{"id":411,"date":"2013-02-27T13:21:59","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T19:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-jesus-realm.com\/wordpress\/?p=411"},"modified":"2013-02-27T13:21:59","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T19:21:59","slug":"pauls-passing-thoughts-dear-christians-dont-you-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/27\/pauls-passing-thoughts-dear-christians-dont-you-get-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul’s Passing Thoughts: Dear Christians: Don\u2019t You Get It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reblogged from: Paul’s Passing Thoughts<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear Christians: Don\u2019t You Get It? Calvinists Think You Are Going to\u00a0Hell<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Calvinist gospel<\/strong>, the centrality of the objective gospel outside of us<\/i>, is a perfect storm of deception that perfectly facilitates the confounding of salvific <\/strong>(salvation)\u00a0terms\u2014I get that.<\/strong> But yet, I see a prevailing arrogance among Christians that since we are so smart, deception will always be evident to us. We are so good at doing Christianity we don\u2019t need practice or diligent study. Our claim that faith is pure and simple is a cloak of arrogance that covers for our bankrupt spirituality and the brunt of jokes among the heathen.<\/p>\n

Yes, the gospel that SBC dimwits think they can\u00a0collaborate with denies the new birth in no uncertain terms. This isn\u2019t rocket science: if the gospel that is good for the goose is also good for the gander; this assumes that no change takes place inside of the believer. And in case you haven\u2019t read the papers lately that\u2019s exactly what Christians are acting like.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think I have taken my last trip to SBC Today .com<\/i> and SBC Voices .com<\/i>. I have been referred over there a number of times to observe truth tone deafness<\/i> on steroids. A heretic is running our flagship seminary, but the big news is that Tim Tebow {did what was right – not wanting to be used by religious\u00a0charlatans} cancelled his speaking engagement at FBCD. The big hero this time in the ongoing drama of SBC folklore (in our own pitiful minds) is Dr. Jeffress, who like all other SBC notables has never called out another leader for the same scandalous filth that is going on in most denominations. He will call out homosexuals, but the rape cover-ups in the SBC are a taboo subject. We call out the sins of the world, but to call out our own sin is \u201cgossip.\u201d All of these guys just really make me want to puke. Because they are sorry excuses for leadership\u2014we are a joke in the eyes of the world and rightfully so.<\/p>\n

Other articles posit the supposed strength of Calvinists and non-Calvinists working together in the SBC. So, the likes of David Platt will gladly play along while believing that synergistic sanctification is a false gospel and works salvation<\/i>. This is a simple thing, Jerry Vines needs to call Al Mohler on the phone and ask him if synergistic sanctification is works salvation. I think the answer would surprise him if Mohler has a rare moment of truth telling. Of course, if Vines decides to do something about it, he then has to explain how he missed this all along and focused on symptoms rather than the issue of Calvin\u2019s false gospel. I have been a lay pastor since 1986, and I missed it. Why? Because I was clueless, that\u2019s why.<\/strong> More studied than a lot of Christians, I had a very poor understanding of justification, sanctification, and covenants, and still have a lot to learn. What\u2019s so hard about that? Just admit it! What\u2019s the big deal?<\/p>\n

All of this conversation in the SBC about getting along with Calvinists could just as well include the Jehovah Witnesses or the Moonies. There is no difference; a false gospel is a false gospel and a cult is a cult.<\/strong> Calvinism was the epitome of a cult in Calvin\u2019s Geneva and still is. You could slip a playing card in-between Calvin\u2019s Geneva and Jonestown save the fact that Jonestown wanted to go out with a bang.<\/strong> But more to the point let\u2019s talk about Calvin\u2019s false gospel\u2014the gospel that SBC yesomites \u00a0say we should work together with.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s church words don\u2019t mean things because if they did we would have to do something about it.<\/strong> And we are mostly business as usual loving<\/i> spiritual slugs. That\u2019s what we need more than anything in the church today: leaders who take words seriously and will act accordingly. They will be easy to spot.<\/strong> When the sun is out during the day they will be walking around rather than sunning themselves on flat rocks like the majority. So, let\u2019s talk about words.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must preach the gospel to ourselves every day.\u201d Really? Does this raise any red flags? No. It is so, so indicative of how mindless Christians are in our day. \u201cWow, that sounds pretty cool. More fish anybody?\u201d Come now, let\u2019s be honest; do we really believe that we have been appointed stewards of God\u2019s life-giving word? Is that how we function? A name that has come up in this ministry a lot this week is Miles McKee. He states a lot of things on his Facebook page that brings hearty kudos from many because their eyes immediately gravitate to the word, \u201cgospel\u201d in the sentence. \u201cOh there it is! The word gospel! Amen brother!\u201d But let\u2019s look at his statements more closely. Here is the subline of his Facebook page:<\/p>\n

Preaching Christ crucified to the saved and lost alike. The goal is to pack this web site with rich gospel goodies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, and that is exactly what Christian children in adult bodies seek in our day, \u201crich gospel goodies.\u201d Yum, yum, yum. We can\u2019t take the word of God and help people in real trouble; we are too busy feeding on our gospel goodies. Note the picture below\u2014that\u2019s us. It is also how the world sees us, and rightfully so.<\/p>\n

\"GOSPEL<\/a><\/p>\n

GOSPEL GOODIES! Yum, Yum!<\/p>\n

But note that we are supposed to be preaching Christ crucified to Christians. This doesn\u2019t raise any red flags. Note that the same message preached to unbelievers is also fundamental to the message Christians still need to hear daily. Still no red flags. Particularly alarming should be the idea that Christ\u2019s crucifixion is perpetual in the Christian life. That\u2019s what Calvin believed. He believed the atonement is perpetual. He believed Christ\u2019s death is continually reapplied to the Christian\u2019s life by faith alone until we reach heaven. We are then judged according to whether or not we continually appropriated Christ\u2019s death in our life by faith alone until that day. It\u2019s keeping our salvation by staying at the foot of the cross. We are saved by faith alone, and at any given time that we are not living our Christian life by faith alone we lose our salvation (or they say we were not really saved to begin with). That\u2019s why we preach the same gospel to the saved as well as the unsaved.<\/p>\n

It would therefore seem that the new birth would have to be redefined, and you would be right about that. This <\/strong>[Calvin] doctrine necessitates the denial of the new birth.<\/strong> Hence, McKee also states the following:<\/p>\n

Contrary to much of today\u2019s evangelical preaching, we must state that the message of New Birth is not the gospel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Regardless of the fact that Christ\u2019s own gospel presentation to Nicodemus was, \u201cYou must be born again,\u201d<\/strong> this doesn\u2019t raise any red flags either. The mindlessness truly boggles the imagination. Graeme Goldsworthy, the foremost hermeneutical authority recognized by Calvinists in our day footnoted (with full agreement) an article written by Anglican Geoffrey Paxton entitled, \u201cThe False Gospel of the New Birth.\u201d Yes, the gospel that SBC dimwits think they can\u00a0collaborate with denies the new birth in no uncertain terms. This isn\u2019t rocket science: if the gospel that is good for the goose is also good for the gander; this assumes that no change takes place inside of the believer. And in case you haven\u2019t read the papers lately that\u2019s exactly what Christians are acting like.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Calvinists think the evangelical new birth<\/i> gospel is works salvation: \u201cIt would be better to die a heathen than to live a religious life and die without Christ\u201d (McKee). And trust me, synergistic sanctification is the \u201creligious life\u201d being spoken of here.<\/p>\n

The Calvinist gospel, the centrality of the objective gospel outside of us<\/i>, is a perfect storm of deception that perfectly facilitates the confounding of salvific terms\u2014I get that. But yet, I see a prevailing arrogance among Christians that since we are so smart, deception will always be evident to us. We are so good at doing Christianity we don\u2019t need practice or diligent study. Our claim that faith is pure and simple is a cloak of arrogance that covers for our bankrupt spirituality and the brunt of jokes among the heathen. If there is a God, where is His representation upon the earth? \u201cWell, we don\u2019t attempt to be the gospel with our own works, we only preach the gospel.\u201d And to that the heathen say,<\/p>\n

\u201cAmen.\u201d<\/p>\n

paul (Paul Dohse)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reblogged from: Paul’s Passing Thoughts Dear Christians: Don\u2019t You Get It? Calvinists Think You Are Going to\u00a0Hell The Calvinist gospel, the centrality of the objective gospel outside of us, is a perfect storm of deception that perfectly facilitates the confounding of salvific (salvation)\u00a0terms\u2014I get that. But yet, I see a prevailing arrogance among Christians that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/anglican-evangelical.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}