The Bob Jones DisG.R.A.C.E. Report: Hope for Change if God Cooperates
G.R.A.C.E. stands for “godly response to abuse in the Christian environment.” GRACE is a mediatory organization funded by the institutional church that investigates sexual abuse within Christian environments such as churches, missionary societies, and universities.
Their investigative report process in all cases so far has been slower than mud sliding to the top of Mount Everest. In the case of Bob Jones University, the report will finally be released tomorrow as the Christian community awaits with bated breath. Gag.
I am not going to spend much time on this post because I prefer to let the dead bury their own dead in regard to all of this institutional church drama. GRACE, and their approach, is predicated on Protestant Gnosticism and will not help anyone or do anything towards solving this problem. Boz Tchividjian, the director of GRACE, believes a false gospel and is a blind man leading the blind.
Let me keep this post simple and short because I have written other articles that delve deeply into what the mystical Boz believes, and I will do so by focusing on the closing words of Steve Pettit who read a statement today in regard to the GRACE report. Pettit is the President of BJU. At the end of what he stated must happen as a result of the GRACE report which apparently informed BJU of what was going on in their own university, he said that what must happen will happen by, watch it, here it comes…”the grace of God.”
Right. You see, there is only one thing worse than rape: people bringing about change in their own efforts. The “godly response” must be grounded in what Jesus did, not anything we do. And note that this change comes about by the “grace” of God. Let me rephrase that to clear things up for you: “This will happen by the justification of God,” or “This will happen by the salvation of God,” or “This will happen by the gospel of God.”
They all believe the same thing: we are sanctified by the same gospel that saved us. And you know, this is really “hard work” because of our tendency to do things ourselves, or in our own efforts like you know, Penn State. Sure, they slam-dunked the problem, but God didn’t get any glory. We can’t have that! And as Pettit also stated, the “process” (there is still a process?) is going to take a really, really long time. Hopeful yet?
Apparently, God deliberately takes a long time to deal with these situations so that we will know it has nothing to do with anything we do, but what Jesus has done. That’s the “godly response.”
Now back to the Boz. Why is the mere reporting of all of this such a big deal? Pharisees like us are inclined to say, “A report, so what?” Well, how were you saved? “By faith and repentance.” There you go. The report is designed to elicit deep repentance which results in the manifestation of change brought about by God’s grace, not anything we do. That brings me to the final words of Boz in regard to his statement on the report:
As this historical process comes to an end [no kidding], we continue to pray that the words of this report will fuel hope and healing in the lives of many as well as bring about transformational changes in the life of Bob Jones University. To that end, we look forward to having a front row seat at watching God work.
Right. We only need the GRACE reports to show us how wicked we are, and how much we need God’s grace, then we sit back and watch “God work.” And you know, when it comes to rape God is in no big hurry to stop it lest we believe we did something in the process. If it takes a really, really long time, it must surely be of God.
And these guys are getting paid for this stuff with your hard earned tithe money. You may want to give that some thought.
paul
First Episode: False Reformation Blog Talk Radio
Friday, December 12 at 7:00 PM.
Go to blogtalkradio.com/falsereformation. Paul will spend the first hour introducing the show’s theme and discussing the 5 solas and the 5 points of Calvinism. The second hour is for people to call in and talk with the host (347-855-8317).
The show will begin automatically after you click on the link.
What Does it Mean to Persevere in Salvation?
“The world cares little about those who merely love Jesus, but will readily cut you in half for living according to His doctrine.”
“If you are not a student of doctrine, you are not a lover of Jesus, you are a liar.”
I heard it again this morning: “They don’t know anything about doctrine, they just love Jesus.” Sigh. I have a confession to make. These types of Protestant truisms often verbalized from habit suck the wind out of my sails. What is it that is so discouraging about being a Baptist? Confusion. We think doctrine is really, really important, and of course our doctrine comes from the Bible, but “love” somehow trumps the nasty “D” word “doctrine.” A pity that it can’t be spelled with four letters. At least Muslims are not confused about their doctrine as displayed in their penchant for beheading people. A good Baptist wouldn’t dream of beheading anyone, we are just morally confused. At least Catholics know the Pope is the “Holy Father” and make no bones about it. Baptists hiss at such a notion, knowing it’s errant, but are completely ignorant about what is true.
American Christianity is in a biblical definition of words crisis. No religious follower can throw around words without really understanding the meanings like a Protestant. “Gospel,” “faith,” “salvation,” “grace,” “perseverance,” etc., are words we use often, but we really don’t know what they mean. No one can say “amen” while clueless like a Baptist. Dear Baptist pastor, don’t be encouraged when you hear “amen” from your congregants on Sunday morning; let’s be honest, they really have no clue what you are talking about. While claiming to be the sultans of salvation, most Baptists don’t even know its correct biblical definition.
“Nonsense! We know what that word means! It means we are saved from our sins by faith alone because of what Jesus did!”
Ok, so what do you do with Paul writing that we need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling? It’s not a contradiction; Paul is talking about salvation in regard to redemption, not justification. But, in order to know what that verse means, you need to know doctrine. So, let me rephrase the truism at hand:
“They don’t have a clue about anything the Bible says, they just love Jesus.”
Well, bless their little hearts, but Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Jesus’ mandate to the church was to “make disciples” (learners), teaching them to observe “ALL that I have commanded.” If you don’t know your Bible, you can’t love Jesus. If you don’t know your Bible, you don’t know doctrine.
Doctrine, law, commandments, and “truth,” are biblically synonymous. The primary characteristic of a saved person is love for the truth (2Thess 2:10). The saved person loves doctrine, law, the commandments, and truth (2Tim 4:2-4, Rom 8:1-8 Psalms 119). There is NO love for Jesus apart from His truth. “Why do you call me Lord and do not what I say?” A person who loves Jesus is a learner of doctrine. A person who loves Jesus is a student of doctrine. If you are not a student of doctrine, you are not a lover of Jesus, you are a liar.
How bad is it? I had three Baptist elders from a conservative Baptist church sit in my living room, and one proudly boasted, “I’m an elder, not a theologian.” God help us. This is beyond horrible. Till this day, I do not regret standing up and screaming at him, “THEN GET OUT OF THE MINISTRY!”
This brings us to the word “perseverance” in regard to “suffering.” Primarily, in the Bible, these two words regard the suffering we will endure for living according to truthful doctrine. The world wages a relentless onslaught against truth, and we are called on to persevere against that onslaught. The world cares little about those who merely love Jesus, but will readily cut you in half for living according to His doctrine. If you want to know what that can look like, see Hebrews chapter 11.
There is a salvation left for the Christian; it is a salvation from this mortal body, what Paul called the body of death in regard to its mortality. This mortality must put on immortality. We call that “redemption,” the other salvation (Rom 7:24, 25 [the word “wretched” refers to perseverance in the Greek]). Something that is redeemed has already been purchased, ie., we are already purchased and therefore justified. We still look forward to our redemption when Christ comes back to claim what He has already purchased on the cross. We are not our own, we “were bought with a price.” Christ purchased us from the world slave master.
Our present salvation (sanctification looking for the blessed hope of redemption) is for reward (Heb 6:10), justification is a gift. The Hebrew writer encouraged the Jewish believers to persevere in the truth, looking to Jesus the author (justification) and finisher (redemption) of our faith. They were told to persevere and put their suffering for the truth in perspective; they had not yet “resisted unto blood” like Jesus had. Look, I understand, in most cases, there are no doctrinally sound churches anywhere near where you live, but those of you who still attend such churches so your children will have friends—you might consider such. Jesus stood for truth unto death while you bemoan loosing “friends” over the truth. The Jews written to had already lost everything they owned, so the Hebrew writer encouraged them by noting that they still had their lives.
“Loving” Jesus apart from loving doctrine is just part of the worldly onslaught against the gospel, and is an excuse not to persevere for the sake of truth. “By much suffering we must enter into the kingdom,” and that suffering refers to “those who live godly in Christ WILL suffer persecution.” I know, I know, we are “only” talking about loss of reward here, but what about our real love for Jesus? Where is your passion to hear, “well done faithful servant” from the one who left the glories of heaven to purchase us from the world?
And remember, loving Jesus apart from doctrine is in fact a doctrine. Everyone lives by some doctrine—it might as well be one that leads to eternal life.
How deep is your real love?
paul
Evangelical Intellectual Dishonesty and the Mystery of the Gospel
“Hence, the Reformation was a blatant pushback against the mystery of the gospel revealed in the New Testament.”
As Western Protestants, we despise other cultures that blindly follow, en masse, “ridiculous” myths and superstitions such as emperor worship. However, Protestantism is little different and may be the most intellectually dishonest religion of all time. Never before in human history has a culture invested more time and money, especially money, in pure myth.
In March of 2015, renowned Protestant John MacArthur Jr. will host a shepherd’s summit with the following theme: “we” stand in a long line of faithful men, particularly John Calvin and Martin Luther, who stayed true to the inerrancy and supremacy of the Bible, and now “it is our turn.”
Yearly, young evangelicals spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to receive a diploma in Protestant orthodoxy from MacArthur’s Master’s Seminary, but the foundations of what MacArthur et al believe is a cesspool of contradiction and blatantly anti-gospel orthodoxy. We could discuss their real approach to Bible interpretation which is ancient mythology dressed up in Western intellectualism, but this post will focus on their praise heaped upon those who drove a spear through the very heart of the mystery of the gospel.
What is the mystery of the gospel? We are informed in Ephesians chapter 3:
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
After EVERYTHING the Jews did, didn’t do, thought about doing, didn’t think about doing, etc., the mystery of the good news revealed in the New Testament by Paul’s letters is the Gentiles are “partakers” of the promise (the Abrahamic covenant) and “fellow heirs.” The mystery is that Jew and Gentile would be baptized into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13). This is probably why the Holy Spirit was with Old Testament believers and indwelt them from time to time for specials tasks, but now permanently indwells believers until redemption. But admittedly, I lack sufficient study on that particular subject (indwelling in OT versus NT) so that’s not a dogmatic statement. Note “probably.”
We could also discuss, in addition to the Reformed tradition of Bible as narrative (the orthodoxy of mythology; reality as narrative), the progressive justification gospel that the Reformation was founded on, but again, this post only addresses the Reformation’s anti-gospel mystery approach. One of the Holy Spirit’s primary New Covenant objectives was to unite Jew and Gentile into one body. In contrast, the Reformers sought to SEPERATE Jew and Gentile and replace Israel’s place in God’s redemptive plan with the Gentiles. This is known as Replacement Theology and Supersessionism. The fact that this theology is a Reformed tradition is indisputable, and the anti-Semitism of the Reformers is well documented.
Hence, the Reformation was a blatant pushback against the mystery of the gospel revealed in the New Testament. While the Holy Spirit seeks to unit Jew and Gentile into one body with the Gentiles being the “partakers”, clearly, Martin Luther called for a separation between the two and the demarcation of Jews as second class kingdom citizens. To spend thousands of dollars produced on the backs of the laity to uphold Luther as a spiritual hero is the epitome of intellectual dishonesty at best, and a plenary rejection of the gospel at worst.
Intellectual honesty can only call for a complete rejection of Protestantism and everything that came out of it. It is all fruit from the poisonous Reformation tree. The baby needs to be thrown out with the bathwater because the baby is uncleanable. It will only grow up to be the same monster that gave it birth. Protestantism must be repented of, and replaced with a return to the priesthood of believers manifested in home fellowships apart from institutional salvation.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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