Please Support Our Evangelistic Outreach to Calvinists
On December 27-30, we will attend the Cross Conference in Louisville, Kentucky and reach out to the Calvinists there with the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We will be supplying many materials to them for free depending on the support we receive for this missionary endeavor.
We will engage Calvinists there and plead with them to repent of salvation by Christ plus antinomianism. If Christ keeps the law for us in sanctification, that means we have to believe that to remain saved. We will also address the belief that Christians need to receive a perpetual and ongoing salvific forgiveness for sins committed in sanctification, and if that is not received by “preaching the gospel to ourselves” we will lose our salvation.
Please pray for us. We will find many who are not aware of what Calvin really believed. Inquiries for more information should be sent to mail@ttanc.com. Donations can be sent to PO Box 583, Xenia, Ohio 45385. For PayPal, use the same email address.
TANC
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New Calvinism’s Loveless Christianity
“…we believe that those who teach and preach the word of God are God-appointed agents to save God’s people from ignorance.” [1]
~Al Mohler
“’I only created the jinn and mankind that they might serve me’ (Koran, 51:56), i.e. that they might know me. But the greater part of men neglect this duty, except those whom God hath chosen and whose hearts He hath vivified with Himself.” [2]
~ Data Ganj Bahsh, al-Hujwiri
“† It’s all the same because it all comes from ancient caste. Hence, there is very little difference between the Reformed version of sanctification and Islamic Sufism. Both emphasize experiencing God over participating with God. Both emphasize ‘transcendence,’ ‘manifestations,’ and ‘rebirth.’ Sanctification, in both Reformed and Islamic constructs emphasize, ‘vivification.’”
In yesterday’s post, we looked at how most false religion derives from spiritual caste. This was the foundation of false religion found in the cradle of civilization. Hence, people that believe in mythology, superstition, etc. are not stupid—they have accepted the premise that real truth is found beyond reason and empirical conclusions. Therefore, faith and reason are often dichotomized. In yesterday’s post, Moses was cited regarding the fact that some truth is beyond our reasoning abilities, but what we need to function properly as human beings is not. We also cited Moses’ concern that enlightened mediators are supposedly needed to bring truth to us from heaven or other faraway places. Moses stated that the word of God is near us, in us, and not too difficult for us.
The Tower of Babel is a good example of the idea that we have to somehow get to heaven to bring truth down to the masses. A few of the enlightened tap into God’s truth via some sort of epistemology (usually mediation), repackage it for practical application among the masses, and make it known through orthodoxy (that’s caste in a nutshell). Orthodoxy is rarely about the “why?” because it is understood that the masses don’t understand the why, it is about the what. If you ask why?, the answer is, “Because the philosopher kings say so, and you wouldn’t understand anyway.” In contrast, the New Testament frames all of this in regard to Christ being the only mediator between God and man, and mankind being spoken to by Christ in the last days. The apostle Paul played on Moses’ concept and reiterated the fact that Christ is near to all, is in us (as Christians), and his commandments are not too difficult for us.
Spiritual caste originated in the East, and made its way into Western culture through the Sophists. Spiritual caste was solidified in the West by Plato, and was primarily integrated into Western religion by St. Augustine. Spiritual caste was the foundation of Augustine’s theory of original sin and total depravity. This can be seen in how the Catholic Church has always operated. The monks deprive themselves of the material as much as possible, get the dope from heaven through prayer and meditation, and deliver it to the popes who are Plato’s philosopher kings. It’s all basically the same gig.
The Reformation came out of Catholicism. Clearly, the Reformers didn’t reject caste ideology, they only sought to do caste in a better way.* They merely made Christ Plato’s pure form, and replaced Christ as the mediator of truth with Reformed elders. This is why there is so much emphasis in our day on the “personhood of Christ” rather than what Christ commands. The commands of Christ seen in the Bible speak to our inability to please Christ since all matter is evil to begin with. The Reformers pulled this off by making love and law the same thing in both justification and sanctification. True, there is only one love in justification, that of God. But in sanctification, we in fact love God because it is not too difficult for us. We are hindered by mortality, but “we love him because He first loved us.”
The Reformers made the definition of any valid love towards God a perfect keeping of the law. So, “If you love me, keep my commandments” must be seen in its “gospel context.” Supposedly, Christ couldn’t have been talking about us making an effort to obey as a way to please Him because He is only pleased with perfection; therefore, Christ must have been talking about something else.
This proposed construct was a form of Neo-Platonism also dubbed “Gnosticism.” In reality, the Reformation was nothing more or less than a new twist on those movements. Supposedly, it is impossible for man to live in a way that is pleasing to God, and the Bible is merely a tool for showing us how loveless we are, and in doing that, the only objective pure form of Christ can be “experienced” on earth subjectively. In other words, we can only experience goodness, but we can’t perform it. We can only “manifest” the love of Christ or “reflect” His love, but it is not us performing it. Our only way of loving Christ is through self-depravation resulting in us being lifeless vessels that show a reflection of Christ to the world. Even these “reflections” are preordained. †
But don’t lose the main point: we can’t love Christ by keeping the law. We can only love Him through a deeper and deeper understanding of how evil we are (being matter). The Reformers believed that the essence of all sin was seeing goodness in us, and this root of all sin also transcends into Christian lifelessness. This idea that Christians are not able to please God by law keeping has always been the classic definition of antinomianism (anomia: anti-law of God). The Reformers came up with their own definition of antinomianism:
The belief that the law has been abolished and has no use for the Christian.
The Reformers protested on the basis of their own redefinition. They believed the law was critical for showing us the impossibility of loving Christ. They deemed it critical for demonstrating what we can’t do. And supposedly, according to the Reformers, the realization of our own depravity as set against the holiness of God produces “vivification” (a joy experience) in the believer. Again, this is very Eastern in regard to the idea that opposites define each other; ie., light defines darkness and darkness defines light etc.
Since the garden, the primary doctrinal nemesis for heaven has always been antinomianism in the form of “gnosis,” or secret knowledge. Instead of the law being near every person, it is afar and must be retrieved by those who claim to be mediators between us and heaven. These pseudo mediators then repackage the truth in a way that can be understood by the masses (orthodoxy). Obedience to the mediators, or at least trusting them in regard to the law is the ticket to heaven. Christ has been replaced by philosopher kings. Christ simply called all of this, “the traditions of men.” From Genesis to Revelation, it begins with disobedience, and ends with “the man of lawlessness,” literally, “the man of anomia.” Incredibly, Christ predicted that the last days would be loveless “because” of “anomia.”
The Reformation was another anomia option; perhaps, the most popular since the garden. However, the masses that were drawn up in the movement, to a large extent, didn’t get it. In order to appear as those who wanted to place a Bible in the hands of every man, woman, and child, while propagating Gnosticism, allegorical interpretation was the mainstay epistemology. A grammatical, literal interpretation is more natural. This led to the idea that man could please God by obeying the laws in Scripture, but these same people remained under the banner of the Reformation.
This has led to periodic antinomian controversies throughout church history in Reformed circles: those who believe that we can only manifest the love of Christ versus those who believe that we can actually love Christ with our own obedience. Four of these controversies will be outlined in The Truth About New Calvinism: Volume 2, but the one we will focus on here occurred at the beginning of the present-day New Calvinist movement. The movement began in 1970 with the advent of the Australian Forum. The Forum was a Reformed think tank that rediscovered the authentic Reformation gospel. The movement spread in two directions: Reformed Baptist circles and conservative Presbyterian circles via Westminster Theological Seminary. In Reformed Baptist circles, it was an antinomian controversy, but in Presbyterian circles the controversy centered on the Sonship Theology version.
While the movement was extinguished in Reformed Baptist circles, it was launched into the present-day New Calvinist movement when the name of the movement was changed from Sonship Theology to “Gospel Transformation” in Presbyterian circles. There has never been honest discussion within the Reformed camp regarding the key issue of whether or not we merely reflect love for Christ or perform it.
As discussed in yesterday’s post, spiritual caste leads to orthodoxy, and orthodoxy leads to cultish behavior. Besides New Calvinist “love bombing,” a cult hallmark, another mark of a cult is the idea that the cult knows truth that members have to be “prepared to accept.” In other words, “truth that they aren’t ready for yet.”
Therefore, few people attending New Calvinist churches know what New Calvinism is, nor do they know that they are supposedly incapable of loving Christ and others. This belief is slowly assimilated into their thinking through redefinition of terms, and the exclusion of topics like enablement and obedience. When God’s holiness and our depravity are only taught, Christians will begin to function that way unawares. We don’t practice anything that is not talked about or emphasized.
And that includes loving Christ through righteous behavior. The New Testament was written against the backdrop of an aggressive Gnostic movement. Noting this will lead to abundant understanding accordingly.
paul
1. Albert Mohler: Sermon; First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Florida; January 30, 2011
2. From the Kashf al-mahjub (The Uncovering of the veiled) by ‘Ali ibn ‘Uthman al-Jullabi al-Hujwiri, known as Data Ganj Bakhsh in the Indo-Pakistan region. Translated by Reynold Nicholson. New Edition, London: Luzac, 1967, pp. 267-277.
*Spiritual caste is the foundation for all religions where tyranny is found. It simply posits the idea that a select few are preordained by God (or some concept of a god) to lead the unenlightened masses. Instead of ONE salvific mediator and many teachers (God’s mode of operation from the beginning), it is a system that posits multiple mediators among men that impart salvation perpetually.
† It’s all the same because it all comes from ancient caste. Hence, there is very little difference between the Reformed version of sanctification and Islamic Sufism. Both emphasize experiencing God over participating with God. Both emphasize “transcendence,” “manifestations,” and “rebirth.” Sanctification, in both Reformed and Islamic constructs emphasize, “vivification.”
Confident Study of the Scriptures
Taking Back the Bible from Christian Academia: Confident Study of the Scriptures
Part One
The Apostolic Church’s greatest nemesis was Gnosticism. An understanding of how Greek philosophy influenced the landscape of that day is critical to understanding what was behind many things written by the Apostles and Christ. Greek philosophy was the driving force behind Gnosticism, and it was predicated on an elitist academia who were supposedly the gatekeepers of truth and wisdom. Supposedly, these were the enlightened minority who should necessarily lead or rule over the unenlightened masses. They were, and still are responsible for repackaging the “deep” things of God so that the unenlightened masses can use it in some way to cope with life. In religious circles we call this, “orthodoxy.” In secular circles we call this, “Psychology.” Those who cope rather than overcome are always the shadows of orthodoxy.
Enlightenment was a pedigree that you were born into; predetermined by the universe, gods, or God Himself. Hence, formal schools were mostly populated by the affluent to prepare them to lead or rule over the unenlightened masses. It’s very little different today as most pastors are graduates from universities that the majority of people can’t afford. Ability to obtain a degree from a noted seminary is part and parcel with being qualified to be a pastor (even if you are a pedophile). Pastoral search committees immediately toss resumes that are anything less than a Master’s degree. Lay pastors are seen as a lower class of leaders and are paid accordingly. They are seen as necessary for churches who can’t afford the “real deal.” This whole tradition, at least in Western culture, began with Plato’s Academy. The Academy is really the foundation that all seminaries are built on. They follow the secular pattern of Western culture.
This was the elitist atmosphere in Judea when Christ showed up. God’s people were sheep without shepherds and living on a heavy/steady diet of orthodoxy. Jesus called it “the traditions of men.” Jesus came and circumvented the whole elitist construct which often invoked, “By what authority do you teach these things?” Christ never contacted or checked in with the formal academia of that time; they had to come to Him as Nicodemus did in the darkness of night. He was “the teacher of Israel” which probably means he was among the most prominent. It is also interesting to note that his name means “power over the people” which is the same idea as the Nicolaitan movement of that day which was primarily a Gnostic movement. That name means “power over the laity.”
Jesus took God’s truth directly to the people. He cut out the middleman so-to-speak. This was revolutionary. This is EXACTLY what the apostle John was addressing in 1John when he wrote “you have no need for anyone to teach you.” He wasn’t excluding the need for teachers, he was excluding orthodoxy. He was excluding a dumbed-down version of “God’s truth” by the elite for the consumption of the supposedly unenlightened masses. And that is exactly what John was contending against. 1John refutes several teachings that were Gnostic ideas permeating the church in that day. Christ mentions the Nicolaitans specifically in His seven letters to the churches. Historically, they were known to be of the Gnostic school of thought.
Furthermore, the Bible always addresses God’s people as a whole and not the leadership specifically. The New Testament epistles always address the whole congregation. This is very telling. The Bereans searched the Scriptures themselves to verify the teachings of the apostle Paul and were called “honorable” for doing so. This is very telling as well.
Christ’s methods of teaching and approach had built-in opposition to the whole elitist caste system. He himself was not formally educated; the foundation of His assembly was built with men who were uneducated—they were the blue collar working class of that society. In the same way the elitists taught mysteries that the common people could not understand, He taught mysteries and parables to the common people that the elitists could not understand. More than likely the apostle Paul delighted in saying, “Behold, I show you a mystery.” That was turnabout play, mysteries were not revealed to the common people in that day.
Christian media and education is a multi-billion dollar business. History has never seen a country like America endowed with the same gargantuan Christian education system. Yet, Christians in this country are woefully dumbed-down and propagandized with European traditions and superstition. Our seminaries merely parrot European orthodoxy and their penchant for dumbed-down congregants. Yet, Europe’s history and societal woes in no way recommends itself for an example to follow. Those who know European history are dumbfounded that the Reformers and Puritans could be posed as religious heroes. American Protestantism is basically the European model that has never embraced the priesthood of believers.
This tradition translates into Christians consuming a mass of “Christian” information via published books, novels, movies, Christian radio, the internet, and TV/cable programs. Christians do not read and study the Bible for themselves. If they did, Christian media would not be a multi-billion dollar business. Instead of the Information Age and its tools being used to show ourselves approved, we use it to saturate our minds with the opinions of others. This is orthodoxy on steroids. It makes Paul’s “ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth” the understatement of the ages. This point can be solidified by the mere observation that the Information Age has not put seminaries out of business. Why? Because Christian academia is not a teacher—it’s an authority.
This is a Segway for getting to my first point. The Bible must be returned to its proper place as the only authority in the church. We must obey God rather than man. The idea that making a book the authority in some way demeans God’s splendor is a metaphysical sleight of hand. To use the idea that God should not be minimized to the exegesis of a book is to praise God for being so awesome that we cannot really know anything about Him. “He’s not a precept, He’s a person,” etc., add nausea. Worship becomes a celebration of subjectivity as a way to praise God. God was way ahead of this little game:
Psalm 138:2 – I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name (KVJ).
Apparently, the concept of praising God’s glory above anything earthy like mere words written on a page annoyed Christ to some degree:
Luke 11:27 – As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
While God reminds us that indeed His thoughts are above our thoughts, He insists that we not lean on our own understanding; hence, we may assume we can understand the alternative. We are clearly responsible before God for objective truth, and no one will give an account for our own lives but us. Listen to whom you will, but you are personally responsible for what you believe. Does a book seem a little earthy and unspiritual to you? Well, they are present at the White Throne Judgment, and judgment will be rendered according to what is “written in the books.” In the book of Revelation we see that Christ instructed John to “write” what he saw. We also read Christ’s warning to not add or take away any words from the book.
That’s where confident Bible study begins. We must trust it as God’s sole authority. But why a book? The answer is so easy that we readily miss it. God created reality as we now know it, and that reality is interpreted through words. To comprehend any present reality, it must be described by words. God spoke the world into existence with words. We know light as light because He defined it by the word “light.” God instructed Adam to name the animals with words. Animals can only be defined by such names. If we see an animal that we are completely unfamiliar with, we ask, “What is it?” Words describe general reality and particular reality. One may also ask, “What kind of animal is that?” Words interpret reality. God’s Law is interpreted by words; so, it stands to reason that His enemies will want to interpret truth/reality in some other way. This is where philosophy can lead us to more understanding or death. We must remember that words mean things.
The points so far can be argued from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. The audience was the spiritual peasantry of the day. Yet, the hermeneutic for that sermon can be found in the following:
Matthew 5:1 – Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
He “taught” them. As my Grandmother might have said, They got a learnin’. That means they had everything they needed to understand what Jesus wanted them to know. The sermon is to be taken on face value. The words mean what they mean. This audience is NOT the spiritual elite of that day. Jesus ends the sermon by saying the application of those words to life will result in said life being built on a sturdy foundation. The sermon sought to change their lives. It taught them how to think, how to worship, how to pray, and how to act. At the end, they were astonished that he taught these things without the authority of men.
This is first and foremost: to know that God’s word is to us, that it is our sole authority, that we are solely responsible to know it and obey it, and next, that God has sustained its original intent and meaning.
Perhaps one reason Christians do not read their Bibles very much is because we have been taught that we can’t really understand it. Many Reformed churches teach their parishioners that Bible reading merely flavors or prepares their hearts for what they must learn from the elders:
You think, perhaps, that [you] can fill up the other half of the plate with personal study, devotions, or quiet times, or a radio program. Beloved, you cannot. Scripture is relatively quiet on such practices. But on preaching, the case is clear and strong. Neglect preaching and neglect your soul (Dr. Devon Berry: Clearcreek Chapel .org archives; How to Listen to a Sermon)….
The text here implies that there was an interactive nature between three entities: The preacher, the hearers, and the Word. Note this cycle: Paul, from the Word, delivers words. The Bereans, from Paul’s words, go to the Word. The Word cycles from God, through the preacher, to the people, back to the Word, and this, verse 12 tells us, produced belief in the God of the Word. An important thing to note is that this happened daily – suggesting a regular interaction between preaching, personal study, and the Word. The Bereans eagerly prepared by paralleling their own Bible reading and study with Paul’s preaching. So a good preparation for the public preaching of the Word is the private consumption of the Word. It will be the seasoning that brings out the flavor – salt on your French fries, if you will (Ibid.)
Such a statement is indicative of Reformed thought and should raise the ire of a child. Yet, American Christians are so dumbed-down that they listen to such without even blinking.
Therefore, few Christian fathers in America think they are qualified to teach their family the Bible. Oddly, this is not the sentiment in faiths like Islam and many cults. Is their growth, as opposed to the decline of Christianity, due to the offering of something objective? Tragically, many married couples that have been Christians for years seek counsel for what they should already know. Often, this counseling makes the situation worse because it comes from those who didn’t teach them the full counsel of God to begin with. Few parishioners are aware of their pastor’s epistemology. There is no concern for how their elders approach God’s word because the pastor himself is the authority. That’s the problem.
Moreover, we must be confident that God has sustained the Bible’s intent and meaning. Christ’s very mandate to the church was the following: go to all nations with the authority of His word and teach everyone to observe it and keep it. It may then be assumed that He has superintended the Bible and its canonicity. Yet, God involves us in the process. He has promised us that the truth will be available for those who seek it, but we must study to show ourselves approved. That study involves hard labor in all areas of epistemology. We must insist that God has made objective truth available to man for its primary purpose: “everything we need for life and godliness.” It may not tell you how to fix cars, but it will certainly teach you how to be an auto mechanic who pleases God.
This may entail a strong endeavor to gain knowledge of the skill apart from the Bible in order to fulfill the biblical mandate. I think you get the message; God gave us an extraordinary instrument known as a “brain.” We are to use it, not download the thoughts of others with a mindless flash drive. You will be held responsible for the actions that the downloaded information produces. You are responsible, not the source who fed you the information. Christians need to start reading the ingredient labels on the cans. You are to work out your OWN salvation with trembling and fear. Each person will be judged according to their OWN work. Being judged by our works is synonymous with being judged by what we choose to believe. We best not let others make that choice for us. To do so is to let others determine our eternal destiny. Perhaps there is not a greater measure of insanity; seeking for others to think for you. They will not stand in for you before God, why in the world would you let them think for you?
Taking Back the Bible from Christian Academia: Confident Study of the Scriptures; Part Two
Let us now look at some basic principles for learning. Although the Bible is full of mysteries, allegory, and parables (but mostly objective truth), these are all for the purpose of teaching you something. God is not a God of confusion. Those mysteries belong to us:
1Corinthians 3:19 – For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
And….
Luke 10:21 – In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Again, this was turnabout. Instead of the elitists controlling the wisdom, God was delivering it directly to the people and keeping it from the “wise” which is most often used by the Bible authors pejoratively.
The primary problem at Corinth was dependence on world philosophy. And frankly, that’s exactly what’s wrong with the church today. Commentary on the Bible is immeasurable. Again, the industry that interprets our Bibles for us is a multi-billion dollar business. This isn’t how the biblical teachers taught. The citations of outside sources to make specific points to be applied to life are completely non-existent in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t borrow any wisdom from the world at all. In a few places, it’s used for examples of bad behavior and false teachings, but the Bible is its own source for any positive truth or revelation. Christ and the apostles only cited other Biblical authors. All books of the Old Testament are cited except Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Christ quoted from twenty-four Old Testament books.
So, know that the Bible is written to you, know that you can understand it, know that you are responsible to properly understand it and teach it to others (MATT 5:19 ff.), and interpret the Bible with the Bible. The Bible has 42 authors; their writings should be your commentaries. That’s 42 commentaries which is plenty of commentary for any library. The biblical writers make their points via other Bible authors exclusively. To be honest with you, I got rid of all my Bible commentaries. The only one I have left is MacArthur’s Bible commentary and I only kept it because of its extensive cross-referencing. I put little stock in MacArthur’s opinions as he is no longer trustworthy and has become a follower of men. But again, I find his extensive cross-referencing useful.
As far as interpretation by the commentaries of other Bible authors, you can find online resources that list Old Testament quotes in the New Testament. When a New Testament writer cites an Old Testament text, you can then read those passages in order to gain understanding in regard to the point that the New Testament writer was making.
Remember these basic principles as well: application to life (obedience) leads to more understanding, and remember that God communicates in a straightforward manner and doesn’t want confusion, but rather edification (1COR 14). God’s goal is edification. His people die for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Also pay close attention to what’s being stated. The Holy Spirit is not like us who often write things with a goal for volume rather than substance. Remember those literature assignments in school that had to be 3000 words? That’s not how the Holy Spirit writes. Every word of God is for life (Matt 4:4), and ALL Scripture is profitable for equipping (2TIM 3:16,17). Be patient as learning wisdom for life from the Scriptures is a lifelong endeavor. Do not be too concerned with what you don’t understand for now, it will come with time and diligent study. Seeds of future understanding are being planted in your mind and God’s word will not return void.
Therefore, when you read or study your Bible, look for the plain sense of the text. If you decide to study a particular book or epistle, read through it a couple of times thoughtfully and make note of what it is plainly stating. Then make note of other Scriptures cited by the author and read those as well; they are commentaries on what you are reading. Paul cites the Old Testament about 41 times in the book of Romans. Those passages should be read as commentaries and for further clarification.
Before we move on let me note that one of the most powerful tools for understanding is daily Bible reading. An overall flavor of biblical content is extremely important and probably efficacious for discernment. If you don’t do anything else, partake in daily Bible reading.
Parabiblical information is an aid. However, Susan and I have gleaned things from the book of Romans that we have never been taught before and are life transforming; this happened without any research in regard to historical background or customs of that time in Rome. Our study of Romans has included little information apart from the book itself. But if you do use parabiblical aids this is key: as far as historical background, customs, or philosophies that might be alluded to in the particular text that you are studying, use secular sources that don’t have theological axes to grind. This assures that the source isn’t seeing something in the history that they want to see.
For topical study, do not, I repeat, do not buy a Christian book on the subject. More than likely it will be eisegetical rather than exegetical. Get a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and look up the key words and read all of the verses for yourself in context. I would also recommend Naves Topical Bible which will list Scriptures that address the subject you want to study. Buying a Christian book on the subject gets back to others thinking for us. How telling that this ministry continues to hear complaints that Sunday schools and Bible studies are usually conducted from recently published books that are the present-day Reformed rage.
Now let’s look at the all-important issue of translations. The Old Testament is pretty straight forward as it was overseen by the Jews. The New Testament has been attended to with far less anti-eisegesis. Nevertheless the multitudes of different translations and TYPES of translations offer an awesome resource for us. If there is any commentary worth more than the Bible authors (and there is not), it is the translations. New Testament translations offer the opinions of hundreds of Greek scholars. Some translations are literal word by best English word translations (literal translations; ie., the KJV). Other translations, known as paraphrases, attempt to show the ideas or intent behind the Greek words. You can look at all of the varying opinions, and determine which ones fit the context and what other Bible texts teach about the same issue or subject.
Then there are the expanded translations by Greek scholars. These are very interesting. These expand Bible sentences to reflect the Greek moods and tenses in the best and most accurate English words. An example of this would be Kenneth S. Wuest’s expanded translation of the New Testament.
Now let’s discuss the manuscripts that these translations come from. The original writings are gone; eg., the actual letter that the Romans held in their hands or the early copies thereof. Translations are taken from manuscripts which are composed of ancient fragments. These fragments may be actual copies of the original and also based on ancient commentaries that rehearse Bible verses such as the writings of the early church fathers. Most English translations come from either the Received Text or the Critical Text. These are manuscripts based on differing sources of fragments and other ancient texts. And there is a difference. The Critical Text has 2,886 fewer words than the Received Text, and calls into question the validity of 41 verses found in it. In other words, some translations exclude words and in some cases entire verses that are in dispute. Sources that document these differences can be found, once again, ONLINE!
Another problem with the New Testament as far as English translations are concerned is that most of our English translations came from the Reformers. In fact, Chapters and verses were first used in the Geneva Bible which was a Calvinist study Bible. It’s the Bible that arrived in America on the Mayflower, and in the true spirit of the Reformation, it was the law in Scotland that every household of means was required to purchase one. Progressive Justification was the doctrine/gospel of the Reformation, and bias towards that doctrine permeates the English translations, particularly in regard to tenses. Clearly, in the aforementioned manuscript texts mentioned, there is a difference in many verses between salvation as past and present continuous.
In regard to these discrepancies, it is up to us to study in order to show ourselves approved. God doesn’t do it all for us. He superintended the transmission of the Bible while allowing freewill. And by the way, the Bible documents its own transmission (There are books that document the historical transmission of the Bible as well). Did you know that? In my own daily Bible reading I see references to this in many different ways, which brings me to another learning tip and the significance of daily Bible reading. That would be the BIBLE NOTEBOOK. This is some form of the Bible in a notebook with tabulated sections. Sections can be divided into subjects of interest, and as you see references in your daily Bible reading, you compile those references in the appropriate section. One can also use the same process to document Reformed aberrations that favor the false gospel of progressive justification which is perpetual resalvation and perseverance by faith alone in sanctification. These discrepancies are going to be found primarily in the ESV, but are also prevalent in many other translations.
This brings me to yet another tip regarding Bible Study software: you can jettison the catalogue process by using Bible study software that will do comprehensive word searches in all translations. Let’s say that transmission of the Bible is your interest. You can search key words like, “word,” “book,” “write,” etc., and then read those verses in context.
(As an aside, a basic observation in the category of transmission that can be made is that words can be written down by many different means on many different materials and are difficult to control unlike electronic data).
Lastly, because of the internet, you can also research lesser known translations such as the Aramaic/Hebrew New Testament. The argument here is that Greek was a vehicle, but not the vernacular of the people who wrote the New Testament. In other words, the Greek may not properly transmit the Hebrew mindset and what they meant by certain phrases etc. This brings us to the importance of systematic theology.
All of these considerations must work together with the fact that the Scriptures are written systematically. There is a method; doctrines, covenants, etc. make this clear. Obviously, it is more than fair to say that the tabernacle was a systematic theology. Creation was done systematically. Ever heard of the “Solar System”? We see a system in the book of Revelation: seals, trumpets, woes, methods, documents, timelines, and specific places. God is a God of order. This is the importance of systematic theology and its elements: justification; sanctification; imputation; Christology; Pneumatology; anthropology; hamartiology; soteriology; ecclesiology; angelology; eschatology; etc. The fact that systematic theology is not taught in the churches is scandalous and indicative of Protestant control mania.
There are many considerations and schools that make a complete picture of truth. A word in a translation that in some way contradicts sound soteriology must be suspect and investigated. I recommend Cambron’s Bible Doctrines: Beliefs That Matter and Barackman’s first edition of Practical Christian Theology. Avoid the other three additions as he gravitated toward radical aspects of Reformed theology after the first addition. Obviously, John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is a systematic theology and has been greatly expanded upon for contemporary use by Michael Horton’s The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims On the Way. This systematic theology will determine the interpretive outcomes of a whole generation of pastors.
The next point is eschatology as part of this vast biblical system. The study of last things is critical to showing how the Bible all fits together, especially in regard to soteriology. Old Testament and New Testament eschatology fits together for the making of one picture showing how covenants fit together with God’s plan of salvation. A lack of emphasis on eschatology has had a catastrophic effect on the church. To minimize eschatology is to deprive God’s people of hope, and a wealth of spiritual information. For one, consider that J. Burton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogues 737 prophecies that are either fulfilled or reiterated in the other texts by different authors writing hundreds of years apart. As we have observed here at the Potters House, eschatology also fits the plan of salvation in regard to judgments and resurrections as one would expect to be the case. Eschatology is vital for a proper understanding of the Scriptures. In regard to pastors who deemphasize eschatology, mark them and flee from them.
In regard to the question of the best Bible study software, you can consider software that has the elements we have discussed in this study. However, I would recommend Olive Tree online software, and it is very inexpensive. It has the most important feature, a word search engine. It will do a comprehensive English word search, but it will also do a Greek word search. This enables you to see how a Greek word is used in other passages—this is very telling in regard to the original intent behind the word. Also, if you do an English word search for a certain word in both the New Testament and Old Testament, you can see what the Hebrew counterpart is to the Greek and vice versa. You can get many different translations, and if you hover over any word with your mouse, the Greek or Hebrew word will appear with its definition. If a definition is not available, it’s an English filler for the purpose of flow and readability.
And don’t forget Google. Google is an extremely powerful search engine. It is also virtual world knowledge connected to virtual mind. What do I mean by that? If you want to recall something you read in the Bible several years ago but you don’t remember where it is in the Bible or even the exact wording, all you have to do is Google the fragment or the idea and a link to an article about it will appear. A wealth of information regarding any subject can be called up in seconds. And thoughts such as, “I wonder if the Bible talks about that?” can be answered in seconds. Merely Google the thought and a vast amount of information will appear. I am convinced that the final form of the final kingdom that will rule the Earth in the last days has feet of iron mixed with clay because of the Information Age. Tyranny is only effective to the degree that it can control information. This is why our founding fathers were pro education and information. This is why they proliferated information of all kinds with aggressive intentionality.
The dumbing down of America is no accident—it is the road to tyranny. The dumbing down of the Protestant church is no accident—it has always been predicated on tyranny and always will be unless Christians take back our Bible.
The James MacDonald White Paper: Cult 101; Post 8 of 20
Authentic Reformed theology is always destined to bear the fruit of cultism to some degree. Ideology doesn’t always play itself out to its full potential in every person or organization, but the possibility is always there.
Moses addressed the core issue with the Israelites more than 3000 years ago:
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.
Ancient paganism was founded on the idea that the masses were unenlightened in regard to understanding reality. Only an elite few are supposedly capable of gaining true knowledge. And of course, therefore, the unenlightened should follow the elite accordingly for the betterment of mankind as a whole. This approach can be seen clearly in some of the oldest religions known to man like Hinduism which has a defined caste system. However, some variation of that caste system permeates the vast majority of religions and evangelical denominations.
Moses stated plainly that some knowledge is in fact secret, but God holds mankind responsible for a body of knowledge that is revealed. Every person born into the world is personally responsible for that knowledge. This really isn’t the norm in religion which posits the idea that EVERYTHING is secret and unknowable to the masses (Gnosis: secret knowledge). Hence, the masses need to follow the orthodoxy of the enlightened ones which is separate from the reality/truth they are unable to understand. The elite understand—we never will, so we need to trust orthodoxy. For years I could not understand my experience as a Southern Baptist until I understood this concept. A blind person can see the mentality in that denomination that the pastorate understands things that the majority of congregants will never understand.
But Moses stated….
Deuteronomy 30:11 – “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
The definition of a cult usually pertains to a charismatic leader exercising control over a group of people. Obviously, this follows the logic of spiritual elitism, and control follows the logic of orthodoxy. Every behavior pattern coming out of the New Calvinism movement is directly driven by this construct. The examples are too numerous to even catalog, but the most glaring is the idea that no matter how crazy things get, the parishioners need to “trust the elders who are responsible before God for your souls.”
Cultism is behavior. It is the fruit, not the root. The root is spiritual caste, what Moses preached against. The tree is orthodoxy, the fruit is cultism. That’s why Harvest Bible Chapel follows the insanity of James MacDonald. That is why I get emails about MacDonald’s infamous “5 Things….” sermon like, “No words,” and “Wha, wha, wha?”
Much of the present-day American church is built on spiritual caste, and the resulting cultism is leading to a mass exodus, but those fleeing must remember that we are still responsible for what God has revealed. Nobody has to obtain that knowledge for us, it is near us, and in us. All bets are not off because the spiritual elitists have failed.
It is our duty to build something new out of the rubble. We are still accountable before God.
paul
The James MacDonald White Paper: “How Would Jesus Preach?” Post 7 of 20
Though New Calvinists mock the question, what would Jesus do? they really should ask themselves that question more often. The following sermon by James MacDonald will undoubtedly go down in church history as THE crybaby sermon of the ages. Would Jesus preach a sermon like this one? Five things he wanted us to know about how much of a burden ministry was to Him? Instructions on how to approach Him and when? Really? What words could explain how unlike Christ this sermon is? What is in the water in Illinois?
Voice file and transcript download are found in bottom right side panel.
We don’t have a ton of time here, and so let me kind of jump into this. I’m starting here, five things your pastor wants you to know but can’t tell you. About as serious as I can be about this, I really, really doubt that a single pastor here would come and say, “Wow, you missed that.”
Here they are, five things your pastor wants you to know but can’t tell you. Number 1, or number 5, I’ll count it down. Number 5, preaching well is a crushing weight, and you’ll never really understand, and you can’t help me. I tried to write about this in the book Vertical Church, and I just really – the closest thing I’ve ever come to it is if you remember exam week in college, but imagine instead that the most important people in the world are coming to hear you answer the questions on the exam, and it’s gonna be a different exam every week, and none of them have to take the test; they just have to listen to you take the test. It’s only a bit like what it’s like. Then you introduce the whole element of spiritual warfare and the things that come crashing down on your house on Friday and Saturday almost every week. And if you’re one of those preachers, and I hope you are, who can’t get up in the pulpit unless things are right in his heart, in his family, in his life as much as we can make it with others, I mean, it’s just a crushing weight.
And then what makes it worse is we live in a society where consumers quickly become critics. So everybody goes to a restaurant, they have 50 thoughts on how this restaurant could do this better. All you do is eat food, man. You can’t make pancakes, and you have all these thoughts about what makes a good restaurant. It’s just that much more so in a church. Everyone receives the sermon. So after you’ve heard a couple hundred sermons, you kind of think you know a good one; you know a bad one. That’s probably true, but you couldn’t fix it. How about you’re up next week? No, no, no, I don’t want that. Or the guy who does want that is not able to maybe even understand how to do that. I just think it would create a lot of compassion for your preacher if you would just embrace preaching well as a crushing weight and you’ll never understand and you can’t really help me. Preachers can’t help preachers. But people who don’t actually make, and honestly, some of the things they say to try to be helpful are not that helpful. And it’s way, way easier said than done.
And we’re doing all weekend to help our – I’ll tell you what helps me. Encouragement helps me. Hearing some practical application of how my best effort affected your life for the good, that helps me. Praying for me helps me immensely. But if we would kind of turn down our sense of – and then it’s worth it. Listen all these guys on the radio, I hate the radio preachers. So then they’re always compared to the other guy and – I think enough said on that.
Five things your pastor would tell you, wants you to know but can’t tell you. Number 4, I’m not puffed up needing accountability. I’m way down needing support. I’m not inflated and puffed up needing accountability. I’m way down needing support. I can’t tell you how many times through the years, especially in the last ten years, I’ll get finally a conversation when someone has been attending our church for a while and they’ll say, “I’m really praying for you that you don’t get a big head.” That is such a smack down, and it shows such a completely fundamental misunderstanding of what it’s like to pastor a church. It’s related to seeing things but not feeling the weight of things.
So I walk into a worship center exactly like this on a Sunday morning like I’ll do this weekend and I feel too many heads turn and see me. I see a visitor lean to somebody and elbow them and point to him or have that crazy experience of insane people with phone cameras wanting their picture of you. That’s a – by the way, I’ve done that this week happily. That’s a complete loss, okay? I hate having my picture taken. And it goes even worse if you don’t do it. Ooh, can’t have your picture taken. Whoa, aren’t you big time. There’s just no way out of that hallway, okay? Just no way. I’d love to. Thank you. And then of course I don’t know why everyone has a camera now, but they don’t work like they used to because we’re up here like forever going like this, and the thing the pastor has to think about is not the generally wonderfully kind innocent people that want the picture taken. It’s the hundreds of people around the room that they’re oblivious to that are watching you get your picture taken and forming assumptions about your motive that couldn’t be further from reality. You watch it and you see and you think things that aren’t true.
I can just tell you from myself, and then I believe this would be true of your pastor, of course, I battle pride like everyone does. But I have found ministry and preaching to be a crushing weight driving that out of my life, not certainly some massive inflation. It never occurs to me to come to my church or to come to Harvest Bible fellowship, I’ve never had the look what I have done thought. I never have that thought. I have how much longer can I do this? This is a massive weight of responsibility to bear. I will account to Jesus Christ for all of this. As Paul said, I’ll read what Paul said. He said, “And besides all this, the care of the churches, and who is sufficient for these things?” So I think it’s hard sometimes to get that through to your own elders, and I want to be helpful on accountability. I do believe that elders should hold the senior pastor accountable. I believe that. Turn to your neighbors and say he believes that.
But elders that walk around with the capital A heavy-duty, ,”I’m there to hold you accountable, accountable, make you accountable, all right?” That’s a control move, all right? That’s a control move, and it’s rooted in pride, okay? And it’s not the senior pastor’s job. I’m sorry that you’re not happy with your career, but it’s not my job to make you feel significant by folding my full-time ministry under your ten-hour week volunteer opportunity, okay? That’s not my job. I love you and thankful for you. It goes well when we work together. And I’m willing, this is our elder board. Every month we have this book that comes out, and it says on the front, “Accounting to the Elders.” So we – let me tell you something. We account for the elders about everything that’s going on in this church, and I believe in it. I believe in it. But the pastor doesn’t need this constant referencing of we hold them accountable.
Teach the church to love the pastor and support the pastor and pray for the pastor. And like any good couple would do, one of the things that I love about my wife, Kathy, and there are many things – let me tell you something. My family knows it. Publicly, I mean, Kathy is little house on the prairie. Privately, she is a force to reckon with, okay? And my family is going, “For real. For real. For real.” That’s a great model for wives, for elders. Privately, you can lay it down as much as it’s needed, to protect him, to help him. But publicly, you don’t need to inflate your role and flex your accountability muscles in any public way of your doing your job. You can do that in private. And it’s needed. Everyone say it’s needed. But focus on the support and the encouragement and the affirmation. I was the biggest problem in this church. I did not know Kent was gonna graciously encourage and honor me in that way. But I will just say that for probably the first 15 years of our church, I led poorly. I was more concerned about the harsh person who would resent public appreciation that I was able to see that we all needed to be appreciated. Turn to your neighbor and say, “I need it.” Okay. We all needed that.
And the Scripture is very clear that the elder is worthy of honor or a double honor in the case of the one who works hard at preaching and teaching. And how many churches in America today find their pastors struggling, even failing in some regards but are not aware of how they have failed to honor him and support him and encourage him and pray for him. It isn’t just that the pastor makes the church, and he does. The pastor makes the church, but the church makes the pastor. You understand that? You are making your man of God in your church. You are making him. He is your project, to love and encourage and forebear and stand with and pray for the wisdom to mix the ingredients that are needed to keep him in balance and not so much tossed up needing accountability, as I’m weighed down needing support spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially.
Five things your pastor wants you to know but can’t tell you. Number 3, I’m not perfect. I need pastoring. But timing is everything. And loving on my wife and kids is loving me. Okay. I’m not perfect, and I do need pastoring. But timing is everything. I got home to my house last night after a second 14-hour day marathon in a row. My brother David is here. He came into my office. I was in a coma. He was like, “Hey, hey, how are you doing?” I was like, “Ugh?” He said, “Well, let’s go and talk about ministry. Tell me how you’re doing personally.” “Ugh.” I barely remember the conversation. I asked him this morning, “Did I curse at you?” I was just exhausted, and of course a good night’s sleep and the Lord is gracious.
Timing is everything. So often people burden the pastor with their needs to give him something, and they’re not sensitive to the timing, and the giving becomes another burden. Don’t talk to your preacher between his office and his first sermon of the weekend. Do not speak to him. He has to cram for a final exam. His head is about to explode. If you bump him, he’ll lose half of it, and he’s already afraid. Do not talk to him. Am I telling the truth? Here are those pastors who say amen. Furthermore, if there’s a problem that needs to be dealt with, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Not Friday, not Saturday, for sure not Sunday, and worse of all Monday, right? Mondays are the days that pastors once or twice a month write their resignation and pray for the courage to crumple it up. All right? Okay. Mondays are good days to send flowers to his wife, mail a gift card that will arrive that day when – read the life of Elijah. When you have poured it out and have nothing left, you need recovery time. And Satan will put nonsense in the head of a well-meaning elder and church member, and the poor thing, “Monday he’s got a whole week to get this figured out. Monday is the perfect day to talk to him.” Wow. That’s really, really not good thinking. And I’m trying to be – what was my word? I hope that’s helpful.
Loving on my wife and kids is loving me. And I’m so thankful that my three children and my two children-in-love, I would say. I have a son-in-love and a daughter-in-love and all five our kids love us and love the Lord. And humanly speaking, I would attribute that kindness to a loving church family. You are loving your pastor when you love his family. That’s a really, really – a great, great blessing.
Number 2, I secretly wish that these two verses were my elders’ favorite verses. They’re not my life verse, but I wish that my elders had these two verses for their favorites. One’s from the pastoral epistles where it says, “Reject a factious man after the second admonition.” I wish that that was my elders’ life verse. How much heartache is caused in a church by elders that forebear for the sake of friendship with a factious man. Reject the factious man after the second admonition. Now reject him doesn’t mean he has to sit halfway back, okay? Rejecting means you can’t come here anymore. Well, I’m sorry. Okay, that means you get to go to a different church. Reject. Do I need to spell that out? Why? Why? Why? That’s so cold. It’s so wise. How much heartache I could have saved our church over the last two decades if I had lowered my expectation, of my ability to change the behavior of others and raise my expectation that people will be as they have been? A factious man is danger to the church and you are released by Scripture to release him. And I’m releasing you to take a small portion of your church’s budget, build a catapult, put it in the church parking lot, and load it regularly. I think we can shoot this one right out of our county. All right?
Five things your pastor wants you to know but can’t tell you. I wish that my elders’ life verse was reject the factious man after the second admonition, and I wish their other life’s verse from Proverbs was “Cast out your scoffer and strife will cease.” I wish my elders loved that verse. How often I have been in the position of having to cast out the scoffer? How often I’ve had to come to staff members and say, “You haven’t dealt with this yet?” and have to push them to do the thing that should have been done earlier when less damage and collateral impact and confusion even to the person. Sometimes mercy creates a gap between the failure and the catapult and causes confusion in the heart of the person as to why they’re flying out of the church, okay? Sooner, sooner consensus among the elders, not next Thursday, today. Go over now. You can’t be here anymore. I’m sorry. You can’t be here anymore. I don’t owe you a why, but I can read a couple of verses to you that recently I attended a conference where these verses became my favorites.
I love our pastors. Amen? I love our pastors, and I want them supported and encouraged and surrounded. You make your pastor. And one of the ways that you will make him everything that God wants him to be is don’t let him waste his time and energy on draining difficult, harsh, never satisfied scoffers, factious men.
Five things your pastor wants you to know but can’t tell you. Number 1, enduring commitment and assurance – or maybe a better way to say it, assurance of enduring commitment brings peace of mind. In John chapter 6, Jesus was teaching them about this and said, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” Of course you know what that means. That wasn’t easy for them to hear. “This is the bread that comes down from heaven,” he said. Interesting. When many of us disciples heard it, they said – this is when many of us disciples heard it, they were actual disciples of his, not the crowd. When do we get that food again, disciples? When many of us disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?” But Jesus knowing in himself the disciples were grumbling about this and he kind of interacts with them, then the Scripture tells us that they – after this many of us disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
How many people had to happen in your church where something that needed to happen happened and people were upset about it? Put your hand up if that’s happened in your church. Right. Some of you just, what? Tired with the arm? Tired… tired ….? How many people had that happen in their church? All right. If you’ve ever wondered what your pastor’s thinking in that moment when Bill and Sheila, they don’t come to the church anymore, or did you hear about the Cartwrights, they’re not in our church anymore? Did you hear about that? Did you hear about how they left and moved back to the Ponderosa or wherever they’re from? Did you hear about how they’re gone now? Gilligan and his friends are back on the island and they’re gone. How does the pastor feel about that when that happens? Well, look at how Jesus felt after this many disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
The thing that keeps the pastor awake is not ultimately the people who left but how they’re gonna affect the people who have stayed and will they be leaving too. That’s what the pastor fears. We tried to do the right thing. We didn’t do it perfectly. We’re not Jesus. We did the best we could. Yeah, I do some things differently, but we’re learning and now some people just gave up on us and they left. What keeps him awake is the knowledge that they’re still talking to people in our church. I don’t have a relationship with them anymore, but you all seem to be able to socialize with them. I’m really the only person who’s out. Are you gonna leave too? Are you gonna leave too? We lost a couple of churches from our fellowship. I met with some of the key pastors here. Because as sad as that is, I needed to be assured that the many, many, many good men in our fellowship are still with me, are still with us. That’s what I needed to hear. I really encourage you to jot a little note to your pastor and say, “I am with you. I am with you. I’m with you heart and soul. You can count on me. We’re not going anywhere. We love you. We believe in what God’s doing in your heart.” He will become the person that you’re praying he will be through your encouragement to be that person. How many people here can honestly say the transforming influence in my life has been the people who hated me? Man, if God had just put more hateful people in my life I could have learned so much. We learn from people that love us. Sometimes they have to love us enough to tell us the truth. That’s all good. But it’s in the context of you can count on me, I’m with you, I’m not going anywhere, we’re in this together.
Five things your pastor wants you to know but can’t tell you. Number 1, assurance of enduring commitment gives the gift of peace of mind. And if you think your pastor’s not wondering about you during a tough season, trust me, he is. I hope that’s helpful.
[END OF TRANSCRIPT]
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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