Beware of False Teachers:
Charles Finney Taught A False Gospel!
Charles Finney is thought of by many as a powerful Evangelist whom God used to bring revival, a new awakening, and to get tens of thousands of people saved. Think again! His own writings show us that he was a false teacher and evangelist who proclaimed a false gospel!
Here are some quotes from Finney’s “Lectures on Systematic Theology” in which he teaches his heresies:
1. “Several theologians have held that regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit alone … but I might just as lawfully insist that it is the work of man alone.” (Charles Finney, ‘Lectures On Systematic Theology’: Abridged Edition, p. 224)
2. “The doctrine of imputed righteousness, or that Christ’s obedience to the Law was accounted as our obedience, is founded on a most false and nonsensical assumption/” (Charles Finney, ‘Lectures On Systematic Theology’, Worcester: 1851, pages 320-322)
3. Christ “could do no more than justify himself. It can never be imputed to us … it was naturally impossible, then, for him to obey on our behalf.” (Ibid.) This doctrine “of representing the atonement as the ground of the sinner’s justification has been a sad occasion of stumbling to many.” (Charles Finney, ‘Lectures On Systematic Theology’, p. 732)
4. “We shall see that perseverance in obedience to the end of life is also a condition of justification …” (Ibid., p. 735-737)
Finney believed that man was saved when he decided to stop sinning and live the rest of his life in righteousness.
5. Salvation “is not founded in Christ’s literally suffering the exact penalty of the Law for them, and in this sense literally purchasing their justification and eternal salvation.” (Lectures On Systematic Theology, p. 747)
Finney is clearly teaching “another Gospel”, and that brings us to the warning of the Apostle Paul, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8-9)
By this Scripture, Charles Finney is accursed. He is by no means a Born Again Christian! Instead, he is a “tare among wheat”!
Yet, modern day church leaders speak highly of Finney. Jerry Falwell said Finney “was one of my heroes.” Dr. J.D. Packer said, ‘”harles Finney, revivalist extraordinary, was a great man…” Billy Graham said, “Finney’s life and commitment to Christ come alive through the pages” (of his memoirs).
The fact that Finney is extolled by modern day church leaders demonstrates how far, despite all the Bible study aids available, the church has deviated from the plumbline of the gospel.
Bibloscope 