Today’s Christian Husband and Father: Killing His Family with Awesome Preaching
Originally posted December 6, 2012
Bob is on his way to Jerry’s house for dinner. Bob is the chairman of their church’s elder board. Jerry is being considered for eldership and Bob will be dining at his house for a pre-interview en lieu of further discussion. Pizza is the cuisine. And apparently, not just on this night—Bob notes that every trashcan in the house is stuffed with pizza boxes. Dishes full of M & Ms also adorn many of the table tops. Bob is taken to the kitchen by Jerry to meet his wife, and Bob perceives no less than twenty-five bags of potato chips staked about in various places. One corner of the kitchen is occupied with a tall stack of Coca-Cola 12packs. Big on taste—small in nutrition.
Precious few will disagree that Bob’s family is headed for serious health problems if they do not change their ways. Yet, Bob is a picture of how the vast majority of Christian husbands oversee the spiritual diets of their families. However, the “Bob” motif falls woefully short of making the point; at least Bob knows what his family is eating for better or worse. Christian husbands of our day don’t even know the difference between Redemptive Historical hermeneutics and Grammatical Historical hermeneutics. In fact, when the subject comes up, a rolling of the eyes follows.
That’s because the preaching/teaching is awesome where they go to church. Uncompromising, and God glorifying. As one pastor exhorted me when inquiring about what hermeneutic he used in his preaching: “Come and see if it tastes good, and if you still want to, we will talk about theology.” But I never doubt it will taste good. Who doesn’t love pizza for dinner, potato chips as a side, Coke to drink, and M&Ms for desert?
Fact is, nearly 90% of preaching/teaching in today’s American church is fundamentally based on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation. This document is the very heart of the Reformation and the engine that drives the present-day New Calvinist movement. Its premise was based on the idea that all spiritual reality, wisdom, and truth comes from the combination of two perspectives, and only these two: the holiness of God, and the wretchedness of all men whether they are Christians or not. Luther called this perspective the “theology of the cross.” It has come to be known as Gospel-Centered preaching/teaching. It is also the foundation of the Calvin Institutes. Everything in the Calvin Institutes, in some way, points to the glory of God “as set against our sinfulness.”
This has become job one: as described in the Heidelberg Disputation; this way of teaching is the “cross story,” and all other spiritual wisdom is the “glory story.” Hence, the contemporary clarion call of the Reformation derived from Luther’s Disputation is, the centrality of the objective gospel outside of us. Anything at all that has anything to do with us is “subjective,” and part of the “glory story.” Unless it concerns our wretchedness. Therefore, the Disputation ridiculed a negative attitude towards suffering as well for this serves to further reveal our woeful state in life which magnifies the redemptive work of Christ and our utter worthlessness. The whole motif can be visualized by the following Reformed chart:
Yes, you can preach wonderful sermons on those two dimensions. They are both abundantly true. Charles Spurgeon is known as the “prince of preachers.” All of his sermons are based on the “cross story.” All, I repeat “all” of John Piper’s sermons and the (seems like) 600 books he has written are based on nothing but, I repeat, nothing but the “cross story.” Amen, pass the potato chips. In circa 1994, John MacArthur abandoned the “glory story” aspects of his preaching and now focuses on the “cross story.” Amen, pass the M&Ms. And those babies slide down nice with a big swig of Coca-Cola.
“But Paul, what’s so sweet about focusing on our own wickedness?” My dear friend, haven’t you seen any Staples commercials? It’s easy. You totally stink. Nothing is expected of you: “Hey honey! Good news! We don’t change! Our marriage isn’t about a bunch of do’s and don’ts! Our failures make us wiser!” That was easy. In fact, teachers like Michael Horton and John Piper continually espouse the idea that expectations are just, “more bad news.” And regarding leaders? “Alright, time to prepare my message for tomorrow, and all I have to do is look for two things, and two things only in the text: how great God is, and how bad we are.” That was easy. In fact, we find the following on a well-known Reformed blog regarding instruction on how to prepare a Bible lesson:
At this time, resist the temptation to utilize subsequent passages to validate the meaning or to move out from the immediate context. Remembering that all exegesis must finally be a Christocentric exegesis.
Look for Christ even if He isn’t there directly. It is better to see Christ in a text even if He isn’t, than to miss Him where He is.
But as the apostle asked rhetorically, “What saith the Scriptures?” Is there another story other than the “cross story”? Anybody interested in the House on a Rock story?
Matthew 7:24 -“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Learn and do. That’s how we have a life built on a rock. It is the very definition of a disciple:
Matthew 19 – Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So, here is my suggestion. When you go to church this Sunday, and other days following that involve sitting under the teachings of your leaders, take a legal pad with you. Draw a line at a downward angle on the bottom labeled, “our sin.” Draw a line at the top with an upward angle, and label it “Christ.” Then draw a line in the middle and label it, “What? Why? And How?” Or, “Not only what Jesus did, but what did He SAY?” Or simply, “Life built on a rock.” If there isn’t a three-dimensional balance—get out of there. You either love your family or you don’t. You will be judged by Christ accordingly.
I was approached by my wife Susan this morning. My son by marriage had approached her asking questions about demonology. Apparently, he had questions concerning some things he had heard about the subject (demonology) in the secular realm. I was astonished; though both of them have been in church for a combined total of 72 years, they didn’t even know the basics regarding this subject. My wife wanted to know the answers to his questions—other than the usual answers: “Jesus” and “gospel.”
And if we don’t know, the world will gladly inform our children accordingly. Knowledge equals authority.
Men, wake up.
paul
Love is a Choice, Hope is a Choice, and so is Salvation
Why are we commanded to love others in the Bible? Why are we commanded to be the masters of our emotions? Because love is a choice and right feelings follow right doing. That also gives hope.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Let love be without deceit. Be haters of what is evil; keep your minds fixed on what is good.
These are the words that we do not want to hear from any doctor at any time: “There is nothing we can do.” Why would life be any different?
In a conversation with the father of the contemporary biblical counseling movement, he stated that as he traveled the country speaking in various churches, his assertion that Christians can actually do something was responded to like a “strange new doctrine.”
This is where Christians should come to grips with THE two prisms that interpret reality in today’s evangelicalism. The primary prism is…
The imperative command is grounded in the indicative event.
This method of interpreting the Bible which is uniquely of the Reformed tradition posits the following interpretive method: the Bible is made up of an interpretive duo from beginning to end. The first part of any given body of text describes the salvific works of God, and is followed by the fruits of those salvific works. Hence, the primary purpose of the Bible is to meditate on what God has done, and the fruits that we merely experience that flow from God’s salvific works. Reformed teachers like John Piper have described the Bible as a record of God’s “saving acts” [plural] from beginning to end. As we meditate on those acts, using the Bible, fruits that flow from that mediation are described via biblical imperatives (commands).
So, biblical commands demonstrate what flows from justification, and are meant to demonstrate to us what we cannot do—Christ has already done it for us. Christ died for our justification, and lived for our sanctification. Therefore, according to this tradition, biblical commands are justification’s “fruit catalog” (Paul David Tripp), and must be seen in their “gospel context” (Id). To “jump from the imperative directly to obedience” (Reformed mystic and NCT guru Chad Bresson), is to circumvent the saving works (again, plural) of Jesus. Stated plainly, works salvation.
How does this work according to the Reformed crowd? For example, note that Romans 12:1 states “therefore,” followed by a string of imperatives. Supposedly, the first 11 chapters show God’s saving works (the indicative), and 12:1 following shows the manifestation of works that we should expect to see in our lives as a “mere natural flow” (Id) from the indicative. These manifestations are a subjective experience that give us as much cause for assurance as possible because we are actually experiencing a small portion of the exact same glory that we will experience in heaven.
Know this: 80% of all pastors in the U.S. interpret Scripture in this way, and another 15% function this way without realizing it. This method of interpretation fits with two other doctrines of formal orthodoxy; double imputation, and mortification and vivification.
In other words, the antithesis of cause and effect; in more words, the idea that God will keep promises to us if we do certain things first, is indicted as works salvation. The indicative must always precede the imperative to demonstrate that the obedience is not ours, but a fulfillment of Christ’s righteousness and not our own—that would be works salvation. “What does that look like?” (lest we go to hell for living according to a verb): any obedience that we “experience” is assumed to be flowing from some exposure to the indicative. The primary endeavor for the Christian is to stay connected to the “vital union” through gospel contemplationism; this will result in the righteousness (obedience) of Christ being imputed to our Christian life in order to keep us saved.
By the way, observe a Catholic Mass sometime, it’s the exact same principle.
When it gets right down to the nitty gritty, the vast majority of religions and denominations function on this principle. Hence, choice must be necessarily exchanged for determinism. If we can’t do anything, lest it be works, that only leaves one doer. Moreover, HOPE must then be defined as something that God may or may not do for you. Likewise, PROMISE cannot be contingent on anything we do, it must be qualified by a different “if.” Not “if” you will do this, that, or the other, but rather “if” God has decided to do it for you.
So, our only hope is in what God might do for you or someone else. A “sure” promise or “certain” promise is something that God will certainly do, but as far as you…maybe, maybe not, regardless of anything you do—you have no ability to choose, and if you do, it’s works salvation.
Where there is no real choice there is no real hope. Hope is redefined as a promise that you can only hope was made to you because what you choose has no bearing on receiving the promise. “Reward” must also be redefined as a “prize” that you get for winning a cosmic lottery because God decided to call your number. You do not know for certain that you were picked until the “final tribunal.” The best assurance you can have is experiences that God may, or may not have decided to give you in your Christian life.
But let’s close with one last thought on our subject at hand: interpretation. If God really meant something totally different from how we normally interpret “choice,” “hope,” “promise,” “reward,” “command,” etc., why wouldn’t He simply state it plainly?
paul
Book Review: Russ Kennedy’s “Perplexity,” All you Need is the Cover
Really? Christians need yet another book on gospel contemplationism? In Perplexity: Bringing My Questions to God, the theses is a very familiar one in our day. As I was reading through the Kindle version while riding in the family car with my wife Susan, intermittently reading aloud, she commented, “It sounds like the same ole’ stuff.” Indeed, the institutional church will continue to relentlessly pound this one simple message into the heads of Christians in different ways, and anyone who comes up with a different version will be lauded accordingly.
It’s ironic, Russ Kennedy, the “pastor” of Clearcreek Chapel in Springboro, Ohio was at the center of one of the most perplexing seasons of my life. Had this book been published at that time, perhaps I would still be there, and living according to its age-old theses. But I wanted answers, and according to the theses of this religion, a very ancient one, that’s arrogance. Yes, perplexity is a good thing because it humbles us, it reminds us that we can’t know anything except that we are perplexed, and living in the dark cave of life. Hence, see the cover of the book. This is not perplexing at all; you are in the dark cave looking up, and the light seen at the mouth of the cave is the gospel. If you know what Russ Kennedy et al believe, all you need is the cover—it says it all in a visual bumper sticker.
Let me interject something here: that perplexing time of my life was only perplexing at the time. That’s one of the real truths of biblical perplexity; time often reveals exactly how God uses the evil of the world for His divine purposes. In the midst of severe, dark trials, we continue in well-dong and wait for God’s answers (1Pet 4:19). That’s difficult, we will need the love and truthful encouragement of other Christians. Yes, in rare instances, we will have to wait for glory to know the answers, but we can be sure that God is working all things for His divine purposes, and for the believer, that isn’t for the express purpose of showing us how worthless and depraved we are. Conspicuously absent in Kennedy’s book is the following concept:
Deuteronomy 29:29 – The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
According to Kennedy and the long history of those who supply thoughts for him, the only thing that Christians can DO is the same gospel that saved them. We are in the dark cave, and all we can do is contemplate the light outside of the tunnel. Our reality is a subjective dark cave, and according to a former elder that supplied the overall philosophy for the Chapel, “New Covenant Theology presumes a Christocentricity to the understanding and meaning of all reality.” Said elder, Chad Bresson, departed from the Chapel, also dubbed “Cloudy Creek Chapel” by many former members, at approximately the same time of a controversy concerning an accusation that the Chapel elders were teaching, “some kind of Christian mysticism.” Go figure.*
So, if Christians can’t really know anything objectively except the suffering of the cross, what’s the point? Well, that answer isn’t perplexing at all: joy. As you look up from the dark cave of life and humanity to the only thing you can know, the light of the glorious cross shining outside of the cave, the result is the stripping away of everything treasured at all other than Christ resulting in joy while in the cave. Joy, regardless of circumstances, is the payoff. Joy in the cave is the payoff. Like Hinduism, the cause and effect of knowledge and the application thereof are toys that we discard as we mature spiritually, IF we come to realize that life is a completely preordained god-narrative that points us to a light that transcends empirical knowledge. As Kennedy states in the book, answers to life’s problems are “shadows.” Right and wrong answers are not the issue; the arrogant assumption that you can know anything except the suffering of the cross is the issue.
Listen, I was perplexed, and paid a price for wanting answers, but I see now that God used those dark circumstances to incite me to seek godly knowledge. I would only change one thing: I shouldn’t have been ignorant in regard to authentic church history and its progression of various soteriologies. My own ignorance and lack of knowledge led me to that darkness. Instead of letting me suffer the full brunt of my lazy Christianity, viz, letting others think for me, God restricted the circumstances to awakening me out of my pathetic slumber. That’s grace in sanctification my friends. When it gets right down to it, I can’t blame Russ Kennedy mysticism for what happened; we live in an information age, I was a know-it-all according to everyone else’s “knowledge.” Christ died to save me from the law, and gave me a “helper” to sincerely love Him with God-given talents. Instead of utilizing that, I did not study to show myself approved—it’s on me. For certain, I do not deserve what God has done to rebuild my life, but be sure of this, I have learned from it.
What have I learned? I have learned that the present-day chaos in the church is not perplexing at all. It is as simple as the cover on Russ Kennedy’s book. Frankly, the audacity of Plato’s cave adorning the cover of this book shouldn’t surprise us. The framers of the American Constitution readily observed that the colonial Calvinist Puritans of that day were followers of Plato. That, coupled with the tyranny that they experienced growing up under the colonial Puritan theocracy of that day inspired them to create one of the greatest experiments of all time—the American ideal, which God has used to wreak more good on the earth since the good news of the gospel. For one example, the Puritans, like the one Kennedy cites in his book, called Benjamin Franklin a devil for inventing the lightening rod. The only thing that saved Franklin from the fate of others who tried to improve the human condition through knowledge was the fact that his lightening rod saved churches from burning down via lightning strikes.
Platonism eventually became Gnosticism which was nemesis #1 for the New Testament church. The Neo-Calvinist resurgence of our day is a return to that Gnosticism in every respect, and the teaching method is no different than that used by Kennedy in his book:
1. Focus on being rightly descriptive about how trials and the rigors of life are experienced. This makes the listener think that you understand where they are at.
2. Exploit the fact trying to do the right thing the wrong way is very prevalent in the human experience. Then interpret those failures as a misconception regarding the very interpretation of reality. Interpret those failures as part of the overall failures of reason itself: i.e., Plato’s shadows in the cave. Our existence is experienced subjectively via the shadows of the true forms. The Puritans merely changed Plato’s true forms into the gospel/Christ, and our human existence is the cave.
3. Offer the alternative of gospel contemplationism, using proof-texting with verses that only tell half of the story: mysteries that belong to the Lord—which can only be experienced by joy and not known. This is the crux of Gnosticism. All reason and human knowledge are only shadows of the mysteries of Plato’s trinity: the true, good, and beautiful. They merely make Plato’s trinity “the gospel.” Any member at Clearcreek Chapel who is honest with themselves will see this concept woven within all of Russ Kennedy’s teachings sometimes plagiarized from John Piper’s Christian Hedonism which led to his dismissal from a church in Illinois.
Church history tells us that Gnosticism has always had mass appeal and has always been the greatest challenge to true Christianity. This is because it feeds our propensity towards lazy thinking, and enables us to step back from the rigors of life and observe them from afar. It also enables us to escape responsibility, and change by glorying in our ignorance while appearing spiritual. Yes, we are the humble totally depraved who “know nothing but Christ and Him crucified.” Change is hard, and many will exchange it in a heartbeat for the easy way while having the added bonus of looking humble and spiritual to boot. This is the mass appeal that has always been Gnosticism, a kissing cousin to Stoicism.
Wow! Look at his faith in the face of this immense tragedy! If only I had faith like that!
Faith? Or a Gnostic indifference towards reality? Was it faith that led a son to stand up at the funeral of a godly pastor and proudly proclaim that his father was a “wicked sinner”? What of the disdain shared by a Clearcreek elder in regard to his mother-in-law’s grieving because she was terminally ill and would not see her grandchildren grow up? The disdain evolved around her treasuring of her grandchildren more than Christ. Grandchildren are mere shadows.
There is only one false religion: antinomian sanctification. A rejection of knowledge in sanctification under the guise of “knowing nothing but Christ and him Crucified” portrays a certain mindset about justification. It exchanges love in sanctification for fear in justification. If we must keep ourselves justified by a humbleness defined by knowing nothing, we indeed need the Russ Kennedys of the world which is why he wrote the book. But one best ponder the very words of Christ: “Because of anomia, the love of many will become cold.”
Strange, once again I am inadvertently ministered to by tyranny. Susan and I have been considering a change of direction as this ministry is a very lonely ministry that fights the uphill battle against completely unnecessary perplexity in the American church. A recent sermon by Andy Stanley has Christians “troubled” and “perplexed.” In the sermon, Stanley proffered the idea that Christ put people before “his religion” which he made synonymous with the law. Supposedly, the Pharisees did the opposite by putting the law before people. Stanley then defiantly dared anyone to ask for a practical application to the sermon. Stanley then concluded the “sermon” by stating that he didn’t know where the theses would lead, that of course, would be decided by the Lord. As one blogger noted:
With all due respect, I submit that if Andy Stanley did not know the answers to the questions posed above, he should have never delivered the sermon.
With all due respect, Christians need to stop being perplexed in regard to where these antinomian teachers are coming from. We find the same exact concept in this book published by Kennedy. In the difficult questions of life and times of darkness, you don’t look for answers; you only meditate on the gospel and not shadowy reason. In death, you seek more death, so that the joy of the cross may abound in your heart. This is what you do while waiting for the Lord to change your circumstances at a time of his choosing. Of course, this is a counselor’s dream; one size fits all. Every counselee walking in has the same problem: they value life. Don’t be fooled by multiple layers of nuance and careful choice of synonyms, this is the crux of the matter; you either treasure Christ alone, or you treasure all else but Him alone. It’s either the dark cave or the light, period.
Their god is the god of confusion, not ours. And perplexity is not a glory; it is the disdain of lady wisdom and a lamp-less dark path to destruction.
paul
*Incredibly, the Chapel still benefits from the biblical counseling movement started by Dr. Jay Adams in 1970. The movement was a true revival because it called the church back to practical application in sanctification. As a former pastor at the Chapel, I witnessed this doing reformation (at its peak in the early 90s) firsthand because the Chapel was a NANC training center at the time. The movement was neutralized by a Gnostic form of biblical counseling followed by Russ Kennedy and his elders. Nevertheless, they represent themselves as advocates of the original movement and its tenets. As they deceptively allow people to come into membership under this false pretense, controversy arises later due to the contradictions involved. Much of the energies expended by the Clearcreek Chapel elders involve damage control.
Nye/Ham Debate Indicative of Christian Cluelessness
Even as I write this, creationist Ken Ham is debating Bill Nye the Science Guy. In fact, we have the debate playing live at the Potter’s House and some who dwell here are watching.
I watched some of the debate and found it most interesting, but yet the huge conundrum looms. If the TANC research institute doesn’t know anything else, we at least know this: Christians don’t understand the basics of soteriology, but yet pounce on these creationist frays like a pride after the kill.
Said another way, they don’t even understand the gospel, but are hell-bent on proving God created the Earth in six days. Ken Ham is right, evolution is a contra gospel, but we don’t even understand our own gospel. Moreover, Christians will fixate on Ham’s scientific lectures with bated breath while demanding milk and cookies in regard to theology and preaching.
This is by design; this is, in fact, Protestant indoctrination. The heroes of our faith were Platonists that rejected all truth by empirical study. Martin Luther believed that the key to spiritual wellbeing is to see all of creation as a gospel narrative for the purpose of revealing our vileness in a deeper and deeper way. Creation and life is a gospel narrative that aids the Christian in self-death. Luther’s primary problem with the Jews was the following: their tradition of emphasis on individual study and reason. Luther stated that reason is an ugly whore who should have dung rubbed in her face to make her ugly. John Calvin and Luther both attributed the idea that the Earth is round to demonic deception. The colonial Calvinist Puritans followed suit by attributing the scientific discoveries of Benjamin Franklin to demonic activity.
Over the centuries Protestants have let their hair down a little and dichotomized knowledge according to the material and spiritual. There is worldly knowledge which has some present practical benefit, but spiritual knowledge must be brought to us by those with special gifts preordained by God. Christians therefore demand truisms to live by and are offended when a teacher insinuates that they can understand the deep things of God. In contrast, the deep science of creationism gives them toys to play with in the sandbox of life. We are experts in creationism, but our lives are no different from that of the world. How unpowered are we? The badge of honor among Christian mothers in our day is their imperfection. The indwelling Holy Spirit can’t enable them to keep a clean and orderly house, but He can save your soul—really, He can, don’t you believe us?
And one should be careful that the argument really isn’t over the mere mechanics of the narrative. On the one hand, yes, God created the Earth in six solar days, but on the other hand, the creation shows forth God’s glory and our wickedness. The story should be interpreted literally in regard to science, but redemptively in regard to reality. God really did create the Earth in six days, but the ONLY reason He did that is to show our wickedness as set against His holiness.
Hence, Christians clamor about to be well studied in the mechanics of the narrative, but don’t know the theological difference between grammatical interpretation and redemptive interpretation. The former assumes that the Bible serves a wide spectrum of purposes for the Christian, especially as wisdom to live a holy life—the latter assumes we can’t live a holy life and the Bible only serves to show us our wickedness in a deeper and deeper way. Every verse is about our sinfulness as set against the holiness of God. That’s the difference between grammatical interpretation and redemptive interpretation.
Most Christians are oblivious to this issue that concerns the very interpretation of reality itself, but they can give you all of the arguments for why the story of Noah’s ark should be read literally in regard to the narrative. But in regard to being confronted about how to apply the Bible to life, a blank stare ensues followed by the muttering of, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” or, “We will pray for you” or, “Go to the pastor for a gospel pill.”
And in fact, Ken Ham hobnobs with redemptive interpretists all the time. Most notably, Christian mystic Chad Bresson who has written articles for Ham’s Creation Museum magazine. Bresson is one of the founders of the Earth Stove Society, a New Covenant Theology think tank. The first tenant of NCT according to the ESS is that ALL reality is interpreted through the cross. Ham published an article by Bresson positing the idea that even green grass should have a Christocentric meaning. Any other significant conclusions about green grass are just shadows that obscure the full glory of the Sun (Son).
Let me conclude with this point: job-one is having a firm grip on what the gospel is. Protestant academics will not stand before Christ in your stead—stop acting like that is the case.
paul
Seven Questions That Reveal the Deception of New Calvinist Statements of Faith
I have asked To Every Tribe, a New Calvinist missionary organization, to answer seven questions about their statement of faith. No answer yet, and I am not holding my breath. New Calvinist statements of this sort appear biblical, but the devil is in the details. The words in these statements are carefully crafted to appear biblical. By the way, To Every Tribe is egregiously top heavy in regard to administration. Administrators outnumber missionaries in the field. One of their missionary families, according to a newsletter, will spend almost two years in the field training! Good grief. The following seven questions are handy in testing the waters in any church you are considering for membership. The To Every Tribe statement of faith follows and is typical of New Calvinist statements of faith.
1. Do you hold to a Christocentric view of the Bible; ie., it is primarily a tool for seeing our own sinfulness and God’s holiness in a deeper and deeper way? Is the instructive value of the Bible secondary to that purpose?
2. Based on your stated view of the Trinity, do you reject a Christocentric approach to the Scriptures?
3. Does a perpetual Christian life of FAITH ALONE have to be maintained in order to maintain Christ’s “perpetual intercession”? Is that intercession for justification, or sanctification?
4. Is Christ’s “sinless life” imputed to our Christian walk perpetually?
5. Is the righteousness of Christ inside of us and a part of us? Or is the righteousness of Christ outside of us? Are we both practically and positionally righteous, or just declared righteous?
6. Is grace imparted to the believer through the ordinances?
7. How many resurrections and judgments are there? Since believers are declared righteous, will they stand in the same judgment with unbelievers?
To Every Tribe statement of faith:
The Word of God
We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Mark 13:31; John 8:31; John 20:31; Acts 20:32
The Trinity
We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons; that these are equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence and redemption. Genesis 1:1, 26; John 1:1, 3; Matthew 28:19; John 4:24; Romans 1:19-20; Ephesians 4:5-6
God The Father
We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. Luke 10:21-22; Matthew 23:9; John 3:16-17; 6:27; Romans 1:7; 1 Timothy 1:1-2; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:6
Jesus Christ
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people and personal visible return to earth. Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1; 20:28; Romans 8:46; 9:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:21-23; John 20:30-31; Matthew 20:28; Ephesians 1:4; Acts 1:11; Romans 5:6-8; Romans 6:9-10; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Timothy 3:16
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide. John 14:16-17, 26; John 16:9-14; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Galatians 5:22-26
Man
We believe that man was created by God in His own image; that he sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God, that as a consequence, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice and therefore under condemnation. Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:16-17; 3:6; Romans 3:10-12; 3:23; Ephesians 2:1-3 Romans 1:18-21; Revelation 20:12-14
Regeneration
We believe that those who repent and trust Jesus Christ as Savior have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and have become new creatures in Christ. They have been delivered from condemnation and have eternal life. Genesis 1:26; 5:2; Genesis 2:17; John 3:14; 5:24; John 8:12; 10:26; Romans 9:22; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 19:3, 20; Revelation 14:15; Psalm 51:7; Jeremiah 17:9; James 1:14; Romans 3:19; 5:19; Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9; 3:16; John 1:13; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1
The Gospel
We believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. It proclaims how one may receive the righteousness of Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone and so be justified in God’s sight. Justification is an act of God’s sovereign grace in which He pardons all our sins, once and for all declares us to be righteous in His sight by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. We believe God sovereignly declares a sinner righteous, once and for all, through faith by imputing the righteousness of Christ to the sinner’s account and forgiving his sins. Romans 1:16; Romans 5:17-19; Hebrews 10:14; Romans 3:24-25; Galatians 2:16; Romans 4:4-8; Philippians 3:9
The Church
We believe in the local church, consisting of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and united for worship of God, fellowship with the saints, and the work of the ministry. Ephesians 2:19-22; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:19-21; Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:23-25
The Ordinances
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that baptism is the immersion of the believer into water into the name of the triune God. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for the commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be regularly observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 11:23-26
The Last Things
We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked. Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 20:11-15
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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