Paul's Passing Thoughts

A reader posed a question yesterday that has prompted me to take a train to Minneapolis instead of driving or flying. Getting on a long train ride is a great way to focus on a project away from any distractions. The time has come to hammer out a detailed alternative to the institutional church. Here is his question:

BTW, how do you think that scientific realism complements our theology?

I think our first conference answers that question best. Hence, I will be posting the conference at the end of this article. However, it brings up the larger issue of whether or not we know much of anything at this time because of what we do know: Protestantism is a false gospel; therefore, ALL orthodoxy that has flowed from it for hundreds of years is fruit from the poisonous tree. I believe most Christians in our day are brainwashed in varying degrees, including myself.

I am presently diagraming the project, and one of the circles, and probably a chapter, follows: “The Apostles are Dead.” The apostles constitute the only horizontal authority the Assembly ever had, and arguments for apostolic succession by anyone cannot be taken seriously. What then? Christ said to go and make learners, or disciples. This is interesting; He didn’t say to go and make saved people, He said to go and make learners. Even when the authority of the apostles was necessary to build the foundation, their authority NEVER exceeded the assumed ability of God’s people to understand the Scriptures for themselves. That’s why another chapter circle is titled, “Bereans.”

The apostle Paul said the ability of the believer to understand and follow Christ is the final authority: Follow me as I follow Christ; If I or anyone else preaches another gospel to you, let them be accursed. All of the books and letters of the Bible were written to the Assembly of God’s people, and those gifted with leadership have no other revelation. The apostle Paul called on every believer to follow Christ only, and leaders who are judged by said believers to do so truthfully. John’s way of stating that was, “You have no need for anyone to teach you.”

Authority is vested in our ability to understand and follow Christ. Period. The Protestant institutional church has no authority. They are usurpers of Christ’s authority over every believer—they are blind guides.

Any disciple who wants to become a learner cannot do so in the Protestant church were Calvin’s orthodoxy is the only thing to be found in the 1point, 2point, 3point, 4point, and 5point flavors. There must now be a way to come out from among them and be true learners. All views on election, freewill, justification, sanctification, metaphysics, and anthropology must be learned from Christ Himself, and not from men who have never repented of their murderous ways. A tree is known by its fruit.

Please pray for me as I seek to challenge believers to free themselves from the shackles of Protestant orthodoxy and find their true calling. That calling will be found in the fellowship of believers where the Holy Spirit gives gifts and the authority to practice them, not the cultist academia of our day. God’s people need to take back true discipleship from the traditions of men.

paul

The 2012 Conference on Gospel Discernment and Spiritual Tyranny 

As Western Christians, what do we want to call ourselves? The assumption among evangelicals is that you are either Catholic or Protestant. There are Catholics, Protestants, and their denominational variances, and “cults.” This is the generally accepted motif due to the traditions of men and misinformation. If we understand a proper definition of each, a fourth category is needed. This is the silent identity crisis of Western Christianity; few of us know who we really are.

“Evangelicalism” sought to be that fourth option in the 18th and 19th centuries. The problem with that follows: the movement held fast to the basic premises of Protestantism. This middle of the road option sold big because of a fundamental en mass misconception of what the Protestant gospel states.

The fact is, you can scarcely slip a playing card in-between the gospels of Protestantism and Catholicism except for the fact that Catholics are more honest; they readily admit that justification is not a finished work and you need the church to help you finish the work. Luther and Calvin admitted that believers have to participate in the finishing of justification, but Calvin asserted that it is really not works salvation because God predetermines who is going to persevere and who isn’t. Wonderful.

However, this is all prefaced with a like caveat: Calvin’s “power of the keys.” Whatever the right pastors bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Being interpreted: if the church likes you, you’re probably going to make it. Have you ever wondered why religion is such a big business? Have you ever wondered why the church is preferred over justice? Clearly, Calvin believed in elder absolution in the exact same way that Catholics believe in priestly absolution. In no uncertain terms, Calvin stated that a perpetual forgiveness of sins needed to sustain justification can only be found in the institutional church.

Why does this surprise us? Luther and Calvin were Augustinians, and the three never repented of being Catholics. In fact, Catholics and Protestants both claim Augustine as the father of their orthodoxy. “Orthodoxy” is a more contemporary form of mythology. In ancient times, mythology was the catechism, creeds, and confessions of the first religion institutionalized by the kingdom of darkness: Spiritual Caste. Instead of ONE mediator between God and man, the enlightened are mediators of truth between God and the great unwashed unenlightened masses. The enlightened understand truth that the masses will never understand, but in order to guide them to the hereafter, they publish truth that can be understood by the unenlightened masses; ie., orthodoxy which is a more polished form of mythology. The latter is part and parcel with the earliest forms of Spiritual Caste. The former is historically attached to the Reformation. And from the very beginnings of civilization, Spiritual Caste is one and the same with state—the union of faith and force.

Cults were born with the advent of separation of church and state. Principles of cultism transcend all stripes of religion because cults replace the enforcement of orthodoxy by the state with mind control, manipulation, propaganda, and fear. Evangelical academia is the Catholic form of Popeism and a major tool of that propaganda. Cults are an 18th century phenomenon and the etymology of the word does not precede that era. Non-cults are Protestants that restrain themselves from their lust to control and be a mediator other than Christ; therefore, they are not cults, but cultism aways lingers in the Protestant heart.

A true and real fourth option must emerge. It will recognize that justification is a finished work and sanctification progresses separately. It will recognize that sanctification is powered by regeneration and not justification. Those who protest that some Protestants believe this should also insist that such people defer from calling themselves Protestants. Catholicism and Protestantism both are based on progressive justification.

An endeavor for the definition must come forth. This movement must reject Protestantism and all of its bastard children out of hand. It must recognize Protestantism for the false gospel that it is. It must throw out the Protestant baby with the bathwater. It must know that a “little leaven leavens the whole lump.” It must insist on individual responsibility regarding a relationship with the one mediator and reject the traditions of men. It must uphold the freedom of the individual to seek God on their own and reject religious collectivism. Though it recognizes the necessity of fellowship and unity in the truth, it will emphasize the individual and the gifts granted by God to every person born into the world. It will see every member as crucial to the functioning of the body.

This is where true revival for God’s glory will take place. This is where the fellowship of believers will see God working for themselves without a play by play interpretation by the spiritual elite. Yes, it is a call to fear God more than men.