Tony Evans PERVERTED Sexual Purity

A Critical Book Review

Dan Corner

Tony Evans' Eternal Security License To Sin

The book written by Tony Evans entitled, Tony Evans Speaks Out On Sexual Purity [1995: Anthony T. Evans, Moody Press, Chicago] is only 53 pages in length, but in those pages he writes on a very common problem of our day—sexual immorality.
For those who sit under his teaching influence, this review of his heretical teachings may prove to be most beneficial.
[All bold emphasis is our own.] Tony Evans, president of The Urban Alternative, claims that he wants to give us the truth about sex:

His Word puts it on the line when it comes to telling the truth about sex, and that's what I want to do in this booklet. (p. 8)

Testing Tony Evans' Teachings

Let's see if Tony's beliefs and teachings line up with the Bible by testing them with the Scriptures (1 Thess. 5:21 cf. 2 Tim. 3:16,17). What happens in the life of a sexually immoral person, according to Tony Evans is always BAD, but will never negate one's salvation, as the Bible wants us to know! Tony Evans says:

... what is good becomes destructive. What was created in heaven becomes a mixture from hell (p. 7)

But immorality in any form does tremendous damage. (p. 14)

But sex cannot be equated with food—there is much more at stake. (p. 17)

Flee immorality ... it is unlike any other sin in its destructive nature. (p. 27)

Nothing can compare with it because sexual sin carries its own built-in, self-deteriorating mechanism. (p. 27)

So it is a very serious thing to unleash one's sexuality outside the safety of a lifelong, one-flesh marriage. (p. 29)

... if you are unmarried but are physically involved with another person so that you are functioning as married people—that is not good. (p. 31)

Single person ... it is good to avoid lighting the fire of sexual passion, to abstain from immorality. (p. 31)

From the above quotes, we can conclude that the danger Tony Evans places on sex outside of marriage includes the following:

    it becomes destructive and a mixture from hell

    immorality does tremendous damage

    there is much more at stake than with food

    it is unlike any other sin in its destructive nature

    sexual sin carries its own built-in, self-deteriorating mechanism

    it is a very serious thing

    it is not good

    it is good to abstain

Tony Evans continues on with his less than lethal consequences of sexual immorality:

It's like a fire. Contained in the fireplace, a fire keeps everybody warm. Set the fire free, though, and the whole house burns. You don't want the fire in your house to be free. You want it contained so that it can generate warmth and not destruction. (p. 17)

... if it was just a momentary passion or a fling, then you must pull away. But in the pulling away, you tear away a part of yourself. Obviously, the more times you engage in this destructive process, the more of you is left behind and the greater the damage ... So it is when there is a merger of two people in sexual intercourse. When they try to tear that relationship apart, they tear themselves, and a part of them is left behind. (p. 22).

Remember, after the intimacy, when he walks away, he takes part of you with him. (p. 33)

He also teaches that sexual impurity is the ultimate lie, but doesn't give any Biblical validation:

Paul is not saying that sex outside of marriage is wrong simply because two warm bodies come together. Something much more significant is happening. Sex outside of marriage is the ultimate lie ... (p. 21).

In Tony Evans' eternal security view, sexual immorality is the ultimate lie, ... because two people are performing the act of marriage without commitment (p. 21).

Tony Evans Mentions The High Price

Tony Evans even mentions the “high price” of sexual sin, but NOT as the Bible says:

But the price tag for this purchase is high indeed: high in medical costs for AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); high in the guilt that sends people to professional counselors; high in the death rate as unwanted children are aborted on the altar of convenience; high in welfare costs as the government must dole out money to take care of children who don't have a pair of parents to watch over them; and high in the divorce rate (p. 7)

That is what happens when people abandon God's ideal for sex. You wind up with a generation of unwanted and uncared-for children, women with no one to marry, and men who have badly misunderstood the meaning of masculinity. (p. 13)

Tony Evans declares his version of the price tag for this special kind of sin. Obviously, he doesn't believe there are any soul-damning spiritual ramifications even though he claims, “Sex uniquely combines the physical and the spiritual.” (p. 27) He went on to say:

The body and the spirit are closely linked. For the Christian, sex is a spiritual issue. You cannot worship God on Sunday and enter into sexual immorality on Monday and keep those separate, because your body, and not just your spirit, is for the Lord. (p. 18)

He also tells us of other supposed calamities that will befall the sexually immoral:

Immorality ... will shred your very life. (p. 28)

... when we engage in immorality, we start to self-destruct. (p. 29)

HERETIC Tony Evans tries to convince us that the only consequence to a life of immorality is that you'll lose a part of yourself, may get AIDS or an STD, need to see a counselor, abort your unwanted child, contribute to welfare costs and get a divorce. Does this sound like what you have read in your Bible?

"Christians" Struggling With Sexual Sin!?

Tony Evans believes there are many Christians today struggling with sexual sin—even including deviant sexual behaviors:

I am not unaware that many Christians today struggle with sexual sin, from fornication and adultery to homosexuality and any number of other deviant sexual behaviors. (p. 15)

Do they lose their salvation? Holding to his tradition of eternal security, he claims all they need to do is rededicate themselves to Christ:

Yes, there is forgiveness for sin, and a person who has fallen sexually can rededicate himself or herself to Christ. (p. 14)

In fact, Tony Evans believes while a Christian is sexually immoral, the Spirit is still living in his body:

Well, the Bible says that every time you have sexual intercourse, you are in church, because the Spirit is living in your body and your body is His temple. (p. 28)

Again, Tony Evans offers no biblical justification, though he claimed he was going to give us the truth from the Word on this subject. His opinions are less than of little value since they are lethally wrong. Furthermore, they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence:

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Col. 2:23)

The Woman Caught In Adultery

Referring to the woman caught in adultery in Jn. 8:1-11, Tony Evans even teaches more heresy as he wears his eternal security shades:

... Jesus neither minimized this woman's sin nor pummeled her with it, as the others wanted to do. He recognized it, forgave it, and told her to turn from it. (p. 49)

In typical eternal security fashion, Tony Evans believes that Jesus didn't condemn the woman for her adultery. This is a common misconception. Examining the entire passage, we find that what Jesus didn't condemn her to was stoning to death, as was the penalty under the Mosaic law for adultery:

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:1-11)

Forgiveness Is Needed

One last important difference should be dealt with regarding Tony Evans' message and the Biblical record:

... you are going to have to forgive the abuser and place him or her in the hands of God so that you can move on with your life. (p. 45)

Tony Evans is partly correct. We must forgive those who sin against us, but this is not so that you can move on with your life. The Biblical record shows that we must forgive so that we can also be forgiven. Jesus, speaking to his disciples, declares:

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Mt. 6:14, 15).

God's Holiness Standard For Salvation

There is definitely one thing in his booklet that we agree on:

We must fight for God's standard. (p. 14)

Amen, but unlike the eternal security teachers, God's Biblical standard to be proclaimed is — holiness for salvation:

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Heb. 12:14)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Mt 5:8)

Nothing impure will ever enter it (the Holy City, New Jerusalem, v.10), nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life (Rev. 21:27).

To reject the Biblical teaching on this is to reject God:

It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 4:3-8).

An Issue With Salvation Consequences

As was cited at the beginning of this article, Tony Evans was correct when he said that God's Word gives us the truth about sexual immorality. Unfortunately, this is not what Tony Evans has declared. He neglected to mention vital salvation truths about the lethal seriousness of sexual sin. Please take to heart the following biblical truths (which eternal security proponents avoid) and act accordingly for the sake of your eternal soul. Don't be deceived by the fine-sounding arguments of the eternal security teachers. At times they even try to justify their doctrine under the infinite work of Christ. Do not be deceived.

What comes out of a man is what makes him “unclean.” For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man “unclean.” (Mark 7:20-23)

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)

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)

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)

Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Rev 22:15)

In Summary

In summary, we must agree with Tony Evans on the following:

... the wrong folks are doing the teaching on this subject (p. 13).

The wrong folks are indeed teaching on this subject. Yet these are the ones who are highly respected, admired, supported and praised. Tony Evans himself is of that group, as well as many other eternal security teachers. Unfortunately, for millions today, their messages/teachings are really deadly poison but they continue to go virtually unnoticed. At other times they flatly deny the clear truths of Scripture regarding the spiritual death that will result from sexual sin in the life of a Christian. Hence, their message is especially enticing to new converts:

For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. (2 Pet. 2:18)

Whom shall we believe?

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. (Eph. 5:5,6).

GOD BLESS YOU.

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