The Gospel of the Grace of God vs the wanderings of John Davis (Part 2)

John Davis did not write his article with honesty in mind. As a matter of fact, he plagiarizes very badly from Dr. Ruckman's commentary on Romans without citing him. John Davis simply takes Dr. Ruckman's words and publishes them as his own. 

When John Daivs wrote "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!"  That is verbatim with page 404 of Dr. Ruckman's commentary: "It is obvious that the mere act of praying itself saves no one. In Luke 18v10-14, two men go to pray at the temple, and that story ends with one man saved and the other man lost! Cornelius prayed on a regular basis (Acts 10v2), and God honoured his prayers (Acts 10v4). But Cornelius did not get saved until he heard Peter preach (Acts 10v34-43) and he believed on Christ (Acts 10v43-47). So prayer in & of itself doesn't save a man!"   

When John Davis wrote: "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." That is verbatim with page 406 of Dr. Ruckman's commentary,  which says: "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 and 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 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’), and that for which he prayed (God’s mercy to a sinner!) To that prayer Christians have added ‘and save me for Jesus’ sake’ fulfilling Rom 10v9-13."

When John Davis said "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???" He was quoting page 407 of Dr. Ruckman's commentary verbatim: "If any sinner prays that prayer, or a similar one, expressing the belief he has in his heart on the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection, do you really think that the Lord is going to reject an 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?"

When John Davis said "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!" He was quoting page 407 of Dr. Ruckman's commentary verbatim, which says "Now, if prayer is a form of calling upon the name of the Lord (and 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 Christ saves the sinner when he places his faith in Him, and the same Lord who told the sinner to believe, also told him to confess Him with the mouth and call upon His name. You can do both in prayer (Rom 10v13)."

When John Davis said "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!" that is very close to what Dr. Ruckman's commentary says on page 407: "What you have here is a general rule. The verse is constructed in a way similar to Mark 16:16. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Obviously in that passage, salvation is conditioned on belief, not belief and 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."

When John Davis says "Generally speaking, when a man receives Christ into his heart, it will come out of his mouth! (Mat 12v34)" that is verbatim with what Dr. Ruckman said on page 408: "Generally speaking, when a man receives Christ into his heart, it will come out of his mouth."

When John Davis said "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." that is very similar to what Dr. said on page 408 of his commentary: "In John 12v42, there are a bunch of ‘chief rulers’ that believed on Christ ''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? Not on your life, brother. Joseph of Arimathea was among that group, and eventually he came forward & confessed Jesus Christ (John 19v38). Nicodemus was in that group, and he came out for Jesus Christ too (John 19v39). In fact, in the book of Acts (6v7), we discover that "a GREAT company of the priests were obedient to the faith."

When John Davis wrote "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" that is very similar to Dr. Ruckman's commentary on page 408: "So generally speaking, a saved man will confess Jesus Christ to others. But as I said in the discussion on prayer, there is no set way (like prayer) that you do it. When a baby gets hungry, he cries to let someone know. When a sinner makes up his mind that he needs to get saved, he will ‘call upon the name of the Lord."

When John Davis said "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!" that is very similar to page 409-410 of Dr. Ruckman's commentary: "Verse 12 simply defines the "whosoever" of verse 13. Whosoever’ does not mean ‘the elect;’ it means whatever Jew or Gentile that has called "upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

John Davis's whole article was practically a verbatim word-for-word copy of Dr. Ruckman's commentary on Romans. John Davis did not study the Bible for himself on this issue, he is very dishonest. He didn't tell the truth about Cornelius Stam, he didn't tell the truth about who has trouble with Romans 10, and his whole article was a fraud. 

I would like to be the first one to tell Mr. Davis that it is "Time For Truth!". 

In the next post I will refute the doctrinal errors of John Davis's article and proclaim the truth of Romans 10. 

--Eli Caldwell