Paul's Passing Thoughts

Is the cross the power source for the Christian life?

If the Loch Ness monster does exist, it exists underneath the serene Loch Ness Lake in Scotland. In the same way, the revival of German pride took place during the unprecedented economic and social transformation effected by the National Socialist party during the 30’s, but underneath the joy and serenity, there was a monster that would eventually plunge the world into holocaust. Some in Germany saw the real substance in the symbolism, and were lucky enough to get out before it was too late.

Today, we have a Neo-Calvinist revival going on. Churches everywhere come alive on Sunday morning with hip praise bands leading the crowds with raised hands praising the cross. Churches boasting memberships of 20,000 strong have become commonplace.

But what is the substance in the froth? The focus is on the multimedia fireworks—the focus is on the production. What is really going on beyond the media blitz and the propaganda?

First, the focus is on a gathering of souls who are not newly converted, but are being drawn from other churches. Smaller churches that are closing are doing so in record numbers. Praisemart is putting the small independents out of business. The Neo-Calvinist resurgence is not GOing (Matthew 28:19) they are merely calling people to the show.

Secondly, the resurgence is drawing from the first gospel wave that started with the likes of Billy Graham. Getting people saved was the emphasis while aggressive discipleship was unskilled. Now comes the Neo-Calvinists saying that your life is powerless because the church has misidentified the source of power for the Christian life; the source is not the new birth—it’s the cross. Verily, the true gospel of the Reformation has been lost and now found, come all. Unfortunately, they are right; the Reformation gospel did deny the new birth and claimed that the Christian life flows from the cross.

The present-day “revival” of everything Jesus and the cross is not anything new. It is the authentic Protestant belief that any efforts in sanctification (the Christian life) are tantamount to works salvation. This is because salvation is by faith alone, and by faith alone in the Christian life, the perfect works of Jesus are imputed to our Christian life and thus the law continues to be fulfilled in our stead. I have written extensively in regard to the grave problems with this gospel. For one, it is not justification APART from the law. The issue is not who keeps the law—the issue is the law being the standard for justification.

Hence, passive endeavors such as “worship” and “praise” are not works, but are exercises that show our dependence on the works of Christ alone in sanctification. The law is perpetually fulfilled via the praise and worship party complete with the hip praise band and raised hands unto heaven. If we only EXPERIENCE the Spirit, it counts for the righteousness that continues to satisfy the law. That’s really, really bad theology.

And it even goes further than that as Susan Dohse will articulate in our upcoming conference. The Bible is not a book of instruction for the Christian life, but rather contains types of a preordained gospel narrative. Basically, as you live your life by faith alone, you identify with reality in regard to what the Bible says about reality through the prism of the cross. For instance, the Puritans thought they were living out a preordained narrative typified by Israel conquering the land promised to them by God. The Bible as “divine drama” and “gospel narrative” saturates the present-day church culture. The new Gospel Transformation Bible and the widely acclaimed BibleMesh study program are based on this interpretive construct.

It is a Gnostic form of Sabbath sanctification; viz, all of our works flow from setting aside Sunday for “worship” and meditation. This sanctifies everything we do as a non-work. We aren’t really doing anything; we are only experiencing the preordained gospel narrative. We are experiencing the “works prepared for us to walk in before the foundation of the world.” When it gets right down to it, interpreting the Bible literally is tantamount to works salvation in this interpretive construct.

Throughout church history this approach to sanctification has wreaked havoc on the church. Its appeal is the separation of oneself from experiencing the full brunt of tragedy and personal responsibility. Life is stress free if we aren’t responsible for fixing anything. This theology primarily identifies with the upper crust of society as the poor do not usually have the convenience of functioning by such ideas. It has a lot to do with meditation and the bantering about of mystical ideas which doesn’t do much for putting food on the table. One thing often comes to mind when observing the present-day multimedia focus on contemporary “worship”: MONEY, and lots of it. The contemporary church partakes in many events that the laity grunts can’t attend like cruise ship Bible study trips etc. Pastors’ conferences that are all the rage in our day are far from the financial feasibility of lay pastors and the laity in general, not to mention the financial unfeasibility of being certified in a seminary regardless of your spiritual gifts. Yet, for the most part, it is the working class laity grunts that finance the whole kit and caboodle. It is Plato’s Republic by default.

This is the exact scene in Israel when Christ began His earthly ministry. It was a culture saturated with this kind of Western mysticism. In our day, it is a return to the exact same Gnosticism that wreaked havoc on the early church via the Nicolaitans. Christ’s practical application of the Scriptures was culture shock at that time, as it was in 1970 when Dr. Jay Adams published, Competent to Counsel. As Adams spoke in churches across America to promote his counseling construct, Christians were astounded by the idea that “they could do something.” In that same year, the present-day Neo-Calvinist resurgence began with its Gnostic Sabbath sanctification. Therefore, two contrary movements were gaining ground side by side and eventually locked horns in circa 2000. The history and doctrinal significance of this can be read here: False Reformation ch 3 The crux of the debate was the following: What is the source of our power for the Christian life, the new birth and the Scriptures, or the cross? Is it meditating on Jesus and His works, or obeying what Jesus said? Do we love Christ in our kingdom living by learning and doing, or do we only “experience what Christ has supplied for us”?

Gospel contemplationism is a show that we watch—it is about what Jesus did, not doing what Jesus commanded us: “Go therefore and make learners….” It is all show and no go. In the fever of a pseudo revival and the serenity of calm waters, a monster lurks underneath.

paul