The Sad Apostasy Of Forest Hills Baptist Church

Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

This blog is heart breaking, but first an introduction. One of my favorite preachers, Dr. Curtis Hutson (1934-1995), was a mail carrier and pastor of a small church in Decatur, Georgia. In 1961 he attended a Sword of the Lord Conference, at which time the Lord set his heart on fire while hearing Pastor Jack Hyles preach. Dr. Hutson then set out by God's grace with faith in his heart to build a great soul-winning church. The Holy Spirit worked and Forrest Hills Baptist Church grew from 40 to 7,900 members. In just one church service, 625 souls trusted Christ as Savior. In an eight-day revival meeting, 1,502 salvation decisions were recorded.

In the 1970's the church was recognized as one of the fastest-growing in America and the largest in Georgia. Praise God! Dr. Hutson was a pastor for 21 years, but then entered into full-time evangelism. In 1978, he became associate editor of THE SWORD OF THE LORD. Upon Dr. John R. Rice's (1895-1980) death, Dr. Hutson immediately became President and Editor. Following a 3-year battle with prostrate cancer, Dr. Hutson graduated to Heaven on March 5, 1995 at age 60. March 5th is my birthday. I like that. Pastor Curtis Hutson went to Heaven on my 28th birthday in 1995.

Having said all that as introduction, my heart was broken and sad when I recently learned that the Forest Hills Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia, where Pastor Curtis Hutson once built a thriving solid soulwinning church, is now today a hellhole of demonic Lordship Salvation, fake Devil's bibles and misunderstood repentance. Please say it ain't so! Sadly, it is so. The Forest Hills Baptist Church has succumbed to the Devil's falsehood of Lordship Salvation. The church now preaches hardcore Calvinism, as you can read for yourself in their sad Statement of Faith:

"Salvation is God’s gracious gift of redemption from sin, its penalties and, ultimately, its effects offered to mankind. It is offered freely to all who, upon hearing the Gospel of Jesus, REPENT OF THEIR SIN, place their faith in Jesus and his atoning sacrifice through His death, burial and resurrection, AND MAKE HIM LORD OF THEIR LIFE. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. THERE IS NO SALVATION APART FROM PERSONAL FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AS LORD. Those who are truly saved will, by God’s grace, PERSEVERE TO THE END." [EMPHASIS ADDED] ~SOURCE: Forest Hills Baptist Church - Our Beliefs

HERESY!!! The preceding horrible Statement of Faith makes the following doctrinal errors:

1. No where does the Bible teach to “repent of your sin.” I am so sick of hearing ignorant clergy and layman alike use this unbiblical phrase. You don't have to “repent of your sins” to be saved because Jesus has already paid for our sins with His blood. You just need to trust Christ, believing that He did it for you by dying on the cross to pay your massive debt of debt. If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?
2. No where does the Bible teach to make Jesus your “Lord” to get to Heaven. You don't have to receive Jesus as “Lord” to get to Heaven, you simply need to receive Him as your Savior. By “Lord,” false prophets mean that you must surrender control of your life over to Jesus, turn away from your past sinful lifestyle, follow Christ no matter what the cost, and carry your cross. We plainly know from Matthew 7:21-23 that this is NOT the way to get to Heaven. They called Jesus “Lord, Lord,” but He denied knowing them! Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christin life without ever being born again.
3. No where does the Bible require “persevering to the end” to be saved. Many people misinterpret Matthew 24:13, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” The Bible answer is found in Matthew 24:22, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” Jesus was speaking about “flesh,” not eternal salvation. On the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2:41 says that 3,000 souls were saved that day. There was no requirement to prove themselves by passing a probationary period, live a changed life nor persevere for the rest of their lives to get to Heaven. Beware of false doctrine!!!

SHAME on the Forest Hills Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. It blows my mind that a Baptist church that once had such a brilliant free grace pastor as Dr. Curtis Hutson, could 45 years later have become an apostate Calvinist hellhole of false doctrine.

Curtis Hutson is upset and frustrated up in Heaven. How could the church that he once pastored be misled by ravening wolves in sheep's clothing? ...

Galatians 3:1-3, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

Dear friend, the only way that anyone has ever been saved is by grace alone, through alone alone, in the Good News of Christ alone. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do. 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 teaches that the Good News (Gospel) is comprised of three things:

1. 1Jesus DIED on the cross for our sins.
2. Jesus was BURIED.
3. Jesus bodily RESURRECTED three days later.

Anyone who admits they are a guilty sinner in the sight of a holy God (Romans 3:19-20), and BELIEVES (places total confidence in) the 3 facts of the Gospel is immediately, irrevocably and forever born-again. That's it! If saved, always saved.

The ungodly Forest Hills Baptist Church today are Gospel perverts! They are preaching another gospel which cannot produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God. According to John 20:31, the Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” In the Gospel of John the word “believe” is mentioned 88 times. Yet the word “repent” is not mentioned even once. So why do the folks at the Forest Hills Baptist Church lie to people, requiring them to repent of their sins to get to Heaven?

One of my favorite Christian authors, Michael P. Bowen, writes:

"When it comes to a person’s eternal life, we cannot afford any 'communication breakdowns.' A good way to view a presentation of a false plan of salvation would be to equate the preacher of a false gospel to that of a lawyer who is guilty of malpractice. When a lawyer is found guilty of gross negligence in his or her duty, resulting in egregious error, they are often found guilty of malpractice and, as a result, are not allowed to practice law anymore. They become an object of scorn and they become disbarred. This also occurs to physicians who are grossly negligent or incompetent in the practice of medicine. But for a pastor to be guilty of “malpractice” is much more serious. When a pastor or a bible teacher promotes a false plan of salvation, the results are eternal and not merely temporal."

SOURCE: Michael P. Bowen, "I NEVER KNEW YOU," p. 63 (Amazon: hard copies or Kindle)

It frustrates me much that a once great Baptist church in Decatur, Georgia, which was pastored by Dr. Curtis Hutson, which the Lord built up into a soulwinning megachurch of 7,900 members by the power of the Holy Spirit; has since turned apostate, abandoning a free grace Gospel, and is now wickedly pulling on the same rope as the Devil. That dear reader evidences the cleverness of Satan and his uncanny ability to deceive, kill, steal and destroy. This is why I make such a big fuss over little things. Dr. Jack Hyles used to wisely say that the most important job is the one that doesn't get done. He was so right! It is okay to split hairs regarding important matters. There is nothing in this universe any more important than the accuracy of the Gospel and the purity of the Gospel.

So how did the Forest Hills Baptist Church transform in just 40 years from being 100% free grace only, to a damnable cult that preaches the Devil's counterfeit plan of salvation of "Lordship Salvation"? This is why the Bible commands us as saints "that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3b). This is why we read in Revelation 3:2 concerning the Church at Sardis, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God." We have a solemn duty as Christians to contend for the faith. Whatever a pastor stops preaching against is what his church will fill up with over time. God pity the pastor who doesn't contend for the faith. That dear friend is what happened to the now apostate Forest Hills Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. Whoever succeeded Pastor Hutson as pastor of Forest Hills Baptist Church dropped the ball for God.

If you are familiar with sports at all, then you know that the best defense is a strong offense. Likewise, the best defense that a pastor, church, missionary, chaplain, evangelist or Bible college has against being corrupted, is to simply CONTEND FOR THE FAITH WHICH WAS ONCE DELIVERED UNTO THE SAINTS. A church that does not contend for the Christian faith—by taking a stand against wrong doing, falsehoods and evil, and by exposing doctrinal error and moral corruption—is ultimately destined to infiltration, corruption and failure. Ephesians 6:13b, "...and having done all, TO STAND" [EMPHASIS ADDED]. May we all earnestly contend for the faith and support those pastors and clergy who contend for the faith. Thank you for reading.

Exposing Error: Is It Worthwhile?

(by Pastor Harry Ironside, 1876-1951)