The Problem Of Telling Lost Sinners To “Turn From Your Sin” To Be Saved

Acts 16:29-31, “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

I am so sick and tired as a fundamentalist Bible preacher of hearing professed Christians tell people to repent of your sin to get to Heaven. I was reading the website of 'Roloff Ministries' today. The article is titled: “What Must I Do To Be Saved?,” which excerpts and writings they attribute to Brother Lester Roloff (1914-1982), and I read these disturbing words...

4. You must repent.

Turn to God from your sin (Acts 26:20). You must believe and receive Jesus Christ to save you. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). SOURCE

Now, here is 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.” The Roloff Homes teach that repentance means to turn from your sin, but that is NOT what this Bible verse says at all. The Scripture simply teaches to “repent.” The Greek verb for repent here is metanoeo, which simply means: “to think differently.” That is all that the word means! So, we need supplemental information to know what to think differently about. In this particular context we clearly see that the Apostle Paul preached the gospel in hope that all who heard would think differently to “turn to God.” There is absolutely nothing in the context that indicates we must turn from our sin to be saved. Sincere but unlearned men added those words (Proverbs 30:5-6).

The Gospel of John was specifically written to convince the reader “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31b). Throughout the Gospel of John we find the word “believe” mentioned 86 times, but the word repent is not mentioned even once. That is simply because repentance is an automatic thing. The man who believes on Christ has repented, and the man who repents has believed on Christ. Repentance is necessary for salvation, but to repent simply means to change your mind. By cross referencing and comparing Scripture with Scripture, we can honestly conclude that to be saved you must change your mind about two things to get to Heaven, The first is to admit you are a guilty SINNER (Romans 3:19-20). The second thing is to admit that Jesus is the only SAVIOR.

One of my favorite Bible teachers is Pastor Brad Strand. I recently purchased his 'The Strand Study Bible.' I love it so much that I bought five of them (2 new and 3 used). Here is Brother Strand's commentary for our text passage from 2nd Corinthians 7:8...

Repentance may include “remorse” (made you sorry), but remorse is not repentance. If so, then Judas repented because he was remorseful over what he had done to Christ (Mt 27:3). You can weep over sin and even express great remorse, but until you “change your mind” as to who you are and who Christ is and agree with God (Mt 3:2), you have not repented biblically.

Repentance may include “sorrow” (you were made sorry), but sorrow for sin is not repentance. Hell is full or sorrow, but only for the consequences of sin. The rich man who died and went to Hell uttered not a word of sorrow for his sin, only sorrow for his pain (Lk 16:19-31). You can weep over sin and even express great regret, but until you “change your mind” as to who you are and who Christ is and agree with God, you have not repented biblically.

Repentance may include “conviction” (after a godly manner), but conviction is not repentance. If so, then Felix repented when he trembled before Paul (Acts 24:24-25). You may be convicted that you are a sinner and even admit that you are lost, but repentance is a two-sided coin. You not only have to “change your mind” as to who you are, you have to also “change your mind” as to who Christ is and call upon Him to be your Savior (Rom 10:9-13). Otherwise, you have not repented biblically.

SOURCE: Brad Strand, “The Strand Study Bible,” p. 1938

I am so thankful for Pastor Strand, that he is one of few preachers today who gets repentance correct. Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001), in a sermon titled “A Vote For Preaching,” spoke in this excerpt about the false gospel of Lordship Salvation which is unfortunately being preached from nearly every pulpit today. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) said these helpful words...

“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), a quote from the timeless MP3 sermon, 'THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADETH TO REPENTANCE!'

Having said all that, please understand that I am not attacking the ministry at the Roloff Homes, but they are needlessly confusing people by continuing to tell them to “turn to God from your sin” to get to Heaven, when the inspired King James Bible teaches no such thing. You may argue with me, but I have several dozen Scripture passages to back me up in this important matter...

• A grieved father was saved by simply believing on Christ (Mark 9:24)
• Jesus told Nicodemus that the way to be saved is to believe on Him (John 3:14-18)
• Many Samaritans simply "believed" on Jesus to be saved (John 4:39-42)
• Jesus told a crowd of people who followed Him across the Sea of Galilee that the work of God to be saved is to believe on Him (John 6:28-29)
• Martha was saved by simply believing on Jesus (John 11:25-27)
• 3,000 people were saved on the Day of Pentecost by "gladly receiving" Peter's Gospel message (Acts 2:41)
• Phillip told the curious Ethiopian eunuch that to be saved he needed to believe that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 8:36-38)
• Cornelius and his companions simply believed the Gospel and were saved (Acts 10:43-44)
• The Philippian jailer in Rome simply believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved Acts 16-30-31)
• The Apostle Paul said that to become child of Abraham we must believe on Christ (Galatians 3:26)

In not one of these precious Scripture passages are we told that anyone turned from their sins to be saved. So, why do men still teach this unbiblical heresy? Preachers are woefully guilty of focusing far too much on deliverance from sin, as they are about eternal salvation as a free gift through faith in Christ.

The Problem With Telling Sinners To 'Turn From Sin'

The first and biggest problem with teaching lost sinners that they must “turn from sin” to be saved is simply that it is not true biblically. You turn from your unbelief to be saved, not from your sinful bad habits. You cannot show me even one place in the inspired King James Bible where it says someone turned from their sin to be saved. The Apostle Paul when writing to the Thessalonicans said in 1st Thessalonians 1:9, “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” But the Bible doesn't say that they turned from sin, does it.

Effectively, Bible repentance is turning away from whatever has been hindering you from coming to the light of the truth of the Gospel to be saved. It couldn't be more clear that repentance means to turn from one's “dead works,” not from your sins (Hebrews 6:1). And “dead works” includes both good and bad works alike. Turning from one's sins would constitute good works! What saith the Scripture? 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.” By requiring someone to turn from their sin to be saved, effectively you are adding WORKS to God's simple plan of salvation, and that is rally bad. 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. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23). 

The second big problem of telling people to turn from sin to be saved is that there is no way of even knowing what that means. When you tell a lost person to “turn to God from sin” to be saved, what does that even mean. How do you turn from sin? To shame utter shame, I think most people who use such unbiblical terminology know the implications that turn from sin imposes on a person, and that is wicked.

I have never heard Brother Roloff preach that you must be willing to forsake your sinful ways to be saved, but I did hear him say this in his sermon "Faith"...

“You'll never get saved until you judge yourself lost.” —Brother Lester Roloff

I fully agree with that teaching. No one has ever been saved who did not come to God as an admitted guilty sinner. As Dr. Jack Hyles rightly said, you need to know what you're being saved from. Romans 6:23 declares that “the wages of sin is death.” This includes the “second death” of body and soul (Matthew 10:28) in the Lake of Fire for all eternity without rest or hope, day and night, forever (Revelation 14:11; 20:11-15, 21:8).

What Repentance Is Not

Repentance is NOT a change of lifestyle. I think Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951) of the Moody Memorial Church said it very well:

“Repentance is the very opposite of meritorious experience. It is the confession that one is utterly without merit, and if he is ever saved at all it can only be through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'who gave himself a ransom for all.' Here is firm footing for the soul who realizes that all self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our salvation.”

SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside; 'Except Ye Repent,' p. 36

Clearly, Ironside taught a Free Grace view of the Gospel. Consider further the following awesome quote by Dr. Ironside:

“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …

Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”

SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the tract: 'What Is The Gospel?'

Kindly said, I do not think Roloff Ministries should even use the phrase “turn from sin” to get to Heaven, simply because it is not found in the inspired King James Bible, which is the ONLY English Bible translation today that hasn't been corrupted by the Devil. But if they do continue to use it, they should at least explain to people exactly what that phrase means, because it confuses people and runs the serious risk of implying that you cannot be saved without being willing to stop living in willful sin.

Do you really believe that a man who is shacking up with his girlfriend in fornication cannot be saved without first being willing to stop living in fornication? Long time missionary to India David W. Cloud (born 1949) believes exactly that heresy! If you believe that too dear reader, then you are not saved. No one is saved who believes it's Jesus + something more. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again.

Right Doctrine Matters

Since what we believe will determine where we spend eternity, it's is critically important that we get the message of the gospel accurate.

“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.”—Pastor Yankee Arnold, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”

I am fully convinced that the Roloff Ministries do not agree with David W. Cloud, or I'd expose them as false prophets. I do not think they are false prophets at Roloff Ministries; but rather, I just think they are sincerely mishandling the Word of God, carelessly embellishing the Gospel, merely going along with things they've heard others say.

Again, I haven't personally heard Brother Roloff preach any heresy, but this article that I read today at the Roloff Ministries website is misleading. By requiring a lost person to “turn to God from sin” strongly implies that you need to do something about your own sin. But dear reader, Jesus did something about our sins on Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago, and that is what getting saved is all about—accepting Christ's sacrificial death on the cross as full payment for our sins, believing that He was buried, but then miraculously resurrected from the dead three days later. This is the gospel by which we are saved (1st Corinthians 15:1-6), for those who simply believe it (Romans 1:16). Right doctrine matters!

Jack Chick Was A Dangerous False Prophet

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.”

Kindly said, Chick Tracts are of the Devil. They promote another gospel. There are not variations or embellishments of the Gospel. The inspired King James Bible is very clear that there is only one Gospel, which the Apostle Paul defines for us in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 as Jesus' death on the cross, burial and bodily resurrection from the dead three days later.

The following toxic page is from the Chick Tract titled, “This Was Your Life”...

Not one verse in the inspired Word of God requires surrendering your life to Christ, acknowledging Jesus as your LORD, repenting of your sins, or even to be willing to repent of your sins, to be saved. I have no doubt that Jack Chick (1924-2016) meant well, but he was doctrinally corrupt and off base in his theology. Right doctrine matters!

Over the past 24 years of website ministry, I have received numerous testimonies from frustrated Christians who before they were saved had been horribly misled by Chick Tracts, thinking that God would not save them until they were first willing to stop fornicating, getting drunk, living in adultery, et cetera. Chick Tracts heretically teach that you must first be willing to turn from your sinful bad habits before God will save you, and that is works, not grace. Romans 4:4-5, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” If those misled people had died during their time of ignorance, they would have went to Hell forever because Jack Chick lied to them.

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.” The Bible calls turning from their evil ways "works." This passage also says that God Himself "repented." So, repentance cannot mean to turn from one's sins because God cannot sin.
Despite his great art work, Jack Chick was a dangerous false prophet!

The Stupid Sinner's Prayer Needs To End

John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

Romans 10:13-14, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Romans 10:14 plainly teaches that no one calls upon the name of the LORD until they first BELIEVE in their heart, and we are told in several dozen Scripture passages that we are saved by BELIEVING on Christ (John 3:14-16, 18, 36; 5:24; 6:28-29, 40, 47; 7:38; 10:1, 9; 11:25; 20:31). Prayer is NOT required to be saved, but it is okay to accompany one's faith with a prayer if you'd like to do so.

Think about it. Why would you “ask” God to give you a gift that He is already freely offering you? Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” If I bought you a birthday gift and handed it to you, would you ask me if you can take it? Salvation is the same. Shame on any incompetent pastor who insists that you must pray to ask God to save you!

Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) rightly said: "A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one." Romans 10:13 is an OBSCURE passage of Scripture because it stands alone, as does also Romans 10:9-10. It would be foolish to base a doctrine on a couple passages of Scripture that contradict several dozen clear passages.

On the Day of Pentecost 3,000 people were saved. There is no mention of anyone praying, calling or asking to be saved, they simply "gladly received" the gospel truth which the Apostle Peter preached unto them (Acts 2:41).

Likewise, there is no mention of Cornelius and his companions in Acts 10:43-44 praying, calling or asking to be saved, they simply believed the gospel truth which Peter preached unto them. That is why the Apostle Paul said in 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟯:𝟮, “𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘄, 𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵?” I love that phrase, "the hearing of faith." Hebrews 4:2 tells us that the Hebrews wandering in the Wilderness heard Moses preach the gospel unto them for 40 years, “𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝘁.” A person gets saved by believing the gospel when they read or hear it preached.

It is wickedness and blatant false teaching for the New IFB (and their lunatic leader Steven Anderson) to teach that a lost sinner cannot be saved without calling or praying (asking) to be saved. What they are preaching confuses people, obscures the truth, and perverts God's simple plan of salvation. I speak to their utter incompetence and shame!

Biblically, a person can simply BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ in their soul and be saved without asking for it. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do. The inspired King James Bible is full of people who were saved without calling; they simply believed. I agree that calling and believing are not a contradiction, because the person who calls from a believing heart is saved; but calling and believing are NOT the same thing, which Romans 10:14 plainly teaches.

Steven Anderson foolishly dismisses the issue, but he didn't suffer like I did for several years after I got saved at 13 years of age. I had been confused because every sermon and religious tract that I read required me to prayer a sinner's prayer to be saved, which unfortunately became ingrained into my thinking, misleading me concerning what God expected of me to get to Heaven. Again, you don't have to pray to be saved, not even silently in your soul. You simply need to take God at His written Word to accept Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, but then physically raised up from the dead three days later. This is the "Gospel" (1st Corinthians 15:1-6), by which all who believe this Good News are saved (Romans 1:16). It's that easy, free and simple to be born again.

I wouldn't learn until decades later from Pastor Max D. Younce (1935-2023) in his helpful book titled, "Salvation And The Public Invitation," that the sinner's prayer is not necessary to be saved. God used Dr. Younce to solidify my salvation beliefs and give me 100% perfect peace. It was that stupid sinner's prayer that misled me for decades, confusing me concerning God's simple plan of salvation. So, I say, the stupid sinner's prayer needs to disappear.

The Tragic Eternal Fate Of The Rock Band “Rush”

John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Revelation 20:12-14, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

I have been a musician all my life, since age 15 when I started learning to play the guitar. I love music. As a lover of music, I appreciate the musical genius of Rush's music. Songs like Limelight and Xanadu are captivating. I love how Geddy plays his bass in Xanadu. That was very creative. My favorite Rush song is Fly By Night from 1975. Rush is a Canadian rock band. They were inducted into the Canadian Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame in 1994, and the U.S. Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013. They've had 24 gold albums, 14 platinum. The band has sold over 50 million albums worldwide for over the past 50 years. And they're still performing.

The Devil's Music

That being said, as a born again Christian I also know that rock music is the Devil's music. That's not to say that every song is Satanic, or even most of the songs. Albeit, Rush's songs are saturated with atheist lyrics, like Freewill and Faithless. What makes it the Devil's music is that rock music is worldly, not rooted in Christian faith, and the music does influence the listener. Marilyn Manson openly admitted that rock stars are Satan's preachers. Rush's songs actually discourage having faith in God, and that is dangerous.

Unlike a lot of rock musicians, the band members of Rush were better known in the 1970s and 1980s for reading books and watching TV after concerts, while the members of KISS were fornicating and committing debauchery (although Gene Simmons never did drugs or booze). But despite not being as bad as other rock stars, the band members of Rush hobnobbed with such wicked people, partaking of the industry. Birds of a feather flock together. Drummer Neil Peart throughout his musical career displayed a Satanic pentagram on his drum kit, clearly identifying the band with the occult and the coming Antichrist.

“When you're living in sin—you're not living it up, you're dying it up!” —Brother Lester Roloff, “Faith”

Jesus Warned In John 3:3b, “Ye Must Be Born Again”

Something that caught my attention, which makes me really sad, is that all of Rush's band members are not Christians. In fact, bassist Geddy Lee, drummer Neil Peart (1952-2020) and guitarist Alex Lifeson are all avowed atheists. Geddy has called himself a “Jewish atheist.” Neil Peart said publicly that he is agnostic (not sure what he believed), but he also said that he was skeptical if God exists. That is so sad and tragic! The inspired King James Bible says they are all WITHOUT EXCUSE!!!

Romans 1:20-21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

The band members of Rush are all self-made millionaires. Neil Peart had a net worth of $42 million at the time of his death from brain cancer in 2020. Geddy Lee's net worth is $40 million. Alex Lifeson's net worth is $35 million. They are all rich men who think they have no need of God in this world, but they will regret the day they were born in the afterlife. I say that kindly with love because I care. If the inspired King James Bible be true, and I've staked my eternity that it is, all of Rush's band members will spend eternity suffering in the torments of Hell's fire and brimstone, without rest day nor night, without hope, forever! They made their choice!

Revelation 14:11, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”

Dear reader, being agnostic is a far cry from being born again! I hate to say it, but Neil Peart is almost assuredly burning in the fires of Hell for all eternity. Unless Neil had some miraculous secret death bed conversion to Christianity, he is now and forever burning in Hell beneath. The man was a brilliant thinker, highly intelligent, but a fool. Neil wrote most of Rush's lyrics, including their most popular song, Tom Sawyer. Tragically, Neil refused to acknowledge His Creator, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3, 14). So sad and needless. John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The new birth is not optional dear reader, if you want to enter into Heaven someday.

Kindly Said, Atheists Are Fools

There are many atheist celebrities today; namely, Morgan Freeman, Alex Honnold, Seth MacFarlane, George Clooney, Britney Spears, Bill Maher, Linda Ronstadt, Robert De Niro, Elton John and Billy Joel, to name but a few fools. And they're all millionaires!!! No wonder God said that He has chosen the poor of this world rich in faith. That's because poor people suffer here on earth, so they need a Heaven to look forward to in the afterlife. But rich people already enjoy a form of heaven on earth, so they don't think they need God.

In a Classic Rock interview in 2013 for his 60th birthday, Alex Lifeson (Born Aleksandar Zivojinovi to Serbian parents) said these foolish words:

Interviewer Paul Elliot: Do you believe in God?

Alex Lifeson: No. When I was younger I did. My mother is not super-religious but she has a belief. My father was the total opposite. He thought religion was a crock. In my early teens I started to question it all. I had friends who were Jesus freaks, others were just very spiritual, and we had these great long discussions about these things. But as I get older it just becomes a less and less sensible thing to think about. SOURCE

What a foolish man! That is a rich fella talking who thinks he doesn't need God. Dear reader, the most "sensible" thing anyone could ever talk about is God.

Geddy Lee was raised in a really religious family, but he is not a religious person. He told Heeb magazine in 2009 that he a Jewish atheist. His mother Mary Weinrib, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 95, was Jewish and Holocaust survivor. Geddy Lee said:

“I consider myself a Jew as a race, but not so much as a religion. I’m not down with religion at all. I’m a Jewish atheist, if that’s possible… I celebrate the holidays in the sense that my family gets together for the holidays and I like being a part of that. So I observe the ‘getting together’ aspect. ...Well, I’m not a religious person. I was raised in a very religious family, a very strict religious family. That killed any love for religion that I could possibly have had. ...I think that everything you do as a human being influences everything you come in contact with in some way. So I prefer to take the karmic view of things that the more positive energy you put out into the world, somehow that contributes.” SOURCE

Again, what a foolish man! What saith the Scripture? John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee won't see eternal life; but instead, the wrath of God rests upon their heads because they have rejected Jesus Christ.

After the tragic premature death of Neil's teenage daughter Selena in 1997 in a car accident, and then his wife died due to cancer just 10 months later, he took a long solo trip with his motorcycle across the United States. While driving through the southern U.S. Bible belt he saw a lot of church signs, and in a subsequent interview with Jim Ladd on SiriusXM's Deep Tracks (from February 3rd, 2015) Neil had this to say:

And I mentioned before that anger and outrage can sometimes be an inspiration, and it gets me writing about it. And people will say to me: “Why are you a faith-basher?” And I say well, I don’t feel like a faith-basher, and it’s not something I’ve thought about all day. 

It’s something that my life has been full without any of that aspect, I don’t really understand it or understand why it’s needed, and it’s a kind of brainwashing in almost all cases where poor children have been brought up and formed into these molds, that you are suddenly this ‘ism’ that is after your name from the time you’re born. They don’t choose it, and for whatever reasons they never do question it, where I did from the beginning. 

I went to Sunday school as a little kid and when they’d tell us to sing the song about god watches each sparrow fall and all of that, and I said: "Well no, I don’t really think so." When you look at the world now, I saw the comic and the great writer Stephen Fry the other day talking about that, he said people would say: “What if you went to heaven and met God?” And he said: "Oh, that wouldn’t be a pleasant meeting." I’d say why did you create those parasites that grow behind babies’ eyes and destroy their vision on the way out and all of that. That’s not any kind of a god to be worshiping, is it? 

And I always say too, if I’m going to go up to heaven and meet St. Peter and Jesus and God and Allah and Buddha, whichever one you wanna pick, I’m gonna be okay, because I have lived a life based on that and I believe in generosity and charity and kindness and courtesy, those are things that just seem good to me anyway, I don’t need a threat to make me behave that way and I don’t need a reward. SOURCE

Those are some very foolish words of ingratitude from a very intelligent man. It's hard to believe that such a brilliant man as Neil Peart could speak so shamefully about his Creator. Neil ignores the reality of sin which caused a curse upon the human race (Romans 5:12).

Stephen Fry (born 1957) is an outspoken atheist who has publicly criticized the concept of God, particularly in relation to the existence of suffering and evil in the world. He often questions the morality of a deity that allows such pain, exemplified by his remarks about issues like "bone cancer in children." Again, just as Neil blames God for bad eyesight, Stephen does the same thing. Birds of a feather flock together! They are both avowed atheists, and they stick together. I have no doubt that Neil also admired atheist comedian George Carlin.

Dear reader, it is a very wicked thing to speak evil of God, our Creator. Romans 9:20, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” We've all had the same negative thoughts as Neil and Stephen, wondering why a God of love would allow so much misery, war, pain , suffering and evil in this world to exist, and I admit that it is tempting to get angry at God at times; but we all know in our heart of hearts that sin is the culprit.

For example: While crime is up in every major Democrat run city across the Unite States, our wicked leaders are gaslighting the American people, downplaying that crime is getting worse. Ecclesiastes 8:11 plainly warns that when crime goes unpunished, things will only get worse.

None of the band members of Rush understand that a man must be born again to enter into God's Kingdom. Clearly those men don't believe the inspired Holy Bible, to their eternal demise. Dear friend, getting saved through faith in Jesus Christ is NOT optional in life. You either trust in Christ, or you burn in Hell forever and ever and ever!

1st John 2:22-23, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

1st John 4:14-15, “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

Hugh Hefner, George Carlin and Stephen Hawking discovered the horrifying truth the moment they passed into the afterlife and found themselves in Hell. Psalm 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

Organized Religion Is A Bad Thing

Dear reader, I didn't write this blog to be unkind or to hurt anyone's feelings. God knows my heart. I will say that I actually agree with the band members of Rush that organized religion is a bad thing. My father was a born again Christian, who wisely taught me that religion is the worst thing that ever happened to this world. My Dad was absolutely right!

More than any other complaint, I have heard atheists like Elton John, Hugh Hefner, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and countless others express their contempt for organized religion. But dear friend, God is not religion! Religion is man attempting to reach God through human effort; but Christianity is God trying to reach man through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son on Calvary's cross 2,000 years ago. Religion wants to fit you with glasses, to get you to see through a filter of manmade tradition (Mark 7:9); but Jesus wants to open your eyes with the truth of the Gospel, so that you'll be born again and go to Heaven (John 20:31).

It breaks my heart to see guys like Ozzy Osbourne, who struggled for answers during the last months of his life, answers that I seriously doubt he ever found concerning how to go to Heaven. There are people who spend their entire life in church, playing a game of religion; and yet they never see the simplicity of the Gospel right in front of them, blinded by religion.

And then there was singer Frank Sinatra, who criticized organized religion in a 1963 Playboy magazine interview. Frank didn't believe in a personal deity; but rather, he believed in pantheism (the belief that God and the universe are one, equating reality with divinity and viewing the universe as a self-organizing unity that does not require a Creator). So, effectively, Sinatra was an atheist, because he denied Jesus Christ, who is almighty God (John 10:33)

Salvation is not found in any religion; but rather, in the person and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Him and the work is done. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

Salvation Is Found Only Through Faith In Jesus Christ

If you want to go to Heaven, you simply need to believe that Jesus did it all for you. Just come to God as a needy sinner and by faith (taking God at His written Word) accept Christ's sacrificial death on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, but then physically resurrected from the dead three days later. This is the gospel (1st Corinthians 15:1-6), by which all who believe it are saved (Romans 1:16).

From what I have seen over the past 50 years of following Rush's music and careers, Geddy Lee has a big heart that is a catalyst which has kept the band together. I think all the band members are good guys, as far as sinners go. Neil always kept to himself, more reserved and private, as I am. But he was a good man. Unfortunately, being good guys doesn't get you into Heaven, you have to be born anew from above by the Holy Spirit of God. Apart from faith in Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten Son of God, the Christ, there can be no new birth (Acts 4:10-12). I trusted Jesus as my personal Savior in 1980 at age 13.

The old adage is true: Life is short, Hell is hot, and eternity is a long time. My heart sincerely goes out to the band members of Rush, because they are now in the last stretch of their lives on earth. They're still performing live concerts, clipping coupons and enjoying life to the fullest, cheering their fans. But they have not glorified God. Daniel 5:23b, “...and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.”

When life's temporary journey on earth is over, we all must give account to God, our faithful Creator. Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” I am tired of the world putting God on trial, blaming Him for wars, evil and starvation, when it is humanity who have done this to ourselves. God is good and faithful.