Excerpt: A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren

I read this on npr's website and wanted to see what all the gripes were about. I'll be totally honest, I have never read anything at length by McLaren. I have heard quotes and heard him explain some things that both make sense and make me vomit in my mouth. Whatever you think of the man, the one thing that we all know is that he is having an impact on young minds in this postmodern world. I read this excerpt from his book and found myself scratching my head, but I also don't agree with the counterpoint in the article:

The only reason Jesus came was to save people from hell. . . . Jesus had no social agenda. . . . [He didn’t come to eliminate poverty or slavery or] . . . fix something in somebody’s life for the little moment they live on this earth.

I also don't agree with McLaren's points on Jesus and his mission. He seems to have some of it correct, but what you will notice is that McLaren uses Scripture to prove a point, instead of allowing for the author to have an intent in his message. The point of all the Scriptures is to continually show this theme: God's redemptive plan to save sinners for his glory, by Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. When one starts to have their own agenda to push or another point to prove they take odd stances on Scripture, as McLaren does pointing to his thought that Jesus walking on water was obviously pointing back to the parting of the Red Sea. We must continually seek out what the author was intending, not what we desire to get from the text. McLaren pushes religious folks in a good way sometimes, but it isn't worth these giant missteps he takes to get there. Here is the excerpt.

Excerpt: A New Kind of Christianity
by Brian D. McLaren

PART IV:THE JESUS QUESTION

13

Jesus Outside the Lines

I am blessed, it turns out, with more than one loyal critic. Another one, even more well known than the first, on a widely disseminated radio broadcast (and in a book with a rattlesnake on the cover) contrasted his views of Jesus with my own:

The only reason Jesus came was to save people from hell. . . . Jesus had no social agenda. . . . [He didn’t come to eliminate poverty or slavery or] . . . fix something in somebody’s life for the little moment they live on this earth.

Now what could possibly cause this earnest and educated Christian to assert that Jesus had no agenda regarding poverty and slavery? What could motivate a dedicated Bible teacher to minimize horrible social realities as minor inconveniences or pet peeves—“something in somebody’s life for the little moment they live on this earth”? How could a pious and devoted believer ignore all of Jesus’s words about the poor, all his deeds for the poor and oppressed, beginning with his first public sermon, in which he quoted Isaiah 61?

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. . . . Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:18–19, 21)

My faithful critic’s statement is even more amazing in light of the rest of the New Testament, where concern for the poor and oppressed remains strong page after page (see, for example, Gal. 2:10; Philem. 16; 1 John 3:17–18; James 1:27; 2:2–17). Yet for him, the only way we can understand Jesus is as the one who saves from hell (a subject to which we will return in a later question). For him, Jesus is not the one who saves from poverty, captivity, blindness, or oppression, even though these are Jesus’s very words (borrowed from Isaiah) to describe his mission. I think you’ll agree, my faithful critic’s statement can only make sense, first, if we interpret Jesus within the confines of the Greco-Roman sixline narrative; second, if we predetermine to read the Bible as a constitution; and third, if we construct and solidify our understanding of God before seeking to understand Jesus, rather than letting Jesus serve as the Word-made-flesh revelation of God’s character. In contrast, our quest allows us—and requires us—to put these precritical presuppositions aside and approach Jesus differently. Our quest invites us to understand Jesus in terms of the three- dimensional biblical narrative we introduced earlier—to see him in terms of the Genesis story of creation and reconciliation, the Exodus story of liberation and formation, and the Isaiah story of new creation and the peace-making kingdom. We could choose any of the four gospels to illustrate this alternative view, but let’s choose the least likely of the four, John.

John’s gospel is the one most often used to buttress the Greco- Roman story. Verses like John 3:16; 5:24; and 14:6 are routinely interpreted to address a set of problems defined by the six- line narrative, namely, how to remedy the “ontological fall” and legally avoid eternal conscious torment, which you’ll recall is the punishment for “original sin” required (I suggest) by the Greco-Roman god Theos. But these verses and all the others in John’s gospel look very different when we read them in the three-dimensional biblical paradigm (creation, liberation, peacemaking kingdom) rather than the six-line paradigm, starting with the gospel’s first words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him. . . . What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people . . . the true light, which enlightens everyone. (1:1–4, 9)

With those first words—“in the beginning”—John clearly evokes the Genesis story. The story of Jesus is identified with the creative Word, the “Let there be” by which all things are created. He is associated with light, the first thing that God “lets there be.” He is associated with life, the life that God breathes into the clay of humanity. The Psalmists tell us that all creation— the heavens and earth and all they contain—reflects the glory of God, and similarly John tells us, “We have seen [Jesus’s] glory, the glory as of a father’s only son” (1:14). Later, we see Jesus creating wine from water, a creative act with clear echoes of the Genesis story. In fact, just as Genesis begins with the Holy Spirit “sweeping over” or “hovering over” the waters, throughout John we have interwoven references to the Spirit and to water, most obviously when Jesus walks on (hovers over) the water, when he tells the woman at the well or the crowd in Jerusalem about the living waters that he will give them, and when he tells Nicodemus he must be born of water and the Spirit (6:16–21; 4:10; 7:37–38; 3:5).

His other miracles—healings, provision of food for hungry people, giving life to a dead man, conquering death himself—all suggest Jesus’s life-giving, health-giving creative power. Together, these examples make clear that from the first sentence John is telling us that a new creative moment, a new Genesis, is happening in Jesus. The Genesis echoes keep resounding to the end of the book, where they ring out powerfully in the climactic account of the resurrection:

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. (20:1)

Consider the imagery: the first day of a new week, the coming of light into darkness and life into a void. The language evokes a new day, a new beginning, so the tomb becomes the womb giving birth to a new creation. Not only that, but just as the book of Genesis ends with reconciliation as Joseph and his brothers are brought together, and just as it concludes with God’s good intent overcoming evil human intent, John’s gospel ends in the same way, with a reconciliation among brothers. The risen Jesus could have been angry with his disciples for betraying, abandoning, and disbelieving him, but he tells Mary, “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’ ” (20:17). Soon we see doubting Thomas being restored to his brothers and denying Peter being restored to his brothers. The gospel fittingly ends not during a scenic sunset, but just after daybreak, around a breakfast-cooking fire, the beginning, as it were, of the first day of a new world, a second Genesis.

In this light, Jesus’s offers of “life of the ages” and “life abundant” sparkle with new significance. When Jesus promises “life of the ages” (a far better translation of the Greek zoein aionian, I believe, than “eternal life,” the meaning of which is poorly framed in many minds by the sixline narrative), he is not promising “life after death” or “life in eternal heaven instead of eternal hell.” (John, it should be noted, never mentions hell, a highly significant fact.) Instead, Jesus is promising a life that transcends “life in the present age,” an age that is soon going to end in tumult. Being “born of God” (1:13) and “born again” or “born from above” (3:3) would in this light mean being born into this new creation. So again, Jesus is offering a life in the new Genesis, the new creation that is “of the ages”—meaning it’s part of God’s original creation—not simply part of the current regimes, plots, kingdoms, and economies created by humans in “the present evil age” (a term Paul uses in Gal. 1:4). No wonder the risen Christ’s fi rst appearance is in a garden, and he is imagined to be a gardener (19:41–42; 20:15), just as Jesus has portrayed the Father as a gardener (15:1)—John wants us to see in Jesus a rebirth of the original garden.

These Genesis themes are strong, but the prime Exodus narrative of liberation and formation resonates even more strongly in John’s gospel. Notice the obvious resonances with Moses in chapter 1:

He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.. . . The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (1:11, 17)

Just as Moses was initially rejected by his brothers (Exod. 2:14), so Jesus was initially rejected. Just as Moses led the way in liberation from Egyptian oppression, Jesus leads the way in liberation from the social and spiritual oppression of his day. Just as Moses gave the Law, Jesus gives it even more so—as we shall explore in more detail shortly. In fact, although much attention has been given to the ways in which “the Word” or “Logos” of John 1 evokes Greek thought, we should also note that for Greek-speaking Jews “Logos” evoked Law. The Law was understood not simply as a list of rules or requirements, but as a kind of inherent logic or wisdom that is woven into all of creation—a way, a truth, a life, another resonance with John’s gospel (14:6).

In Exodus, God’s presence was associated with the tabernacle, a sacred tent, and John says, “The Word became flesh and lived [made his dwelling, tented or tabernacled] among us” (1:14). Moses once asked to see God, but was only permitted to see God’s aftermath, as it were (Exod. 33:18–23). John writes, “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (1:18). Moses once asked God’s name, but was told only “I am” (Exod.3:14), and this is how Jesus habitually identifies himself in John’s gospel (see especially 8:58).

John the Baptizer introduces Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29). Here John the Baptizer evokes not (or not only) the sacrificial lambs of Leviticus, but (or but also) the lamb that was slain at the Passover to protect the people from the tenth plague, the plague that finally convinced the Egyptians to liberate the Hebrew slaves. And the term “Christ” or “Messiah” literally means “anointed one,” suggesting a king or leader chosen by God to—like Moses—liberate the people from oppression.

Jesus evokes Moses directly in his conversation with Nicodemus, saying that the Son of Man (a complex term drawn from Dan. 7:13–14, which I believe suggests a new generation or genesis of humanity) will be lifted up as Moses lifted up a bronze serpent in the wilderness (Num. 21:9). Jesus’s provision of bread and fish (6:1–14; 21:4–13) similarly evokes Moses’s provision of manna and quail, suggesting that Jesus is leading the people on a new Exodus journey. Even his walking on water (6:16–21) evokes the crossing of the Red Sea.

Along with many other direct references to Moses and the Law (7:16–24; 8:4–7) and indirect references to being liberated from slavery (8:31–38) and leading the flock of God through the wilderness (10:1–18), we find Jesus giving a new command, one word (or logos) that in a sense will transcend and include the ten words (or Decalogue) given by Moses: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (13:34).

And at the end of John’s gospel, we find Jesus telling his disciples they will see him no longer, that the Spirit will guide them, and that they will now feed and tend his flock in his place—echoing, it appears, Moses’s commissioning of Joshua to lead into the promised land the people Moses had led out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Just as they followed Moses, they should now follow Joshua, Moses said; now Jesus says his disciples should follow the Spirit just as they followed him. Interestingly, John ends his gospel with the command Mark uses to begin his gospel: “Follow me” (John 21:19; Mark 1:17). It is as if Jesus is saying, “Okay, you’ve now been liberated from Egypt. My death and resurrection are like crossing the Red Sea. But our journey has only just begun. Keep following now, through the wilderness and into the promised land. Just as fire and cloud guided your ancestors, my Spirit will guide you now.”

The promised land, of course, suggests the third dimension of the biblical narrative: the peace-making kingdom celebrated by all the prophets, especially Isaiah. As we considered earlier, the narrative begins with the longing for a literal homeland—first, for Abraham, a home outside the Sumerian Empire, and later, under Moses, a place of freedom outside the Egyptian Empire, and later still, for the exiles, a return to their homeland, liberated from the Babylonian/Medo-Persian Empire. Gradually, the idea of a promised land morphs from a geographic reality into a social one; “a land flowing with milk and honey” becomes a society in which justice flows like water. This new society or kingdom is also described as a new era—a new time of shalom, harmony, social equity, prosperity, and safety.

Key to this golden time is light (Isa. 2:5; 42:6–7; 49:6; 60:1–3), and along with light the healing of blindness (35:5–6; 42:16) and other maladies. So it’s no surprise that John’s gospel begins by telling us that Jesus is the light of the world that shines for all people in darkness (1:3; 3:19; 12:33–41), and that central to John’s gospel is the healing of a blind man, with a lengthy reflection on the deeper meaning of this miracle (9:1–41, echoed in 12:37–43, where Isaiah is directly referenced).

Isaiah’s vision of the peaceable kingdom includes bizarre imagery (to us, that is; we considered earlier the images of children playing with snakes and wolves living peacefully with lambs), including pictures of geographical transformation (40:1–5) like this one:

In the days to come
the mountain of the LORD’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways,
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.

(2:2–4, echoed in Mic. 4:1–3)

Obviously, the prophet isn’t predicting a literal tectonic shift in which Jerusalem rises farther above sea level and Mt. Everest sinks, but rather a time when God’s wisdom draws nations up to a higher level of relating, so disputes are settled nonviolently, wisely, peacefully. (John may be echoing this global attraction in 3:14; 8:28; and 12:19, 22.) We find in Isaiah another set of geographical images associated with springs transforming the desert into a garden (32:1–2; 35:6–7; 44:3). John picks up this water image in the conversation between Jesus and the unnamed woman at the well (4:1–42), where a dispute about mountains and a conversation about water give way to a deeper insight: that God is seeking worshipers who come not to the correct mountain, but with the correct spirit.

Similarly, the thirst for physical water (Isa. 55) points to the present availability of living water (echoed in John 7:37–39). Strikingly, Jesus says to the unnamed woman, “The hour is coming, and is now here” (4:23), echoing Jesus’s words elsewhere (Luke 4:21; Mark 1:14) that the long awaited time of the peaceable kingdom has indeed arrived. Just as Isaiah’s poetry is filled with images of war giving way to peace, Jesus makes clear to Pilate that in the kingdom Jesus represents disputes aren’t solved with swords (18:36).

Both Isaiah (1:11–17; 55; 58) and John’s Jesus critique the religious establishment (implied in Jesus’s use of ceremonial water jars for producing wine in 2:6, in the clearing of the temple in 2:13–22, in the interchange with Nicodemus in 3:1–10, in the marginalization of Jerusalem in 4:21, in his healing on the Sabbath in 5:1–8, and in his subversion of a stoning in 8:2–11). And both Isaiah and John work with the rich imagery of a vineyard (Isa. 5:1–7; John 15) and emphasize the role of the Spirit of the Lord (Isa. 11:1–5; 42:1; 61:1; John 14–16). John picks up Isaiah’s theme of joy as well (Isa. 26; 35; 51; 55; 60; John 15:11; 16:22), along with Isaiah’s use of wine imagery (Isa. 25; 55:1; John 2). In Isaiah we see the precursors of Jesus’s powerful shepherd imagery (Isa. 40:11; John 10:1–18; 21:15–17) and childbirth imagery (Isa. 54; John 16:19), and even the precedent for calling God our Father (Isa. 63:16; 64:8).

For Isaiah, the same “day of the Lord” (5:22–30; 9:39; 22:31) that will bring liberation for the oppressed will mean accountability for the oppressors (5:8–23; 10:1–4), a theme that John picks up again and again (5:22–30; 9:39; 12:31). And we can’t forget Isaiah’s striking theme of the Servant of the Lord (Isa. 42; 49; 50; 52), which John employs poignantly as Jesus literally costumes himself in the role of a servant (John 13). Just as Isaiah’s Servant of the Lord liberates and heals through suffering (52:13–53:12), so John’s Jesus goes through mockery and torture to the cross. And just as Isaiah predicts beauty beyond ashes, joy beyond mourning (Isa. 61) and new heavens and a new earth beyond the suffering and stress that must first be faced (65:17), John presents us with a Jesus who raises the dead (11:38–44) and ultimately is raised from the dead himself (20:18), evidence of a new creation arising from the old (Isa. 66:22).

All of Isaiah’s powerful images are interwoven with the dream of a peaceable kingdom, one that fulfills the unfulfilled promise of David’s kingdom (9:7; 16:5; 22:22; 55:3; 11:1; 11:10). Of course, Isaiah is only one of many prophets who fund our imaginations with the peaceable kingdom dream, and John similarly draws from other prophets too (for example, note how strikingly John 12:13–15 echoes Zech. 9:9).

But even these few examples, selected from so many more, make it clear that Jesus, contrary to my dear loyal critic’s assertion, did not come merely to “save souls from hell.” No, he came to launch a new Genesis, to lead a new Exodus, and to announce, embody, and inaugurate a new kingdom as the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Seen in this light, Jesus and his message have everything to do with poverty, slavery, and a “social agenda.”

When we try to read John as well as the other gospels within the flat, six- line Greco- Roman narrative, the sandal just doesn’t fit. But when we see Jesus in the three- dimensional Jewish narrative, we discover a gift from the Jews to the whole world— good news (that pregnant term being another powerful resonance with Isa. 40:9; 52:7; 61:1) of a new Genesis, a new Exodus, and a new kingdom come.

So many people are like my loyal critic; they have so utterly bought into the six- line, black- and- white, soul- sorting heaven- or- hell Greco- Roman narrative that it has become the precritical lens through which they see everything, causing them to see some things that aren’t there and rendering invisible many things that are. If they could only take off that set of glasses long enough to see Jesus in full color, in three dimensions, everything would look different. If only.

Thankfully, more and more people are realizing that there’s a renaissance under way regarding our understanding of Jesus. More and more of us are discovering Jesus as Word and Lord colored outside the conventional six lines. This Jesus, we discover, is far more wonderful, attractive, compelling, inspiring, and unbelievably believable than Jesus shrunk and trimmed to fit within them.


From A New Kind of Christianity by Brian D. McLaren. Copyright 2010 by Brian D. McLaren. Reprinted by permission of HarperOne. All rights reserved.

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Why I Like John MacArthur

Okay...so I have had some real issues with John MacArthur, et al lately on certain things, but this is a good reminder of why I do like the man and believe that he is truly a defender of the faith. This is interesting, not because of what he says, we are used to that, but where he is saying it at. He is on the set of TBN and the audience is enjoying what he is saying. I am hoping that this got around to the whackos around TBN so that they can learn what the Gospel actually is. It is funny to watch Kirk Cameron lob some easy ones over the net for MacArthur to smash, and his corny Mike Seaver smile when he does it reveals them clearly.

I do believe that there is some over correction within the two videos, but probably needed to be said considering the audience and venue. Thanks to Steve Brown for pointing me over to Reformed Baptist.

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Augustine Holds True Against the Prosperity "Gospel"

I am not a great historian. I kind of wish I was, but the fact is, I don't have time and when I read biographies with a lot of facts, I usually lose interest. This is a huge hole in my theological knowledge, and sometimes it pains me. I bring this up because of a couple of quotes that I read from Augustine. They would be very appropriate to take to the prosperity gospel proponents for questioning. The reason I speak of my limited knowledge on history is because I wonder when the prosperity gospel started taking such a foot hold worldwide. We know that it has always been somewhat present because we see Paul say some things that would point to the evil preachers of money during his time:

For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
2 Corinthians 2:17

We also even see this said in Isaiah (which is speaking of the evil people taking advantage through evil statutes, but the moral reasoning still stands):

So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights,
So that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the orphans.
Isaiah 10:2


The biggest issue that I find with the Prosperity "Gospel" is that they put the gift above the giver. They put on display the glory of the gifts more than the glory of the Saviour. This is a really big issue. We find in 1 Peter 3:18 what our gift is, namely, God!

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
1 Peter 3:18

Notice that Christ died for us, to bring us to God. Not to bring us to God's gifts. What I find interesting through all this is a couple of quotes from Augustine that hit directly to the heart:

You are ever active, yet always at rest. You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need...You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. You can be angry and yet serene. Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same...You welcome those who come to you, though you never lost them. You are never in need yet are glad to gain, never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts...You release us from our debts, but you lose nothing thereby. You are my God, my Life, my holy Delight, but is this enough to say of you? Can any man say enough when he speaks of you? Yet woe betide those who are silent about you!

Augustine, Confessions, p. 23 (I,4)

Suppose, brethren, a man should make a ring for his betrothed, and she should love the ring more wholeheartedly than the betrothed who made it for her...Certainly, let her love his gift: but, if she should say, "The ring is enough. I do not want to see his face again" what would we say of her?...The pledge is given her by the betrothed just that, in his pledge, he himself may be loved. God, then, has given you all these things. Love Him who made them.

Augustine (Brown, Augustine of Hippo, p. 326 (Tractate on the Epistle of John, 2:11))

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John Piper and the Prosperity Gospel

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Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be

This book was written by two guys who couldn't be more different in their background and writing styles. Kevin DeYoung is the young, Reformed pastor, that takes this subject on a very subjective theological level, exposing carefully the doctrinal errors found in the Emergent church. Ted Kluck is just the opposite. Also, young, but a former athlete (he would love to hear that I said former), former semi professional football player, current sportswriter, and unapologetically sarcastic and whimsical. He takes on the subject much like I would, exposing the errors with witty banter and "low hanging fruit."

The book layout was great. Each author took a subject and then the chapters went back and forth throughout. So, you would get hit with the longer, theological, linear chapters of DeYoung, and then read the shorter stories and witty rebuttals from Kluck. I really enjoyed this as you really got the feel from two totally different perspectives of what is going on in the Emergent church.

The book's purpose is to really help people just better understand what the Emergent church is and what it does, or maybe better put, doesn't stand for. The main people that are refuted would be the same if you looked on any blog, namely, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Tony Jones. What seemed to be the main focus of the entirety of the book would be the Emergent's focus on Kingdom living, instead of the totality of the work of Christ. In other words, more focused on morality, than understanding what is the first importance: the gospel.

DeYoung and Kluck came to the same conclusion that I have with the Emergent church and others that think just like them, which would be the fact that they are reacting to the more fundamental, legalistic churches, but doing so in the wrong manner. DeYoung and Kluck show that some of the questions that the Emergents bring to light are true and helpful to/against the mainstream church in America, but the way that they answer those questions are not only wrong, but actually harmful, and in some cases, flat out heretical.

The authors did much research for the material, so much so that they went to the different churches and events of this movement to "get their hands dirty". I found this book very helpful and know that those who are in the Emergent church will just see this as another "conversation" not worth having. But, for those who are on the fence or are starting to understand the Emergent problems, will find this a very helpful book on understanding the things that are going on with the Emergent leaders.

Actually, the best part of the book was in the epilogue, when DeYoung went through the churches in Revelation with special focus on Ephesus, Pergamum and Thyratira. This part was very balanced and showed how every church should try to take the good out of each of these churches and learn from them and also learn from the admonishment that Christ gives each as well. Of course, in the end, the idea was for the Emergent church to take a look at what is missing in their movement, which would be the very strongest part in the Ephesian church: defense of doctrine.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the Emergent church in more detail. I just hope that people are able to learn from this book from within the movement and it isn't just used as ammunition to debate with. Link to Buy

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Kenneth Copeland Gets a Little Exposed

Sorry Justin for blogging over you, but I'll be brief and won't make too long. I first saw this at Unsealed Prophecy and thought people would be interested. It exposes the ministry of Kenneth Copeland and TBN and their use of the money that is donated as "seed" money to their "ministry."

Philanthropic Donations Come From the Heart -- Where Do They End Up?

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Refutation of Dr. John Goetsch against Calvinism - Intro

I am a member of a church in Maple Valley, WA that is apart of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches and we used to be named, First Baptist Church of Maple Valley, but we changed our name about 3 years ago to Taylor Creek Church. Because of our old name including the term "Baptist," we get a lot of strange mail and strange newspapers from around the nation. I don't disagree with the term Baptist, but with the rise of the American Baptist and Fundamental Baptists, there are a lot of Baptist churches around the nation that have gone over the deep end with their theological beliefs and influence.

Recently, my Pastor gave me one of these publications that was mailed to us and right on the front was, "What's Wrong with Calvinism?" I didn't know what to expect and didn't even know the church that sent it, which is neither here nor there cause there are a lot of churches that I am not exposed to because of my proximity up here in the corner of the United States. My pastor told me that I should refute the article on my blog and I thought, "good idea."

The article was put out by a publication called "The Baptist Voice" which is a publication put out by Lancaster Baptist Church in California. I don't know much of the church but from what I can glean it is an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church and so some of its distinctives are that they are King James Only and they are also of the belief that men should not have long hair nor do they believe that Christians should go to a movie theatre.

The article was written by Dr. John Goetsch, the vice president of Lancaster Baptist's college named, West Coast Baptist College. The opening of the article opens with sharing that Calvinism is basically like a disease that is infiltrating our churches. He starts by saying that he spoke to a man that is mentally handicapped at his church about John 3:16 and the beauty of that verse. Dr. Goetsch says that John 3:16:

clearly articulates God's thoughts towards a sinful world, but many times religious people can complicate the Gospel. Calvinism is one of those schools of thought that has become a confusing factor for those seeking the truth of God's salvation.

What amazes me throughout this "introduction" to the topic at hand is that Dr. Goetsch does not exegete any scripture and he "sets up" the reader to think very low of Calvinism by stating such things as:

Calvinism started with Augustine of the Catholic church.

Calvinism has INFILTRATED many seminaries, colleges, and churches.

It has affected good churches and colleges

Calvinism is an enemy of revival and evangelism

Calvinism has often been explained by using the acrostic TULIP to set forth the distinctives of Calvinism. Even though I have trouble finding "tulips" in the Bible.

As you can see, Dr. Goetsch's point in the introduction is to set forth a negative tone with the reader so that by the time he gets to the explanation of the theology the reader is already convinced that Calvinism is a cancer needing a cure. If Dr. Goetsch wanted to give an honest assessment of Calvinism he should give the facts of Calvinism and refute it with exegesis of Scripture, but as you will see this is far from Dr. Goetsch's approach or intent.

I pray that readers of this refutation will be open to being taught what Calvinism teaches instead of seeing it as a disease. My time here will not be focused on refuting Dr. Goetsch's other convictions but will be focused on the Scripture's that Dr. Goetsch uses in trying to refute Calvinism so that the reader will better understand the tenants of Calvinism.

The upcoming series will focus on this article that Dr. Goetsch wrote and will try my best not to stray from it. Please send me any emails or comment at any time if you feel that I am not representing this refutation correctly. Also, so everyone will know I have also sent Dr. Goetsch an email to allow him to come and interact with us here on this blog.

I pray that this series will be informative and done in a humble way to show forth biblical doctrine instead of a "man making a point." May we all conform to the word of God instead of expecting the word of God to conform to us.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Link to First Point - Total Depravity

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Refuting Jehovah's Witnesses

This is definitely not exhaustive but wanted to share some of the verses that some Jehovah Witnesses recently tried to "convert" me with and then how I refuted their answers with the living and abiding Word of God.

The first verse that they took me to was Revelation 3:14

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this..

They stated that if Jesus had a beginning then He must have been created. The easy answer is truly this: God is called the Alpha and the Omega the Beginning and the End; so if God has a beginning then He was also created but even more piercing is that if God is also the Omega or End, then there will be a day that God doesn't exist, He will have an end. To which they of course said that couldn't happen, I then told them that they were using double hermeneutics which is against correct biblical interpretation. Which I, of course, do not believe that God has a beginning or an end but wanted them to see where their logic must take them. So, I continued to take them to proving Jesus is truly God.

I asked them what the term "Alpha and Omega" means. They stated, "The Beginning and the End" I then asked them, "how many Alpha and Omegas are there?" They replied, "one, the Lord Jehovah" Which is found in Isaiah 41:4; 44:6 and Revelation 1:8. So, getting what I wanted from them to show them Christ, I took them to Revelation 22. Read the whole chapter for yourself but I want to take a look at 4 verses in this chapter: 12,13, 16, 20

"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly " Amen Come, Lord Jesus.

This Alpha and Omega in verses 12,13 is "coming quickly" and notice verse 16 says that it is Jesus who is speaking and then Jesus uses the same term, "I am coming quickly" in verse 20 and John reconfirms who this by stating, "Amen Come, Lord Jesus." So, we have just seen that if there is one Alpha and Omega then Christ must be Jehovah, because He is called the Alpha and Omega in Revelation 22 just as Jehovah is shown in the above mentioned references.

The last verse they took me to is John 17:3

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

They ask, "If Jesus is truly God why would He say that Jehovah is the only true God?" This is easier to answer than some may think because God the Father calls Jesus God in Hebrews 1:8

But of the Son He says,
"YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,
AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

Notice who is doing the talking: God the Father about the Son. The Father says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and forever"

God the Father just called Jesus, God.

This is what is so great about the Word of God; it, when read and studied comletely, explains itself. Know that there is many other testaments of who our triune God is, and that it exactly what I worship: the triune God.

I don't know what will happen with those two that came to my door that day, but I told them that I wasn't into winning an argument but in the salvation of their souls. We spoke for about 45 minutes and spoke about many things, I just pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin and warped thinking of who He truly is.

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Is Homosexuality a Sin?

I have been having a dialogue with someone who emailed me and asked if I felt that homosexuality is a sin. As we have dialogued through email the discussion turned into more of a heated debate. I am saddened when I see this happen but am not surprised when we are speaking of such a "hot" topic these days and also trying to defend it with the most absolute and closed-minded source: the Bible.

Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?
Jeremiah 23:29

When we take a look at homosexuality we must see what God says to the issue and then we will take a look at what this person has tried to refute me with.

The first and obvious Scripture lies in these verses:

You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
Leviticus 18:22

If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act
Leviticus 20:13

To these the man replied, "this is the law of the Old Testament and has no barring for us in the New"

Without going into a complete defense of this I just remarked simply, "In Leviticus 18:23 it tells us not to mate with animals, is this now appropriate for Christians to do?" Simply put, no answer on this one from him.

I then went to the New Testament and showed Romans 1:26,27

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

This obviously points to not only the lust but also the carrying out of that lust to the "indecent act."

He tried to then say, "this is saying that it is unnatural for a heterosexual to have lust for another man but it is okay for a homosexual to have that same lust."

The interesting point to also make is that when we see the word "men with men" in verse 27, this is a Greek term meaning, "abuser of (one’s) self with mankind, a sodomite" So if anything, this isnt' even speaking to a heterosexual because a heterosexual will not have these lusts or these acts that are both called improper and improper.

The same term for "men with men" is used both in 1 Cor 6:9 and also 1 Timothy 1:10, and they both point to that the homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I will stress this, if you have read this far, I do not "focus" my time on this issue, nor do I put it above other sins as more vital or less vital, but trust the word of the Lord that says:

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he
has become guilty of all.
James 2:10

The finality of my email to him was that the burden of proof lies on him. God never speaks of homosexuality in any sort of good whatsoever, and actually sends down fire from heaven to destroy a city because of it.

To put some kindling on the fire I also had to refute his idea that David and Jonathan had a love relationship with one another that extended past friendship.

May we all hold to Scripture alone and His glory alone.

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Benny Hinn's New Jet!

Check this out from James White's blog.

Benny needs a new ride!

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Spiritual Drunkenness?

This is one of the most disturbing videos I have ever seen. It is a video of Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland leading a seminar on "Holy Laughter" and "Spiritual Drunkenness." If you don't think that the televangelists and hyper charasmatics have gone over the deep end you need to see this. It sickens me.

Holy Laughter and Spiritual Drunkenness

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Can't We All Just Get Along

Testing the Spirits

Since the beginning of the church we have been called to test the spirits, as described in 1 Jn 4:1. There have always been vain philosophies and false witnesses. The church has had periods where error was called heresy and the price was death! Although there may have been extreme examples of punishment for error it seems as though we have come full circle and a stand for biblical truth is considered divisive.

As the debates rage between the charismatic movement, the seeker friendly church, and now the emergent church we are faced with the challenge of discerning between the true church and the frauds.

Those who strive to defend the historical biblical Christian faith will be labeled as mean spirited and unloving or irrationally over reactive. Many local church members are caught in the cross fire as families and neighbors are divided between the battle of church philosophy.

Are these disagreements petty disputes of church philosophy or major doctrinal differences between what is true and what is heresy? In any case I keep hearing the statement that Rodney King made famous, “Can’t we all just get along?”

The idea is great, which is Christian unity but the debate is much deeper than that. The price for being wrong is not only death but an eternity in hell!

The bible is clear we are to “Contend Earnestly” for the faith. We are commanded by scripture to fight for truth. Defending the gospel should be our pleasure. Unfortunately the battle for truth is nothing new and we have been given fair warning of what is going to come our way.

Recently the assault on our faith has come in the form of pop culture and art. Through a book and a major motion picture the movie The DaVinci Code will create another blast on Christianity.

Some verses to meditate upon:

Spirits of Antichrist

I Jn 4:2-3 By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus is Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God and this is the spirit of antichrist.

3 Jn 9-10 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and he forbids those who desire to do so, and puts them out of the church.

Jer 29:8-9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name, I have not sent them, declares the Lord.

Jer 14:14 The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name, I have neither sent the nor commanded them nor spoken to them, they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.

2 Pt 2:1-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bring swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

I Jn 2:18-19 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.

Church Warnings

Rev 2:9 (Church of Smyrna) the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Rev 2:13-15 (Church of Pergamum) some of you there hold to teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. Some in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans

Rev 3:20 (Church of Thyatira) But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray, so they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
A Call to Test the spirits

Rev 2:2 you cannot endure evil men, and you put to test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

1 Thess 5:21 But examine everything carefully.

Titus 2:1;7 speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine, in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified...

1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith.

2 Tim 2:15-19 Be diligent as approved workmen, handling accurately the word of truth avoiding worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands.

2 Thess 2:2-3 … let no one in any way deceive you...

1 Pet 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence

Gal 1:8-9 Even though we, or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that, which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.…if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

Appointed for Battle

Phil 1:15-18 Some, preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

1 Cor 12:10 to some a distinguishing of spirits.

Prv 4:5-6 Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you

Ezra 7:10 Ezra set his heart to heart to study the law of the Lord, and to practice it, and to teach His statues and ordinances in Israel.

2 Tim 2:2 the things which you have heard from me, in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Foolish World

1 Jn 4:4-6 …greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

1 Cor 1:18-21 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

1 Cor 2:5 your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.


Conclusion

The unfortunate truth is that scripture clearly shows us that the assault of Christianity will come from within and from the foolish philosophies of the world. We must learn to be more discerning if the Church is going to remain strong. We must be willing to engage in difficult conversations with family and friends for the defense of the gospel.

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Vengeance is Mine!

I am writing today in confession of sin that has been a downfall since I was young. I feel sometimes like I am like the Sons of Thunder when the Samaritans refused to receive Christ, they asked:

“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
Luke 9:54

In my search for how to balance the reverence (a great book to read on this subject is, The Joy of Fearing God, by Jerry Bridges) for God and the love He has for me, I have been struck with almost hatred for those who don’t seem to care about the reverence of God.

I was channel surfing the other day and ran across a “pastor” named Jesse Duplantis. He and his wife were talking about when he was caught up to heaven. What? Are you kidding? In his sermon he went on to take the Lord’s name in vain many times over before I got so frustrated I had to turn the channel. He has also stated that when you become a Christian God gives you a “blank check,” all you have to do is put in the amount, by faith, and He will give it to you. When I went back to the channel (don’t ask why) there was a man named Danny Davis who was trying to get poor souls to donate money for “No Evil Oil” that he “prayed” over for 17 days!

And constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
1 Timothy 6:5


I can go on and on with this kind of nonsense, but that is not the reason for this post. The reason for this is to confront my sin with how I react to these types of situations.

I feel as though I am reacting like Asaph in the 73rd Psalm and Habakkuk did when they both asked “Why do the wicked prosper?” The difference between myself and these men of God is that they both repented and leaned on God’s power and his strength instead of their own powers. Read what Asaph says at the end of the 73rd Psalm:

For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

Or Paul’s response on how we should respond to the wicked:

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Romans 12:19

Or in Isaiah 66:24 when God says:

Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.

Or Nahum when he says about God:

Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up by Him.
Nahum 1:6

I think you get the idea. For me, I am learning and growing to understand that I truly serve an awesome God that is all powerful and completely sovereign, but I feel when I react in sin, against such men as these, that I am showing I truly don’t trust God to defend Himself.

I am not saying that we should not speak out against such heresies, you can see many times that the apostles spoke out against men of strife (1Timothy 1:20, 2 Timothy 1:15, 3 John 1:9) but I think we need to respond how Peter spoke of when we give an account of our hope; with gentleness and fear.

May God be honored in our ministries and may we trust Him to take His vengeance against those who abhor His name.

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