Perverting Grace - Red Flags to Alert You To Perverse-Grace Teachings
You might be under a perverse-hyper-grace teacher if you hear these things being taught in your church or community. This is very important as it is a segue to the promotion of “gay Christianity.”
I write today with the deepest of sorrow and concern for what I’ve seen taking place in the Church concerning the embracing of “gay Christianity.” I have taken some inventory of the causes, and made a list of cautions below. The main cause is poor theology and unbiblical teaching of grace. The simple list I compiled is for your use to ask yourself if you are being influenced by a perverse-hyper-grace teaching.
This teaching of hyper-grace or perverse-grace isn’t new, yet many report a new revelation. It is merely the old demonic antinomianistic teaching from the 1500’s now resurrected by several modern day “grace” teachers. It is heretical and full of pride when some of these teachers communicate they have received a new divine revelation from God on grace. They communicate that this revelation is even greater than all the reformers of the Church. Yet it isn’t new at all. It is antinomianism repackaged. Antinomianism simply means you don’t have to obey any laws of God, because you are under grace. What is very alarming to us at First Stone is that this perverse-grace teaching is permeating the Church at large by giving a segue to “gay Christianity.” My grief in this teaching is that many are embracing “gay Christianity” as a new revelation of grace and have gone back to damnable sinful behavior leading to destruction (1). What a tragedy!
This teaching is truly a subtle demonic plan to lead the Church to apostasy. I have seen the increase of this heretical teaching since 2012 with the Exodus International debacle where the board of Exodus empowered Alan Chambers in his own “gay Christian” thinking. This caused Exodus to implode under the reign of Clark Whitten, Chairman of Exodus and Alan Chambers, President. Under their leadership, many returned to homosexuality, the fruit of this heretical teaching. I write this today as we continue to see terrible results with souls and families devastated. Here are two simple checklists of red flags and warnings about this perverse-hyper-grace teaching leading souls astray.
FALSE STATEMENTS
You ARE under a perverse-hyper-grace teaching if the teacher is saying any of the following FALSE statements:
⚑ You do not need to confess your sins any longer to God because 1 John 1:9 is not written to Christians.
⚑ Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit does not come to convict you of sin.
⚑ The idea that the Holy Spirit comes to convict you of sin is a grotesque misrepresentation of repentance and that it was heathenish.
⚑ Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit will not make you feel guilt, shame nor rebuke you about your sin.
⚑ You do not or cannot grieve the Holy Spirit when you sin.
⚑ Jesus Christ plus nothing equals everything, as you do not need to do anything to please God.
⚑ You do not need to fear God, as God is completely pleased with you because of what Jesus did on the cross.
⚑ God is not moved by anything you do, good or bad.
⚑ Jesus did not die to mortify your behavior, so don’t be too conscientious about sin.
⚑ Prayers for forgiveness and praying for the salvation of loved ones are a waste of time because God has already saved the world. Forgiveness is not something God does; it’s something He’s already done.
⚑ A repentant life is not really necessary because you were forgiven when you believed in Christ.
⚑ You cannot make God mad; He is never displeased with you no matter what you do.
⚑ You will not receive any extra blessings by being obedient to God.
⚑Sinning is merely a violation of friendship—relationship—not a violation of the law of God.
⚑ Under this new divine revelation of grace, you are free to sin because you are a saint.
⚑ When the Church tells you to die daily, it is legalism.
⚑ You are completely sanctified today; you do not and cannot become more sanctified or holy as you are today.
⚑ The teachings of Jesus Christ or His words in the Gospels do not apply to us today as they did to the New Testament believers.
⚑ Humility is considered debasement and a teaching of weakness.
⚑ Being broken over sin or weeping over sin is considered abuse of people in the church.
⚑ Giving assurance to unrepentant sinners that they are eternally secure.
I sincerely hope that, if you have heard these statements as a teaching, you have rejected them. These statements are not the truth. These statements are heretical teaching and lead many astray and deny the Lordship of Christ.(2) It is necessary to study the Scripture to overcome these false statements.
WARNING SIGNS
You MIGHT be under a perverse-hyper-grace teaching or leanings towards hyper-grace if the teacher is saying any of the following ambiguous statements or is taking any of the following positions in the local church:
⚑ The teacher never speaks of sin.
⚑ No preaching on hell, or hell is rarely talked about. Everyone goes to heaven.
⚑ A belief that hell is not forever, or much different from orthodox teaching on hell.
⚑ The teacher or the church believes that the fear of God is not needed or that the fear of God means merely respect for God.
⚑ The Old Testament is ignored or considered irrelevant for our day.
⚑ Leaders in various positions under the staff in the church are living immorally, and it goes unnoticed or is not confronted.
⚑ Sin is not confronted in the membership.
⚑ Underestimating the power of sin, and ignoring those who call attention to sin and suggest that we must wrestle with our sin.
⚑ The Word of God is not used as the primary source of teaching.
⚑ There is an over emphasis on being positive and happy, rather than confronting sin in the Church and being conformed into the image of Jesus.
⚑ Prophets or the prophetic voice is not highly respected in the church.
⚑ An over-emphasis on eternal security without emphasizing a lifestyle of repentance. Teaching that a simple prayer will obtain eternal security rather than a surrendered life to Jesus Christ as Lord.
⚑ When believers stress obedience to Christ, they are deemed legalistic or derogatorily called Pharisees.
⚑ The teacher has a mocking or sarcastic presentation about those who confront their teaching on grace.
In closing here are a couple of quotes from Dr. Michael L. Brown’s book, “Hyper-Grace: Exposing the Dangers of the Modern Grace Message” which is an excellent resource on this subject. I highly recommend reading this book for further understanding, as he addresses almost all the points above.
“Simply stated, there is not a single verse anywhere in the Bible that pronounces us already forgiven for our future sins (meaning, sins we have not yet committed). Not one verse. Nowhere. Not even a hint of such a concept.” - Dr. Michael L. Brown
“Again; thousands are deceived into supposing that they have “accepted Christ” as their “personal Savior,” who have not first received Him as their LORD. The Son of God did not come here to save His people in their sin (to continue in sin), but “from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). To be saved from sins, is to be saved from ignoring and despising the authority of God, it is to abandon the course of self-will and self-pleasing, it is to “forsake our way” (Isa. 55:7). It is to surrender to God’s authority, to yield to His dominion, to give ourselves over to be ruled by Him. The one who has never taken Christ’s “yoke” upon him, who is not truly and diligently seeking to please Him in all the details of life, and yet supposes that he is “resting on the Finished Work of Christ” is deluded by the Devil.” - Dr. Michael L. Brown
Please take the following Scriptures to heart, although many “grace” teachers would tell you that 1 John was not written to Christians. As you read, you can see plainly, it is written to Christians.
”And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1 John 1:5-10, 1 John 2:1-6
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” 1 John 3:21
Grace is truly extravagant. Grace truly reveals components of mercy and love. Grace clearly shows what God did for us in sending His own Son to die on the cross in our place. This extravagant and amazing grace revealed at the cross is an amazing gift to those who truly believe. We can have forgiveness of all sin and complete atonement, as though we had never sinned. Grace saves and not works. No man can boast except in the blood of Jesus Christ. He is extravagant in His sacrifice and love for us. The Holy Spirit of Grace actually comes to live inside the true believer in Jesus Christ. This grace, the very presence of Jesus, brings salvation and teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust in this life, and that we can be overcomers living sober and godly lives now. This amazing extravagant grace does not leave true believers in a lifestyle of sin; it changes their minds, their thinking, their desires. Grace also puts a longing in the hearts of true believers to look forward to His coming. (3)
If you need further help to understand this wonderful concept of grace and how it is applied in our lives, please read Dr. Michael Brown’s book, and you can certainly feel free to contact me at [email protected]
(1) Eph. 5:5-8, 1 Cor. 6:9-11, Rev. 21:8 & 22:14-15
(2) Jude 1:4
(3) Titus 2:11-14
Resources for this article:
“Hyper-Grace: Exposing the Dangers of the Modern Grace Message” – by Dr. Michael Brown
Hyper-Grace Documentary (feat. Dr. Michael Brown, David Ravenhill and Eric Ludy – On YouTube: https://youtu.be/dtRVWeoNuvw
Stephen Black is an ordained minister and has been ministering to people leaving homosexuality since 1984. He served on staff with First Stone Ministries from August 1993 to July 2023. For twenty of those years, he served as Executive Director.