"Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds," 2John 9-11.
Jesus taught us that a little leaven works through the whole loaf. By a little, He meant an amount that is barely visible, yet, left unchecked, would work its way quickly through all the dough and expand it out to an unrecognizable shape if left to its own and with proper conditions. The modern American evangelical church is a giant loaf of bread and it has expanded beyond recognition.
This needs to be said in light of the debacle involving many pachyderms at a conference this week. These over sized mammals invited a particularly obese elephant into their midst. This fatyderm, a purveyor of all sorts of unbelievable lies, was proclaimed a truth sayer by all the other elephants in the room. This was proclaimed after the fattest elephant made several blurry comments concerning truths which he had obfuscated before. His current obfuscation was considered clear enough to anoint him as an obscurer no more and he was roundly applauded by all the elephants and their trumpet blasts could be heard all around.
Now, all the elephants will go to their own preserves and the little elephants they teach will be introduced to the evil elephant, and they will believe his lies. Those who do not know King Jesus, will be drawn into Hell and eternal torment. Their sons and daughters will, more than likely, suffer the same fate. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. Evil triumphs even more when self seeking elephants proclaim that it is good.
Brothers and sisters, nothing good can be gained when we openly cavort with false teachers and call them good. Living in the world means we must fraternize with them but it must never be intimated that their evil doctrine is true. When we glad hand a false teacher, we are sharing in his evil. We must not allow this to happen. False teachers are to be harshly rebuked and called to repentance for their evil words. It will not take long for the false doctrine of TD Jakes and his friends at the Elephant Room to work its way through the already emaciated American Evangelical church. We must call them out for their evil doctrine and not be seen among and with them.
We must, brothers and sisters, more now than ever, proclaim, live, love and learn the glorious gospel of our triune God!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Six Day Creation is Essential to the Gospel
"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it," Exodus 20:11.
The creation account of the universe is the foundation of the Bible. God, in His infinite wisdom, began the account of His word with a non fantastical, straight forward and poetically beautiful account of His great power, knowledge, grace and love proven through His creation of the universe and all that is in it. Six thousand years later, many Christians sit in judgement of God's word and are embarrassed to cling to the biblical six day account of creation. This dispute has great bearing on the gospel itself and is critical to a proper understanding of God's word. I will lay out 3 views of creation briefly and answer them and their implications.
1) Theistic Evolution: this view claims that God created the universe and its basic primordial matter and then Darwinistic evolution has carried the ball since then. It is heretical and not compatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since TE's believe in cavemen, they do not believe in God's direct creation of Adam and Eve which Jesus explicitly states happened in the gospels. Because of this, it is heretical and calls out Jesus Christ as a liar. Their are other implications also like Paul comparing Adam to Jesus and our inheritance of our sin nature through Adam. Many TE's deny a literal Adam and Eve at all and others do hermeneutical gymnastics, like Tim Keller, to explain evolution, a literal Adam and Eve and the relationship of Adam to Jesus and our sin. The main proponents of this heresy are C.S. Lewis and Tim Keller.
2) Old Earth Creationism: There are many variants to this belief but OEC'ers trust in the presupposition of uniformitarianism. They believe the universe is billions of years old and that things change gradually over time. This view is seriously misguided, can have fatal effects for the gospel but is generally within the realm of orthodoxy. OEC'ers put a lot of emphasis on the findings of modern science and often reinterpret much of the first 11 chapters of Genesis to be more secular friendly. One of their major contrivances is to argue that the Hebrew word yom which, is used in Genesis 1, depicts large epochs of time and not twenty four hour days. There is no justification for this, especially considering that Exodus 20:11, cited above, explicitly states that God created the world in 6 days as a pattern for us to follow. This hermeneutic(method of interpretation) has great potential for destruction if consistently applied. For instance, when Jesus was confronted about giving a sign, he did not say, "For as Jonah was in the belly of the beast for 3 billion days and 3 billion nights, so will the Son of Man be 3 billion days and 3 billion nights in the heart of the earth," Matthew 12:40. If we consistently use this hermeneutic, it means we are still waiting on our Lord's resurrection! Furthermore, if we interpret Genesis 1-11 guided primarily according to Ancient Near East customs and wisdom, as so many OEC'ers are apt to do, we can and often do, make a train wreck of the gospel itself. This may be the prevalent view of evangelicals, especially pastors, in this modern age. They often create a creation matrix so fantastical it would make a conspiracy theorist blush. Most often, this view can be laboriously reconciled with orthodoxy. Those associated with it are many. B.B. Warfield was its first modern practitioner and John Piper, John Sailhammer are a couple of its proponents today. It seems to be especially strong in reformed circles.
3)Young Earth Creationism: This is the biblical view that interprets Genesis 1 most strictly to the historical/grammatical method espoused by evangelicals. This view believes that what God said in Genesis 1 was both beautifully poetic and absolutely accurate and true. YEC'ers understand that God's wisdom is foolishness to the world and are willing to look like morons in the eyes of the world. YEC'ers get their name because they believe the world to be between 6 or 10 thousand years old. YEC'ers do not have to do any interpretive gymnastics concerning the gospel and creation. One of the most difficult(perceived) questions that this theory faces is why did God create everything with the appearance of age. This question implies that God is deceptive for creating mountains and stars that are theoretically millions of years away. This question presupposes man's superior wisdom and morality and ignores that God created Adam as a full grown adult, with no belly button.
In a nutshell, and this is a very abbreviated description of these views, theistic evolution is heretical and impugns the gospel because it denies God's direct creation of Adam which causes all sorts of theological conundrums. Old earth creationism is not heretical but silly and if it is carried out to its logical implications, deforms the gospel. Young earth creationism upholds the innerancy of God's word and puts no impediments on the gospel whatsoever. It is foundational that we have a correct view of God's word from verse one through Revelation. Friends, lets learn, live and love the gospel of our glorious Savior.
The creation account of the universe is the foundation of the Bible. God, in His infinite wisdom, began the account of His word with a non fantastical, straight forward and poetically beautiful account of His great power, knowledge, grace and love proven through His creation of the universe and all that is in it. Six thousand years later, many Christians sit in judgement of God's word and are embarrassed to cling to the biblical six day account of creation. This dispute has great bearing on the gospel itself and is critical to a proper understanding of God's word. I will lay out 3 views of creation briefly and answer them and their implications.
1) Theistic Evolution: this view claims that God created the universe and its basic primordial matter and then Darwinistic evolution has carried the ball since then. It is heretical and not compatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since TE's believe in cavemen, they do not believe in God's direct creation of Adam and Eve which Jesus explicitly states happened in the gospels. Because of this, it is heretical and calls out Jesus Christ as a liar. Their are other implications also like Paul comparing Adam to Jesus and our inheritance of our sin nature through Adam. Many TE's deny a literal Adam and Eve at all and others do hermeneutical gymnastics, like Tim Keller, to explain evolution, a literal Adam and Eve and the relationship of Adam to Jesus and our sin. The main proponents of this heresy are C.S. Lewis and Tim Keller.
2) Old Earth Creationism: There are many variants to this belief but OEC'ers trust in the presupposition of uniformitarianism. They believe the universe is billions of years old and that things change gradually over time. This view is seriously misguided, can have fatal effects for the gospel but is generally within the realm of orthodoxy. OEC'ers put a lot of emphasis on the findings of modern science and often reinterpret much of the first 11 chapters of Genesis to be more secular friendly. One of their major contrivances is to argue that the Hebrew word yom which, is used in Genesis 1, depicts large epochs of time and not twenty four hour days. There is no justification for this, especially considering that Exodus 20:11, cited above, explicitly states that God created the world in 6 days as a pattern for us to follow. This hermeneutic(method of interpretation) has great potential for destruction if consistently applied. For instance, when Jesus was confronted about giving a sign, he did not say, "For as Jonah was in the belly of the beast for 3 billion days and 3 billion nights, so will the Son of Man be 3 billion days and 3 billion nights in the heart of the earth," Matthew 12:40. If we consistently use this hermeneutic, it means we are still waiting on our Lord's resurrection! Furthermore, if we interpret Genesis 1-11 guided primarily according to Ancient Near East customs and wisdom, as so many OEC'ers are apt to do, we can and often do, make a train wreck of the gospel itself. This may be the prevalent view of evangelicals, especially pastors, in this modern age. They often create a creation matrix so fantastical it would make a conspiracy theorist blush. Most often, this view can be laboriously reconciled with orthodoxy. Those associated with it are many. B.B. Warfield was its first modern practitioner and John Piper, John Sailhammer are a couple of its proponents today. It seems to be especially strong in reformed circles.
3)Young Earth Creationism: This is the biblical view that interprets Genesis 1 most strictly to the historical/grammatical method espoused by evangelicals. This view believes that what God said in Genesis 1 was both beautifully poetic and absolutely accurate and true. YEC'ers understand that God's wisdom is foolishness to the world and are willing to look like morons in the eyes of the world. YEC'ers get their name because they believe the world to be between 6 or 10 thousand years old. YEC'ers do not have to do any interpretive gymnastics concerning the gospel and creation. One of the most difficult(perceived) questions that this theory faces is why did God create everything with the appearance of age. This question implies that God is deceptive for creating mountains and stars that are theoretically millions of years away. This question presupposes man's superior wisdom and morality and ignores that God created Adam as a full grown adult, with no belly button.
In a nutshell, and this is a very abbreviated description of these views, theistic evolution is heretical and impugns the gospel because it denies God's direct creation of Adam which causes all sorts of theological conundrums. Old earth creationism is not heretical but silly and if it is carried out to its logical implications, deforms the gospel. Young earth creationism upholds the innerancy of God's word and puts no impediments on the gospel whatsoever. It is foundational that we have a correct view of God's word from verse one through Revelation. Friends, lets learn, live and love the gospel of our glorious Savior.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
God's Injustice and The Scandal of His Grace
"For it is by grace that we are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast," Ephesians 2:8-9.
Ted Bundy may well be in heaven and Mother Theresa and Gandhi are probably in Hell. That, my friends, is a difficult truth to fathom. Ted Bundy was a serial killer who murdered more than twenty women after falling deeper and deeper into the depths of pornography. He was an evil man who got true justice at the hands of the state of Florida. They put him to death for his evil. Yet, it is claimed that he repented of his sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. If this is true, and he truly repented, he is in heaven. Mother Teresa and Gandhi are two of the best known modern day heroes for peace and justice. They helped lepers, fought against injustice and have had legions of books written about them. They did not ever embrace, as far as we know, the Biblical gospel however and that path leads directly to Hell. This, my friends, is a scandal! How can this be?
All of us, scripture assures us, have sinned against a holy God. We are dead, dead, dead, in our sin. None of us can go before God and say, "Hey God, look at what I did! Aren't I wonderful Lord. I did this, that and the other thing. You must be impressed with how wonderful I am and what I did." This is the religion of every man on earth who has not embraced the gospel. It is the faith of Muhammad, Maharishi Yogi, witches, pagans and even atheists. It is the religion of the Roman Catholic Church and of Gandhi. It is not the gospel and it defames our Savior.
The other day I was listening to a show that proclaimed that Ted Bundy may have trusted in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and it struck me as the most scandalous thing ever as I thought more and more about it. How ridiculous it sounds to say that Ted Bundy is in heaven while scores of "good" people every day die in their sins without Christ and are condemned. How can God save a man like Ted Bundy! This is unjust and wicked. No one knows for sure whether Mr. Bundy did repent and is in heaven but just the thought is repulsive to the fleshly mind. How can I serve a God like this who petulantly sends "good" people to Hell and lets scum like Bundy into His paradise? This is unjust, uncalled for and unprecedented!
Well, no it is not. "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and haling men and women committed them to prison," Acts 8:3. Saul was a zealous, evil man who scattered the church and then hunted people down. He was a major instrument in the martyr of Stephen and we have no reason to believe that he was not responsible for other peoples martyrdom. He did not deserve to be saved and was evil on a par with Muhammad and Ted Bundy. He was a despicable man. But he was knocked off his donkey en route to Damascus and Jesus Christ, the crucified one, appeared to Saul and chose him to bring the gospel to the gentiles. Paul was then born out of the remnants of Saul and he was used of God to bring the gospel farther than any other apostle. Even more, he lamented his sinfulness and considered himself to be "the chief of sinners." He did not consider himself worthy of Christ's riches and he partook deeply of Christ's amazing grace as well as enduring torture and persecution and bearing the marks of Christ in his body. Paul did not deserve God's love. He was an evil man.
Friends, God is unjust and for that, we must say Hallelujah! God is unjust and His grace is ridiculous, unmerited, shocking and just plain...scandalous. We all deserve Hell, we have all sinned against God and spit in the face of Jesus Christ and on His sacrificial crucifiction for our sins and debt. We deserve His wrath every bit as much as Ted Bundy. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," Romans 5:8. Romans 3 paints a truthful, painful and bleak picture of our hearts and confronts us with the reality of our depravity. We are Ted Bundy, we are evil. Mother Teresa and Gandhi were Ted Bundy too, unless they surrendered their hearts to Christ and repented of their evil. Friends, we must always remember how evil we are apart from the love of Christ. We must never assume anyone is righteous, let alone ourselves. But we know One who is righteous and who unloads all His love on us if we respond to His generous, undeserved offer of salvation. This should comfort our lives to no end and lead us to learn, live and love the glorious gospel of our awesome Savior.
Ted Bundy may well be in heaven and Mother Theresa and Gandhi are probably in Hell. That, my friends, is a difficult truth to fathom. Ted Bundy was a serial killer who murdered more than twenty women after falling deeper and deeper into the depths of pornography. He was an evil man who got true justice at the hands of the state of Florida. They put him to death for his evil. Yet, it is claimed that he repented of his sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. If this is true, and he truly repented, he is in heaven. Mother Teresa and Gandhi are two of the best known modern day heroes for peace and justice. They helped lepers, fought against injustice and have had legions of books written about them. They did not ever embrace, as far as we know, the Biblical gospel however and that path leads directly to Hell. This, my friends, is a scandal! How can this be?
All of us, scripture assures us, have sinned against a holy God. We are dead, dead, dead, in our sin. None of us can go before God and say, "Hey God, look at what I did! Aren't I wonderful Lord. I did this, that and the other thing. You must be impressed with how wonderful I am and what I did." This is the religion of every man on earth who has not embraced the gospel. It is the faith of Muhammad, Maharishi Yogi, witches, pagans and even atheists. It is the religion of the Roman Catholic Church and of Gandhi. It is not the gospel and it defames our Savior.
The other day I was listening to a show that proclaimed that Ted Bundy may have trusted in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and it struck me as the most scandalous thing ever as I thought more and more about it. How ridiculous it sounds to say that Ted Bundy is in heaven while scores of "good" people every day die in their sins without Christ and are condemned. How can God save a man like Ted Bundy! This is unjust and wicked. No one knows for sure whether Mr. Bundy did repent and is in heaven but just the thought is repulsive to the fleshly mind. How can I serve a God like this who petulantly sends "good" people to Hell and lets scum like Bundy into His paradise? This is unjust, uncalled for and unprecedented!
Well, no it is not. "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and haling men and women committed them to prison," Acts 8:3. Saul was a zealous, evil man who scattered the church and then hunted people down. He was a major instrument in the martyr of Stephen and we have no reason to believe that he was not responsible for other peoples martyrdom. He did not deserve to be saved and was evil on a par with Muhammad and Ted Bundy. He was a despicable man. But he was knocked off his donkey en route to Damascus and Jesus Christ, the crucified one, appeared to Saul and chose him to bring the gospel to the gentiles. Paul was then born out of the remnants of Saul and he was used of God to bring the gospel farther than any other apostle. Even more, he lamented his sinfulness and considered himself to be "the chief of sinners." He did not consider himself worthy of Christ's riches and he partook deeply of Christ's amazing grace as well as enduring torture and persecution and bearing the marks of Christ in his body. Paul did not deserve God's love. He was an evil man.
Friends, God is unjust and for that, we must say Hallelujah! God is unjust and His grace is ridiculous, unmerited, shocking and just plain...scandalous. We all deserve Hell, we have all sinned against God and spit in the face of Jesus Christ and on His sacrificial crucifiction for our sins and debt. We deserve His wrath every bit as much as Ted Bundy. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," Romans 5:8. Romans 3 paints a truthful, painful and bleak picture of our hearts and confronts us with the reality of our depravity. We are Ted Bundy, we are evil. Mother Teresa and Gandhi were Ted Bundy too, unless they surrendered their hearts to Christ and repented of their evil. Friends, we must always remember how evil we are apart from the love of Christ. We must never assume anyone is righteous, let alone ourselves. But we know One who is righteous and who unloads all His love on us if we respond to His generous, undeserved offer of salvation. This should comfort our lives to no end and lead us to learn, live and love the glorious gospel of our awesome Savior.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Book Review: Muhammad: A Prophet For Our Time by Karen Armstrong
"You shall have no other gods before Me," Exodus 20:3.
Karen Armstrong is an ex nun who has become an apologist for Muhammad, the most evil man who has ever lived. In a previous book review, I wrote that I generally give positive reviews of books because I do not have much time to read books that are not edifying. I have not broken that promise as I have not read this book but skimmed it briefly and read both fawning reviews and some harsh criticisms of it. What I will do in lieu of an extensive review of this book is give three reasons why Muhammad is the most evil man ever and not a prophet for any time.
1) He was a child rapist. The Hadiths, which are authoritative for the vast majority of Muslims, tells us that Muhammad married his last wife when she was age six and consummated their marriage when she was nine. This custom, along with the more well know custom of polygamy, is practiced in many if not most Islamic cultures. The Koran also promotes the rape of children in Sura 4:3.
2) Muhammad promoted and practiced ethnic cleansing throughout the Koran. Many apologists of Islam cite Koranic passages which seem to promote peace. Most of these verses occur early in the Koran and are therefore repudiated by later verses in the Koran which advocate the destruction of all unbelievers. This is called the doctrine of abrogation. Early on in Muhammad's life he said things such as, "there is no compulsion in religion." Later on he slaughtered Christians and Jews and advocated their slaughter wherever they were found. Early on he was in the minority, struggling to get acceptance and control. Once he got that, he revealed his true evil intentions and allowed no tolerance of other faiths.
3) Muhammad was an inveterate liar. This is revealed in the above doctrine of abrogation and is officially a doctrine all its own. Muhammad promoted and practiced the doctrine of taqiyya. It can be found in Sura 3:28 and 16:106. It simply allows Muslims to lie with impunity to advance the cause of Islam. This can be seen from Muhammad's many peaceful promises he makes in the Koran which he quickly turns on later in the Koran. You see this practiced often today. Yassar Arafat was a master of it and most recently the Ground Zero Imam also put this doctrine to the test.
Muhammad was an evil, despicable prophet who must be repudiated at every turn. Do not be deceived by those like Armstrong who whitewash the horrific crimes and doctrines inflicted upon our world by this false prophet. Hold on tenaciously to the gospel of Jesus Christ, who, unlike Muhammad, was Truth Himself and who lived a perfect, holy life. Jesus harmed no children, murdered no one and never uttered so much as a white lie. For this we crucified Him. He is everything Muhammad was not and we need to remember His amazing sacrificial death for our sins at all times. We need to drink in His grace and pour it out wherever we go. His life and death truly reveal Jesus as not just a prophet for our time but as THE PROPHET FOR OUT TIME! God bless you brothers and sisters and always remember to learn, live and love the gospel.
Karen Armstrong is an ex nun who has become an apologist for Muhammad, the most evil man who has ever lived. In a previous book review, I wrote that I generally give positive reviews of books because I do not have much time to read books that are not edifying. I have not broken that promise as I have not read this book but skimmed it briefly and read both fawning reviews and some harsh criticisms of it. What I will do in lieu of an extensive review of this book is give three reasons why Muhammad is the most evil man ever and not a prophet for any time.
1) He was a child rapist. The Hadiths, which are authoritative for the vast majority of Muslims, tells us that Muhammad married his last wife when she was age six and consummated their marriage when she was nine. This custom, along with the more well know custom of polygamy, is practiced in many if not most Islamic cultures. The Koran also promotes the rape of children in Sura 4:3.
2) Muhammad promoted and practiced ethnic cleansing throughout the Koran. Many apologists of Islam cite Koranic passages which seem to promote peace. Most of these verses occur early in the Koran and are therefore repudiated by later verses in the Koran which advocate the destruction of all unbelievers. This is called the doctrine of abrogation. Early on in Muhammad's life he said things such as, "there is no compulsion in religion." Later on he slaughtered Christians and Jews and advocated their slaughter wherever they were found. Early on he was in the minority, struggling to get acceptance and control. Once he got that, he revealed his true evil intentions and allowed no tolerance of other faiths.
3) Muhammad was an inveterate liar. This is revealed in the above doctrine of abrogation and is officially a doctrine all its own. Muhammad promoted and practiced the doctrine of taqiyya. It can be found in Sura 3:28 and 16:106. It simply allows Muslims to lie with impunity to advance the cause of Islam. This can be seen from Muhammad's many peaceful promises he makes in the Koran which he quickly turns on later in the Koran. You see this practiced often today. Yassar Arafat was a master of it and most recently the Ground Zero Imam also put this doctrine to the test.
Muhammad was an evil, despicable prophet who must be repudiated at every turn. Do not be deceived by those like Armstrong who whitewash the horrific crimes and doctrines inflicted upon our world by this false prophet. Hold on tenaciously to the gospel of Jesus Christ, who, unlike Muhammad, was Truth Himself and who lived a perfect, holy life. Jesus harmed no children, murdered no one and never uttered so much as a white lie. For this we crucified Him. He is everything Muhammad was not and we need to remember His amazing sacrificial death for our sins at all times. We need to drink in His grace and pour it out wherever we go. His life and death truly reveal Jesus as not just a prophet for our time but as THE PROPHET FOR OUT TIME! God bless you brothers and sisters and always remember to learn, live and love the gospel.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Turning to Another Gospel: The Reformed and Their New Found Love of the Deformed Gospel of Rome
"As we have said before, so I now say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed," Galatians 1:9.
It is common place anymore to go to a "reformed" blog or website and seeing the heresies of Rome peddled openly and unapologetically. Whether it is Tim Keller promoting the reformer torturing heretic Ignatius Loyola or a recent blog singing the praises of Father Damien or any number of reformed minded people peddling Henri Nouwen, Brother Lawrence or any number of mystical papists peddling prayer and popery. We have reached the end of faithful gospel proclamation by the "evangelical" church in America. Even people who are prominent in things like the Gospel Coalition, which seeks to proclaim the unvarnished gospel, don't have a clue it seems what the gospel is!
Let's be clear here. The Catholic Church is apostate. If all someone has to go on is the gospel according to Rome, that gospel will lead them to Hell and is no gospel, good news, whatsoever. If, as occasionally happens, a Catholic hears the true gospel and responds in repentance and faith, they are saved by Christ even if they continue to attend Mass faithfully. Here I make a non exhaustive list of obvious heresies of the Catholic Church:
1) The Mass is a sacrifice for sins. This is an obvious denial of Jesus Christ's statement from the cross, "It is finished." This is why I refuse to attend a Mass, as attending Mass is a sin unto itself, unless allowed to preach the gospel like I was able to do at a funeral once.
2) Purgatory is the belief that those who do not go to Hell must be purged for a time to be made holy before entering Heaven. C.S. Lewis also promoted this heresy. This is also a complete denial of Christ's sufficiency.
3) They believe in something called, the immaculate conception. This has nothing to do with Christ's virgin birth but in Mary's birth being sinless. They believe Mary was without sin and never had any children by Joseph, she was a perpetual virgin. This is a denial of Romans 3:23 and means that Mary did not need her Son and His atoning death on the cross in order to obtain salvation.
This is just a start, feel free to add more, but we are seeing in the reformed movement a total lack of discernment and a full scale promotion of so many false teachers in the Roman tradition. We are seeing people drawn to piety and not to the purity of the gospel. They seek to build a bridge I fear, to a false religion that has no desire to cross the waters with them. The Catholic Church has made no attempt to draw near to the true gospel in the 500 years since the Reformation and has, in fact, retreated from the five sola's to an alarming degree! I have family practicing indulgences now!
What is the Bible's response to false teachers? It is not a gooey sentimentality that begs us to consider the piety of certain "saints". No, Paul says, "let them be accursed". Jesus told them a thing or two Himself. He has a special place for false teachers who lead His flock along the wide road of piety, moralism, tradition and idolatry, "I never knew you: depart from Me you who practice lawlessness." Jesus sends such to Hell and I fear that many "reform" minded evangellyfish are widening the narrow path and many sheep will follow the path they have laid out. Friends, let's not promote this evil, the days are short, we need to build our lives upon the rock of God's word. We need to pray for revival in the church and that our Romish tendencies would be purged and that we would not turn back to that old, dead gospel that has been preached since the snake in the garden. Friends, let's learn, live and love the true gospel, preached by Paul and given down to us!
It is common place anymore to go to a "reformed" blog or website and seeing the heresies of Rome peddled openly and unapologetically. Whether it is Tim Keller promoting the reformer torturing heretic Ignatius Loyola or a recent blog singing the praises of Father Damien or any number of reformed minded people peddling Henri Nouwen, Brother Lawrence or any number of mystical papists peddling prayer and popery. We have reached the end of faithful gospel proclamation by the "evangelical" church in America. Even people who are prominent in things like the Gospel Coalition, which seeks to proclaim the unvarnished gospel, don't have a clue it seems what the gospel is!
Let's be clear here. The Catholic Church is apostate. If all someone has to go on is the gospel according to Rome, that gospel will lead them to Hell and is no gospel, good news, whatsoever. If, as occasionally happens, a Catholic hears the true gospel and responds in repentance and faith, they are saved by Christ even if they continue to attend Mass faithfully. Here I make a non exhaustive list of obvious heresies of the Catholic Church:
1) The Mass is a sacrifice for sins. This is an obvious denial of Jesus Christ's statement from the cross, "It is finished." This is why I refuse to attend a Mass, as attending Mass is a sin unto itself, unless allowed to preach the gospel like I was able to do at a funeral once.
2) Purgatory is the belief that those who do not go to Hell must be purged for a time to be made holy before entering Heaven. C.S. Lewis also promoted this heresy. This is also a complete denial of Christ's sufficiency.
3) They believe in something called, the immaculate conception. This has nothing to do with Christ's virgin birth but in Mary's birth being sinless. They believe Mary was without sin and never had any children by Joseph, she was a perpetual virgin. This is a denial of Romans 3:23 and means that Mary did not need her Son and His atoning death on the cross in order to obtain salvation.
This is just a start, feel free to add more, but we are seeing in the reformed movement a total lack of discernment and a full scale promotion of so many false teachers in the Roman tradition. We are seeing people drawn to piety and not to the purity of the gospel. They seek to build a bridge I fear, to a false religion that has no desire to cross the waters with them. The Catholic Church has made no attempt to draw near to the true gospel in the 500 years since the Reformation and has, in fact, retreated from the five sola's to an alarming degree! I have family practicing indulgences now!
What is the Bible's response to false teachers? It is not a gooey sentimentality that begs us to consider the piety of certain "saints". No, Paul says, "let them be accursed". Jesus told them a thing or two Himself. He has a special place for false teachers who lead His flock along the wide road of piety, moralism, tradition and idolatry, "I never knew you: depart from Me you who practice lawlessness." Jesus sends such to Hell and I fear that many "reform" minded evangellyfish are widening the narrow path and many sheep will follow the path they have laid out. Friends, let's not promote this evil, the days are short, we need to build our lives upon the rock of God's word. We need to pray for revival in the church and that our Romish tendencies would be purged and that we would not turn back to that old, dead gospel that has been preached since the snake in the garden. Friends, let's learn, live and love the true gospel, preached by Paul and given down to us!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Oh Muhammad! Oh Vishnu! Oh Buddha! Why Do We Slander Our Lord?
"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain," Exodus 20:7.
We have all heard it, in fact, to be honest with ourselves, we have all probably done it: slandered our Lord by using His name in an unflattering, thoughtless, degrading or otherwise unsanctified manner. He is the Lord and worthy of all our praise and none of our lippy attitude. We bring great dishonor to our Lord when we are flippant with our attitude towards Him and it is a terrible witness. We must always be on our guard so that we do not slander our gracious, loving and all powerful Lord. If we wear a fish on our car, a cross around our neck or faithfully proclaim His love, we must not give cause to heathens to mock our Savior. Of this none of us are without sin and are all hypocrites in a sense. We are to season our words with grace, which will salt the company we are in and the conversation we are having. Grace needs to flow through our words and it will not return void as God promises when we speak His life giving word through the power of His spirit. This does not preclude truth speaking as grace makes no sense apart from truth. Jesus is grace and truth. If we think we are doing any good by promoting pious platitudes devoid of the truth of God we are delusional. We may sprinkle grace and be slandered because of it. We can speak the God loving truth in the most sincere and pleasant voice and get spat on. At least if we do it correctly. Our Lord knew something of this as the writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ endured the cross for us, despised the shame heaped upon Him and He now has His rightful place next to His Father. He was the personification of grace and was beaten beyond recognition. Can we expect better? We should not seek persecution and intentionally bring it upon ourselves but it should not cause us to be silent about God's greatness and love.
What really made me consider this was a situation I was in recently. I was in the presence of an unbeliever for many hours and I shared the gospel with him and he continually slandered our Lord at every occasion. I do not think it was even a concern to him and he did it whenever the tiniest inconvenience occurred. He did it before I shared the gospel and after. I know that I was not innocent myself. I'm an imperfect witness but I did my best to explain the gospel, creation, God's love and our depravity. Finally, exasperated and angry at his continual abuse of our Lord's name, I shouted the names of other religious figures(the one's in the title) and asked why can't they be slandered instead! I know my anger is never completely righteous but I do know that there is such a thing as righteous anger and I pray that the Lord can use my display to His glory. I have prayed for this gentleman also and I pray that he does learn to love and live the glorious gospel of Christ. Pray also for discernment of our anger, especially mine friends. God bless you all.
We have all heard it, in fact, to be honest with ourselves, we have all probably done it: slandered our Lord by using His name in an unflattering, thoughtless, degrading or otherwise unsanctified manner. He is the Lord and worthy of all our praise and none of our lippy attitude. We bring great dishonor to our Lord when we are flippant with our attitude towards Him and it is a terrible witness. We must always be on our guard so that we do not slander our gracious, loving and all powerful Lord. If we wear a fish on our car, a cross around our neck or faithfully proclaim His love, we must not give cause to heathens to mock our Savior. Of this none of us are without sin and are all hypocrites in a sense. We are to season our words with grace, which will salt the company we are in and the conversation we are having. Grace needs to flow through our words and it will not return void as God promises when we speak His life giving word through the power of His spirit. This does not preclude truth speaking as grace makes no sense apart from truth. Jesus is grace and truth. If we think we are doing any good by promoting pious platitudes devoid of the truth of God we are delusional. We may sprinkle grace and be slandered because of it. We can speak the God loving truth in the most sincere and pleasant voice and get spat on. At least if we do it correctly. Our Lord knew something of this as the writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ endured the cross for us, despised the shame heaped upon Him and He now has His rightful place next to His Father. He was the personification of grace and was beaten beyond recognition. Can we expect better? We should not seek persecution and intentionally bring it upon ourselves but it should not cause us to be silent about God's greatness and love.
What really made me consider this was a situation I was in recently. I was in the presence of an unbeliever for many hours and I shared the gospel with him and he continually slandered our Lord at every occasion. I do not think it was even a concern to him and he did it whenever the tiniest inconvenience occurred. He did it before I shared the gospel and after. I know that I was not innocent myself. I'm an imperfect witness but I did my best to explain the gospel, creation, God's love and our depravity. Finally, exasperated and angry at his continual abuse of our Lord's name, I shouted the names of other religious figures(the one's in the title) and asked why can't they be slandered instead! I know my anger is never completely righteous but I do know that there is such a thing as righteous anger and I pray that the Lord can use my display to His glory. I have prayed for this gentleman also and I pray that he does learn to love and live the glorious gospel of Christ. Pray also for discernment of our anger, especially mine friends. God bless you all.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Fairy Tales Our Secular/Atheist Friends Believe
"Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools," Romans 1:21-22.
As a presuppositionalists, I do not like to argue with unbelievers about the evidence for and against God's existence. After all, the Bible starts with God saying, "In the Beginning, God created the heaven's and the earth." It did not start with God saying, "Here is the proof that I exist and created everything. Here is the cosmological argument, here is the teleological argument and then here is the moral theory and on and on and on ad nauseum." No, the Bible takes God's existence and His creative power for granted and only a work of God on someones heart can change them from an unbeliever to a believer. Only the gospel, working in concert with the Holy Spirit can turn a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. That being said, Roman's 1 is one of the key foundations for this understanding of theology and apologetics. We are told by Paul in this passage that God has made His existence and power manifest and obvious but people naturally hate God and, in fact, their minds degenerate to a point that their hearts are darkened and they become fools, all the while reveling in human wisdom. Here are some examples of darkened hearts and foolish thoughts/ideas.
1) All Truth is relative. This is self refuting from the start. They start off with a truth claim which boomerang backs upon them with ferocity and force. Truth cannot be relative, it is intolerant of relativism. Truth may be harsh, liberating, consoling, difficult and many other things but it does not stand amongst competing, untrue ideas and converse with them sympathetically. Truth is a tyrant, albeit a necessary and benevolent One when you truly understand Him. Even more, how do you take someone seriously who does not believe in truth? What can they say other than gibberish? How do we evaluate their comments? Can they be trusted? No, they can't. If someone does not believe in truth the best we can do in conversation with them is discuss the weather and tiddly winks. Their is no reason to take anything else seriously.
2) Fossils take millions of years to form. Google the Mt. St. Helen's volcano eruption and fossils and see what comes up. Not only did fossils form in just a few years but mountains were built! Not only do fossils form in an incredibly short period of time but it is virtually impossible for them to form over hundreds of years let along millions. Think about this. What has happened to all the dead animals that you have seen left in the elements? Scavengers come and pick to the bone whatever the maggots have left for them to eat. The fur and bones weaken, and within a fairly short period of time, within a few years, the skeleton has largely disintegrated unless acted upon by a catastrophic event: like a flood of water!
3) You cannot legislate morality. Once again, this is self refuting. It is on par with saying, "You cannot legislate legislation." Legislation is the encoding of a cultures morality and ethics. So, not only can you legislate morality, it is ALL you can legislate. Someones ethics/morality is being codified in every law, it is just a matter of whose morality is being enacted. This has really become apparent to me concerning the sexual abuse case involving Penn State and Jerry Sandusky. People who regularly comment about how we cannot legislate morality are up in arms about child sexual abuse. It is a peculiar Judeo/Christian belief that adult/child sex is wrong. The laws of our land that forbid this activity are there because of our Biblical heritage. Islam and pagan cultures have a far different understanding of this evil practice.
Here are just three examples of a darkened mind that the truth of the gospel needs to penetrate. While we can and should point out these absurdities, we must not engage in endless arguments, trying to outsmart our atheist foes. Instead, we need to share the appropriate scriptures with them, share the gospel and pray for their hearts to melt. Remember, the gospel is the power of salvation, not our intelligence, arguments or any human wisdom. God bless you friends and remember to learn, live and love the gospel!
As a presuppositionalists, I do not like to argue with unbelievers about the evidence for and against God's existence. After all, the Bible starts with God saying, "In the Beginning, God created the heaven's and the earth." It did not start with God saying, "Here is the proof that I exist and created everything. Here is the cosmological argument, here is the teleological argument and then here is the moral theory and on and on and on ad nauseum." No, the Bible takes God's existence and His creative power for granted and only a work of God on someones heart can change them from an unbeliever to a believer. Only the gospel, working in concert with the Holy Spirit can turn a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. That being said, Roman's 1 is one of the key foundations for this understanding of theology and apologetics. We are told by Paul in this passage that God has made His existence and power manifest and obvious but people naturally hate God and, in fact, their minds degenerate to a point that their hearts are darkened and they become fools, all the while reveling in human wisdom. Here are some examples of darkened hearts and foolish thoughts/ideas.
1) All Truth is relative. This is self refuting from the start. They start off with a truth claim which boomerang backs upon them with ferocity and force. Truth cannot be relative, it is intolerant of relativism. Truth may be harsh, liberating, consoling, difficult and many other things but it does not stand amongst competing, untrue ideas and converse with them sympathetically. Truth is a tyrant, albeit a necessary and benevolent One when you truly understand Him. Even more, how do you take someone seriously who does not believe in truth? What can they say other than gibberish? How do we evaluate their comments? Can they be trusted? No, they can't. If someone does not believe in truth the best we can do in conversation with them is discuss the weather and tiddly winks. Their is no reason to take anything else seriously.
2) Fossils take millions of years to form. Google the Mt. St. Helen's volcano eruption and fossils and see what comes up. Not only did fossils form in just a few years but mountains were built! Not only do fossils form in an incredibly short period of time but it is virtually impossible for them to form over hundreds of years let along millions. Think about this. What has happened to all the dead animals that you have seen left in the elements? Scavengers come and pick to the bone whatever the maggots have left for them to eat. The fur and bones weaken, and within a fairly short period of time, within a few years, the skeleton has largely disintegrated unless acted upon by a catastrophic event: like a flood of water!
3) You cannot legislate morality. Once again, this is self refuting. It is on par with saying, "You cannot legislate legislation." Legislation is the encoding of a cultures morality and ethics. So, not only can you legislate morality, it is ALL you can legislate. Someones ethics/morality is being codified in every law, it is just a matter of whose morality is being enacted. This has really become apparent to me concerning the sexual abuse case involving Penn State and Jerry Sandusky. People who regularly comment about how we cannot legislate morality are up in arms about child sexual abuse. It is a peculiar Judeo/Christian belief that adult/child sex is wrong. The laws of our land that forbid this activity are there because of our Biblical heritage. Islam and pagan cultures have a far different understanding of this evil practice.
Here are just three examples of a darkened mind that the truth of the gospel needs to penetrate. While we can and should point out these absurdities, we must not engage in endless arguments, trying to outsmart our atheist foes. Instead, we need to share the appropriate scriptures with them, share the gospel and pray for their hearts to melt. Remember, the gospel is the power of salvation, not our intelligence, arguments or any human wisdom. God bless you friends and remember to learn, live and love the gospel!
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