An Open Letter to Rob Turner; Former Lead Teacher of APEX Church
Paul M. Dohse on behalf of TANC Ministries:
Dear Rob,
I will begin my open letter to you by reminding everyone that your recent “fall” has become a commonplace event among well-known Protestant leaders. Almost weekly now, we hear of another Protestant personality being “disqualified” for ministry. Sadly, these events will continue to be handled the same way: damage control rather than a pause for hard questions.
Our message to you follows: there is an immense silver lining in the dark clouds now hanging over your life. You may consider this silver lining because of numerous contradictions that mark Protestantism; e.g., while Protestant ministers such as yourself continually emphasize what amounts to the total depravity of the saints, you must step down when you fall. What other behavior should be expected? It makes no sense.
Another reality we think you should consider follows: the preference given to leaders such as yourself when these episodes arise. As set against the egregious testimonies that we hear from people ravaged by the biblical counseling movement that you have endorsed, the elders had a discussion with you and a course of action was decided on together. Also, your wife mentioned in her letter that you and she have decided to remain at APEX.
Truly, the reading of those words dumbfounded us. The average hardworking layperson that has been paying your salary all of these years has no such options. This ministry continues to aid people who are brought up on church discipline for merely attempting to leave a church without the permission of the elders. You have had close associations with churches who practice this kind of control. In fact, APEX is presently instructing its members on how to think about what has transpired, and guidelines for discussing it with others. An official announcement was withheld until these publications were prepared. Sorry, but this reeks of cultism.
So what is the silver lining that we suggest you consider? The almost weekly moral failures of leadership, the double standard, and cult-like control policies flow from a false gospel. You find yourself in the present situation because of the false gospel of progressive justification. Protestants call it “progressive sanctification,” but this is disingenuous at best.
The crux of this false gospel is elementary. Its doctrine of double imputation effectively denies and redefines the new birth and keeps “Christians” under law. It makes perfect law-keeping the standard for justification rather than the new birth. Supposedly, this is acceptable because Jesus keeps/kept the law for us, but that is NOT righteousness “apart from the law.” Protestantism suffers from a single perspective on law and sin resulting in a denial of a literal new birth into the family of God.
Any gospel stating that Jesus came to obey the law perfectly so that His obedience can be imputed to our sanctification is a false one and circumvents direct acts of love performed by the saints. Hence, when it gets right down to it, any real acts of love are really performed by Jesus and not us. I would invoke sarcasm here and note that this has become evident, but sadly, this also falsely accuses Christ of being sovereignly responsible for evil in the church.
Trust me; your episode is not God’s will. However, it is God’s will that something good comes of it. You have a choice: consider your former investments rubbish in exchange for Christ, or try to salvage whatever is left of your own former glory.
I suggest you turn away with prejudice from another fruit flowing from this false gospel: the Protestant cult of personalities that ultimately led to your present opportunity.
Paul M. Dohse on behalf of TANC Ministries.
Related: posted 7/22/2013 regarding Rob Turner appointment at Cedarville University
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
The Science of Debating a Calvinist; What You Must Know, Part 3
Today 6/26/2016 Live @ 4:00 pm. Live Program Link:
Sometime prior to the airing on 5/28/2016, I took part in a pre-recorded Q and A with Reformed theologian Dr. James White. This was hosted by Justin Brierley of the UK radio show “Unbelievable” on Premier Christian radio.
The host rightly identified our contention with the Protestant Reformation: the false gospel of progressive justification. During the Q and A, Dr. James White used deceptive communication techniques common among Reformed scholars.
The purpose of this program is to identify those techniques, and the substance of his false gospel.
Prior to the Q and A, the host and James White were presented with the following memo:
7 Yes or No Questions For James White
Also, the program transcript: J. White processed vid (2)
TANC Ministries 6/7/2016.
Other notes for part 3:
Christianity Has a Serious Law Problem
In 1983, primarily because of the investment in my life by a professing Christian, I decided that I wanted to be with God and walk with God. There was a strong sense in which I wanted to exchange the life I had for a new life—one that had hope. Even in my confusion, I think God honored my desire for this new life in Him; I think I was truly born again.
However, my relationship with the church was always an uneasy one. I always knew something wasn’t right. When I presented the evangelical canned gospel about “original sin,” I was never entirely comfortable with it. I did my duty and shared the “gospel,” but I really didn’t feel at ease with the presentation. Why? I think the video below offers a few suggestions to think about.
This whole idea that Adam broke a covenant with God and Christ came to restore the covenant doesn’t hold water and worse yet, the foundation of church is predicated on this idea. As Western followers of God, I think we know very, very little about the truth of the gospel, and for the most part only know what others want us to know for errant agendas. I think most truly born again Christians were/are confused enough to be saved by the skin of their teeth.
This is the mission focus of TANC ministries; we are striving for the laity to rise up and seize their calling to be learned disciples. It is a calling to freely pursue our individual priesthood and life more abundant. It is a call to break free from the shackles of the institutional church and its elitist scholarship. It is a call to stop funding a lie with hard earned money. It is a call to aggressive love that doesn’t wait for permission. It is a call to see God glorified in living out real truth. It is a call to a life of power without the feigning of human manipulation and slick multi-media propaganda.
I think TANC ministries has pointed out some very basic fundamentals, but there is much more work to be done; this work must be done by the collective efforts of Spirit-filled born again Christians.
Our starting point begins with a contention: justification/righteousness/salvation is by new birth—NOT law. Jesus did not come to restore a covenant; He came to make a way for man to escape his present life of death and find new life as a literal child of God. Protestantism has redefined the new birth and exchanged it with a quadity: the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and the Law. It is a religion that has Jesus bowing before a throne and offering His perfect works to the Law. It is a religion that crucifies Jesus again and again at the church temple when we “offer the perfect work of Jesus in the empty hand of faith” instead of our own living sacrifice of love flowing from new creaturehood. Salvation is not a mere legal declaration; it is a state of being.
I am confident that the laity will arise in these last days and seize their true calling. And I am confident that many like the skeptic in the below video will see a truth that makes logical sense. They will inquire when they see our obedient love as living sacrifice to God Almighty; not the sharing of His glory with the law-god of manmade tradition.
We invite you to join us in this journey; an exodus from law to life.
Paul Dohse
TANC Ministries
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
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