Discovery: Making People Do Right is Part of Life
Internet activism against abuse in the church is just about full throttle in our day. Is that a good thing? One stops to ponder in the middle of any war to reevaluate the overall value of the stress involved. Let’s face it; anybody who would enjoy all of this would have to be a little twisted. I think we all enjoy what we have learned and our personal growth through it all, but could do without the stress and bad feelings.
The culmination of last week was a teachable moment in regard to this question. The week was saturated with actions by me to make people do what is right. It started with the end of a business to business relationship. The other company is very large and did not terminate our contract correctly which threatened to cost my wife and I thousands of dollars. These are very powerful people who are not used to being stood up to by little people like me. My wife (Susan) and I discussed it and decided we would fight and let the chips fall where they may.
I became amazed at all of the options we had at our disposal that put this company on a level playing fighting field with us. But then I realized why that is: others didn’t back down either and took action to prevent injustice for others. Also, it is often the case that when you back down from fighting for what is right, you are not the only one that loses. Losing that money would have prevented us from helping others that we usually help on a regular bases.
An order of published books arrived and the printing quality was substandard. It was not only right to hold the printer accountable for wrongdoing, but it was a decision for our contributors as well. They deserved to get what they paid for. Making my son do his best in school is not only right, it is best for him as well. As I won these battles for right last week, I found myself mentally and physically spent. I awoke from falling asleep, sitting up at my desk, and began to type this post.
And I started typing for this conclusion: those fighting for the spiritually abused in the church fight a good fight. The fight is hard because many looked away for many years. Their decisions to be cowards were not only made for themselves—they also made those decisions for others. And a horrible price was paid.
But our decision is to fight the brute beasts of our day who fancy themselves as God’s anointed and their cowardly golfing buddies. The fight is long and hard, but we will not relent. Making people do right is a part of life, and the decision to fight is rarely for us alone.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
Reblogged this on Clearcreek Chapel Watch.
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I was at a church that was taken over by new calvinism. The church split And all the elders resigned. I have a friend who is at a church that is trying to be taken over, and what I am seeing is that both of these churches used material from the Anglican Church. Anglican priest are quoted in the gospel project. If you look on lifeways website, it is full of books from the Anglican Church. How are these pastors teaming up with the Anglican Church. I can’t find any connection online.
Also I was looking at some quotes from Augustine the other day, and he said: Redemption was from destiny, not from the consequences of responsible action, and was granted to a predetermined elect in whom alone was the DIVINE spark.
A divine spark??? I guess that’s where the enlightened ones get their identity from.
Thanks for your ministry. I have referred many people to it. It was an answered prayer for me and the exiles who left our church. We were the first to experience a new calvinist takeover in our area. If it wasn’t for your work for The Lord Jesus, we would have been clueless. Now we are warning others.
Rhonda
Sent from my iPhone
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Rhonda,
The Anglican Church has deep roots in authentic Reformed doctrine. Augustine, who was a neo-Platonist, is considered to be the father of Reformed theology. Another primary contributor to Reformed theology was Pope Gregory the Great. Augustine and Gregory integrated ancient spiritual caste ideas with Scripture. Primarily, what was later known as Gnosticism. Luther was a follower of Gregory and Augustine, and Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation to the Augustinian Order is heavily influenced by the theology of Augustine and Gregory. Luther’s 95 Theses was a moral disputation against Rome, but the Heidelberg Disputation was the magnum opus of the Reformation. All the primary tenets of New Calvinism can be found in it including John Piper’s Christian Hedonism, heart theology, and gospel contemplationism. The Heidelberg Disputation was founded on dualism and insisted that all reality is interpreted by a deeper and deeper understanding of man’s total depravity as set against God’s holiness. Basically, the knowledge of good and evil. Sound familiar? Calvin took this same construct and developed it into a full-orbed metaphysical statement; ie, the Calvin Institutes of the Christian Religion. The first sentence of the Institutes (1.1.1) reflects the primary theses of Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation. Therefore, man improving, Christian or not, would shatter Reformed epistemology. It would make understanding their reality impossible.
Because of the inner-nihilism that comes part and parcel with Reformed theology and its secular counterpart (Platonism), tyranny is its dark shadow. Because of the tyranny that it breeds, authentic Calvinism dies a social death every (app.)150 years. Calvinists emerge from the death with a soteriology that accepts infused grace; ie, the new birth as an inner reality that enables the believer beyond faith alone in sanctification. We call these “Sanctified Calvinists.” They will hold to Reformed eschatology, but differ in soteriology.
Like the Reformers, Seventh-Day Adventists have always struggled with their assertion that sanctification finishes justification. For years, there was infighting within SDA in regard to how that works. The primary consensus was that Christ saves us from all of our past sin, and then the Holy Spirit helps us finish our justification via the new birth or infused grace. Problem is, finishing justification is still in play rather than justification being finished. Catholicism is the same way, except they lean more toward ritual for aptly finishing justification. Either way, the idea that justification has to be maintained is the major problem in these gospels: the idea that justification has a standard that must be maintained until we get to heaven.
In 1888, SDA notables EJ Waggoner, AT Jones, and Ellen White presented the answer: the authentic Reformed gospel of justification by faith alone. But remember, that’s justification by faith alone in sanctification as well. In fact, if you don’t live your Christian life by faith alone and add your works to it, even Holy Spirit enabled works, you lose your salvation via works salvation. You must only add the works of Christ to your sanctification and not anything of your own. Christ obeys for us until we get to heaven. Still, it sparked a revival because it freed the SDA faithful from the fear of not measuring up in their colaboring with the Holy Spirit. In contrast, evangelicals believe that measuring up for justification is a non-issue since justification is a finished work. Evangelicals believe that kingdom living (sanctification) progresses but our justification is secure. We colabor with the Holy Spirit in sanctification and sanctification does not maintain or finish our justification.Anyway, the 1888 revival fizzled out and the controversy in SDA circles continued.
In the 1960’s, an SDA theologian by the name of Robert Brinsmead re-investigated the 1888 revival and ignited the SDA Awakening movement with the authentic Reformed doctrine of Justification by faith alone [in both salvation and sanctification]. The movement turned the SDA church on its head. However, the fact that these revivals had always died did not escape Brinsmead. He was joined by two Anglican theologians, Geoffrey Paxton and Graeme Goldsworthy in forming the Australian Forum Reformed think tank. They systematized the Reformed doctrine for contemporary presentation and launched it into hyper-revival. They were later joined by reformed Baptist Jon Zens who is the father of New Covenant theology.
The revival met stiff resistance from Sanctified Calvinists and Evangelicals. It became Sonship theology in 1986, Gospel Transformation in 2000, Gospel Sanctification in 2006, and New Calvinism in 2008. It has covertly taken over large portions of every religious group existing today.
paul
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Paul, ONe of the worst abuses I saw was a mega church pastor known as being very humble. After being around him for a while, I figured out why he was thought of as humble. He NEVER dealt with conflict. He would allow people all around him to fall but he managed to never have an opinion or make any decision that would make him unpopular. However, he was positioned to the audience as just the opposite. It was all a ruse.
His lack of dealing with conflict left many in the lurch hurting them badly not just with spiritual hurt but serious finanicial hurt. When confronted, he would say, “why not be wronged?” As if that person by being spiritually abued and ruined financially would be a better Christian by walking away and saying nothing. He would also say, God will take care of you….while he had bodyguards.
The man is a pure fraud and out there teaching other pastors today.
The moral? He was liked by everyone because he never stood up for anyone. He ignored evil done by his employees and would call it “Paul and Barnabas” stuff while people were being thrown out to the street with no income or even unemployment.
And masses think he is a great godly man.
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Lydia,
Yep, and if you follow that logic to its logical conclusion, what a mess the world would be, and is.
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