The Gospel of the Grace of God vs the wanderings of John Davis (Part 1)

John Davis of the "ministry" called 'Time For Truth' sent me an email asking for my testimony of salvation to add to his testimonies page on his website...and so I did.  (http://www.timefortruth.co.uk/tft-newsletters/)

As I have stated before on this blog, I was saved in Autauga Heights Baptist Church in Prattville, Alabama on a Sunday morning after Dr. Peter Ruckman preached the gospel. As a young child I heard Sunday School teachers say that to be saved you need to pray and ask God to save you. They usually gave the prayer as:

 "Dear God, I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ shed His precious blood and died for my sin. I am willing to turn from sin. I now invite Christ to come into my heart and life as my personal Saviour." 

That "sinner's prayer" is from Chick Publications. Some have the prayer worded differently. Some of them begin with "Dear Jesus..." and others begin with "Dear God, I know you sent your Son to....". The people that say salvation is received through prayer are not united on who you are suppose to pray to. None of the prayers people give are ever exactly the same.

Anyway, as a child I would pray these magical prayers that were suppose to save you. I prayed it every week in Sunday School and would sometimes do it through the week. Never did I ever know I was saved after I did it. Sometimes I would sit down with a Chick Publications "gospel" tract and recite the prayer in my head over and over again and wonder why I still did not know I was saved. I still felt like a guilty sinner and knew I was going to hell. 

The first time I heard someone say that you did not receive salvation through praying a prayer was in Grace Bible Church in Montgomery, Alabama. The Sunday School teacher there asked me if I was saved and I said yes. He then asked me how I knew I was saved. I told him that I had asked Jesus to come into my heart. He then tried to explain to me how you do not have to pray for salvation but that it was by faith alone....I did not get it at all.  

A number of years later my family started attending a new church when I was almost 11 years old. Landmark Baptist Church in Locust Grove, GA. This is the next place I heard someone say that you did not receive salvation through a so called "sinner's prayer". One Wednesday evening the Pastor's wife was teaching the children's class and at the end of the class she said that you do not get saved by praying a prayer and that you receive salvation by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). After I heard that I thought she was crazy and that she didn't know what the gospel was. Every other children's class I had been in before said that you had to say a prayer to be saved. I also wondered what exactly the phrase believe "ON" Christ meant. I believed in Jesus Christ, I could never remember a moment in my life when I did not believe in Him. Growing up in a christian home I always had the mental knowledge that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh and that He died on the cross. It was after I heard the pastor's wife say what she did about prayer and Acts 16:31 that I started feeling very convicted for being a lost sinner. I felt the guilt of sin before, but it hit me harder after that than ever before. [Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.]

About two years later I was at a special meeting in Prattville, Alabama where Dr. Peter Ruckman was preaching. Dr. Ruckman taught Sunday school and I heard the gospel, but I still did not know for sure how to be saved. 

I was sitting on the very end of the pew on the second or third row from the front of the church before the next service started when Pastor Michael Mattheny came down the aisle and stopped right beside me and shook my hand. The first thing he said to me was "Are you saved"? This was very unexpected and it startled me, but I replied "Yes sir". He then said "when did you get saved"? I said "Uh, um. I was eight or nine". He didn't say much else after that. However, when he got on the platform and started the service he gave his testimony of when he got saved and how he knew the date, time, place, and what color the chair was that he knelt on to pray when he got saved. He then said that if you did not know the date and time of when you got saved then you probably were not saved (that is never stated anywhere in the Bible).

Dr. Ruckman then preached a gospel message and did did a 'chalk talk'. Towards the end of the message Dr. Ruckman made it very clear that salvation was by trusting what Jesus Christ did on the cross, that believing on Christ was trusting Him alone for salvation, not our own works. I then trusted Christ and His payment on the cross for my salvation. I then felt the guilt of my sins leave and knew for sure I was not going to hell. I realized that it was not special prayers and confessions that saved you, it was complete trust in Christ alone.

Now that is what I told John Davis when he sent me an email asking for my testimony. I put a note at the bottom of the testimony that the "sinner's prayer" is largely based on Romans 10, which does not give the gospel of the grace of God because it does not mention the cross or the blood of Christ. John Davis did not like my testimony nor what I said about Romans 10, because he then wrote the following article a few days later in his "TFT News" and sent it to me. (and did not add the testimony he asked me for to his webpage) 

Here is the article:  (Time for Truth News! Issue 72 July-October 2014) 
http://www.timefortruth.co.uk/content/pages/documents/1418483471.pdf   

Hyper-diaper-Stamites who CANNOT ‘rightly divide the word of truth!’ (2 Tim 2v15)

(Diaper is another word for a ‘baby’s’ nappy, & ‘hyper-dispensationalists’ are babies when it comes to UNDERSTANDING the Scriptures!)

Romans 10 proves too tough for many hyper-diapers, especially those that follow Stam etc. So let’s have a look at this passage & help the ‘babies’ out… 

Note… Rom 10 is in the middle of a ‘THREE chapter section’ that deals specifically with Israel – v1+v5 (Moses) +v19+v21. BUT, those of us who have studied ‘Biblical Numerics’ a little, will note that the number 10 is the number of the GENTILE, & this is very significant! Rom 10 is a great chapter on Gentile salvation, i.e. it has a DUAL purpose, which for some reason, the hyper-diapers just can’t seem to grasp! The ‘thou’ of v9 is to the Romans to whom Paul is writing! You have ‘man’ in v10, as in ANY individual man; ‘whosoever’ in v11; ‘no difference between Jew & the Greek’ in v12; ‘whosoever’ in v13; ‘them that are no people’ & ‘a foolish nation’ (as opposed to the Jews who are provoked ‘to jealousy by them’ in v19) Look at v20+21… I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. BUT TO ISRAEL he saith… So the group that DIDN’T ask after God was the GENTILES! Rom 10 is about how the GENTILES get saved, & Paul uses that as an example to the Jews he loves (v1) . When it comes to understanding THE BOOK, Ruckman is in a different league & class compared to Cornelius Stam! Those that follow Stam, always end up hyper-diapers!!!

Now I want to deal with the DELUDED fools & very shallow students of the Bible who ‘teach & preach’ (& that’s a joke to start with!) that ‘prayer’ is a WORK! Now this little bunch of arrogant-jumped-up-imbeciles are flat-rate HERETICS as you will see… 

It is an obvious fact that the mere act of praying itself cannot save you! In Luke 18v10-14, two men go to pray at the temple, & that story ends with one man saved & the other man LOST! Cornelius prayed on a regular basis (Acts 10v2), & God honoured his prayers (Acts 10v4). But Cornelius did not get saved UNTIL he heard Peter preach (Acts 10v34-43) & he believed on Christ (Acts 10v43-47). So prayer in & of itself DOESN’T save a man! So up pop this bunch of HERETICAL-hyper-diapers (Ding-Dong-Richling et al.) that teach ‘if a man prays to get saved (or more specifically prays the sinner’s prayer), then he is lost!

The idea being that prayer is a ‘work’ & man isn’t saved by works (Eph 2v8+9). So that means that 99% of Christians are NOT saved according to these hyper-diaper-baby-dry-cleaning-HERETICS (hyper-dispensationalists if you’re still wondering!) This is the bunch that teaches the Body/Church started somewhere between Acts 9 – Acts 28.

Some of them teach that water baptism is no longer for this dispensation neither the Lord’s supper, (neither ‘Repentance’ – like I said, they are as straight in their doctrine as a dog’s hind leg (one that has been run over by a truck & then reversed back over!!!)

Now there is nothing in the Scriptures that says you have to pray to get saved! There is no evidence that the Ethiopian eunuch prayed to get saved, even though he DID confess with his mouth (Acts 8v37). As far as we know Cornelius & his household did not pray to get saved (Acts 10v43-47). At the same time, though, you cannot say that it is wrong to pray to get saved! The so-called ‘sinners prayer’ finds its origin in Luke 18v13 in a parable TOLD by Jesus Christ! The publican who prayed that prayer went home justified (Luke 18v14). What made the prayer efficacious (effective!) to the publican was the person to whom it was addressed – Luke 18v11 cf. Luke 18v13; also, the spirit in which he prayed (humble ‘REPENTANCE’), & that for which he prayed (God’s mercy to a sinner!) To that prayer Christians have added ‘& SAVE ME for Jesus’ sake’ – fulfilling Rom 10v9-13. 

No you baby-hyper-diapers, if any sinner prays that prayer, or a similar one, expressing the belief he has in his heart on the Lord Jesus Christ & His death, burial & resurrection, do you really think that the Lord is going to reject that act of faith IN Jesus Christ, expressed THROUGH PRAYER, after He said …him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6v37??? If you do, then my little heretic, you are a complete NUT, that’s N.U.T.!!! Now hyper-dispensationalists are very CULTISH just like Calvinists, & I thank God that there are not many over here in the UK! A Bible Believer can spot their warped & twisted doctrine a mile off! If you are talking to a Christian who is zealous to get rid of repentance, water baptism, the Lord’s Supper & say’s that the Gospel we preach is the Gospel of ‘reconciliation’, then my dear friend, you are dealing with a CULTISH-hyper-diaper who fills his nappy as soon as you ask him whether Matthew, Mark, Luke & John were IN Christ (John 17), OR, when could you eat ‘unclean’ animals (Col 2), or, ‘According to Rom 16v7’ were there Christians IN Christ BEFORE Paul’s conversion? Hyper-diapers are just men followers, also known as ‘Stamites,’ DUMP THEM & don’t waste any more time on them! They are not interested in reaching the lost & can’t grow churches as they are always attacking everyone else, rather than soul-winning! You will also find hyper-diapers very arrogant & aggressive when you don’t agree with their HERESIES!

Now, if prayer is a form of calling upon the name of the Lord (& it certainly IS!) then if a man confesses his faith in Jesus Christ to God in prayer THEN HE IS SAVED! He might not have to do it just that way, but if he does HE ISN’T WORKING HIS WAY TO HEAVEN! After all, it isn’t his prayer that saves him anyway, it is Jesus Christ that saves him! But Jesus saves the sinner when he places his faith in Him, & the same Lord who told the sinner to believe, also told him to CONFESS Him with the mouth & call upon His name! (Rom 10v13) – You can do both IN PRAYER! Generally speaking, when a man receives Christ into his heart, it will come out of his mouth! (Mat 12v34) It is a similar thing with baptism e.g. Mark 16v16 – Obviously in this passage, salvation is conditioned on BELIEF, NOT belief & ‘baptism’, BUT, if a man is saved by belief in the Gospel (Mark 16v15), then as a general rule, he will get baptised in water!

In John 12v42, there are a bunch of ‘chief rulers’ that believed on Christ - John 12v42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: When Jesus Christ addressed these men in John 12v44-50, He addressed their BELIEF, NOT their lack of ‘confession!’ He made it very clear that it was their BELIEF that saved them (John 12v44-46). Were they cowards? Yes! Did they love the wrong thing? Yes! Were they LOST? NO WAY!!! Joseph of Arimathea was among that group, & eventually he came forward & confessed Jesus Christ (John 19v38). Nicodemus was in that group, & he came out for Jesus Christ too (John 19v39). In fact, in the book of Acts (6v7), we discover that… the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

So generally speaking, a saved man will confess Jesus Christ to others! There is NO SET FORMAT to this though, just like there is NO SET ‘WAY’ to ‘prayer!’ When a baby gets hungry, he cries to let someone know! When a sinner gets saved, he will ‘call upon the name of the Lord….’ (Rom 10v13). A saved sinner, who never goes to church, or gets baptised, will still one day CONFESS Christ to someone!

Rom 10v12 defines the ‘whosoever’ of v13! ‘Whosoever’ does NOT mean ‘the elect;’ it means whatever Jew OR GENTILE that has called ‘…upon the name of the Lord… shall be saved!’
There is much in Scripture that has dual application, don’t be like the hyper-diapers & MISS IT because it doesn’t fit in with your cult teaching!"

As you can see, John Davis is a very angry man. You do not have to read far in any of his TFT News articles to see him become outraged over very minor things. He uses words like "imbecile" "moron of morons" "idiot" jackass" "diaper" "fool" etc. over very minor things. He will use those words to describe atheists, JWs, Mormons, "hyper dispensationalists", calvinists, Pentecostals, and even fellow saved King James Bible believers. The use of these words does not offend me at all and the Bible does refer to Atheists as fools, but the constant use of these words gets very old after reading about 2-3 of his news letters. He needs more substance to his articles, if you deleted all his slang terms, sarcasm, and odd remarks his content would probably be reduced by 30-40%. Perhaps he is not angry, but he sure sounds like it in many of his articles. This does reduce the credibility of his ministry considering what the Bible says about anger and corrupt communication....

"He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly..." (Prov. 14:17)

"Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:" (Prov. 22:24)

"An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression." (Prov. 29:22)

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." (Rom. 12:18)

I realize that seeing sin and false doctrine should make a Christian angry and sorrowful, but constantly sounding angry and attempting to insult people is not what the Bible says to do in reaction to sin and false doctrine. Constant sarcasm is a sin (Eph. 5:3-4), Christians are suppose to be sober (Titus 2:1-6). Constantly getting angry and being quick to use corrupt communication is not a Christian attribute. It is a sign of an unhappy and immature person. Christ said "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matt. 12:34, Luke 6:45) and so if your mouth is constantly speaking angry words and corruption, then that is what type of heart you have. When Christians participate in "foolish talking", "foolish jesting", "corrupt communication", "bitterness", "evil speaking", etc. it grieves the Holy Spirit and it causes the Christian to lose rewards at the Judgement Seat of Christ.   

Ephesians 4:
[29] Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
[30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
[31] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
[32] And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 5:
[1] Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
[2] And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
[3] But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
[4] Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
[5] For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Mr. Davis doesn't seem to be able to live peaceably with anyone (Rom. 12:18), he "bites and devours" saved people that are walking in sound doctrine, and also lost people. It would seem that he cannot fellowship with anyone that does not share every belief that he has. I know of several KJB believing Independent Baptists that he has accused of being a "morons" and "fools" as well as KJB believing Grace believers. He also has an article in TFT News that is making fun of the leaders of Local Church Bible Publishers for being over weight.

Here are examples of "corrupt communication" just in this one article above:

"Hyper diaper stamites"

"hyper-diapers"

"those that follow Stam"   

"‘babies’"

"hyper-diapers"

"When it comes to understanding THE BOOK, Ruckman is in a different league & class compared to Cornelius Stam" 

"Those that follow Stam, always end up hyper-diapers"

"DELUDED fools & very shallow  students of the Bible"

"this little bunch of arrogant-jumped-up-imbeciles are flat-rate HERETICS"

"this bunch of heretical hyper diapers"

"these hyper-diaper-baby-dry-cleaning-HERETICS"

"they are as straight in their doctrine as a dog’s hind leg (one that has been run over by a truck & then reversed back over!!!)"

"you baby-hyper-diapers"

"my little heretic, you are a complete NUT, that’s N.U.T.!!!"

" Now hyper-dispensationalists are very CULTISH just like Calvinists, & I thank God that there are not many over here in the UK!"

" A Bible Believer can spot their warped & twisted doctrine a mile off!"

"CULTISH-hyper-diaper who fills his nappy "

"Hyper-diapers are just men followers, also known as ‘Stamites,’ DUMP THEM "

"They are not interested in reaching the lost & can’t grow churches as they are always attacking everyone else, rather than soul-winning!"

"You will also find hyper-diapers very arrogant & aggressive when you don’t agree with their HERESIES!"

"don’t be like the hyper-diapers & MISS IT because it doesn’t fit in with your cult teaching"

John Davis does the exact same thing in all his other articles as well. Maybe he is not really angry, perhaps he thinks that his language is funny or something like that, but either way it grieves the Holy Spirit and causes him to lose rewards at the Judgement Seat of Christ (Eph. 4:29-5:30). I have met a lot of lost people that were more sober minded and peaceable than John Davis. John Davis's poor display of sanctification and being filled with the word of God is a great hindrance to getting the Gospel to the lost. Paul recommended this.....

Titus 2:
[6] Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
[7] In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
[8] Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. 

Not only does John Davis seem to be angry all the time and use corrupt and foolish communication, he also seems to have a problem with telling the truth (which is ironic since he calls his ministry "Time for Truth"). In his whole article he was saying that it was "hyper dispensational" "STAMites" that dismiss Romans 10 as being written to the Jews. This is clearly a lie, Cornelius Stam did not teach that Romans 10 was written to the Jews and in the gospel tracts that he wrote he uses Romans 10:13 in them. Go to the Berean Bible Society website and order gospel tracts and you will see that Romans 10:13 is on them. Or email me and I will send you a scan of one of mine. Most Mid-Acts Dispensationalists believe and teach that Romans 10 is written to Gentiles, but John Davis attempted to distort the truth and say that we do not accept Romans 10 as being written to the Gentiles. In fact, here is what Cornelius Stam's commentary on Romans says about Romans 10:9-13: "In these sublime words the Apostle Paul sets forth God's simple plan of salvation in this "dispensation of the grace of God." This, he says, is "the word of faith which we preach." How grateful we should be that both Jews and Gentiles are included in this program while God's blessing to Israel as a nation is being held in abeyance!" (Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans by C.R. Stam pg. 244 Copyright 1984)

Not only does Cornelius Stam and the Berean Bible Society teach that Romans 10 is written to the Gentiles under Grace, they have also gone to great lengths to defend the doctrine that Romans 10 is referring to salvation under Grace. See The Berean Search Light issues September 2003, May 2005, April 2013, September 2014, and January 2015. Also go to the website of Grace Bible Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee and listen to Pastor Steve Atwood's sermon on Romans 10, where he preaches a sermon on Romans 10 being salvation doctrine under Grace. 

The people that have problems with Romans 10 are not "hyper dispensationalists". Even the mentor (Dr. Peter Ruckman) that John Davis follows and plagiarizes from agrees with me. Dr. Ruckman says on page 405 of The Bible Believer's Commentary on Romans: "Realizing this, a new group of heretics (in this case Bible believing Baptists) have come up saying that if a man prays to get saved (or more specifically prays the sinner's prayer), then he is lost." and "That is the kind of nonsense being spread around independent Bible believing circles nowadays." (BB Bookstore Copyright 2003) 

It is not "hyper dispensationalists" that have problems with Romans 10, it is the Independent, Bible believing, Baptists according to Dr. Peter Ruckman. 

In the next post I will expose the plagiarism of John Davis. His whole article is actually segments of Dr. Ruckman's commentary.

--Eli Caldwell