Paul's Passing Thoughts

Tips for Struggling Missionaries on How to Get Money from the Church

Posted in Uncategorized by Paul M. Dohse Sr. on April 16, 2017

Are you a church missionary struggling financially? Is financial support waning? In order to get funded, it is important to understand changing trends within the institutional church. However, you have come to the right place for cash because regardless of any geo-economic situation anywhere in the world or during any time in history institutions that sell salvation will always be well funded. Regardless of income, people will invest time and money to escape eternal damnation. The question for missionaries is how to get the church to invest in your ministry.

First, the church is returning to its historical roots and therefore the rules are all but totally changed. Let’s observe the raw basics.

Churches want to see a validation of credentials. They want to see a seminary degree, usually a Master’s degree at the very least (expertism), and they want to see a submission to, and validation of church authority. The authority issue has become absolutely HUGE of late. You must project the idea that you are “under authority.” In some capacity as much as possible, project these two fundamentals.

Project success. If you cannot project success, gee whiz, “God must not be working in your midst.” At this point, you are dead in the water. However, this can be substituted with a ministry vision or goal; churchians will invest in a vision.

Project success via infrastructure. In other words, building projects. Why? Infrastructure speaks to authority. Though splendid church buildings project the intimidation of God’s authority, buildings in general will do. If you have been involved in successful church building projects that lack grandeur, merely verbalize the success and leave out the pictures and thereby leaving the splendidness of the structure to the imaginations of the congregants. Again, a church building project goal will do, especially with the use of architectural drawings.

Project ministry proxy. What is this? Most parishioners are spiritually lazy and want to buy God’s good pleasure with money. Hence, they want to see a ministry they know they should be doing that they can buy into with money. In essence, it’s like investing in the heavenly stock market; therefore, show an impressive portfolio.

Target emotions. Churchians will pay big money to be entertained. The most popular movies make people laugh and cry both. A good movie tugs the emotions in both directions. Do the same. If you are not gifted with this talent to do so, use multimedia excerpts from people who can.

Exchange specific doctrinal statements with the ambiguous use of “the gospel.” Be sure to pronounce it like this: “gaaawssssfffuuuul. It is also helpful to pronounce “God” this way: “GaaawwwD.” At any rate, when you use the word, “gospel,” the parishioners will project their own understanding of the gospel onto whatever you are saying. Specific doctrinal statements bring up unnecessary issues because most parishioners lack critical thinking to begin with. Speak to them according to the pithy truisms and spiritual bumper stickers they are accustomed to.

Project the furthering of church dominion. Remember, Protestantism was a church-state until the American Revolution. Remember, ALL Protestant doctrine was established and written during the time that Protestantism was a church-state, and for the express purposes of church-state. And remember, the church is returning to its original roots. Be sure to project your contribution to the furthering of church dominion.

These are BASIC fundamentals that should form your overall presentation which will vary from missionary to missionary. Again, you can improvise with goal/vision wherever necessary. For example, if you only have a Bachelor’s degree, leave that out while merely mentioning the seminary you graduated from and let the parishioners do what they are very good at; assuming things. Past that, partake in a cheesy online Master’s diploma program and tell them that you are in the process of obtaining your Master’s degree.  

paul    

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A Postworthy Email on Easter Day

Posted in Uncategorized by Paul M. Dohse Sr. on April 16, 2017

A friend of PPT sent me the following redacted email last night and the content pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy. However, do remember that BOTH Catholics and Protestants claim Augustine as their doctrinal father.

Begin correspondence:

Good Evening Paul,
The reason I’m writing you is that I have recently purchased a reprint of a book written in 1887 by Alexander V. G. Allen a professor at Cambridge University. Professor Allen was no fan of Augustine (and therefore no fan of Calvin) and he writes a most interesting analysis of Augustine’s work. I have reproduced a couple pages of it below for you thinking you will find it of interest. A link is provided at the bottom of the quote in case you ever want to purchase the book for yourself.
Merry Easter (or Resurrection Day if you prefer)!
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
To this church it was that Augustine had been converted, although the full significance of his conversion was not at once apparent, and for years his thought was in confusion in consequence of the lingering influence of a higher theology. But from the time when he became Bishop of Hippo, the ecclesiastical leaven began to work most powerfully, and truth, as such, was no longer the object of his life. Before the Pelagian controversy began, he was seeking for some dogmatic basis by which to justify the claims of the church as a mediator between God and man, without whose intervention salvation was impossible. In so doing he was laying the cornerstone of Latin theology. When the Pelagian controversy was over, the Latin church was for the first time in possession of a theology of its own, differing at every point from the earlier Greek theology, starting from different premises and actuated throughout by another motive.[i]
 
The foundation of that theology was the Augustinian dogma of original sin. That doctrine was alone adequate to explain the existence and mediatorship of the church, or to justify its claim to teach and to rule with supreme authority. The dogma of original sin was unknown to Greek theology as well as an innovation also in Latin thought, though it had vaguely broached by Tertullian and Cyprian, and intimations looking toward it are to be found in the writings of Ambrose. According to this dogma, humanity is absolutely separated from God in consequence of Adam’s sin. In the guilt of that sin the whole human race is implicated, and has therefore fallen under the wrath and condemnation of God, — a condemnation which dooms the race, as a whole and as individuals, to everlasting woe. So deeply is Augustine interested in establishing this position, that the redemption of the world by Christ inevitably assumes a subordinate place, and is practically denied. Adam and not Christ becomes the normal man, the type and representative, the federal head of the race. There is a solidarity of mankind in sin and guilt, but not in redemption, — a solidarity in Adam, not in Christ. There stands, as it were, at the opening of the drama of human history a quasi-supernatural being, whose rebellion involves the whole human family in destruction. Endowed with a supernatural gift, — the image of God in his constitution which united him closely with his maker, — he lost it for himself and his descendants by one sinful act, and thus cut off humanity from any relationship with God. In this catastrophe, the reason, the conscience, the will of man suffered alike; the traces of the divine image in human nature were destroyed.
 
How then is the sundered relationship to be restored? What is redemption, and how is it to be applied? The place of Christ in Augustine’s scheme is not a prominent one, for humanity has not been redeemed. Augustine continues to speak of Christ, it is true, in the conventional way, but he no longer finds in His work any bond which unites God with humanity. The incarnation has become a mystery, — God chose to accomplish human salvation in this way, but as far as we can see He might have adopted some other method. It almost seems as though, if Christ were left out altogether, the scheme of Augustine would still maintain its consistency as a whole and retain its value as a working system. The reasons which led Augustine to deny the universality of redemption were the same as had influenced Gnostics and Manicheans, — he was oppressed by the sense of sin in himself, the knowledge of it in others, the appalling extent and depth of human wickedness; these things to the mind of a practical Roman made it meaningless to think or act as if humanity were redeemed to God. But when the Christian principle of redemption had been abandoned, there was only one other alternative, and that was to follow still further in Gnostic and Manichean footsteps, — to adopt the principle of an individual election by which some souls were saved out of the great mass doomed to destruction. The bond of union between this world and God is the divine will, — a will not grounded in righteousness or love, into whose mysterious ways it is vain for man to inquire, the justice of which it is presumptuous for him to discuss. That will whose arbitrary determinations constitute right, chooses some to salvation and leaves the rest to follow out the way to endless misery. In one respect the Augustinian idea of predestination diverged from the Gnostic and approximated the later Mohammedan conception, — it is a predestination which acts here and there in an arbitrary way without reference to human efforts or attainments. The clearest manifestation of the divine will in the world, which is open to the gaze of all, is the Catholic church, the one divinely appointed channel through which God has decreed that the elect are to be saved. Predestination is to a process within the church. For although Augustine believed that outside of the church none could be saved, he by no means held that all within the church would escape damnation. Although all are to be compelled to enter the church, this is only in order that the elect among them who are known only to God may obtain the grace to be found alone in the church, by which they make their election sure.
 
by Alexander V.G. Allen
pp. 156-159

 

 

 

 

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Get Over It: Calvin and Luther Propagated a Blatant False View of Justification

Posted in Uncategorized by Paul M. Dohse Sr. on April 16, 2017

Source: Get Over It: Calvin and Luther Propagated a Blatant False View of Justification

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The Historical Transition From Home Assembly and Passover to Church and Easter

Posted in Uncategorized by Paul M. Dohse Sr. on April 16, 2017

From Christ’s Assembly to the Institutional Church: Part 1

http://truthaboutnewcalvinism.weebly.com/vol-2015-issue-4.html

From Christ’s Assembly to the Institutional Church: Part 2

http://truthaboutnewcalvinism.weebly.com/vol-2015-issue-5.html

 

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A Thought for Good Friday: What Is The “It”?

Posted in Uncategorized by Andy Young, PPT contributing editor on April 14, 2017

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” ~ John 19:30

τετελεσται (teh-tel-es-tai) – verb; indicative mood, perfect tense, passive voice, 3rd person singular. It is derived from the Greek noun telos which is used to refer to something set out as a goal or an aim, or the conclusion of an act or state.

All Churchians most likely at some point in their life have heard the explanation that when Jesus uttered these words that He meant that he had finished what He had come to earth to accomplish. And what was it that Jesus accomplished? The orthodox interpretation of that would be that Jesus accomplished the forgiveness of sins. Moreover, it would be that Jesus lived a perfect life of obedience. Now having demonstrated perfect obedience to the Law, Jesus could fulfill his purpose as the perfect sacrifice for sin. His job was done.

It is true that Jesus did accomplish the forgiveness of sin with His death on the cross. But how exactly did this happen? Furthermore, Reformed orthodoxy would have us believe that Christians need to preach the gospel to themselves every day. They must daily return to the cross to continually have Jesus’ obedience imputed to their lives as a covering. This is accomplished by “faith alone” works through the “means of grace” administered by the local church. If Christians need an ongoing imputation of righteousness from Christ through His obeying the law for us in our stead, how exactly can one say that Jesus’ work is “finished”?

Lest I be accused of setting up a “straw man” argument, consider that after almost nine years of research here at TANC ministries, all of the problems with Protestant orthodoxy and the institutional church can be boiled down to one thing: a misunderstanding of the Law. Reformed orthodoxy keeps Christians “under law” (the Biblical definition of an unsaved person) by making perfect law-keeping the standard for righteousness. Because Protestantism’s metaphysical assumption of man is “total depravity”, man cannot keep the law, so he must rely on Jesus to keep the law for him.

But the Bible says that righteousness is apart from the law (Romans 3:21, 28). If Jesus must keep the law for us, not only does that make Jesus’ work not “finished”, but it is also not a righteousness apart from the law. What could Jesus have possibly meant when He said, “It is finished”?

It is important to note the grammar of that phase, which is only one single word in Greek. First of all, it is in the “passive voice”. That means the subject is the recipient of the action. Jesus did not say I have finished something. Some subject “it” received the action of being finished, and Jesus’ death accomplished that.

Second, the word “tetelestai” is in the “perfect” tense. The perfect tense is a verb form that indicates that an action or circumstance occurred earlier than the time under consideration, often focusing attention on the resulting state rather than on the occurrence itself. Although this gives information about a prior action, the focus is likely to be on the present consequences of that action.  In fact, the King James rendering of this verb is incorrect.  The correct rendering of this phrase in the perfect tense would be, “It has been finished.”  Jesus declared that His death produced a resulting state of something that now exists that is different from an earlier state.

Third, “tetelestai” is in the singular third person. The subject is not Jesus and something He did. The focus is on some third party subject that was the recipient of some action being performed upon it. Therefore, the statement, “It is finished” could not be a reference to Jesus finishing His work of perfect obedience to the Law. Something else had the action of “finished” performed upon it.

The question then remains, when Jesus said, “It is finished”, what exactly then is the “it”?

For one thing, the Law was actually a living will or “testament”, a covenant made between God and Israel that was ratified with Moses by the sprinkling of blood (Hebrews 9:18-21). This covenant of the Law acted as a guardian until the promise made to Abraham and his “seed” was fulfilled. (Galatians 3:16, 22-24). The Law took Old Testament saints into protective custody, protecting them from the Law’s condemnation upon their death. All sin was imputed to the Law. This was the “atoning” or “covering” aspect of the Law.

The Law’s testament pointed to the coming “promise” to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed. There would come one who would “take away” sin once and for all. This was so clearly symbolized by the picture of the “scapegoat” in Leviticus 16. The high priest would lay his hands on the head of a goat, signifying the imputation of sin to the Law. The goat would then be delivered into the hands of a strong man who would carry that goat into the wilderness and release it, signifying the taking away of sin as far as the east is from the west.

Jesus was the promised “seed” of Abraham. He was the “testator” of which the Law’s covenant spoke. Just as with any will, it could not be in force until after the death of the testator (Hebrews 9:16-17). It would seem reasonable then that the perfect tense of the verb “tetelestai” would put focus on the Law, its testament, and its role as guardian. The initiating of the Law was an event or circumstance of the past, but Jesus’ death now causes us to focus on its resulting change of state. The passive voice indicates that the Law is the recipient of this change of state. What is now changed?

  • The testament of the Law is finished. Jesus’ death now allowed its promises to be fulfilled; that is, sin would be ended because the Law was ended. All sin that was imputed to the Law would be taken away forever. The Law can no longer condemn.
  • The Law’s role as a guardian is finished. Since the “promise” had been fulfilled, believers are now the righteous offspring of the Father. There is no Law to condemn them, and where there is no law there is no sin. And since there is no sin there is no longer any need of a guardian. The covering aspect of the Law is ended.
  • The distinction between Jew and Gentile is finished. Now every born again child of God would be baptized into one Body. This is the mystery that Paul spoke of in Ephesians. He called it the New Man. Every person who is a member of the Body is given a gift to exercise to the edification of the Body and to demonstrate love to God and others. The Law is the means by which believers show love through obedience.

One could say that because of Jesus’ death to end the Law, there is now a new relationship to the Law.  There is a change of state; not only of the law but the state of the believer as well!

It was God’s plan to reconcile every man to Himself by putting to death the “old man” who is “under law” and replacing him with a new creature who is the literal offspring of the Father. In this way sin is ended because the Law is ended for those who are born again. The Law is fulfilled in us, every believer, each time we show love to another.

On this “Good Friday”, take time to consider this: Sin sought to bring death by condemnation and alienate man from God. God defeated Sin by providing a way to make man part of His own family!

Andy

Dear Reformed Brother, Was Jesus Righteous Before He Kept the Law?
Wait, Believers Fulfill The Law?
Do You Believe a False Gospel?

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