Evangelical Fail

Recently a well meaning acquaintance sent my bride a link to a website that explained the beliefs of the webmaster who rails against Ray Comfort, and John MacArthur.  He calls them both damnable heretics for the sin of telling people to avoid sin.

I've tried to go to the website of this man because the name of the website looks pretty uplifting, but the firewall at my work prevents you from accessing the website labeling it "Racism and Hate" which angered me at first. The author of this article and webmaster, David J. Stewart,  a Texan now living on Guam, rips into Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron with frenzied hysteria damning them for daring to make heretical statements such as

“Merely being sorry for your sins, or confessing them to God won't help you. You must turn from sin (repent).”

Looking at this quote quickly you will probably see nothing insidious, but look a little deeper as a saved Christian and you will see.... nothing insidious. But David J. Stewart does. In his own sad little world David J. Stewart believes something completely different. 

David J. Stewart goes on for a long time berating Ray Comfort for not understanding the bible because he sees a need for repentance. Quotes like this drive David J. Stewart into a frenzy of selfrighteous anger:

“The forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ is conditional upon ‘repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 20:21). It is a gift that God offers to everyone, but individuals must receive it by repenting and trusting in Christ, or they will remain dead in their sins. No one has Biblical grounds to continue in sin, assuming that they are safe just because Jesus died on the cross. See 1 John 3:4-6.” - THE EVIDENCE BIBLE, by Ray Comfort, pg. 1513; 2003, Bridge-Logos Publishers, Orlando, Florida

Still not seeing the problem I dug further. There's nothing wrong with Acts 20:21, Doctor Luke has never lead me astray, so I looked up 1 John 3:4-6 and I start to see the problem. It's kind of hard to actually see the problem because David J. Stewart's website looks like it was designed by a 13 year old in the early 90's using a black background and multicolored text to emphasize something that only David J. Stewart thinks needs emphasis. 

David J. Stewart has numerous problems with his criticisms of Ray Comfort and John MacArthur, one of which is that David J. Stewart reads only the King James Version of the bible. There is nothing wrong with standing firmly with the KJV if one has a good grasp of Elizabethan English which David J. Stewart does not. I do not have a strong grasp of Elizabethan English so I always always always parallel NKJV with the KJV. Elizabethan English is a dead language, deader than Latin, used only at Shakespeare summer stock theater. It was dying when the KJV was written.

Another problem David J. Stewart has is that if he doesn't understand what the person he's haranging is speaking about, he immediately assumes that no one else does, so he can just make stuff up. He accuses Ray Comfort of confusing repentance with asking for forgiveness. David J. Stewart knows that repentance comes from the Greek word "Metanoia" which means a change of mind, but he doesn't know what that means. He honestly thinks that repentance means to actively pursue a life free from sin. When Ray Comfort says

“Merely being sorry for your sins, or confessing them to God won't help you. You must turn from sin (repent).”

David J. Stewart explodes:

Heresy! That is self-righteousness! Adding even the slightest work of self-righteousness to the Gospel corrupts it into a false way, a false plan, a road to damnation.

Unfortunately it's David J. Stewart that is guiding his readers on a road to damnation, because God himself said that repenting is a pretty good thing:

30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31)

So while David J. Stewart is exposing a faith free from works but not free from sin, the brother of Christ Jesus Himself is calling to us from the pages of the bible saying

14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (James 2:14-17)

James goes so far as to call someone who does not think that faith without works is useless a fool in James 2:20 ( a 2000 year old smack down!). Like James says Abraham had faith in God, but he still exhibited that faith by works, by doing what God told him to do and he placed Isaac on the altar. 

22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:22-26)

So knowing this (and I checked, James is in the King James Version so David J. Steward can't have missed it if he read the bible with the faith he claims to have) why does David J. Stewart rail so much against repentance? Because repentance, changing your mind about your current life style, means moving away from sin, to make yourself a sacrifice to the Lord, it means living a life that my brother, Jesus Christ, would take joy in. 

David J. Steward's main problem is that he truly believes what he writes:

Man's only part in salvation is to believe on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins

What about repentance as we've seen in Acts 17:30 Mr. David J Steward? What about being born again as we heard Christ Jesus Himself tell us in John 3:3 Mr David J. Steward? I know a LOT of atheists that believe in Jesus personally I don't think they're saved. I also know a lot of saved Christians that believe in Satan, and personally I don't think they're damned to hell. I do know a guy who believes in furniture, but he's not an ottoman. It's almost like Mr. David J. Steward is saying that 'If you're saved you can sin all you want'

We are the sinners and Jesus is the Savior. It's that simple.

Oh... he is saying that. I wonder why. 

According to public records on file with the Superior Court of Guam, Mr. Stewart was charged with 2^nd Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct as a 1^st Degree Felony.  He was also charged with Child Abuse as a Misdemeanor.  He initially pled not guilty, but later entered into a plea agreement, pleading guilty to Child Abuse on October 29, 2010.  The terms of the judgment include a fine of $100; 2 years supervised probation; 100 hours of community service; stay away from victim; not threaten/strike/injure the victim; report to Client Services for counseling; report to Dept of Mental Health and Substance Abuse; Turn in passport; not leave Guam; comply with court orders; obey all laws of Guam. 
He has a progress hearing scheduled for February 14, 2011 at 9 a.m. before the Honorable Judge Anita Sukola. 
Regards,
Maria Teresa B. CenzonDirector of Policy Planning  & Community RelationsJudiciary of GuamGuam Judicial Center120 West O’Brien DriveHagatna, Guam 96910

That's why.  Note to the world: I also believe in Child Molesters  and to be honest I don't think I'll be sharing heaven with this one.