Paul's Passing Thoughts

Church is a business, and if you are selling protection from the wrath of God, that’s bound to be a booming business, and it is. For this reason, week after week, churches preach a lot of fear, while reminding the parishioners they are safe because they are participating in the “sanctuary.” And yes, it is critical to come to the sanctuary to “participate in Christ” who saves us from the wrathful Father.

Rick Holland, the onetime rumored to be heir apparent to the John MacArthur thrown, wrote a book titled, “Uneclipsing The Son,” which included a glowing forward by John MacArthur. The predominant theme of the book is the idea that God the Father is an angry wrathful God, and our refuge is in Christ. On page 23 of the book, Holland has a heading that reads, “Saved,” with a hyphen following to emphasize the idea of being saved, and then adds, “From God.” This is the subtle and very problematic idea propagated by Christocentric theology and endorsed by MacArthur in his latter years; the idea that God the Father is a god of wrath, while Jesus is the god of grace. Actually, in my book, it’s blaspheme.

Per the usual, Holland, and his ilk, write and preach these things in a way that provides intellectual deniability; but be sure of this, it’s how they want the church to function mentally. And to go along with Christocentric theology, they promote the Redemptive Historical Hermeneutic, which presents the Bible as a narrative used to perpetually return to the cross. Yes, we search the Scriptures for a deeper and deeper understanding of how depraved we are as set against how holy God is, which drives us back to the cross for more and more Jesus. Then, at what John Calvin called the “final tribunal,” we find out if we have enough Jesus.

Please note: if justification of the individual is not progressive, what do we need church for? This takes the church from a very important place to fellowship and encourage others unto good works, to a place where you must go to maintain your salvation. And that is stated in no uncertain terms. In the Protestant church, you must go to church to obtain the “ordinary means of grace.” What does “means” mean, and what does “grace” mean? Of course, the deception is masterful because it enables Protestants to proclaim an intellectual assumption, while functioning in a contrary way. Intellectually, it can be said the ordinary means of grace is merely going to church for experiencing fellowship with God, while it is really functioning progressive justification. In the same way, Protestants will claim intellectually that the new birth is a one-time act by the Spirit that seals us for eternity, but that is contrary to what Protestant soteriology states in all its historical documents.

Also note that ALL systematic theologies created by the church are for the express purpose of you reading the Bible through a prism that always leads you to their tenets. Here is what the Bible is: it is a historical account of who God is and what he does. It is a multifaceted account that does not depend on any particular systematic order. Since you are reading a historical account, any person can draw logical conclusions from the narratives, or research deeper meanings through myriads of different approaches. The Bible can be studied systematically, but should not be interpreted systematically. In other words, topical studies and word studies should lead you wherever they lead you rather than predetermined outcomes via the “Five Solas” and other prisms that demand particular conclusions.

As one who read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and took the historical narratives at face value, I encountered massive contradictions with what I heard in church. I would hear something in a sermon that would cause me to think, “Wait a minute, in Leviticus God was having a conversation with someone and He said something that contradicts that idea entirely.”  Or God did something that contradicted an idea entirely.

When you ditch church orthodoxy and read the Bible with your own mind, you discover amazing things about God. Like, did you know, that in the end during the new heavens and new earth, God leaves heaven to dwell with mankind? Huh!? Right, God leaves His abode in heaven and makes His dwelling with mankind on earth. Obviously, this turns a lot of church orthodoxy completely on its head and causes us to see God in a different light.

A patient and loving God is not good for reoccurring monthly revenue because the church is selling protection from an angry wrathful God in the name of Jesus.

Please stop listen to so-called theological experts who have degrees that are useless in the real world and start reading the Bible with the mind God gave you…

…and find the assurance the Bible says you can have.

paul