What’s Wrong with Church? According to the Church; They Aren’t About Morals
I am becoming reacquainted with the characters who plied their evil trade along the blessed broken road that led me to my present life. One such evil character is now plying his trade as a church elder in Texas. Like another former elder at Clearcreek Chapel in Springboro, Ohio, the real stories behind their departures are aloof.
At any rate, Chad Bresson’s Facebook page is a treasure trove of Protestant bumper stickers indicative of what finally brought me to an ultimate standoff with institutional salvation or salvation by institutional religion in general. The first meme takes the errant Protestant view of total depravity (any good work of any person only appears to be good but is really evil) and uses it to propagate James’ contention against faith without works. Why do the masses continue to be faithful to an institution that blatantly contradicts the plain sense of Scripture? The answer is too simple: salvation comes through obedience to the authority of the institution. Viz, note the second meme.
Are you perplexed by the evil you see in church? Why? They openly proclaim that moralism is supposedly a biblical anomaly.
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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