Ezek 18:4 says, “The soul who sins will die.” Isa 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” Rom 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” So the Bible tells us that the person who sins will die; that he will be separated from God and that it will bring him death. It is spiritual death which is eternal separation from God.
CARM is teaching a gospel which says the soul who sins will die spiritually and your sins will separate you from God. What Matt Slick also thinks, but didn’t mention, is that those facts ONLY apply UNTIL initial salvation—when you get born again. After you get born again, those truths of his gospel do not apply. Again, those Scriptures do NOT apply after getting born again, according to Calvinism!
Though there are no Scriptures which can be cited by any once saved always saved proponent, they all teach that way. Their theology and false version of the gospel neutralize Ezek. 18:4; Isa. 59:2; Rom. 6:23 and scores of other verses afterinitial salvation.
Matt Slick's theology won't allow him to accept the truth that a righteous person will die spiritually if he turns to evil. Therefore, it is fatally flawed. The truth is: Calvinism has a twisted and contradictory message which allows for gross wickedness in the life of a saved person, but denies the obvious, that is, it is a license for immorality, but that’s not all. Matt Slick's gospel also declares this:
It only takes one sin to be a sinner. If you’ve lied, that makes you a liar. If you’ve stolen, that makes you a thief. Paul said in 1 Cor 6:9 that such people will not be saved, or cannot be saved. They’re not following the law.
While it is Biblical that it takes one act of adultery, theft or murder to become a Bible-defined adulterer, thief or murderer, Matt Slick would adamantly DENY that such people are not saved, if they were previously saved!
Matt Slick believes there are two types of adulterers, two types of thieves, two types of murderers, etc. One type is unsaved, but the other type is indeed saved and will never get off the road to heaven regardless how far they drift from Christ. Though Matt Slick didn't mention that in this video, it is his doctrine and can be found sprinkled throughout his ministry’s teachings.
If you remember what Matt Slick just said about 1 Cor. 6:9, he added the words, They’re not following the law. That is NOT in your Bible, my Bible or any Bible. Matt Slick's gospel makes that up to change the force of 1 Cor. 6:9,10 and to remove it from its context to allow for such wickedness after getting saved.
The 1 Cor. 6:9,10 passage was originally written to people who had already been born again, about an unnamed wicked man in their congregation who was sexually immoral and needed to be expelled. All of that is found in chapter 5. Paul called that same man wicked in 1 Cor. 5:13 (or unsaved) and less than one dozen verses later, Paul reiterates that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God. No sexually immoral person, thief, swindler, drunk, sodomite, etc. will inherit the kingdom of God, according to the Bible. That is fact before or after getting born again!
That is Paul’s consistent message in 1 Cor. 6:9,10; Eph. 5:5-7; Gal. 5:19-21; etc. but not the message of Calvinism or their gospel. All Calvinists teach the same dangerous way. It doesn’t matter if it’s Ray Comfort, John MacArthur, R. C. Spoul, John Piper, Matt Slick or whomever. Their false theology of Calvinism will not allow them to teach those basic truths.
So Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross and died with them, satisfying the wrath of God. This is called the gospel. 1 Corinthians 5 verses 3 through 4 says this: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
As is typical, the once saved always saved people, when mentioning the gospel, usually go to 1 Cor. 15:3,4 and carefully avoid the verse before like the plague! Why? Because what it says is so clear and destructive to their gospel. It says:
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Cor 15:2)
The real gospel extends over and beyond the point of getting born again, according to that verse. Did you catch that? Here it is again:
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. (1 Cor 15:2)
Christians can come to a place where they have believed in vain after getting born again, according to the real gospel. It is their responsibility under grace, not law or a works salvation, to hold firmly to the word. That vital part of the real gospel is missing from the false gospel of Calvinism, as you just heard. Now listen to this:
This means that the person who receives Christ is to turn from his sins, to stop lying, stop cheating, stop stealing, etc. It means to live for Jesus and not for himself. It means to trust Christ when circumstances get difficult. It means to put him above all things. This isn’t always easy but is what we’re called to do if we become Christians.
Matt Slick neglected to add that that he believes if a person becomes a Christian, then starts again to lie, cheat, steal, live for himself again, etc., he will still remain saved. If Matt Slick ludicrously believes like other Calvinists that Paul was the worst of sinners, and that Rom. 7:14-25 is the typical Christian life then he can always fall back on that, if shown his deadly error.
Calvinists have a double message and loathe telling others what they really believe about King David remaining saved when in adultery and murder. Matt Slick is no exception! They all believe that King David when backslid is an example of an elect person who strayed into sin but always remained saved. That means others can do the same too, according to their deadly version of grace and the gospel! Matt Slick slips a noose around his own neck with this:
And finally, the person who is to trust in Jesus must know what he’s getting into. He needs to take it seriously and he needs to count the cost. This way you won’t be inadvertently inoculating the person from Jesus by presenting a false gospel.
Matt Slick mentioned a potential follower of Jesus needs to take getting saved seriously and count the cost, but what does that mean to a Calvinist? To them it means, you should obey and be faithful to God, but if you’re not you’ll still go to heaven because you can never again get back on the road to hell. Once in grace always in grace, according to them! Matt Slick's license for immorality is why there are people professing to be Christians and at the same time lusting, getting drunk, committing adultery, stealing, lying, hating, swindling, being dishonest in business affairs, etc.
If Matt Slick is a 5 point Calvinist, he also believes in double predestination. That means if you are not chosen by God to salvation you cannot and never will get a chance at salvation. That would also mean he believes in limited atonement or the false idea that Jesus did NOT die for all of mankind, but only for the elect! Furthermore, Matt Slick's version of grace, if he is a five point Calvinist, is that it is irresistible and man has no free choice to reject it, as far as salvation.
The truth is: the real gospel of grace extends beyond initial salvation. It declares a conditional security for the believer in which the Christian is responsible to hold on, keep himself and put to death the deeds of the body, as he gets strength from God. Spiritual death is just as much a possibility for a Christian as it was for Adam and Eve before they sinned and died spiritually. Hence Jesus would teach those already saved that they would have to endure to the end to be saved (enter God’s kingdom)—Mt. 10:22—and if they disowned him, he would disown them (Mt. 10:33).
To teach a real Christian would never disown Christ is to display gross ignorance of the Scriptures, for the Apostles did that very thing! We need to get saved and stay saved, which does not always happen and that’s definitely not the message of the Calvinistic gospel. So don't be deceived by Matt Slick, the director of CARM. Warn others about Matt Slick!
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