Sandemanianism

Jude 2 - …that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

If you will stick with me I will tie the loose ends together about what this subject has to do with Christianity today.

Sandemanianism is a word that comes from the name of Robert Sandeman. Sandeman was the son-in-law of a preacher named John Glas from Scotland during the early 1700’s. John Glas became convinced from the Scriptures that God desired no state church in the New Testament and that the body of Christ was a Spiritual entity which was to have no league with any earthly governments. His teachings eventually centered around these principles:

1. that there is no warrant in the New Testament for a national church

2. that the magistrate or secular ruler as such has no function in the church

3. that national covenants are without scriptural grounds

4. that the true Reformation cannot be carried out by political and secular weapons but by the Word and Spirit of Christ only.

Now these teachings by Glas were good and true teachings but were against the convictions of the of the Presbyterian church of Scotland and the Westminster Confession. The Spiritual essence of the church apart from earthly governments was actually the only part of the Westminster Confession with which Glas disagreed, but it was substantial enough that he was summoned (1726) before his presbytery, where in the course of being investigated, he affirmed his belief that every national church established by the laws of earthly kingdoms is antichristian in its constitution and persecuting in its spirit, and further declared opinions upon the subject of church government which amounted to a repudiation of Presbyterianism and an acceptance of the puritan type of Independence. To put it simply Glas believed that the church of Jesus Christ should be separate from any government and only under the Lordship of Christ alone. For this he was stripped of his ordination.

Now Glas’s daughter married a man named Robert Sandeman who became a follower of John Glas’s views. Now these views would be embraced by most evangelicals today and they are in line with the Puritan view of church autonomy. But after Sandeman became the leader of the movement he brought the teachings in a new and dramatic direction. Sandeman taught that salvation could be achieved by only a very slight intellectual assent to the sacrifice of Christ. He wrote that even the slimmest of faith just lightly touching upon the gospel, even if not resulting in any life change, was still effective salvation. This was not what his father-in-law John Glas believed.

Now the Scriptures are absolutely clear, a sinner must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. To be sure many if not most believers did not fully understand the Biblical doctrines when they were saved, but as in my case they completely trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord by the power of the Spirit. Lordship salvation does not mean that a person becomes fully surrendered to Christ at his salvation for that is very rare, but it does mean that upon conversion a process has begun that will bring forth fruit that substantiates the experience. John MacArthur’s book “The Gospel According to Jesus” is in my opinion the most accurate teaching on the subject.

But this teaching called Sandemanianism is alive and well today in many parts of the church world. Some still teach it openly, and some even teach that if a person believes that a life change is necessary to substantiate a person’s conversion that is heresy and a false gospel. But more widespread is the ritual that has at its roots the teachings of Sandeman. When in the course of sharing the gospel to a person he expresses a desire to believe on the Lord Jesus, and then he is led to repeat a form prayer that varies with the counselor, and upon the completion of that prayer that sinner is told he is saved without question, that is Sandemanianism. Many of us would roundly reject such a man made formula invented to make the conversion experience succinct, immediately measurable, and able to be counted for publication. But beyond that there continues an eternally dangerous practice that does not attempt to root up any tares which Jesus commanded us not to do, but this practice within the church accepts the tares as wheat and spends much time and energy convincing them of their salvation.

There is no such thing as a born again conversion that shows no outward sign that a change has taken place inside a person’s heart. A changed heart, changed and inhabited by God’s Spirit, will bear fruit and alter the course of a person’s life. It is absurd to claim that no change takes place when the burden of sin has been lifted, and when a new man has been created, and when the third Person of the Trinity has come inside and taken eternal residence, and when a dead man has now been made alive, and when the gift of eternal life has been received, and with a myriad of other Spiritual blessings that accompany salvation are given to this sinner now made a saint. That is heresy and gives people false assurance which will result in millions standing before the Great White Throne who were told they were saved.

And so the book writing, sugar prophets of today never warn people to examine themselves, rather anyone who doubts their salvation is given a course on how to have assurance regardless of the absence of salvation accompanying works and a heart that goes after the Savior. Robert Sandeman will have to answer for his watering down of the gospel and his easy believism teachings, but so will thousands of preachers today who desire crowds rather than crowns. Would the Lord not desire one authentic conversion than a million false ones? Man counts the heads while God looks upon hearts. And when we read the account of someone who surrendered everything to follow Christ we feel as though we are reading somewhat of an exaggerated narrative whose author is using literary license to enhance the dramatic. But when we read the Scriptural admonitions we see clearly that the call to surrender is given to every true follower of Jesus Christ. To be sure we fall short of that call but we must continually hear that call and press toward that mark. Is it just possible that tens of millions of evangelical church goers are living shallow lives of Spiritual deception and in reality have never been born again?

So when someone professes to be “saved” ask them “Are you following the Lord Jesus today?”. When they reply that they are not right now you should warn them of their precarious situation. Spurgeon once observed that one of the devil’s most effective deceptions is to have a person rely on some former time for their salvation experience at the expense of their present Spiritual walk. It is eternally dangerous to not be following, obeying, and worshiping the Lord Jesus today while counting on an elusive former experience to substantiate your eternal destiny. It is impossible to discern the backslider from the unregenerate, and the pews are well stocked with both. The Scripture declares that if we do not warn a person of their sinful condition we are culpable. How careless and upbeat are the pillow prophets of today to the damnation of many?

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A man is trapped and dangles from a balcony on the twentieth floor of a burning building, and as he looks down he sees his only escape as several fireman are holding a canvass in which he can jump. As they exhort him to jump he realizes that his legs are dangling and so he cannot jump of his own strength, he must simply release his grip on the balcony and he will fall to the safety of the canvass. But what if he only releases one hand will he be saved? What if he beckons the canvass to come up to where he is and catch him, will he be saved? What if he mentally believes the canvass will save him but his position does not change, will he be saved? What if he desires to be saved from burning but he still wants to hold onto the balcony, will he be saved? And finally the man cries out “canvass save me” but continues to dangle on the balcony and subsequently the canvass is removed and the fire chief hollers to him “you do not need to worry now, you have been saved”. And as the crowd walks away leaving the building burning and the man dangling, is he saved?

A man is holding on to his sin and this world and he hears that he is condemned and will be burned in the fires of hell, and he then hears that his only escape is in the Lord Jesus. He realizes he cannot save himself and that he must fall by faith into the saving grace of Jesus Christ. What if he offers partial faith in Christ and retains his faith in himself and the world, will he be saved? What if he beckons Christ to come where he is and save him without releasing his grip on his sin and this world, will he be saved? What if he mentally believes that Jesus and his sacrifice is the only way of salvation but he refuses to surrender to the Lord Jesus personally, will he be saved. What if he calls out “Jesus save me” without ever loosening his grip on his sin and this world, will he be saved? Now after he calls for salvation he still is holding tightly to his sin and this world but the preacher tells him “do not worry, you are now saved”. And as the people walk out of the church the man is still in his sin and loving the world, is he saved?

This isn’t about when the rapture will take place, this isn’t about how old the earth is, this isn’t about which Spiritual gifts still operate today, oh no, this is about the eternal destiny of millions of souls and the greatest deception ever perpetrated upon the church of the Lord Jesus.

This is truly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints.