This Week’s Sinner Saved by Grace Sinning and in the News: RC Sproul Jr.
This week’s Reformed leader who got caught is RC Sproul Jr. The scandals are now commonplace and beginning to lose their news worthiness. Commonness doesn’t excite; it’s uncommonness that gets people’s attention. This is why the Super Bowl only takes place once a year; it’s an uncommon event.
Sproul will be suspended for eleven months (without pay?) for…well…being who he is…a “sinner.” And if the Protestant leaders are dropping like flies, what’s going on among those they are leading? I can answer that. Lots of totally depraved stuff. Don’t let the resurgence of church discipline fool you. Church discipline, a concept NOT found in the Bible, is only for those who ask questions and do things that could involve the outside world in “family matters.”
You might want to understand the following: making RW Glenn, Mark Driscoll, Doug Phillips, Josh Duggar, Tullian Tchividjian, Bill Gothard, etc., resign from ministry for being who they are and being scandalous while preaching the “scandalous gospel” is not inconsistent if you really understand Protestant doctrine more than Protestants do. Their fall is merely a manifestation of God’s will. The Lord is “sovereign,” and the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
Let me just boil everything down and make it real simple. Protestantism was founded on the idea that all of reality is a salvific metaphysical narrative written by God who created the narrative and all of the characters to complete himself. For the sake of his own glory and self-love which apparently was lacking, God wrote history as a metaphysical redemptive narrative. Stop right where you are now and consider: what you are presently experiencing is part of the prewritten narrative which is all about redemption. The story, and everything about it, brings glory to God.
Consequently, yes, God is supposedly the creator of evil, predetermines who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, and well-being comes from rejoicing in what gives God glory for the sake of his self-love; whatever is in the narrative that he pre-wrote might even include your own damnation. Of course, this makes the most excellent piety an expression of hyper altruism. It is the practical application of John Calvin’s Worm theology.
So, since everything is predetermined for God’s glory, and God is glorified by damnation and salvation alike which are eternal, every verse in the Bible is about salvation, or what we call “justification.” In the final analysis, in accordance with the least common denominator, you MIGHT be saved in the end by living by faith alone in the gospel of sovereignty. To at least have a chance, you must enter the “race of faith” in which the reward is salvation. When you hear folks talk about “sovereign grace,” and the “sovereign gospel,” and the “gospel of sovereignty,” this is what it boils down to. When good Protestants say, “God is in control,” they are not kidding—God is in TOTAL control.
This is why institutional Christians have always lacked wisdom in regard to everyday wisdom and solving the more difficult questions of life (what we call sanctification), because every verse in the Bible is about justification, ie., “what Jesus has done, not anything we do.” As one pastor told me, “I am not going to be distracted from the gospel by counseling people.” Good Protestant pastors farm out counseling to the ACBC where the counseling is “gospel-centered.” And this counseling will give people peace; after all, there is nothing you can do about anything, so stop fighting what God has predetermined. Relax, be happy, everything is predetermined for God’s glory. Got tragedy? Praise the Lord for his glory. Rejoice and be happy for this is the day he has made.
Let’s apply this to what we see on the Christian hillsides littered with dead bodies. According to what I was told by Clearcreek Chapel elder Greg Cook some time ago, counseling guru Stuart Scott is no longer an elder at John MacArthur’s church because Scott’s children were sinners saved by grace acting like sinners. This is the crux: obedience, like every other reality, is determined and delivered by God, not us. So yes, we are in fact sinners, but anything that we do that is good is performed by God, not us. Couple this with what I have heard MacArthur say on the radio: (paraphrase) “Saved obedient children are God’s mark on a man confirming his calling to the ministry.” See how this works?
Now let’s apply this to Sproul et al. Their punishment is not inconsistent with the idea that they are punished for being what they preach because their fallenness or unfallenness is determined by God. What they did is who they are, and God did not prevent what they did, but regardless, they deserve the punishment. Why? Because God is the potter and we are the clay, and all clay pots are made for his glory whether pots of wrath or pots of glory. Look, read Sproul’s statement about what he did and his suspension, this is written all over it if you know what to look for.
Yes, yes, yes, I know, I can hear the screaming Protestant denials like alley cats in the night while in heat. But what they say reveals the foundations of their Protestant mindset: “It’s God’s will,” or “Lord willing,“ “I didn’t do it, it was the Holy Spirit,” “God is in control,” etc., etc., etc. These statements are NEVER qualified. What’s God’s will? Everything, or just certain categories? If we didn’t do it and the Holy Spirit did it, what do we do, if anything as opposed to what the Spirit does? If we drive somewhere to do a good work, does the Spirit drive the car, or do we drive the car? And if we drive the car, does that qualify as participation in the good work? To what extent is God in control? Not only that, an orientation towards solutions is hardly ever observed, but rather, “we will pray for you.” This is because solutions are irreverent in regard to what God has supposedly predetermined. Our prayers serve to display our “perplexity” as set against God’s omniscience which also gives him glory. Regardless of the circumstance, we don’t pray for a good ending, but for God’s glory, ie., whatever happens.
The hard determinism of Protestantism’s gospel of sovereignty is deluded over the years leaving behind anemic sanctification which causes people to look for a solution. This results in, “Eureka! Here is the problem: we have strayed away from our original gospel!” Hence, enter the New Calvinist movement.
Common sense tells us that this doctrine will lead to, at least, a relaxation of the law, or better stated, a relaxation of love (“If you love me, keep my commandments”), but there is no contradiction in these leaders paying consequences for living out the gospel that they preach…
…whether they obey/love or not is God’s doing which confirms God’s mantle upon them. If anyone loves, it is really God loving himself through the individual. As the Christian song states, “We are empty vessels waiting to be filled.” Wellbeing is defined as seeing yourself as a mere character in God’s prewritten metaphysical narrative and plying whatever predetermined role that gives him glory. If you believe that anything you do is your own choice, you are playing god and writing your own reality.
Now, apply this construct to Sproul’s post and see if it makes any sense. Will any of these guys return to ministry? Only the future reading of God’s narrative will tell…the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
paul
Southern Baptist “Financial Crisis” May Not Be Good News
The President of the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Gnostic heretic David Platt, has announced a financial crisis and the inevitable dismissal of between 600 and 800 missionaries accordingly. I was initially rejoicing at this good news before I came to my senses.
While it may be good news that there will be 600-800 fewer people spreading the false gospel of progressive justification all over the globe while being paid for it by dumbed down professing Christians, in reality, something else may be afoot.
In the minds of the Neo-Calvinists who have taken over the SBC, there is only one thing that is preventing them from taking over the whole world with their historical-redemptive worldview; those in the church hopelessly bound, albeit anemically, to a historical-grammatical view of reality.
Now look, in the past, I have owned several businesses and know as well as anyone else that you can make company accounting books say anything you want them to say; is the IMB really in the red, or is this a ploy to purge missionaries who don’t get it?
I know at least this much: if missionaries really need to be cut, and the SBC is comprised of Biblicists and Christocentric Gnostics, and it is, and the latter is running the show, and they are, who gets laid-off is going to be selective. Do you really think Platt is going to lay-off any YRR (Young, Restless, Reformed) Brownshirts? No way. Note this from the news account:
The first of the cuts will come from voluntary retirements, followed by a restructuring.
That would be the earthy old fogies more inclined to a historical-grammatical view of reality. That would be the old guard who are getting what they deserve. They let the foxes into the henhouse, so let them take their medicine.
David Platt has something else to gain in this for the Neo-Calvinist movement. He can blame the old guard for getting the SBC into this mess, and hark! it took a YRR to see the problem. And this is typical: Calvinism is obviously going to have a relaxed view of evangelism; so, while the Neo-Calvinists are the cause of the decline, they can claim to be the solution.
Destructive social movements always supply their own demand. They create the problem, and then claim to be the solution. In the same way, the viral Reformed biblical counseling movement is inundating the SBC as a result of the SBC faithful getting a consistent dose of messages based on condemnation from Neo-Calvinist pulpits. Who would not seek counseling after being told that they are totally depraved week in, week out? However, and likewise, this is a purging process. The counseling construct is “redemptive church discipline.” The primary goal of this counseling is to determine what gospel individuals hold to. The counselee presentation problems are not the issue though that’s the pretense; the real issue is the worldview of the counselees. This is why the present-day “biblical counseling” movement that presently saturates the SBC is producing church discipline and marital divorce at epidemic proportions.
Am I suggesting that this latest SBC drama could be more of a purge than a real and present financial crisis? Pretty much.
paul
Like Jared, Like Josh: The Protestant Herd Expects Different Outcomes from the Same State of Being
Jared Fogle had it all. Through fluke circumstances, he became the “Subway Guy” which resulted in a net worth of around 15 million dollars. He was also willing to risk all of that because of a desire that is seriously illegal. In the face of what he had to lose, he could not say no to his desire for sex with adolescents.
Those remotely familiar with the Bible are not surprised by this. The Bible teaches that sin makes its appeal through desires, and to one degree or another, the unregenerate are enslaved to those desires. The Bible is also clear: believers have sinful desires, but because they are born again, they are able to say no to those desires. In addition, the Christian is able to put sinful desires to death or at least reduce them to a mild nuisance.
Because the believer undergoes a spiritual baptism that puts the old self to death in exchange for a new life in Christ, desires are not able to impose a suffocating full court press upon them; ignorance of God’s word notwithstanding. In contrast, we find that some unbelievers cannot go to sleep at night until they fulfill their evil lust (Proverbs 4:16). The Bible also documents several instances where individuals seek to fulfill their lusts in the face of certain death. Certainly, today’s headlines are full of such examples. This also brings to mind Andy’s Bible study from last Tuesday, and how “self-control” was part of the apostle Paul’s gospel presentation. Now we know why. Self-control is part and parcel with being saved. For the true Christian, the ability to say no is present, and learning how to say no to sinful desires is an ongoing process:
Titus 2:11 – For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (KJV).
1Thessalonians 4:3 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God (ESV).
This ministry is fond of talking about the two kinds of people in the world: under law, and under grace. Those under law are enslaved to sinful desires that vary in type and degree from one person to another, are provoked to sin by the law, and will be judged by the law. Those under grace are not enslaved to particular evil desires, are provoked to righteousness by the law, and will not be judged/condemned by the law. These are two different states of being.
However, what most Protestants are unaware of is the fact that Reformation soteriology denied a change of being for the “believer.” Salvation only enables a person to SEE reality differently without actually being transformed into a new creature. In other words, salvation is a different experience, but not a new state of being. Therefore, the Protestant gospel calls for an imputation of righteousness to the “believer” that is not their own because the “believer” does not change in regard to being. This is known as the doctrine of “double imputation.”
Hence, the “believer” is still enslaved to sinful desires. Yet, Protestants become perplexed, confused, and dismayed by events like that of Josh Duggar. Actually, the Protestant herd put a pretty good spin of Duggar’s last episode, but the latest revelation that he was subscribed to two Ashley Madison accounts is a Rhonda Rousey smack down; game completely over.
Of course, citing an example like Duggar is making a case that there is lots of sand at the beach. Judging by the fruit, Protestantism is a decadent religion that has found cover with religious common decency over the years. Nevertheless, common decency is giving way to what is hidden and provoked by a return to the authentic Protestant gospel of medieval times via the New Calvinist movement. Apart from what is on the news, this ministry has received many emails about what goes on among New Calvinist leaders, not excluding things like wife swapping.
And why is this? It’s the doctrine. Under law is under law…it is what it is, and behavior is always the result of doctrine/logic…always. Jared like Josh, because they are both under law.
paul
How to Sign Away Your Life to a Biblical Counselor
We have previously discussed how most “church covenants” in our day state that you must have permission from the elders to vacate membership, and that these so-called “covenants” are legally binding contracts that waive your rights to certain state laws. Hence, your salvation can be cancelled by the elders, and you can be publicly humiliated for “insubordination.” An example can be seen following:
If you’re a person who doesn’t have many skeletons in your closet, they will leave the congregation to their own imaginations. But, if they have the goods on you, that will be announced. And, the primary way they obtain the goods on you is by obtaining your trust through discipleship and formal counseling. Though confidentiality is assumed, biblical counselors certified by ACBC (Association of Certified Biblical Counselors) do not have to play by the same rules. Following is a video capture of an ACBC counselee data sheet. Basically, if you are a person with a lot of baggage and you fill this out, they own you.
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