring to the believer not understanding the "cross." Jimmy Swaggart is an example of someone who knew the Lord and lost his soul. I am grateful u have done this extensive research because many gullible souls listen to this man. We are living in the midst of darkness. Once again thank you for your work, it is NOT in vain. 1 Cor. 15:58.
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