Really? I think that must be common in the south. I was born in TN, and there you hear a lot of “stop smoking, don’t drink, clean up outwardly” basically, and then you might get saved. It’s sad.
It is a mixed message, you have the baptist saying salvation is free. But then turn around and say repent of your sins then believe in Jesus.
It is either a work before salvation or a work after salvation that is mostly preached.
Of course the preachers would lose a lot of their importance/being needed if they just preached/taught the Bibles message of eternal life that the Gospel of John does.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
