False Teacher Colin Smith’s Teachings

Galatians 1:6-9, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

The inspired Holy Bible foretold that many FALSE TEACHERS would arise in the last days. We are living in those perilous times today in 2023.

One such subtle false prophet is Pastor Colin S. Smith of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in Chicago, Illinois. Colin Smith has been their pastor since 1996. The ministry has five campus locations thrghout northern Illinois. Dr. Smith has spoken frequently at Moody Church's annual Founder's Week in downtown, Chicago, as has Calvinist infidel John MacArthur. Tragically, Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute have turned Calvinist over the past half century, inviting the Devil in the front door. Calvinism is of the Devil in all it's ugly deceptive forms. Calvinism is not compatible with a free grace Gospel.

Colin Smith is subtle False Gospel teacher, who very deceptively preaches a Christian-sounding theology, but goes horrible astray elsewhere. You may want to read the link below first and see if you can detect what is wrong with it. There are a couple of sentences that scream “False Gospel.” Notice the spiritually deadly teaching written by Colin Smith:

“All of us have heard stories about people who have professed Christian faith while quietly indulging their sins of choice. Such a person is not a Christian but a hypocrite. What a person believes is a necessary mark, but it is not sufficient to identify a genuine Christian.”

SOURCE: The Distinguishing Marks Of A Christian

Do you see his woeful error? Kindly said, Pastor Colin is conditioning one's salvation upon sanctification. In a different sermon on 'How Do I Get To Heaven?,' he makes it clear that we are saved by faith without works. Yet, Colin then turns around in his article on 'The Distinguishing Marks Of A Christian,' saying that you are not saved if there is sin in your life. Why the double standard? Why the fork-tongued talk? Dear reader, either salvation is by grace, or it is by works, but it absolutely cannot be both. For a preacher to teach that we are saved without works, but then turn around and say that without works no one is saved, is heresy! This type of confusing double-talk is typical of the corrupt Lordship Salvation crowd.

A “saved” person is someone who came to God at some point in their life as a guilty sinner, and they BELIEVED (put their trust) in Jesus to forgive those sins.  Being “saved” refers to a born-again sinner who BELIEVES that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the Christ. A “saved” person is someone who BELIEVES that Jesus died on a cross, was buried and three days later bodily resurrected from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).

My security is in the Word of God, not in my works! No one is living up to the perfect standard set forth in the Word of God. We can desire it, but we cannot perform it. There are no “distinguishing marks of a Christian.” There are traits that are found in one living by the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, et cetera.

And there are good works that saved believers are commanded to do, but there are many unbelievers who also do good works and have love, joy, and peace (although not of the same kind and source as a believer in Jesus (who is God). Anything that an unsaved person can imitate cannot be used as “proof” of being saved. The only thing that a saved person has, which the unsaved person does not, is the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” According to the Bible, a person can know he is a saved believer, by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit–because he believes in Jesus. Salvation is a FREE GIFT through faith in Jesus.

The reason that the article, 'The Distinguishing Marks Of A Christian,' by Colin Smith is False Gospel teaching is that it makes doing of good works the bottom line for defining who is and who is not saved. 

“If you have to look at your life to prove that you are saved, it proves that you're not!” —Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold; an excellent quote from the awesome YouTube sermon titled, 'Why Lordship Salvation is WRONG!'

Our works are not our assurance of salvation–ONLY faith in Jesus is the source of our assurance of salvation.

All believers still sin. What Smith is saying is that a person cannot believe in Jesus and be saved while he still sins. This is deadly false doctrine.

When Jesus tells us to pray: “Forgive us our trespasses,” in the Lord’s Prayer as saved believers, are they not true Christians? Obviously they are.

When James tells saved believers in Jesus to “confess your faults” one to another, are these people not true Christians? Yes, they are.

When 1st John says that if believers say “we have no sin,” the truth is not in us and we do not know God, is not John saying that all believers still sin? Of course. We are all sinners! Every saint will sin until they day we die and depart from this sinful flesh.

Those who have believed in the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen are saved eternally.

Jesus said, in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

Galatians 1:6-9 curses Senior Pastor Colin Smith, twice, for preaching a false Gospel of works. The Gospel is NOT partial faith in Christ plus works to prove you are saved. No, the Gospel is simply faith alone in the Gospel alone. Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do. Colin cannot have it both ways. He cannot claim that salvation is by grace in one sermon, and then in another sermon teach that you are not saved unless you have forsaken a lifestyle of sinning. It cannot be both. We must always keep service completely separate from salvation.

Pilgrim's Progress author, John Bunyan, said it well:

“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)

The Beatitudes DO NOT tell us what a saved believer in Jesus looks like, as Smith errantly says in the last part of his article. The Beatitudes tell us what God’s will is, and how we should live, and how far our inner attitudes fall from perfection. There are people who do not even believe in Jesus, who live by the Beatitudes.

Smith says at the end, that salvation is not by works, but then he contradicts himself by saying that it is only by works that we can know if someone is saved. This is how all false teachers operate. They say they believe in salvation by faith alone, without good works; but then they make good works a requirement to know if you are really saved. The truth is, those who believe in Jesus as Savior are saved eternally (John 6:47).

Pastor Smith probably needs to get saved, and to ever have Jesus alone as his foundation for salvation and true Christianity.