One Aspect of Christianity With Absolutely No Freedom

Here I am sharing the Gospel with a large intimidating man
on a street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
sometime in Nov or Dec of 2012

Without a doubt there is absolute freedom for the Believer in Christ. There is no list of rules to follow found in Scripture in order to be "Christian." Paul tells us, in 1Cor 14:32 that prophecy is subject to the Prophets, and I take this to mean that prophets (be them preachers or those who have a "word from God") are not expected to be perfectly accurate all the time. Paul also tells us that all things are permissible even though not all things are helpful. 1Cor 6:12 1Cor 10:23 Here he speaks of eating & drinking and doing things. It is a correction of legalism that some would burden Believers with.

There is however one thing that is not lawful, or permissible. There is one thing that all Christians are commanded to do and which must be done exactly correctly without exception. What is it? The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have seen Gal 1:6-9 quoted by many people for various reasons. I do my best to obey the Text and consider any who bring any other gospel than that which Paul and the Apostles received directly from Christ Himself 1Cor 15:1-11 as accursed. BUT, there is more to do with this passage than simply apply it to other people. We ought to be warned ourselves.

6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

Long ago I knew my life would be about the Gospel. I desired to be used of God to announce, defend, and instruct the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I have matured past finger pointing I have begun to realize that every time I preach the Gospel I do not have any freedom as to the content of the message. What about you?

Doctrines of Evangelism update

As it turns out the document was not yet "content complete" when I last updated you on it. We forgot to include some small things, but also something very important! We forgot to include a statement on the Inspiration of Scripture.

We are currently at version 0.95 and I expect to sign the document at version 1.0. Because some of the leadership of City Evangelism Ministries are travelling this will not happen for about two weeks. This document now has my full confidence, as I believe it accurately, clearly, and completely describes the essential doctrines related to Evangelism.

Here is the index of the 17 page document as it is today.

1.   The Purpose of this Document 

2.   The General Principle of Our Work 

3.   Restrictions on the Content of Our Message and Preaching 

4.   The Godhead 

5.   The Person of Christ
     A.    The Identity of Christ
     B.    The Impeccability of Christ
     C.    The Work of Christ 

6.   The Gospel
     A.    The Gospel Identified
     B.    The Gospel Detailed
     C.    The Gospel Prophesied 

7.   The State and Position of Natural Man 

8.   Salvation
     A.    An Overview
     B.    Repentance

     C.   The Believer’s Faith

     D.   Faith and Repentance Manifested

     E.   The New Birth 

9.   Creation in Six 24-Hour Days 

10. Judgment and Eternal Wrath for the Unbeliever after Death 

11. Immediate and Permanent Reconciliation at Belief 

12. Lawful Usage of Mosaic Law
     A.   Using the 10 Commandments
     B.   The Believer’s Rule of Life 

13.  Through the Foolishness of Preaching 

14.  Inspiration, Authority, Dependability, and Inerrancy of Holy Scripture 

15.  Exhortation to Believers to Preach the Gospel 

16. Approval and Changes to this Document 

Pre-Faith or Post-Faith Regeneration

When does the light get turned on?

I've had a bit of a break over the last week because the ministry Doctrinal Statement is being reviewed by other leaders and I am not leading the ministry Bible study this week. It's almost like a vacation! So with some free CPU cycles and a few moments of time what is the first thing I want to post about? Calvinism. Can you believe it? I'm surprised, but my tone ought to be much more relaxed as I'm dealing with a much less contentious issue than I was dealing with last year.

Recently I was at a men's Bible study with a man who preaches the Gospel with great fidelity but whom believes that Regeneration precedes faith and that faith is a gift. This doctrine often leads to serious error which changes the Gospel, but I can honestly say that I don't believe it does with this Brother. He wouldn't claim the name Calvinist but he does admit that he is Calvinistic in his thinking.

I've been enjoying speaking with this man because though he titles his views with terms that Calvinists use, his actual positions are not at all like Reformed Theology. We spoke about this for a while and practically we agree - no one comes to God unless the Holy Spirit convicts and convinces them. I think he terms this work as the New Birth, which I think is in error BUT he doesn't appear to hold to the inability to believe view. We spoke about Eph 2:8-9 and shared with him my findings based on extensive study and what William Wallace says in his Greek Grammar. He had absolutely no issue with this view, which I found absolutely fascinating.

As we were running out of time he explained that his view that faith is a gift and that regeneration precedes faith based on a passage that I would use to show that regeneration is conditioned on faith and so cannot precede it.

John 1:10-13

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

We did not have time to discuss it fully but he said that Vs 13 is the primary reason he believes these things.

It seems to me that when we speak to Calvinists about when Regeneration happens and we talk about this verse that the Calvinist (or one who sounds like one) often changes the discussion from a timeline to a discussion of who's will is involved. Then we get wound up and end up in a debate about something that wasn't even the point of the conversation.

Clearly Vs 12 gives us the timeline. To those who received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. They received Him BEFORE they were born again as Children of God. There can be no further debate, the Holy Inspired Word of God tells us that unregenerate people receive Christ.

But what about the issue of the will? The Calvinist will argue that if an Un-Regenerate Person can "choose" God then they are exercising their will and God is subject to their will. Well, here is a portion of the CEM document which is still a work in progress entitled "The Doctrines of Evangelism" on the subject of the New Birth.

The New Birth: Being “born again” is the gracious act of God in conferring upon those who believe, the nature and disposition of “children of God” imparting to them spiritual life. (Adapted from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words) In order for fallen, depraved, man to have fellowship with Holy God we must be “born again” or “regenerated.” This new birth happens upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is accomplished by God the Holy Spirit and coincides with His in-dwelling of the Believer. The New Birth is not a gradual process nor is it reversible. It is instantaneous and permanent. 

 The New Birth is not accomplished by or in accordance with the will of man but is according to the will of the God, brought about by God by conviction of the Holy Spirit. Man does not choose to be born again, but God gives the right to be born again to those who believe in Christ.  It is at this point that the person becomes a New Creation, where as he or she now possesses not only their own fallen (Old/Adamic) Nature but also the perfect (New/) Nature of Christ. This New Nature desires the things of God and wars with the Old Nature as described in Para 8. D.  It is this new birth, and new nature of Christ (based solely on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ) that allows us to fellowship with God, not the performance of works.

Jn 1:10-13; Jn 3:1-21; Jn 3:36; Jn 5:24 Jn 6:40; Rom 3:20-26; 2Cor 5:17-21; 2Cor 6:14,19; Gal 6:12-15; Eph 1:13-14; Col 1:13-14; 1Pet 1:3,13-25; 1Jn 5:1

This wording hasn't been officially approved by the ministry yet, but the overall Soteriology has been. This description demonstrates that there is no conflict between the timeline given by Scripture and the statement that the New Birth is according to the will of God.

Both statements in this short passage can be read in a plain fashion and believed literally without conflict, and without Calvinism.

The Doctrines of Evangelism - Content Complete!

Between my business and work with the new City Evangelism Ministries(CEM) I have been authoring a massive document entitled "The Doctrines of Evangelism." That's why it has been SOOOOOOO slow around here.

Just now I reached a massive milestone! The document is now "Content Complete", which is to say that all the doctrines required for biblically consistent evangelism are explained and demonstrated from the Scriptures. Now the work on making it somewhat readable begins.

This document will explain primary doctrinal foundation of CEM and will be used to keep the the ministry on track for a long as the Lord may tarry. Here's the table of contents of this document which is currently 13 pages long. Once it is completed I am reasonably sure I will be able to share it here in it's entirety.

*Sorry for the wonky formatting. I don't know how to fix it.

The Doctrines of Evangelism

1.    The Purpose of this Document

2.    The General Principle of Our Work

3.    Restrictions on the Content of our Message and Preaching

4.    The Godhead

5.    The Person of Christ

A.    The Identity of Christ

B.    The Impeccability of Christ

C.    The Work of Christ

6.    The Gospel

7.    The State and Position of Natural Man

8.    SALVATION
A.  An overview
B.  Repentance

C. The Believer’s Faith

D. Faith and Repentance Manifested

E. The New Birth

9.    Creation in Six 24-Hour Days

10. Immediate Judgment and Eternal Wrath

11. Immediate and Permanent Reconciliation at Belief

12. Lawful Usage of Mosaic Law

13.  Through the Foolishness of Preaching

14.  Exhortation to Believers to Preach the Gospel

15 Approval and Changes to this Document 

Quick Thought - How did the Apostles know if someone was saved or not?

Over the years I have been deeply frustrated by the practice of Lordship Salvation proponents in that they create various "tests" for their followers to see if they are "really" saved or not. If they are a "true convert" or a "false convert."

In the past I have examined the "test" that Dr. John MacArthur offers in my series Testing the Test. At another time I did a deeply personal series that examined the teaching of a man pastoring my dear best friend who helped to lead my beloved friend astray into dangerous false doctrine in my series 'BUT' Theology.

Of course these "tests" fail any biblical examination. Yet, they hold millions in bondage. In my book Fail-Safe for Fallacy I briefly examined the text often used to justify the practice of developing and administering "tests of salvation" which is 2Cor 13:5. I found that the practice is not justified by the Text at all.

This practice has bothered me for as long as I've been saved. BUT, you know what? When Saul was saved the 12 Apostles didn't just believe it. Barnabas had to convince them that he was. How did he do it? Did he talk about how he had forsaken sin? That he was submitted to the Lordship of Christ? That Christ was Master of his life? That he obeyed the commands of Christ? That he regretted all of his sin? That he didn't continue in sin?

Nope.

Acts 9:26-30

²⁶ And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. ²⁹ And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. ³⁰ When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.

On Van Til, Charlie Clough, and Presuppositional Apologetics

Brother Glenn has just posted an article about Cornelius Van Til, who I would consider the father of Presuppositional Apologetics, and Charlie Clough's "Bible Framerwork" course over at his Wisdom and Knowledge blog.

Some of you may be familiar with Sye Ten Bruggencate and his ProofThatGodExists.org website (which I do not endorse). Sye is a friend of a number of my friends but I have never met the man. He is sincere in his work but his approach is radically different than what I see in the Scriptures so I am uncomfortable with it overall. He does have some good points that he makes, and he and I would engage in similar discussion with Sinners from time to time. I'm not saying he is all bad, but I am saying that a lot of what Brother Glenn points out in his article seems to be true of how Sye works in his ministry as well. This of course makes sense as Sye come's from the Van Til line of thinking and even recommends Van Til's books.

Here is how Glenn opens his article:

It is my conviction that there are issues with Cornelius Van Til’s presuppositional approach to apologetics which Dispensationalists in particular are not generally aware of. Through Charlie Clough’s popular Bible Framework series Van Til’s apologetics are taking hold in dispensational circles. My goal is not to tell anyone what they can or cannot believe. Rather I want to encourage our next generation of Dispensational pastors, seminary professors, and Sunday school teachers to be Bereans and look good and hard at the implications of this system!

Please visit and read this article at The Wisdom and Knowledge Blog.