1st Corinthians 1:21, There's No Toll Gates To Get Into Heaven

1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

God promised to SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE!!! If you drive a vehicle, then you know the unpleasant feeling of being required to pay a toll to travel a road. I couldn't believe that in some places, like New Jersey and New York, that drivers are required to pay upwards of $50 just to pass through a toll gate. In fact, the Pennsylvania Turnpike will cost you a staggering $112 toll to drive on it. Wowza! The turnpike is owned by over 100 investors, mostly from China. Go figure! I don't think anyone should ever have to pay a toll. The government already takes too much in taxes. Thankfully, there won't be any taxes in Heaven.

I admit that I dislike paying tolls. Very few things in this earthly life are free. That is the wonderful thing about salvation, it is a completely free gift from God. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eternal life is a gift. A gift is free! Why then did Evangelist Billy Graham (1918-2018) make the following horrible unbiblical statements, 6 times saying that salvation will “COST” us something?...

How To Be Sure You're Saved

First, you must recognize your need.

Second, you must understand the cross.

Third, you must count the cost.

He also said, “Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost? … So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:28, 33).

Many people come to Christ without first counting the cost. The cost includes repentance, the forsaking of sin, and a continual, daily, open acknowledgment of Christ in your life.

Fourth, you must take a definite step.

One day at Stanford University, a student of a non-Christian faith came to me and said he was convinced that Jesus is the Son of God but said he couldn’t confess Him publicly. He said that back in his own country the cost socially would be too great.

I had to tell him that the Bible says: “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).

Like the rich young ruler of old, the student went away sad. He had counted the cost and was not able to pay the price of open acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as his Savior.

We ask people to make a public confession of Christ in our meetings because Christ demanded a definite commitment. Christ had reasons for demanding that people openly follow Him. He knew that an unwitnessed vow is no vow at all. Until you have surrendered to Christ by a definite act of your will, you are not a Christian.

SOURCE: How to Be Sure You’re Saved | Decision Magazine | BGEA

Dear reader, kindly said, Billy Graham was a false teacher, who perverted God's grace by adding to God's Words. Nowhere in the inspired King James Bible are we taught that eternal life will COST US anything. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins (Romans 5:6-9). JESUS PAID IT ALL (1st John 2:2; John 3:16; 2nd Corinthians 5:21). Getting saved will cost you NOTHING friend. Anybody who says differently is complicating the Gospel.

In hundreds of places throughout the inspired King James Bible we are taught to simply BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” In the precious Gospel of John, we find the word “believe” mentioned 85 times, but no mention is ever made of anything else. God intentionally made His plan of salvation for mankind very simple, because He knew that many people are not very smart, and God wanted to make sure that salvation is easy, free and simple so that everyone who wants it can have it. Our all-wise (omnisapient) God knows what He is doing.

Sadly, men come along and always complicate everything, making God's simple plan of salvation hard. As a matter of fact, Pastor John MacArthur even wrote a shameful book titled: “Hard To Believe.” Dear friend, it is not HARD to believe, it is very easy, free and simple.

“Don’t believe anyone who says it’s easy to become a Christian. Salvation for sinners cost God His own Son; it cost God’s Son His life, and it’ll cost you the same thing.” [emphasis added] —Dr. John MacArthur, Grace To You, an updated quote from his book 'Hard To Believe', page 93.

I triple-dog dare you to show me in the Bible where it says that eternal life will COST YOU anything. You cannot! These wicked men are theological liars. Sadly, Billy Graham went to Hell in his false religion. There is no way that a man is saved who is wrong on the Gospel. If Billy Graham went to Heaven, then so also do Seventh-Day Adventists who trust in the heresy of Lordship Salvation. Then so also do Church of Christ with their damnable Baptismal Regeneration (i.e., the false teaching that you must be water baptized to get to Heaven). I mean, 'com on, would God deny someone entrance into Heaven just because they got dunked in water, thinking it was necessary to have eternal life? Friend, you had better believe that God won't let you into Heaven!!!

There is only ONE WAY into Heaven, and Jesus told it what it is, HIM. 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.” John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” I am now attending the Campus Church in Pensacola, at Pensacola Christian College, and am so thankful that they preach a simple free grace Gospel. I am so thankful that they only use the King James Bible. I am so thankful to be a part of a great soulwinning church. I am humble and grateful for my new Christian family.

I got the idea for this article while checking today to see if there is a toll to drive to Pensacola Beach. I want to go check it out. Yes, there is a $1 toll. I need to soak up some sun. This hotel room is gloomy. Because I am a fundamentalist Baptist preacher I am always looking for new ideas to convey Bible truths to people. I think the example of having to pay a toll is a perfect illustration of Lordship Salvation, showing us what the Gospel is not! God does NOT require that we pay a toll to get to Heaven. The Pearly City cannot be purchased, deserved, earned, merited or obtained by any means other than wholly RESTING (trusting, relying) in Jesus Christ. I care about you, whoever you may be, and I want you to go to Heaven someday.

The Bible is abundantly clear that the ONLY WAY to eternal life is by faith in Jesus. 1st John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” I love that! Jesus is the true God and eternal life. If you have Jesus you have eternal life!!! There are no toll gates to get to Heaven. There is no cost to count nor price to pay. There are no works that you must do. In fact, Jesus forever laid to rest the question of what “WORKS” are required to get to Heaven. 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.” The only WORKS which God requires or allows to get to Heaven is to BELIEVE ON JESUS!!!

I hope that I have made it clear from the Word of God that there is no toll booth to enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus has already paid the price for our sins, all of them (1st Peter 1:18-19). Please don't allow some satanic false teacher to rob your faith. If you admit that you are a sinner (Romans 3:19-23), leaning wholly on Jesus' name (Acts 16:30-31), by believing the Good News (Gospel) that Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and resurrected three days later, then you are saved (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).

Please don't let heretics' Marty Herron, Steve Pettit, John MacArthur, Billy Graham or any other false teachers deceive you into believing that you must repent “OF YOUR SIN” to be saved, because no such requirement is taught in the Bible. If you press them to explain what they mean by “repent,” they will all tell you that you must prove the reality of your faith by forsaking a sinful life and being faithful to serve God. That is NOT the Gospel, it is a toll booth!!! All they can do is wrest Scripture passages and quote heretical men as secondary authorities to bolster their counterfeit plan of salvation. Look at this garbage that Ray Comfort preaches. Ladies and gentlemen, that is NOT what the Bible teaches, as I have kindly shown you.

What Billy Graham preached is NOT the Gospel of free grace. What John MacArthur is preaching is NOT the Gospel of free grace. What the shameful Bob Jones University crowd are preaching today is NOT the free grace Gospel. God does not require that you turn away from your sinning to be saved, for to do so is equivalent to a toll booth. God does require that you repent, but repentance is simply a change of mind; that is, laying aside your wrong thinking about what you think you must do to be saved, to trusting in what God says in the Bible you must do to be saved—which is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:30-31). Thank you for reading my blog. God bless you!

Learn To Live In The Promises Of God

2nd Peter 1:1-4, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

I cherish this passage of Scripture! The Apostle Peter reminds us that God has GIVEN UNTO US many exceedingly great PRECIOUS PROMISES, that by these promises we may become partakers of Christ's divine nature. To whom does “us” refer? We find the answer in 2nd Peter 1:1, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” Peter is writing his epistle to fellows believers, to those who have been made the righteousness of God through faith in the blessed Savior Jesus Christ. Any person can become a child of God by obeying the Gospel. You obey it by simply believing it! Nothing more is required to get to Heaven. Eternal life is the free gift of God (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).

2nd Peter 1:2-3, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” This is why the Lord commanded everyone in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” We learn about the knowledge of Christ, as mentioned in 2nd Peter 1:2-3, by SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES! Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Word of God is a shining Lamp unto our feet in this dreary world of shame and sin (Psalms 119:105).

When dark clouds overshadowed my life, and my inexplicable pain of soul seemed like it would never go away, and my health afflictions became permanent (with me for the rest of my life), and I had no one as a companion (abandoned by my former wife in 2006), and churches turned me away for various reasons, and no man cared for my hurting soul—God's precious PROMISES sustained me during those difficult and treacherous times of life, and still today. This world and all that is in it will someday pass away (1st John 2:15-17), but those who obey the free grace Gospel will live forever (John 6:40). ...

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

No unsaved person, that is, anyone who is not wholly relying upon the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and bodily risen, has no right to claim the promises of God which pertain only to the born-again believer. The churches are filled with religious people who have never been born-again. They are trusting in Christ PLUS something else, which is no faith at all. For example: the Church of Christ trust in Christ PLUS water baptism. That is classic false religion, which cannot produce the new birth. Another example are the Roman Catholics, who trust in Christ PLUS the Seven Sacraments, which again, cannot produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God (John 1:12-13). Only by God's grace, through faith alone in Jesus Christ, can anyone be born-again.

I wonderfully became a child of God at age 13 in Chicago. I knew that I was a sinner. By faith, I received Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for my sins, believing that I was appealing unto a risen Savior to forgive my sins and give me eternal life, and He saved me right then and there forever! Jesus kept His promise and sealed me with His blessed indwelling Holy Spirit as proof that He did (Ephesians 1:12-15; 1st John 3:24). Being a child of God has been the greatest single joy of my miserable earthly life. Despite all of the losses, heartaches, burdens, health afflictions, betrayal by family and friends, and inexplicable loneliness of both body and soul, God's PROMISES have encouraged me each step of the way. 

I cherish God promise in Hebrews 13:5 to never leave nor forsake me, no not ever (there are 5 Greek double-negatives in this verse). In other words, God is reiterating His promise to no, not ever, it won't happen, there's no way, ever never leave us!!! I often feel alone and abandoned by God, but I am commanded to walk by faith and not by sight (2nd Corinthians 5:7). And so even when I feel like God has abandoned me by sight, I choose to walk by faith and give Him the benefit of the doubt, based upon God's PROMISE in Hebrews 13:5 to never leave me, no not ever, not ever, never forsake me, no not ever!!! That is a good God and a wise heavenly Father.

I challenge you dear friend to start becoming familiar with the promises of God. That is why I started this humble blog, to teach others about the exceedingly great promises of God in the inspired King James Bible. There are literally several THOUSANDS of promises in the Bible from God to man. See if you can find some of them, sometime in a personal Bible study. It might take you months or years to complete, but it would be a worthy effort, don't you think?

In his classic 1962 book titled “All The Promises Of God,” Dr. Herbert Lockyer (1886-1984) says that Professor Everett R. Storm concluded that the Holy Bible contains 7,487 PROMISES made by God to man. ...

The word “promise” appears more than 100 times in sacred scripture. One thousand promises are listed in “What the Bible Says about Praise and Promise.” Thousands more are listed in Samuel Clarke's two-hundred-year-old classic, “Precious Bible Promises.” Some have suggested that there may be as many as 30,000 promises contained in Scripture. Herbert Lockyer, in his volume “All the Promises of the Bible,” tells the story of Everett R. Storms, a schoolteacher in Canada, who made a detailed study of promises.

According to “Time,” Storms, of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, reckoned the figure of 30,000 to be too high (since it is roughly the number of verses making up the Bible: 31,173). During his twenty-seventh reading of the Bible, a task which took him a year and a half, Storms came up with a grand total of 8,810 promises (7,487 of them being promises made by God to humankind).

SOURCE: Knowles, Victor (1998); "Promise and Fulfillment: Believing the Promises of God"; “Leaven: A Journal Of Christian Ministry” (Volume 6, Issue 3, Article 4).

My friend, when life gets difficult, and bad things happen, and you feel like you cannot face another day, and you cannot see your hand in front of your face, and it seems that all hope is gone—CLAIM THE PROMISES OF GOD!!!