Galatians: Protestantism is No New Thing Under the Sun; Law-Based Justification is Functioning Antinomianism
Projected Publication: 2017
The law was NEVER the standard for righteousness, but it is the standard for love and the work of faith.
Protestantism is the Galatian problem all over again. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he attacks law-based justification, but functioning antinomianism has a slick way of dissing the law while applauding it. On the one hand the law is applauded as the standard for righteousness; ie., justification, but on the other hand some sort of substitute for the law fulfills it. This is anti-law while presaging to applaud it. And by the way, antinomianism is really anti-love.
Hence, while Protestants proudly proclaim themselves people of the book, evil and tyranny reins in the church. Those who show themselves reasonably equitable are really just good Germans. Why is this? Answer: law-based justification. Protestants are perhaps the wiliest in this falsehood because the banner over them is “justification by faith.” While proclaiming justification by faith alone apart from the law, it is really justification by the law. The key here is that like all law-based religions before it, Protestantism makes the law justification’s standard.
As a result, that standard must be met by some sort of substitutional ritual that fulfills the law FOR the “believer.” This actually leads to a “relaxing” of the law because we can’t fulfill its…watch for it….”righteous demands.” Why strive to obey the law when it demands perfection? In fact, Martin Luther and John Calvin both stated that any little falling short makes one guilty of violating every point of the law. Will this lead to a “relaxing” of the law which was the very thing that Christ accused the Pharisees of? Of course it will. As the institutional Protestant church rediscovers its true roots more and more will antinomianism increase? Of course it will. Is that the very thing we are witnessing in our day? Absolutely.
With the Judaizes, the substitute for functioning righteousness was a litany of manmade traditions including the recognition of days and circumcision:
Galatians 4:9,10,11 – But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
Again, Protestants are really slick at this game. One of their rituals is “living by faith alone.” Instead of salvation being a onetime act that makes us righteous, our salvation is maintained by ritual faith alone works. This is the sort of thing James addressed in his epistle and why Martin Luther had open contempt for that particular New Testament letter.
In Protestantism, like all law-based false gospels, the law is the standard. Righteousness is defined by perfect law-keeping coupled with a substitute for fulfilling the law. Let me repeat that:
In Protestantism, like all law-based false gospels, the law is the standard. Righteousness is defined by perfect law-keeping coupled with a substitute for fulfilling the law.
With the Judaizes it was circumcision et al, with Protestantism it is the manmade tradition of “double imputation.” What’s that? It is the idea that Jesus kept/keeps/fulfills the law for us. If we keep the law we will fall short of its “perfect demands” and will be guilty of violating the whole standard for righteousness. The very verse they use to prove this makes the opposite point (James 2:10) as we shall see further along. But, this very error can be addressed using Paul’s letter to the Galatians:
Galatians 5:2 – Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Note that in order to be justified by the law, the receiver of the justification must be the one who keeps it. Unless they alone keep the whole law, they are severed from Christ. “Every man” that wants to be justified by the law must keep it himself. This is why double imputation doesn’t cut it. And in regard to the whole idea of a substituted righteousness, what is the result in every case? A relaxing of the law, and a righteousness that does not exceed that of the Pharisees who substituted the law with their manmade traditions.
This is where double imputation keeps the so-called believer under the condemnation of the law and calls the “believer” to live by faith alone works (ritual) invented by men. Jesus is a substitute for perfect law-keeping which completely misunderstands the purpose of the Old Covenant. The OC uses the law to hold all sin captive. All sin is against the law. The OC imputes all sin to the law, and then Jesus came to end the law (Romans 10:4).
Galatians 3:19 – Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
When one believes on Christ, he/she is baptized in the Spirit and is no longer under the OC to which all sin is imputed. The believer is saved by “the promise” of new birth, NOT the law. In fact, if the law has anything to do with being made righteous, even if it is fulfilled by a substitute, that would make the law an additional “seed” BUT there is only ONE seed:
Galatians 3:15 – To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Protestantism, like all law-based salvation plans, makes the law an additional life source other than the new birth made possible by “the promise” of the Spirit who raised Christ from the grave. This changes the true believer’s relationship to the law. Instead the law condemning, it is the standard for loving God and others.
The law was NEVER the standard for righteousness, but it is the standard for love and the work of faith:
Galatians 5:6 – For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
This is the whole point of James 2:10 as set against many verses noting that love fulfills the whole law. The contrast is the point. The new birth is the standard for righteousness—not the law. This makes the whole Protestant “sinners save by grace” a lie from the pit of hell. Those who sin against the law are still under law. Grace in not a covering for sin, it is an ending of the law and its condemnation. Grace has a law: the law fulfilled by the believer’s work of love; read Romans 8 and…
1John 3:3 – And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother (KJV).
Christ didn’t come to cover sin via obedience to Protestant orthodoxy which holds to a law-based standard for justification like all other false religions. He came to end enslavement to sin and the law’s condemnation in order to free us to live by love. The law is good for that purpose. In this sense, the law and its truth sanctifies us (John 17:17). In this sense, “If you love me keep my commandments.”
paul
Moving On As a Contemporary Child of God; All Those Who Do So Have Their Own Blessed Broken Road
“The Protestant teachers proudly proclaim themselves as bad people and even laugh about it, but yet the simplicity of cause and effect somehow escapes us.”
“In all cases, orthodoxy is the knowledge handed down to the spiritual peasants to inform them on how to be progressively saved by the institution.”
“…in the final judgment followers will stand alone before God.”
Recently, the host and domain address for eldersresolution.org came up for renewal. With everything I have going on with TANC Ministries the due date slipped between the cracks and the site is temporarily down although there are other extensions of the site online (clearcreekchapel.com).
Looking through the information that the site documents was a defining moment and one of deep reflection. I decided to renew the domain address and move it to another site that I will develop sometime in the near future. Perhaps this very post will be the centerpiece.
Before I move on to the primary ideas of this post, let me say that eldersresolution.org, which can now be found in pdf format at http://clearcreekchapeleldersresolution.weebly.com/ was the work of my son-in-law, Pastor David Ingram, and pioneered the concept of using websites to hold the institutional church accountable in a public way. He came up with the idea as a way to take a stand in my situation (circa 2008), and to my knowledge there were no such sites on the internet at that time. It would seem that the Bangladesh missionary kids (https://bangladeshmksspeak.wordpress.com/) were also innovators in regard to the concept early on. In 2009, the concept went viral in response to the heavy-handed leadership mode of the New Calvinist movement which had finally come of age after 39 years of covert growth; what many called the “Quite Revolution” (http://founders.org/library/quiet/).
Reviewing the information made me cringe as it revisited what a weak and confused person I was at the time. With that said, it was also a major turning point in my life that I find impossible to regret. How many times did I dismiss the numerous and serious problems I saw in the church with, “What else is there?” For 27 years I struggled to find relevance in the church.
The turning point was the New Calvinist movement, and specifically the New Calvinists that covertly obtained control of Clearcreek Chapel (Springboro, Ohio). I had been a member there for 20-years-plus and a former elder. As these leaders began transforming Clearcreek from Reformation Light to Reformation Lager, I wondered if I had finally stumbled upon the answers to why Protestant sanctification is so anemic, illogical, and irrelevant.
Like the Protestant leaders I had rubbed shoulders with in the past, they couldn’t answer the hard questions, but this time I really pressed the issue because they were just adding more confusion to the confusion I had found a way to live with. That was troubling to me. Then, when they started responding to my persistence with passive forms of aggression, and later not so passive, I figured I was on to something.
Funny, one question I kept asking publically in Sunday school seemed to be the lightning rod: “How do we know when we are trying to please God ‘in our own efforts’ and what exactly does that mean to begin with? How should we do effort?” It was very obvious to the congregation that they didn’t want to answer the question, but I kept pushing the issue and that’s when all of the trouble started. It would seem that in my search for Protestant relevance, I had finally found the right question. If Christians are to rightly partake in a right effort versus a wrong effort, how is that determined?*
And of course, now I know why they didn’t want to answer the question. Protestantism teaches that sanctification is a “Sabbath rest” in which we “rest in what Jesus has done—not anything we do.” This is what Protestant Light formally criticized as let go and let God theology. But of course in the scheme of things, the folly of this construct is fully realized: not doing things is a metaphysical impossibility; so, what we are talking about is two different types of works. That would be, not working work and working work. Or if you may, faith alone works and work work.
This boils down to Protestant orthodoxy classifying works according to the traditions of men. They determine what faith alone works are as opposed to works that are “self-justifying.” It boils down to the following: obedience to their definitions determine your salvation. Non-self-justifying works pertain to Protestant ritual that keeps you saved. And of course, the sacrament of tithing keeps the money pouring in for infrastructure that bolsters the aurora of authority. What will people pay for their eternal salvation? Observe the splendor of Protestant temples and institutions that pollute the landscape everywhere.
Eldersresolution.org is merely a documenting of the symptoms. The domain will always be there, but I am not really sure why it is a good idea. It was originally constructed to warn others about the Clearcreek Chapel elders who had supposedly distorted Protestant orthodoxy and done really bad things to other people. What I know now is that Protestantism itself is the bad thing. Bad things happen in church because church is bad. In fact, one of the premier leaders of the present-day Protestant church, Dr. John Piper, brags about being bad (https://youtu.be/6-GxkAJ1OBU). The Protestant teachers proudly proclaim themselves as bad people and even laugh about it, but yet the simplicity of cause and effect somehow escapes us.**
Other mediators other than Christ necessarily demand institutional salvation based on what is supposedly God’s authority by proxy. This is why the body of Christ is a literal family and NOT an institution in any way, shape, or form. It is a literal family that one is literally born into by the baptism of the Spirit otherwise known as being “born again.” It is the literal “household of God” and the family of God the Father—not an institution any more than any family is an institution. Christ’s mandate to His assemblies is to be carried out through a family format—the literal family of God. Any vestige of institutionalism will cripple the cause of Christ to the degree that it exists within the assemblies of Christ expressed where families dwell: in homes, not institutional purpose buildings.
ALL institutional churches and religions have these things in common: mediators other than Christ or mediators in addition to Christ. There is a claim of authority other than Christ or a shared authority with Christ, and finally, there is always a gnosis caste system; the haves and have-nots in regard to the ability to know truth owned by the institution. In all cases, orthodoxy is the knowledge handed down to the spiritual peasants to inform them on how to be progressively saved by the institution.
False religion is always a broken road, but unfortunately, the pain of that road will rarely lead people to other places. But when it does, the pain of that road becomes an irrelevant and distant concern. It is a pain that is finished and its purpose completed. It is swallowed up by the experience of where the road has taken you. The story of your broken road will rarely warn others of danger or save anyone; people will forgive or look the other way in many, many things in order to gain eternal life. In the minds of the “good Germans” during WWII Germany was not perfect, but what else was there? In their minds; nothing.
In the mind of a good Protestant or Catholic what else is there? Nothing. It may be a nasty bus, but it’s the only bus going to heaven because the authority of men says so. But in the final judgment followers will stand alone before God.
And so it is. The broken road has led me to a place that makes its potholes and highway robbers a distant and irrelevant memory. Their work is finished. When experience teaches you a new way, and you begin to live in that new way, that’s healing.
Staying on the broken road and revisiting its experiences will never heal. Never. When pain is a finished work…you are healed. It is little different than Christ’s obedience to the cross which He despised and bore for the joy that was set ahead.
It is finished.
paul
*Chad Bresson, an elder at Clearcreek Chapel once prayed before the congregation: “Lord, we know that we have tried to please you in our own efforts this week, please forgive us.”
**The father of the Reformation, Martin Luther, stated in a letter to Philip Melanchthon: “If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides.”
What a Protestant Would Say to the Mentality Disabled Guy
A close friend of mine shared something with me witnessed in a residential care facility that happened recently. My gig in the world of home health care (HHA) is not in the realm of mental health, but I enjoy hearing how our trade applies there.
At any rate, a lot of God-happenings occur in both realms. As readers here at PPT know, one reason among many that I chose this career is to facilitate a greater knowledge of Christian living (sanctification) which is devalued in Protestantism by design. Protestant orthodoxy dismisses the idea that Christians have a separate life that is Christ-like-in-kind because we have the same Father, and propagates the idea that we have NO life apart from Christ’s life. In other words, Protestantism redefines biblical new birth and is therefore a false gospel.
As the children of God exit the church and begin fellowshipping in a home setting; i.e., family-of-God setting, viz, “household of God” setting, we will see people actually being saved not the reshuffling of sheep within the denominational/institutional church. It’s all about Christ’s mandate to make disciples.
This is where the event shared with me is apt in furthering this point. As the friend walked through a mental health facility, one resident said to another: “You aren’t going to come over here where I am because you know I will kick your ass.” It is not uncommon for some mentality disabled persons to be aggressive in nature. According to my friend who witnessed the event, the other resident responded, “No, no, I prayed to God this morning that He would help me be perfect today. So, I am not paying you any mind; I am not going to get sucked into your sin.”
This event is barely less than a perfect opportunity to illustrate the difference between the Protestant false gospel of progressive justification and the true biblical gospel. The Protestant would show this precious soul a “better way” as follows:
No, no, God is not going to HELP you be perfect because it is impossible for any person to be perfect—saved or unsaved. But, in fact, you must be perfect in order to be accepted by God. You must be perfect to be justified. This is why Christ came to die: to pay the penalty for our sin. ALSO, He lived a PERFECT life according to the law so that your imperfect life could be substituted for His.
Therefore, you must presently live life by faith alone in what “Jesus has done, not anything you do.” You must be faithful to church and its sacraments, and other faith-alone-works that fulfill the law through what Jesus has done, not anything you do…except faith alone works. Whatever works Christ wills to do through you will then be manifested according to His will…Not yours.
At this point, we may imagine for illustration purposes that a truly born again believer joins the conversation. It might go something like this:
Excuse me, but I must object to what the Protestant has just told you. First of all, he has redefined the word “perfect” as defined by the Bible. In the Bible, “perfection” is not defined by flawless law-keeping, but rather means, “maturity.” It also pertains to those who are already justified/righteous/saved. So, you were actually praying to be something that you already are; you are already perfect. This is why the Bible calls believers “holy” in many places…because we are.
Let me show you a better way to pray—pray that God would help you to love Him with all that is in you and love others the same way as well. We obtain reward in this life and the life to come for doing so. Unfortunately, we also reap consequences for failing to love because we are “weak,” but not “wicked.” We do not remain as “sinners” which is the biblical definition for the unregenerate. This is where the Protestant has also redefined “sin.” He interprets the word “sin” from a single perspective. Sin is the same for the saved or the unsaved: it condemns according to the law’s “righteous demands.” In contrast, the believer has a willing spirit to love, but the flesh is “WEAK” not inherently sinful. This is why the believer can use their bodies for holy purposes or what the Bible calls living sacrifices acceptable to God.
Because the believer has been literally born again, he/she has died with Christ and is no longer judged by the law. There is now no condemnation for the believer. A continual imputation of Christ’s payment for sin and good works are not needed for the believer because there is no law to judge him or her. Christ died to end the law and its condemnation for all those who believe.
The believer is also resurrected to new life with Christ, and this results in a different relationship to the law. Instead of being under its condemnation and therefore needing the continual imputation of Christ’s death and obedience to the law via “the means of grace” according to Protestant orthodoxy, the law is now something the believer is endeared to for purposes of wisdom in loving others. What was previously used by the Spirit to condemn is now used (in cooperation with the believer) to mature or perfect the believer in love.
Your goal is not perfection according to the law; your goal is maturing in love. You are under grace NOT under law and a perpetual imputation of Christ’s love in substitution for your obedient love is not only unneeded—it is a FALSE gospel that denies the new birth. Protestants remain as “sinners” yet under law and therefore need to continually return to the cross for “double imputation.”
One does well in asking God for perfection according to mature love, but not a love that is substituted for the fulfilment of a law that is ended.
We are under grace, not law. You don’t fear the law; you love the law. That doesn’t mean there is no law in grace it means that it is a law for love NOT condemnation.
paul
Galatians 5:22,23; Those Under Law Cannot Understand Love
A good way to lend more understanding to the New Testament is to study present-day Calvinism. All in all, Calvinism, especially Neo-Calvinism, is identical to the Gnosticism that wreaked havoc on the first-century assemblies.
If you are a Protestant and a Calvinist in particular, your love is anemic at best because there is a law against your love. What is that law? Perfection. See, since your love is imperfect because you are mortal; your love is illegitimate. So, why bother when it gets right down to it?
The love you practice in this material world is a mere shadow of the perfect form of love in the spiritual realm; this is/was the Neo-Platonism of the first century known as Gnosticism. Like in our day regarding evangelicalism, this philosophy had completely taken over the Jewish religious culture during the time that Christ and His apostles ministered. In fact, Gnosticism is really the root ideology of evangelicalism.
This is behind Paul’s statement in Galatians, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
I was reminded of this during a discourse I had recently with a Calvinist on Facebook. I brought up a few of many Bible passages that completely dismantle the foundations of Protestant soteriology; specifically, those that state the following: love fulfills the whole law. Calvinists are quick to bring up passages stating that one violation of law violates the whole law as Calvin does in 3.14.10 of his Institutes, but then disregard passages that state the contrast. And that’s what the Bible does deliberately; it states two contrasts to make a point about being under law versus being under grace.
Since Calvinism’s view of man is fundamentally Gnostic, and man is of the material realm, there can be no good in man or of man, and certainly no man can do a good work. So, supposedly, according to Calvinism, God uses the “righteous demands of the law for perfect law-keeping” to make this point. Therefore, there is a law against OUR love because our love is imperfect; only Jesus’ love fulfills the law because His love is perfect.
So, in regard to where the Bible states that “OUR” love fulfills the law; the following argument is waged: that’s really talking about Jesus’s substitutionary law-keeping applied to sanctification by faith alone in the same gospel that saved us, or “living by the gospel.” We can’t really love; the law is against our love because we can’t keep it perfectly. But in contrast, Paul states that there is NO law against love or any other fruit of the Spirit. And another point needs to be made here; in the Bible, “perfection” usually refers to “maturity” and not perfect law-keeping to begin with. This is just another example of the Reformed plenary redefinition of biblical words, terms, and concepts.
It’s interesting; when I cited the Bible to make my case for the law being fulfilled by us through love, the following discourse ensued:
Now, if you read all of Galatians 5, this Facebook discourse fits the context of the argument to a “T.” In context, “circumcision” may represent the law. The Judaizes relaxed applicable law-keeping as love because their rituals fulfilled the “righteous demands of the law” not love. Paul not only mentions circumcision, but the recognition of days etc. elsewhere. This is why Paul states,
“Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”
This is absolutely no different than Protestantism which forgoes obedient love through some ritual that fulfills the law instead of the “believer.” Paul says, NO, the individual is culpable for obeying the whole law IF one is justified by it. For the Judaizes, it was circumcision and the recognition of days etc.; for Protestants it is returning to the same gospel that saved you perpetually in order for the obedience of Jesus to fulfill the law, but that is still…“you who would be justified by the law.” Who keeps it is not the point. And whatever the system, it ALWAYS leads to the same results:
“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.”
Look, if the standard for love is perfect law-keeping, how obvious is it that the prescribed ritual is going to replace the work of obedient love leading to a living by the flesh, viz, obeying the desires of sin which resides in mortality? This is Paul’s entire point in Galatians 5. This issue effectively explains every foul testimony taking place in the Protestant institutional church; it has merely replaced justification by the law via Judaism with “preaching the gospel to ourselves every day” so Jesus’ love will stand in for us and keep us saved via the law. It’s absolutely NO different. But who is to do the loving? Who is to do the obeying? Answer:
“You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”
What must take place instead of the fulfillment of the law through ritual? Paul explains:
“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
That’s the baptism of the Spirit. That’s the death of the old you that is no longer under the law. You may coincide that with this…
As Protestants, former Protestants, and recovering Protestants, this is difficult to get our minds around because of what has been drilled into our heads for almost 600 years, but it is really just another form of good old fashioned justification by the law. This is why the Protestant is confused by Hebrews 11 which explains obedient love versus justification by perfect law-keeping.
paul
When is Enough, Enough? It’s Time for Churchless Christianity
Let me begin this post by noting this week’s Protestant rock star that got caught with both hands in the cookie jar: Darren Patrick. Like Tullian Tchividjian, after preaching anti-moralism for years to the sounds of “amen” coming from masses of adoring followers, he was forced to resign for a “historical pattern of sin.” Is there anything more confused than a Protestant? At least Catholics know what they believe and their doctrine is reasonably consistent though wrong.
Also, note the cause of Patrick’s demise: “historical pattern of sin.” That means everybody in the upper caste system knew for years, but keeping Patrick in the limelight became bad for business. In the case of Mark Driscoll, his tyranny was common knowledge for years; yet the supposed reason for his termination. We will probably never know the real reason he was thrown under the bus, pun intended. While Protestants vehemently deny their serial man-following, the demise of these leaders invariably results in the collapse of the ministry empires founded on their names.
And again, while extolling the total depravity of the saints and demanding a “lifestyle of repentance” from the herd, ministries seek to cover-up the sins of their patron gods like in the case of RC Sproul Jr. A well-known friend of RC Sproul Sr., John MacArthur Jr., once demanded that Stuart Scott resign as pastor because Scott’s emancipated children were misbehaving. This is why Scott is now plying his biblical counseling snake oil trade in Louisville KY rather than California. But of course, we will hear no similar demand from MacArthur in regard to the iconic RC Sproul Sr. Why? Because like all Protestant popes, MacArthur is a serial hypocrite.
Well, enough of that as there is only one thing that could ever rival the number of these instances in the Protestant church; the sands of the seas and oceans. If you doubt that, spend a day surfing the discernment blogs.
This brings us to a worthy thought: the problem with Bible interpretation is not its supposed depth and mystery, but rather its utter simplicity. Bless your heart, are you confused by “all of them-there big theological words”? Jesus tried to make it very easy for everyone; even those who are lazy thinkers: “By their fruits you will know them.” Got that? How hard is this? At what point do you ask yourself what the real problem is in all of this?
Which brings us to the main point of this post. I am writing this post about a trending Protestant event; this is a criterion that I abandoned some time ago because evil in the Protestant church is no longer newsworthy. However, though we tire of the business-as-usual evil reported on the local news, at times, there is an eruption of evil that really gets our attention.
Yes, this week, one such eruption of evil occurred at the bi-annual T4G (Together for Gospel Contemplationism) “pastors” conference in Louisville KY. CJ Mahaney, who has been under fire for the exact same leadership sins as those aforementioned, was a keynote speaker at the event. The caste overseers have seen fit to salvage him for whatever their reasons are, but belaboring the double standard would be a gross overstatement.
And of course, Protestant evil rarely yields at the local news level: the not-so-circumstantial evidence points to the fact that CJ Mahaney was complicit in covering up multiple instances of child rape. Apparently, the victims have an attorney that is the last person you would ever want coming after you legally and the litigation is ongoing.
Whatever happened to an elder being “beyond reproach”? Here at PPT, the following fact is a broken record, but here we go again: the Protestant Reformation denied a grammatical interpretation of the Bible. Sure, grammatical interpretation is used in sentences that lead to a metaphysical redemptive outcome which these snake oil salesmen fail to mention while picking your intellectual pockets, but this is why they don’t see their decision to invite Mahaney as any kind of biblical anomaly whatsoever. Few of their followers have any idea how these guys actually interpret reality itself. There is a reason why they act in direct contradiction to a grammatical interpretation of the Bible, time, after time, after time. It’s simple; that’s not the way they interpret the Bible…or reality.
Let’s pause for a moment to consider the good people in the Protestant church. Seriously, they are little different from the clueless lot that supported Nazism by default. “You mean Hitler really meant what he said when he said it? And when he did what he did, my assumptions about the appearance thereof of were mistaken? Someone who seemed so together could really be that evil?” Yup.
Whatever the assumptions are in regard to what the T4G gang were thinking when they invited Mahaney, let’s look at what they actually did. Inviting Mahaney is one thing, but Dr. Albert Mohler actually mocked the rape victims. He used his intellectualism and humor to do so subtly, but the points were not hard to miss. In light of the quality of attorney and zeal in seeking Mahaney’s head, this displays a stunning level of arrogance on Mohler’s part. I mean, for example, how many national sports titles have been lost by trash talk that ginned up the competition’s resolve? So, in light of the tenacity already displayed by the victims’ legal team, Molher scoffs because he places confidence in the power of the evangelical industrial complex paid for by the good well-meaning Protestant herd. Remember, this guy is President of Southern Theological Seminary; the flagship seminary of the largest Protestant denomination in the world.
The Protestant herd is complicit in the evil. A good example is John Owen’s pathetic protest in regard to the Protestant church-state executing “heretics” before the American Revolution came along: “If state physicians think otherwise, I say no more, but I am not of the college.” Gee whiz, I bet those on death row awaiting execution by the Protestant church-state really appreciated that uncompromising attaboy from Owen. At any rate, it is an apt example of the same mentality coming from the Protestant herd who think they are saved by church membership and thereby putting themselves under the “authority of godly men.”
Telling on this wise is video recorded of the SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [or Protestant popes]) protest at this year’s T4G. The organization had requested that Mahaney be removed from the speaking schedule. In the video, thousands can be seen walking past the protestors with complete indifference.
Ironically, the theme of this year’s T4G conference was “We Are Protestant: The Reformation at 500” highlighting the Protestant protest against the Catholic Church which also excels in covering up child rape. In spite of Pope Francis’ hardcore rhetoric, the cover-ups and reinstatement of rapist priests continue unabated (SNAP continues to document case, after case, after case). And regardless of this, the Catholic Church is presently experiencing historical growth in numbers.
How can this be? It’s not the least bit complicated; it’s all about salvation via the church institution. Whether organizations like SNAP or discernment blogs, the goal is to save the salvific institution because that’s our only way to heaven. But one must ask: how can the T4G popes ignore a plea like this one with cold indifference? Because those confronting T4G have no idea what Protestantism is really about. If it seems like the Protestant popes have some sort of other-than-normal view of reality—it’s because they do.
Even if one finds a “good church,” separation from directly or indirectly supporting the overall evangelical institution is impossible. Besides, more than anything, the root problem is the institutionalization of Christ’s body that began in the 4th century and became the Catholic Church. Protestants can call themselves “protestants” all day long, but in the final analysis, the Reformation was just a continuation of the same old pagan-state caste system that monopolized world history until the American Revolution.
Despite the outcry for hundreds of years it’s business as usual in the Catholic Church, and as Protestantism continues to bring its true roots more into focus, it will catch up with the monster that birthed it…Roman Catholicism. The fruits of child rape are the same because they both believe in the same caste logic. Theological debate between the two is just bickering among reprobates who dress well.
Go to church if you will, but obviously, if something bad happens, you are totally on your own and without recourse. It has now come to the point where Protestant leaders are openly mocking rape victims. Trust me, others will receive even more disdain. In addition, why would it be acceptable for these things to be taking place as long as it doesn’t happen to you? And why are you funding it?
But God was way ahead of the curve in regard to all of this drama. He left us a true model for Christian fellowship in the New Testament. Everything after that is church history full of religious wars and unspeakable brutality. This is unacceptable; Christ made His expectations clear in letters to seven assemblies (Revelation).
That’s why it is time for churchless Christianity.
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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