The highly respected Dr. Tony Evans teaches that "committed Christians may fall into sin, but a carnal Christian bathes in." Evans continues, "He has the mindset, motivation and methodology of sin."
Christians who bathe in sin? Is repentance and self denial optional to salvation? According to Dr. Evans the answer is "yes." There are "saints who act more sinful than sinners," insists Dr. Evans "even though they are on their way to heaven." Whether a professing Christian is murderous, denies Christ or even adopts Satan's lifestyle Dr. Evans promises paradise to the unrepentant. The apostle Paul might question Dr. Evans in this manner:
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Rom 6:16).
From Tony Evans' own pen we see that the learned doctor plainly promises paradise to those alleged "sinning saints" who may bathe in sin. Ask yourself, what career criminal or devil doesn't do likewise? Perhaps heaven will be full of devils if Dr. Evans dogma is accurate. If Romans 6:16 and the following were all the holy writ had to say on the matter, which they are not, these scriptures would be plenty to label Tony Evans' "sinning saint" notion as heresy. Consider:
No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:9-10
Sinning saints, namely, those who "bathe in sin," will not inherit the kingdom of God although Anthony T. Evans insists on the converse. You see, Tony Evans does not understand that the salvation offered in the gospel is salvation from sin rather than in it. According to the scriptures to believe Evans is to let him deceive you: "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous" (1 John 3:7).
For those who desire freedom from the chains of sin the gospel is good news. For those sinning saints, however, who desire the best of both worlds the gospel is bad news. When addressing those professing Christians who insisted on continuing in sin Paul wrote with a heavy heart:
For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things (Phil. 3:18-19).
Those professing "carnal Christians" who may take refuge in the words of Tony Evans are not headed for paradise, sadly, they are "enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction." The "carnal Christian" of Dr. Anthony T. (Tony) Evans is a myth. It is a theological good-night song quietly lulling the people of God into spiritual slumber and destruction.
With nearly 400 pages and over 800 footnotes Daniel LaLond Jr's book, The Lying Promise, probes the gospel according to Dr. Tony Evans . It also deflates teachings such as eternal security , the carnal Christian and false grace.
Daniel LaLond Jr. is a Christian, a husband, a father, a pastor, an author and a seminary graduate. He, his wife of 23 years and their four children reside in the Chicagoland area where he currently serves at Living Waters Assembly.
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