Repentance 101
PLEASE NOTE: I changed up the way I’m sharing information and am now on Youtube. You should definitely come check out my channel. Click the link, and I’ll see you there! (FYI - My beliefs have changed on some subjects since writing for this website.)
Welcome to Repentance School. We will be learning about the oftentimes misunderstood concept of “repentance.” A word of warning: Lordship Salvationists have a 100% failure rate in this class.
What is repentance? Here are some very popular definitions:
“Repentance is turning away from your sins.”
“Repentance is being willing to turn from your sins.”
“Repentance is feeling sorrow for your sins.”
Many religious teachers and websites will be more than happy to define repentance for you. What they will not do, however, is give any compelling evidence to support their claims. They will not give you any reasons to believe that their definitions of repentance are correct. You are just expected to believe what you are told because you were told it. This type of thing is done all the time. For example, evolution is presented in public schools as a scientific fact, when in reality, it is only a theory. Theories should never be presented as facts, and false definitions should never be given to words. Anyone can make any claim they want to. That does not make the claim true. Imagine if I said the following:
“On clear days, the sky is green.”
Now you know better than that. But suppose I said that absurd statement anyway, hoping you would accept it as fact without questioning it. That is precisely the mentality of religious people who have been incorrectly defining repentance for years. You can take them at their word, which is backed by nothing, or you can read this page and learn the truth. I will be using the King James Bible, logical thinking, and common sense. When we let the Bible itself define repentance, we no longer need the misguided opinions of religious teachers, who have no understanding of what repentance truly is. They may as well be teaching that the sky is green.
I claim that repentance is a “rethinking,” or “a change of mind.” Lordship Salvationists and religious resources claim that repentance is “turning from sin,” “being willing to turn from sin,” “feeling sorrow for personal sins,” or any combination of these. Not only do I differ from the religious crowd on their definitions of repentance, I further differentiate myself by providing you with evidence to support my claims. I will show you why repentance is in fact a rethinking, and I will show you why all those other definitions are false.
“Repentance is turning away from your sins.”
“Repentance is being willing to turn from your sins.”
“Repentance is feeling sorrow for your sins.”
Many religious teachers and websites will be more than happy to define repentance for you. What they will not do, however, is give any compelling evidence to support their claims. They will not give you any reasons to believe that their definitions of repentance are correct. You are just expected to believe what you are told because you were told it. This type of thing is done all the time. For example, evolution is presented in public schools as a scientific fact, when in reality, it is only a theory. Theories should never be presented as facts, and false definitions should never be given to words. Anyone can make any claim they want to. That does not make the claim true. Imagine if I said the following:
“On clear days, the sky is green.”
Now you know better than that. But suppose I said that absurd statement anyway, hoping you would accept it as fact without questioning it. That is precisely the mentality of religious people who have been incorrectly defining repentance for years. You can take them at their word, which is backed by nothing, or you can read this page and learn the truth. I will be using the King James Bible, logical thinking, and common sense. When we let the Bible itself define repentance, we no longer need the misguided opinions of religious teachers, who have no understanding of what repentance truly is. They may as well be teaching that the sky is green.
I claim that repentance is a “rethinking,” or “a change of mind.” Lordship Salvationists and religious resources claim that repentance is “turning from sin,” “being willing to turn from sin,” “feeling sorrow for personal sins,” or any combination of these. Not only do I differ from the religious crowd on their definitions of repentance, I further differentiate myself by providing you with evidence to support my claims. I will show you why repentance is in fact a rethinking, and I will show you why all those other definitions are false.
Was God a Sinner?
I own a “Funk & Wagnalls College Standard Dictionary” from 1946. According to this book, here is the definition of the word “repent”:
“1. To feel repentance for; experience sorrow for sin, with desire to amend; loosely, to experience regret. 2. To cause to feel repentance or regret: in archaic use often impersonal or reflexive; as, it repented him.”
Meanwhile, the following is what this book declares to be the definition of the word “repentance”:
“A turning with sorrow from a past sinful course or action; loosely, regret or contrition.”
I looked up the word “contrition,” which was defined in the following way:
“Sincere sorrow for sin, wrong-doing, or offense, especially as arising from a sense of the baseness of sin and of God’s loving mercy and grace; deep penitence; brokenness of spirit.”
From these definitions, we see that repentance is a concept which revolves around the idea of feeling badly about sin. Sin is always associated with this feeling, according to this dictionary. But wait…. Don’t I teach that repentance is a change of mind?
As you know by now, if you have read much of anything on my website, I do indeed teach that repentance means to have a change of mind. When it comes to the subject of salvation, repentance means to have a changed mind and believe on Jesus Christ. It means to change from unbelief to belief on Jesus.
Lordship Salvationists hold staunchly to the idea that repentance is “turning from sin” or “feeling godly sorrow.” If you read the dictionary definition of repentance, you will be made to believe that those ideas are true. Therefore, repentance would have an unbreakable connection to sin.
Now, let’s look at this rationally. If repentance is tied to sin, and since it would be impossible for God to sin, then it is safe to say that it would be impossible for God to experience repentance. How could God desire to change His sinful ways? How could God feel regret for His sinful actions? He could do neither of those things, because He cannot sin. I will say it again: If repentance is defined as something a person experiences because of their sin, then God cannot repent. Ok then. What do you make of the following verses from the Bible?
Genesis 6:6: “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
Exodus 32:14: “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
Deuteronomy 32:36: “For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.”
Judges 2:18: “And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”
1st Samuel 15:35: “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
Psalm 106:45: “And he (God) remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.”
Jeremiah 26:13: “Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.”
Amos 7:3: “The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.”
Amos 7:6: “The Lord repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.”
Jonah 3:10: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
Oh my. Now we have a problem. The dictionary says that repentance is always in relation to sin. So how could God repent?
Fifty-four experienced translators worked for seven years to bring us the King James Bible of 1611. I believe that back then, repentance clearly had a different definition than the one that became associated with it later on. Who are you going to listen to? A dictionary or the Bible? Did you know that words can have their meanings changed? Did you know that the word “gay” used to mean “joyful” and “merry”? Repentance could not always have been so tied to the concept of sin. Otherwise, those fifty-four translators were calling God a sinner.
So who are you going to listen to? Who will you allow to define this misunderstood word? Repentance is defined in two ways. One definition comes from the Bible.
2nd Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
The other definition comes from the writings of men, be they religious books or dictionaries.
Romans 3:4: “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.”
If you believe that repentance is turning from sin or feeling sorrow for sin, then you are calling God a sinner. If you let the Bible define repentance, then you will agree that repentance is to experience a change of mind. To further illustrate this point, consider the following:
Romans 11:29: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
In the preceding verse, does repentance have anything to do with sin? Absolutely not. When you realize that repentance in the Bible is a change of mind, you will understand that God’s gifts and calling are things that God will not change His mind about. If God did change His mind about His gifts, then eternal life would not be secure for the believer on Jesus Christ, because salvation is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:15-18).
Let’s say, however, that you are reading this and shaking your head. Perhaps you believe that repentance can also simply mean to feel regret, without the need for sin to be present. Ok. Then how do you explain the following?
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
If repent means to feel regret, what is one supposed to feel regret about? Anything they choose? “I wish I had chosen to have my ice cream sundae topped with strawberries instead of chocolate. I regret that choice. And I believe the Gospel.” No. If repentance means feeling regret, then people would need to be told what they must feel regret for. If you believe that repentance automatically means feeling regret for sin, then you are calling God a sinner, because God has repented. If God can repent, and people were told to repent, then repentance must be something easy enough for all of us to do. Changing your mind is a very simple thing to do. Have you ever put on an article of clothing, and then when you felt the temperature outside, you changed your outfit? That is repenting. Have you ever planned on doing something, and then later you decided not to? That is repenting. When it comes to salvation, you must change your mind from unbelief on Jesus Christ to belief on Him. If you believe there is no God, you are headed for a rude awakening. If you trust in your own good life to save you, you are headed for Hell. If, for salvation, you believe in anything other than the fact that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried for three days, and rose again to justify those who believe on Him, then you are on a collision course with destruction.
Acts 20:21: “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The unsaved person must change his mind concerning God and place his faith in Jesus Christ. Does the preceding verse say “repentance from sin”? No. It says “repentance toward God”.
Acts 10:43: “To him (Jesus) give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
We would all be much better off if “Christians” would stop tripping over what repentance is and just let the Bible speak for itself. We would also be better off if “Bibles” other than the King James Version were tossed out with last week’s garbage. Those other “Bibles” have altered various forms of the word “repent” many times throughout their pages in order to obscure the true meaning of Biblical repentance. This was a sneaky attack meant to cause confusion, and God is not the author of confusion (1st Corinthians 14:33). We will be examining this topic in detail in a later lesson below (“Satan’s Master Plan: Bibles From Hell”).
“1. To feel repentance for; experience sorrow for sin, with desire to amend; loosely, to experience regret. 2. To cause to feel repentance or regret: in archaic use often impersonal or reflexive; as, it repented him.”
Meanwhile, the following is what this book declares to be the definition of the word “repentance”:
“A turning with sorrow from a past sinful course or action; loosely, regret or contrition.”
I looked up the word “contrition,” which was defined in the following way:
“Sincere sorrow for sin, wrong-doing, or offense, especially as arising from a sense of the baseness of sin and of God’s loving mercy and grace; deep penitence; brokenness of spirit.”
From these definitions, we see that repentance is a concept which revolves around the idea of feeling badly about sin. Sin is always associated with this feeling, according to this dictionary. But wait…. Don’t I teach that repentance is a change of mind?
As you know by now, if you have read much of anything on my website, I do indeed teach that repentance means to have a change of mind. When it comes to the subject of salvation, repentance means to have a changed mind and believe on Jesus Christ. It means to change from unbelief to belief on Jesus.
Lordship Salvationists hold staunchly to the idea that repentance is “turning from sin” or “feeling godly sorrow.” If you read the dictionary definition of repentance, you will be made to believe that those ideas are true. Therefore, repentance would have an unbreakable connection to sin.
Now, let’s look at this rationally. If repentance is tied to sin, and since it would be impossible for God to sin, then it is safe to say that it would be impossible for God to experience repentance. How could God desire to change His sinful ways? How could God feel regret for His sinful actions? He could do neither of those things, because He cannot sin. I will say it again: If repentance is defined as something a person experiences because of their sin, then God cannot repent. Ok then. What do you make of the following verses from the Bible?
Genesis 6:6: “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
Exodus 32:14: “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
Deuteronomy 32:36: “For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.”
Judges 2:18: “And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”
1st Samuel 15:35: “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
Psalm 106:45: “And he (God) remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.”
Jeremiah 26:13: “Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.”
Amos 7:3: “The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.”
Amos 7:6: “The Lord repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.”
Jonah 3:10: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
Oh my. Now we have a problem. The dictionary says that repentance is always in relation to sin. So how could God repent?
Fifty-four experienced translators worked for seven years to bring us the King James Bible of 1611. I believe that back then, repentance clearly had a different definition than the one that became associated with it later on. Who are you going to listen to? A dictionary or the Bible? Did you know that words can have their meanings changed? Did you know that the word “gay” used to mean “joyful” and “merry”? Repentance could not always have been so tied to the concept of sin. Otherwise, those fifty-four translators were calling God a sinner.
So who are you going to listen to? Who will you allow to define this misunderstood word? Repentance is defined in two ways. One definition comes from the Bible.
2nd Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
The other definition comes from the writings of men, be they religious books or dictionaries.
Romans 3:4: “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.”
If you believe that repentance is turning from sin or feeling sorrow for sin, then you are calling God a sinner. If you let the Bible define repentance, then you will agree that repentance is to experience a change of mind. To further illustrate this point, consider the following:
Romans 11:29: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
In the preceding verse, does repentance have anything to do with sin? Absolutely not. When you realize that repentance in the Bible is a change of mind, you will understand that God’s gifts and calling are things that God will not change His mind about. If God did change His mind about His gifts, then eternal life would not be secure for the believer on Jesus Christ, because salvation is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:15-18).
Let’s say, however, that you are reading this and shaking your head. Perhaps you believe that repentance can also simply mean to feel regret, without the need for sin to be present. Ok. Then how do you explain the following?
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
If repent means to feel regret, what is one supposed to feel regret about? Anything they choose? “I wish I had chosen to have my ice cream sundae topped with strawberries instead of chocolate. I regret that choice. And I believe the Gospel.” No. If repentance means feeling regret, then people would need to be told what they must feel regret for. If you believe that repentance automatically means feeling regret for sin, then you are calling God a sinner, because God has repented. If God can repent, and people were told to repent, then repentance must be something easy enough for all of us to do. Changing your mind is a very simple thing to do. Have you ever put on an article of clothing, and then when you felt the temperature outside, you changed your outfit? That is repenting. Have you ever planned on doing something, and then later you decided not to? That is repenting. When it comes to salvation, you must change your mind from unbelief on Jesus Christ to belief on Him. If you believe there is no God, you are headed for a rude awakening. If you trust in your own good life to save you, you are headed for Hell. If, for salvation, you believe in anything other than the fact that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried for three days, and rose again to justify those who believe on Him, then you are on a collision course with destruction.
Acts 20:21: “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The unsaved person must change his mind concerning God and place his faith in Jesus Christ. Does the preceding verse say “repentance from sin”? No. It says “repentance toward God”.
Acts 10:43: “To him (Jesus) give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
We would all be much better off if “Christians” would stop tripping over what repentance is and just let the Bible speak for itself. We would also be better off if “Bibles” other than the King James Version were tossed out with last week’s garbage. Those other “Bibles” have altered various forms of the word “repent” many times throughout their pages in order to obscure the true meaning of Biblical repentance. This was a sneaky attack meant to cause confusion, and God is not the author of confusion (1st Corinthians 14:33). We will be examining this topic in detail in a later lesson below (“Satan’s Master Plan: Bibles From Hell”).
The True Definition of Repentance
The following is a footnote concerning “repentance” from my Scofield Reference Bible:
“Repentance is the translation of a Greek word (metanoia--metanoeo) meaning, “to have another mind,” “to change the mind,” and is used in the New Testament to indicate a change of mind in respect of sin, of God, and of self.”
The Greek word “metanoia,” or “metanoeo,” was translated as “repentance” in the New Testament, while in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word “nacham” was the word that became “repentance.” In regards to the word “nacham,” the Scofield Bible says that “it is evident, from a study of all the passages, that the sacred writers use it in the sense of metanoia in the New Testament – a change of mind.”
But how can all of this be? Isn’t “repentance” always defined in modern “Christianity” as a “turning away from sin?” Can “repentance” really be just a simple “change of mind?” Could that even be possible?
Yes. At some point in time, the dictionary definition of “repentance” was tampered with, probably by influential and legalistic religious people, quite possibly Catholics, in order to manipulate the word “repentance” to fit their false doctrine. Ironically, the true definition of “repentance” is still contained in the very DNA of the word itself. Would you like to see what the word “repent” breaks down into? We will start by taking a look at the word “pensive.”
According to thefreedictionary.com, the word “pensive” can mean the following:
1. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful.
2. Suggestive or expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness.
Pensive is also described in the following way:
pensive (‘pensiv) adjective
thinking deeply (about something). a pensive mood.”
Synonyms for pensive are “contemplative, reflective, meditative, thoughtful”.
Pensive is “from Old French pensif, from penser to think, from Latin pensāre to consider.”
The prefix “re” means “again.” Place “re” in front of “penser,” replace the “ser” at the end with a “t,” and you end up with a new verb. You now have the English word “repent.” Repent means to “think again,” or to “reconsider.” That sounds quite similar to the definition for that Greek word “metanoia,” or “metanoeo.” It seems that the word “repent” was a good choice by the scholars who translated the New King James Bible into English.
So “repent” means to “think again.” Remember this. We will return to this thought in the next lesson.
“Repentance is the translation of a Greek word (metanoia--metanoeo) meaning, “to have another mind,” “to change the mind,” and is used in the New Testament to indicate a change of mind in respect of sin, of God, and of self.”
The Greek word “metanoia,” or “metanoeo,” was translated as “repentance” in the New Testament, while in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word “nacham” was the word that became “repentance.” In regards to the word “nacham,” the Scofield Bible says that “it is evident, from a study of all the passages, that the sacred writers use it in the sense of metanoia in the New Testament – a change of mind.”
But how can all of this be? Isn’t “repentance” always defined in modern “Christianity” as a “turning away from sin?” Can “repentance” really be just a simple “change of mind?” Could that even be possible?
Yes. At some point in time, the dictionary definition of “repentance” was tampered with, probably by influential and legalistic religious people, quite possibly Catholics, in order to manipulate the word “repentance” to fit their false doctrine. Ironically, the true definition of “repentance” is still contained in the very DNA of the word itself. Would you like to see what the word “repent” breaks down into? We will start by taking a look at the word “pensive.”
According to thefreedictionary.com, the word “pensive” can mean the following:
1. Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful.
2. Suggestive or expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness.
Pensive is also described in the following way:
pensive (‘pensiv) adjective
thinking deeply (about something). a pensive mood.”
Synonyms for pensive are “contemplative, reflective, meditative, thoughtful”.
Pensive is “from Old French pensif, from penser to think, from Latin pensāre to consider.”
The prefix “re” means “again.” Place “re” in front of “penser,” replace the “ser” at the end with a “t,” and you end up with a new verb. You now have the English word “repent.” Repent means to “think again,” or to “reconsider.” That sounds quite similar to the definition for that Greek word “metanoia,” or “metanoeo.” It seems that the word “repent” was a good choice by the scholars who translated the New King James Bible into English.
So “repent” means to “think again.” Remember this. We will return to this thought in the next lesson.
Is
Repentance the Same Thing as Penitence?
I believe that one of the reasons repentance gets so bogged down with an assumed connection to sin is because the word “repentance” sounds similar to “penitence.”
“Repentance, also called penitence, is the God-granted attitude of having sorrow for personal sin and the turning away from it towards a new life.” – theopedia.com
As you can see, some religious “experts” claim that repentance is the same thing as penitence. According to thefreedictionary.com, penitence can be defined as “the state of being penitent; regret for one’s wrongdoing or sinning; repentance.”
So penitence is regret for wrongdoing or sin. The word “repentance” is even given in the official definition! We are going to see if repentance could indeed be penitence. We are going to see if it makes sense from a logical perspective and/or from a Biblical perspective.
Does it make sense logically?
As stated before, the prefix “re” means “again.” If the prefix “re” was placed in front of “penitence,” then you might end up with “repentance.” Here’s the problem: Do you realize that not everyone has experienced penitence? Not everyone has felt sorry or regretful for their wrongdoing and sin. So how could a person do something again, when they have never done it before? But it gets even worse. Many people don’t even know that they are sinners!
Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that what things soever the law (the Ten Commandments) saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
If a person does not believe in the Ten Commandments, then they also do not even believe that they are a sinner, because the very knowledge of sin comes from the Ten Commandments. Why would you be sorry for something you are not even aware that you did/are doing? So you see how it is that many people have never experienced penitence. They may know that some things they have done have been wrong, but they do not consider them sins, because that definition is not in their understanding. Other things in their life that they do not consider wrong at all are sins as well. If “repentance” means “re-penitence,” there would be a problem. You could not tell these people to “re-penitence.” You would have to tell these people to feel “penitence,” since “repentance,” or “re-penitence,” would mean to experience penitence again.
(Let me direct your attention once again to a word we learned about in the previous lesson: “Pensive.” Pensive means “deeply thoughtful.” While not everyone has felt penitence, everyone has thought about something, meaning everyone has been pensive. Repentance has become intertwined with the subject of sin because it looks like the word “repentance” came from “penitence,” which is to feel regret for wrongdoing or sin. After letting the Bible itself define what repentance is from its many uses of the word, in one form or another, it becomes clear that “penitence” is not what “repentance” was derived from. “Pensive” is the much more likely candidate. Again, pensive is “from Old French pensif, from penser to think, from Latin pensāre to consider.” Take the word “pensive,” drop the “–sive,” add a “t,” and you make pensive into a verb. Add the prefix “re,” and you have “repent.” Since pensive means “deeply thoughtful,” or even “meditative,” and “re” means “again,” then to repent means to “rethink,” or to “think again.” You could call it “re-pensive,” as in “rethinking,” but “repent” would be the verb form.)
Does it make sense Biblically?
I am going to give you three reasons why repentance cannot be the same thing as penitence. The most important thing to keep in mind is that these three reasons are taken straight from the Bible.
Reason 1: God repented.
The Bible teaches that God repented on multiple occasions (See my lesson “Was God a Sinner?” above). The dictionary says that “repentance” is the same thing as “penitence.” The dictionary teaches that penitence is “regret for one’s wrongdoing or sinning; repentance.” Therefore, the dictionary is calling God a sinner.
Since penitence means to be sorry for wrongdoing and sin, God could never be penitent. God has never committed sin, and God has never committed any wrongdoing. However, God can rethink things, and God did rethink things throughout the Old Testament. That is why it was stated many times that God repented.
Reason 2: Penitence cannot be substituted for repentance in Scripture.
2nd Corinthians 7:8: “For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”
If repentance is the same thing as penitence, then you could change the preceding verse to say the following:
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not feel regret for my sins, though I did feel regret for my sins: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”
That makes no sense at all. The apostle Paul had written a letter to rebuke the Christians at the church of Corinth. The letter had made the Corinthian believers feel sorry for their misconduct. So why would Paul say that he felt no regret for his sins? It doesn’t add up. But what if “I do not repent” was actually referring to the fact that Paul was not changing his mind? Paul’s letter had served its purpose, and Paul was not having any second thoughts about having written it, though he had for a time. Consider another verse of Scripture:
Romans 11:29: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
If repentance is the same thing as penitence, then you could change the preceding verse to say the following:
“For the gifts and calling of God are without regret for sinning.”
That makes no sense at all. But what if the “repentance” was instead referring to a change of mind? Then you would be left with a verse that teaches that God will not change His mind about His gifts or His callings. That makes more sense. But that would mean that repentance could not be the same thing as penitence. Trying to force the definition of “penitence” onto the word “repentance” in the two preceding verses is like trying to cram a square block into a circular hole.
Reason 3: Penitence is not necessary for salvation.
In some passages of Scripture, repentance is mentioned alongside the subject of salvation, suggesting that repentance is required in order to be saved. But what part does repentance play when it comes to eternal salvation? If you think that repentance is the same thing as penitence, then let me ask you some questions. Did the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) feel regret for his sins before he was saved? Did the eunuch (Acts 8:26-39) feel regret for his sins before he was saved? Was the prison guard (Acts16:25-34) told to feel regret for his sins in order to be saved? The answer to all of these questions is the same: NO! If penitence must be felt in order to receive eternal salvation, then God made exceptions in these three cases, and God does not make exceptions for how a person gets saved (Ephesians 4:4-6).
So what part does repentance play in receiving eternal salvation? Let me show you.
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (the good news about Jesus Christ).”
People must change their minds from unbelief in the Gospel to belief in the Gospel.
Acts 20:21: “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
People must rethink how they feel toward/about God, or what they believe about Him, and they must place their faith in Jesus Christ. The rest is up to God, and He promises to save anyone who believes on His Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
1, 2, 3 strikes, you’re out. The asinine assumption that repentance is the same thing as penitence has been put out of its misery. It’s amazing what you can accomplish by opening a Bible.
But wait! There’s more! Before we close out this lesson, please take note of the following verse of Scripture:
Romans 2:5: “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”
The word “penitence” is not in the Bible, but the concept of penitence was indeed understood by the translators of the King James Bible. That is evidenced by the fact that they included the word “impenitent” in the preceding verse. Now here is something to ask yourself: Since the translators seemed to have a preference for using forms of the word “repent,” and since the dictionary says that “repentance” is the same thing as “penitence,” then when the time came to translate Romans 2:5, why didn’t the translators just use the word “unrepentant”? Their use of the word “impenitent” is very telling. Obviously, the translators knew that there was a difference between “penitence” and “repentance.” If only people today could understand that as well.
In conclusion:
Get rid of any preconceived notions that “repentance” must be tied to the subject of sin. The Bible does away with such nonsense. Repentance has nothing to do with penitence. The two words just sound very similar, and someone took advantage of that in order to make repentance into an extra step falsely needed for salvation. You cannot force the definition of “penitence” onto the word “repentance.” How you define repentance determines what type of Gospel message you will share. Will you share a man-made, works-based gospel? Or will you share the Biblical, grace-based Gospel? The “Christian” community is divided into two distinct camps. The “two” paths to eternal salvation are as follows:
A. Turn from your sins and/or feel sorrow for your sins, and believe on Jesus Christ.
B. Rethink your beliefs and believe on Jesus Christ.
Both of these methods involve repentance. The first method perverts the idea of “repentance” to mean something other than what it was originally meant to. The second method teaches “repentance” the way that the Bible intended it to be taught. The first method is false, and instead of being the message of the Gospel, it is more like a demand for “penitence,” which revolves around feeling sorry for sins. The second method is true, because it is a simple “rethinking” that causes a person to trust in Jesus Christ.
Repentance is not the same thing as penitence, nor is it related. These facts are made quite evident by using the Bible and logical thinking. Keep the two ideas separate. When you mix the two, you start believing in false doctrine that goes against the teachings of the Bible. People who think that “repentance” is the same thing as or similar to “penitence” are the people who teach that you must “turn from your sins” and/or “feel godly sorrow for your sins” in order to be saved. Those ideas belong to false gospels that cause people to place their faith in their own goodness instead of in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
“Repentance, also called penitence, is the God-granted attitude of having sorrow for personal sin and the turning away from it towards a new life.” – theopedia.com
As you can see, some religious “experts” claim that repentance is the same thing as penitence. According to thefreedictionary.com, penitence can be defined as “the state of being penitent; regret for one’s wrongdoing or sinning; repentance.”
So penitence is regret for wrongdoing or sin. The word “repentance” is even given in the official definition! We are going to see if repentance could indeed be penitence. We are going to see if it makes sense from a logical perspective and/or from a Biblical perspective.
Does it make sense logically?
As stated before, the prefix “re” means “again.” If the prefix “re” was placed in front of “penitence,” then you might end up with “repentance.” Here’s the problem: Do you realize that not everyone has experienced penitence? Not everyone has felt sorry or regretful for their wrongdoing and sin. So how could a person do something again, when they have never done it before? But it gets even worse. Many people don’t even know that they are sinners!
Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that what things soever the law (the Ten Commandments) saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
If a person does not believe in the Ten Commandments, then they also do not even believe that they are a sinner, because the very knowledge of sin comes from the Ten Commandments. Why would you be sorry for something you are not even aware that you did/are doing? So you see how it is that many people have never experienced penitence. They may know that some things they have done have been wrong, but they do not consider them sins, because that definition is not in their understanding. Other things in their life that they do not consider wrong at all are sins as well. If “repentance” means “re-penitence,” there would be a problem. You could not tell these people to “re-penitence.” You would have to tell these people to feel “penitence,” since “repentance,” or “re-penitence,” would mean to experience penitence again.
(Let me direct your attention once again to a word we learned about in the previous lesson: “Pensive.” Pensive means “deeply thoughtful.” While not everyone has felt penitence, everyone has thought about something, meaning everyone has been pensive. Repentance has become intertwined with the subject of sin because it looks like the word “repentance” came from “penitence,” which is to feel regret for wrongdoing or sin. After letting the Bible itself define what repentance is from its many uses of the word, in one form or another, it becomes clear that “penitence” is not what “repentance” was derived from. “Pensive” is the much more likely candidate. Again, pensive is “from Old French pensif, from penser to think, from Latin pensāre to consider.” Take the word “pensive,” drop the “–sive,” add a “t,” and you make pensive into a verb. Add the prefix “re,” and you have “repent.” Since pensive means “deeply thoughtful,” or even “meditative,” and “re” means “again,” then to repent means to “rethink,” or to “think again.” You could call it “re-pensive,” as in “rethinking,” but “repent” would be the verb form.)
Does it make sense Biblically?
I am going to give you three reasons why repentance cannot be the same thing as penitence. The most important thing to keep in mind is that these three reasons are taken straight from the Bible.
Reason 1: God repented.
The Bible teaches that God repented on multiple occasions (See my lesson “Was God a Sinner?” above). The dictionary says that “repentance” is the same thing as “penitence.” The dictionary teaches that penitence is “regret for one’s wrongdoing or sinning; repentance.” Therefore, the dictionary is calling God a sinner.
Since penitence means to be sorry for wrongdoing and sin, God could never be penitent. God has never committed sin, and God has never committed any wrongdoing. However, God can rethink things, and God did rethink things throughout the Old Testament. That is why it was stated many times that God repented.
Reason 2: Penitence cannot be substituted for repentance in Scripture.
2nd Corinthians 7:8: “For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”
If repentance is the same thing as penitence, then you could change the preceding verse to say the following:
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not feel regret for my sins, though I did feel regret for my sins: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”
That makes no sense at all. The apostle Paul had written a letter to rebuke the Christians at the church of Corinth. The letter had made the Corinthian believers feel sorry for their misconduct. So why would Paul say that he felt no regret for his sins? It doesn’t add up. But what if “I do not repent” was actually referring to the fact that Paul was not changing his mind? Paul’s letter had served its purpose, and Paul was not having any second thoughts about having written it, though he had for a time. Consider another verse of Scripture:
Romans 11:29: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
If repentance is the same thing as penitence, then you could change the preceding verse to say the following:
“For the gifts and calling of God are without regret for sinning.”
That makes no sense at all. But what if the “repentance” was instead referring to a change of mind? Then you would be left with a verse that teaches that God will not change His mind about His gifts or His callings. That makes more sense. But that would mean that repentance could not be the same thing as penitence. Trying to force the definition of “penitence” onto the word “repentance” in the two preceding verses is like trying to cram a square block into a circular hole.
Reason 3: Penitence is not necessary for salvation.
In some passages of Scripture, repentance is mentioned alongside the subject of salvation, suggesting that repentance is required in order to be saved. But what part does repentance play when it comes to eternal salvation? If you think that repentance is the same thing as penitence, then let me ask you some questions. Did the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) feel regret for his sins before he was saved? Did the eunuch (Acts 8:26-39) feel regret for his sins before he was saved? Was the prison guard (Acts16:25-34) told to feel regret for his sins in order to be saved? The answer to all of these questions is the same: NO! If penitence must be felt in order to receive eternal salvation, then God made exceptions in these three cases, and God does not make exceptions for how a person gets saved (Ephesians 4:4-6).
So what part does repentance play in receiving eternal salvation? Let me show you.
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (the good news about Jesus Christ).”
People must change their minds from unbelief in the Gospel to belief in the Gospel.
Acts 20:21: “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
People must rethink how they feel toward/about God, or what they believe about Him, and they must place their faith in Jesus Christ. The rest is up to God, and He promises to save anyone who believes on His Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
1, 2, 3 strikes, you’re out. The asinine assumption that repentance is the same thing as penitence has been put out of its misery. It’s amazing what you can accomplish by opening a Bible.
But wait! There’s more! Before we close out this lesson, please take note of the following verse of Scripture:
Romans 2:5: “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”
The word “penitence” is not in the Bible, but the concept of penitence was indeed understood by the translators of the King James Bible. That is evidenced by the fact that they included the word “impenitent” in the preceding verse. Now here is something to ask yourself: Since the translators seemed to have a preference for using forms of the word “repent,” and since the dictionary says that “repentance” is the same thing as “penitence,” then when the time came to translate Romans 2:5, why didn’t the translators just use the word “unrepentant”? Their use of the word “impenitent” is very telling. Obviously, the translators knew that there was a difference between “penitence” and “repentance.” If only people today could understand that as well.
In conclusion:
Get rid of any preconceived notions that “repentance” must be tied to the subject of sin. The Bible does away with such nonsense. Repentance has nothing to do with penitence. The two words just sound very similar, and someone took advantage of that in order to make repentance into an extra step falsely needed for salvation. You cannot force the definition of “penitence” onto the word “repentance.” How you define repentance determines what type of Gospel message you will share. Will you share a man-made, works-based gospel? Or will you share the Biblical, grace-based Gospel? The “Christian” community is divided into two distinct camps. The “two” paths to eternal salvation are as follows:
A. Turn from your sins and/or feel sorrow for your sins, and believe on Jesus Christ.
B. Rethink your beliefs and believe on Jesus Christ.
Both of these methods involve repentance. The first method perverts the idea of “repentance” to mean something other than what it was originally meant to. The second method teaches “repentance” the way that the Bible intended it to be taught. The first method is false, and instead of being the message of the Gospel, it is more like a demand for “penitence,” which revolves around feeling sorry for sins. The second method is true, because it is a simple “rethinking” that causes a person to trust in Jesus Christ.
Repentance is not the same thing as penitence, nor is it related. These facts are made quite evident by using the Bible and logical thinking. Keep the two ideas separate. When you mix the two, you start believing in false doctrine that goes against the teachings of the Bible. People who think that “repentance” is the same thing as or similar to “penitence” are the people who teach that you must “turn from your sins” and/or “feel godly sorrow for your sins” in order to be saved. Those ideas belong to false gospels that cause people to place their faith in their own goodness instead of in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel 18:30
It’s extremely popular in “Christian” circles these days to define repentance as a “turning away from sin.” Here are several examples:
“…the main message of the Holy Bible is “repent”, meaning “turn away from sin and turn to God”. - taken from compassdistributors.ca
“Repentance is an essential part of salvation, requiring a turning away from the sin-ruled life to a life characterized by obedience to God.” – taken from christianity.about.com
“You must turn from sin (repent), and your faith must be in Jesus Christ alone.” – taken from livingwaters.com
And the broken record plays on and on. Lots of “Christians” like to define repentance as “turning away from sin.” It’s the cool thing to do these days. Maybe it is because they have heard this definition far too many times and refuse to think for themselves. Maybe they are purposely spreading false doctrine, as the Bible warned many times of false teachers who would come onto the scene to deceive many people. This is not something new. False teachers infiltrated the churches in Galatia, telling the believers that they must obey the Ten Commandments to be saved. Here is what the apostle Paul said concerning these devils in disguise:
Galatians 2:4: “And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:”
The term “false brethren” was meant to imply “fake Christians.” These imposters did not like the liberty, or freedom, that the believers in Jesus Christ had, and they sought to put the believers back under the bondage, or rule, of the law, or the Ten Commandments. The book of Galatians was in reality a letter that Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia. Paul’s intention was to remind the believers there of the true Gospel they had accepted, and of the fact that they were saved by their faith in Jesus Christ, not the keeping of the law. The Galatians had become confused because of fake Christians who taught “another gospel”, putting the Galatians under the law instead of under God’s grace. Paul went on to write the following:
Galatians 5:8: “This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.”
Who is it that called these Galatians?
1st Peter 5:10: “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
God calls out to the unbeliever by way of the message of Jesus Christ, also known as the Gospel (1st Corinthians 15:1-4), also known as the preaching of the cross (1st Corinthians 1:18), also known as the power of God (Romans 1:16). The persuasion, or belief, that Christians are justified by keeping the law did not come from God. This heresy comes by way of false teachers.
The law was given by God in order to make everyone in the world guilty by introducing them to the knowledge of their sinful ways (Romans 3:19-20). Since “the knowledge of sin” comes from the law, then keeping, or obeying, the law is an effort to avoid sinning. That brings us back to the present day. What do Lordship Salvationists teach? All they do is repeat the same thing over and over again, and that is the idea that you must “turn from your sins” to be saved. In essence, Lordship Salvationists are saying that you must keep the law, meaning that they are spreading the same message as the “false brethren” did in the churches of Galatia.
Where do Lordship Salvationists get their ideas from? What do they use to base their heresies on? Have you ever heard of “repentance?” Of course you have! It is the all-time favorite word of the Lordship Salvation crowd. Repentance is the foundation which Lordship Salvationists have built their false religion on top of. Unfortunately for them, they do not understand what repentance is. They have built an elegant house which looks very clean on the outside, but one that is sinking into the ground because they have chosen to build on a foundation of sand. Repentance is not the sturdy foundation that Lordship Salvationists assumed it to be. It has actually become their downfall. Are you ready to watch the house of Lordship Salvation sink even lower?
Lordship Salvation wrongly defines repentance to be a “turning away from sin.” I define repentance in the Biblical way, which is a “rethinking.” Lordship Salvation’s take on repentance was arrived at by using faulty assumptions and wishful thinking. My take on repentance was arrived at by using the Bible and common sense. Today, I would like to call your attention to a very special verse in the Bible that will once and for all expose the stupidity of the Lordship Salvation definition of repentance. Would you like to see it? It’s coming your way shortly.
Do you remember the quotes at the beginning of this article? Those were just a small sample from the many Lordship Salvationists who define repentance as a “turning away from sin.” Lordship Salvationists automatically assume this definition to be factual. Every single time they see the word “repent,” they think it means to “turn from sin.” Did you know that the Bible makes a very clear distinction between repentance and “turning from sin”?
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
The word “transgression” is another word for sin. If “repent” means “turn from sin,” then why did God tell these Israelites to “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions”? That would be saying “Turn from your sins, and turn from your sins.” That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. It is quite clear from this verse of Scripture that repenting is something other than “turning from sin.” It is also quite clear that repenting can actually be done without “turning from sin.” God didn’t just tell these people to repent. He told them to repent and turn from their sins. Do I really need to explain what all of this means?
Lordship Salvationists automatically assume that repenting is “turning from sin.” Let me show you how utterly ridiculous this assumption is. Consider the following command:
“Go into the kitchen.”
There are many reasons a person might go into the kitchen. They might go there to find a snack. They might go there to do laundry. They might be looking for a pair of scissors. And so on and so forth.
Now, let’s say that you assume the command “Go into the kitchen” is only said when you need to go prepare dinner. Is that a rational thing to do? Let’s say someone tells you “The garbage is getting full. You need to take care of it. Go into the kitchen.” Obviously, the “Go into the kitchen” command is referring to taking out the garbage. But if you stubbornly assume that every time you hear “Go into the kitchen” that it must be referring to preparing dinner, then you are not going to do what you were supposed to do because you think there is only one meaning to the command “Go into the kitchen.” You ignore the context of the command and simply default to a predetermined definition that is clearly not what was called for.
Lordship Salvationists do this exact same thing with their pig-headed, false definition of repentance. For the sake of making it painfully clear, let’s imagine another scenario to illustrate the extreme tunnel vision that has stricken every Lordship Salvationist.
You go up to a friend and you say “Did you hear about Jeff? He took a trip.”
Your friend says “Oh, so he went to Nepal to purchase a summer home.”
You are confused and you reply “What? No. I said he took a trip. He went to Chicago on a business trip with his coworkers for the weekend.”
Your friend, being stubborn and not listening to the facts, continues on with “No. You said Jeff took a trip. That clearly means he went to Nepal to purchase a summer home.”
You and your friend argue back and forth for awhile, until you realize that your friend is completely content being ignorant. Later on you find out that the front page of today’s newspaper contains a quote that says “The only reason people go on trips is to travel to Nepal to purchase summer homes.” The statement is absolutely absurd, but your friend is the simple-minded type who believes whatever he reads or hears when it comes from what looks to be a respectable source.
What you have just imagined is an exact picture of what Lordship Salvationists do. Some false teacher in a spiffy suit, with a Bible in his hands and an honest look on his face, stood behind a pulpit and said that “repent” means to “turn from your sins.” Or perhaps it was said by some other false teacher with a charming accent, the perfect mustache, and wearing a neatly-pressed button-up shirt. Folks, image means nothing. Doctrine is all that matters. False teachers pose as “the ministers of righteousness” (2nd Corinthians 11:15), and many people fall for this tired routine, ignoring the fact that the teachers they admire are feeding them lies by perverting Scripture. Do you know what the Bible says about false teachers who abuse Scripture in order to teach lies?
2nd Peter 2:1-2: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them (believers), and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”
Lordship Salvationists are “denying the Lord that bought them (believers)” by saying that faith in Jesus Christ alone does not save the soul. Let me explain how.
1st Corinthians 6:20: “For ye (believers) are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
Believers in Jesus Christ are purchased by God.
Acts 20:28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God (believers), which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Believers in Jesus Christ are purchased with the very blood of Jesus. Lordship Salvationists teach that the blood of Jesus Christ is not enough to save a person’s soul because “turning from sins” is required.
Because of Lordship Salvationists, many people are following after “pernicious”, or deadly, ways, such as the unbiblical idea that “turning from your sins” is required to be saved. That idea causes people to place their faith in their own works rather than in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Coming by way of the teachings of Lordship Salvation, “the way of truth” is “evil spoken of”. The “truth” that is mentioned is referring to the Gospel.
Ephesians 1:13: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
Lordship Salvationists speak evil of the Gospel. Lordship Salvationists like to mock true Christians who believe that eternal salvation is free to anyone who believes on Jesus Christ. Lordship Salvationists have an arsenal of condescending terms which they love to use against the Biblical way of receiving eternal salvation. They call it “easy believism.” They call it “1,2,3, believe!” They call it “cheap grace.” Meanwhile, Paul Washer, one of the heroes of Lordship Salvation, says that teaching the simple Gospel from the Bible to an unbeliever is “stupid.” Folks, there’s nothing “stupid” about teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God, and it saves the soul of whoever believes in it (Romans 1:16). Perhaps Jesus Christ should have changed His words in the following verse:
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Perhaps it should have been said this way: “Repent of your sins and believe the gospel of Paul Washer.” Hogwash! Paul Washer is a deceiver, and anyone who teaches what he teaches about eternal salvation is a deceiver as well. Lordship Salvationists call the grace of God insufficient (“cheap grace”), and they prefer to teach that you must keep the law to be saved. Here is what the Bible says about them:
1st Timothy 1:7: “Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.”
As you can see, it’s very easy to get sidetracked when the subject of false teachers like Lordship Salvationists is brought up. I don’t mind going off track for a while, since false teachers need to be exposed (Romans 16:17-18). Now, let’s get back to that verse from the Bible that so effectively destroys the foundation of Lordship Salvation. God is tired of sharing the concept of “repentance” with Lordship Salvation liars. It’s time to take repentance back, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
This verse makes it painfully obvious that repentance is not “turning from sin.” They are two separate things. What God said to these Israelites could be paraphrased in the following way: “Rethink your ways, and turn away from your sins, so that your sins will not be your downfall.” If “repent” meant to “turn from sin,” then God would have simply told these people to “Repent.” But repentance is not “turning from sin.” The word “repent” means to “rethink.” God told these Israelites to rethink, because they were sinful. Now if God would have left it at that, these people might have just thought about their ways and then kept on living in sin. God had to tell them not only to rethink, but also to turn from their sins.
So you see how it is very possible to repent and not “turn from your sins.” You can repent without turning to or from anything. Consider the following:
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Jesus said to “repent,” and I bet you can guess what Lordship Salvationists say He meant by that. They say the only thing they know how to say. “Repent of your sins!” It’s like a parrot that learns a new word and keeps repeating it. You get sick of hearing the word very quickly, and the parrot has no comprehension of what he’s saying. The only difference is that when it comes to the parrot, he is an innocent animal that doesn’t intend to be annoying. Lordship Salvationists are people who are very vocal about their ignorance, and they bury their heads in the sand when you try to point out how nonsensical their beliefs are.
In Mark 1:15, Jesus said to repent and believe the Gospel. In Ezekiel 18:30, God told the Israelites to repent and turn from their sins. In both cases, there was something that needed to be done before the believing or the turning. Why would you not believe in the Gospel? The same reason you would not turn from your sins, which is that you don’t see any reason to. You have to rethink what you believe until you find yourself in agreement with God. For people in the age of grace (the New Testament), the Gospel must be believed in for eternal salvation (Romans 1:16), so Jesus told the Jews in the passage from Mark to rethink and believe the Gospel. In the Old Testament, the Israelites in the passage from Ezekiel needed to stop their sinful ways, so God told them to rethink and turn from their sins.
When you assume that “repent” means to “turn from sins,” you come up with all sorts of nonsense. For instance, consider the following:
Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Now if you are a Lordship Salvationist, then you should come to the conclusion that Peter told these Jews to “turn from their sins” and be baptized to be saved. Well ain’t that something? Apparently, you don’t have to believe on Jesus to be saved after all! Apparently, your works do in fact save you, according to the very words of Peter! This all must be true, right? Since “repent” means to “turn from sin,” and Peter said to repent, with no mention of believing on Jesus Christ, then the logic of Lordship Salvation should lead to the conclusion that faith in Jesus Christ is not necessary. Of course, that would be totally wrong. Peter had just spoken to a large group of Jews. Jews were the ones who had crucified Jesus. They did so because they had not believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Peter set them straight and told them that Jesus was the One who had been foretold to them in the Scriptures. Look at what Peter told these Jews:
Acts 2:21: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Acts 2:36: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
So Peter did indeed teach faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. When Peter told the Jews to repent, he was telling them to rethink. They did not believe on Jesus. Now that they had been told the truth, they needed to rethink their beliefs regarding the very thing Peter had just talked to them about, and guess what! Peter had not been talking about sin! Peter had been talking about Jesus Christ! The Jews needed to rethink what they believed about Jesus Christ. In other words, since the Jews had not believed on Jesus, they needed to rethink their beliefs until they did believe on Him. Did the word “repent” have anything whatsoever to do with the subject of sin in this passage? No. To teach otherwise is to lie.
Lordship Salvationists will quote any verse of Scripture that includes a form of the word “repent,” as though it somehow proves that repentance always means to “turn from sin.” Let’s look at more classic examples.
Luke 3:3: “And he (John the Baptist) came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;”
Lordship Salvationists will be quick to say this verse proves that John taught that you must “turn from your sins” to be saved. The exact same thing is done with the following verse:
Mark 1:4: “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”
Once again, from the preceding verses, if repentance means “turning from sin,” then it would appear that no belief on Jesus Christ is needed to be saved. Was John teaching a different gospel? No. Let’s move away from the fairy tales of Lordship Salvation and come back to reality. John was not telling people that they needed to “turn from their sins.” Are you ready to see what John the Baptist was actually teaching with his message of repentance?
Acts 19:4: “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
There you have it. John the Baptist did indeed teach faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. John’s message of repentance was not about “turning from sin.” The message was a call for belief on Jesus Christ. Why is it impossible for Lordship Salvationists to see this? Go look for yourself. These ignorant “Christians” are all over the Internet. Some of them even wear suits and pretend to be highly educated in spiritual matters. Don’t fall for it.
Jesus Christ Himself addressed the teachings of John the Baptist, and ironically, repentance is mentioned yet again.
Matthew 21:32: “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
Jesus said that the Jews had not repented, and that because they had not repented, they did not believe the words of John. The repentance being mentioned here was not a “turning from sin.” That is quite clear from the context. The Jews’ failure to repent kept them from belief in Jesus, which means that this repentance was pertaining to unbelief. How do you give up unbelief? Do you “turn from your sins?” No! You change your mind! You rethink! In other words, you repent!
Since we’re on a roll, let’s look at two more “repentance” verses from the Bible.
Acts 11:18: “When they (Jewish apostles and certain other saved Jews) heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”
Here we go again. If you define repentance to be a “turning away from sin,” then the preceding verse would appear to say that God gives the ability to “turn from sin” that results in salvation, which is what Lordship Salvation teaches. Let’s cross-reference this verse with another.
John 6:47: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” – Jesus
John 5:40: “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” - Jesus
Jesus Christ clears up the confusion by making it extremely clear that belief on Him is what gives you this “life.” So what was meant by Acts 11:18? That verse simply says that God had given to the Gentiles the same thing He had given to the Jews. The Jews were given the promise of everlasting life in exchange for belief on Jesus Christ, and the Gentiles were later presented with the same system. God did not give any of these people a special power that caused them to “turn from their sins.” God gave them “repentance unto life”, which was to say that God gave them the plan of salvation which only required belief in Jesus Christ. The word “repentance” was referring to the “rethinking” that would be required on the part of the people who had not placed their faith in Jesus yet.
Ready for another one?
2nd Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Hopefully, you have the idea by now. The preceding verse says that God does not want anyone to “perish”, and that “repentance” is the way to avoid that outcome. If repentance means a “turning away from sin,” then quitting your sins is all you need to do so that you will never perish. And just to be clear on this, the word “perish” is not referring to death. Everyone will die because everyone has sinned (Romans 5:12). The word “perish” is referring to the second death, which is Hell (Revelation 20:14). So was Peter teaching that “turning from your sins” will save you from going to Hell? Let’s look at another verse that tells us how not to “perish.”
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – Jesus
According to Jesus Christ, whoever believes in Him will not perish. Therefore, the “repentance” mentioned in 2nd Peter 3:9 cannot mean a “turning away from sin,” because if it did, then Peter was saying that there was a way to Heaven other than by simple belief on Jesus Christ. That is impossible.
John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
You cannot get to Heaven because you “turned from your sins.” “Turning from your sins” plays no part whatsoever in your own eternal salvation (Romans 3:28). If you believe it does, then you better repent of such nonsense and believe in Jesus Christ alone. Did you see what I just did there? I used the word that Lordship Salvationists constantly abuse. If you believe that repentance is a “turning away from sin,” you need to repent, or rethink, or reconsider such nonsense, and you need to believe in Jesus Christ alone. Once you fully understand that repenting is simply rethinking, and not a “turning from sin,” then you will understand how it can be that so many verses of Scripture teach that simple faith in Jesus Christ results in eternal salvation. Take a verse like the following:
2nd Timothy 3:15: “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Does the preceding verse say that salvation comes by “turning from sins?” No. Salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ plus nothing. The “holy scriptures” are to be used to make a person understand that eternal salvation comes from faith in Jesus Christ. However, Scripture is abused by some people in order to keep the unsaved from coming to the truth. One of the most widely used methods of preventing people from getting saved is telling them that they must “repent of their sins.” When that is taught, it creates a serious contradiction in the Bible. Some Scripture says that you must believe in Jesus for salvation, while other Scripture says you need to “repent.” The good news is that there is no contradiction in the Bible. In regards to eternal salvation, repentance always means “a change of mind.” Once you understand that, you will see that the Bible does not contradict itself, and that faith in Jesus Christ is indeed the sole requirement for eternal salvation. Lordship Salvation has it wrong. The Bible explains it correctly.
Many things have been discussed in this lesson. The true identity of Lordship Salvationists has been revealed to be that of false teachers. The flawed logic of Lordship Salvation has been examined. Some verses of Scripture that mention repentance have been seen for what they actually are, instead of what Lordship Salvation wants them to be. But please, if you retain only one truth from this lesson, let it be this simple fact: Repentance and “turning away from sins” are two entirely separate things. This is made abundantly clear by the following verse, which deserves to be repeated once more:
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
Let me leave you with one final thought: Since you can repent and not “turn from your sins,” the reverse of that is also possible. You can “turn from your sins” and not repent. Lordship Salvationists believe that they have turned from their sins. Even though that belief is nonsense (1st John 1:8, Romans 7:17-18), they nevertheless believe it. And yet, ironically, they have not repented. Because they have not rethought their religious ways and placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, they have not repented. Lordship Salvationists love to tell everyone else to repent, and yet the greatest irony of all is that they themselves have not repented.
“…the main message of the Holy Bible is “repent”, meaning “turn away from sin and turn to God”. - taken from compassdistributors.ca
“Repentance is an essential part of salvation, requiring a turning away from the sin-ruled life to a life characterized by obedience to God.” – taken from christianity.about.com
“You must turn from sin (repent), and your faith must be in Jesus Christ alone.” – taken from livingwaters.com
And the broken record plays on and on. Lots of “Christians” like to define repentance as “turning away from sin.” It’s the cool thing to do these days. Maybe it is because they have heard this definition far too many times and refuse to think for themselves. Maybe they are purposely spreading false doctrine, as the Bible warned many times of false teachers who would come onto the scene to deceive many people. This is not something new. False teachers infiltrated the churches in Galatia, telling the believers that they must obey the Ten Commandments to be saved. Here is what the apostle Paul said concerning these devils in disguise:
Galatians 2:4: “And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:”
The term “false brethren” was meant to imply “fake Christians.” These imposters did not like the liberty, or freedom, that the believers in Jesus Christ had, and they sought to put the believers back under the bondage, or rule, of the law, or the Ten Commandments. The book of Galatians was in reality a letter that Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia. Paul’s intention was to remind the believers there of the true Gospel they had accepted, and of the fact that they were saved by their faith in Jesus Christ, not the keeping of the law. The Galatians had become confused because of fake Christians who taught “another gospel”, putting the Galatians under the law instead of under God’s grace. Paul went on to write the following:
Galatians 5:8: “This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.”
Who is it that called these Galatians?
1st Peter 5:10: “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
God calls out to the unbeliever by way of the message of Jesus Christ, also known as the Gospel (1st Corinthians 15:1-4), also known as the preaching of the cross (1st Corinthians 1:18), also known as the power of God (Romans 1:16). The persuasion, or belief, that Christians are justified by keeping the law did not come from God. This heresy comes by way of false teachers.
The law was given by God in order to make everyone in the world guilty by introducing them to the knowledge of their sinful ways (Romans 3:19-20). Since “the knowledge of sin” comes from the law, then keeping, or obeying, the law is an effort to avoid sinning. That brings us back to the present day. What do Lordship Salvationists teach? All they do is repeat the same thing over and over again, and that is the idea that you must “turn from your sins” to be saved. In essence, Lordship Salvationists are saying that you must keep the law, meaning that they are spreading the same message as the “false brethren” did in the churches of Galatia.
Where do Lordship Salvationists get their ideas from? What do they use to base their heresies on? Have you ever heard of “repentance?” Of course you have! It is the all-time favorite word of the Lordship Salvation crowd. Repentance is the foundation which Lordship Salvationists have built their false religion on top of. Unfortunately for them, they do not understand what repentance is. They have built an elegant house which looks very clean on the outside, but one that is sinking into the ground because they have chosen to build on a foundation of sand. Repentance is not the sturdy foundation that Lordship Salvationists assumed it to be. It has actually become their downfall. Are you ready to watch the house of Lordship Salvation sink even lower?
Lordship Salvation wrongly defines repentance to be a “turning away from sin.” I define repentance in the Biblical way, which is a “rethinking.” Lordship Salvation’s take on repentance was arrived at by using faulty assumptions and wishful thinking. My take on repentance was arrived at by using the Bible and common sense. Today, I would like to call your attention to a very special verse in the Bible that will once and for all expose the stupidity of the Lordship Salvation definition of repentance. Would you like to see it? It’s coming your way shortly.
Do you remember the quotes at the beginning of this article? Those were just a small sample from the many Lordship Salvationists who define repentance as a “turning away from sin.” Lordship Salvationists automatically assume this definition to be factual. Every single time they see the word “repent,” they think it means to “turn from sin.” Did you know that the Bible makes a very clear distinction between repentance and “turning from sin”?
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
The word “transgression” is another word for sin. If “repent” means “turn from sin,” then why did God tell these Israelites to “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions”? That would be saying “Turn from your sins, and turn from your sins.” That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. It is quite clear from this verse of Scripture that repenting is something other than “turning from sin.” It is also quite clear that repenting can actually be done without “turning from sin.” God didn’t just tell these people to repent. He told them to repent and turn from their sins. Do I really need to explain what all of this means?
Lordship Salvationists automatically assume that repenting is “turning from sin.” Let me show you how utterly ridiculous this assumption is. Consider the following command:
“Go into the kitchen.”
There are many reasons a person might go into the kitchen. They might go there to find a snack. They might go there to do laundry. They might be looking for a pair of scissors. And so on and so forth.
Now, let’s say that you assume the command “Go into the kitchen” is only said when you need to go prepare dinner. Is that a rational thing to do? Let’s say someone tells you “The garbage is getting full. You need to take care of it. Go into the kitchen.” Obviously, the “Go into the kitchen” command is referring to taking out the garbage. But if you stubbornly assume that every time you hear “Go into the kitchen” that it must be referring to preparing dinner, then you are not going to do what you were supposed to do because you think there is only one meaning to the command “Go into the kitchen.” You ignore the context of the command and simply default to a predetermined definition that is clearly not what was called for.
Lordship Salvationists do this exact same thing with their pig-headed, false definition of repentance. For the sake of making it painfully clear, let’s imagine another scenario to illustrate the extreme tunnel vision that has stricken every Lordship Salvationist.
You go up to a friend and you say “Did you hear about Jeff? He took a trip.”
Your friend says “Oh, so he went to Nepal to purchase a summer home.”
You are confused and you reply “What? No. I said he took a trip. He went to Chicago on a business trip with his coworkers for the weekend.”
Your friend, being stubborn and not listening to the facts, continues on with “No. You said Jeff took a trip. That clearly means he went to Nepal to purchase a summer home.”
You and your friend argue back and forth for awhile, until you realize that your friend is completely content being ignorant. Later on you find out that the front page of today’s newspaper contains a quote that says “The only reason people go on trips is to travel to Nepal to purchase summer homes.” The statement is absolutely absurd, but your friend is the simple-minded type who believes whatever he reads or hears when it comes from what looks to be a respectable source.
What you have just imagined is an exact picture of what Lordship Salvationists do. Some false teacher in a spiffy suit, with a Bible in his hands and an honest look on his face, stood behind a pulpit and said that “repent” means to “turn from your sins.” Or perhaps it was said by some other false teacher with a charming accent, the perfect mustache, and wearing a neatly-pressed button-up shirt. Folks, image means nothing. Doctrine is all that matters. False teachers pose as “the ministers of righteousness” (2nd Corinthians 11:15), and many people fall for this tired routine, ignoring the fact that the teachers they admire are feeding them lies by perverting Scripture. Do you know what the Bible says about false teachers who abuse Scripture in order to teach lies?
2nd Peter 2:1-2: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them (believers), and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”
Lordship Salvationists are “denying the Lord that bought them (believers)” by saying that faith in Jesus Christ alone does not save the soul. Let me explain how.
1st Corinthians 6:20: “For ye (believers) are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
Believers in Jesus Christ are purchased by God.
Acts 20:28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God (believers), which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Believers in Jesus Christ are purchased with the very blood of Jesus. Lordship Salvationists teach that the blood of Jesus Christ is not enough to save a person’s soul because “turning from sins” is required.
Because of Lordship Salvationists, many people are following after “pernicious”, or deadly, ways, such as the unbiblical idea that “turning from your sins” is required to be saved. That idea causes people to place their faith in their own works rather than in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Coming by way of the teachings of Lordship Salvation, “the way of truth” is “evil spoken of”. The “truth” that is mentioned is referring to the Gospel.
Ephesians 1:13: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
Lordship Salvationists speak evil of the Gospel. Lordship Salvationists like to mock true Christians who believe that eternal salvation is free to anyone who believes on Jesus Christ. Lordship Salvationists have an arsenal of condescending terms which they love to use against the Biblical way of receiving eternal salvation. They call it “easy believism.” They call it “1,2,3, believe!” They call it “cheap grace.” Meanwhile, Paul Washer, one of the heroes of Lordship Salvation, says that teaching the simple Gospel from the Bible to an unbeliever is “stupid.” Folks, there’s nothing “stupid” about teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God, and it saves the soul of whoever believes in it (Romans 1:16). Perhaps Jesus Christ should have changed His words in the following verse:
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Perhaps it should have been said this way: “Repent of your sins and believe the gospel of Paul Washer.” Hogwash! Paul Washer is a deceiver, and anyone who teaches what he teaches about eternal salvation is a deceiver as well. Lordship Salvationists call the grace of God insufficient (“cheap grace”), and they prefer to teach that you must keep the law to be saved. Here is what the Bible says about them:
1st Timothy 1:7: “Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.”
As you can see, it’s very easy to get sidetracked when the subject of false teachers like Lordship Salvationists is brought up. I don’t mind going off track for a while, since false teachers need to be exposed (Romans 16:17-18). Now, let’s get back to that verse from the Bible that so effectively destroys the foundation of Lordship Salvation. God is tired of sharing the concept of “repentance” with Lordship Salvation liars. It’s time to take repentance back, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
This verse makes it painfully obvious that repentance is not “turning from sin.” They are two separate things. What God said to these Israelites could be paraphrased in the following way: “Rethink your ways, and turn away from your sins, so that your sins will not be your downfall.” If “repent” meant to “turn from sin,” then God would have simply told these people to “Repent.” But repentance is not “turning from sin.” The word “repent” means to “rethink.” God told these Israelites to rethink, because they were sinful. Now if God would have left it at that, these people might have just thought about their ways and then kept on living in sin. God had to tell them not only to rethink, but also to turn from their sins.
So you see how it is very possible to repent and not “turn from your sins.” You can repent without turning to or from anything. Consider the following:
Mark 1:15: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Jesus said to “repent,” and I bet you can guess what Lordship Salvationists say He meant by that. They say the only thing they know how to say. “Repent of your sins!” It’s like a parrot that learns a new word and keeps repeating it. You get sick of hearing the word very quickly, and the parrot has no comprehension of what he’s saying. The only difference is that when it comes to the parrot, he is an innocent animal that doesn’t intend to be annoying. Lordship Salvationists are people who are very vocal about their ignorance, and they bury their heads in the sand when you try to point out how nonsensical their beliefs are.
In Mark 1:15, Jesus said to repent and believe the Gospel. In Ezekiel 18:30, God told the Israelites to repent and turn from their sins. In both cases, there was something that needed to be done before the believing or the turning. Why would you not believe in the Gospel? The same reason you would not turn from your sins, which is that you don’t see any reason to. You have to rethink what you believe until you find yourself in agreement with God. For people in the age of grace (the New Testament), the Gospel must be believed in for eternal salvation (Romans 1:16), so Jesus told the Jews in the passage from Mark to rethink and believe the Gospel. In the Old Testament, the Israelites in the passage from Ezekiel needed to stop their sinful ways, so God told them to rethink and turn from their sins.
When you assume that “repent” means to “turn from sins,” you come up with all sorts of nonsense. For instance, consider the following:
Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Now if you are a Lordship Salvationist, then you should come to the conclusion that Peter told these Jews to “turn from their sins” and be baptized to be saved. Well ain’t that something? Apparently, you don’t have to believe on Jesus to be saved after all! Apparently, your works do in fact save you, according to the very words of Peter! This all must be true, right? Since “repent” means to “turn from sin,” and Peter said to repent, with no mention of believing on Jesus Christ, then the logic of Lordship Salvation should lead to the conclusion that faith in Jesus Christ is not necessary. Of course, that would be totally wrong. Peter had just spoken to a large group of Jews. Jews were the ones who had crucified Jesus. They did so because they had not believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Peter set them straight and told them that Jesus was the One who had been foretold to them in the Scriptures. Look at what Peter told these Jews:
Acts 2:21: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Acts 2:36: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
So Peter did indeed teach faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. When Peter told the Jews to repent, he was telling them to rethink. They did not believe on Jesus. Now that they had been told the truth, they needed to rethink their beliefs regarding the very thing Peter had just talked to them about, and guess what! Peter had not been talking about sin! Peter had been talking about Jesus Christ! The Jews needed to rethink what they believed about Jesus Christ. In other words, since the Jews had not believed on Jesus, they needed to rethink their beliefs until they did believe on Him. Did the word “repent” have anything whatsoever to do with the subject of sin in this passage? No. To teach otherwise is to lie.
Lordship Salvationists will quote any verse of Scripture that includes a form of the word “repent,” as though it somehow proves that repentance always means to “turn from sin.” Let’s look at more classic examples.
Luke 3:3: “And he (John the Baptist) came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;”
Lordship Salvationists will be quick to say this verse proves that John taught that you must “turn from your sins” to be saved. The exact same thing is done with the following verse:
Mark 1:4: “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”
Once again, from the preceding verses, if repentance means “turning from sin,” then it would appear that no belief on Jesus Christ is needed to be saved. Was John teaching a different gospel? No. Let’s move away from the fairy tales of Lordship Salvation and come back to reality. John was not telling people that they needed to “turn from their sins.” Are you ready to see what John the Baptist was actually teaching with his message of repentance?
Acts 19:4: “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
There you have it. John the Baptist did indeed teach faith in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. John’s message of repentance was not about “turning from sin.” The message was a call for belief on Jesus Christ. Why is it impossible for Lordship Salvationists to see this? Go look for yourself. These ignorant “Christians” are all over the Internet. Some of them even wear suits and pretend to be highly educated in spiritual matters. Don’t fall for it.
Jesus Christ Himself addressed the teachings of John the Baptist, and ironically, repentance is mentioned yet again.
Matthew 21:32: “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
Jesus said that the Jews had not repented, and that because they had not repented, they did not believe the words of John. The repentance being mentioned here was not a “turning from sin.” That is quite clear from the context. The Jews’ failure to repent kept them from belief in Jesus, which means that this repentance was pertaining to unbelief. How do you give up unbelief? Do you “turn from your sins?” No! You change your mind! You rethink! In other words, you repent!
Since we’re on a roll, let’s look at two more “repentance” verses from the Bible.
Acts 11:18: “When they (Jewish apostles and certain other saved Jews) heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”
Here we go again. If you define repentance to be a “turning away from sin,” then the preceding verse would appear to say that God gives the ability to “turn from sin” that results in salvation, which is what Lordship Salvation teaches. Let’s cross-reference this verse with another.
John 6:47: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” – Jesus
John 5:40: “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” - Jesus
Jesus Christ clears up the confusion by making it extremely clear that belief on Him is what gives you this “life.” So what was meant by Acts 11:18? That verse simply says that God had given to the Gentiles the same thing He had given to the Jews. The Jews were given the promise of everlasting life in exchange for belief on Jesus Christ, and the Gentiles were later presented with the same system. God did not give any of these people a special power that caused them to “turn from their sins.” God gave them “repentance unto life”, which was to say that God gave them the plan of salvation which only required belief in Jesus Christ. The word “repentance” was referring to the “rethinking” that would be required on the part of the people who had not placed their faith in Jesus yet.
Ready for another one?
2nd Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Hopefully, you have the idea by now. The preceding verse says that God does not want anyone to “perish”, and that “repentance” is the way to avoid that outcome. If repentance means a “turning away from sin,” then quitting your sins is all you need to do so that you will never perish. And just to be clear on this, the word “perish” is not referring to death. Everyone will die because everyone has sinned (Romans 5:12). The word “perish” is referring to the second death, which is Hell (Revelation 20:14). So was Peter teaching that “turning from your sins” will save you from going to Hell? Let’s look at another verse that tells us how not to “perish.”
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – Jesus
According to Jesus Christ, whoever believes in Him will not perish. Therefore, the “repentance” mentioned in 2nd Peter 3:9 cannot mean a “turning away from sin,” because if it did, then Peter was saying that there was a way to Heaven other than by simple belief on Jesus Christ. That is impossible.
John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
You cannot get to Heaven because you “turned from your sins.” “Turning from your sins” plays no part whatsoever in your own eternal salvation (Romans 3:28). If you believe it does, then you better repent of such nonsense and believe in Jesus Christ alone. Did you see what I just did there? I used the word that Lordship Salvationists constantly abuse. If you believe that repentance is a “turning away from sin,” you need to repent, or rethink, or reconsider such nonsense, and you need to believe in Jesus Christ alone. Once you fully understand that repenting is simply rethinking, and not a “turning from sin,” then you will understand how it can be that so many verses of Scripture teach that simple faith in Jesus Christ results in eternal salvation. Take a verse like the following:
2nd Timothy 3:15: “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Does the preceding verse say that salvation comes by “turning from sins?” No. Salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ plus nothing. The “holy scriptures” are to be used to make a person understand that eternal salvation comes from faith in Jesus Christ. However, Scripture is abused by some people in order to keep the unsaved from coming to the truth. One of the most widely used methods of preventing people from getting saved is telling them that they must “repent of their sins.” When that is taught, it creates a serious contradiction in the Bible. Some Scripture says that you must believe in Jesus for salvation, while other Scripture says you need to “repent.” The good news is that there is no contradiction in the Bible. In regards to eternal salvation, repentance always means “a change of mind.” Once you understand that, you will see that the Bible does not contradict itself, and that faith in Jesus Christ is indeed the sole requirement for eternal salvation. Lordship Salvation has it wrong. The Bible explains it correctly.
Many things have been discussed in this lesson. The true identity of Lordship Salvationists has been revealed to be that of false teachers. The flawed logic of Lordship Salvation has been examined. Some verses of Scripture that mention repentance have been seen for what they actually are, instead of what Lordship Salvation wants them to be. But please, if you retain only one truth from this lesson, let it be this simple fact: Repentance and “turning away from sins” are two entirely separate things. This is made abundantly clear by the following verse, which deserves to be repeated once more:
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
Let me leave you with one final thought: Since you can repent and not “turn from your sins,” the reverse of that is also possible. You can “turn from your sins” and not repent. Lordship Salvationists believe that they have turned from their sins. Even though that belief is nonsense (1st John 1:8, Romans 7:17-18), they nevertheless believe it. And yet, ironically, they have not repented. Because they have not rethought their religious ways and placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, they have not repented. Lordship Salvationists love to tell everyone else to repent, and yet the greatest irony of all is that they themselves have not repented.
Turning and Grieving
Some people are aware that defining repentance as a “turning away from sin” is nonsensical. Some people even understand that defining repentance as “feeling sorrow for sins” is absurd. However, instead of teaching the correct definition of repentance, these people instead teach watered-down versions of those other incredibly illogical definitions clung to by the Lordship Salvation camp. We are going to look at both of these compromising positions, and as you have probably already guessed, we are going to see how ridiculous they are.
Some people will say that repentance simply means “a turning.” These people won’t go as far as to say that this “turning” is referring to a turning away from sin. They just leave it at “a turning.” So how about it? Does “repent” mean “to turn?” Let’s consult the Bible.
Ezekiel 14:6: “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.”
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
Jonah 3:9: “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”
Do you see where this is going? Seriously, this is pretty self-explanatory. The Bible makes it clear that repenting and turning are two separate things. They can definitely accompany each other, but they are not the same thing. Nothing more to say here.
Some people will say that repentance simply means to feel “grief” or “sorrow.” These people won’t go as far as to say that this “grief” or “sorrow” is felt over a person’s sins. They just leave it at “grief” or “sorrow.” So could this be valid? Does “repent” mean to feel “grief” or “sorrow?” Once again, let’s consult the Bible.
Genesis 6:6: “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
2nd Corinthians 7:9: “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.”
In the first example, God repented and grieved. Repentance and grief are clearly separate experiences, although they can accompany each other. In the second example, we see that sorrow is not the same thing as repentance. It is possible for sorrow to lead to repentance, but that does not mean that they are the same thing, or that sorrow will always produce repentance. Do clouds always produce rain? Or how about this: Imagine that you had said something negative about someone behind their back. Later on, you find out that what you said was repeated to the person you were talking about. This made the person feel hurt. Knowing that you caused this person hurt, you feel sorrow for what you said. This sorrow leads you to a change of mind where you find yourself wishing that you had never said what you did. This is an example of how sorrow can lead to repentance. Now imagine this: You have a good relationship with a loved one, and then one day they die. What will be the result? You will experience sorrow. But there will be no repentance. Why would you need to change your mind?
What have we learned today? Repentance is not a turning. Repentance is not feeling grief or sorrow. These are simple concepts to understand, made clear by the Bible.
In an earlier lesson, I suggested that using the Bible and logical thinking disproves the claims of Lordship Salvation. Folks, you don’t have to be a Biblical scholar to understand what repentance is and what it is not. You don’t have to study theology. You don’t have to take the opinions of religious “experts.” All you need to do is get a King James Bible, read the passages that mention repentance, and use some good old-fashioned logical thinking. There are people who go to college, graduate, and go on to successful careers, but who remain quite stupid throughout life. There are people who dress up in suits and try to present a highly moral character, claiming to teach the truths of God’s Word, while in reality they are teaching lies. It’s time to look past outside appearances and titles. It’s time to use common sense and logical thinking. We can’t afford to be wrong on the subject of repentance. People are on their way to Hell because they have incorrectly defined repentance, which has led them to the prideful belief that they are earning their salvation by turning from sins and/or feeling sorrow for their sins. It’s Jesus Christ alone, or it’s nothing. You believe in Jesus alone, or you accept a false gospel. Are you going to gamble your soul away? Are you going to ignore what the Bible teaches? Are you going to ignore common sense and logical thinking by believing in a completely irrational definition of repentance? Don’t do it. This is Repentance 101, and this class is here to show you the truth that many religious phonies don’t want you to know.
Galatians 1:6-7: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
2nd Corinthians 11:3-4: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
Some people will say that repentance simply means “a turning.” These people won’t go as far as to say that this “turning” is referring to a turning away from sin. They just leave it at “a turning.” So how about it? Does “repent” mean “to turn?” Let’s consult the Bible.
Ezekiel 14:6: “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.”
Ezekiel 18:30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
Jonah 3:9: “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”
Do you see where this is going? Seriously, this is pretty self-explanatory. The Bible makes it clear that repenting and turning are two separate things. They can definitely accompany each other, but they are not the same thing. Nothing more to say here.
Some people will say that repentance simply means to feel “grief” or “sorrow.” These people won’t go as far as to say that this “grief” or “sorrow” is felt over a person’s sins. They just leave it at “grief” or “sorrow.” So could this be valid? Does “repent” mean to feel “grief” or “sorrow?” Once again, let’s consult the Bible.
Genesis 6:6: “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
2nd Corinthians 7:9: “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.”
In the first example, God repented and grieved. Repentance and grief are clearly separate experiences, although they can accompany each other. In the second example, we see that sorrow is not the same thing as repentance. It is possible for sorrow to lead to repentance, but that does not mean that they are the same thing, or that sorrow will always produce repentance. Do clouds always produce rain? Or how about this: Imagine that you had said something negative about someone behind their back. Later on, you find out that what you said was repeated to the person you were talking about. This made the person feel hurt. Knowing that you caused this person hurt, you feel sorrow for what you said. This sorrow leads you to a change of mind where you find yourself wishing that you had never said what you did. This is an example of how sorrow can lead to repentance. Now imagine this: You have a good relationship with a loved one, and then one day they die. What will be the result? You will experience sorrow. But there will be no repentance. Why would you need to change your mind?
What have we learned today? Repentance is not a turning. Repentance is not feeling grief or sorrow. These are simple concepts to understand, made clear by the Bible.
In an earlier lesson, I suggested that using the Bible and logical thinking disproves the claims of Lordship Salvation. Folks, you don’t have to be a Biblical scholar to understand what repentance is and what it is not. You don’t have to study theology. You don’t have to take the opinions of religious “experts.” All you need to do is get a King James Bible, read the passages that mention repentance, and use some good old-fashioned logical thinking. There are people who go to college, graduate, and go on to successful careers, but who remain quite stupid throughout life. There are people who dress up in suits and try to present a highly moral character, claiming to teach the truths of God’s Word, while in reality they are teaching lies. It’s time to look past outside appearances and titles. It’s time to use common sense and logical thinking. We can’t afford to be wrong on the subject of repentance. People are on their way to Hell because they have incorrectly defined repentance, which has led them to the prideful belief that they are earning their salvation by turning from sins and/or feeling sorrow for their sins. It’s Jesus Christ alone, or it’s nothing. You believe in Jesus alone, or you accept a false gospel. Are you going to gamble your soul away? Are you going to ignore what the Bible teaches? Are you going to ignore common sense and logical thinking by believing in a completely irrational definition of repentance? Don’t do it. This is Repentance 101, and this class is here to show you the truth that many religious phonies don’t want you to know.
Galatians 1:6-7: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
2nd Corinthians 11:3-4: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
Satan’s Master Plan: Bibles From Hell
Let me tell you a story about this guy named Satan. Satan hates God, and Satan hates people, since people were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Because Satan is jealous of God (Isaiah 14:12-14), he attempts to take as many people to Hell as possible, just to spite God. So one day, Satan was going over his ideas for how to blind people to the truth of Jesus Christ (2nd Corinthians 4:4), and he came up with a genius new plan. Satan snapped his fingers and said, “I know! Since the truth comes from the Bible, I will create new Bibles! They will appear to be Bibles, but I will alter them so that people will not be able to learn the truth! While people who read my new ‘Bibles’ will think
they are increasing in the knowledge of God, they will actually be falling
further into my trap!”
One of the main tactics of Satan was to recruit the concept of “repentance” for his purposes only. Satan knows the Bible. Satan can quote Scripture (see Luke 4:10-11, and then go to Psalm 91:11-12). Satan saw an opportunity with “repentance.” By obscuring the true meaning of repentance, Satan’s new “Bibles” have a sinister agenda: To teach a works salvation. These false “Bibles” are where many Lordship Salvation heretics are getting their nonsensical ideas from. You may be asking “What did Satan do to repentance?” He removed every mention of repentance when it was in relation to God, as well as the instances where it was blatantly obvious that repentance was not referring to sin. However, he purposely left repentance in his “Bibles” in places where it could be used to his benefit. Satan wants you to believe that repentance is a turning away from sin, or at the very least, feeling grief/sorrow for sin. In fact, Satan doesn’t care what you think repentance is, as long as you are wrong and accept a works salvation because of it. Satan’s goal is to keep people from believing on Jesus Christ, because Satan wants people to go to Hell in order to hurt God. God wants everyone to be saved.
2nd Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God wants everyone to come to repentance so they will not go to Hell. As you can see, it is extremely important to define repentance correctly, since the difference between Heaven and Hell can be decided by this one word. If you have been reading my Repentance 101 page, then you know that I, as well as the Bible, define repentance as a “rethinking,” or a “change of mind.” This is quite different from the dictionary definition. As stated in an earlier lesson (“Was God a Sinner?”), here is the definition of repentance straight from a dictionary:
“A turning with sorrow from a past sinful course or action; loosely, regret or contrition.”
You are going to have to make a choice. Will you let the true Bible, God’s Holy Word, define repentance? Or will you let Satan’s “Bibles” and dictionaries define repentance? Would you like to see what Satan has done in his “Bibles?” Here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to look at a verse of Scripture, and then we’re going to see how that same verse is recorded in different “Bibles.” We are going to use the true King James Version first. Then we will use the Neutered King James Version, excuse me, New King James Version. Following that, we will use the New Illogical Version, otherwise known as the New International Version. Are you ready to see proof of one of the greatest cover-ups of all time?
Before getting started, please take a moment to consider the following: If the people responsible for bringing us the new “Bibles” felt that “repentance” was a word that needed to be changed in order to help us better understand the Bible, then why did they only change “repentance” at certain places? If you are going to change it to clear up confusion, then you change it every time, or you don’t change it at all. Folks, we have a conspiracy here. I suggest you wake up and pay attention, because as I already said, the difference between Heaven and Hell is what is at stake here. I will now show you what has happened behind the scenes. If you want to know the truth, if you are open-minded and ready to find out how far Satan is willing to go, then you should be angry with what you are about to see. The King James Version will be in italics. The false NKJV and the false NIV will not be italicized, because they are not Scripture. We will start with a few of the easier ones, and then I will show you the more offensive examples.
Part 1:
Genesis 6:6
“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
“And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
“The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.”
Exodus 32:14
“And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
“So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
“Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”
Deuteronomy 32:36
“For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.”
“For the Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.”
“The Lord will vindicate his people and relent concerning his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.”
Judges 2:18
“And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”
“And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.”
“Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.”
1st Samuel 15:35
“And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
“And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.”
“Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
Psalm 106:45
“And he (God) remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.”
“And for their sake He remembered His covenant, And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.”
“for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.”
Jeremiah 26:13
“Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.”
“Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you.”
“Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.”
Amos 7:3
“The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.”
“So the Lord relented concerning this. ‘It shall not be,’ said the Lord.”
“So the Lord relented. ‘This will not happen,’ the Lord said.”
Jonah 3:9-10
“Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
“Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”
“Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”
There are many more of these, but you should get the idea by now. The authors of the NKJV and the NIV did not like the fact that God repented, so under the influence of Satan, these “Bibles” were created with the agenda of removing all instances of God repenting.
One of the main tactics of Satan was to recruit the concept of “repentance” for his purposes only. Satan knows the Bible. Satan can quote Scripture (see Luke 4:10-11, and then go to Psalm 91:11-12). Satan saw an opportunity with “repentance.” By obscuring the true meaning of repentance, Satan’s new “Bibles” have a sinister agenda: To teach a works salvation. These false “Bibles” are where many Lordship Salvation heretics are getting their nonsensical ideas from. You may be asking “What did Satan do to repentance?” He removed every mention of repentance when it was in relation to God, as well as the instances where it was blatantly obvious that repentance was not referring to sin. However, he purposely left repentance in his “Bibles” in places where it could be used to his benefit. Satan wants you to believe that repentance is a turning away from sin, or at the very least, feeling grief/sorrow for sin. In fact, Satan doesn’t care what you think repentance is, as long as you are wrong and accept a works salvation because of it. Satan’s goal is to keep people from believing on Jesus Christ, because Satan wants people to go to Hell in order to hurt God. God wants everyone to be saved.
2nd Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God wants everyone to come to repentance so they will not go to Hell. As you can see, it is extremely important to define repentance correctly, since the difference between Heaven and Hell can be decided by this one word. If you have been reading my Repentance 101 page, then you know that I, as well as the Bible, define repentance as a “rethinking,” or a “change of mind.” This is quite different from the dictionary definition. As stated in an earlier lesson (“Was God a Sinner?”), here is the definition of repentance straight from a dictionary:
“A turning with sorrow from a past sinful course or action; loosely, regret or contrition.”
You are going to have to make a choice. Will you let the true Bible, God’s Holy Word, define repentance? Or will you let Satan’s “Bibles” and dictionaries define repentance? Would you like to see what Satan has done in his “Bibles?” Here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to look at a verse of Scripture, and then we’re going to see how that same verse is recorded in different “Bibles.” We are going to use the true King James Version first. Then we will use the Neutered King James Version, excuse me, New King James Version. Following that, we will use the New Illogical Version, otherwise known as the New International Version. Are you ready to see proof of one of the greatest cover-ups of all time?
Before getting started, please take a moment to consider the following: If the people responsible for bringing us the new “Bibles” felt that “repentance” was a word that needed to be changed in order to help us better understand the Bible, then why did they only change “repentance” at certain places? If you are going to change it to clear up confusion, then you change it every time, or you don’t change it at all. Folks, we have a conspiracy here. I suggest you wake up and pay attention, because as I already said, the difference between Heaven and Hell is what is at stake here. I will now show you what has happened behind the scenes. If you want to know the truth, if you are open-minded and ready to find out how far Satan is willing to go, then you should be angry with what you are about to see. The King James Version will be in italics. The false NKJV and the false NIV will not be italicized, because they are not Scripture. We will start with a few of the easier ones, and then I will show you the more offensive examples.
Part 1:
Genesis 6:6
“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
“And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
“The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.”
Exodus 32:14
“And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
“So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
“Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”
Deuteronomy 32:36
“For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.”
“For the Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.”
“The Lord will vindicate his people and relent concerning his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.”
Judges 2:18
“And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”
“And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them.”
“Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.”
1st Samuel 15:35
“And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
“And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.”
“Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”
Psalm 106:45
“And he (God) remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.”
“And for their sake He remembered His covenant, And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.”
“for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.”
Jeremiah 26:13
“Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.”
“Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you.”
“Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.”
Amos 7:3
“The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.”
“So the Lord relented concerning this. ‘It shall not be,’ said the Lord.”
“So the Lord relented. ‘This will not happen,’ the Lord said.”
Jonah 3:9-10
“Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
“Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”
“Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”
There are many more of these, but you should get the idea by now. The authors of the NKJV and the NIV did not like the fact that God repented, so under the influence of Satan, these “Bibles” were created with the agenda of removing all instances of God repenting.
We are ready to move on to the second phase of this lesson. We will now look at verses of Scripture which have been altered in even more revealing ways.
Part 2:
Hebrews 7:21
“(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)”
“for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: ‘The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’’)”
“but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’’”
(Let me take a moment to point out the hilarious irony of the fact that the NIV alters “repent” to “change his mind.” So the NIV can indeed acknowledge the true definition of repentance when it wants to. But why does the NIV believe that repenting is the same thing as changing the mind only in certain instances? You will see this again.)
Romans 11:29
“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
“for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”
(Irrevocable? When repentance was done by God, it became relenting or a changing of the mind. Now it becomes “irrevocable?”)
2nd Corinthians 7:8
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death ”
“For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
(This example speaks volumes of the conspiracy that was going on during the creation of these “Bibles.” Why was repentance changed three times out of five? I will tell you why. It was done in order to remove the two instances where the repentance was in relation to the apostle Paul, and also to get rid of the final instance, where the repenting could not in any way be misunderstood as a “turning from sin.” Folks, this is huge. This is proof of evil intentions. If you don’t want to believe that, then go back to “drinking the Kool-Aid.” You would have to be willingly ignorant to dismiss these findings.)
Exodus 13:17
“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:”
“Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’”
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’”
(Repentance was changed here because it was very clearly not dealing with the subject of sin. That meant it had to go.)
Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
(The NKJV kept the word “repent” in this particular verse. It did so because the verse could be misconstrued to imply that God cannot repent, which is untrue. Meanwhile, the NIV once again got it right by calling repentance a “change of mind.”)
Jeremiah 18:8
(This one is extremely interesting.)
“If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.”
“if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.”
(Watch what happens next. The NIV takes it upon itself to change the phrase “turn from their evil” into “repents of its evil.”)
“and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.”
(Do you see what Satan did there? Do you see what Satan did through evil men who tampered with the Bible? The word “repents” was added in to make it appear that repenting is “turning from sin,” and if that’s not enough, the actual occurrence of the word “repent” was changed. Don’t miss this! Make sure that you fully understand what you have just witnessed, because this was an evil trick played by Satan, and this kind of trickery is what resulted in the wrong definitions of repentance. How strange that the NIV chose to remove “repent” on so many occasions, and then it did the complete opposite by adding the word in where it didn’t belong!)
Jeremiah 18:10
“If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.”
“if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.”
“and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.”
(In this example, the NIV decided that “reconsider” is a fitting replacement for “repent.” I agree. It’s very strange how the NIV could change each instance where repentance applied to God, and yet repentance remained in most of the cases where it was dealing with people. Why was there a double standard? It was to make it seem that repentance was something that only people could do. God cannot turn from sin, because God cannot sin. To make people believe that repentance is “turning from sin,” it was necessary to make it appear that God could never repent. I’m here to tell you, by way of the King James Bible, that God can repent, and He did so many times. Repenting is rethinking, or reconsidering. It’s funny how the NIV can see that only when it’s convenient for its sinister purposes.)
Hosea 13:14
“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.”
“‘I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.’”
“‘I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? ‘I will have no compassion,”
(Here, repentance was changed to pity and compassion. The NKJV and NIV cannot seem to make up their minds about what repentance is.)
Jeremiah 15:6
“Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.”
“You have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord, ‘You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting!”
“You have rejected me,’ declares the Lord. ‘You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back.”
(The NIV defines repenting as “holding back” this time. That’s a new one.)
Jeremiah 20:16
“And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;”
“And let that man be like the cities Which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent; Let him hear the cry in the morning And the shouting at noon,”
“May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.”
Hosea 11:8
“How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.”
“‘How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.”
“‘How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.”
(In this case, repenting becomes “sympathy” and “compassion.” Who knew that repentance had so many different definitions?)
Zechariah 8:14
“For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not:”
“‘For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Just as I determined to punish you When your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I would not relent,”
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty,”
Matthew 21:29
“He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.”
“He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.”
“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.”
(Repentance was changed here because it was too obvious that repentance had nothing to do with sin. Again, all of these changes were made in order to make repentance seem to be an experience that deals exclusively with sin. When it is convenient for their agenda, these false “Bibles” have no problem admitting that repentance is a change of mind, as seen in the example above.)
Part 2:
Hebrews 7:21
“(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)”
“for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: ‘The Lord has sworn And will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek’’)”
“but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’’”
(Let me take a moment to point out the hilarious irony of the fact that the NIV alters “repent” to “change his mind.” So the NIV can indeed acknowledge the true definition of repentance when it wants to. But why does the NIV believe that repenting is the same thing as changing the mind only in certain instances? You will see this again.)
Romans 11:29
“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
“for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”
(Irrevocable? When repentance was done by God, it became relenting or a changing of the mind. Now it becomes “irrevocable?”)
2nd Corinthians 7:8
“For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death ”
“For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
(This example speaks volumes of the conspiracy that was going on during the creation of these “Bibles.” Why was repentance changed three times out of five? I will tell you why. It was done in order to remove the two instances where the repentance was in relation to the apostle Paul, and also to get rid of the final instance, where the repenting could not in any way be misunderstood as a “turning from sin.” Folks, this is huge. This is proof of evil intentions. If you don’t want to believe that, then go back to “drinking the Kool-Aid.” You would have to be willingly ignorant to dismiss these findings.)
Exodus 13:17
“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:”
“Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’”
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’”
(Repentance was changed here because it was very clearly not dealing with the subject of sin. That meant it had to go.)
Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
(The NKJV kept the word “repent” in this particular verse. It did so because the verse could be misconstrued to imply that God cannot repent, which is untrue. Meanwhile, the NIV once again got it right by calling repentance a “change of mind.”)
Jeremiah 18:8
(This one is extremely interesting.)
“If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.”
“if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.”
(Watch what happens next. The NIV takes it upon itself to change the phrase “turn from their evil” into “repents of its evil.”)
“and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.”
(Do you see what Satan did there? Do you see what Satan did through evil men who tampered with the Bible? The word “repents” was added in to make it appear that repenting is “turning from sin,” and if that’s not enough, the actual occurrence of the word “repent” was changed. Don’t miss this! Make sure that you fully understand what you have just witnessed, because this was an evil trick played by Satan, and this kind of trickery is what resulted in the wrong definitions of repentance. How strange that the NIV chose to remove “repent” on so many occasions, and then it did the complete opposite by adding the word in where it didn’t belong!)
Jeremiah 18:10
“If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.”
“if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.”
“and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.”
(In this example, the NIV decided that “reconsider” is a fitting replacement for “repent.” I agree. It’s very strange how the NIV could change each instance where repentance applied to God, and yet repentance remained in most of the cases where it was dealing with people. Why was there a double standard? It was to make it seem that repentance was something that only people could do. God cannot turn from sin, because God cannot sin. To make people believe that repentance is “turning from sin,” it was necessary to make it appear that God could never repent. I’m here to tell you, by way of the King James Bible, that God can repent, and He did so many times. Repenting is rethinking, or reconsidering. It’s funny how the NIV can see that only when it’s convenient for its sinister purposes.)
Hosea 13:14
“I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.”
“‘I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.’”
“‘I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? ‘I will have no compassion,”
(Here, repentance was changed to pity and compassion. The NKJV and NIV cannot seem to make up their minds about what repentance is.)
Jeremiah 15:6
“Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.”
“You have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord, ‘You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting!”
“You have rejected me,’ declares the Lord. ‘You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back.”
(The NIV defines repenting as “holding back” this time. That’s a new one.)
Jeremiah 20:16
“And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;”
“And let that man be like the cities Which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent; Let him hear the cry in the morning And the shouting at noon,”
“May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.”
Hosea 11:8
“How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.”
“‘How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.”
“‘How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.”
(In this case, repenting becomes “sympathy” and “compassion.” Who knew that repentance had so many different definitions?)
Zechariah 8:14
“For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not:”
“‘For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Just as I determined to punish you When your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I would not relent,”
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty,”
Matthew 21:29
“He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.”
“He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.”
“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.”
(Repentance was changed here because it was too obvious that repentance had nothing to do with sin. Again, all of these changes were made in order to make repentance seem to be an experience that deals exclusively with sin. When it is convenient for their agenda, these false “Bibles” have no problem admitting that repentance is a change of mind, as seen in the example above.)
Now that we have looked at some of the changes made to Scripture, I will show you something equally as interesting. We are going to look at a few instances where repentance was not changed. Take note that these verses were left unchanged because the repentance was connected to people, not God. Repentance was left untouched in the following examples in order to make repentance seem as though it was an action that could only be done by people. The desired effect was to make repentance a “turning from sin.”
Part 3:
Job 42:6
“Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
“Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.’”
“Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.’”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding a person.)
Mark 1:15
“And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
“and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”
“‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Mark 6:12
“And they went out, and preached that men should repent.”
“So they went out and preached that people should repent.”
“They went out and preached that people should repent.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Luke 5:32
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’”
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Luke 15:7
“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
(Stays the same because the repentance, in both cases, is regarding people.)
Acts 2:38
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 3:19
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,”
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 17:30
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,”
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 20:21
“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 26:20
“But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”
“but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”
“First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.”
(Stays the same because the repentance, in both cases, is regarding people.)
Hebrews 6:1
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,”
“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,”
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,”
(The NIV uses the phrase “repentance from acts that lead to death” in order to completely change the meaning of this verse. The verse teaches that you need to change your mind about how you are saved. Works will not save the soul. Works were part of the Old Testament, while belief on Jesus Christ is the New Testament. This is deeply examined in the book of Hebrews, which refers to works as “dead” because they are part of the old system. Changing “dead works” to “acts that lead to death” was a deliberate attempt to make “dead works” appear to be sin, thus making another forced connection between repentance and sin. The repentance itself was left untouched in this verse, because the repentance is regarding people.)
Revelation 16:9
“And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.”
“And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.”
“They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.”
(While repentance remains in the altered versions of this verse of Scripture, a sneaky thing was done. In the true King James Version of the verse, it is clear that the repentance was a change of mind to giving God the glory. In the bastardized versions, the repentance is made to be something in addition to giving God the glory. This was accomplished by the word “to” being taken out of the original version and being replaced with “and.” Repentance itself was left untouched because the repentance is regarding people.)
Conclusion:
So what are we to take from all of this? Here are the facts: The King James Bible taught that repentance was something that God and people could do. The King James Bible taught that repentance was a change of mind. The New King James “Bible” and the New International “Bible” altered every instance of repentance that was done by God. These “Bibles” conveniently left repentance unchanged only in the instances that could be more easily misinterpreted to teach the false idea that repentance was a “turning from sin.”
Why was all of this done? Why change repentance in certain places and not in others? Don’t you find it funny that repentance is the one concept that Lordship Salvationists preach more than any other concept? Don’t you ever wonder where all of the confusion over repentance came from? It came from these false “Bibles,” which were purposed from the beginning to forever change the mainstream perception of what repentance truly is. Folks, lesson after lesson on this page has shown you the truth about repentance. Perhaps at one time you honestly did not know the truth. Those days are gone now. If you choose to ignore all of the facts that have been presented to you regarding repentance, you can no longer claim ignorance. You will have to admit that you simply prefer being lied to, and that you would rather cling to a false definition of a word that has brought about nothing but self-righteousness and false conversions. Have you been reading this page (Repentance 101)? The false definitions of repentance (“turning from sin,” “feeling sorrow for sins”) have been completely destroyed. There is no longer any foundation to hold up any of that nonsense. We now see that the source of the attacks on the true definition of repentance was none other than something that many people have looked to for the truth. The source of the confusion over the unbelievably simple concept of repentance has been false “Bibles.” Are you going to fall for Satan’s cunning trick? People who think they are becoming wise from these “Bibles” are getting a steady diet of lies instead. People using these “Bibles” remind me of the people mentioned in 2nd Timothy 3:7:
“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Jesus Christ said that He was the truth (John 14:6). Jesus Christ said that whoever believes on Him has eternal life (John 6:47). Many people have chosen to be religious instead of going to Jesus for eternal life. In many of these cases, this foolish decision has been caused by a false definition of repentance, which demands that people must be self-righteous in order to be saved, thus rendering the grace of God useless (Romans 11:6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 5:4). Therefore, it is possible for a person to learn very much religious wisdom over the course of an entire lifetime, and yet never come to the simple knowledge of the fact that Jesus Christ saves anyone who believes on Him. Allow me to let you in on a great big secret: Satan does not care how much Bible you know, as long as you are not saved. You could possess all sorts of Biblical knowledge and yet be unsaved, simply because you incorrectly defined repentance, trusted in a false works gospel, and depended on your own self-righteousness. There is a saying that goes something like this: “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Lots of people think that they are on the right track (Matthew 7:21-23). Lots of people think they know the Bible. Yet by tampering with one small concept (repentance), Satan has caused many people to put themselves under the bondage of the law instead of under God’s grace. And folks, no one is saved by the law (Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:21).
So what will it be? Are you going to let one of Satan’s false “Bible” perversions define repentance for you? Are you going to ignore everything that has been exposed thus far concerning the great cover-up of the true meaning of repentance? You have no excuses anymore.
Part 3:
Job 42:6
“Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
“Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.’”
“Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.’”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding a person.)
Mark 1:15
“And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
“and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”
“‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Mark 6:12
“And they went out, and preached that men should repent.”
“So they went out and preached that people should repent.”
“They went out and preached that people should repent.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Luke 5:32
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’”
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Luke 15:7
“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
(Stays the same because the repentance, in both cases, is regarding people.)
Acts 2:38
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 3:19
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,”
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 17:30
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,”
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 20:21
“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”
(Stays the same because the repentance is regarding people.)
Acts 26:20
“But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”
“but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”
“First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.”
(Stays the same because the repentance, in both cases, is regarding people.)
Hebrews 6:1
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,”
“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,”
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,”
(The NIV uses the phrase “repentance from acts that lead to death” in order to completely change the meaning of this verse. The verse teaches that you need to change your mind about how you are saved. Works will not save the soul. Works were part of the Old Testament, while belief on Jesus Christ is the New Testament. This is deeply examined in the book of Hebrews, which refers to works as “dead” because they are part of the old system. Changing “dead works” to “acts that lead to death” was a deliberate attempt to make “dead works” appear to be sin, thus making another forced connection between repentance and sin. The repentance itself was left untouched in this verse, because the repentance is regarding people.)
Revelation 16:9
“And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.”
“And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.”
“They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.”
(While repentance remains in the altered versions of this verse of Scripture, a sneaky thing was done. In the true King James Version of the verse, it is clear that the repentance was a change of mind to giving God the glory. In the bastardized versions, the repentance is made to be something in addition to giving God the glory. This was accomplished by the word “to” being taken out of the original version and being replaced with “and.” Repentance itself was left untouched because the repentance is regarding people.)
Conclusion:
So what are we to take from all of this? Here are the facts: The King James Bible taught that repentance was something that God and people could do. The King James Bible taught that repentance was a change of mind. The New King James “Bible” and the New International “Bible” altered every instance of repentance that was done by God. These “Bibles” conveniently left repentance unchanged only in the instances that could be more easily misinterpreted to teach the false idea that repentance was a “turning from sin.”
Why was all of this done? Why change repentance in certain places and not in others? Don’t you find it funny that repentance is the one concept that Lordship Salvationists preach more than any other concept? Don’t you ever wonder where all of the confusion over repentance came from? It came from these false “Bibles,” which were purposed from the beginning to forever change the mainstream perception of what repentance truly is. Folks, lesson after lesson on this page has shown you the truth about repentance. Perhaps at one time you honestly did not know the truth. Those days are gone now. If you choose to ignore all of the facts that have been presented to you regarding repentance, you can no longer claim ignorance. You will have to admit that you simply prefer being lied to, and that you would rather cling to a false definition of a word that has brought about nothing but self-righteousness and false conversions. Have you been reading this page (Repentance 101)? The false definitions of repentance (“turning from sin,” “feeling sorrow for sins”) have been completely destroyed. There is no longer any foundation to hold up any of that nonsense. We now see that the source of the attacks on the true definition of repentance was none other than something that many people have looked to for the truth. The source of the confusion over the unbelievably simple concept of repentance has been false “Bibles.” Are you going to fall for Satan’s cunning trick? People who think they are becoming wise from these “Bibles” are getting a steady diet of lies instead. People using these “Bibles” remind me of the people mentioned in 2nd Timothy 3:7:
“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Jesus Christ said that He was the truth (John 14:6). Jesus Christ said that whoever believes on Him has eternal life (John 6:47). Many people have chosen to be religious instead of going to Jesus for eternal life. In many of these cases, this foolish decision has been caused by a false definition of repentance, which demands that people must be self-righteous in order to be saved, thus rendering the grace of God useless (Romans 11:6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 5:4). Therefore, it is possible for a person to learn very much religious wisdom over the course of an entire lifetime, and yet never come to the simple knowledge of the fact that Jesus Christ saves anyone who believes on Him. Allow me to let you in on a great big secret: Satan does not care how much Bible you know, as long as you are not saved. You could possess all sorts of Biblical knowledge and yet be unsaved, simply because you incorrectly defined repentance, trusted in a false works gospel, and depended on your own self-righteousness. There is a saying that goes something like this: “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Lots of people think that they are on the right track (Matthew 7:21-23). Lots of people think they know the Bible. Yet by tampering with one small concept (repentance), Satan has caused many people to put themselves under the bondage of the law instead of under God’s grace. And folks, no one is saved by the law (Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:21).
So what will it be? Are you going to let one of Satan’s false “Bible” perversions define repentance for you? Are you going to ignore everything that has been exposed thus far concerning the great cover-up of the true meaning of repentance? You have no excuses anymore.
The Repentance of Nineveh
Goodness gracious…! It seems I may have been wrong all along! All this time I’ve been teaching that repentance is simply to have a changed mind, while strictly denying that repentance is a “turning away from sin.” It looks like I may have to recant all of that. What could have led me to this astonishing conclusion?
Matthew 12:41: “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
Jesus said that the people of Nineveh repented when they heard the preaching of Jonah. And what can we find in the book of Jonah?
Jonah 3:10: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
So has Jesus Christ Himself proven me wrong? Has Jesus declared in the Holy Bible that repentance is a “turning away from sin?”
Let’s go back one chapter in the book of Matthew to look at another verse where Jesus Christ made mention of repentance.
Matthew 11:21: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
Sackcloth was a course fabric that people would wear to represent sadness and shame. In the preceding verse, Jesus Christ mentioned the idea of repenting and putting on sackcloth and ashes, which was a public display of humbleness and personal shame.
Allow me to briefly take you back to something we learned in an earlier lesson.
2nd Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
If repentance is “turning away from sin,” then turning away from sin is all you need to do in order to not perish, which is referring to ending up in Hell. That is impossible, because the Bible repeatedly teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is what saves a person. Cross-referencing 2nd Peter 3:9 with another verse of Scripture gives us a more clear idea of what repentance is.
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
In the Bible, whenever repentance is mentioned in regards to eternal salvation, that repentance can be interchanged with believing on Jesus Christ. Repentance causes you not to perish. Believing on Jesus Christ causes you not to perish. The Bible simply used different terminology to teach the exact same thing. Repenting was the same thing as believing, since both were referring to a change of mind.
But wait just a minute…. What about that “evidence” I showed you in Jonah 3:10? Didn’t that verse seem to indicate that repentance is not a mere change of mind? Didn’t that verse seem to teach that repentance is in fact “turning from sin?”
Here it is, folks. The moment of truth. If I have been correct about everything I have claimed on this page, then there must be a way to prove that the repentance that occurred in Nineveh was indeed a change of mind. Otherwise, I have been completely wrong. Are you ready for the truth? Look at these two verses once again:
Matthew 12:41: “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
Matthew 11:21: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
Jonah 3:10 says that the people of Nineveh “turned from their evil way”. Go back several verses and you will find what we are looking for.
Jonah 3:1-5: “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.”
When the people of Nineveh heard the preaching of Jonah, they believed God and dressed in sackcloth. They went on to turn “from their evil way”, but that is beside the point. The repentance that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 12:41 was referring to the belief of the people of Nineveh, which is why the mention of sackcloth was made directly afterwards. Well what do you know? I wasn’t wrong about repentance after all. Once again, the Bible has defined repentance correctly, by showing that repentance is having a changed mind. God Himself repented in Jonah 3:10, when He changed His mind and did not overthrow the city of Nineveh. The people of Nineveh repented, or believed God, and then God repented, or changed His mind and spared the city.
Matthew 12:41: “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
Jesus said that the people of Nineveh repented when they heard the preaching of Jonah. And what can we find in the book of Jonah?
Jonah 3:10: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
So has Jesus Christ Himself proven me wrong? Has Jesus declared in the Holy Bible that repentance is a “turning away from sin?”
Let’s go back one chapter in the book of Matthew to look at another verse where Jesus Christ made mention of repentance.
Matthew 11:21: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
Sackcloth was a course fabric that people would wear to represent sadness and shame. In the preceding verse, Jesus Christ mentioned the idea of repenting and putting on sackcloth and ashes, which was a public display of humbleness and personal shame.
Allow me to briefly take you back to something we learned in an earlier lesson.
2nd Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
If repentance is “turning away from sin,” then turning away from sin is all you need to do in order to not perish, which is referring to ending up in Hell. That is impossible, because the Bible repeatedly teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is what saves a person. Cross-referencing 2nd Peter 3:9 with another verse of Scripture gives us a more clear idea of what repentance is.
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
In the Bible, whenever repentance is mentioned in regards to eternal salvation, that repentance can be interchanged with believing on Jesus Christ. Repentance causes you not to perish. Believing on Jesus Christ causes you not to perish. The Bible simply used different terminology to teach the exact same thing. Repenting was the same thing as believing, since both were referring to a change of mind.
But wait just a minute…. What about that “evidence” I showed you in Jonah 3:10? Didn’t that verse seem to indicate that repentance is not a mere change of mind? Didn’t that verse seem to teach that repentance is in fact “turning from sin?”
Here it is, folks. The moment of truth. If I have been correct about everything I have claimed on this page, then there must be a way to prove that the repentance that occurred in Nineveh was indeed a change of mind. Otherwise, I have been completely wrong. Are you ready for the truth? Look at these two verses once again:
Matthew 12:41: “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
Matthew 11:21: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
Jonah 3:10 says that the people of Nineveh “turned from their evil way”. Go back several verses and you will find what we are looking for.
Jonah 3:1-5: “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.”
When the people of Nineveh heard the preaching of Jonah, they believed God and dressed in sackcloth. They went on to turn “from their evil way”, but that is beside the point. The repentance that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 12:41 was referring to the belief of the people of Nineveh, which is why the mention of sackcloth was made directly afterwards. Well what do you know? I wasn’t wrong about repentance after all. Once again, the Bible has defined repentance correctly, by showing that repentance is having a changed mind. God Himself repented in Jonah 3:10, when He changed His mind and did not overthrow the city of Nineveh. The people of Nineveh repented, or believed God, and then God repented, or changed His mind and spared the city.
Acts 17:30
Acts 17:30: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
The above verse sure gets a lot of mileage. Unfortunately, it is constantly used in a completely wrong way. This is because of prideful religious people, also known as Lordship Salvationists. You have to understand the mentality of these people. What can we compare them to?
If a person is illiterate, they cannot read. Words mean nothing to an illiterate person. This person could possess books on all sorts of subjects and yet possess no knowledge whatsoever. Information is only good if you can process it. Imagine trying to cook a pizza when you cannot read the instructions on the box. Imagine trying to fix a kitchen appliance that is acting up by consulting the instruction manual. If you were illiterate, you could not even find the troubleshooting page! The answers are right there in front of you, but you cannot process the information, so it is worthless. Lordship Salvationists have an advantage because they can read, but they cannot process what they read, so the Bible serves them no purpose.
Here is another way to picture Lordship Salvationists: What if you stubbornly believed that vegetables were candy? You hear people saying that you must eat more vegetables in order to be healthy, so you eat more candy. You walk into a grocery store and ask where the vegetables are, and an employee points you to the produce department. You ignore him and turn around to face the other direction, and then you walk to the candy aisle. You own a recipe book full of recipes for healthy meals, but those meals call for vegetables, and you use candy for your ingredients instead. You keep cooking the meals pictured in your healthy recipe book, but instead of getting healthier, you are becoming more and more unhealthy. What good is that recipe book doing you? If used properly, it could help you to become healthier. But because you are being stubborn, the book cannot help you. Because you cannot see that your idea of what vegetables are is totally wrong, you have set yourself up for failure. But you do not stop there. You are not content to fail by yourself. You start telling everyone that vegetables are actually candy, and you convince lots of other people, and then they start becoming more and more unhealthy. This is what many religious people do. Let me show you what I mean:
Vegetables = Repentance
Candy = Turning away from all of your sins
The recipe book = The Bible
The stubborn person opens the recipe book, sees the word “vegetables,” and substitutes candy for his ingredients.
The religious person, or Lordship Salvationist, opens the Bible, sees the word “repentance,” and substitutes the false meaning of “turn away from all of your sins.”
I have spent much time and effort in defending the true meaning of repentance, which is merely a “rethinking,” or a “changing of the mind.” It upsets me to no end to see religious people twisting and altering the meaning of repentance to fit their prideful intentions. What these people desire is for you to believe that Jesus Christ cannot save you without you doing work of your own. They ignore all the verses of Scripture like the following:
Romans 10:9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
That verse was written by the apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, the apostle who Jesus Christ directly revealed the Gospel of Christ to. Religious people will take you instead to a verse like the following:
Matthew 4:17: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
That verse was spoken by Jesus Christ to the Jews, during the time that Jesus was presenting Himself to the Jews as the King that they had been promised, the King they were supposed to be watching for. This was the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 9:35), and this Gospel was only meant for the Jews for a limited time (Matthew 10:5-7). The Gospel of the Kingdom is not the same thing as the Gospel of Christ, and regardless, repentance did not mean “turning away from your sins.” John the Baptist also taught the Jews to repent because of the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew 3:1-2: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Paul defined what this repentance referred to.
Acts 19:4: “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
Jesus Christ Himself explained that the repentance that John taught was a change of mind, in this case, going from unbelief to belief. Here is Jesus speaking to some Jewish chief priests and elders:
Matthew 21:32: “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented (changed your minds) not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
The issue here was not that these chief priests and elders were not turning from their sins. The issue was that they did not believe the Gospel of the Kingdom. Now bear with me. This is a very complicated matter, so clear your head of all your thoughts and take a deep breath…. Ready? Ok. If you do not believe in something, how do you go from that to believing? You… change your mind and believe it. Do you turn from all your sins? Do you stand on your hands against the wall for ten minutes? Do you count backwards from one hundred while patting your belly? No! You change your mind and believe! This is what Jesus Christ was telling these chief priests and elders. Let me paraphrase what Jesus said: “John came to you and told you the truth, and you didn’t believe him. The tax collectors and prostitutes believed John, and when you saw that, you still did not change your minds and believe.” It’s not that hard, people…. It’s not that hard.
Now let’s say that a religious person directs you to a verse like the following:
Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
So you have to repent to receive the forgiveness of sins, according to the apostle Peter. I don’t argue that. But what is repentance? Is it turning away from all of your sins? Or is it a change of mind? Well let’s look at another speech given by Peter.
Acts 13:38-39: “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man (Jesus Christ) is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
According to Peter, everyone who believes on Jesus is justified from all things, receiving the forgiveness of sins. But didn’t Peter say that repentance was necessary for that? Yes he did. Is this a contradiction? No, it simply proves that repentance and belief are the same thing when it comes to getting saved. Don’t let prideful religious people make a fool out of you. Repentance is not what you are constantly told it is. It is not turning away from sin. It is changing your mind.
Now that I am done recapping what we already know, let’s get into this thing. Acts 17:30. One of the all-time favorite verses of the Lordship Salvation, prideful and religious, repentance-abusing crowd. Let’s look at it again.
Acts 17:30: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
Paul said that people everywhere needed to repent. Do you remember the illustration with vegetables and candy? What do you suppose the religious crowd will tell you is meant by this verse from the book of Acts? It will be something along these lines:
“Everyone needs to turn away from all of their sins, or else they are not saved.”
Religious people love to take Scripture out of context and teach whatever they want to with it. Let’s put this verse from Acts back into its context. I’m not going to settle for just a few verses. We are going to get the whole picture here in order to learn the truth about this verse and to see the complete ignorance of the repentance-abusers.
Acts 17:15-21: “And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)”
Let’s break for a moment. Here is the picture: Paul was in Athens waiting for his fellow companions in the ministry to meet up with him. Paul was angered to find the entire city of Athens partaking in idolatry, meaning they were worshipping statues and carvings. It was so rampant that even the Jews that were there were participating, and being a Jew himself, Paul went into the synagogue and argued with them concerning this behavior. Paul had incurred unpleasant dealings with religious Jews who clung to Moses’ law, but this was surely even more frustrating to Paul. Paul could understand where those religious Jews were coming from, having been quite steadfast in his Old Testament religion and customs (Philippians 3:4-6) before meeting Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus. But in Athens, Paul was annoyed to see his own people, along with all of the townsfolk, worshipping manmade idols. Paul told the people of Athens about Jesus Christ, the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection. Speaking to a very superstitious audience, Paul soon attracted the attention of some philosophers, who were intrigued with what they believed to be “strange gods” being shared with them by this out-of-towner. They were interested in this new teaching about a man named Jesus Christ, who was the Son of God, and who had actually come back from the dead. These philosophers pulled Paul aside and asked to hear more of his doctrine, because these men spent all of their time pondering such teachings and ideas. So Paul addressed the philosophers, and ironically, he did so at Mars’ Hill. Why is this ironic? Here is a description of Mars’ Hill, taken from sacred-destinations.com:
“According to Greek mythology, Ares (the god of war, known to the Romans as Mars) was tried here by the gods for the murder of Poseidon's son Alirrothios. It is this legend that gives the hill its various names. Another legend says that the hill was the site of the trial of Orestes for killing his stepmother and her lover, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.”
This very place was steeped in mythology pertaining to false Greek gods, so you can appreciate the irony of the spot where Paul gave his speech from. And without further ado, here is what Paul said to the eager ears gathered to hear him:
Acts 17:22-33: “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them.”
Paul told these men from Athens that they were too superstitious. They worshipped all sorts of false gods, and just in case they missed any, they even had an altar set up devoted to what they called “The Unknown God”. Paul told these men that if they wanted to know about the “unknown God,” then Paul could certainly fill them in. Paul explained how God made the world and all the things contained therein. Seeing that God is big enough to do all of that, He is obviously bigger than our world. That means God does not live in fancy temples and worship centers that man creates. God created life, and the very breath that brings life to each and every person. All the people of the earth came from one man that God created. God decided on the times that would take place in history, and even the boundaries of where the various nations would live. God gave people free will so that they could choose to seek after Him, though He is close to every one of us. We are likened unto the children of God. He created us. He is bigger than us. Now if we were fashioned by God (and God said that man was indeed created in His very image in Genesis 1:26-27), then it would be ridiculous for us to think that God could be represented by silver, gold, stones, carvings, statues, or any kind of art that man were to make with his hands. To think that God was represented by some cheap, manmade item was just plain ignorant, and God had looked the other way when it came to this ignorance. But now, God was commanding people everywhere to repent, or change their minds. There is one way to reach God, and that is through Jesus Christ. God has marked a day on His calendar where He will judge the world through Jesus Christ. And we can know that Jesus Christ was/is the real deal, because God raised Him from the dead. Now these philosophers from Athens had differing opinions about how they felt concerning what Paul shared with them. Some laughed at the idea that a person could come back from the dead. Others told Paul that they would listen to more of what he had to say.
And that’s what happened in the famous speech made by Paul on Mars’ Hill. Now, look again at the verse in question:
Acts 17:30: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
Having considered the passage of Scripture that this verse was taken from, let’s ask ourselves a few questions.
Did this passage refer to sin? No.
Did this passage refer to lying, murdering, committing adultery, etc.? No.
Was sin mentioned anywhere in this passage? No.
What did this passage deal with? It dealt with the people of Athens, their superstitious ways, and their belief that God could be represented by statues and carvings. Sin was not the issue. Ignorance was the issue.
When Paul was addressing these philosophers from Athens, and he said that people everywhere needed to repent, what was this repentance referring to? In light of the context of this passage of Scripture, we can easily answer this question. The repentance was referring to a change of mind. The people of Athens, and people like them everywhere, needed to change their minds and gain a new perspective on God. God could not be represented by the creations of man, and God did not need to be worshipped in exquisite temples, also manmade. God was bigger than these things. God created man. How could man think to make something that would be a proper picture of God, or a fitting house for God to dwell in? That is like a very small child drawing a stick figure and wanting their mom or dad to be pleased with the portrait their child has created of them. You see, God is not impressed with those things, and God is so much bigger than anything we could ever create. This is what people needed to understand, and still do to this day.
Allow me to get sidetracked for a moment. There are Catholic people all over the world bowing down to ridiculous statues and pictures. Worse yet, they worship Mary, the mother of Jesus, a woman that believers on Jesus Christ were never once instructed to worship. Catholic people love their beautiful cathedrals and stained glass windows, but I have bad news for them: God is not inside those places. Jesus Christ is not inside those places. If you want to worship Mary, you go right on ahead, but don’t you expect God or His Son to be any part of that nonsense. What a slap in the face to God, to worship someone He never told you to, and instead were taught to do so by men in dresses. Mary did not die for your sins. Mary did not resurrect from the dead and take her blood to Heaven as the payment for your sins. Mary is not sitting at the right hand of God making intercession for you. Mary is not coming out of Heaven to call you up there one day. If you are Catholic, stop going to church, stop confessing your sins to a man who has enough sins of his own to confess (a priest is not your go-between to reach God, as Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man according to 1st Timothy 2:5), stop participating in ritualism and chanting (see Mathew 6:7), etc. Catholics are enslaved by religion and tradition, just like the Pharisees who were alive during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ (Mark 7:6-13). If you are any part of that, get out now, buy a King James Bible, and read the truth for yourself. The Catholic Church, which is anything but a church, wants you to think you must be loyal to her in order to get to Heaven. This is not how true leadership in a church is meant to behave or believe.
2nd Corinthians 1:24: “Not for that we (Paul and his partners in the ministry) have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.”
The physical church (not the collective body of believers on Jesus Christ mentioned in Acts 20:28 and Ephesians 5:21-33, but an actual building and congregation) is supposed to be a help to believers. The church does not get you into Heaven. You get into Heaven by faith in Jesus Christ. By faith you can stand, and by faith you will stand before Jesus one day. Unless you believe the church is needed to get you to Heaven. Or if you believe that Mary plays a part in saving you. Or if you believe in anything other than Jesus Christ alone.
Now, getting back on topic, we have seen very clearly what Paul taught in his sermon on Mars’ Hill. The repentance being called for was a change of mind in how a person perceives God. You don’t worship God by bowing down to shiny statues or graven idols. You worship God through Jesus Christ. Right after the subject of repentance was brought up, look at who Paul mentioned:
Acts 17:30-31: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man (Jesus Christ) whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
Paul was quick to mention Jesus Christ, because that is how you get to God. And by the way, this message about having a new perception of God was taking hold. Look at the following:
Acts 19:23-28: “And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”
Were these men upset because Paul was telling people that they must turn away from their sins? No! They were upset because they were craftsmen, and they made money by making shrines and probably statues pertaining to the false goddess Diana. These men were worried that they were going to go out of business if Paul continued to turn people away from worshipping gods made with hands. This passage makes it even more clear that the repentance that Paul had called for was not a turning away from sin, but a change of mind towards who God is and how He should be worshipped.
Do you see how the lies of religion fall apart when you hold them up to the light? Do you see how context clears up the nonsense and false teachings of religion? Acts 17:30 has been abused over and over and over again by religious teachers who either have no idea what repentance is, or they do know and simply enjoy spreading a lie. Do you think that impossible? Consider the following:
2nd Corinthians 11:3-4: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
There is a tremendous amount of simplicity in Jesus Christ. Do you know why that is? Because Jesus did all the work. All you have to do is believe on Him to be saved. Salvation does not require any work at all (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Gospel of Christ is the power of God, and the belief of this Gospel saves the soul (Romans 1:16). This Gospel teaches that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, was buried, and rose again three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). There are people who don’t want you to believe this Gospel. They want you to go to Hell, not Heaven.
2nd Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
Scripture warned 2,000 years ago that there were religious phonies out there pretending to come in the name of Jesus Christ. Just as it was then, the same is happening now. These people are working for Satan. They will give you a false gospel message that demands you to turn away from all of your sins and make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. Sounds tough, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s not so much tough, but impossible. No one can ever stop sinning as long as they are stuck in a human body that was born into sin (Romans 5:12). Consider the apostle Paul, the man that Jesus Christ chose to be His apostle to the Gentiles. What a high honor! This man must have been holy and without sin, right? Look at the words of the apostle Paul:
Romans 7:15-25: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
If the apostle Paul himself, a man that received direct communication from Jesus Christ and was given the Gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:11-12), still struggled with sin, do you really think it possible that you can turn away from all of your sins? Listen to Paul. He was a teacher of Jesus Christ who told the truth and admitted that he was a sinner just like you and me. Don’t listen to false teachers who tell you that you must “repent of your sins,” a phrase which is not mentioned one single time in the Bible, but is instead manmade. These false teachers are spreading lies and pretending to be holier than the rest of us. Don’t you fall for their deception.
Galatians 1:6-9: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
The Gospel of Christ, which saves the soul of the believer, never calls for you to turn away from your sins to be saved. That is work, and salvation does not mix works with grace (Romans 11:6). There are people on earth working for Satan, calling themselves the ministers and disciples of Jesus Christ, who have devoted themselves to perverting the Gospel of Christ. When you read a gospel message that contradicts the Gospel of Christ (believe that Jesus was crucified for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead three days later), or if this gospel adds even one tiny step to the true Gospel of Christ, you have identified a fake. Let me show you how simple it is to identify a fake. Here is how a Jack Chick tract tells you to become saved:
1. Admit you are a sinner.
2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent).
3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried and rose from the dead.
4. Through prayer, invite Jesus into your life to become your personal Saviour.
Not only does this false gospel contain steps that the Bible never taught, it also abuses the concept of repentance by giving it a false definition. Step 2 is wrong for two different reasons. First, you do not have to be willing to turn from sin to be saved. You must only believe on Jesus Christ. Second, the word “repent” in the Bible did not mean to “turn away from sin.” That is a false definition that religious people, Lordship Salvationists, ministers of Satan, forced onto the word in order to teach a perverted gospel that requires works from the believer. Chick Tracts (or Chick Trash) are straight from Hell, and so is any gospel message that changes or adds to the one and only true Gospel of Christ.
Acts 17:30 has been abused for far too long. The simple truth about the verse is that Paul was telling superstitious people that they needed to change their perceptions about who God was and how God should be worshipped. The next time that some Lordship Salvationist tells you that Acts 17:30 is instructing you to turn away from your sins, you tell that minister of Satan to stop abusing the Bible and start actually reading it. You tell that false teacher to quit stubbornly saying that vegetables are candy.
The above verse sure gets a lot of mileage. Unfortunately, it is constantly used in a completely wrong way. This is because of prideful religious people, also known as Lordship Salvationists. You have to understand the mentality of these people. What can we compare them to?
If a person is illiterate, they cannot read. Words mean nothing to an illiterate person. This person could possess books on all sorts of subjects and yet possess no knowledge whatsoever. Information is only good if you can process it. Imagine trying to cook a pizza when you cannot read the instructions on the box. Imagine trying to fix a kitchen appliance that is acting up by consulting the instruction manual. If you were illiterate, you could not even find the troubleshooting page! The answers are right there in front of you, but you cannot process the information, so it is worthless. Lordship Salvationists have an advantage because they can read, but they cannot process what they read, so the Bible serves them no purpose.
Here is another way to picture Lordship Salvationists: What if you stubbornly believed that vegetables were candy? You hear people saying that you must eat more vegetables in order to be healthy, so you eat more candy. You walk into a grocery store and ask where the vegetables are, and an employee points you to the produce department. You ignore him and turn around to face the other direction, and then you walk to the candy aisle. You own a recipe book full of recipes for healthy meals, but those meals call for vegetables, and you use candy for your ingredients instead. You keep cooking the meals pictured in your healthy recipe book, but instead of getting healthier, you are becoming more and more unhealthy. What good is that recipe book doing you? If used properly, it could help you to become healthier. But because you are being stubborn, the book cannot help you. Because you cannot see that your idea of what vegetables are is totally wrong, you have set yourself up for failure. But you do not stop there. You are not content to fail by yourself. You start telling everyone that vegetables are actually candy, and you convince lots of other people, and then they start becoming more and more unhealthy. This is what many religious people do. Let me show you what I mean:
Vegetables = Repentance
Candy = Turning away from all of your sins
The recipe book = The Bible
The stubborn person opens the recipe book, sees the word “vegetables,” and substitutes candy for his ingredients.
The religious person, or Lordship Salvationist, opens the Bible, sees the word “repentance,” and substitutes the false meaning of “turn away from all of your sins.”
I have spent much time and effort in defending the true meaning of repentance, which is merely a “rethinking,” or a “changing of the mind.” It upsets me to no end to see religious people twisting and altering the meaning of repentance to fit their prideful intentions. What these people desire is for you to believe that Jesus Christ cannot save you without you doing work of your own. They ignore all the verses of Scripture like the following:
Romans 10:9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
That verse was written by the apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, the apostle who Jesus Christ directly revealed the Gospel of Christ to. Religious people will take you instead to a verse like the following:
Matthew 4:17: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
That verse was spoken by Jesus Christ to the Jews, during the time that Jesus was presenting Himself to the Jews as the King that they had been promised, the King they were supposed to be watching for. This was the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 9:35), and this Gospel was only meant for the Jews for a limited time (Matthew 10:5-7). The Gospel of the Kingdom is not the same thing as the Gospel of Christ, and regardless, repentance did not mean “turning away from your sins.” John the Baptist also taught the Jews to repent because of the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew 3:1-2: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Paul defined what this repentance referred to.
Acts 19:4: “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
Jesus Christ Himself explained that the repentance that John taught was a change of mind, in this case, going from unbelief to belief. Here is Jesus speaking to some Jewish chief priests and elders:
Matthew 21:32: “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented (changed your minds) not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
The issue here was not that these chief priests and elders were not turning from their sins. The issue was that they did not believe the Gospel of the Kingdom. Now bear with me. This is a very complicated matter, so clear your head of all your thoughts and take a deep breath…. Ready? Ok. If you do not believe in something, how do you go from that to believing? You… change your mind and believe it. Do you turn from all your sins? Do you stand on your hands against the wall for ten minutes? Do you count backwards from one hundred while patting your belly? No! You change your mind and believe! This is what Jesus Christ was telling these chief priests and elders. Let me paraphrase what Jesus said: “John came to you and told you the truth, and you didn’t believe him. The tax collectors and prostitutes believed John, and when you saw that, you still did not change your minds and believe.” It’s not that hard, people…. It’s not that hard.
Now let’s say that a religious person directs you to a verse like the following:
Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
So you have to repent to receive the forgiveness of sins, according to the apostle Peter. I don’t argue that. But what is repentance? Is it turning away from all of your sins? Or is it a change of mind? Well let’s look at another speech given by Peter.
Acts 13:38-39: “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man (Jesus Christ) is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
According to Peter, everyone who believes on Jesus is justified from all things, receiving the forgiveness of sins. But didn’t Peter say that repentance was necessary for that? Yes he did. Is this a contradiction? No, it simply proves that repentance and belief are the same thing when it comes to getting saved. Don’t let prideful religious people make a fool out of you. Repentance is not what you are constantly told it is. It is not turning away from sin. It is changing your mind.
Now that I am done recapping what we already know, let’s get into this thing. Acts 17:30. One of the all-time favorite verses of the Lordship Salvation, prideful and religious, repentance-abusing crowd. Let’s look at it again.
Acts 17:30: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
Paul said that people everywhere needed to repent. Do you remember the illustration with vegetables and candy? What do you suppose the religious crowd will tell you is meant by this verse from the book of Acts? It will be something along these lines:
“Everyone needs to turn away from all of their sins, or else they are not saved.”
Religious people love to take Scripture out of context and teach whatever they want to with it. Let’s put this verse from Acts back into its context. I’m not going to settle for just a few verses. We are going to get the whole picture here in order to learn the truth about this verse and to see the complete ignorance of the repentance-abusers.
Acts 17:15-21: “And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)”
Let’s break for a moment. Here is the picture: Paul was in Athens waiting for his fellow companions in the ministry to meet up with him. Paul was angered to find the entire city of Athens partaking in idolatry, meaning they were worshipping statues and carvings. It was so rampant that even the Jews that were there were participating, and being a Jew himself, Paul went into the synagogue and argued with them concerning this behavior. Paul had incurred unpleasant dealings with religious Jews who clung to Moses’ law, but this was surely even more frustrating to Paul. Paul could understand where those religious Jews were coming from, having been quite steadfast in his Old Testament religion and customs (Philippians 3:4-6) before meeting Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus. But in Athens, Paul was annoyed to see his own people, along with all of the townsfolk, worshipping manmade idols. Paul told the people of Athens about Jesus Christ, the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection. Speaking to a very superstitious audience, Paul soon attracted the attention of some philosophers, who were intrigued with what they believed to be “strange gods” being shared with them by this out-of-towner. They were interested in this new teaching about a man named Jesus Christ, who was the Son of God, and who had actually come back from the dead. These philosophers pulled Paul aside and asked to hear more of his doctrine, because these men spent all of their time pondering such teachings and ideas. So Paul addressed the philosophers, and ironically, he did so at Mars’ Hill. Why is this ironic? Here is a description of Mars’ Hill, taken from sacred-destinations.com:
“According to Greek mythology, Ares (the god of war, known to the Romans as Mars) was tried here by the gods for the murder of Poseidon's son Alirrothios. It is this legend that gives the hill its various names. Another legend says that the hill was the site of the trial of Orestes for killing his stepmother and her lover, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.”
This very place was steeped in mythology pertaining to false Greek gods, so you can appreciate the irony of the spot where Paul gave his speech from. And without further ado, here is what Paul said to the eager ears gathered to hear him:
Acts 17:22-33: “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them.”
Paul told these men from Athens that they were too superstitious. They worshipped all sorts of false gods, and just in case they missed any, they even had an altar set up devoted to what they called “The Unknown God”. Paul told these men that if they wanted to know about the “unknown God,” then Paul could certainly fill them in. Paul explained how God made the world and all the things contained therein. Seeing that God is big enough to do all of that, He is obviously bigger than our world. That means God does not live in fancy temples and worship centers that man creates. God created life, and the very breath that brings life to each and every person. All the people of the earth came from one man that God created. God decided on the times that would take place in history, and even the boundaries of where the various nations would live. God gave people free will so that they could choose to seek after Him, though He is close to every one of us. We are likened unto the children of God. He created us. He is bigger than us. Now if we were fashioned by God (and God said that man was indeed created in His very image in Genesis 1:26-27), then it would be ridiculous for us to think that God could be represented by silver, gold, stones, carvings, statues, or any kind of art that man were to make with his hands. To think that God was represented by some cheap, manmade item was just plain ignorant, and God had looked the other way when it came to this ignorance. But now, God was commanding people everywhere to repent, or change their minds. There is one way to reach God, and that is through Jesus Christ. God has marked a day on His calendar where He will judge the world through Jesus Christ. And we can know that Jesus Christ was/is the real deal, because God raised Him from the dead. Now these philosophers from Athens had differing opinions about how they felt concerning what Paul shared with them. Some laughed at the idea that a person could come back from the dead. Others told Paul that they would listen to more of what he had to say.
And that’s what happened in the famous speech made by Paul on Mars’ Hill. Now, look again at the verse in question:
Acts 17:30: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”
Having considered the passage of Scripture that this verse was taken from, let’s ask ourselves a few questions.
Did this passage refer to sin? No.
Did this passage refer to lying, murdering, committing adultery, etc.? No.
Was sin mentioned anywhere in this passage? No.
What did this passage deal with? It dealt with the people of Athens, their superstitious ways, and their belief that God could be represented by statues and carvings. Sin was not the issue. Ignorance was the issue.
When Paul was addressing these philosophers from Athens, and he said that people everywhere needed to repent, what was this repentance referring to? In light of the context of this passage of Scripture, we can easily answer this question. The repentance was referring to a change of mind. The people of Athens, and people like them everywhere, needed to change their minds and gain a new perspective on God. God could not be represented by the creations of man, and God did not need to be worshipped in exquisite temples, also manmade. God was bigger than these things. God created man. How could man think to make something that would be a proper picture of God, or a fitting house for God to dwell in? That is like a very small child drawing a stick figure and wanting their mom or dad to be pleased with the portrait their child has created of them. You see, God is not impressed with those things, and God is so much bigger than anything we could ever create. This is what people needed to understand, and still do to this day.
Allow me to get sidetracked for a moment. There are Catholic people all over the world bowing down to ridiculous statues and pictures. Worse yet, they worship Mary, the mother of Jesus, a woman that believers on Jesus Christ were never once instructed to worship. Catholic people love their beautiful cathedrals and stained glass windows, but I have bad news for them: God is not inside those places. Jesus Christ is not inside those places. If you want to worship Mary, you go right on ahead, but don’t you expect God or His Son to be any part of that nonsense. What a slap in the face to God, to worship someone He never told you to, and instead were taught to do so by men in dresses. Mary did not die for your sins. Mary did not resurrect from the dead and take her blood to Heaven as the payment for your sins. Mary is not sitting at the right hand of God making intercession for you. Mary is not coming out of Heaven to call you up there one day. If you are Catholic, stop going to church, stop confessing your sins to a man who has enough sins of his own to confess (a priest is not your go-between to reach God, as Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man according to 1st Timothy 2:5), stop participating in ritualism and chanting (see Mathew 6:7), etc. Catholics are enslaved by religion and tradition, just like the Pharisees who were alive during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ (Mark 7:6-13). If you are any part of that, get out now, buy a King James Bible, and read the truth for yourself. The Catholic Church, which is anything but a church, wants you to think you must be loyal to her in order to get to Heaven. This is not how true leadership in a church is meant to behave or believe.
2nd Corinthians 1:24: “Not for that we (Paul and his partners in the ministry) have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.”
The physical church (not the collective body of believers on Jesus Christ mentioned in Acts 20:28 and Ephesians 5:21-33, but an actual building and congregation) is supposed to be a help to believers. The church does not get you into Heaven. You get into Heaven by faith in Jesus Christ. By faith you can stand, and by faith you will stand before Jesus one day. Unless you believe the church is needed to get you to Heaven. Or if you believe that Mary plays a part in saving you. Or if you believe in anything other than Jesus Christ alone.
Now, getting back on topic, we have seen very clearly what Paul taught in his sermon on Mars’ Hill. The repentance being called for was a change of mind in how a person perceives God. You don’t worship God by bowing down to shiny statues or graven idols. You worship God through Jesus Christ. Right after the subject of repentance was brought up, look at who Paul mentioned:
Acts 17:30-31: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man (Jesus Christ) whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
Paul was quick to mention Jesus Christ, because that is how you get to God. And by the way, this message about having a new perception of God was taking hold. Look at the following:
Acts 19:23-28: “And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”
Were these men upset because Paul was telling people that they must turn away from their sins? No! They were upset because they were craftsmen, and they made money by making shrines and probably statues pertaining to the false goddess Diana. These men were worried that they were going to go out of business if Paul continued to turn people away from worshipping gods made with hands. This passage makes it even more clear that the repentance that Paul had called for was not a turning away from sin, but a change of mind towards who God is and how He should be worshipped.
Do you see how the lies of religion fall apart when you hold them up to the light? Do you see how context clears up the nonsense and false teachings of religion? Acts 17:30 has been abused over and over and over again by religious teachers who either have no idea what repentance is, or they do know and simply enjoy spreading a lie. Do you think that impossible? Consider the following:
2nd Corinthians 11:3-4: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
There is a tremendous amount of simplicity in Jesus Christ. Do you know why that is? Because Jesus did all the work. All you have to do is believe on Him to be saved. Salvation does not require any work at all (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Gospel of Christ is the power of God, and the belief of this Gospel saves the soul (Romans 1:16). This Gospel teaches that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, was buried, and rose again three days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). There are people who don’t want you to believe this Gospel. They want you to go to Hell, not Heaven.
2nd Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
Scripture warned 2,000 years ago that there were religious phonies out there pretending to come in the name of Jesus Christ. Just as it was then, the same is happening now. These people are working for Satan. They will give you a false gospel message that demands you to turn away from all of your sins and make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. Sounds tough, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s not so much tough, but impossible. No one can ever stop sinning as long as they are stuck in a human body that was born into sin (Romans 5:12). Consider the apostle Paul, the man that Jesus Christ chose to be His apostle to the Gentiles. What a high honor! This man must have been holy and without sin, right? Look at the words of the apostle Paul:
Romans 7:15-25: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
If the apostle Paul himself, a man that received direct communication from Jesus Christ and was given the Gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:11-12), still struggled with sin, do you really think it possible that you can turn away from all of your sins? Listen to Paul. He was a teacher of Jesus Christ who told the truth and admitted that he was a sinner just like you and me. Don’t listen to false teachers who tell you that you must “repent of your sins,” a phrase which is not mentioned one single time in the Bible, but is instead manmade. These false teachers are spreading lies and pretending to be holier than the rest of us. Don’t you fall for their deception.
Galatians 1:6-9: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
The Gospel of Christ, which saves the soul of the believer, never calls for you to turn away from your sins to be saved. That is work, and salvation does not mix works with grace (Romans 11:6). There are people on earth working for Satan, calling themselves the ministers and disciples of Jesus Christ, who have devoted themselves to perverting the Gospel of Christ. When you read a gospel message that contradicts the Gospel of Christ (believe that Jesus was crucified for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead three days later), or if this gospel adds even one tiny step to the true Gospel of Christ, you have identified a fake. Let me show you how simple it is to identify a fake. Here is how a Jack Chick tract tells you to become saved:
1. Admit you are a sinner.
2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent).
3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried and rose from the dead.
4. Through prayer, invite Jesus into your life to become your personal Saviour.
Not only does this false gospel contain steps that the Bible never taught, it also abuses the concept of repentance by giving it a false definition. Step 2 is wrong for two different reasons. First, you do not have to be willing to turn from sin to be saved. You must only believe on Jesus Christ. Second, the word “repent” in the Bible did not mean to “turn away from sin.” That is a false definition that religious people, Lordship Salvationists, ministers of Satan, forced onto the word in order to teach a perverted gospel that requires works from the believer. Chick Tracts (or Chick Trash) are straight from Hell, and so is any gospel message that changes or adds to the one and only true Gospel of Christ.
Acts 17:30 has been abused for far too long. The simple truth about the verse is that Paul was telling superstitious people that they needed to change their perceptions about who God was and how God should be worshipped. The next time that some Lordship Salvationist tells you that Acts 17:30 is instructing you to turn away from your sins, you tell that minister of Satan to stop abusing the Bible and start actually reading it. You tell that false teacher to quit stubbornly saying that vegetables are candy.