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.”
Pastor Charles Lawson (born 1950) who has been the senior pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, for 48 years is sadly a dangerous false prophet! Mr. Lawson preaches a counterfeit plan of salvation, perverting the Gospel of free grace by adding his own form of Lordship Salvation to it, deceiving his victims. Here is what Pastor Lawson teaches...
“Easy-Believism folks, in my estimation, is an abomination to God. Really, because you're giving people a false hope that everything's okay between them and God.” [emphasis added]—Pastor Charles Lawson, “Repentance” (Sunday morning service at Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville; preached on April 8, 2018)
What a darn fool! Tragically, Mr. Lawson falsely teaches that if you are still living in gross immorality then you are not saved.
Pastor Lawson is preaching the same dangerous tommyrot as Evangelist Ray Comfort. On page 1513 of 'THE EVIDENCE BIBLE,' under the section “Questions & Objections,” Ray Comfort addresses the statement: “Because Jesus died on the cross we are forgiven of every sin.” Here’s Ray Comfort’s reply to this statement…
“The forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ is conditional upon ‘repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 20:21). It is a gift that God offers to everyone, but individuals must receive it by repenting and trusting in Christ, or they will remain dead in their sins. No one has Biblical grounds to continue in sin, assuming that they are safe just because Jesus died on the cross. See 1 John 3:4-6.” [Emphasis added]Those are some very dangerous words at the end, “…assuming that they are safe just because Jesus died on the cross.” But that's exactly verbatim what Charles Lawson preaches when he accuses the Easy-Believism camp of “giving people a false hope that everything's okay between them and God.” Clearly, infidels' Charles Lawson and Ray Comfort think you are not 'SAFE' through faith in Jesus Christ if your life is still filled with sinful behavior. Dear reader, I don't care if you've been a born again saint for 50 years, your life is still filled with sin! We sin every time we fail to pray for others, which I am quite guilty of, and I suspect so are you friend (1st Samuel 12:23). Psalms 106:6, “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.”
SOURCE: THE EVIDENCE BIBLE, by Ray Comfort, p. 1513; 2003, Bridge-Logos Publishers, Orlando, Florida
“Easy-believism and Lordship Salvation are both wrong!” —Pastor Charles Lawson, “Repentance” (Sunday morning service at Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville; preached on April 8, 2018)
Easy-Believism is 100% biblical and right! It is free, simple and easy to be saved by simply BELIEVING that Jesus did it all for you. Pastor Lawson is ass-u-me-ing that everyone who prays a sinner's prayer does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a pretty bold assumption! Does not Romans 10:14 teach that they who call, do so from a believing heart? Romans 10:14a, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” It is wicked and very deceitful to dismiss everyone who prays a sinner's prayer as being a false convert, when Mr. Lawson has no idea what's in their heart (1st Samul 15:23).
Pastor Lawson is a Dangerous False Prophet
At best Lawson is very confusing. In his sermon “Repentance” he mentions two infamous serial killers (David Berkowitz “Son of Sam” and Karla Faye Tucker) and how they allegedly found Christ in prison. He uses them as showcase examples of how all sinners should react when they get saved, which is ridiculous and unscriptural. It is clear that Pastor Lawson is implying that every convert should react to the Gospel in the same radical way that these two serial killers did. Dear reader, the only thing you need to know to be saved is that you are a needy hell-deserving guilty sinner and that Jesus is the only Savior who was crucified to pay for your sins, was buried and resurrected from the dead three days later (i.e., the Gospel).
Pastor Lawson is a very confused and confusing man. At no place in his sermon does he bother to tell you what is so wrong with Easy-Believism, except that he thinks it means to pray a sinner's prayer, which he thinks are all false conversions. I am sick and tired of corrupt preachers attacking the sinner's prayer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with praying a sinner's prayer. Granted, you don't get saved by praying, asking or calling, you get saved by BELIEVING THE GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen from the dead. It's difficult to know what Charles Lawson is talking about because he just foolishly attacks Easy-Believism without explaining hardly anything. What an incompetent preacher!!! I said Pastor Charles Lawson is INCOMPETENT!!!
Here is another heretical statement that Pastor Lawson foolishly makes...
“Repentance in your life is God's way of letting you know that you have saving faith, and not just a bunch of stuff you believe up here. Somebody says some mumbo-jumbo over you, or gets you wet in some pool somewhere, or confirms you, or you prayed the sinner's prayer, and everybody assured you that you're a Christian, but deep down inside your soul you know you're just as dead as you've always been; nothing has changed. But if repentance begins to blossom (and this is important), you're going to do far more repenting after you get saved than that day when you're praying for God to save you. For once the Holy Ghost moves into your soul, you're really going to see what you're made out of.” [emphasis added] —Pastor Charles Lawson, “Repentance” (Sunday morning service at Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville; preached on April 8, 2018)
Now, that sounds great to the unlearned Bible student, but it is totally unbiblical. Lawson is confusing repentance with the Holy Spirit. He pounds home the idea that you must repent of your sins and turn away from them as part of getting saved, but then he mentions the Holy Spirit. Dear reader, which is it? The work of the indwelling Holy Spirit is something VERY DIFFERENT than our human efforts to turn away from our sinful ways. Lawson fails to make a distinction.
There is no guarantee just because you get saved that your life is going to radically change for righteousness. The idea that you must feel a profound hatred for your sins, experience guilt and have an earnest desire to turn from your sins is NOT what it means to repent to be saved. In fact, what Pastor Lawson is preaching is by every definition, LORDSHIP SALVATION!!!
The Greek noun for “repent” in the New Testament is metanoia, which simply means “to change your mind,” period. Since we don't know what to change our mind about, we need supplemental information, which can only be determined by the text of a particular passage. For example: The Bible says in Jonah 3:10 that God Himself “repented.” It is clear from the text that the LORD changed His mind not to destroy Nineveh. If repent means to turn away from your sins as Charles Lawson, Pensacola Christian College and other infidels today errantly teach, then how could God repent of sin? God is holy and cannot sin! God just changed His mind, which is all that the word “repent” means, nothing more.
Here are some godly Bible teachers who get Bible repentance 100% right, and I encourage you to read their writings, and then go back and look at the garbage Charles Lawson teaches:
Easy-Believism is Not Wrong!
In his corrupt sermon “Repentance,” Pastor Lawson refutes two alleged heresies:
- Easy-Believism
- Lordship Salvation
Pastor Lawson describes a very radical definition of Lordship Salvation which requires obeying all of God's commandment in order to validate one's faith. That is what the Seventh-Day Adventist cult believe, a radical form of Lordship Salvation. But most forms of Lordship Salvation today are much more subtle. I like how Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold describes Lordship Salvation...
“Lordship Salvation is the unsupportable and unbiblical belief that the performance of good works, the promise of good works, or the evidence of good works, must accompany faith in Christ to establish or provide evidence that such faith has resulted in eternal life.” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “Jesus Versus John MacArthur”Pastor Charles Lawson's corrupt plan of salvation is absolutely Lordship Salvation, even though he is in denial and refuses to admit it. He foolishly calls Easy-Believism “an abomination to God.” An abomination to God? Whoa! What a darn fool!
Mr. Lawson is a confused man, caught between grace and works. Dear friend, I challenge you to show me anything in the inspired King James Bible that says getting saved is difficult or hard. You cannot. Jesus likened getting saved in John 4:10 to drinking a cup of water. Jesus likened getting saved in John 10:9 with walking through a door. Jesus likened getting saved in John 6:53 with eating some bread. Jesus likened getting saved in John 3:14-16 with looking at a serpent on a pole. Getting saved is free, simple and easy, which is why we call it 'EASY-BELIEVISM!' So, what in tarnation is Pastor Charles Lawson talking about?
In the Gospel of John we find the word “believe” mentioned 85 times with no mention of the word “repent.” That speaks volumes! Pastor Lawson in his sermon says that Jesus continually preached about repentance, but that simply is not true. Sure, Jesus did preach about repentance at times, but there are ten times more passages in the inspired Word of God where Jesus simply said to simply “BELIEVE ON HIM” without any mention whatsoever about repenting. The reason why is obvious, because repentance is an automatic thing. The man who believes has repented; the man who repents has believed. THAT IS EASY-BELIEVISM!!!
Dear reader, if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, believing that He was crucified in your place but is risen from the dead, then EVERYTHING IS OKAY BETWEEN YOU AND GOD (1st Thessalonians 4:14). You have peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do. Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
I ask you, what is so hard about getting saved? The inspired Holy Bible says eternal life is a “free gift” (Romans 5:15-18). Jesus said in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” What is so hard about that? Where in the world did Charles Lawson ever get the Satanic idea that it is hard to get to Heaven? He is a fool to call Easy-Believism “an abomination to God.” No, Charles Lawson's heretical preaching is an abomination to God!!!
Charles Lawson preaches with zeal and authority. I have listened to his sermons for years and he says a lot of helpful things. Yet, he is wrong on repentance and God's simple plan of salvation. A man who is wrong on repentance simply cannot be trusted in his theology. It's like buttoning a dress shirt, if the first button is wrong then all of the other buttons will also be wrong. To be wrong on repentance is to be wrong on the Gospel. What you believe will determine where you spent eternity dear reader, so it is of vital importance that you get it correct. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!
Things are Not as They Appear
The fact that Charles Lawson said Lordship Salvation is wrong makes his false gospel even more deceiving. I heard a spiritually blind man say that Charles Lawson doesn't preach Lordship Salvation. And I suspect the reason why is that by saying Lordship Salvation is wrong, it looks like Charles Lawson is right simply because he is correct that Lordship Salvation is wrong. It looks like he preaches right on repentance, when in actuality he's wrong in his own views, and does in fact preach Lordship Salvation himself. He is very sneaky!
Dr. John MacArthur (1939-2025) didn't say Lordship Salvation is wrong. That's what makes John MacArthur's falsehood of the gospel more obvious. But by Pastor Lawson saying that Lordship Salvation is wrong, while he is preaching it too, provides a cover for his deception. It was 33rd degree Freemason Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) who rightly said: “The best place to hide a lie is between two truths.” Manly Hall also eloquently said: “The most effective lie is the half-truth because in part it can be defended with incontestable logic.” This Luciferian man well understood the art of lying and deception, which tactics Charles Lawson employs in his preaching. Being closer to the truth without the truth is more deceitful because it looks genuine. Remember, Satan is a beautiful liar!
Dr. John MacArthur (1939-2025) didn't say Lordship Salvation is wrong. That's what makes John MacArthur's falsehood of the gospel more obvious. But by Pastor Lawson saying that Lordship Salvation is wrong, while he is preaching it too, provides a cover for his deception. It was 33rd degree Freemason Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) who rightly said: “The best place to hide a lie is between two truths.” Manly Hall also eloquently said: “The most effective lie is the half-truth because in part it can be defended with incontestable logic.” This Luciferian man well understood the art of lying and deception, which tactics Charles Lawson employs in his preaching. Being closer to the truth without the truth is more deceitful because it looks genuine. Remember, Satan is a beautiful liar!
Please don't fall for the crafty lie that Pastor Lawson is against Lordship Salvation, because he absolutely preaches Lordship Salvation! The pastor says if your behavior hasn't radically changed to depart from sinful living, you're not really saved. Lawson couldn't be more wrong! But you ask, “Doesn't 1st John 3:8 say, 'He that Committeth sin is of the devil'?” Yes, that is why Jesus called the Apostle Peter “Satan” in Matthew 16:23. Peter was thinking like the Devil. You're never more like Satan then when you accuse others (Revelation 12:10). As Christians we are all guilty of being of the Devil at times because of the sins that we commit. The difference is that when you are a child of God, the indwelling Holy Spirit convicts, scourges and chastises you because of sin (1st John 3:24; Hebrews 12:6-8).
Every Child of God Still Horribly Sins
There is not such thing as a child of God who no longer sins. So, if committing sin makes us of the Devil and evidences that we are not saved, then how much sin crosses the line between saved and unsaved? Who makes that determination? When my wife divorced me in 2006, she falsely accused me of not being saved. She and a wicked group of hateful women in the Family Baptist Church on Guam decided that I was not a Christian. That is how evil people can be when they meddle in other people's marital problems, ruining families. Shame on them!
Respectfully, Pastor Lawson is placing the burden of sin upon the sinner's shoulder, instead of upon Christ who bore the total weight of our sins on Calvary's cruel cross 2,000 years ago.
Without Christ you have a hopeless end; with Christ you have an endless hope.
There is nothing standing in the records of eternity against any soul that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Good works are not the payment for sin; the payment for sin is death.
Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty.
Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.
Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.
If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?
The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
If salvation is truly by grace, then you don't need to start or stop anything to be saved, nor to prove you're saved. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23).
The Devil is a clever deceiver and liar, just like Charles Lawson. 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.” When any Baptist pastor calls Easy-Believism “an abomination to God,” he has been inspired by demons!
The foolish idea that Christians somehow have moved on to stop sinning is FALSE. Just because you may sin less today than you did yesterday doesn't impress God one bit. The very idea of repenting to turn from your sins is crazy. Who has ever done that? That's right, no one! Let me tell you something dear reader, the ONLY righteousness that I possess is the imputed righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” That is Easy-Believism!
The only thing that makes me (and you if you are saved) any more righteousness in God's sight than Ted Bundy, Adolf Hitler, Benjamin Netanyahu, Taylor Swift, Jeffrey Dahmer, Oprah Winfrey and John Wayne Gacy is the imputed righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. If you doubt that truth then please read Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Our best is filthy rags to a holy God.
There's Nothing Wrong With Using a Sinner's Prayer
Please don't miss what Pastor Lawson sneakily does, very surreptitiously. He downplays the sinner's prayer as being mere “Easy-Believism,” giving the impression that everyone who has ever prayed a sinner's prayer is an insincere false convert. On that basis alone he attacks Dr. Jack Hyles and falsely accuses him of “leaving off repentance,” which is a blatant lie. Kindly said, Charles Lawson should shut his big mouth and stop lying about free grace preachers.
Here is what Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) teaches about Bible repentance...
“Repentance is not some little silly, 'I'm sorry.' Repentance is not simply a fear of God. Repentance is not a monk fasting and afflicting his body in a monastery. Repentance is not remorse because of sin's consequences. Repentance is not penance performed before the pope as you kiss his toe... Repentance is not being sorry for what I've done wrong. It is not confessing one's sins to a priest. It is not just conviction of sin. It is not the signing of a pledge of abstinence. Repentance is that thing when you come before God and see yourself as you are, and see Him as he is, and say with Isaiah 'Woe is me, for I am unclean!'” —Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001), 'THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADETH TO REPENTANCE'
You need to know what you are being saved from. You are a guilty sinner, and so am I. We all deserve to spend eternity burning in the fires of Hell to pay for our own debt of sin. But thanks be to God the Father for sending His only begotten (biological) Son into the world to die on a cross for our sins. JESUS PAID IT ALL! Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt of sin we could not pay. That is true love! Thus, eternal life is a FREE GIFT, paid for by Jesus' precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19).
Just because there are some people who mistakenly think they are saved because they prayed a prayer without having faith in Christ, doesn't negate everyone who has ever prayed a sinner's prayer at the time of salvation. What Charles Lawson is horribly doing is condemning everyone who has ever prayed a sinner's prayer, and that is wicked. He is teaching that simply believing the Gospel to get to Heaven is an abomination to God, because that is exactly what Easy-Believism is. The heretical idea that more than faith is necessary to be saved is evil.
A popular heretical Calvinist teaching in churches today is that when somebody gets saved, decades later they should be actively involved serving God, walking in holiness and showing forth solid evidence that they have been redeemed. If these virtues are not present, then they are deemed never to have been saved at all. So, fools like Charles Lawson will attack places like the First Baptist Church of Hammond and say, “Where are those tens of thousands of alleged converts today?”
Well, where are the 3,000 Jews who were saved on the Day of Pentecost? We never hear one word about any of them again in the Holy Bible. When Phillip led the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ, we never hear about that eunuch again. Nor do we ever hear anything later about the Samaritan woman or her people in Samaria who believed on Jesus. The Bible is full of sinners who believed on Christ, but were never heard from again. So, their point is mute when they slander the soulwinning ministry of the First Baptist Church of Hammond.
The Evil Men Who Hated Pastor Jack Hyles
Hey, how about Acts 4:4, “Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.” Great fluffy biscuits in the morning! Wow, there were another 5,000 men (not including women and children) saved. I can hear soul-barren hecklers like David Cloud, Charles Lawson, the late Victor Nischik (1934-2015) and the late Robert Sumner (1922-2016) criticizing the apostles, casting doubts on the validity of those 5,000 converts. God hates critics who never lift a finger to go soulwinning, they just sit in their La-Z-Boy armchairs and critique those who do.
By the way, all four names of the horrible men I just mentioned, who have all been bitter enemies of Pastor Jack Hyles and his ministry, all strongly deny a free grace Gospel and preach that you must turn from your sinful bad habits to be saved. Robert Sumner preaches hardcore Lordship Salvation more than anyone. In the preceding article Sumner slanders Pastor Harry Ironside too, falsely accusing him of preaching the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation. But read for yourself what that faithful man of God Harry Ironside actually taught...
WHEN THE REVIVALIST comes promising salvation to those "who make a full surrender" of all that they have to God, and who "pay the price of full salvation," he is preaching another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender, when He yielded Himself unto death for us that we might be redeemed from the curse of the broken law and forever saved from the judgment to come upon all who refuse His grace. —Pastor Harry Ironside, “Another Gospel”
IN YOUR FACE Robert Sumner! What a liar!
Sadly, I humbly believe that all of these four wicked men that I have mentioned who despise free grace will spend eternity in Hell. Victor Nischik plainly denies a free grace Gospel, attacking Easy-Believism in his hatred of Brother Hyles. Missionary David W. Cloud has slandered Pastor Hyles for decades, wickedly dubbing him as: “The King of Shallow Soul Winning!” If anyone is “shallow” it is David Cloud and his hateful rhetoric. These men are envious of Dr. Hyles massive success in the LORD! I have lived long enough at age 59 to see that wicked neo-evangelicals despise and hate fundamentalist Christians. That is why I have been kicked out of the last five churches that I've attended, by ungodly incompetent pastors!
I encourage you to read my helpful article, 'What Is Biblical Repentance?' This article contains many helpful quotes from godly, soulwinning, free grace preachers that will help you understand Bible repentance concerning the new birth. Pastor Lawson in his sermon “Repentance” totally avoids the Greek meaning of what “repentance” means, assigning his own human rational to define what it means to “repent,” and in so doing perverts God's simple plan of salvation to include living a radically changed life.
Pastor Lawson commits the classic error of mixing service with salvation, and in so doing corrupts the inspired Word of God and casts stumbling blocks before the people. It is because Pastor Lawson fails to put a difference between sanctification (discipleship) and justification (the new birth) that he is utterly confused and cannot explain what he is attempting to say. That he does not understand the subject couldn't be more obvious.
God's Simple Plan of Salvation is to Believe the Gospel
If you want to pray a sinner's pray to accompany your faith that is fine to do, just so you understand that it is not praying that saves you, it is BELIEVING THE GOSPEL. 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
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