What's your opinion about Paul Washer?

[stiller]

He seems to be really "in" nowadays and all over youtube there are many Washer fans who post his sermons. I really wonder why it's so cool these days to be a Washer fan. Maybe it's because of his hard and "shocking" preaching which he seems to be proud of otherwise he would not brag about being invited to churches only one time and then never being invited back because his sermons are so shocking.
I listened to some of his sermons and found them all totally disturbing and destructive. He also seems to be a calvinist so according to him you can never really be sure you're saved even if you think you're saved you can only be sure that you're saved when you live a good life.
And he also hates the sinner's prayer. According to him you must beg and cry out to God until GOD decides that he may want to save you.
One time he told a story how he witnessed to a man in church for hours and then he said he (Washer) could not let him get saved because this man was not willing to give up all sins.
Can you believe that? Washer could not let a man get saved!
I did not know that Washer is God now, did you?

I think that Washer is a dangerous and destructive preacher. Just go to youtube and search for Paul Washer. All the stuff he preaches about is always about wrong conversion vs. real conversion, living "holy", fearing God, the hatred of God. It's simply all stuff which scares people and which makes you insecure and makes you doubt wether you're really saved and really "holy" enough. It puts all the focus on the believer and how well he's doing as a christian and if you do well then you can feel saved and if you don't do well according to Paul Washer's standards then you're probably not saved or you need to try harder.

 

[brinny]

He seems to be really "in" nowadays and all over youtube there are many Washer fans who post his sermons. I really wonder why it's so cool these days to be a Washer fan. Maybe it's because of his hard and "shocking" preaching which he seems to be proud of otherwise he would not brag about being invited to churches only one time and then never being invited back because his sermons are so shocking.
I listened to some of his sermons and found them all totally disturbing and destructive. He also seems to be a calvinist so according to him you can never really be sure you're saved even if you think you're saved you can only be sure that you're saved when you live a good life.
And he also hates the sinner's prayer. According to him you must beg and cry out to God until GOD decides that he may want to save you.
One time he told a story how he witnessed to a man in church for hours and then he said he (Washer) could not let him get saved because this man was not willing to give up all sins.
Can you believe that? Washer could not let a man get saved!
I did not know that Washer is God now, did you?

I think that Washer is a dangerous and destructive preacher. Just go to youtube and search for Paul Washer. All the stuff he preaches about is always about wrong conversion vs. real conversion, living "holy", fearing God, the hatred of God. It's simply all stuff which scares people and which makes you insecure and makes you doubt wether you're really saved and really "holy" enough. It puts all the focus on the believer and how well he's doing as a christian and if you do well then you can feel saved and if you don't do well according to Paul Washer's standards then you're probably not saved or you need to try harder.

I thank God for Paul Washer and his uncompromising preaching of the gospel. When i heard him for the first time, it was a wake up" call for me. I thank God for using him to waking me from "sleep", so to speak.

I didn't vote. It is not Paul Washer who is awesome. It is GOD.

 

[whatfor]

Only seen one of his sermons and I agreed with what he said

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

He also seems to be a calvinist so according to him you can never really be sure you're saved even if you think you're saved you can only be sure that you're saved when you live a good life.

You need to check your theology dude, Calvinists believe in eternal security (OSAS).

They put a strong emphasis on assurance of salvation, which I have no problem with. Calvinist want to make sure that you ARE saved before they give assurance of it. In my opinion Washer is a true follower of Christ with a challenging message of the cost of discipleship and repentance and saving faith in Christ. It's the same message Jesus preached:

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37,38)

"Marvel not that I said to you, You must be born again." (John 3:7)

 

[Johnnz]

Here are some sensible comments. Paul Washer's FALSE GOSPEL!

His theology is badly askew.

John
NZ

 

[brinny]

Here are some sensible comments. Paul Washer's FALSE GOSPEL!

His theology is badly askew.

John
NZ

What did he say or write that was not in line with the Bible?

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

Here are some sensible comments. Paul Washer's FALSE GOSPEL!

His theology is badly askew.

John
NZ

The website you direct us to is the other extreme in salvation theology: Claiming Christ without fruits of salvation. This is the theology of the happy, guilt free, sin loving majority of Christians, who make a confession but happily live in sin. I'm not saying I agree with everything Washer says but to say we are not to have a call to repentance is completely contrary to scripture.

 

[znr]

Whatever about Paul Washer. Some of what he says is right on and some is not.

Shouldn't we all be out washing people's feet?

 

[BFine]

I have heard only clips of his messages(those were good) so, I can't say anything more about Mr. Washer since I don't actually know him or his ministry.

 

[Blueforest]

I voted number 4.

I cannot STAND him.

I think it's a travesty that man gets paid to do what he does. He ought to be ashamed of himself.

 

[Johnnz]

What did he say or write that was not in line with the Bible?

He has an angry God behind a loving Jesus,a God who is all too easily offended and who we must appease before He will accept us. That theology overlooks any consideration of the Trinity, and totally and always harmonious unity.

God is not divisible. We cannot separate God's love from God's holiness, or play one off against the other. Or the Father against the Son The NT revelation of God being Love, means that Love will always do what is right and best, and that entails only purity, gentleness, mercy, holiness etc. Holiness is thus an expression of that love.

We only know the Father in and through Jesus. We see Jesus living with sinners (in this world), eating with them, teaching them, seeking them, healing them, accepting them in spite of ongoing failures. He never demanded holiness before He related to people -... while we were yet enemies...'

Repentance come from seeing thing differently (literally a change of mind)
That comes only from the illumination of the Holy Spirit. We require the HS before we can truly repent.

Here is something rather more in line with NT teaching.

[FONT=&quot]Let’s talk about what the gospel means by repentance toward God.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The first mistake in trying to understand what it means is to go to an English dictionary for a definition of the word repent. Contemporary dictionaries tell us how words have come to be understood at the time the dictionary was compiled. But a modern English dictionary does not tell us what was in the mind of a person who was writing 2,000 years ago in Greek about things that were first spoken in Aramaic, for example.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary[/FONT][FONT=&quot] says this of the word repent: 1) to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life; 2a) to feel regret or contrition; 2b) to change one’s mind.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Webster’s first definition is exactly what most religious people believe Jesus was talking about when he said, "Repent and believe." They believe that Jesus means that only people who repent, that is, stop sinning and change their ways, will be in the kingdom of God. But the fact is, that is precisely what Jesus was not saying.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It is a common mistake for Christians to think of repentance as ceasing to sin. "If you had really repented, you wouldn’t have done it again" is a refrain many tormented souls have heard from well-meaning, law-upholding spiritual counselors. We are told that repentance is to "turn around and go the other way," and it is explained in the context of turning away from sin and turning toward a life of obedience to God’s law.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]With that idea firmly in mind, Christians set out with the best of intentions to change their ways. But along the way, some ways change, and some ways seem to stick like super-glue. And even the ways that change have a nasty way of cropping up again.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Is God satisfied with such mediocrity, such hit-and-miss obedience? "No, he is not!" the preacher exhorts, and the vicious, gospel-crippling cycle of commitment, failure and despair takes another spin around the going-nowhere rat-racetrack of futility.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And just when we are feeling frustrated and depressed about our failure to measure up to the high standards of God, we hear another sermon or read another article about "real repentance" and "deep repentance" and how such repentance results in a complete turning away from sin.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So, we crank up the commitment jalopy and go at it again, with the same, miserable, predictable results. And our frustration and despair deepens, because we realize that our turning away from sin is anything but "complete."[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We can only assume we have not "really repented." Our repentance was not "deep" enough, or "heartfelt" enough or "true" enough. And if we have not really repented, then we must not really have faith. Which means we must not really have the Holy Spirit. Which means we must not really be saved.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Finally, we either get used to living like that, or, as many have done, we finally throw in the towel and walk away from the whole medicine show people call Christianity.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Repent and believe the gospel," Jesus declares in Mark 1:15. Repentance and faith mark the beginning of our new life in the kingdom of God. They don’t mark it because we did the right thing. They mark it because that is when the scales fall off our darkened eyes and we at last see in Jesus Christ the glorious light of the liberty of the sons of God.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Everything that ever needed to be done for human forgiveness and salvation has already been done through the death and resurrection of the Son of God. There was a time when we were in the dark about that. We couldn’t enjoy it or rest in it because we were blind to it.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We thought we had to make our own way in this world, and we spent all our effort and time plowing as straight a furrow in our little corner of life as we could manage.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Then one day, for no other reason than that he wanted to, God let us in on the way things actually are. The world is his, and we are his.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Not[/FONT][FONT=&quot] about morals[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Repentance is not about morals. It is not about good behavior. It is not about "doing better."[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Repentance is putting your trust in God instead of in yourself, your wits, your friends, your country, your government, your guns, your money, your authority, your prestige, your reputation, your car, your house, your job, your family heritage, your color, your sex, your success, your looks, your clothes, your titles, your degrees, your church, your spouse, your muscles, your leaders, your IQ, your accent, your accomplishments, your charity work, your donations, your kindness, your compassion, your self-control, your chastity, your honesty, your obedience, your devotion, your spiritual disciplines or anything else you can come up with of yours or associated with you that I left out of this long sentence.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Repentance is putting all your eggs in one basket—his basket. It’s getting on his side, believing what he says, throwing in your lot with him, giving him your allegiance.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Repentance is not about promises to be good. It is not about teeth-clenched straining to "put sin out of your life." It is trusting God to have mercy on you. It is trusting God to fix your evil heart. It is trusting God to be who he says he is—Creator, Savior, Redeemer, Teacher, Lord and Sanctifier. And it is dying, dying to your need to be thought of as right and good.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

He turns the totally completed covenant made between Father and Son into an incomplete contract between humanity and God. That totally undermines what Jesus has achieved on our behalf. We are to live out off our established relationship with Christ (referred to so many times in the NT as "in Christ" or "in Him") and not on the basis "God won't until or unless I do." That in effect is a limited atonement.

John
NZ

 

[Johnnz]

The website you direct us to is the other extreme in salvation theology: Claiming Christ without fruits of salvation. This is the theology of the happy, guilt free, sin loving majority of Christians, who make a confession but happily live in sin. I'm not saying I agree with everything Washer says but to say we are not to have a call to repentance is completely contrary to scripture.

I don't think you have properly understood what that site was saying. You are so ingrained with a 'grace plus hard work' gospel that you see grace as merely liberty. But Paul had the same accusations made against his teaching. He deals with that very specifically with this issue in the first part of Romans.

John
NZ

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

I don't think you have properly understood what that site was saying. You are so ingrained with a 'grace plus hard work' gospel that you see grace as merely liberty. But Paul had the same accusations made against his teaching. He deals with that very specifically with this issue in the first part of Romans.

Your assumption is misguided Johnnz, I am not ingrained with a false sense of God's love, but I do feel you have a false sense of His holiness. I believe we have had this discussion before. Works will not save, this is fundamental and I am not suggesting anything to the contrary. But as we recognize this truth let us not forget that faith without works is dead. Do you not believe that repentance and good works are a sign of true salvation? Not the thing itself, but a sign of it? This is what Paul and James preached, as well as the rest of the apostles.

 

[Johnnz]

New life (something far more than good works) will flow from within a believer. Goodness isn't primarily what we do as an external activity, but rather we do what we do because of who we are. The various lists Paul gives (such as the fruit of the Spirit) are not ideals as much as they are expressions of the indwelling life of Christ.

Quoting again

[FONT=&quot]Corpses[/FONT][FONT=&quot] don’t improve[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]You are incapable of moral perfection because, the fact is, you are dead. Sin has made you dead, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-5. But even though you were dead in your sins (being dead is what you have contributed to this process of forgiveness and redemption), Christ made you alive (this is what Christ has contributed: the whole thing).[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The only thing dead people can do is nothing. They cannot be alive to righteousness or to anything else, because they are dead, dead in sin. But it is precisely dead people, and only dead people, who get raised from the dead.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Raising the dead is what Christ does. He does not pour perfume on corpses. He does not prop them up and dress them in party clothes and wait for them to do something righteous. They are dead. They can’t do anything. Jesus isn’t the least bit interested in new and improved corpses. What Jesus does is resurrect them. And again, corpses are the only kind of people he resurrects.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In other words, the only way to enter into Jesus’ resurrection, his life, is to be dead. It doesn’t take much effort to be dead. In fact, it doesn’t take any effort at all. And dead is precisely what we are.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The lost sheep did not find itself before the shepherd went looking for it and found it (Luke 15:1-7). The lost coin did not find itself before the woman went looking for it and found it (verses 8-10). The only thing they contributed to the whole process of their being sought, found and rejoiced over in a big party was being lost. Their utter, hopeless, lostness was the only thing they had that allowed them to be found.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Even the lost son in the next parable (verses 11-24) finds himself already having been forgiven, redeemed and fully accepted purely on the basis of his father’s lavish grace, not on the basis of his "work-my-way-back-into-his-good-graces" plan. His father had compassion on him without ever hearing the first word of his "I’m so sorry" speech (verse 20).[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]When the son finally accepted in the stench of the pigpen his deadness and lostness, he was on his way to discovering something amazing that had been true all along: his father, the one he had rejected and disgraced, had never stopped loving him passionately and unconditionally.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]His father flatly ignored his little scheme for redeeming himself (verses 19-24), and without even a probationary waiting period, restored him to full rights as son.[/FONT]

John
NZ

 

[SwordoftheLord]

I don't think you have properly understood what that site was saying. You are so ingrained with a 'grace plus hard work' gospel that you see grace as merely liberty. But Paul had the same accusations made against his teaching. He deals with that very specifically with this issue in the first part of Romans.

John
NZ

that Jesus is Savior site you linked to....Is a KJV only website, which I am very familiar with. However his doctrine is screwed up......He follow billy grahams , come as you are leave as you are gospel....

paul Washer is Biblical I just wish he used the KJV!

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

New life (something far more than good works) will flow from within a believer. Goodness isn't primarily what we do as an external activity, but rather we do what we do because of who we are. The various lists Paul gives (such as the fruit of the Spirit) are not ideals as much as they are expressions of the indwelling life of Christ.

It's a heart change more than anything else. But we must turn from dead works and submit ourselves to righteousness.

"Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." -Paul (Romans 6:13)

 

[green wolverine]

I think Paul Washer is the mostly godly preacher I've ever heard and pray God will raise up more like him. I also believe he's 100% correct in saying that only about 15% of professing Christians are actually saved.

 

[SwordoftheLord]

I think Paul Washer is the mostly godly preacher I've ever heard and pray God will raise up more like him. I also believe he's 100% correct in saying that only about 15% of professing Christians are actually saved.

if you like him you will love the Pastor of his church. Jeff Noblit

 

[znr]

I think Paul Washer is the mostly godly preacher I've ever heard and pray God will raise up more like him. I also believe he's 100% correct in saying that only about 15% of professing Christians are actually saved.

Awesome, he's arrived at a number and that number is 15%. Laugh out loud hysterical.

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

Awesome, he's arrived at a number and that number is 15%. Laugh out loud hysterical.

That's a pretty low number...but I think he's right that a majority of Christians who profess faith in Christ have no idea what their saying. Many say they were born Christian.