Be the Best You Can Be

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Moody Publishers or Moody Press, markets themselves as being “The Name You Can Trust.” In this, Moody proposes to Christians that they are true to scripture and to Christ. Masses the world over, however, who lean their eternal hopes on the doctrine published by “The Name You Can Trust” might be astonished to find that Moody Press should never be trusted.

For instance, in How Can You Be Sure That You Will Spend Eternity With God, by Erwin W. Lutzer (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996), Moody Press published:

Even a weak faith saves if it is directed to Christ alone. But a wrong faith leads to destruction even it is held with unwavering confidence (p. 134).

Why are they saved? Because they accept the premise that if they are to be saved at all, they will be saved by God’s grace through Christ. Their faith wavers, but it is directed toward the right person (p. 132).

Upon initially reading these statements they seem to be quite scriptural. And they are. Surely no Christian would disagree with the idea that if a person is going to be saved his faith must be directed to Christ alone. Nevertheless, under the flag of magnifying Christ, Erwin Lutzer and his publisher, Moody Press, may actually oust Christ.

You see, according to Dr. Lutzer’s rhetoric, Christ alone is often theological code meaning that a Christian who turns and seeks salvation through some means other than Christ alone will still be saved. That is, “Christ alone” means that “works” of any kind or degree never affect salvation–even denying “Christ alone.” I know it sounds ridiculous (and it is!), but bear with me as I illustrate. Kindly consider Hebrews 6:4-6:

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Now, concerning this serious passage of warning Dr. Lutzer believes and Moody Press scatters around the globe:

We have to [recognize that] the author is talking about true Christians in this passage…Yes, believers can “fall away”… they were starting to doubt whether Christ was fully sufficient… The point is that as long as they were returning to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, they couldn’t be brought back to repentance. Understandably, they could not be brought back to fellowship with God while they were offering lambs on the alter… Yes, believers can fall away, but not to eternal damnation (p. 150).

Those who sacrifice lambs on pagan altars will be saved? Is it congruent to teach that “a wrong faith leads to destruction” yet still promise paradise to those who reject the faith altogether and prove as much by sacrificing animals on pagan altars for the forgiveness of sins? A wrong faith leads to destruction, resolutely asserts the doctor, yet the blatant rebellion and no faith of Christ rejectors leads to life eternal? What a contradiction!

Friend, when the blind lead the blind they both fall in a ditch. Dr. Lutzer and Moody Press do not understand foundational Christian concepts and as such they lend salvation assurance where none exists. Don’t be deceived By “The Name You Can Trust.” Moody Press is not to be trusted.