A few years ago after my wife and I left our old church because it was going Purpose Driven, we visited another church not far from our home. It was a very traditional SBC church. After a few visits the Pastor asked us to have lunch with him and his wife after church services that Sunday. At the restaurant, we had to wait for the pizza so we had time to talk. He informed me that he had been to my blog and he had a lot of questions for me personally. This surprised me. I thought he was going to ask me about why I had such a hard stance on the PDC, but instead, his questions had to do with my understanding of theology and what we as Christians in this world should mainly be about. He wanted to know how I would get along with the other men in that church whose theological understanding was barely past that of a new Christian, et cetera. He told me that in his estimation that I was a thinker and since I was all about discipleship and obedience that some of those men would see me as a bit legalistic even though he knew that was not so. I made the comment that the vast majority of Christians I have ever known were enslaved to their flesh. He nodded in agreement and said that that was why the American Church was in such sad shape. He stated that we were welcome at that church, but I had better get prepared for a bunch of baby Christians who saw themselves as leaders having problems with what I taught. We went back one more time and I found that some others had been to my blog and none of them wanted me to even be in the same building with them. That was the last time we visited there. 

As I read the following article from the November issue of Tabletalk Magazine that memory of the visits to that church and lunch with the Pastor came to mind. It was as if God showed me why the Western Church is in such sad shape these days. I pray it speaks to you as it did me. – Mike Ratliff

Majoring on the Minors

By John P. Sartelle

I am confused! Paul warns Timothy against “quarrels about words” and “irreverent babble” (2 Tim. 2:14, 16). Yet, this same Paul quarreled with those among the Galatians who diluted and changed the gospel and went so far as to say that they should be accursed. Jesus used similar words when He called the Pharisees hypocrites and whitewashed tombs (Matt. 23:27). Did not Jesus and Paul argue and quarrel with those who opposed the gospel?

This is a significant question. New denominations are being formed by Christians pronouncing the churches to which they once belonged apostate and heretical. They leave after protracted, strong quarrels against their former denominations. As one who was intimately engaged in such a combative struggle, I must be sure that I am not like Hymenaeus and Philetus, the two men named by Paul as purveyors of irreverent babble that led people in the church into ungodliness.

Ravi Zacharias warns Christians of turning “either/or” issues into “both/and” issues. There are truths in the gospel that are not up for debate between Christians. They must be true or they must be a lie. They cannot be both. We dare not turn these into both/and issues. Some insist there is room in the church for both those who believe Jesus is the Son of God and for those who don’t believe He sis the Son of God. The Bible does not allow such tolerance. “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:22-23). In other words, when someone in the church denies the orthodox basics of the gospel clearly taught in Scripture, we must quarrel with them. There must be conflict.

Paul told Timothy to present himself to God as one who was “rightly handling” the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). The Greek word Paul used was orthotomeõ. Literally it meant “to cut straight.” Our term orthodox is derived from part of this word. With the basics of the gospel we must cut a straight line. We must not deviate from the truths set forth by Christ Himself. That is why Paul vehemently argued with those who corrupted the gospel in the Galatian church.

Aside from irreverent babble, Paul also warned Timothy about becoming involved in quarrels over foolish controversies (2 Tim. 2:23). There were those under Timothy’s charge who were turning both/and issues into either/or issues. This has been a plague attacking the peace of the church in every generation. Sometimes this has to do with subjects from Scripture that are interpreted differently by orthodox scholars. I have two friends in the ministry whose faithfulness to God’s Word is beyond reproach. Yet they differ in their interpretation of what the Bible teaches about the millennial reign of Christ. They love each other dearly and have not let this become a litmus test for orthodoxy and fellowship. Paul was warning about taking such an issue and turning it into a declaration of war.

Often matters arise concerning times of worship, structure of Sunday schools, church property, length of terms of church officers, and son on. I have known people who have left local churches and separated from brothers and sisters in Christ over flowers in the sanctuary, the type of pews or cross selected by the building committee, and the colors of the carpet and church doors. I must constantly remind myself and the officers with whom I serve that the issues we as local church leaders face in most of our meetings are both/and issues and to make them either/or issues is an insult to God’s Word and will invite discord. This is where we will hear Jesus call us to biblical wisdom, to let go of our petty agendas, and to listen to each other as brothers anointed to lead by the same Spirit.

Take this test. Are you known as one who is contentious? Do you frequently become angry with leaders in the church or with fellow officers? Do you insist on your own positions? Do you argue each issue as if it were a life and death matter?

A man I deeply respected fought long and nobly for orthodox Christianity in the denomination he loved. The battle was so furious that he developed the habit of making every issue he favored a matter of orthodoxy. He even alienated his like-minded friends. In his later years he went to an isolated mountain cabin with only his Bible. When he returned he had relearned a love and respect for his brethren. He quit debating every small controversy. When he spoke of what happened on the mountain, he said, “you can determine which Scriptures you will take to Jesus, but you cannot determine which Scripture Jesus will bring to you.” Brothers and sisters, we need to learn to take these both/and issues to Jesus and listen to His words to us. His words of truth will probably be about meekness, loving, listening, and the fact that there are other saints anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Rev. John P. Sartelle is senior minister of Tates Creek Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:8-12 ESV)

This discernment ministry stuff is not for everyone. I often wonder if I am cut out for it at all. I do not like conflict. On the other hand, God gifted me with the makeup that loves the truth and seeks justice because it is His truth and I am compelled, quite often, to speak out when false prophets besmirch His truth and the Gospel is treated as optional by certain “evangelicals.” However, there is a fine line between exposing that which is false and slander. That fine line has to do with intent and evidence.

If we are obeying our Lord in this then we will not “go after” someone and expose him or her as false with any intent other than bringing glory to God. We will expose them by showing how their own words and actions, which is their ministry, are not biblical. We use God’s Word as the benchmark or plumb line. We do not use the teachings of men. We do not use innuendo. We do not make fantastic leaps of logic by showing how certain words used in the ministry in focus are “proof” that they are most assuredly “Purpose Driven” or “Emergent,” et cetera. No, we look at the evidence, their doctrine, what they teach, and most importantly, how they handle doctrine. Are they teaching sound doctrine or are they compromising? This is vital we do this for it is very easy to accuse some of being “Purpose Driven” for instance if they happen to use some of the same words that have become markers of compromise. That is not enough evidence my brethren. How do they handle the Gospel? How do they handle sound doctrine? How do they teach God’s Word? Do they embrace the world or are they obeying their Lord in drawing people out of it? In other words, to be discerning correctly requires much more than just looking for “buzz words.”

When I go to the grocery store, I am always amazed at the tabloid magazines or newspapers that are displayed at the checkout area. The type of journalism that is employed in those “newspapers” is based on sensationalism. They have screaming headlines and promise the reader that all sorts of cutting edge information awaits anyone who buys it and reads those stupid articles. As a journalism major in college, I had it drilled into me by my professors that we could not write that way and be legitimate journalists. No “facts” could be written about without irrefutable proof and if we used quotes, we had better have permission to use them along with a tape of their very words. In this Christian discernment stuff, I believe the standards should be even higher.

Therefore, when I am approached with “irrefutable proof” of apostasy by a well-known Christian leader or ministry I must take a very close look at it. Does the “proof” really lead us to the same conclusions that the one with the evidence is attempting to promote? Often, the best that could be said of these “links” is that they require other assumptions that may or may not be valid. If that is the case, then we must not jump on that bandwagon yet. Instead, we had better go ask the persons involved. We had better make sure that the conclusions being made by the one making the charges are valid. What do we do when the ones under attack easily refute each argument by showing that, yes those “facts” are true, but here is all we said or all that is really going on here. How do we handle that? What do we have in that case? Wouldn’t it be one persons word against another’s? There is no “irrefutable proof” in these cases unless it could be shown that the one under investigation is deliberately falsifying stuff. This is why we must pray for wisdom and discernment daily and never follow our emotions in these things. This is when it is a very good idea to seek wise counsel. In fact, after prayer, this is where we should start before we take these things and run with it.

What does God’s Word tell us about slander? After all, if we present “facts” about someone who is an easy target in the truth war that are based on innuendo or gossip aren’t we really guilty of being a judge of another? Isn’t this slander? Let’s take a look at a slice of the wisdom book of the New Testament, James, where the brother of our Lord Jesus lays out for us how we are to handle ourselves in the truth war and in our daily walk amongst our brethren.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:1-4 ESV)

When we have disagreements with other professing Christians and things get out of hand and devolve into arguing with attempts by one or both sides to “force” the other to agree with them and do what they demand, what has actually happened? Is this godly discernment in action? No! James tells us that these things are rooted in our passions. This is the flesh my brethren. It is not of the Spirit. It is not of God. If we find ourselves in the middle of one of these things then we have left the only place in which our Lord wants us to be. Where is that? That place is being our Lord’s humble servant and the servant (διακονος) of all of our brothers and sisters in Christ all around us (Matthew 23:11). This is a different word than the one I usually translate as “slave” (δουλος). The word διακονος describes a minister, servant, or deacon. It is one who labors for another while a δουλος is a bond slave of a master or κυριου. In any case, a διακονος attitude about ministering will be centered in being humble and relate to everyone from that relationship. If this is so, then will we be in fleshly quarrels and threaten each other in attempts to get them to agree with us and act accordingly? James tells us that if that is how we “minister” then we are revealing that we are in friendship with the world and this is enmity with God.

Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:5-10 ESV)

This is the illumination of how we humble ourselves in repentance of being fleshly. It starts with God drawing us to this by His grace. Then we submit ourselves to God. This is how we resist the Devil who is actually behind the slandering that has been going on in those quarrels. We confess our sins to God and turn from them. We mourn for our prideful display which was the engine behind our arguing. We mourn and grieve over that as we humble ourselves to the will of God. It must start here.

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12 ESV)

¹¹μη καταλαλειτε αλληλων αδελφοι ο καταλαλων αδελφου η κρινων τον αδελφον αυτου καταλαλει νομου και κρινει νομον ει δε νομον κρινεις ουκ ει ποιητης νομου αλλα κριτης  ¹²εις εστιν νομοθετης και κριτης ο δυναμενος σωσαι και απολεσαι συ δε τις ει ο κρινων τον πλησιον (James 4:11-12 WHNU)

I want to concentrate on that phrase, “Do not speak evil against one another brothers” or, “μη καταλαλειτε αλληλων αδελφοι.” Literally, word for word, this says, “Not talk against one another, brothers.” However, the word καταλαλειτε carries with it the emphasis of speaking against, allowing thoughtless words to be spoken. It is also used in 1 Peter 2:12 and 3:16.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12 ESV)

having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:16 ESV)

In other words, when we are καταλαλειτε other Christians, we are past the point of wisdom and discernment and are in the realm of slander. This happens when we are under the control of our flesh and are not walking in submission to our Lord in humility. James tells us that if we do this then we have moved God over and taken His seat as judge according to the Law. Yes, there is a time to expose heresy and apostasy, but we must do so humbly and let God be the judge.

Therefore, we must approach this discernment ministry stuff very seriously and in humble service to our Lord. We do not simply take another’s word as the unvarnished truth. No, we must pray for wisdom and discernment and do our own investigation. It’s pretty easy to excise heretical statements by some, however, when it comes to an attack on a person or ministry that is actually feeding the flock and has a reputation for rock-solid orthodoxy in the teaching of sound doctrine and not altering the Gospel and using proper expositional preaching of God’s Word, then we had better spend some serious time at the throne of Grace and seek wise counsel from those God has given to us for that purpose. If the allegations are true then we do a disservice to the Body of Christ to sweep them under the rug. However, if they are based solely on innuendo and guilt by association (as described above) then it would be best to approach the accused in a humble seeking of the truth. To unite with the accuser and lob cannon shells at the accused is what our enemy wants us to do. He is a slanderer, a liar, and a murderer.

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. (Revelation 3:11 ESV)

knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4 ESV)

It is one thing to say, “Come soon Lord Jesus!” and quite another thing to live as if you mean it. There are even some today who are of the emergent mindset that teach we should live this life with our focus on the here and now rather than eternity. Why? This is to create a better world or make this world a better place. However, I also tire of those who treat eschatology much like the world handles conspiracy theories always looking for the right combination of “signs” that our Lord’s return is imminent. I used to do that myself, but I do not do that very much anymore. Why? My focus is on living this life for the glory of God and that means I focus on my relationship between me and my Lord first and from that flows my relationships with everyone else. Yes, the sad shape of the visible Church grieves me and, to me, this is the most telling sign that our Lord’s return is imminent. 

And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (Revelation 22:6-7 ESV)

⁶και ειπεν μοι ουτοι οι λογοι πιστοι και αληθινοι και ο κυριος ο θεος των πνευματων των προφητων απεστειλεν τον αγγελον αυτου δειξαι τοις δουλοις αυτου α δει γενεσθαι εν ταχει  ⁷και ιδου ερχομαι ταχυ μακαριος ο τηρων τους λογους της προφητειας του βιβλιου τουτου (Revelation 22:6-7 WHNU)

And he said to me, these the words trustful and true, and the Master the God of the spirits of the spokesmen delegated the messenger of him to show the slaves of him what it is necessary to become in quickness. And look I come quickly. Fortunate the one keeping the words of the speaking before of the small this. (Revelation 22:6-7 word for word from Koine Greek to English)

Our Lord and His messenger angels told us that He is returning to the world quickly. Or is it soon? Here is Revelation 1:1.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, (Revelation 1:1 ESV)

¹αποκαλυψις ιησου χριστου ην εδωκεν αυτω ο θεος δειξαι τοις δουλοις αυτου α δει γενεσθαι εν ταχει και εσημανεν αποστειλας δια του αγγελου αυτου τω δουλω αυτου ιωαννη (Revelation 1:1 WHNU)

The word translated in v1 as “soon” is ταχει. This word’s best English synonym would probably be “quickness” or “quickly” or “shortly” or “soon.” The context should determine whether it refers to something happening soon relative to the time of the reader or quickly instead of slowly. Here is the note from The Reformation Study Bible for the word ταχει translated as “soon” in Revelation 1:1:

1:1 soon. See 22:6,7,10,12,20. Spiritual war takes place throughout the church age, and the seven churches will soon experience all dimensions of the conflict. Moreover, the “last days” spoken of by Old Testament prophecy have been inaugurated by Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2:16, 17). The time of waiting is over, and God is conducting the final phase of His victorious warfare against evil. By such reckoning, today is “the last hour” (1 John 2:18).

I agree with this. Instead of being concerned about being narrowly focused on the time of the very end of this age, we are to live in such a way that we will be found in obedience when our Lord does return.

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” (Revelation 22:8-11 ESV)

Let us focus on v11, “Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” Here it is in Greek, “ο αδικων αδικησατω ετι και ο ρυπαρος ρυπανθητω ετι και ο δικαιος δικαιοσυνην ποιησατω ετι και ο αγιος αγιασθητω ετι.” The word translated as “evildoer” here is αδικων. This is “the one who is unjust or who does not do right.” This is referring to those whose sins are not covered by the blood of forgiveness. These are not Christians. All they do is αδικησατω, which is the actual doing of evil. These would also be the ρυπαρος or “dirty.” These have not been cleansed by the washing of regeneration. These are the unconverted. They are to continue to ρυπανθητω or “be dirty.” These are contrasted by those who are righteous (δικαιος) who do right (δικαιοσυνην) and the holy (αγιος) who are still holy (αγιασθητω).  This speaks of the sovereignty of God but the difference between the two groups is that the first two are controlled by their unbelief while the last two are controlled by their faith. When the Lord comes, these things will be set for eternity. All who are righteous now will remain righteous from now until then and forever, but some of the evil and dirty will be converted by the grace of God in the Church age and once they are they remain forever, but those who are unconverted when our Lord returns will be so forever, which is illuminated for us in the following passage.

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Revelation 22:12-17 ESV)

The call to “Come” is for the soon return of Christ so that those whom He has saved will be with Him forever. All truly in Christ want this. The longer I live the more I want it. The offer of the water of life is by God’s grace and is for those in Christ for spiritual refreshment. This enables us to persevere in this evil age.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:18-21 ESV)

¹⁸μαρτυρω εγω παντι τω ακουοντι τους λογους της προφητειας του βιβλιου τουτου εαν τις επιθη επ αυτα επιθησει ο θεος επ αυτον τας πληγας τας γεγραμμενας εν τω βιβλιω τουτω  ¹⁹και εαν τις αφελη απο των λογων του βιβλιου της προφητειας ταυτης αφελει ο θεος το μερος αυτου απο του ξυλου της ζωης και εκ της πολεως της αγιας των γεγραμμενων εν τω βιβλιω τουτω  ²⁰λεγει ο μαρτυρων ταυτα ναι ερχομαι ταχυ αμην ερχου κυριε ιησου  ²¹η χαρις του κυριου ιησου [χριστου] μετα των αγιων (Revelation 22:18-21 WHNU)

I have been adding the Greek version of v20 to the end of my last few posts. Here it is in English, “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Our Lord says, “Surely I am coming soon.” The Church then responds, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” I wonder when I hear Christians not wanting our Lord to come back soon. I suppose that has a lot to do with the fact that they are not really being obedient right now, but are living for self. However, I have heard preachers say they would prefer that our Lord’s Return be far into the future. I just do not get it. I say, Come Soon Lord Jesus!

λεγει ο μαρτυρων ταυτα ναι ερχομαι ταχυ αμην ερχου κυριε ιησου

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.” (Ezekiel 20:3 ESV)

The Visible Church has become largely corrupt and apostate. Some are going the direction of Joel Osteen’s Word of Faith gospel that tells us that God wants to bless us, but cannot because we are not asking Him for it or we are not doing something right. Then there are those denominations that are affirming same-sex marriage, which is expressly condemned in God’s Word. There are apostasy examples all across the board and there is not room enough or time enough to address them all here. However, these things all have one thing in common. These are people seeking to be seen as “Christian,” but on their own terms rather than what the Word of God clearly teaches us. 

Apostate Israel and Judah in the Old Testament are prime examples of this. God had clearly given them the right way to worship Him and the things that were an abomination to Him. This is all contained in the Law. Ezekiel was a captive in Babylon prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. He was a priest. In Ezekiel 20 we are given a very long oracle from God spoken to the prophet to be given to the elders who came to him to hear God’s Word and to inquire or pray to Him. However, God gives them the exact reason why they are under His judgment and why He will not be inquired of by them. In other words, He was not going to listen to their prayers.

In Ezekiel 20 God gives us the truth of Israel’s apostasy starting in the Exodus all through the hundreds of years up to the destruction of both nations, Judah and Israel, as His judgment against them. What was their crime?

“And I said to their children in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths. “Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers’ idols. Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the LORD. “Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: In this also your fathers blasphemed me, by dealing treacherously with me. For when I had brought them into the land that I swore to give them, then wherever they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings. (I said to them, What is the high place to which you go? So its name is called Bamah to this day.) “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things? When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you. “What is in your mind shall never happen–the thought, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.’ (Ezekiel 20:18-32 ESV)

Carefully read this summary of the Jew’s rebellion. They sacrificed their first born on the high places. They worshipped idols. They tried to incorporate these things as one part of their religion that also included coming to the Tabernacle and later the Temple to worship God. They insisted on worshipping God on their own terms. Even these exiles in Babylon were still guilty of these things and God told Ezekiel to tell them that He was not going to tell them anything or listen to their prayers. All they would get from Him was the truth about their rebellion and the result, judgment.

What has this got to do with the state of the Visible Church in our time? My goodness, I look at the ecumenical moves going on right now blending elements of Christianity with Eastern mysticism. I read of agreements between so-called Evangelicals and Roman Catholics to fellowship and worship together. I read of what we used to call “victimless crimes” now being sanctioned by the clergy of these apostate churches claiming that Christ’s sacrifice for our sin covers it all and so we are forgiven, therefore, we can live any way we please. Does that sound familiar? The Israelites assumed that since they were the children of Abraham and in a covenant relationship with God that they could do whatever they pleased and hey, their neighbor was a pagan and to be in unity with him they joined their families together by marriage and shared each other’s religion.

This is compromise and it is the action that we see that has its roots in rebellion and unbelief. Unbelief is the best man can do without the quickening (regenerating) power of God entering in. There is a story I heard a few years ago of a man who with his drunken friends were making fun of George Whitefield. Whitefield was an open-air preacher of the Gospel in the 18^th Century in England and the Colonies now called the United States. Those making fun of him were having a great time in their pub. One fellow stood up, raised his arm over his head, and began to preach the gospel just like Whitefield. When he came to that part about no natural man being able to repent and come to God and that Jesus died to save a people for Himself, he began to weep. Why? He heard the truth of the Gospel and through that, the Holy Spirit regenerated Him, converting Him from spiritual death to spiritual life. He believed, repented, and was saved.

Unbelief is the natural state of men no matter how religious they are. Just because some call themselves a Christian or a Christ follower does mean that they are. Here is a New Testament example.

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. (John 9:1-14 ESV)

Jesus heals a man born blind and it was the Sabbath. Now who would be upset with the healing of man born blind? Only those in spiritual blindness of unbelief that was centered in their own dead religiosity would have a problem with that. Carefully read the following passage looking closely at the questions the Pharisees asked and what they stated.

So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. (John 9:15-34 ESV)

These men did not care to know the truth. They were not seeking the truth unless it lined up with their own religiosity. The issue for them was that Jesus did not follow the man-made rules they had added to the Law given to them by Moses. They were in unbelief and proved it by their not listening to the truth given to them by the formerly blind man. He told them exactly what happened and how it happened and they absolutely refused to believe it. Their hearts were hard and they thought that their law keeping was what God was after while our Lord was all about believing the Gospel and serving God from a heart that was full of the knowledge of Him and that had been made alive by His grace. These Pharisees’ hearts were as hard as could be just like the hearts of the Jews who came to visit Ezekiel. Notice that the man born blind has a regenerated heart that knows the truth and loves God. He was cast out of the synagogue because these evil men could not refute the fact that he was healed through a miracle by God which proved who Jesus really was.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:35-39 ESV)

This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Who is it that can inquire of God? It is only those who know Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth. He has opened their eyes and now they know and love Him. Notice that Jesus came into the world as judge. There is a division made by Him here. Those who see are His Church and those who refuse to see are made even more blind. Those in His Church can inquire of God at any time and do so, but those who have been made blind because of their unbelief think they know God and serve Him in their religiosity, but they are these same people in Matthew 7:15-23 who think they are in with the Lord, when they most definitely are not. These claim to the Christians on their own terms and are made even more blind by their rebellion to believe the lie. On the other hand, our Lord is still building His Church and the gates of Hell will never prevail against it. These evil people may even persecute or kill us, but that only makes the Church stronger.

λεγει ο μαρτυρων ταυτα ναι ερχομαι ταχυ αμηνιε ιησου

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18 ESV)

Much of the heresy being taught and preached by the apostates in our time is the product of a wrong view of Christ. Their knowledge of Jesus Christ is flawed, incomplete, or man-made. On the other hand, we should not despair that this is happening because our faith is not in any man, but in Christ Himself who promised to build His Church and the gates of Hell would never be able to prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Therefore, when we see well known Christian leaders compromise and the largest Churches and groups of Churches in our time be those who have butchered the Gospel or who major on things other than it, we must look to God in faith, which was given to us at our New Birth, and commit ourselves to being where He wants us to be and doing what He wants us to be doing. 

God Himself gives the right knowledge of Jesus Christ to those whom He saves. Through this knowledge He works in us to wean us away from slavery to the flesh and the things in this world that are only distractions with no eternal value. How does this work?

Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar. (Isaiah 33:17 ESV)

The more you know about Christ the less will you be satisfied with superficial views of Him; and the more deeply you study His transactions in the eternal covenant, His engagements on your behalf as the eternal Surety, and the fulness of His grace which shines in all His offices, the more truly will you see the King in His beauty. Be much in such outlooks. Long more and more to see Jesus. Meditation and contemplation are often like windows of agate, and gates of carbuncle, through which we behold the Redeemer. Meditation puts the telescope to the eye, and enables us to see Jesus after a better sort than we could have seen Him if we had lived in the days of His flesh. Would that our conversation were more in heaven, and that we were more taken up with the person, the work, the beauty of our incarnate Lord. More meditation, and the beauty of the King would flash upon us with more resplendence. Beloved, it is very probable that we shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never had before, when we come to die. Many saints in dying have looked up from amidst the stormy waters, and have seen Jesus walking on the waves of the sea, and heard Him say, “It is I, be not afraid.” Ah, yes! when the tenement begins to shake, and the clay falls away, we see Christ through the rifts, and between the rafters the sunlight of heaven comes streaming in. But if we want to see face to face the “King in His beauty” we must go to heaven for the sight, or the King must come here in person. O that He would come on the wings of the wind! He is our Husband, and we are widowed by His absence; He is our Brother dear and fair, and we are lonely without Him. Thick veils and clouds hang between our souls and their true life: when shall the day break and the shadows flee away? Oh, long-expected day, begin! – C.H. Spurgeon from Spurgeon’s Evening by Evening for Nov 16.

I heard a preacher once pray from the pulpit for Jesus not to return that day because he had other things he wanted to do. I could not believe it. He prayed another time for God not to take him home yet because he was too much in love with this life. Again, I was speechless. The ones truly in love with their Saviour want to know everything about Him and the more they know about Him, the more they know Him, and the more they want to be with Him. I have fallen in love with Revelation 22:20.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 ESV)

This should be our prayer to our Lord every day. If, however, it causes you to fear or dread His return then this is a sign or marker that your knowledge and love of our Saviour is not where it needs to be. The true disciple of Christ is one who is crucified with Him. He has taken up his or her own cross and followed Him.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26 ESV)

The disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ has the viewpoint that he or she is apprehended by our Lord and their entire purpose in this life is to serve Him and be part of the triumph in Christ. It is enough to be in the train of the conqueror.

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14-17 ESV)

The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.

The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him . . .” ( Romans 8:37 ).

“We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . .” ( 2 Corinthians 2:15 ). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God. – Oswald Chambers from My Utmost For His Highest for October 24.

Chambers hit this nail on the head perfectly. This is the right obedience based upon the right knowledge of God that comes only to those who are crucified with Him, held captive by Him, and live accordingly. This is the triumph in Christ because He is going to return in the perfect point in His timing and it will be glorious. I deeply desire to be one of those simply in the train of the conqueror, being found obedient to Him in all parts of my life for my life belongs totally to Him.

λεγει ο μαρτυρων ταυτα ναι ερχομαι ταχυ αμην ερχου κυριε ιησου

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:11-13 ESV)

I was taught in College when writing a newspaper story or a paper that we should never state facts without corroboration via quotes from accepted authorities using documentation to back it up. However, I have found it very difficult to do this lately in the articles I post here. I have used J.I. Packer a lot over the last several years because of his summary writing of works such as John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Jesus Christ. However, it has been pointed out to me that J.I. Packer seems to be one who writes wonderfully true expositions of Biblical truth while also compromising with the very ones we oppose in their stands to corrupt our faith and attack the church with false doctrines, et cetera. My good friend Ken Silva pointed this out to me via this post.

My response to this is to become ever more dependent upon God’s Word alone as the source of the truth I teach here. With men, we have inconsistencies, but never with God. However, the more I meditated on this and considered the ugliness of what is going on in the visible church now, I realized that God was teaching me something. We err if we focus on the temporal for fulfillment. We will eventually find ourselves mystified at some Christian leader’s lack of integrity or his tendency to compromise with those we know are apostate. This tests our faith and shows us that our focus needs to be heavenward rather than the here and now. This is called walking by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).

When we walk this way we cannot do so simply by will power. We must have God’s help. He must enable us to do this as we surrender more and more of our grip on the temporal and give it all to Him. The following prayer, “Faith,” is from The Valley of Vision.

My GOD,

I bless thee that thou hast given me the eye of faith, to see thee as Father, to know thee as a covenant God,to experience thy love planted in me;

For faith is the grace of union by which I spell out my entitlement to thee:

Faith casts my anchor upwards where I trust in thee and engage thee to be my Lord.

Be pleased to live and move within me, breathing in my prayers, inhabiting my praises, speaking in my words, moving in my actions, living in my life, causing me to grow in grace.

Thy bounteous goodness has helped me believe, but my faith is weak and wavering, its light dim, its steps tottering, its increase slow, its backslidings frequent;

It should scale the heavens but lies groveling in the dust.

Lord, fan this divine spark into glowing flame.

When faith sleeps, my heart becomes an unclean thing, the fount of every loathsome desire, the cage of unclean lusts all fluttering to escape, the noxious tree of deadly fruit, the open wayside of earthly tares.

Lord, awake faith to put forth its strength until all heaven fills my soul and all impurity is cast out.

What is this faith? According to the writer of the book of Hebrews it is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

Here is v1 in Koine Greek: εστιν δε πιστις ελπιζομενων υποστασις πραγματων ελεγχος ου βλεπομενων. Word for word into English would be: “Is but trust of being hoped substance, practices rebuke not of being seen.” The word translated in the ESV as “assurance” and here as “trust” is υποστασις. This word is often translated as “confidence” in the New Testament. The writer of the book of Hebrews is defining πιστις or faith as both “assurance” and “conviction” (ελεγχος). What this tells us my brethren is that biblical faith is not wishful thinking. No, it is an assured confidence in the promises of God. This faith is not blind either for it is based on a trust in God to fulfill His promises to His people.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV)

Where is your faith my brethren? When Christian leaders stumble and reveal that they are something other than the image we had of them through their teachings, do we doubt? Is our faith diminished? I am way past that. These things may take me by surprise sometimes, but my faith is not in any man. My Saviour has given me His Spirit as a guarantee. These men who compromise do so because they are being temporally focused. If they had the right focus, that which is heavenward where their true hope should be, then they would not compromise even though it may be costly in this life to do what is right.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 16:24-27 ESV)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”(Luke 14:26-33 ESV)

This is the call for the disciple of the Lord Jesus my brethren. There can be no compromise here. Our Lord’s words are very clear. Following Him will be costly and those who do will deny themselves or die to self in all things. Their faith is biblical faith pointing to eternity not to the temporal. Therefore, they serve their Lord and it costs them in this life, but this builds treasure in Heaven. We must walk through this life by faith, not by sight.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Corinthians 5:6-10 ESV)

This is a call to examine yourselves my brethren. How is it going in this walk? Are you walking by faith that is according to the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen? Or, are you specializing in this world and what it has to offer? Are you ministering for the glory of God or are you trying to have the coolest and biggest ministry this side of Heaven? God is glorified when we obey Him in self-denial all within the humble mindset of our Saviour.

When I read of the compromising Christian leaders all around us it sickens me. It grieves me. However, my faith is not in them. It is based entirely in my assurance of what God has promised to those who belong to Him. These things are not seen now by us, but they are very real to the eyes of faith. Those compromisers will have to give an account to the Lord. What we must do is repent of the inconsistencies in our own walks as we pray for those men to repent and come back into the light.

Our focus must be as the Apostle John wrote in Revelation 22:20, “λεγει ο μαρτυρων ταυτα ναι ερχομαι ταχυ αμην ερχου κυριε ιησου”

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4 ESV)

I read the other day that the Emergent or Emerging “Church” was replacing Christian liberalism or at least morphing into the same role. That means that it assumed a Gospel stance of universalism. For many years, it was assumed that if one was reformed in his or theology, like me, that it was a sure deal that that Christian was not going to fall into the cesspool of this nonsense. However, now we have a new term to deal with called New Calvinism or a reference to a certain group of Christian leaders called New Calvinists. Those we have looked at in this group appears to lean towards mysticism and compromise. I am one who simply cannot wrap my mind around how one who confesses to believe that God is Sovereign over all things and that man is incapable of saving Himself can seek to make the compromises in their ministry that would line themselves up with the Emergents. Universalism and Calvinism are polar opposites in my understanding of things and that means that Calvinists should have a proper understanding of what it means that Jesus Christ is Lord. It means that we do not call the shots. We do not design new and more popular ways to serve and worship Him. No, we must worship and serve as directed by Him.

The dividing line between a genuine preaching of the Gospel and anything else that is only pretending to do so should be easy to define. For this I got out one of my older books written by a man who lived in the 17^th Century, John Owen. The book is The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. From this book, we are told that there is a proper way to preach the Gospel and then there are many other ways that are only poor facsimiles of it. These man-made ways to preach the Gospel get it wrong and anyone “converted” by them enter their post-conversion with little to no reverence for the cost Christ paid to buy them and are therefore, not humbled by that. They are deficient in their knowledge of the utter hopelessness of being spiritually dead before regeneration. They also are ignorant of the fruit of true repentance, which the Word calls our good works.

I know of what I speak. This is why I floundered around in my Christian walk for nearly 20 years before God was gracious to me and opened my eyes to the truth. I did nothing to save myself. God did it all by His grace (Ephesians 2:1-10). This awakening changed everything for me. My mindset had been that I was saved because I had made the right decision and had done x,y, & z. This revelation that that was not so hit me like a sledgehammer. I was shattered. I repented of my arrogance. My concept of Jesus being Lord went from some sort of fuzzy logic and a hopefulness that He was also forgiving for me doing things my own way to a humbling reassessment that revealed God to be Sovereign and the Lordship of Christ was Him being my Lord over everything, no exceptions. I realized the arrogance of my former mindset of my salvation. I also came to realize that the preaching of the Gospel that I had been listening to since I was saved actually limited it, watering it down to being totally dependant upon the hearer.

The following is from C.H Spurgeon about this:

We are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made a satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved. Now, our reply to this is, that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it: we do not. The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men? They say, “No, certainly not.” We ask them the next question—Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They answer “No.” They are obliged to admit this, if they are consistent. They say “No. Christ has died that any man may be saved if”—and then follow certain conditions of salvation. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as infallibly to secure the salvation of anybody. We beg you pardon, when you say we limit Christ’s death; we say, “No, my dear sir, it is you that do it.” We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved and cannot be ay any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. You are welcome to your atonement; you my keep it. We will never renounce ours for the sake of it.” – C.H. Spurgeon

My brethren, when this realization hit me I did a life reassessment. I looked back at my walk since God saved me and was blown away. My inconsistencies, my failures, my sins, et cetera were all because of my concept that I had been saved because I had followed certain SBC conditions of salvation. When I saw the utter bankruptcy of such a concept, it changed everything. I had been living as me as Lord of my life and Christ as Lord over my religiosity. Oh, I had revivals all through that time, but they always eventually degenerated back into that old concept when things got tough. Yes, I was saved, but it was me that made it all work. At least that is how I obviously conceived of it by the way I had lived. However, as I said above, God graciously hit me with the sledgehammer blow that shattered this arrogant, prideful, and self-consumed heart. The realization of what it truly meant to be the slave of the Lord of all was utterly life changing. I did not learn this from the men who were supposedly preaching the Word in the churches I attended during that time. That is the tragedy because who knows how many others are sitting in those churches each and every Sunday hearing this crippled gospel that produces only mediocre Christians at best.

The following is an excerpt from the introductory essay that J.I. Packer wrote for Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.

It is from degenerate faith and preaching of this kind that Owen’s book could set us free. If we listen to him, he will teach us both how to believe the Scripture gospel and how to preach it. For the first: he will lead us to bow down before a sovereign Saviour Who really saves, and to praise Him for a redeeming death which made it certain that all for whom He died will come to glory. It cannot be over-emphasized that we have not seen the full meaning of the Cross till we have seen it as the divines of Dort display it—as the centre of the gospel, flanked on the one hand by total inability and unconditional election, and on the other by irresistible grace and final preservation. For the full meaning of the Cross only appears when the atonement is defined in terms of these four truths. Christ died to save a certain company of helpless sinners upon whom God had set His free saving love. Christ’s death ensured the calling and keeping—the present and final salvation—of all whose sins He bore. That is what Calvary meant, and means. The Cross saved; the Cross saves. This is the heart of true Evangelical faith; as Cowper sang—

“Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransomed church of God

Be saved to sin no more.”

This is the triumphant conviction which underlay the old gospel, as it does the whole New Testament. And this is what Owen will teach us unequivocally to believe.

Then, secondly, Owen could set us free, if we would hear him, to preach the biblical gospel. This assertion may sound paradoxical, for it is often imagined that those who will not preach that Christ died to save every man are left with no gospel at all. On the contrary, however, what they are left with is just the gospel of the New Testament. What does it mean to preach “the gospel of the grace of God”? Owen only touches on this briefly and incidentally, but his comments are full of light. Preaching the gospel, he tells us, is not a matter of telling the congregation that God has set His love on each of them and Christ has died to save each of them, for these assertions, biblically understood, would imply that they will all infallibly be saved, and this cannot be known to be true. The knowledge of being the object of God’s eternal love and Christ’s redeeming death belongs to the individual’s assurance, which in the nature of the case cannot precede faith’s saving exercise; it is to be inferred from the fact that one has believed, not proposed as a reason why one should believe. According to Scripture, preaching the gospel is entirely a matter of proclaiming to men, as truth from God which are bound to believe and act on, the following four facts:

(1)         that all men are sinners, and cannot do anything to save themselves;

(2)         that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is a perfect Saviour for sinners, even the worst;

(3)         that the Father and the Son have promised that all who know themselves to be sinners and put faith in Christ as Saviour shall be received into favour, and none cast out (which promise is “a certain infallible truth, grounded upon the superabundant sufficiency of the oblation of Christ in itself, for whomsoever (few or more) it be intended”);

(4)         that God has made repentance and faith a duty, requiring of every man who hears the gospel “a serious full recumbency and rolling of the soul upon Christ in the promise of the gospel, as an all-sufficient Saviour, able to deliver and save to the utmost them that come to God by him; ready, able and willing, through the preciousness of his blood and sufficiency of his ransom, to save every soul that shall freely give up themselves unto him for that end.”

The preacher’s task, in other words, is to display Christ: to explain man’s need of Him, His sufficiency to save, and His offer of Himself in the promises as Saviour to all who truly turn to Him; and to show as fully and plainly as he can how these truths apply to the congregation before him. It is not for him to say, nor for his hearers to ask, for whom Christ died in particular. “There is none called on by the gospel once to enquire after the purpose and intention of God concerning the particular object of the death of Christ, every one being fully assured that his death shall be profitable to them that believe in him and obey him.” After saving faith has been exercised, “it lies on a believer to assure his soul, according as he find the fruit of the death of Christ in him and towards him, of the good-will and eternal love of God to him in sending his Son to die for him in particular”, but not before. The task to which the gospel calls him is simply to exercise faith, which he is both warranted and obliged to do by God’s command and promise.

My brethren, this is what it means to preach the gospel, the Word, to those God has brought to us to hear it. We err badly if all we concentrate on is not offending anyone or if we are mostly concerned with relational, social, societal, or environmental things. The souls of men must be our primary concern. All who exit this life with Jesus not their Lord are doomed to an eternity separated from Him. I for one do not want to have to give an account to my Lord about how I neglected the gospel because I was more concerned about not offending them with the truth. Who is Lord? If He is truly our Lord then we will obey Him and that means all these stupid distractions in Churchianity all around us are acts of rebellion against His Lordship and an affront to Him personally who went to the Cross to save His people. Preach the Word, not what people want to hear, but what God commands us to preach.

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” (Psalms 110:1 ESV)

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:15-21 ESV)

When I witness the bizarre conflicts in the visible Church in our time, especially the ones in which I take part, I never come through them without wondering how those whose faith is in their religion or idol can call Jesus Lord since they most definitely are not obeying Him nor submitting to His will as their Lord. If they did then two things would be true about them. They would teach sound (αντικειται) doctrine (διδασκαλια) from God’s Word and they would minister to His Church with love (αγαπην). Any other form of “ministry” will negatively impact the Body of Christ for it will come from motivations other than ministering unto the glory of God alone as a slave (δουλος) of his or her Lord (κυριος). These other motivations are actually service to another lord, either self or the enemy of our souls and are therefore the source of bad fruit.

If someone attempts to “minister” to the Body of Christ with sound doctrine, but is without love then all they are is a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1). This produces legalism and does not benefit the Body of Christ. On the other hand, the elimination of ministering according to sound doctrine while focusing exclusively on love like the seeker-sensitive paradigm demands as well as the many forms of the New Evangelism, makes the sheep within unhealthy and immature and many are not genuine because they are not being properly nurtured and taught and given the real gospel. Eliminating sound doctrine to focus on love is done so as not to offend people, but without the hammer of sound doctrine that the Holy Spirit uses to break through hard hearts, there is only feel good religion with no substance.

Christ did not go to the cross for only a possibility of building a Church. No, He had purpose and it was according to His humble obedience to the Father.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2 ESV)

¹ει τις ουν παρακλησις εν χριστω ει τι παραμυθιον αγαπης ει τις κοινωνια πνευματος ει τις σπλαγχνα και οικτιρμοι  ²πληρωσατε μου την χαραν ινα το αυτο φρονητε την αυτην αγαπην εχοντες συμψυχοι το εν φρονουντες (Philippians 2:1-2 WHNU)

If some then encouragement in Christ, if some comfort of love, if some partnership of spirit, if some affections and compassions, fill of me the joy that the same you might think, the same love having together in soul the one thinking (Philippians 2:1-2 word for word from Koine Greek to English)

This is a call for believers to not be divisive or in conflict over non-essential things, but to be of one mind or of the same “thinking.” The love with which we are to have for the brethren is αγαπην, which the KJV translates as “charity.” This is that love that is only possible between Christians for it is fully sacrificial and motivated for what is best for the one loved rather than being based on temporal things. Paul describes it here as being in full accord and of the same mind. Differences of opinion are bound to occur among people, but those committed to living and walking before their κυριος as His δουλος must also conform to His example of humility.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4 ESV)

³μηδεν κατ εριθειαν μηδε κατα κενοδοξιαν αλλα τη ταπεινοφροσυνη αλληλους ηγουμενοι υπερεχοντας εαυτων  ⁴μη τα εαυτων εκαστοι σκοπουντες αλλα και τα ετερων εκαστοι (Philippians 2:3-4 WHNU)

Nothing by selfish ambition but not by empty splendor, but in the humblemindedness one another considering excelling yourselves, not the of yourselves each looking carefully but also the of others each. (Philippians 2:3-4 word for word from Koine Greek to English)

Paul speaks here of what motivates us in how we live and serve amongst the brethren. The concept of being a Christian from a motivation of selfish ambition or conceit is not humility and, in fact, is how the world operates. Instead, we are to follow Christ’s example of humility, which is to count others more significant than ourselves in how we interact and relate to them. The word translated as “in humility” here, ταπεινοφροσυνη, literally means “lowliness of mind.” It is the esteeming of ourselves small inasmuch as we are so. In God’s economy, it is the real estimate of ourselves (Acts 20:19; Ephesians 4:2; Philippians 2:3; Colossians 2:18, 23; 3:12; 1 Peter 5:5). For the sinner, the unregenerate, or unsaved, ταπεινοφροσυνη involves the confession of sin as his or her true condition. However, for the Christian it is our acknowledgment, not of sinfulness, but of creatureliness, of absolute dependence, having nothing, but receiving all things of God.

Now, I ask you, will a believer who is doing nothing from rivalry or conceit, while ταπεινοφροσυνη launch ugly attacks against solid men of God and their ministries without absolute proof according to what Sacred Scripture says that the target is apostate and is deceiving the Church? No! These things are contrary to one another. Using innuendo and deceitful tactics in order to incite believers to turn away from a brother or sister in Christ is outside of this and are the marks of one who is being controlled by our enemy. In fact, we are called here to work for the best of our brethren, to encourage them, to build them up by pointing everyone to Christ and His example of how we are to live this life and serve Him.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)

⁵τουτο φρονειτε εν υμιν ο και εν χριστω ιησου  ⁶ος εν μορφη θεου υπαρχων ουχ αρπαγμον ηγησατο το ειναι ισα θεω  ⁷αλλα εαυτον εκενωσεν μορφην δουλου λαβων εν ομοιωματι ανθρωπων γενομενος και σχηματι ευρεθεις ως ανθρωπος  ⁸εταπεινωσεν εαυτον γενομενος υπηκοος μεχρι θανατου θανατου δε σταυρου (Philippians 2:5-8 WHNU)

This think in you which also in Christ Jesus, who in form of God existing not seizure considered to be equal to God, but himself he emptied form of slave having taken, in likeness of men becoming; and in shape being found as man he humbled himself becoming obedient until death, of death but of cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 word for word from Koine Greek to English)

Our Lord’s example was one that was intended to show us the way to walk a life that is well pleasing to God. We are to take the form of a slave, His slave, as we serve the Body of Christ in our service to Him. Our obedience is not optional. This is to stand firm in Him even if it costs us our lives, our reputations, our ministries, everything we have, et cetera. Death by crucifixion was a shameful way to die in the 1^st Century Roman Empire. We must ask ourselves, “Am I willing to take unjust heat for being Christ’s δουλος?” This is why the attrition rate amongst some of us can be quite high as the heat comes to bear and we must choose to stand firm in Him and not compromise or give in taking the easy way out to our shame. This is why not all Christians are called to be leaders.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)

⁹διο και ο θεος αυτον υπερυψωσεν και εχαρισατο αυτω το ονομα το υπερ παν ονομα  ¹⁰ινα εν τω ονοματι ιησου παν γονυ καμψη επουρανιων και επιγειων και καταχθονιων  ¹¹και πασα γλωσσα εξομολογησηται οτι κυριος ιησους χριστος εις δοξαν θεου πατρος (Philippians 2:9-11 WHNU)

Wherefore also the God him elevated beyond and he favored to him the name the above all name, that in the name of Jesus all knee might bow on heavens and on earths and subterraneans and all tongue might confess out, “Master Jesus Christ into splendor of God Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 word for word from Koine Greek to English)

Our Lord’s humiliation in vv5-8 and exaltation by God in vv9-11 are forever linked as the cause and result. The Lord Jesus Christ is highly exalted by God and it should make us shudder when we see professing Christians making light of His person. He is not our buddy or bro or pal or homey.

The following is from page 1717 in The MacArthur Bible Commentary for this part of Philippians:

Christ’s exaltation was four-fold. The early sermons of the apostles affirm His Resurrection and coronation (His position at the right hand of God), and allude to His intercession for believers (Acts 2:32, 33, 5:30, 32; cf. Eph. 1:20, 21; Heb. 4:15; 7:25, 26). Hebrews 4:14 refers to the final element, His Ascension. The exaltation did not concern Christ’s nature or eternal place within the Trinity, but His new identity as the God-Man (cf. John 5:22; Rom. 1:4; 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:24, 25). In addition to receiving back His glory (John 17:5), Christ’s new status as the God-Man meant God gave Him privileges He did not have prior to the Incarnation. If He had not lived among men, He could not have identified with them as the interceding high priest. Had He not died on the Cross, He could not have been elevated from the lowest degree back to heaven as the substitute for sin. Name…above every name. Christ’s new name, which further describes His essential nature and places Him above and beyond all comparison, is “Lord.” This name is the NT synonym for OT descriptions of God as sovereign ruler. Both before (Is. 45:21-23; Mark 15:2; Luke 2:11; John 13;13; 18:37; 20:28) and after (Acts 2:36; 10:36; Rom. 14:9-11; 1 Cor. 8:6; 15:57; Rev. 17:14; 19:16) the exaltation, Scripture affirms that this was Jesus’ rightful title as the God-Man.

In v10 we read, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” The name Jesus was the name given to Him by His earthly parents and is not the new name that is above every name. What is His new name? Look at v11, “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” We have been using this new name for Jesus all through this article. He is κυριος, or Lord! This word refers primarily to the right to rule. When used to refer to people it is about ownership of people or property. However, when applied to Jesus Christ, it implies His deity, with emphasis on His Sovereignty.

What is the name that is above every name? It is κυριος. Jesus Christ is Lord! Think long and carefully about saying that my brethren. Do you say it, but then live as you please? If He is Lord of your life that means, you live in obedience to your Sovereign Lord. He calls the shots. He sets the limits. He moves us to where we need to be. He gives us what we need to walk before Him for the glory of God. This is what it means to have Christ as your Lord. It also means we walk in repentance before Him, confessing our sins as we turn to Him in obedience. Does this describe your walk before your κυριος as His δουλος?

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8 ESV)

A principle that must be engrained in us as we run this race set before us by our God is that our enemy is a deceitful liar and he has many who belong to him who, like him, are wicked and the truth is not found in them. Many of these people proclaim to be Christians but are, in fact, only wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Like their father, Satan, they have no problem using half-truths and outright lies when it appears to serve their purpose, whatever that is. If we are not very careful and prepare ourselves for the journey through prayer and immersion in God’s Word then these wolves can deceive us if we are not very careful. If this happens, we might find ourselves stumbling into error.

No true Christian wants to be in error in matters of our faith. We do not want to follow false leaders, wolves in sheep’s clothing, but these people are often disguised as the real deal, in fact, that is what the term “sheep’s clothing” is referring to. After the ugliness over the attacks on John MacArthur and the resultant backlash from those who were behind it when we did not fall for it, the words “lies” and “deceit” became very prominent in my mind. Had we witnessed an attack sponsored by our enemy on a man and his ministry that had been designed to cause many of us to struggle and doubt and cause confusion? That is what I witnessed through this and I am sure many of you did as well. Early on, God used this ugliness to shine his light of truth into my own heart to show me the idols I had erected there. I have already confessed some of this to you. However, there is another idol that I am working to deconstruct, but it is especially difficult to do. That is the idol to self.

I know that one of the instigators in the attack on John MacArthur is now attacking me. My first reaction to that was to fight back. However, within just a few minutes of me receiving the attack email, my friend Ken Silva contacted me. He had received it as well. We agreed that the best way to handle this is to simply shake the dust off of our feet and move on. Genuine believers want to know the truth, and true Christian leaders are all about building up the Body of Christ, but wolves are only interested in their tearing up or tearing down whomever it is they are attacking.

In this post, I want to give you the information that God provided to me through some men very close to John MacArthur at Grace to You. I started by contacting Phil Johnson. He was already very familiar with the information in the interviews done by Pastor John Coleman, which were the basis for the attack. Here is the original link that I received in an email that started this whole thing with me. It takes a couple of hours to listen to it all. In any case, this was the basis for my post “Little Children Keep Yourselves From Idols.” I was heartbroken over this, but God used it to expose my own idolatry. I then went on a six-day trip to visit my son in Washington, D.C. When I got back, I wrote “Rebuking Repentance and Restoration.” Then I contacted Phil Johnson. He replied with the following email:

Dear Mike,

Thanks for your message.

The fellow who gave you that link is citing two worthless sources. One is John Coleman, a Los Angeles inner-city pastor who is obsessed with proving that John MacArthur is unsaved. His main “proof” is a highly selective quotation drawn from a radio interview John MacArthur did with me some 20 years ago. His argument is that if John can’t pin down the precise moment he passed from death to life, he must not be genuinely saved.

MacArthur’s testimony is well known and well summarized in multiple sources, not just that one interview. (Iain Murray wrote an excellent, brief bio of John MacArthur last year using that same interview and at least half a dozen other sources, plus personal interviews with John MacArthur. Murray gave a faithful account of John’s testimony. It’s chapter 1 in the book titled Truth Endures.)

There have been at least three occasions in John MacArthur’s life when the Lord had him under serious conviction and he repented. Two were childhood experiences. The third was when John was in college and was involved in a near-fatal automobile accident. It was that third event that John himself usually cites as the major turning point in his life, but given what Scripture says about childlike faith, he says it’s also possible that he was saved at a younger age, because he never had a period of apostasy or deliberate, prolonged rebellion against the Lord.

That’s all he was saying. Coleman claims what John really means is that he doesn’t remember ever being saved. That’s baloney, and anyone who knows John MacArthur or will listen to John’s testimony without Coleman’s interruptions will see why it’s baloney. I don’t consider Coleman’s rants worth answering. We don’t typically chase gadflies.

Your friend’s other source is Bob Johnson, who is a certifiable lunatic and conspiracy theorist of the first order. His rambling accounts of how the UN is using Al Mohler to take over the evangelical world refute themselves. Fred Butler has been answering Johnson’s screeds on his blog since 2006:

http://hipandthigh.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-interview-with-crackpot.html

http://hipandthigh.blogspot.com/2009/03/fbt-updates.html

http://hipandthigh.blogspot.com/2009/03/profile-not-available.html

If you want a refutation of Bob Johnson’s theories, just read them. The connections he draws are so tenuous and his theories so farcical that when I first read his stuff I thought it was a bad parody. It floored me when I discovered he is actually serious. Regarding John MacArthur secretly being an advocate for Purpose-Driven ministry, I own the copy of The Purpose Drive Church John MacArthur read and annotated marginally, and I can assure you he is no advocate of that (or any other) style of pragmatism.

If either of those sources makes specific allegations you think are credible and worthy of a reply, highlight them for me and I’ll answer them. But my assessment would be that guys like that are crackpots who simply don’t deserve to be taken seriously, and I don’t want to drive traffic to their sites by pretending I think their insanity deserves a serious response.

– Phil Johnson 
   http://www.spurgeon.org http://teampyro.blogspot.com/

I followed those links and things started to come together for me pretty quick. Phil also had Fred Butler contact me with more information. Here is his first email to me.

Hey Mike,

Phil sent me a copy of an email he sent you explaining about Bob Johnson.

I work for Grace to You ministries and have attended Grace Church for about 15 years while attending seminary and now working full time at GTY.

I have been interacting with Bob off and on for about 3 years now – starting around May of 2006 when he was handing out literature against Grace Church.

Phil sent you some links to my blog articles about Bob, but he overlooked a good one that is a long response to a series of emails he sent me.

You can find it here:

http://hipandthigh.blogspot.com/2006/07/mending-chipped-ceramics.html

It has much more detail answering the specific charges Bob (and John Coleman) have made against Grace and our so-called descent into Purpose Driven philosophy.

Any questions, please feel free to write back.

Fred Butler

Volunteer coordinator

Grace to You radio ministries

He followed this up with by telling me that I should read the comments on that page as well. I will explain at the end of this post why that is important. He then sent me the following dialogue he had with Bob Johnson.

Hey again,

Sorry to overwhelm you =-)

I’m on a roll.

This should be the last one.

Here are some more email exchanges I had with Bob about a year ago.  Similar arguments.  We talk about the specific Grace Church ministries in question.

Hopefully you can track with the context with some of my responses.  I have his claims bracket with asterisks *

Allow me to address your emails.  I still see I am talking in circles.

*The Guild and Foundry were/are Purpose Driven ministries*

(Fred) Here in lies the distinction between Grace and PDL: I can clearly see what a purpose driven ministry looks like.  The watered down preaching, trendy music replacing good worship music, the emphasis on getting people to feel comfortable, rather than on sound doctrinal teaching, marginalizing older saints as not having an important role to play in the life of the church, attempting to be relevant toward cultural issues, ie, the interview Warren did with Obama/McCain late last summer.

Grace is not doing this stuff, Bob. You are crying booger bears when none exist.  As I have stated at the outset of this debate, what? 3 years ago? the Guild and the Foundry are singles groups.  By definition, they have a different tone in those fellowship groups because they are singles.  Working Disciples was like that before the Foundry replaced them.  The college department has that tone.  What you perceive as a pervasive PDL philosophy is just singles ministry activity.  It is not bad, evil, or transformational, and it does not spill into the remainder of the church.  If, for example, your absurd claim that Tom Patton is a “change agent” were true, you would see such things in the new ministry where he pastors, Cornerstone fellowship group.  He took it over when the previous pastor moved on to another ministry.  The thing is, Bob, you don’t see it.

*Their webpages were deleted because of my original paper.*

(Fred) No they didn’t.  I told you in an email that I spoke with the webmaster.  He happens to be a friend of mine.  The guy who maintains the website for the Guild at that time, and what was updating and changing the webpage for normal purposes, you claim was changed because you “exposed” some evil under belly going on there at the Guild.  It was just a coincidence that those pages were changed around the same time you published your “paper.”

*You had a chance to contact Robert Klenck who verified all this.  You could have called Coleman’s show and argued, but you didn’t. *

(Fred) I happened to have contacted both guys and neither one of them would respond to my emails.  I have attempted to email Coleman concerning some other matters unrelated to our debate.  He refuses to be corrected or challenged regarding his beliefs.  He returns my emails unanswered and ignored, condemning me.  So much for wanting to listen.  Of course, I happen to know folks who are down in the area where Coleman is and have many negative things to say about his shameful conduct as a self-appointed minister.

*There are other experts in the PDC who have written well known books exposing the PDC who have corroborated that the Guild and Foundry were PDC.*

(Fred) And those experts are?  You name James Sundquist.  It may interest you to know he sent the manuscript of his book to GTY seeking John’s endorsement.  At one of the Shepherd’s Conferences sometime in the mid-2000s, John recommended it as a resource.  His recommendation was based upon a quick over view of the manuscript and later, when I had the opportunity to read it more thoroughly, I told Phil Johnson he needed to tell John to back away from it because the book was conspiratorial in tone, came from a hyper-fundamentalist, KJV-only perspective, was poorly researched and terribly argued.  Later, other pastors who heard John’s recommendation of the book at that conference had similar criticisms and wondered if he had really read the book well enough, which he hadn’t.  I would imagine you had probably encountered the book before you came to the Guild that one and only evening so you were predisposed to see PDL new age one world government stuff behind every tree.

*Are they also fools?*

(Fred) Welp, let’s put it this way: they are a small, almost stand alone group.  It makes me wonder if they really have the ability to discern.  The question you need to ask is why is it these few individuals who run in fringe circles of fundamentalism who see all these things, and no one else?  Believe me, I don’t care at all for Rick Warren.  I don’t like his smarmy personality or what is taught at his church.  However, I am not going to speak lies against the guy.  What I see from you and your friends is the speaking of lies against Warren rather than offering reliable criticism where it is due.

*When you were given Klenck’s paper you called it “conspiratorial nonsense.”  But the paper is basically inerrant.  In calling an inerrant paper nonsense, you are denying truth.  *

(Fred) That is because it was conspiratorial nonsense.  He is claiming all this infiltrating is leading to the one world government.  Such is conspiracy my friend.  Of course you have a specific definition of “inerrant” and any deviation from that definition is denying truth and reality so it is almost worthless to even reason with you.   It is the same way I argued when I was a KJV onlyist:  Set the 1611 up as the ultimate, inerrant standard for the Bible and any departure from stated standard is automatically heresy and apostasy.

*Fred,  Several people know that the Guild and Foundry were PDC.  *

(Fred) Again, you need to find members of Grace, Bob.  James Sunquist doesn’t even live here in LA as far as I know.  Hasn’t even come to Grace.  Coleman and Klenck are also examples.  None of them have interviewed any of these men you accuse of “transformating” Grace.  Just like you, they are basing their judgment on secondary sources and hearsay.

*When will you pull your head out of the sand?  *

(Fred) When will you pull your’s out?

*The man who facilitated my small group was Alex Fitzgerald.  He didn’t teach the bible.  He’s a trained facilitator. *

(Fred) Well, seeing that I know Alex rather well and I happen to know what he believes as a Christian, such accusations border on the fantastic.  A trained facilitator?  Like he attended a top-secret seminar or something? Good grief.

*Find out how Patton and Gebhards knew to bring this model into GCC.  Where did they learn it from? *

(Fred) Uhhh?  They went to Master’s.  I went to Master’s.  I took the same pastoring and sermon prep classes as they did.  I can tell you right now, they don’t teach Purpose Driven Life stuff.  We read Warren’s book so as to be familiar with it and critique it.

*Instead of opposing truth, why don’t you help find the truth? *

(Fred) I believe I have the truth seeing I have first hand knowledge and know well the person’s being accused by you.  Seeing that you only attended once and are making knee jerk reactions to a false view of church growth philosophy, I don’t believe you do have the truth.  But I don’t believe that matters to you.  I doubt very seriously if you were shown to be wrong with overwhelming evidence you would not do anything to repent of your slander against my friends and church.  In fact you would attempt to spin things around in order to save face.

So.  The challenge for you Bob is first, tell me where you attend Church, then tell me about these members at Grace who see things like you do.  Are they up standing, actively involved members, or the fringy, hanging around the edge of things folks who maybe come to Grace for a year and then leave over some stupid thing that may happen to them?

*Fred,  Well I can see that there is no convincing you that the church growth movement has infiltrated your church.  I won’t attempt to convince you further about this.*

(Fred) Yes.  Your insistence that our church is infiltrated by church growth is utterly unconvincing.  I don’t think anyone who is an actively involved member of our church, who actually knows the ministries in question along with the people who are involved there, who is sound and stable in the Word of God and is not easily led astray into error, would be convinced of anything you wrote.  On the other hand, only those people who are not grounded in spirit and Word and quick to be led astray would be led astray by our material.  So far, the individuals who agree with you are those type of individuals.  You have yet to produce one person who was an active member of Grace for any length of time who became alarmed about what you wrote and left.

*You know people who know Coleman who, as you say, have many things to say about his shameful conduct as a self appointed minister.*

(Fred) Yes, there are a few pastor friends who minister in the same black community as Coleman did, and currently does now, who have first hand knowledge of his conduct.

*  First, this doesn’t have bearing on the Guild and Foundry.  *

(Fred) And I never said it does.  However, seeing that you appeal to him as some authority in these matters and also feed him your bogus information, it is better to say he has an indirect bearing on the philosophies that shape your understanding of our church.

*And I believe Coleman has admitted that people took his ministry from him over accusations of homosexuality–which he has denied.  Is this the shameful behavior you are referring to? *

(Fred) No.  I have no knowledge of this.  What I refer to is to pastor friends of mine who testify to his divisiveness and the fringe element of his ministry that has stirred problems in their communities where they minister.

*Why call him a self appointed minister?*

(Fred) Because he is.

*Why don’t you think God has appointed him? *

(Fred) Because God uses specific means like elders, other established, reputable church leaders, and a body of churches, to affirm those who are called to the ministry.  You are probably from an extreme independent fundamentalist background and you are probably under the mistaken notion that a person can “feel the call” of God on his or her life and that settles their appointment by God to the ministry.  Such is not the case biblically.

* I know he considers Macarthur to be his “personal friend.” *

(Fred) I would like to ask John about that.

*Why do you care where I attend church?*

(Fred) Because it reveals something about who you are, what you are about, who stands behind you, who influences you.  The last time I spoke with you out on the street at Grace you told me you didn’t have a church.  Is that still the case now?  Being a rogue, spiritual “lone gunman” is unbiblical.  John, Jude, and Peter all testified that we should be leery of those folks who have no church affiliation and claim to speak on the authority of the apostles, i.e. NT theology and doctrine.  Such people were to be turned away, for they are wolves seeking to destroy the church.  The fact that you are secretive and unwilling to tell me troubles me and causes me alarm for your soul.

*I know one person that told me The Guild and Foundry were PD left those ministries for that reason.  He liked Macarthur’s preaching though. *

(Fred) And that person is…?  Can you tell the person to email me and tell me their story?  Was that person an active member, or some guy coming around to a singles ministry?  Lots of people fit this category of liking John’s teaching but they get rubbed the wrong way and leave our church bitter.  Generally they come around for about 9 months to a year before they leave.  They generally get exposed later as being unsaved and have a whole heck of a lot more spiritual problems than what we were aware of at the time and the reason they leave is because their sin got stepped on.    Let me know if you can get me in touch with the person.

If you read the comments on the first link from Fred then I pray you noticed the deceitful tactics of Bob using aliases instead of his real name as he commented. I have had this happen on my blog as well. So, in their minds it is justifiable to be deceitful like that in a supposed Christian apologetic discussion? This is why many of us do not allow anonymous commenting. If you have to hide behind an alias then you are being a coward and are only bold when no one, supposedly, can connect the comment to you. Please…. In any case, I wanted to give Phil and Fred the credit they deserve in opening this up for me and now you to see how easy it is for a one-sided accusation to gain a foothold and cause all sorts of pain and grief even when the ones behind it are… Well, I pray you get my point. They also gave me permission to put their emails in this post.

My brethren, what have we learned from this? Do not idolize any man or created thing, including a ministry. There are wolves in sheep’s clothing everywhere and their ruler is cunning and full of deceit. If we are not prayerful and ready to do daily battle with the forces of darkness then we can easily fall into error by believing their lies and falling for their deceit.  Pray, pray, pray, and pray some more as you commit yourself to being that pilgrim who stays right in the middle of the narrow path by living in God’s Word. This path is the only one that leads to our true home with our Saviour for eternity.

Soli Deo Gloria!

by Mike Ratliff

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? “ (Matthew 10:24-25 ESV)

I began my series of six sessions of physical therapy today. This is to address some damage to my left shoulder because of the seizures I had in August and September. The therapist evaluated me today and told me that my right shoulder has some of the same damage, but not quite as severe. I had not told anyone about that pain because it was not as bad as that in my left shoulder. His discovery made me feel a whole lot better about submitting to his treatment.

When God saves a person, it is a resurrection from spiritual death to spiritual life. No matter how many years that person lives in this life after that, that condition will not change. However, all those whom God saves are left to deal with their flesh in a demon infested temporal place that He uses to purify and mold them unto the image of their Saviour. This process is dealt with all through the New Testament and is referred to as fiery trials or tests. The journey from that moment of spiritual rebirth to the Celestial City is a pilgrimage along a narrow way through these tests and trials. The way is not bereft of problems, false brethren, false teachers, false prophets, pressure to conform to this Vanity Fair, pressure to dilute the pure truth from God’s Word, pressure to fit in with this lost and dying world, et cetera. It can seem at times that we are about to be destroyed by the very things God is using to perfect us and ready us for our eternity with our Saviour forever. 

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39 ESV)

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 Peter 4:12-19 ESV)

If you have been following what has been going on here for the past few weeks then you know that it seems as if every part of the Church is under some form of attack. Through these unpleasant things I have tried to point each of you to the truth that we must not place our trust in mere men, no matter how great they are at preaching, teaching, or rightly dividing God’s Word for us. No, we must not put men on pedestals of idolatry. Eventually, cracks and inconsistencies will be found in them and their ministries because they are men not God. This is trying for us, especially if we tend to idolize them. In fact, what we must come to understand fully is that popularity with the world is not a sign that a ministry is on the right track, but, in fact, is the very opposite. The more a “Christian” leader is lauded by the world, the more we should be wary of him.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? “ (Matthew 10:24-25 ESV)

No one will dispute this statement, for it would be unseemly for the servant to be exalted above his Master. When our Lord was on earth, what was the treatment He received? Were His claims acknowledged, His instructions followed, His perfections worshipped, by those whom He came to bless? No; “He was despised and rejected of men.” Outside the camp was His place: cross-bearing was His occupation. Did the world yield Him solace and rest? “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” This inhospitable country afforded Him no shelter: it cast Him out and crucified Him. Such-if you are a follower of Jesus, and maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation-you must expect to be the lot of that part of your spiritual life which, in its outward development, comes under the observation of men. They will treat it as they treated the Saviour-they will despise it. Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards you. They prized not the polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough? “If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?” If we were more like Christ, we should be more hated by His enemies. It were a sad dishonour to a child of God to be the world’s favourite. It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout “Well done” to the Christian man. He may begin to look to his character, and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong, when the unrighteous give him their approbation. Let us be true to our Master, and have no friendship with a blind and base world which scorns and rejects Him. Far be it from us to seek a crown of honour where our Lord found a coronet of thorn. – C.H. Spurgeon – from Spurgeon’s Evening by Evening for November 10.

I have been in contact with some men from John MacArthur’s church over the last bit of unpleasantness. From them I have learned that even though their church is geared to minister to Christians, they still attract many unbelievers to hear John preach. In this, we should rejoice. However, they also have a continual stream of protesters picketing their church services complaining about all sorts of things. Some of the attacks get personal and with the help of technology, it is quite easy for some to attack their ministry via mass emails and web sites. Character assassination has never been easier. Even on my small scale, I have received my share of it. This is the reality of being an obedient servant of the living God in this lost and dying world. Our Lord made it clear that there will always be false prophets and religious leaders who are enemies of the truth. I would much rather debate an atheist than an apostate. The apostate believes that he or she is a holder of the pure truth, but what they have is a demented form of it that cannot stand up to scrutiny via Sacred Scripture. This is why they always decry our dependence upon Sola Scriptura. Instead, they claim to possess direct revelation from God.

One tactic is to misquote a Christian leader by taking what is said or written out of context or isolating it from the whole council of what the man teaches and preaches. These things are simply part of the fiery trials, the tests, which God is using to perfect His people to conform them unto the image of their Saviour. This is the Spiritual Therapy that all of us so desperately need.

My brethren, look not to men for your fulfillment. No, look to the Lord alone. Understand that there are evil people who hold to aberrant forms of “Christianity,” but are simply our enemy’s seed whose crop is tares. Some of them attack those who do nothing but teach the uncompromised truth. The closer a man of God gets to aligning his ministry to what God’s Word says and nothing more, the more he will be maligned by these pseudo-Christians. Let us not be surprised when this happens, but be ready to give an account to all who question us. The Holy Spirit will give us the words to say in the time of our trial. Worry not, for all truly in Christ are just one heartbeat away from being with their Saviour for eternity, which is far better than anything this world has to offer.

Soli Deo Gloria!