THE GRACE MOVEMENT
AN INTRODUCTION
DR. MICHAEL BROWN
A NEW
GRACE REFORMATION?
CLARK WHITTEN
“There is a coming Great Awakening
to the Body of Christ that will be resisted
fiercely by the legalistic establishment which has
so much invested in the sin management model
of discipleship…”
—Clark Whitten
“religion—not real Christianity… is and always
has been in the behavior modification
and sin management business. It is so
lucrative and so firmly entrenched in the Church
that it will take a second Great
Reformation and a revelation of no
less importance than Luther’s to correct
this great and spiritually murderous lie.”
—Clark Whitten
JOHN CROWDER
“Just as there is a new mysticism on the rise, I believe
it is coupled with a new reformation. The good
news will be preached with such clarity that, even the
days of Luther will seem utterly primitive in its
concepts of grace and faith… a clarity is coming to
the preaching of the gospel like has not been
heard since the days of the Apostle Paul.”
—John Crowder, Mystical Union
SOME IMPORTANT PRE-QUALIFIERS
• The Grace Movement is not purely monolithic.
• Not every teacher agrees with one another on every
issue.
• But there are enough very commonly expressed ideas as
well as a self-identification by many of the leaders and
those within it to identify as a movement and assess it as
such.
• The movement is a mixture, expressing many wonderful
truths, as well as many deeply unbalanced and/or
fundamentally unbiblical ideas.
• Different people respond differently to different
messages and have different needs.
• Those raised under legalism and condemnation
may find freedom through the Grace Movement.
• But the Gospel remains the same. The Scriptures
must be our standard.
• We must proclaim both the magnificent kindness
and grace, as well as the immense severity of
God.
Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God
did not spare the natural branches, He will
not spare you, either. Behold then the
kindness and severity of God; to those
who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if
you continue in His kindness; otherwise you
also will be cut off.
Romans 11:21-22
THE POWER OF NARRATIVE
• David and Goliath
• Jesus and the Pharisees
• “Inherit the Wind”
• A huge problem within the Grace Movement is the abuse
of the power of narrative to preemptively demonize any
who might disagree with or challenge their message.
• Another huge problem with the Grace Movement is the
childish effort to purposefully offend others.
ROB RUFUS
“Grace haters are the legalists who will
try to intimidate, manipulate and
dominate people with a spirit of
witchcraft. The religious spirit in them wants
everyone stereotyped and conformed to their own
bondage. They are parrots and puppets,
no longer voices for God, but echoes, not pursuing
God but pursuing opportunities for position and
prestige…
—Rob Rufus
“…If you try to live in the grace of God, I
guarantee Satan will send his agent across
your path to try to intimidate you and insinuate
that you ought not to be living the way you are,
that your freedom is not freedom but
licentiousness. If you haven’t experienced this sort
of thing it’s probably because you have never lived
in grace.”
—Rob Rufus
The rock throwing legalists who fill modern
Christian churches and spawn the pharisaical
preachers they listen to each Sunday seem to be
more dimwitted than the Pharisees of
Jesus’ day. They, at least, walked away without saying
a word [in John 8:9] and had sense enough to keep
their mouths shut, which is more than can be said of
the mean-spirited Pharisees of our day.
—Clark Whitten
critics of the “so-called hyper-grace
teaching” want to keep us in
bondage and control so they can
steal our tithes and offerings to
make a name for themselves. I am into
salvation by grace thru faith in Jesus. If you are
not, then you not saved or born again. Tares and
wheat are together until the end of the world.
—Clark Whitten
“STOP POINTING YOUR
FINGER AT ME!”
THE GRACE MOVEMENT’S
WRONG DEFINITION OF
REPENTANCE
PAUL ELLIS
“Biblical repentance simply means ‘change your
mind.’ … Your definition of repentance will reveal whether
you are living under grace or works. In the Old Testament,
sinners repented by bringing a sacrifice of penance and
confessing their sins (Num 5:7). But in the new we bring a
sacrifice of praise and confess His name (Heb 13:15). We
don’t do anything to deal with our sins for Jesus
has done it all. Our part is to change our mind,
believe the good news, and say thank you Jesus!”
—Paul Ellis
PHIL DRYSDALE
Most people think that repentance means “to
change their actions to please God.” …
But they are wrong. Greek 101 The Greek
word we’ve translated to mean “repent” means
something quite different. It’s the word “metanoia.”
… Metanoia means quite literally “change mind.”
Repentance is not about changing our
actions to please God.
—Phil Drysdale
JOSEPH PRINCE
By the way, for all of you who feel that there
should be more preaching on repentance, do you
know what the word “repent” means in the first
place? The word “repent” is the Greek
word metanoeo, which according to
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, simply means
“to change one’s mind.”
—Joseph Prince
THAYER’S LEXICON:
metanoia, repentance, and metanoeo, to repent
1. to change one's mind, i.e. to repent
2. to change one's mind for better, heartily
to amend with abhorrence of one's past
sins
ANALYTICAL LEXICON OF THE
GREEK NEW TESTAMENT
metanoia has two main uses in the New Testament:
1. predominately of a religious and ethical change in
the way one thinks and acts;
2. change one’s mind, be converted;
3. as feeling remorse regret, feel sorry
THE GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT: BASED ON SEMANTIC DOMAINS
metanoia in the New Testament means,
1. to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of
thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness.
2. Though in English a focal component of repent is the sorrow or
contrition that a person experiences because of sin, the emphasis
in μετανοέω [metanoeo] and μετάνοια [metanoia] seems to
be more specifically the total change, both in thought and
behavior, with respect to how one should both think and act.
JESUS SAID
‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen,
and repent and do the deeds you did at
first; or else I am coming to you and will remove
your lampstand out of its place—unless you
repent.
Revelation 2:5
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these
plagues, did not repent of the works of their
hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of
gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of
wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and
they did not repent of their murders nor of
their sorceries nor of their immorality nor
of their thefts.
Revelation 9:20-21
BIBLICALLY SPEAKING,
REPENTANCE INVOLVES
MIND AND ACTION
CAN WE PLEASE GOD?
“If you are ‘working’ to please Him, you are in for a
lifetime of unfinished business, and it will leave you
perpetually exhausted!”
—Clark Whitten
“It is high time the church gets delivered from God
pleasing.”
—John Crowder
“Find out what pleases the Lord”
Ephesians 5:10, NIV
“So we make it our goal to please Him”
2 Corinthians 5:9, NIV
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the
Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in
every good work, growing in the knowledge of God”
Colossians 1:10, NIV
“Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order
to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you
and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more”
1 Thessalonians 4:1, NIV
“We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our
hearts”
1 Thessalonians 2:4, NIV
THE GRACE MOVEMENT &
FALSE IDEAS CONCERNING
REPENTANCE
“Stop examining yourself and
searching your heart for sin.
Remember that when someone takes his sin
offering to the priest, the priest does not
examine him. He examines the sin offering.”
—Joseph Prince
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an
unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the
Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the
bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without
discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many
of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves
truly, we would not be judged.
1 Corinthians 11:27-31 NIV
“Examine yourselves”
2 Corinthians 13:5
3 REASONS WHY I DON’T PREACH
ON REPENTANCE (“TURN FROM SIN”)
“Religious people often complain that we grace preachers
don’t emphasize repentance sufficiently. It’s true. I hardly
emphasize it at all. But then neither did the Apostle John.
You’d think if salvation hinged on our repentance then it
would be in the gospels, but John says nothing about it. Not
one word. Neither does he mention repentance in any of his
three letters. I guess John must’ve been a grace preacher.”
—Paul Ellis
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.”
Matthew 3:2
Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into
Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe
in the gospel.”
Mark 1:14-15
And He summoned the twelve and began to
send them out in pairs… They went out and
preached that men should repent.
Mark 6:7,12
Now when they heard this, they were pierced to
the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the
apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to
them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your
sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:37-38
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance,
God is now declaring to men that all
people everywhere should repent, because
He has fixed a day in which He will judge
the world in righteousness through a Man
whom He has appointed, having furnished proof
to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Acts 17:30-31
“The world… hates Me because I testify of it, that its
deeds are evil.
John 7:7
“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not
come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his
deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
John 3:20-21
“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming,
in which all who are in the tombs will hear His
voice, and will come forth; those who did
the good deeds to a resurrection of
life, those who committed the evil
deeds to a resurrection of
judgment.
John 5:28-29
“[Y]ou should reject any message that defines repentance as turning
from sin. Let me give you a picture to illustrate true repentance.
Suppose I call you up and give you an invitation to come to my
house. You’ve never been here before so you need directions. There
are two ways I could direct you. I could give you my address and
provide an accurate picture of where I live. Or I could say, “flee from
your house – just drive from your house as fast as possible and don’t
look back.” Do you see the difference? In both cases you’re going to
leave your house. That’s guaranteed. But only by trusting my directions
will you arrive at my house. Repentance is just like that. It’s not
fleeing from sin like a Pharisee. It’s turning to God in faith. In
both cases you will leave your sin. But only by trusting God will you
actually arrive someplace better than where you started.”
—Paul Ellis
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings
so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself,
so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your
struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding your blood.
Hebrews 12:1–4
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary
the devil prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm
in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of
suffering are being experienced by your
brotherhood throughout the world.
1 Peter 5:8-9
Make every effort (strive) to live in
peace with everyone and to be holy;
without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Hebrew 12:14
“The moment you decide to do something to
be holy, you have trusted in yourself, instead
of Christ, for salvation.”
—John Crowder
Therefore, having these promises, beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all
defilement of flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.
2 Corinthians 7:1
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the
former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but
like the Holy One who called you, be holy
yourselves also in all your behavior;
because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I
AM HOLY.” If you address as Father the One who
impartially judges according to each one’s
work, conduct yourselves in fear during
the time of your stay on earth;
1 Peter 1:15-18
“That each one of you know how to
control his own body in holiness and
honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles
who do not know God… For God has not
called us for impurity, but in holiness.
Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not
man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you”
2 Thessalonians 4: 4-5, 7–8
This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning
these things I want you to speak confidently, so
that those who have believed God will
be careful to engage in good deeds.
These things are good and profitable for men.
Titus 3:8
in all things show yourself to be an
example of good deeds, with purity in
doctrine, dignified,
Titus 2:7
Our people must also learn to
engage in good deeds to meet pressing
needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.
Titus 3:14
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope
without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
and let us consider how to stimulate
one another to love and good deeds
Hebrews 10:23-24
Keep your behavior excellent among
the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they
slander you as evildoers, they may
because of your good deeds, as
they observe them, glorify God in
the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:12
Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam,
prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with
many thousands of His holy ones, to execute
judgment upon all, and to convict all
the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds
which they have done in an ungodly
way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly
sinners have spoken against Him.”
Jude 1:14-15
‘He who overcomes, and he who
keeps My deeds until the end, to
him I will give authority over the nations
Revelation 2:26
For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, so
that each one may be recompensed
for his deeds in the body, according
to what he has done, whether
good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience,
not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of
your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself
in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who
will render to each person according to his deeds: to those
who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor
and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious
and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath
and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for
every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the
Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does
good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 2:4-10
And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before
the throne, and books were opened; and another book was
opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were
judged from the things which were written in
the books, according to their deeds. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave
up the dead which were in them; and they were judged,
every one of them according to their deeds.
Revelation 20:13-14
DOES REPENTANCE INVOLVE
FEELING SORRY, REMORSEFUL OR
SORROWFUL FOR OUR SINS?
“because we have been influenced by our
denominational background as well as our own
religious upbringing, many of us have the
impression that repentance is something that
involves mourning and sorrow.”
—Joseph Prince
I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but
that you were made sorrowful to the point of
repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to
the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in
anything through us. For the sorrow that is
according to the will of God produces a
repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but
the sorrow of the world produces death.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10
THE GRACE MOVEMENT
SANCTIFICATION
&
REALIZED ESCHATOLOGY
“Little has changed in the Protestant church in more than
500 years… [The Reformers] got it right concerning
justification, or how one is saved… But they missed it
on sanctification, or how one is perfected into
the likeness of Christ.” The Protestant church teaches
that we are,“saved by grace but perfected by human
effort,” which has produced, “a Church that is judgmental,
angry, hopeless, helpless, dependent, fearful, uninspired,
ineffective, and perpetually spiritually immature.”
—Clark Whitten, Pure Grace
False Grace Movement #2: Talks About Jesus’ 2nd Coming
More Than Jesus’ 1st
This movement’s ignorance of what grace has given them
causes them to fixate on the 2nd coming of Christ to an
extremely unhealthy degree.
By doing so, they effectively communicate that they are not
happy with the job Jesus did the first time round and would
like Him to come back and do what they really
want this time.
—Phil Drysdale
Here are some ways you can spot this false grace
movement:
Grace: Believes that Jesus did a mighty work the first time
He came and it was more than enough to bring total
transformation in our lives.
False Movement: Believes that Jesus only did a partial
work on the cross and that we are waiting for Him to
come back and finish the job.
—Phil Drysdale
Therefore, prepare your minds for action,
keep sober in spirit, fix your hope
completely on the grace to be
brought to you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:13
Here are some ways you can spot this false grace
movement:
Grace: Believes that God has a plan to bless the
Earth and we as His children are part of that..
False Movement: Believes that the world is an
awful, dirty place that God wants to waste away and
eventually be burned to a crisp.
—Phil Drysdale
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass
away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the
earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be
destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct
and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will
melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for
new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent
to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
2 Peter 3:10-14
JOHN CROWDER
“What I am telling you here is one of the most revolutionary
principles in Christendom. I am preaching reformation clearer
than it was preached 500 years ago. Martin Luther, you didn’t
go far enough. God didn’t just cover your sins; He erased
sinfulness from you…”
Even the reformers were not reformed enough. You will see
how the cross united us to Christ, not just positionally,
but effectively. It doesn’t just cover our sins,
but eradicates sinfulness itself from us.”
—John Crowder, Mystical Union
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to
His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection
from the dead. Not that I have already
obtained it or have already become perfect,
but I press on so that I may lay hold of that
for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:10-12
“by a single offering he has perfected for all time
those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:14
For this very reason, make every effort to add to
your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and
to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance;
and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual
affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess
these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep
you from being ineffective and unproductive in your
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not
have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that
they have been cleansed from their past sins.
2 Peter 1:5-10
SANCTIFICATION
IS PROGRESSIVE
“I am speaking in human terms, because of your
natural limitations. For just as you once
presented your members as slaves to impurity
and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness,
so now present your members as
slaves to righteousness leading to
sanctification.”
Romans 6:19
If we say that we have no sin, we
are deceiving ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous 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.
1 John 1:8-10
IS 1 JOHN 1
WRITTEN TO UNBELIEVERS?
ANDREW FARLEY
“John is not correcting believers in his opening statement.
He’s addressing Gnostics who had infiltrated the early church
and were teaching false doctrines....Verse 9 is a remedy for
unbelievers who have been influenced by Gnostic peer
pressure and are now claiming sinless perfection. John is
essentially asking, “Instead of claiming that you have no sin,
will you consider changing your mind? Instead of claiming
you’ve never sinned, how about agreeing with God?” He’s
inviting Gnostics to rethink their point of view. If they’ll admit
their sinfulness, then God can do a saving work in their lives.”
—Andrew Farley
“John was not writing to believers in that chapter. He
was addressing the Gnostics who had infiltrated the
early church. Gnostics are heretics who do not believe
in the existence of sin.”
—Joseph Prince
“In John’s epistle the beginning chapter is written to
Gnostics not Christians.”
—Chuck Crisco
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked
upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the
word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have
seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to
you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and
indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son
Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our
joy may be complete.
1 John 1:1-5
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to
you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we
say we have fellowship with him while we 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 his Son cleanses us from all
sin. If we say 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 we have not sinned, we
make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John1:6-10
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that
antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.
Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out
from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been
of us, they would have continued with us. But
they went out, that it might become plain that they all
are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy
One, and you all have knowledge.
1 John 2:18–20
HYPER-CHARISMATIC MYSTICISM
MEETS
REALIZED ESCHATOLOGY
MEETS
HYPER-GRACE THEOLOGY
MYSTICAL SCHOOL
• Operating in Trances, Raptures & Ecstatic Prayer
• Experiencing Physical Phenomena of Mysticism
• Activation in Creative Miracles, Signs & Wonders
• Understanding our Access to New Creation Realities
• A Historical Grid of Miracle Workers & Mystics
• Activation in the Seer Realm, Prophecy
• Receiving Open Heavens & Revelatory Understanding
• Accessing and Manifest the Glory Realm
• These Schools are a marriage of supernatural experience infused with a
radical, life changing grace message of the Finished Work of the Cross!
TOKING ON BABY JESUS
BRANDON & PENNY BARTHROP
RED LETTER MINISTRIES INC.
CONCLUSION
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation
to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and
worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously
and godly in the present age, looking for the
blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave
Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to
purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous
for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and
reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
Titus 2:11-15
