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The contemporary Church is A – Antinomian

  • 19 December 2023

Once again, this is a generalisation but any casual acquaintance with the Church’s teaching and popular ministry will readily confirm this judgment.  Antinomianism means against Law.  Contemporary churches shun greatly that form of Christianity that draws attention to rules, precepts and commandments.  In recent years I’ve heard a local Church leader say, “Christianity is not about rules, it’s about a relationship!”  This sort of sentiment represents push-back against a rather antiquated form of Christianity that prevailed perhaps quite a lot three or four generations ago when Church attendance was much more common, and Britain was widely reckoned to be a Christian nation. 

Alas, times have changed.  The modern evangelical speaks warmly and exuberantly of his ‘conversion experience’ – a time when he came to faith and was personally born again of the Holy Spirit.  His new dynamic ‘spiritual life’ represents a sort of upgrade to the engine of his soul.  Now, by virtue of his new unity with Christ he is able to overcome sinful temptations.  He is no longer living life according to an impersonal written code. Now he is free to walk in step with the Spirit, taking his lead more directly from that same Spirit who, he confidently affirms, lives within his heart. But such existential Christianity is wholly without Scriptural warrant!

Scripture teaches that constitutionally we are creatures; and as such we need the Creator’s instructions.  The psalmist writes, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth” (Ps 86:11).  Again, the Psalmist declares, “Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed, when I look into all Your commandments. I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments. I will keep Your statutes” (Ps 119:5-8).

Even before the Fall Adam and Eve were supplied formal instruction from God. The OT people of God came with fear and trembling to the foot of Sinai from where God spoke the Decalogue to Moses and inscribed it with His own finger on tablets of stone signifying their permanence.  It has often struck me that being ten in number made them perfectly suitable to be written upon the fingers of human hands as required by Moses (Deut 6:8).  On almost every page of OT history and/or prophecy there can be found both implicit or explicit references to the keeping or breaking of God’s commandments.  Why ever would any biblically literate Christian imagine that the Spirit filled life today can be lived out without careful consideration of what God’s various laws require?  The writer of Hebrews cites Ps 95 extensively in the opening chapters of his discourse.  The context concerns the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites.  Commissioned to enter Canaan under Joshua’s leadership the great majority, it seems, stubbornly refused to submit themselves to God’s commands and so died in the dessert.  It is noteworthy how the author of Hebrews references their unbelief: “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”  Notice that unbelief manifested itself as disobedience.  Wherefore, obedience was commended as a virtue.  And lest we imagine that was true back then but not for us today, we should recall St Paul’s warning that their pilgrimage from Egypt through the wilderness into Canaan was recorded in Scripture for our admonition (see 1Cor 10:11).

Several times in recent years I have been ridiculed and scorned by fellow Christians for referencing OT laws and commandments.  One friend is quick to remind me that there were six hundred and thirteen OT laws & commandments which today have been distilled down to just two: Love God & love your neighbour (Matt 22:36-40).  But all fair-minded theologians differentiate between (i) moral statutes and (ii) ceremonial precepts.  The former arises from the character and personality of God and are therefore immutable (i.e. not subject to alteration).  Why is it wrong to lie?  Because God is not a liar.  We are commanded to be holy even as God is holy.  We are obligated to speak the truth because God is the source of all truth (Jn 8:32; 14:6).  Why is it wrong to commit adultery?  Because God is faithful and true to His promises (see 2Cor 1:20).  The latter (ceremonial) laws arise from shadows and types of way in which Jesus, in the fulness of time through His death and resurrection, would secure our justification and salvation.  All such prescriptions are now obsolete and have passed away now that the flower and fruit of those shadows (priesthood, animal sacrifices, circumcision, etc) have been realised in Christ. (See Heb 8-10; Gal 3:23-25).  My friend, like so many contemporary Christians conflate these different classes of commandments.  Paul could not have been clearer: “Circumcision is nothing,…. what matters is keeping God’s commandments” (1Cor 7:19). 

You see, it is not the Law(s) per se that are our problem, rather it is our sin.  The various moral laws we encounter throughout Scripture represent a kind of yard-stick by which we might measure as it were our fidelity to Christ.  Legalists tend to exalt the external features of God’s laws and inevitably fall prey to the error of seeking justification before God via law-keeping. Such was the folly of the Pharisees and also that group within the First century Church identified as the ‘Circumcision’ (see Gal 2:12,13).  But authentic spirituality involves heart obedience.  It goes beyond mere external compliance and requires a submissive/perfect attitude of the heart (see Matt 5:20-28 & Rom 7:7-10).  Notice that three times in Romans 7, Paul esteems the (moral) Law of God most highly, saying, “…therefore the Law is holy, and the commandment holy, just and good” (Rom 7:12).

Lawlessness is the tacit ambition of antinomians.  But nowhere in Scripture is lawlessness presented as something positive.  Indeed, sin is defined in Scripture as lawlessness (see 1Jn 3:4).  By contrast, Jesus asked, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?’ (Luke 6:46).  And again, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (Jn 14:21).

Alas, today there is a general tendency to contrast law and gospel in many Churches.  Some of this can be traced back to a false dichotomy promoted by Luther in the 16th century. But much more of this fault arises from the pernicious influence of dispensationalism which has sadly eroded doctrinal Christianity.  This will not be our only occasion to decry that form of Christianity bequeathed to us by JN Darby, the Schofield Bible and Brethrenism.  Their tragic impact among Church leaders has been devastating. We desperately need to return to a fully reformed and covenantal understanding of Scripture.  Simply put, that entails recognising that God has progressively disclosed the terms of our redemption via the great covenant of grace – a single unifying understanding of (i) who God is and (ii) how we are to participate in His redemptive kingdom through Jesus, etc.  This was the message of Genesis 3:15 and is climactically celebrated throughout the sixty-six books of Scripture ending in St John’s Revelation.  It is the glue that holds together every page of Holy writ. Tragically, it is widely misunderstood and widely scorned.  May God open the eyes of all His children and show them ‘the secret of His covenant’ (Ps 25:14). 

The contemporary Church is B – Baptistic

  • 19 December 2023

Authentic religion manifests as a comprehensive way of life.  Every thought, stimulating every practical expression of life in sacrificial service of our king, must be brought into conscious subjection to Jesus Christ.  Thus, Paul affirms, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2Cor 10:3-5).  Notice from this text that authentic (Biblical) Christianity involves mental warfare.  The battle we are involved in is sees its goal in overturning every human enterprise so that, instead of its motivation being the glory of autonomous man, it is transformed by the sanctifying light of God’s word into a work of heavenly reconstruction.  The Saviour’s great commission was that His Church might ‘disciple the nations’ (Matt 28:18) which involves rebuilding Christian civilisation from the ruins of man’s Fall in Eden.  Be in no doubt, God’s great purpose in history is to sanctify His creation and to unite heaven and earth in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:9,10). 

Individualism
Baptistic theology necessarily minimises this purview.  In its place, it posits Christ’s mission as the mere salvation of souls.  Individualism and presumptionism are the inevitable results.  Individualism marks the spirit of the age.  Alas, in an attempt to diminish people’s reliance on a nanny state, even Margaret Thatcher dared to undermine the essential nature of wider society.  Today, our communities are more fragmented than ever.  Subtly, over decades the focus has moved from families and holistic-communal identity to personal individualism.  Within the Church sphere perennial stress is placed upon the individual’s response to ‘the gospel’.  Has he/she made a ‘decision for Christ?’  Do they have a credible ‘personal testimony?’  The great transaction urged upon attendees at the Church meeting, almost weekly, is to put one’s own personal trust and faith in Jesus.  Having ‘become a Christian’ the great majority of fellow believers suppose that the individual has been born again (regenerated) by the Holy Spirit.  To celebrate the passing of this miracle, the individual is publicly baptised – normally by full immersion – to signify death to the old way of life & resurrection to the newness of life in the Spirit. 

I want to emphasise this point: almost EVERYTHING preached, practiced, petitioned for, sung and celebrated has this central goal in mind.  The preaching almost exclusively runs with this purpose.  The exegesis of any/every passage is made to comport with this perspective.  As a result, the application of Biblical principles (God’s Law) to a whole range of human activities (leisure, banking, science, history, metaphysics, etc) is tacitly overlooked.  ‘Just preach the Gospel’ we are scornfully admonished when such supplementary considerations are raised.  ‘Keep the main thing the main thing’ we are told; all other matters become comparatively peripheral.  Even raising them can be regarded as divisive!

Visible & Invisible Church
But there is a supplementary failing: baptism itself is comprehended as a celebration of the regeneration of the soul.  Consequently, the important theological distinction between the visible Church and the invisible Church is lost.  Baptism is an ordinance which scripturally denotes the entry of an individual into the visible Church.  Regeneration is a secret, sovereign work of the Holy Spirit.  We are not privy to where and how the wind blows.  God tells us plainly in John 1, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (vs 12,13).”  Baptists like the first part which emphasises personal choice: i.e. they ‘received Christ’, etc.  But the more precise presbyterian notices, in the closing clauses, that the choice itself is mysteriously a sovereign work of God.  In recognition of this great truth the great creeds & confessions of reformed antiquity differentiated between (i) the secret (unfathomable) work of God in regeneration and (ii) the more formal transaction undertaken when receiving someone into the local church gathering.  The former is referenced by Christ in His exchange with Nicodemus (Jn 3) and is alluded to in verses such as Deut 29:29 – “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”  Concerning the former, only the born-again believer knows whether God’s saving grace has been trusted and properly embraced.  We may/must judge charitably when confronted with others’ profession of Christ, but we simply cannot know for sure who is or isn’t an authentic sheep.  Jesus warned us several times that the same outward appearance (e.g. virgins with lamps or seeds sown in the soil) might ultimately give rise to faithful devoted service of Christ or else to the realisation that, like Judas Iscariot, heaven’s door itself was kissed but never finally passed through. 

The baptistic mindset presumes to know who is regenerate and who isn’t.  In doing so it trespasses on the sovereign providence of God.  And in making its concern perennially the determination of God’s secret counsel it is distracted from other more honourable concerns.  It is indeed one of the subtlest forms of idolatry Satan has ever inspired.  King Solomon warned against seeking to comprehend the secret counsel of God (see Eccl 9:1-2; 11-12; 11:5-6)

Solomon’s conclusion was sound: since we do not and cannot know God’s purposes for particular individuals we must ‘cast our bread upon the waters’ (11:1) and ‘fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of all mankind’ (12:13).  We must grant God His prerogative of bringing ‘every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil’ (12:14).  What does this entail?  It involves searching Scripture to ascertain what constitutes our various duties.  And herein lies the honourable goal of a lifetime of study!

‘But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you’ (Matt 6:33)

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:9,10).

The Contemporary Church is C – Church Centred

  • 19 December 2023

Of all the errors modern evangelicals indulge this is the subtlest.  Word associations often expose the contours of our thinking.  For example: ‘fish’… think chips; ‘salt’… think pepper; ‘bread’… think butter, etc.  For most Christians ‘Christianity’ evokes the concept of ‘Church’.  I’ve noticed that conversations between newly acquainted Christians quickly focuses on their respective Churches and their roles in those Churches, etc.  I’d venture to suggest that most Christians tend to equate their own (and generally others too) love for Jesus with their attendance/involvement in a particular local assembly.

This contemporary error is subtle.  And Satan has used it most effectively to keep our focus away from where it ought to be. This indictment is therefore that evangelicals are guilty of ‘ecclesiolatry’ – i.e. a misplaced exaltation of the local Church.  What should be foremost in our thinking and strategic deliberations is the extension of God’s kingdom on Earth (Matt 6:10) and the augmentation of ‘the crown rights of Christ’ (Matt 6:33) throughout the culture (Matt 28:18).  But the average church attending Christian has lost sight of what Scripture plainly teaches on this front.  Why?  Because the incumbent ‘minister’ is busy thoughtlessly following the masses. 

Consider with me carefully:

  1. Is Scripture mostly about Church meetings?
  2. What is the central narrative in Scripture?
  3. Does Scripture warn about the ‘established (Christian) religious leadership’ becoming corrupt?
  4. Are there passages that caution us against allying ourselves with the ‘mainstream’ Church(es)? Are there passages urging us to adopt a healthy degree of cynicism towards them?
  5. What’s the cure?

One, no it isn’t!  This much should be obvious.  As obvious, however, is the observation that generally, prevailing Christianity finds expression on Sunday mornings between around 10.30am and 12.00 mid-day followed by informal refreshments, etc.  The outworking of it tends to result in ‘nice social activities’ among (generally) ‘very nice people’ with (if you’re lucky) an opening/ closing token prayer.  As a corollary: Biblical literacy is almost non-existent.  Why? Because so much of it seems irrelevant to how regular ‘Church’ services are conducted, etc. 

Two, the central narrative in Scripture is ‘The Empire (God’s kingdom) Strikes Back.’ It begins with the Fall of Man & the Earth in Genesis, climaxes with the advent of Christ – the Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15) – and culminates in the reversal of Eden’s curse, the resurrection of the dead and the total physical renewal of the Earth (1Cor 15).  Redemption occurs in history gradually & progressively like the deepening of Ezekiel’s stream/river (Ch 47) sending forth healing fruits for the nations (Ez 47:7-12; Rev 22:2).  Christ achieves this via (i) the establishment of a people (Abraham à Moses) (ii) furnishing them with moral precepts all with a view of building a godly commonwealth/nation to serve as an example all civilisations under heaven (Deut 4:5-8) (iii) the rehearsal of ceremonial Law to portray via shadows/types the actual redemptive work of Christ via His death/resurrection, etc (Heb 9) (iv) example after example after example of how God’s management of history (i.e. providence) works via covenant – i.e. faithfulness leading to future blessings and disobedience leading to future curses (Deut 28) and this applicable to the three spheres of God’s kingdom jurisdiction: Family, Church and State.  Think of how much time & space is given over to the history of Israel, the rise of faithful kings & dynasties and the corresponding demise of faithless/rebellious individuals, families, kingdoms, etc.

Three, yes it does!  Most notably, God often raised up a solitary individual (e.g. Gideon, Daniel, Josiah, etc) to muster a small remnant of faithful saints by whom the compromised, rebellious masses might be reproved.  So dead/formal was the ‘Church’ in the fulness of time that God bypassed it, sending news of Messiah’s incarnation primarily to shepherds on the hillsides (Lk 2:8-12) and Gentile magi from foreign lands (Matt 2:1-2)!  Was the Jewish religious establishment welcoming to Jesus? Not at all.  The temple priests, Scribes & Pharisees opposed Him vehemently (see Jn 1:11; Jn 10:31-33) provoking Jesus’ most vitriolic indictment of them in Matt 23.  The Bible’s narrative depicts the OT Church ‘divorced’ for its persistent covenant faithlessness (portrayed as adultery) culminating in its destruction in AD70 and its replacement by the NT Church (Ep 2:11ff).  Alas, for the greater part of the past 2000 years, the formal leadership of the Christian Church has suffered from profound internal corruption – even outlawing the possession of Scripture by the ‘laity’ as recently as 1229AD!

Four, several! The argument throughout Hebrews 2-4 expounding Ps 95 is perhaps central. But notice (i) also that Jesus anticipates thieves, robbers, strangers, hirelings and wolves (in sheep’s clothing) assaulting his sheep over the course of time (Jn 10:1-13); (ii) that Jesus’ true followers identify strongly with the disgrace Jesus bore suffering publicly outside the camp (Heb 13:12-14); that false religion would prevail throughout history potentially deceiving the Elect (Matt 24 & Rev 18&19)

Five, this is the cure! Beware making your formal attachment to any visible Church more important than your spiritual connection to Christ (2Cor 6:17).  Few have the courage of John Tyndale or George Wishart.  Fewer still can stand alone, like Luther or Athanasius, against the Behemoth of falsehood.  Some are inclined to search out sanctuary in less hostile climes like John Wycliffe or Desiderius Erasmus.  But all of us must endeavour to make Scripture alone the bulwark of our worldview and, in doing so, to align ourselves exclusively with others who plainly do likewise.

Unhappily, as an addendum, I’ve noticed that local tyrannies tend to manifest themselves as ‘mini-empires’ run by those (often just one person) in formal leadership. Over the course of time, internal political wranglings become apparent and genuine servant-hearted shepherding is replaced by heavy-handed control undertaken by individuals who prove to be wolves in sheep’s clothing (see Jn 10:1-13; Acts 20:29-31).  Hence, today we are confronted with much the same false magisterium as our Reformation forbears came up against.  Back then, the divide was more plainly human autonomy versus sola Scriptura.  Alas, today the protestant popes are more persuasively disguised and have learned to usurp Christ’s rule in His Church by a sophistry too subtle for most. 

The contemporary Church is D – Divided

  • 19 December 2023

This indictment requires some careful thought.  Let me explain.  For about a thousand years, until the Great Schism – 1054AD, the Church was formally united notwithstanding many controversies/heresies which arose (e.g. Donatism, Pelagianism, Gnosticism, Nestorianism & Marcionism, to name but a few).  Those controversies were recognised as an attack on the Church’s unity and so gave rise to various councils (e.g. Jerusalem – Acts 15) and confessions (e.g. Chalcedon – AD 451) which sought to establish what was formally (i.e. officially) true.  On one famous occasion the great majority of Church leaders collectively withstood a single dissenting voice.  Athanasius stood his ground when challenged that the whole world was against him declaring, ‘Athanasius contra mundem!’ The issue back then was the divinity of Christ.  In recognition of Athanasius’ precision in formulating true (Biblical) doctrine the Churches began rehearsing credal statements, e.g. “We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.” (Nicean Creed)

Why was formal unity important?  Because, simply, God is one.  Truth is necessarily a unit because there is but ONE God.  Truth corresponds to what God Himself comprehends.  And, although human (i.e. creaturely) knowledge can only ever, at best, be an analogue of God’s knowledge as Creator, yet metaphysically there can only be one version of ‘Truth’.  We must remember Christ’s prayer: ‘that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me’ (Jn 17:21-23).

Thus the one true, living God has manifested Himself perfectly in (i) Christ and (ii) in the Scriptures.  Few quibble with the first of these but alas, many scholars hold to a low view of Scripture and so settle for a compromised view of the latter.  The psalmist declared, ‘I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your Name’ (Ps 138:2).  Scripture is the foundation of our epistemology – i.e. how we know.  We confidently hear the Father’s voice speaking to us (Jn 10:4) in its pages as the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13).  The ultimate authority for Christians is not a humanistic brotherhood of men – e.g. the Vatican, Papacy, or some other ecclesiastical magisterium – but rather God Himself speaking to us authoritatively from the Scriptures.  Hence the great clarion call of the Reformation – SOLA SCRIPTURA!  Moreover, the Scriptures are self-attesting.  They need no other (higher) sanction than themselves.  And here’s the point: therefore, we can infer that there will be no contradictions found within Scripture for God’s united, harmonious and perfect mind is expressed within them. 

Scriptural Perspicuity

Let’s restate that conclusion clearly, there cannot exist two different alternative interpretations of God’s Word!  Go ahead, read that last sentence again and again until it sinks in! Alas, many today think that the prevalence of multiple different expressions (i.e. interpretations) of Biblical teaching signifies that God has not made His mind clear and that the Scriptures are inherently without perspicuity.  But this is not so.  For the greater part of the past two thousand years the objectivity of religious truth has been taken for granted.  Only relatively recently have pluralism and relativism gained a measure of unwarranted acceptance.  Within academia, Postmodernism today rules the discourse.  Accordingly, every reading of any/every text is necessarily a misreading.  Alas, the same sort of woolly thinking has crept into the Churches and its theological training colleges.  It is common today to hear folk say ‘it’s true for you, but not true for me’.  But like mathematical truth (e.g. 2+2 = 4) theological truth is universal, absolute & objective!  God has given us a perfect instantiation of His mind in Scripture (see Ps 12:6).  So, when rightly divided (2Tim 2:15), it is internally harmonious and consistent with itself.  Again, by way of conclusion: no part of Scripture may contradict any other part of Scripture (see 2Cor 1:18). 

But it’s very tempting to think otherwise!  Doing so allows Christians to maintain fellowship with those who arrive at a spectrum of convictions on a host of doctrines. [Several of my dear (Christian) friends will not countenance a careful study of eschatology because they are aware that various evangelical leaders have come to a range of different opinions – premillennial, amillenial & postmillennial, etc.]  But such thinking is carnal and betrays the high calling of St Paul in 1Corinthians to avoid sectarianism and divisions by following men (see 2:5-16; 3:3-4).  Rather, we are to heed Paul’s instruction to the Ephesian Church – i.e. ‘to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.’ 

In verses 11-12 of that same chapter, Paul explains that Jesus would accomplish this formal unity down through time through various gifted individuals (apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers & evangelists) who, by God’s superintending providence would ‘edify the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting’ (4:12-15).  This accounts then for great doctrinal formulations embraced by large constituencies of protestants over centuries such as the Apostles’ Creed (4th century) Belgic Confession (1561); the Savoy Declaration (1658); the Westminster Confession (1646) &tc. 

None of these were crafted as final absolute expressions of orthodoxy but contained an acknowledgment that they were at best provisional pending further light & improvement by future generations of faithful scholars.  A supplementary refrain of the reformers was ‘semper reformata’ (always reforming).  Summarising: authentic Christianity aspires for principled ecumenism and laments the prevailing status quo of factious sectarianism. 

The Contemporary Church is E – Escapist

  • 19 December 2023

As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man (Pr 27:19)

At the time of writing, we have just lived through three years of global tyranny which has laid bare deep-rooted corruption in most/all branches of the ‘establishment.’  Alas, the propaganda and lies of Big Gov’t and mainstream media during the so called ‘pandemic’ have been all but winked at by the Christian Church which has been too easily deceived (Matt 24:24) and readily bewitched (Gal 3:1) unlike the men of Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel ought to do (1Chron 12:32).

Happily, God quickly drew me into the fellowship of a community of ‘awake’ brothers and sisters out there who were at least discerning enough to comprehend the mass formation psychosis being rolled out.  But it quickly began to feel like I’d been rescued from the frying pan only to tumble into the waiting fire!  Why?  Because the great majority of my new acquaintances had pseudo-Christian worldview spectacles cemented onto their heads which had been there for decades.  The central falsehood of their eschatological paradigm was ‘the rapture’ which they collectively assumed was now imminently approaching.  Thankfully, having researched Dispensationalism years ago, I was prepared. 

But I was yet to learn Greg Bahnsen’s important lesson: ‘Some bears need more than one bullet before they lay down and die.’  The tenacity with which folk hold onto faulty doctrines is nowhere more apparent than with the (evangelical) Church’s alliance with this school of thought which arose around two hundred years ago from the pen of JN Darby (Plymouth Brethren) and which was then popularised over future generations by the Schofield Reference Bible. Dallas Theological Seminary, Tim Lahaye, Hal Lindsay and many others continued to promote such Christian ‘Zionism’ refusing to see that in Scripture (i) the NT Church effectively replaces OT Israel (see Eph 2:11-21 & Rom 11); (ii) the OT is Christian not Jewish!; (iii) there is but ONE Covenant of Grace progressively revealed and consistently exhibited throughout redemptive history; (iv) the victory of Christ is now being progressively advanced throughout the cosmos and (v) resurrection on a renewed Earth is the climax in view not an immaterial Heaven in the clouds!

Central to the faulty – but astoundingly popular – Premillennialism is the Secret Rapture theory.  Accordingly, during an alleged future epoch of Great Tribulation, faithful Christians will be ‘helicoptered out’ of the burning wreckage of rebellious creaturely culture and ushered into Heaven by an invisible partial return of Jesus.  Thereafter, several years of worsening chaos will ensue during which God’s redemptive focus will return, from the Church) to the nation of Israel.  A third Temple will be rebuilt in which priestly ceremonies and animal sacrifices will recommence climaxing in the rise of Antichrist – a religious/political figure feigning to effect salvation for the whole world.  Various candidates have been mooted over the years: Pope, Napoleon, Trump, Putin, Hitler, etc, etc!

How prolific is all of this ‘out there?’  Try googling any aspect of it! Try pursuing your own enquiry online.  Ask Alexa about the Second Coming of Christ; ask Siri whether the Rapture will be (a) pre-tribulation, (b) mid-tribulation, (c) post-tribulation, etc. With this issue, the Devil isn’t so much in the details but rather, like the trees, tends to obscure the wood!  Painful experience over three years of vigorous Zoom meetings, Telegram chatter and engagement on social media has proven that this hot topic is a favourite among ‘Bible-believers’ notwithstanding thorough & exhaustive efforts made by opponents to refute it – see for example Robert Reymond’s excellent work ‘Ninety-Five Theses Against Dispensationalism’ or Brian Schwertley’s excellent monograph ‘The Premillennial Deception: Chiliasm Examined in the Light of Scripture.’ 

But the main point to make here is this: that all of this has fomented a posture of Escapism among evangelicals.  Since, they say, (a) the kingdom of God is only to be realised in some distant future and therefore (b) since the nations of the world will persist in seeking to build Babylon (i.e., a humanistic empire) the only logical response of the Christian Church is

  • Batten down the hatches & wait for the storm to pass
  • Preach a limited ‘Gospel’ of personal/soul salvation
  • Avoid engagement with the culture/politics

…all of which can be summarised as ‘Don’t polish brass on a sinking ship.’  And to underscore the point, they love to rehearse with us their favourite text: Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (Jn 18:36)

Now, notwithstanding the incongruous thinking of a few, many premillenarians do seek to ameliorate the culture, recognising that they are commanded to do so (Matt 5:13-16).  But, the more obvious conclusion to be drawn is, ‘Why bother?’  And so the great constituency of believers – called to be salt and light in their generations – sits back and allows that proverb to be fulfilled: ‘all that’s needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.’ 

I must close.  RJ Rushdoony encountered this ‘Christian Escapism’ a great deal during the course of his ministry.  He would listen patiently to the appeal of wannabee escapees before replying, ‘I have just one objection to your Rapture theory – it’s not in the Bible.’  [You may laugh; I did!]  To conclude, let me briefly explain the enigma of its origin/popularity.  First, it’s necessary to point out that many (most?) NT passages referencing the ‘coming of the Lord’ were fulfilled in AD70 – the Destruction of Jerusalem.  This significant historical event is in view in much of Jesus’ teaching (e.g. Matt 24; Mark 13; Luke 19, etc.).  Alas, it is greatly overlooked today.  The two principal passages used as ‘proof texts’ in support of a secret rapture are 1Thess 4:13-18 and 1Cor 15:51-52.  Both passages describe the final event of history – the second coming of Christ.  In 1Cor 15, the crucial verses are these,

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (vs 24-26)

St Paul is expounding Ps 110 and explains that (i) Christ is NOW reigning, (ii) all things (His enemies) are being gradually subdued according to Matt 28:18 & 2Cor 10:5 therefore (iii) we may expect to see the steady growth (three steps forwards, two steps backwards, etc) throughout history until only one enemy remains – death itself! (iv) Finally, perhaps hundreds of years hence the whole earth will be ready to receive its king.  Resurrection, rapture, and return will then occur sequentially in the blink of an eye.  Hallelujah!

The contemporary Church is Feelings-Focused

  • 17 December 2023

By this I mean its orientation is constrained primarily by feelings rather than by obedience to God’s Word.  We are, of course, constitutionally created with emotional faculties.  It is right and proper that our affections are exercised devotionally.  The eighteenth-century theologian of revival Jonathan Edwards composed an epic dissertation proving extensively that true religion stirs ‘Religious Affections’ in the hearts of true Christians.  I am certainly not, therefore, seeking to pit faith against feelings.  That would be a false dichotomy.  The Scriptures bristle with emotive language.  The psalmist declares: ‘Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Ps 34:8); again, ‘Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart’ (Ps 37:4).  Our most greatest cultural stories played out in novels, dramas and operas, etc, are narratives of human love and affection.  Unsurprisingly, the Word of God portrays the same profound mystery with – at times awkward graphic detail – see the Song of Songs!  Let’s not be in any doubt: God delights in a great love story.  Indeed, the history of redemption has been whimsically summarised as ‘slay the dragon; capture the woman!’

But, returning to my basic criticism: I say that sentimentalism has subtly supplanted obedience.  Where the contemporary evangelical has erred (again generally!) is by capitulating to the belief that we may be safely led along in our respective pilgrimages ‘listening only to my heart’ (Bob Dylan).  As with most errors, this problem arises when something good which God created is unduly elevated and given an unwarranted priority.  CS Lewis, what we need to embrace are ‘ordinate affections.’ But that entails knowing what must properly rule and govern them.  An astute reader will not be surprised to discover that the answer lies in the Scriptures.  It is God’s Law – His rules & precepts – which must furnish our hearts and minds with right attitudes and convictions that give our hearts the liberty to be exercised in full accordance with our Maker’s instructions.  We dare not allow the bare impulse of our hearts constrain our thoughts and actions, for God has said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer 17:9). 

Right feelings cannot exist apart from right knowledge and right understanding. Through excessive tender-heartedness we have embraced the zeitgeist of 21st century academia believing that the pure, true doctrine of Scripture must give way to what Karl Barth termed an ‘experience of the living Christ’.  Van Til spent much time and effort seeking to expose this subtle shift of emphasis in Barth’s writings but sadly Barthianism continues to exert a strong influence among evangelical leaders and his existential motifs have effectively driven a wedge between imagined separate domains of heart and mind. 

It is not uncommon therefore today to hear advocates of true doctrine disparaged as those who, ‘like the Pharisees of old’ merely seek to “dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’.”  They are to be especially indicted for ‘upsetting the feelings of others.’  But nowhere in Scripture is this sort of muddled thinking sanctioned.  Rather, everywhere the primary concern is whether God’s word – His Laws and commandments – are being honoured. 

We must enumerate a few concrete examples:

  • I am sometimes chided for speaking with an unduly ‘aggressive or impassioned’ tone. ‘It’s not WHAT you say that offends, but rather the TONE with which you say it,’ I am reprimanded. ‘Character first!’ I am told is what I need to consider.  Undoubtedly, gentleness and respect ought to characterise our general modus operandi (1Pet 3:15) but there are situations (and perhaps even persons) that warrant even anger and hatred (see Ps 139: 19-22; Rom 12:9; Gal 5:12). 
  • We are undoubtedly tempted to ‘keep the peace’ and desist from expressing the exclusive crown rights of Christ when in the company of folk of different faiths.  Relativism and multiculturalism pervade the cultural air we breathe.  All religions must be tolerated and portrayed with deferential legitimacy.  We are castigated as mean-spirited, unkind, intolerant bigots for defending religious objectivity.  We are urged to be more magnanimous, more generous spirited, more loving.  In short, we will be challenged to follow our heart rather than our mind.
  • We may be cautioned for talking freely in the presence of unbelievers about Biblical truth.  “Don’t talk about……; they may be unbelievers!”  Once again, the implicit charge is that we are being thoughtless or unfeeling towards those who don’t share our outlook.  But the boot is really on the other foot!  Our antagonists are actually ashamed of God’s truth – and unable to defend it.  There is an inevitable clash of worldview whenever we engage with covenant breakers.  But we need not hide our light under a bushel; we must not allow our salt to lose its saltiness (Matt 5:13)! 
  • But perhaps the most pertinent example of sentimentalism prevails when discussion is raised about the proper duties of the civil magistrate.  The Bible is unequivocal regarding capital punishment.  Rutherford’s 17th century treatise ‘Lex Rex’ has been summarised as ‘that is a crime which God says is a crime & that is the due penalty for a crime that God says is the due penalty for a crime.’  Such considerations are not arbitrary but arise from the ethical standards of God’s ancient Law which itself was an expression of God’s own character – His holiness and justice.  But contemporary evangelicalism would seek to distance itself from such fidelity.  Knowing the emotional reaction that would be triggered by any expression of solidarity with God’s estimations of civic good/evil, it hides behind a barricade of obfuscation and pseudo-dispensationalism.  God’s indictment of such an attitude is forthright:
    “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Is 5:20-21)
  • Finally, the contemporary Churches exhibit idolatrous sentimentalism in their worship services where expressions of personal feelings and emotionality dominate their songs and ceremonies.  We desperately need to rediscover the Psalms – God’s own Book of Praises sung ubiquitously throughout two centuries after the Reformation across Europe.  May God restore us to authentic spiritual worship constrained by His law-Word.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief. (Prov 14:12-13)

The Contemporary Church is Gnostic

  • 17 December 2023

This complaint is metaphysical not epistemological.  Ancient Gnosticsran with at least two emphases: first, that the material aspect of creation is spiritually subordinate to the invisible, non-tangible elements; second, that secret knowledge is to be acquired in order to properly comprehend ‘spiritual matters.’ My concern here is with the former – i.e., that spiritual mastery involves transcending earth’s physical theatre and focusing one’s gaze upon an unseen ‘spiritual’ realm – the imagined locus of God’s kingdom. 

How and why this heresy arose is beyond the scope of this short article.  I merely want to t delineate the characteristics of this ‘Gnostic’ way of thinking and, by way of contrast, celebrate what the Bible actually teaches.  Let me then describe how such neo-Gnosticism manifests itself:

  • There is a strong tendency to reckon certain activities ‘spiritual’ in contrast to those exercises that are essentially ethically neutral.  Accordingly, religious sentiments arise from devotional pursuits such as Church attendance, Bible reading, hymn singing, fellowship/communion around the Lord’s Supper, evangelism, etc.  Very commonly, either explicitly or implicitly, those whose vocations involve Church leadership or foreign mission are thought to be especially sanctified and their day-to-day labours are considered particularly sacred.  By contrast, plumbers, carpenters, wine merchants, etc,. are SUBTLY made to feel like second class citizens in God’s kingdom. 
  • There is a tendency to play down the importance of politics or any other culturally enriching art or pursuit such as music, literature, history, horticulture, etc.  Why?  Because this physical world is destined to burn (see 2Pet 3:10-13).  Christ’s kingdom, we are told, is essentially found exclusively within the Church and Church business.  Matters of state, matters of civic order and public justice are downgraded as part of the natural order which are considered separate to Jesus’ jurisdiction.  Many Christians disdain political conversation (and even more its activity!) presuming that it represents a display of ‘worldliness’.  Jesus said, after all, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (Jn 18:36). 
  • Accordingly, there is a notable tendency to avoid political discourse or indeed any subject that might not be obviously addressed by the Scriptures.  Preaching tends to be ‘gospel-centred’ which comes to mean that most messages tend to conclude with a ‘gospel call’ urging the hearers to question again their personal allegiance to Jesus and, if necessary, pray again the sinner’s prayer and put their trust in God.  Soul salvation tends to be the primary concern.  Salvation is reduced to a ‘fire and life insurance policy’ providing those who respond with confidence and assurance that, cometh the day of death/judgement, they will spend eternity in God’s heaven.

But all of this is a significant distortion of the Bible’s presentation of metaphysical reality.  I must necessarily be brief in outlining what Scripture actually teaches.  Here goes:

  • God made the world and the universe.  He made it good!  Before the Fall it was declared to be ‘very good!’  The whole of Scripture depicts the Earth as the theatre of redemption.  The psalmist declares, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters’ (24:1).  The Bible tells us that the wicked will be (gradually) removed from the Earth (Ps 37:9) to make way for God’s new humanity – redeemed in Christ.  For ‘the meek shall inherit the Earth’ (Matt 5:5).
  • Sin, not the material of creation, is our enemy.  Sin presently keeps us from perceiving God’s creation as we ought.  Were our minds ablaze with God’s Spirit our eyes would recognize the amazing intricacies and astonishing beauty of God’s handiwork.  Isaiah was briefly enlightened to see it properly; he declared, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’ (Is 6:3).  The Earth is today a sort of magnificent wreck – spoilt by sin – but yet, whilst presently firing on just three cylinders, it sports a loud and persistent song of triumph to its Maker whose wisdom, power and love are manifest in every atom (see Ps 139:13-15; Prov 20:12).
  • This Earth is destined to be filled up again (i.e. renewed) with heavenly glory (see Hab 2:14; Is 11;9).  Our posterity is destined to see the reunion of ‘heaven and earth’ (Eph 1:10) – a renewed physical landscape over which Christ reigns and rules resurrected physical bodies which will die no more! (see 1Cor 15).  Realising all of this, Martin Luther, when asked what he’d do if he knew Jesus would return tomorrow, famously replied, “I’d plant a tree!”
  • Nearly done.  How very different authentic Biblical spirituality looks like!  Accordingly, the sanctified, tuned in, Christian who’s learnt to walk humbly before God savours each fleeting moment of his life.  The very pulse of life animating his body is perceived as a miracle of God’s kindness and providence; he seeks to notice details in all of God’s exquisite handiwork (not evolutionism!) – the appeal of freshly cooked fish and chips, the scent of ground coffee, the invigorating taste of honey (see Pr 24:13!); the birth of a grandson, the beauty of a bike ride, etc,. – for, ‘sky above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green, something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen.’ For this reason, regular Christians are the most joyous and happiest people in the world.  They see more clearly, as each day passes, the unfolding providence of God subduing His enemies, sending forth His truth and light transforming everything (Ps 110:1).  They know in their hearts, ‘sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps 30:5)’ 
  • God has not given up on His creation.  His true saints are servant-hearted seeking to bring every thought captive to Christ, thereby fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission here on planet earth.  Politics, science, medicine, agriculture, astronomy, economics, etc,. will yet ALL become centred upon Christ.  They are not ‘religiously neutral’ activities; rather they represent wholesome, good works in need of sanctification by God’s truth (Jn 17:17).  For ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work’ (2Tim 3:16).
  • Authentic spirituality celebrates divinely ordained hedonism in Christ (1Tim 6:17)!

The Contemporary Church is H – Hopeless (i.e. Pessimistic)

  • 17 December 2023

Of all these indictments, this one is the most obvious.  Any familiarity with the Scriptures ought to convince a fair-minded reader that God is sovereign in His creation and will not suffer the outcome of history to be marked by defeat.  The entire redemptive narrative is charged with an optimistic anticipation of Christ’s victory in time (i.e. in history).  In Genesis 3:15, God declares, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”  Accordingly, one has summarised the overall story: ‘slay the dragon; rescue/marry the woman!’ 

Alas, hordes of evangelicals, being ignorant of Scripture and of history, do not embrace this paradigm.  Instead, their leaders invent two fictions: (i) that theology must be undertaken in the light of contemporary newspaper headlines and (ii) that God’s kingdom is ethereal – it exists in some unearthly parallel dimension which they deem ‘spiritual’.  This latter folly provides them all the justification they need to embrace the cultural irrelevancy that Churchianity has capitulated to.  But it was not always so!  Even in New Testament times, the reality of apostolic Christianity was decried because “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too and are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus” (Acts 17:6,7). 

Today, sermon after sermon preached from the pulpits of our land rehearse Jesus’ words, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (Jn 18:36) by which they intimate that spiritually minded Christians ought not to get themselves entangled in the fleeting business of politics or any project whose goal targets cultural improvement.  Cultural redemption is deemed heresy; in its place the focus is decidedly simplified and reduced – we must get folks to make a personal commitment to Christ and join our Church.  After all, the planet is destined to melt with fire (2Pet 3:12&13) to make way for ‘new heavens and a new earth’.  Rushdoony put his finger on the problem noticing that modern evangelicalism – even three decades ago – had reduced the Gospel to a ‘fire and life insurance policy’ supplying its recipients with reassurance that their souls at last would enter heaven.  ‘Don’t polish brass on a sinking ship’ has been the rallying cry ever since! 

There are various reasons for such cultural retreatism. What is important to note is its prevalence among Church attendees.  Why have they settled for such hopelessness?  Why have they limited the scope of Christ’s victory to the rescuing of a few souls here and there?

The explanation involves the sinister influence (i) of ‘Pessimillennialism’ (both its pre-mil & a-mil variants) (ii) two kingdoms theology (2KT) and (iii) ignorance of Scripture/history.  For almost two centuries dispensational teaching has plagued the western Churches teaching us that this current ‘Church-age’ is parenthetical to God’s primary ambition to exalt the nation of Israel – once the remnant Church has been ‘raptured’ out of the way!  Accordingly, we must await the rise of antichrist (Putin/Trump, etc?), the darkening days of Great Tribulation and, most sinister of all, the imminent delivery of a knock-out blow issued by a returning Jesus from the clouds with legions of helicopters to sky-lift the faithful hangers-on to heaven.  Such a paradigm positively revels in the augmentation of evil in society.  Why?  It signals the end of our misery and despair!

The Remedy

Authentic Christianity is much different!  Ps 110, the most cited psalm in the NT is typical of many similar passages where God’s promise of victory is spelled out.  The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!” St Paul expounds these verses in 1Cor 15: “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death…” (1Cor 15:25-26)

This postmillennial optimism – that Christ will win the nations, that His government will gradually subdue the world, that His kingship (Rev 1:5) will be recognised by every tribe and tongue, that glorious righteousness shall cover the Earth as the waters cover the sea BEFORE HE RETURNS (Num 14:21, Hab 2:14, Is 11:9) – is ubiquitous in Scripture.  It is expressly taught by Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s first vision (Dan 2:31-43) in which we may confidently assert that God would establish four successive kingdoms (Babylonian à Medo-Persian à Greek/Alexandrian à Roman) which would thereafter be slowly supplanted by God’s own kingdom (Dan 2:44,45). 

Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection were the inauguration of God’s kingdom (see Matt 3;2; 4:17, 12:28 etc) and His ascension back to the Father represented the fulfilment of Psalms 2 and 110.  Isaiah 65 unquestionably intimates the future recovery of longevity as Eden’s curse is progressively pushed back by Christ’s victory in history. There we read, “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed…. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox… They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Therefore, as Jesus taught (see parables of mustard seed & leaven – [Matt 13:31-33]) God’s kingdom would gradually grow (see Is 9:6,7) from its humble beginning (a few fishermen, shepherds and foreign Magi) until it’s government is universally recognised (see Psalms 72, 87, 110 & Is 42).  Hence, we should not now be troubled by the Earth’s travail.  This present season represents an epoch of (i) judgement upon His faithless Bride (Heb 12:25-29) and a rebellious creation AND (ii) the awakening of His true Church with the establishment of worldwide Christian dominion (see Rom 8:18-25; Rev 11:15).

Familiarity with 2000 years of Church history likewise confirms that notwithstanding many great trials and seasons of difficulty, the light of Christ has burned ever brighter down through the centuries.  It took, for example, over a thousand years for a full English Bible to become available by the hand of John Wycliffe.  Throughout much of that time, a corrupt form of Christianity prevailed in which ignorance and superstition spread by Papal emissaries kept our forebears in a religious ‘Dark Age’.  But God’s Truth cannot be chained (2Tim 2:9) and that light which first illuminated Jerusalem would spread from Judea first to Samaria then to the uttermost parts of the Earth according to God’s providential superintendence (see Prov 4:18 & Jn 1:5 & Matt 28:18-20). 

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. …The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this (Is 9:7).

The Contemporary Church is I – Incorrigible

  • 17 December 2023

What makes this project a little difficult is seeing the array of indictments laid out alphabetically in front of me and, a bit like the mosquito in the nudist colony, pondering which one to address next!  We might well wonder how we got to such a situation.  In my own personal pilgrimage over forty years I can readily identify with Moses in the wilderness and/or the Israelites wandering through the dessert before entering Canaan.  What happened over those years?  Just this: I read carefully my Bible, listened to gifted teachers, read significant books and pursued God’s truth wherever it led me.  If today I possess any facility for recognising error it is only because I have diligently sought to discern that principled form of Christianity which God lays out for us in His Word.  Any bank worker will tell you that it is through a careful examination of real tender (notes & coins) that false currency can be detected.  But the analogy must now be extended.  Today, it is as if most of the currency in circulation is false while people continue using it anyway not caring that the contents of their wallets have never been ‘minted.’  But no, it’s worse.  When I sit down to examine their money with them, pointing out the flaws in the ink, the missing digits etc., they mount a robust defense and ridicule my analysis!  God’s people, like those Peter indicts, have become ‘wilfully ignorant’ (2Pet 3:5).  They are like naughty school children who will not learn their lesson.  Why don’t they perceive my motivation? (see Pr 27:5,6)

Does God’s Word address this situation?  Yes indeed!  Most loudly and clearly in the opening chapters of Jeremiah.  Let’s consider some of the similarities of that situation with ours today.  Please turn to Jeremiah Chapters 1à8 and notice:

  • Israel/Judah were being besieged by a foreign tyrant (Nebuchadnezzar) who would overturn their religious heritage and reduce them to slaves in exile; the glory which Queen of Sheba witnessed on her visit to Solomon was all but departed.  Likewise, any evangelical familiar with English history spanning the victories of Alfred the Great, John Wycliffe or Oliver Cromwell, in these days of evangelical irrelevancy (another letter ‘I’ to indict!) must surely recognise that ‘the glory has departed’ (1Sam 4:21).
  • The camp of Israel was resistant to Jeremiah’s correction. Their faces became angry at the sound of criticism (see 1:8,17); they turned hostile towards God’s messenger (see 1:19); they resisted the plain instruction of God’s law, preferring to determine for themselves right and wrong (see 2:31), not being willing to countenance divine judgement (see 2:35); they plugged their ears from the sound of God’s correction (see 3:7); they were unwilling to perceive the providence of God in judgement upon them (see 5:3); even their leaders were unwilling to perceive God’s disapproval (see 5:5,12); as a result their own hearts became hostile to the Word of God and they became unwilling to embrace Scripture as the only standard for living out every detail of their lives (see 6:10,15-17); finally, they settled for a worldview of human autonomy in which their own fickle thoughts had precedence over the authoritative Word of God in determining how they should live (see 7:24,26-28).

In conclusion, I wish I had £10 for every Christian friend/acquaintance whose resisted the sound of my alarm. Have I been occasionally a bit abrupt or at times over-generalised?  Have I been at times impatient?  Maybe, but except in recent years, I have dutifully attended their services and absorbed their messages, etc. Universally, my reflections have met with disdain or disregard from all but a tiny handful of those (generally) on the fringes.  There seems to prevail no appetite among the masses of ‘evangelicals’ to take serious stock of their present status quo and do the honourable thing – walk away from their ‘Church’ and find a more principled constituency of godly folk genuinely seeking first the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33). 

Now, let’s ask this question: Are there Scriptures that specifically warns the people of God (Christ’s Church) against its refusal to hear God’s voice? Are we anywhere warned against disobedience of the divine commandment en-masse? Yes, and its application to the NT Church is evident!  Historically, the Church was delivered from Egyptian slavery and led out into the dessert to become, through sanctification and various trials, a mighty army competent to enter Canaan and establish there a light for all nations (Deut 4).  They were to learn, under God’s tutelage, the practical blessings of obedience & the curses of disobedience to God’s holy covenant.  The Book of Joshua relates the conquest of Canaan by which the ancient Church ‘entered into God’s rest’ (Ps 95) – i.e. the promised land.  All of this is figurative.  It signifies how the Church now, ‘come of age’, is to prosecute the Great Commission (Matt 28) making all Gentile cultures and kingdoms subject to Jesus Christ as ‘ruler of the kings of the Earth’ (Rev 1:5). What does the NT say about this project? First, notice that St Paul recognised the relevance of Israel’s wilderness wanderings for his own day – and by implication for ours:

‘Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted…. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come’ (1Cor 10vs 1-4; 11).

Finally, consider how many, of the hundreds of thousands that marched out of Egypt, actually entered God’s rest (Canaan).  That’s right: just Joshua & Caleb!! The writer of Hebrews tells us, for our sober contemplation, quoting Ps 95, ‘For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?’ (3:16-18). Therefore, to the incorrigible Christian Church today, God says, ‘Today, if you will hear His voice do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest’ (Heb 2:9-11).

In conclusion, ‘let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience (Heb 4:11). Which is to say, ‘Don’t be incorrigible!’

The Contemporary Church is Juvenile

  • 17 December 2023

This indictment manifests itself in various ways, but essentially the charge here is that contemporary Christianity refuses to grow up!  It settles for a form of Christianity that is puerile and simplistic. Christian bookshops (where they still exist!) are full of shallow theology significantly adrift from the great heritage of Christian scholarship that Christ’s true shepherds (Eph 4:11) have bequeathed to us down through the centuries.  Any fair-minded appraisal of the past two millennia should conclude that the Reformation was that glorious period of redemptive history in which God’s light shone through the medieval darkness of approximately 1500 years during which time, apart from a few notable luminaries, Scriptural truth was largely obscured.  Bibles were rare; Scripture in one’s mother tongue was hardly known at all.  Everywhere Romish superstitions were peddled by ignorant priests/monks who stubbornly resisted Biblical enlightenment preferring to remain fast bound under Papal (ecclesiastical and political) tyranny.  But what God gifted His Church in the collective scholarship of continental Reformers and English Puritans has now been all but forgotten.  Instead of Geneva serving as an exemplary experiment in the construction of Christian society, ‘Calvinism’ has today become a pejorative term denoting a truncated pseudo-intellectualism or else ice-cold dogmatism.  But any fair-minded acquaintance with the best scholars of that era will quickly prove that they were Biblical giants compared with the dwarfs who occupy most present-day pulpits.  In Deuteronomy 8, God warned Israel against forgetfulness.  Christ’s people today have readily forgotten, nay, they have wilfully turned their backs on what God accomplished for His Church centuries ago. 

St Paul cautioned the first-century Church against the maintenance of religious childishness (see 1Cor 13:11).  What was needed was a mature understanding of God’s Truth as revealed in Scripture as God’s people (both individually and collectively) pilgrimage towards a fulness of understanding which manifests itself as a comprehensive, Christian worldview (Eph 4:14&23) in which every feature is Biblically informed and every thought is brought into subjection to Christ (2Cor 10:4-6).  There are no short cuts to such Christian maturity.  Persistent, daily, careful and thoughtful Bible reading is required together with a willingness to have one’s total way of thinking brought into conformity with God’s principles of wisdom for ‘man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ (Matt 4:4; Deut 8:3).  Alas, Jesus warned that ‘a student is not above his teacher’ (Matt 10:24).  Tragically, a great many of those who presume to shepherd God’s flock steadfastly prove to be woefully inadequate Bible students themselves and therefore unqualified to lead others.  How are they any different from the Pharisees of old? (See Matt 15:14)

The author of Hebrews writes in the 5th chapter, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (vs 12-14). Accordingly, Christian maturity comes as a result of (i) recognising the need to progress from first principles (ii) acquiring an appetite for the meat of God’s word and (iii) apprehending that fulness of understanding only comes to those who have learnt to exercise their minds in bringing Scripture to bear upon all the issues of life. The great tragedy of twentieth century Christianity is every legitimate human enterprise as ‘spiritual’.  We shall deal with this later (see P – pietism) but it bears repetition that Christians have lost (temporarily) the culture war by conceding as ‘religiously neutral territory’ the ground they ought to have been contending earnestly for.  The Great Commission has been reduced to a pursuit of souls ‘saved’ for heaven in eternity. More correctly, Andrew Sandlin points out,

“The gospel is calculated to redeem not just individuals but all human life and culture and creation. The good news is that Jesus Christ has dealt and is dealing decisively with the problem of sin by gradually reinstalling his righteousness in the earth. The gospel is that God is setting right everything wrong in this world. This means that all elements of culture which is man’s creative interaction with creation, including money and food and technology and education and the arts and politics presently burdened under the weight of sin, are designed to be redeemed. Salvation isn’t liberation from creation; it’s the liberation from sin.”

But this requires careful hard work and great maturity.  Sadly, great swathes of Christians prefer to settle for an infantile faith. God warns those ‘that remain at ease in Zion’ (Amos 6).  Judgement inevitably ensues as it surely has for us today!  How have you spent your life dear reader?  Fidelity to Christ does not equate with fidelity to your local physical ‘Church’ gathering.  True covenantal faithfulness warrants fidelity to the Word of God before any human council. Rather than promoting Christian maturity, contemporary Churches positively discourage it.  The recent availability of excellent free Scriptural teaching from master technicians (e.g. Rousas Rushdoony, Francis Nigel Lee & Greg Bahnsen, et al) is providentially significant.  God has supplied a consummate feast of learning for all who have ears to hear and eyes to see.  But I have only ever heard general discouragements from Church ‘leaders’ directed to those who venture to go hunting for such strong meat.  Why is this?  I can only suppose the Church leaders arrogantly wish to be seen and noticed as those occupying the seats of learning in the synagogues (see Mark 12:38-39). 

God Himself has provided us with THE standard of spiritual maturity we should aspire to achieve.  It is simply this – the fulness of Scripture!  Notwithstanding the riches of free resources available to us online and in print, the average Church attendee is functionally illiterate and incapable of comprehending life through the worldview glasses of Scripture.  Serious Bible study is disdained; regular daily Bible reading is neglected; disciplined rehearsal of the rudiments of orthodoxy (via catechising) does not happen.  The lion’s share of our conversation together as believers ought to be saturated with Scripture and how it applies to the whole of life.  But is it?  Frankly, no!  Rather, it tends to be Biblically vacuous.  Isaiah warns us (see Is 39:9-14) of the prospect of/for this illiteracy.

In conclusion, I offer you a simple practical test.  In the Olivet discourse, Jesus expected his audience, as readers of Daniel’s visions, to understand what was meant by ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ (Matt 24:15-16 citing Dan 11:31).  Would you have known? What would your answer have been?

‘I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them’ (Is 3:4).

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