Grace and peace, saints.

A brother in Christ wrote me the following letter:

Greetings brother Tony,

I have a couple of questions for you:

1.) Doesn’t all Jack Chick tracts preach a false gospel? The second-last page of every Chick tract point no.2 says .. “Be willing to turn from sin (repent)”. See http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Doctrines/Lordship%20Salvation/bad_tracts.htm for further information.

2.) On the subject of rapture what does 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, John 14:3, Matthew 26:29, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Jude 1:4, 1 Thessalonians 3:13.

If Christ returns with us, then we must obviously be with him before He comes. Jesus comes for us (the Rapture), to The Marriage Supper during the time of the Great Tribulation, then returns with us to reign.

Why is the Rapture is [sic] an important fundamental teaching of The Church? We are to encourage each other and not be as those with “no hope”. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Matthew 24:42-44, Matthew 25:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:4, Hebrews 9:28.

Regards,

Nathaniel Fernandes

This was my responce:

Dear Nathaniel:

First of all, forgive me, brother, for taking so long to respond to your question.  Secondly, I thank you for your question and am pleased that you appreciated the article.  I have been passing out Chick tracts for almost seven years now, and had come to trust them as biblically sound.  But as I matured in the Word, I came to see that Chick Publications in some respects preaches heresy, and as far as I am concerned, they are a tool of the Roman Catholic church, designed to deceive the sincere Christian who cannot be deceived by the devil’s many other devices.

Now with respect to the Rapture, you are absolutely right: we are not to be as those who have no hope, as 1 Thess. 4:13 tells us.  But it is important to understand the context in which Paul said this.  In this same verse Paul says that he doesn’t want the living saints to be ignorant concerning those who sleep in Jesus, and that they should sorrow not.  He follows this by saying in the next verse that as Jesus died and rose again, so shall He bring the dead saints with Him, which means that they shall also rise.

Apparently the living saints were worried that those saints that had already died would not be resurrected.  I say this because in verse 15 Paul says that the living saints “shall not prevent them which are asleep;” in other words, that the living saints would not be taken to the exclusion of the dead saints.  “Prevent” is also translated as “precede” which would also seem to suggest that it was thought that the living saints would be “raptured” before the dead saints.  This too, would be consistent with Rapture teaching.

It is clear that Rapture theology was already abroad in the Christian church, and the saints at Thessalonika, knowing that there is only one resurrection for those in Christ—living or dead, understood that if the Rapture only involves the living saints, then the dead saints would be left behind.  It is for this reason that in verse 17 Paul assures the church that both the living and dead saints—the quick and the dead—would be taken in the Resurrection and further admonishes us to “comfort one another with these words.”

Rapture theology was not formerly a fundamental teaching of the Christian church, which is why it is not found in the Bible.  The Rapture emphasizes the translation of the living saints into Heaven, and says absolutely nothing about the resurrection of the dead.  That is what makes it so dangerous.  It deceives people into believing that they will not see persecution during the Tribulation.  Because the moment you consider the dead saints in Christ, you have to accept that Christians will in fact pass through the fire: an unpleasant thought for most people.

Remember that Jesus said that he who would save his life would lose it, but he who would lose his life for Jesus’ sake would find it (Mat. 10:39, 16:25).  (That Jesus says this twice would suggest that we should heed this advice.)  We are not to concern ourselves so much with the prospect of dying for our witness that we would latch onto any doctrine that gives us a modicum of comfort and security, and, for fear of our lives, fail to witness to those who hate us.  Rapture theology not only gives Christians a false sense of security, but also encourages them to “love their lives unto death” and become ineffective Christians.  The result is a lukewarm Christian who doesn’t feel a burden for the lost and who goes to church merely to celebrate his own salvation.

REPENTANCE

Repentance is biblical.  Repentance is essential to salvation, as it is what leads us to confess our sins.  We are led to repent when the Holy Ghost convicts us of sin (John 16:8).  Scripture says that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  This agrees with 2 Peter 3:9, which teaches that God wants all men to come to repentance.  We know that the first words uttered by both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist during their ministries was “Repent!” (Mat. 3:2, 4:17), and Jesus also admonished the Pharisees and Saducees to “bring forth fruits meet for repentance (Mat. 3:8).  And the apostle Peter in the second and third chapters of the Book of Acts exhorts the Jews to repent (Acts 2:38, 3:19).  It is clear, therefore, that repentance is essential to salvation.

Now the webmaster at Jesus Is Savior, believes that repentance is unbiblical, evidenced by this statement:

“According to Jack Chick’s theology taught in every Chick tract, admitting being a sinner is not enough to be saved, there must also be a sincere desire to stop living in sin for that faith to be valid for salvation. That is not Biblical.“

While I don’t agree with all of Chick’s theology, the concept that repentance is essential for salvation is in fact, biblical, as we have just seen.  Merely admitting that one is a sinner is not enough to be saved, any more than merely believing in Jesus Christ, but not submitting to His authority or obeying his commandments makes one a Christian.  A sincere desire to stop sinning is crucial to salvation, because without it, one would soon be back to indiscriminately sinning as one did before coming to Jesus.  This is why so many backslide: they had not determined in their hearts to stop sinning and consequently, it was easy for Satan to beguile them into falling back into the same sinful habits.

Many have a problem with Jack’s claim that one must “be willing to turn away from sin,” but they fail to understand that all we can do is will.  We are powerless to stop sinning on our own.  If we could stop sinning, then we would also be capable of saving ourselves, and if this were true, then the sacrifice of Jesus would not have been necessary.  Jesus said that without Him we could do nothing (John 15:1), so it is impossible for us to stop sinning.  Therefore, all that is necessary is for us to be willing to turn away from sin, and this is inherent in the act of repentance.  God will then make it possible for us to stop sinning, “for it is God which worketh in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

With regard to “Lordship Salvation,” there is no such animal, as there is only salvation and damnation.  There is, however, the concept of accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord as well as making Him your Savior, and it is as simple as letting Him rule your thoughts and actions in addition to accepting His sacrifice on the cross.  This concept is encapsulated in the idea of “bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

You must understand that the teaching that repentance is unnecessary for salvation is dangerous, because repentance is what leads us to earnestly seek God’s forgiveness.  Would you accept someone’s apology for having wronged you if you knew they were not truly sorry?  It is no different with God.  The Bible says that “godly sorrow leads to repentance.” If one does not truly repent for having sinned against a Holy God and determine in his mind that he will eschew sin, he will not truly confess his sins before God, and his “salvation” will exist only in his mind.  Salvation begins with repentance.  To be clear, I said salvation begins with repentance.  Salvation is not repentance.

An example of the result of a claim to salvation without repentance is Roman Catholicism.  Roman Catholics consider themselves Christians because they have been baptized and pay lip service to Jesus, but because most have been baptized as infants, they have never truly repented for their sins and confessed their sins before God.  This is why they will come before a sinful man (priest) and confess their sins to him as often as they like instead of God.  There is no repentance involved; that is, there is no earnest desire to turn away from sin.  This is why Roman Catholics constantly commit the same sins over and over again and must continually go to confession.  It is also the reason why Roman Catholics are guilt-ridden and susceptible to all kinds of deceptions promoted as a means for them to obtain less time in a non-existent Purgatory.  Only sincere repentance and confession of sins is sufficient not only to obtain forgiveness for sins, but also to eliminate the crushing weight and guilt of sin.

To summarize, Chick tracts don’t preach a false Gospel; as the Gospel is that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died and shed His blood on the cross for the remission of our sins, was buried, rose on the third day, and is coming back.  In this regard, to my knowledge, Chick is on point.  They do however, advocate a false doctrine: that of the Rapture, in which Chick teaches Jesus will clandestinely whisk the saints to Heaven prior to the Tribulation.  This is a clear heresy, as the Bible only teaches a Resurrection of the quick and the dead.  However, Chick’s teaching of repentance as essential to salvation is scriptural, and I will concur with this teaching until the Spirit says otherwise.

I hope this helps.  God bless you and if you have any more questions, please be sure to let me know.