Evangelist Tom Gilliam Exposed Part 1 - False Gospel

I will be posting a series on Evangelist Tom Gilliam. He was a visiting preacher where I went to school. I've listened to him countless times. These posts are intended to uncover his false gospel message and his Calvinist beliefs. He claims to be Baptist, but any real Baptist will deny Calvinism and defend the doctrine of salvation being by faith alone.

You can find part 2 of this post here. And his Calvinism exposed can be found here.


The following quotes are taken from a sermon preached on October 19, 2006 at Trinity Baptist Church in Valdese, North Carolina. The sermon is entitled "The Call to Salvation." The sermon that he preached was about how to know for sure you're saved. I've included quotes from another sermon found which can be found here. If I were to preach a sermon on making sure of your salvation, here are some verses I would definitely use:

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:36: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

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

Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.

Romans 5:1: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:28: Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

These verses which emphasize faith or belief and not works would be important to help someone be sure they're saved, right? Not one of these verses or the others like them are mentioned in these sermons on salvation.

The sermon starts,

If you never heard God call your name twice, you make yourself a little note you're going to hell when this is over with.

A "special calling" is not a condition on salvation. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is not willing that any should perish. Jesus said in John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." God has already made a call to salvation by sending His Son to die on the cross. The Lord is not a respecter of persons, and He doesn't choose some to be saved and choose others to not be saved. Salvation is dependent upon a person's belief after hearing the gospel. Many will not believe on Jesus because they are going about to establish their own righteousness by their own works. You do not go to hell because God didn't "call your name twice." According to John 3:18, "..but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." The only reason today that a person would wind up in hell is because he never believed on Jesus Christ.

Gilliam's quote about a "name calling" can only accomplish doubt and confusion. If a person struggled with assurance of salvation, I would open my Bible up and preach salvation to him. Acts 16:30 succinctly answers the age-old question of "what must I do to be saved?" The answer is "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." How do I know I've been saved? Because I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Was it because I heard some faint voice in my head calling my name? No, it's the preaching of the gospel that saves. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

From the sermon preached at Grace Covenant Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, (and other audio located here)

He made you a believer. Wow. He put me in the state of being a believer... the only reason you're believing this morning is because God has transformed you and made you a believer... The only way you can get saved this morning is if God would give you faith. It's a gift.

Mr. Gilliam must feel so fortunate that God chose him to be a believer and damned most of the others in this world. I would like to ask a Calvinist why he was given the "gift of faith" and others were not. He'll likely say, "Grace." Therefore, according to a Calvinist, grace only appears to a select few in this world. How would that be reconciled with Titus 2:11? The verse says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men."

This teaching, in essence, means one must be forced to believe on Jesus Christ to be saved. If God must give you the faith to believe on His Son, how do you know you've been chosen? What if you're making up the faith in your own heart right now? Does our faith count or does it have to be "given" to us? Are you sure the faith you have now has been given to you by Christ? If I'm able to put my faith in every day objects and people, such as the chair I'm sitting in now, why am I unable to put my faith in Christ Jesus? A Calvinist can't know whether he is truly saved because he's backed himself into a mental conundrum. Calvinism creates more questions than answers; it's nothing more than vain jangling.

Here's a Biblical example of individual faith from Matthew 9, where the woman touched Jesus' garment to be made whole: "For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." Isn't that a wonderful picture of salvation? And look at what Jesus says about the faith that made her whole. It was her faith. Her faith made her whole. Where did this faith originate? "Within herself." Your faith saves you. This should be a fundamental, unmovable doctrine in any true Baptist church.

Moving on with the sermon, (and second audio part here)

Whatever you call your salvation experience... I'd like for you to examine that this morning in light of what happened to Paul... There ought to be some similarities between what happened to him and what happened to you. I wouldn't trade places with none of you... I don't believe most [Baptists] are going to [heaven]. And the simple reason is because there aren't similarities in the Bible experience and your experience... I want you to think about what you were before you got saved, your 'prior condition.' ... I have never, ever, in all of my days, ever met anybody that has ever been born from heaven that did not think they were the chief of sinners after God saved them... If you've ever been washed in the blood, you [will] think you were the chief of sinners.

He's now having a congregation, whom he has already cast doubt on about their salvation, examine their experience to see if they really got saved. Referring to salvation as an "experience" can be interpreted in many different ways. He's not asking them if they believe the gospel, but rather he's asking them to examine whether there was a profound change in their life or not. In other words, do they have works. Brother Gilliam harps on having a "prior condition" in which you must recognize your sinful, wicked self to an absurd extreme. I assume it's not enough to simply acknowledge that you're a sinner, no, you must admit you are totally and utterly depraved. Only reprobates are utterly depraved people. The average-Joe sinner is not completely depraved. Depraved people are those who violently murder and rape innocents, such as Jeffrey Dahmer. This is a Calvinist teaching that says that man cannot believe on Jesus Christ without God intervening in some other way besides through the preaching of the gospel to awaken an unsaved person.

Every person has an opportunity to believe on Jesus Christ when confronted with the true gospel. God does not coerce an individual into believing the gospel. The Bible says in Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." It sounds like God has already offered salvation to anyone who will call on the name of Jesus Christ. God has acted by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the whole world, and our part is to believe. The atonement for sins is available to whoever calls upon Jesus Christ for salvation.

Gilliam continues,

You ought to have seen evidence that God Almighty stepped into your life... I'm not being nosy, you ever had anything like [Paul's conversion] happen to you? ... We're not talking about praying some prayer... Does your salvation involve you doing nothing? ... Hey! Can your Romans Road experience for a Damascus Road experience!

Paul was not saved on the road to Damascus. After appearing to Paul, God told him, "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." What must Paul do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Ananias, a disciple, was the man God chose to lead Saul to salvation. In Acts 22;16, Ananias told Paul, "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." The Bible says that whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Paul's sins weren't washed away until he met with Ananias in Damascus. What similarity should we share with Paul's salvation? Just one: we believed on Jesus Christ. The only experience all saved, born-again believers should have in common is that there was a point at which they believed the gospel, not whether there was a "profound change of life" or not.

Often times those who are critical of faith alone will assault "praying a prayer." There is nothing wrong with prayer, which is simply asking or talking to God (a "petition" if you will). If a person petitions or asks God to save him, would He do it? Jesus told the woman at the well, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." Ever heard of the expression "pray tell"? That means "please tell me." To pray means to ask. If we ask God to save us, and we are trusting in Jesus Christ alone in our hearts, God would most certainly save us. That is the act of "calling upon the name of the Lord." There is nothing wrong with praying a prayer if it means you're asking God to save you. Of course, it's not mere words that save; it's the faith in one's heart that saves. A prayer to God, when done with faith in Christ, can be a "saving" prayer. Why? Because the person is going to GOD ALONE for salvation! He is calling on the name of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans 10:9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." A confession, or prayer, is words coming out of your mouth that you believe in your heart. A "sinner's prayer" is a prayer accompanied by saving faith in the shed blood of Christ. I won't look down on anyone for praying a prayer when they got saved, so long as they did so knowing and believing the gospel. The sinner's prayer is completely Scriptural.

Gilliam rhetorically asked, "Does your salvation involve you doing nothing?" I would answer that no works of mine were necessary, but you must do one thing: believe. Believing on Christ is not works! The only condition on accepting the free gift of salvation was to put my trust in Jesus Christ. I received the gospel at a young age, and the lady who preached the gospel to me helped me call on the name of the Lord. That moment with that lady, when I accepted Jesus Christ, I was saved. My salvation was complete. There was no way I was ever losing it because everlasting life is the promise from God's Word. Ephesians 2:8-9 says that salvation is not of works, meaning no works were necessary beforehand or afterwards. I was saved apart from ALL WORKS. But if Brother Gilliam doesn't see "evidence" (works) that you were saved, then you must not have been saved.

Sounds to me like that person is saved if I go straight by their testimony. What else can we go on? Their works? A person isn't saved by works! He is saved by faith alone, apart from the deeds of the law. There are Baptists that give lip-service to faith alone, but then they turn around and say that if you don't have the works after salvation, you were never saved to begin with. Which works would I need to exhibit that I was truly saved? What else can I contribute to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ? If you believe that works are a necessary product of salvation, you aren't saved, because you've totally missed the "free gift," "no-strings-attached" aspect of eternal life. There are some, as Galatians 6:12 puts it, that "desire to make a fair shew in the flesh." Instead of constraining people to be circumcised like in Galatians, Gilliam constrains people to do works in order to properly evidence salvation. The gospel is believe only, faith only, easy believism, decisional regeneration, and free grace. You can receive the gift of eternal life and not change one thing about your life because there are no strings attached with a gift.

Gilliam's sermon continues,

Make a note, God never, ever, extends a general call [to salvation]. If God comes in here this morning, He'll not say, 'Let him come, if anybody wants to come, come on!' You won't find God doing it. If He comes in here, He'll call you by name... Have you ever experienced a pointed calling by God?

At this point in the sermon, he is repeating that you have to have some kind of special "calling" in order to be saved. I can't imagine this would help people make certain of their salvation, but rather it likely caused confusion. This is blatant heresy because God calls individuals to salvation many times in the Scriptures. According to Gilliam, it's not as simple as God saying, "Come." What does the Bible say about that? John 7:37 says,

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)

John 6:37,

...him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)

Revelation 22:17,

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)

John 6:44 and John 12:32,

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day...And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 6:44; 12:32)

What is the reason why people won't be saved today? John 5:40 says,

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:40)

If we come to Christ in faith, we're saved. If we don't come to Him, then the wrath of God abideth on us, and we won't see life. Tom Gilliam is lying when he says that God did not simply say, "Come." There are six clear statements from Scripture that completely contradict what he said. He wants to make salvation a difficult process. According to Gilliam, if you haven't had the same experience or "calling" he has, you might not be saved. Again, the Bible makes no reference to hearing a special calling in order to be saved. Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross, and He promised, "I will draw all men unto me." The call for salvation has ALREADY gone out, two thousand years ago. It's called the gospel!

Gilliam goes on,

If you've ever been converted, there should have been a change in your earthly eyes. They should have begin[sic] to lose a desire for the things of this world. And you ought to find yourself looking into that other world. [Did that] happen to you?

In another sermon,

But if you don't have a before picture and an after picture, you have no hopes of seeing God in eternity.

Saved people can experience a desire for worldly things. Do we have to give up those desires to be saved? Let's say I have a strong desire for money and the pleasures that accompany it. Does that mean I'm not saved? What if I'm addicted to pornography, and my addiction does not subside? It's entirely possible for a born-again, saved person to become desirous of worldly things, whether it be money, girls, fame, things, or power. Romans 8:7 states "the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

The carnal mind is connected with the flesh. Do saved people still have the flesh? Yes. Then it's entirely possible for a Christian to live a worldly, carnal lifestyle. The flesh cannot be subject to the law of God. We will continue to have a war within our members until the day that we die or are taken up at Christ's coming. Paul said in Romans 7:14, "I am carnal." The apostle who wrote most of our New Testament was... carnal. Worldly. I am, too, and so are you if you're honest with yourself. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." If we say that we are without sin, we are deceiving ourselves. It's possible for a Christian to be completely walking in his flesh, only concerned with the desires and concerns of this world. You can be saved and be carnal at the same time. Now the Bible does exhort Christians to walk in the Spirit, to deny the fleshly, worldly desires. Titus 2:12 says, "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

Titus 2:12 is teaching us how we ought to live. If a truly saved person was automatically going to start denying worldly desires, why would the Bible tell us to deny those worldly lusts? It's because as a saved person, if we don't deny them, we will live according to the flesh. Does that mean we never got saved? No, it means we're not living in the Spirit. Paul says earlier in Corinthians, "I die daily." We are commanded to take up our cross daily and reckon ourselves dead to worldly desires. This is not automatic nor is it easy. I live most of my life in the flesh. I'm carnal. And if we had to start denying worldly lusts in order to be saved, that would be salvation by works. Have you given up your desires for girls, money, things, movies, music, and other worldly stuff? Me either. I should give up those desires, but must I give them up in order to be saved? No.

So the lesson is this: whether a person is living carnally or not is irrelevant to salvation. Why? Because salvation is not based on works but rather on belief. Therefore, carnality is a terrible benchmark for one's salvation. Those who impose these benchmarks for "truly saved people" are often boasters, who have given up worldly lusts and assume they are saved because they had a change in their life. Gilliam is a prideful boaster who considers himself to be saved, but won't consider you to be saved if you aren't outwardly changed; ergo, he believes he is saved because his works accompanied said salvation.

Gilliam's sermon moves along,

There is a powerful change. Powerful change. I was wondering, since you got saved, you changed any? ... I heard a fella last week in the church, he's still right there in the church, comes to church all the time... pastor cornered him up, asked him if he's saved, and he sweared up and down he's saved. [He's] been arrested twice for wooping his wife. Beat her up twice. You smack sister around much? Huh? Put that mouth on her much? Huh? He's never been saved, oh no! There will be a powerful change in your life... Notice the Apostle Paul... he was a changed vessel... Oh for us to say we're Christians today and we're not Christlike... If you've been born from above, you'll want to get in the [Bible]. Anything like that happen to you? Huh?

Again, this quote is in lines with the idea that if you haven't made an outward change, you're not truly saved. The Bible does not say that powerful change is the result of believing on Jesus Christ. The Bible only says that you are born again, a new creature. You can choose to live according to the flesh, or, with the Spirit's help, you can live according to God's will. Changing your life is not a prerequisite for getting into heaven, otherwise that would be works-salvation. An alcoholic can reform himself through a twelve-step program, but does that make him saved? People clean themselves up all the time, but that doesn't necessarily indicate salvation. Salvation has everything to do with what an individual believes, not his outward behavior.

According to Gilliam, if you smack your wife around, you aren't saved. Earlier in the sermon, Gilliam described himself as being the "chief of sinners." He said he was totally wicked and hellish to the core. So, who is he to say whether this man who is doing a wicked act is saved or not? He's saying one thing then saying another... you must recognize yourself as wicked and hellish, but if you act hellish or wicked you're not truly saved. That's called double-speak.

I guess if you commit other grievous sins like adultery and murder, you wouldn't be saved in those cases either. David was a man who committed both adultery and murder yet he was saved. Nathan the prophet declares King David to be guilty of murder and adultery in 2 Samuel 12:9: "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon."

Truly, David sinned grievously against the Lord. Would Gilliam look at him and tell him he's not saved? Would he look at Saul, who forsook the Lord at the end of his life, and tell him he's not saved? Or Samson? A person can live a deplorable life, but if he believes on Christ, he's saved, no matter what appears on the outside. To declare who is or who isn't saved by their works, Gilliam is boasting himself against other people who may not be so holy as he is. Gilliam must not slap his wife around, so he's definitely going to heaven. He may have some minor sins in his life, but certainly not as bad as beating your wife! All sin is sin, no matter what, and Christ became sin for us so that we could be saved. Whether a Christian beats his wife around or not, he's still saved and only because he put all his faith in Christ. He was declared righteous not because of his actions but because of Christ's sacrifice.

The sermon goes along,

If there's truly been a conversion, you ought to be able to sing not with your mouth, but with your life, "What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus has come into my heart."

Gilliam checks your works to see if you are saved. However, the Bible says we must believe the record that God gave of His Son to be sure of our salvation. You must believe the Bible when it says Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and that you cannot lose your salvation. The gospel is not about a changed life, it's about a changed eternal destination. 

Some people do change their lives after being saved, and some do not. But if you're truly saved, you'll understand that your changed life is not an indicator of being born again. The indicator is your faith. Romans 4:5 says, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Even if you have no works or no life change after you get saved, you will still go to heaven. Your faith is credited to your account as righteousness. No works after salvation are necessary to prove you got saved. If works were necessary to prove your salvation, then it the salvation formula would no longer be faith alone, but rather faith + works.

Not to mention, if you continue to dwell over the sins you're committing, thinking that you may not be saved, you're looking at the wrong person. You're looking at yourself. You can't justify yourself. Look to the person of Christ. I am oftentimes reminded of some of my sins, and I wonder how I can be so sinful and a child of God at the same time. Then I am quickly reminded what Christ had done for me, and I am relieved knowing I have placed my faith in Him for salvation. It's a wonderful assurance being saved. What a shame Gilliam can't impart that same assurance to the churches where he spews his heresies.

Moving along,

Make your calling and election sure... make sure God picked you, and you didn't pick Him. It was all about His picking, not your picking. Make your calling and election sure... There's never been a change in their life... they just don't have an insatiable appetite for the meat from the Word of God.

How would one make sure he's saved? By "making sure" God picked him? How is that accomplished? I'll tell you how I know I'm saved today. It's because I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. God wanted me to be saved, some soul-winner gave me the gospel, and I believed it. I'm saved. And how would I even know if "God picked me"? God desires all men to be saved! 1 Timothy 2:4 says, "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." And yes, we must choose Jesus Christ to be saved! You can't choose your works, Allah, Catholicism, or anything else.

Gilliam then proceeds to play music, trying to get people to come down the aisle to "really" get saved. This goes on for over 15 minutes. After Brother Gilliam pushes for people to walk the aisle, another pastor gets up and begs his congregation to come down the aisle if they aren't saved. Jesus said to His disciples to "go ye," not to ask people to walk down an aisle. I don't look down on a person for walking an aisle if they weren't saved, but that's not God's method. People in a church ought to be treated like saved people. That's the definition of  a church: a congregation of born-again believers. But during this entire sermon, Tom Gilliam has cast doubt on people's salvation. Instead of encouraging them to believe on Jesus Christ, he exhorts them to take a look at how they're living their lives to see if they're truly saved. Is that how we know we're saved? Because we're doing works? Because there's powerful evidences of change? If you want to know you're saved, just ask yourself: do I have all my trust in Christ alone to save me from hell? Have I properly placed all my faith in His shed blood? You should understand that your salvation is not dependent on or evidenced by the way you act, but rather in Whom you have trusted.

Tom Gilliam believes that if you haven't changed the way you live your life after you believed in Jesus, you will go to hell. He says that you can't simply come to Christ for salvation. He denies the simplicity and easiness of salvation, that it was offered to all who will believe. He teaches that if a man doesn't have works, he will go to hell. He hardly, if ever, mentioned "faith" or "belief" in these sermons. He never mentioned any simple, easy salvation verses like John 3:16. This man is dangerous. And he's teaching another gospel. He's teaching blatant works salvation. May Tom Gilliam and his "ministry" be accursed.