Half-Truth Christianity

By Paul Washer:

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 NIV)

One of the most dangerous things you can ever do is teach half of a truth. And it is something in evangelical Christianity in America that is too often common place. Half a truth is taught. One side of the coin is shown. And that leaves a very, very dangerous blind side to those who are not discerning.

We are taught today that there is only one small gate and that is true. We hear that in almost every denomination. … We hear that in modern day preaching. There is one small gate and his name is Jesus. But if you go through any other gate you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. You will not be saved. There is no hope for you. There is no gate except Christ and all those who miss Christ miss forgiveness, miss right standing with God and enter in to a devil’s hell. That is true. We say that correctly and I applaud those who say this. But that is only half the truth. And because it is only half the truth this text has been used to damn many people to hell.

Many people who believe that they are on the road to heaven and yet are not going to heaven, because only half of this verse is usually preached. We hear all kinds of sermons about that one gate named Jesus, but when was the last time you heard a sermon on not only the gate, but the way? He says there is on gate, but after that gate there is a narrow way.

If I were to look at … most evangelical life and were to reinterpret this text based on what I see in the lives of professing Christians I would have to say this. The gate is narrow, but the way is broad that leads to life. So many people professing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and yet when you look at their lifestyle it appears with all evidence that they are walking in the broad way. They live just like everybody else in the world, but they believe that they are saved because they believe that they have passed through that small gate named Jesus and they believe that they have passed through that small gate because one time in their life they prayed a prayer or repeated a prayer and asked Jesus to come into their heart.

They believe they are saved even though their lifestyle is a lifestyle of continually living just like the world. Now that is a fact. And I don’t say it because I am angry. I say it because I love you and I say it because it is true. … You have countless people throughout history who believe themselves Christians [just] because they were baptized as infants. . . .

How many people in this county today live terrible, godless lives, but they know they are saved because one time in their life they repeated a prayer with a preacher? And how many preachers today preach that you are ok as long as one time in your life you asked Jesus to come into your heart.

My dear friend, a person is saved through faith in Jesus Christ. But most people today are not trusting in Christ. They are trusting in a decision they made a long time ago. They are trusting in the fact that they passed through certain evangelical hoops and said yes at every question that was asked them. Do you know you are a sinner? Yes. Do you want to go to heaven? Yes. Do you want to ask Jesus to come into your heart? Yes. Did you ask him to come into your heart? Yes. Then you are saved. That is not scriptural at all. It is not found in Scripture at all. It is not found in Church history at all, but it is the way we do evangelism today and that is why the great majority of people in America and in the Church believe themselves saved when, in fact, they are not.

And they prove they are not because although they claim to have walked through that one small gate, they live in the broad way. They look like the world. They act like the world. They talk like the world and their lifestyle will be the very thing that condemns them on the day of judgment. (“Lies Preachers Tell”)