Strange Fire Conference: Exalting Human Suffering is a Reformed Family Tradition
“Here is what people don’t understand: the Reformation didn’t just herald a new gospel, it called for a whole new way in interpreting reality.”
“This is clear: He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers ,works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and, in general, good to evil. These are the people whom the apostle calls »enemies of the cross of Christ« (Phil. 3:18), for they hate the cross and suffering and love works and the glory of works. Thus they call the good of the cross evil and the evil of a deed good. God can be found only in suffering and the cross, as has already been said Therefore the friends of the cross say that the cross is good and works are evil, for through the cross works are dethroned and the »old Adam«, who is especially edified by works, is crucified. It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his »good works« unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God’s.”
~Martin Luther: Heidelberg Disputation; Theses 21
Martin Luther was a Platonist who despised human existence. The 95 Theses indeed launched the Reformation, but Luther’s Disputation to the Augustinian Order in Heidelberg six months later laid the foundation of Reformed doctrine. The Heidelberg Disputation argued for the interpretation of all reality through mediation on man’s evil, and God’s holiness. In other words, all reality is to be interpreted by a deeper and deeper understanding of our sin as set against God’s holiness. Like many Eastern epistemologies, anti-types give deeper meaning to each other; light defines darkness, and we wouldn’t know what light is without darkness etc.
This became known as Luther’s Theology of the Cross. Here is what people don’t understand: the Reformation didn’t just herald a new gospel, it called for a whole new way in interpreting reality. It called for reality to be interpreted through a new take on Eastern dualism; in essence, the serpent’s knowledge of good and evil. This is the foundation of the Calvin Institutes stated in 1.1.1.:
Our wisdom, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.
Remember that Calvin believed mankind was the essence of all evil (totally depraved), so the math on this is not difficult. In the very next sentence Calvin posits the Eastern concept of anti-types in this dualist construct:
But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.
Incredibly, all of the Calvin Institutes are founded on, and flow from the first sentence. The second sentence is the very first building block in Calvin’s massive metaphysical application. The Calvin Institutes are NOT primarily about the gospel, it is a metaphysical treatise on reality. Again, people don’t get this. We ignorantly wallow in the election debate while functioning in a church world reinterpreted by murdering mystic despots. This must amuse Calvin and Luther, if indeed they are in a place where amusement can be found.
I have come to believe that the kingdom of darkness has not swayed from what first worked best. Adam and Eve only knew good. But Lucifer had brought evil into reality. It was true, as the serpent said, God was keeping half of reality from them; specifically, the knowledge of good and evil both. While the apple may be a befuddling concept, the goal of the serpent to deceive the first couple into disobedience is not. They sinned and therefore became privy to both good and evil. Every false religion following has made that construct their epistemology. Instead of using that wisdom for change in the here and now, it is a method for birthing the spiritual into a horizontal experience. Part and parcel with this dualism is the idea that matter is evil and only spirit is good. The here and now is a waste. Man is utterly incompetent, totally depraved, and lives in a world that is utterly evil. Suffering weakens his evil physical body, and better defines the spiritual which enables him to experience it. What he/she understands is imputed through manifestations that are experienced.
This is the crux of the Heidelberg disputation. It is a treatise that exalts suffering. And this fact can be seen today in John MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference. It is apparent that MacArthur’s primary beef with Charismatic theology is its assertion of promised blessings, “Your Best Life Now.” In the Heidelberg Disputation, that is the “glory story.” Joel Osteen et al are the antithesis of the “cross story” that embraces human suffering and rejoices in it. Luther considered any self-consideration at all to be subjective and the “glory story.” On the other hand, to the point that we empty ourselves, despise ourselves, and rejoice in the suffering that God pours out on us, we experience the “cross story” and its glory, not ours. In theses 17 of the Heidelberg Disputation, Luther argues that this incessant self-depravation is not cause for despair, but results in a “grace” experience known in contemporary Reformed theology as “vivification.”
Hence, the new poster child for the contemporary Reformed movement is the storied Joni Eareckson Tada. The purpose for inviting her to the conference is made evident via an article written by Tim Challies:
She went on to speak of the chronic pain that lasted for many years and the stage three cancer that followed it and expressed how she has learned to be grateful for the suffering because of the way it keeps her longing for Christ. The suffering that results from sin in the world, God now uses to get rid of sin. There is nothing sweeter than knowing the joy of the Lord Jesus in the midst of suffering and all the while she holds on to the hope and the confidence, that in heaven, the big deal won’t be getting a new body that works, but a glorified heart that no longer twists truth, becomes anxious, manipulates others, and all these other manifestations of sin.
The particular point the conference wants to make was also made by Tada according to Challies:
Even today she often has well-meaning charismatics who come up to her and pray for her healing. Though she never says no, she does always ask them to pray for specific things and then highlights character issues. Will you pray for my bad attitude? Will you pray for my grumbling? She means to show them that she is far more concerned with indwelling, remaining sin than chronic pain and legs that do not work.
Tada, who has embraced Gospel Sanctification at some point in the past, usually gets a pass from me because of the respect her life demands. She will continue to get that pass for the most part here, but let me point out what is missing in her testimony: the goodness within. Is that true or not? Is that biblical or not? Christians have remaining sin, but is that epistemology, or a fact that calls us to put off that remnant of the old self and put on the new goodness within? Is God’s “seed” in us or not? What’s with everything being about the sin within and not the goodness within born of the new birth? Is Tada’s storied life a free pass for presenting this imbalanced view of reality/sanctifcation?
Also missing is conversation regarding the technology that has vastly improved her quality of life and reduced the degree of suffering she has experienced. Is God also not responsible for that? Why would he want to decrease suffering? Furthermore, the Reformers despised the idea of competent reasoning that led to the technologies that greatly improve quality of life. If not for the Enlightenment Era, Europe would be no different than Eastern and Middle Eastern third world countries that are products of the selfsame Platonist ideology.
Charismania? MacArthur et al are merely the other extreme. Like Calvin and company, they do not want to partake in the rigors of a many faceted sanctification. Everything is either the glory story or the cross story. This enables them to push the easy button on everything—especially “biblical counseling.” They do not want to invest in this life because they are not in control of the results. They posit the idea that trusting God is to check out of this life altogether and deem it worthless.
Not so. Trusting God is to never become weary in well doing. And to believe that we are responsible for the sum and substance of our own life. A responsibility for the life that bears our name, the name that God gave it. The Bible never states that Christ will stand in our stead at any judgment. We will be standing there ourselves….
and Christ’s response to those who only return what was originally given because of fearing works is well stated.
paul
Strange Fire Conference: John MacArthur’s Insufferable Hypocrisy
John MacArthur may go down in church history as one of the most confused pastors ever to step into a pulpit. His steroidal cognitive dissonance constantly results in insufferable hypocrisy.
For certain I thought he could not outdo himself in this regard, but he has. After writing Charismatic Chaos in 1992, he partnered with Charismatic CJ Mahaney for eight years in the Resolved conferences sponsored by his church, Grace Community in Sun Valley, California. One year after the last Resolved conference, MacArthur is hosting the 2013 Strange Fire conference that is fustigating Charismatic doctrine in no uncertain terms. The hypocrisy of it all is staggering.
MacArthur also seems to have a problem with the mysticism promoted by Charismatic theology, but yet is a close confidant of John Piper who not only has Charismatic leanings himself, but led the 2012 Passion conference in the mystic practice of Lectio Divina.
Furthermore, Geneva style Calvinists (also at the conference: Sproul, Lawson, Phil Johnson, et al) criticizing Charismatics is beyond the kettle calling the pot black. Calvin and Luther both attributed their theology to Neo-Platonist St. Augustine. The practical outcome is sanctification by faith alone through gospel contemplationism resulting in realm experience/manifestation. MacArthur himself now claims that he only explains the word of God and the Holy Spirit applies it resulting in his followers obeying God without realizing it (http://wp.me/pmd7S-1In).
Moreover, Calvinism is based on Hindu-like sanctification that posits perpetual mortification followed by vivification. As we dwell on our sin only, we are brought to despair (mortification) leading to the joy of our original rebirth (vivification). Calvinists Paul Washer and Michael Horton have both referred to this as continually “reliving our baptism.”
In MacArthur’s keynote address at this year’s Strange Fire conference, he also criticized Charismatics for their misrepresentation and overemphasis on the Holy Spirit leading to the dishonoring of the other two Trinity members. But likewise, Calvinists do the same thing with their Christocentric approach to the Scriptures. In the forward to Rick Holland’s book, Uneclipsing The Son (an in-your-face Gnostic treatise), MacArthur stated that ANY emphasis on ANYONE or ANYTHING other than Christ hinders the sanctification of God’s people.
All in all, Charismatics are barely any different than Calvinists. They both partake in epistemology that sees the horizontal as purely subjective and the vertical as purely objective. The goal is to experience the spirit realm horizontally through mysticism. For the Calvinist it is gospel contemplationism. For the Charismatic it is speaking in tongues.
What’s the difference?
paul
In Regard to American Politics, This Says it ALL
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Redemption: Another Choice between Calvinism and Biblicism; One? Or more Than One?
The choice between John Calvin’s gospel and the gospel described by a grammatical interpretation of the Bible is made up of multiple distinctives.
1. The standard for justification.
2. Infused grace.
3. Righteousness.
4. The role of law.
5. The number of judgments and resurrections.
6. The dichotomy of justification and sanctification.
7. Interpretation.
8. Total Depravity
9. Faith Alone
10. The law’s use.
11. New Birth
12. National Israel
13. Redemption
Number 13 is the subject of this post.
A review of 1-12 follows:
| Reformed | Bible | |
| Justification Standard | Perfect law-keeping. | No law. |
| Infused Grace | All righteousness remains outside of the believer. | Righteousness within. |
| Righteousness | Positionally only. | Practically |
| The Role of the Law | Doesn’t change for saved. | Changes for saved. |
| Judgments / Resurrections | One only. | Multiple |
| Dichotomy | Justification progresses by sanctification. | Justification is finished; only sanctification progresses. |
| Interpretation | Luther’s Theology of the Cross. | Grammatical |
| Total Depravity | Saved and Unsaved | Neither |
| Faith Alone | Both for justification and sanctification. | Only justification. |
| Law’s Use | To show evil and holiness only. | Practical instruction for the Christian life. |
| New Birth | Realm manifestation. | New creaturehood. |
| National Israel | No future. | Future |
The subject of redemption is another element of contradiction between what the Bible states grammatically and the Reformed method of interpretation. The word means, “The act of buying back.” It has also in it the thought of taking possession of that which has been bought. Since man’s condition never changes, and there is a vast metaphysical gulf between mankind and God according to Reformed thought, redemption is seen as taking place in the one great judgment where everyone’s just standing is determined (Calvin Institutes 3.25.9). Those who lived their Christian life by faith alone (the Reformed, “Christ 100% for us”) will be revealed as redeemed at that one last judgment which reveals those who are justified (the Reformed, “Already, not yet”). According to Reformed thought, if you persevere against the essence of all sin, which is, “trying to please God in your own efforts,” you will be granted eternal life and thereby revealed as one who has been purchased or “redeemed.”
However, since the Bible teaches that justification is a finished work, and righteousness is infused within the born-again Christian, the Bible teaches a separate redemption for the soul of the believer and the redemption of the mortal body. The soul is redeemed at salvation; the body is redeemed at resurrection.
Furthermore, there is redemption of national Israel, and a future redemption of creation. This is just another example of how all Reformed doctrine is crushed and found wanting by a single biblical elemental truth. Different redemptions take place at different times in history, and are not encompassed in one final event as proposed by Reformed thought (with the one exception of “already, not yet”).
The following treatise written by John Ritchie is helpful:
Redemption is the “act of buying back.” It has also in it the thought of taking possession of that which has been thus bought. There is a redemption by purchase, and also a redemption by power, spoken of in the Scriptures. There is a redemption which the believer has now, and there is a redemption that he hopes for, by-and-bye. It is needful to distinguish between these.
Man’s Need of Redemption.
Man is the slave of sin and Satan. In his fail, he surrendered himself into Satan’s hand. His inheritance, was lost with him. The world is claimed by Satan, and he rules it. He is the “prince of this world” (John 12:31). Man is a subject of his power (Acts 26:18) and must remain so until delivered by the power of God. He cannot redeem or deliver himself, nor can his fellow. “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psa. 49:7). If deliverance comes, it must be from above. This is what the Gospel reveals. “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24) is the Word of the God of redemption. “He sent redemption unto His people” (Psa. 111:9). This redemption comes through Christ, as we read– “Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30). He obtained “eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12) for His people.
Redemption by Blood, and by Power.
The language of the Word concerning the believer is, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). Then, looking onward to the day of coming glory, when redemptive power shall be extended to his mortal body, and to creation, the word is— “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:13-14). Then again, “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).
Redemption by blood was effected at the Cross. There the Lord Jesus “purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28) His people. Yea, more; He bought the field — the world, in which the treasure lay (see Matt. 13:44), and will yet take possession of it, set it in order, and rule it for God. But the time for this display of His redemptive power in the world has not yet come. He is now engaged in gathering His purchased treasure out of it. This He is doing by the Gospel. When a sinner believes the Gospel, his sins are forgiven, he is sealed by the Holy Spirit, and he waits for the day of full and final redemption.
Like a farmer who goes to the market to buy a flock of sheep, He purchases them, pays for them, and sets His mark upon them as His property. By-and-bye He returns, and takes the sheep that bear His mark out from the rest, and appropriates them to Himself.
These two aspects of redemption by blood and by power had their foreshadowing in the redemption of Israel. First, they were redeemed by the blood of the lamb from judgment, next by the arm of the Lord from Pharaoh. He “redeemed them from the hand of the enemy” (Psa. 106:10) to be unto Himself a peculiar treasure above all people: a people among whom He might dwell, and rule by His Word.
Kinsman, Redeemer, Avenger.
Under the law, a kinsman had a right to redeem (Lev. 25:25; Ruth 4:6-7). He might also avenge his brother’s blood (Joshua 20:5). The Hebrew word for Redeemer is also translated— “Kinsman” and “Avenger”; it has in it the threefold significance of Kinsman, Redeemer, Avenger. We have in the Lord Jesus all these three characters sustained. He is at once our Kinsman, Redeemer, and Avenger. He became our Kinsman by His incarnation. So we read, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same” (Heb. 2:14). Being “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7), His humanity was sinless, He had no share in man’s fallen nature, He was not at a distance from God as others were by nature. We must jealously guard against the thought that such things were associated with His manhood. But in all respects — sin excepted — He was a man. Thus He became our kinsman. But this of itself did not deliver. It is a fundamental error to say — as some have said — that in becoming man Christ linked Himself with our race, and thus elevated and dignified man as such. The Scriptures teach the reverse. Man’s nature has not been elevated since the day of his fall, nor will it ever be. He murdered Christ. He can only enter God’s Kingdom by being born again. The Lord became Kinsman in order that He might become Redeemer. He took flesh and blood in order that He might enter into man’s responsibilities, and discharge them by death. By death redemption was secured. The redemption of His people and the redemption of His inheritance were both secured by the Cross. By death He also became the Avenger. He destroyed the power of Satan, He bruised the serpent’s head, and, in virtue of His triumph over the enemy there, His people shall yet, in a day to come, see Satan bruised beneath their feet also (Rom. 16:20).
These three aspects of the work of Christ are all given in Heb. 2:14-15. Redemption by blood is past at the Cross: it never will be repeated; but redemption by power will go on until all that Christ has purchased shall be possessed and restored to God.
Redemption from the Curse.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal.3:13). The curse is the penalty of sin: it must have come upon us; but One was found who willingly died in our stead. Now all who believe are free. As we sing—
“Believing, we rejoice
To see the curse removed;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing redeeming love.”
Redeemed From All Iniquity.
“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). This is redemption from sin’s power. The people of the Lord are a purchased and a purified people. They are redeemed from lawlessness and set apart to God, to be of service to Him and for Him among men.
Not long ago, a Christian farmer was showing me over his fields waving with yellow grain. Not many years before, that same ground was over-run with whin, and yielded nothing. It passed into other hands, and the new owner began at once to reclaim his possession. Skill and labour were brought to bear, on the wild, uncared-for soil; it was first “purified,” then sown, and now it yields a good return to its owner. The redeemed on earth “are God’s husbandry” (I Cor. 3:9).
On them He is bestowing His grace, His discipline, and His care, with the object of having them a people zealous of good works, such as He has ordained for them to walk in (Eph. 2:10).
Redemption of the Body.
There is a redemption yet to come. “Waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). The body has not yet been delivered from that condition into which the fall has brought it. It has changed owners (see 1 Cor. 6:20), its members are no longer the weapons of sin, but now instruments of righteousness unto God (Rom. 6:13). It is still “our vile body” (Phil. 3:21), and must either be “dissolved” — as it is in those who have fallen asleep — or “changed” — as it will be in those who are “alive and remain” unto the coming of the Lord. In both, the body shall be fashioned anew, “like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21), in that day when redemptive power shall be put forth on the bodies of the saints. For this we wait.
Creation Redeemed.
There is also the “redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:14). Creation has long been subject to the bondage of corruption. The ground has been under the curse for man’s sake. It has long groaned and travailed in pain under its burden, but a day will come when it too shall be delivered and become a sharer of “glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). Then a new Heaven and a new earth, wherein righteousness dwells, shall shine forth, and all trace of sin and its fruit shall be done away. Everything in that new creation shall stand in the power of redemption, and not like the first creation, in the goodness of the creature. Thus God shall receive back unto Himself, through Christ and His redemption, the glory lost by sin, and fill His Heaven with a ransomed throng, who, looking on the Redeeming Lamb “in the midst of the throne,” shall ascribe to Him the honour and the praise. “Thou art worthy … for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood” (Rev. 5:9).
(Copied by Stephen Ross for WholesomeWords.org from Foundation Truths of the Gospel by John Ritchie. 2nd ed. Kilmarnock: Office of “The Believer’s Magazine,” [1904]).
The following chart below illustrates these points further:
Note: I am not going to interject the development of another point in my schedule right now, but be advised that Calvin made a really, really big deal of whether or not our redeemed bodies will be new ones or renovated ones (CI 3.25.7). He called the notion that our bodies will be new rather than renovated, “monstrous.” This always puzzled me, but I now suspect it was a big deal to Calvin because of the subject’s ramifications in regard to the different redemptions at different times.
paul
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