Apologetics

Battling Testaments!

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BibleDoesn’t everyone think that his church is a Bible-based church? Is there anyone out there who goes to a church she thinks is NOT based on the Bible?

One of the phenomena I finally noticed this year is the fact that we have three kinds of churches we consider to be Bible-based churches. I can’t believe I never realized this before this year, but I suspect the level at which we discern where our leaders are taking us is far lower than our comfort zone. We just don’t want to admit it.

Many of the battles we see within Christendom, particularly in America, are rooted in a fundamental problem with how we view the authority of Scripture and its complete, unified message.

What do I mean by this?

Well, take a sampling of churches you’ve been a part of in your walk with Christ. They’re all Christian churches and as such would be considered an outgrowth of the New Testament as it adjoined and grew out of the Old Testament.

But what too often happens in our churches is that we fall into a divisive view of Scripture that pits the New Testament against the Old and vice versa. From this internal battle, we generate a litany of disagreements about how to properly walk out the Christian life.

Walk into a Pentecostal church and you’ll notice something right away: there’s a lot of quoting from the Old Testament. When Pentecostals talk about God’s promises, there’s quite a dependence on the OT for those promises. Here are a few you’ll hear:

I would have fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living.
—Psalms 27:13 MKJV

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
—Psalms 91:1-10 ESV

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
—Psalms 103:2-5 ESV

Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.
—Psalms 112:1-3 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
—Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

Naysayers on the NT side don’t want to hear about prosperity, health, strength, smarts, wealth, and all that stuff. That was the Old Covenant; the message of the New Covenant is 180 degrees the other way. For them, this OT stuff runs counter to how they read the NT. Their theology comes back with the following:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ”
—Matthew 6:19-20 ESV

Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
—Matthew 19:27-29 ESV

And [Jesus] lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”
—Luke 6:20-26 ESV

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
—1 Corinthians 1:27-29 ESV

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
—1 Corinthians 4:11-13 ESV

I find it surprising that Pentecostals and charismatics are basing their theology on Acts 2, yet they go back to the OT for their promises. On the other hand, those Christians who wouldn’t be caught dead in a Pentecostal church sometimes act as if 2 Timothy 3:16-17 wasn’t true:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
—2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

An attitude exists that somehow relegates the OT to the past, as if the NT is the only real Scripture for the Church (even if the apostles and NT writers were only quoting from the OT). It’s like the OT ceased to exist once the canon of the NT was completed.

Let me tell you: the people in the seats are confused.

The hot new word in Christian circles is worldview. We love the idea of a coherent Christian worldview, don’t we. I know I do.

But if that’s true, then why are we stuck in one testament or the other? Wouldn’t a comprehensive Christian worldview fully integrate the Old Testament life of the faithful with the New Testament life of the faithful?

Unfortunately, you see battling testaments everywhere. One that burst on the scene recently was the environmental care flap after a few Evangelicals asked us to ponder global warming. The NT supporters instantly let us know that the Revelation tells us it’s all going to burn, while Matthew’s inclusion of Jesus’ Great Commission makes it the only thing we as a Church should be doing. The OT supporters, on the other hand, went back to Genesis and reminded people that the original call to stewardship of Creation that God gave Man in the Garden has not been rescinded.

And the mouths started yappin’.

Are we afraid of the Whole Bible? Are not the Scriptures the unified words of God to Man? If so, then why do we pit the OT and NT against each other? Where is our scholarship that makes it possible for us to be blessed by God with health, wealth, and might , while also understanding that in this world we will have trouble, sickness, and poverty, even in the Church?

I’d love to see an American Church that is routinely operating out of both the New Testament and the Old, not afraid to link both. Instead we get the NT aficionados battling the OT aficionados. Every so often we do get that third way, the Whole Bible Church, but in my travels it seems to be a rarity. Still, it’s a rarity we need to ensure is less rare every day.

What will it take to make us a “Whole Bible” Church?

Tags: Bible, Scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, Church, Faith, Christianity, Jesus, God

Leonard Ravenhill

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Leonard RavenhillMatt Self over at The Gad(d)about, besides having the common sense to pick drums over all other musical instruments, also has the brains to quote Leonard Ravenhill. Good for Matt. The American Church needs to hear more Ravenhill.

If you haven’t been around Cerulean Sanctum very long, you’ll get to know Ravenhill soon enough. He and A.W. Tozer are the “patron saints” of this blog. No one in the last century wrote blistering words like Tozer and no one preached with more fire than Ravenhill. That they were friends in real life is the icing on the cake.

I don’t do a lot of imploring on this blog, but if you’ve never heard Ravenhill preach, I implore you to go to SermonIndex.net and check out the Ravenhill section at this link (with videos at this link).

Ravenhill was more than a preacher, though; he may have been the last true English-speaking revivalist with roots that went back to the Welsh Revival. He passed away in 1994, and one of the greatest losses in my own life is that I mismarked a calendar and missed him preaching at a local church. He passed away not too long afterward.

Yet he lives on in his teaching tapes, and most of them are incendiary. Not only did Ravenhill handle the Scriptures in a way unmatched today, but he could draw parallels and bring two disparate Biblical concepts together like no other preacher I’ve ever heard. He not only knew the ins and outs of the Bible, but hundreds of hymns, too. Best of all, he had a solid understanding of how the charismata work today. He was the total package. Listening to him is so convicting I find it hard not to keep from rending my clothes and pouring ashes on myself. If you want to know that “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” may have sounded like to Jonathan Edwards’ listeners, check out few of the highest-rated Ravenhill sermons on SermonIndex.net, especially those before he was slowed by a stroke in the mid-1980s.

God knows that we need another like him to rouse the Church in 2006.

And though it’s a shame to limit the breadth of Leonard Ravenhill’s wisdom to a few zingers, I’ll end with some of his more pithy statements:

The only time you can really say that ‘Christ is all I need’ is when Christ is all you have.

If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.

A popular evangelist reaches your emotions. A true prophet reaches your conscience.

The last words of Jesus to the church (in Revelation) were ‘Repent!’

A true shepherd leads the way. He does not merely point the way.

Your doctrine can be as straight as a gun barrel…and just as empty!

John the Baptist never performed any miracles; yet, he was greater than any of the Old Testament prophets.

I doubt that more than two percent of professing Christians in the United States are truly born again.

Our God is a consuming fire. He consumes pride, lust, materialism, and other sin.

There are only two kinds of persons: those dead in sin and those dead to sin.

[Concerning the darkness that has enveloped most of Christendom:] When you’re sitting in a dark room, you can either sit and curse the darkness, or you can light a candle.

Children can tell you what Channel 7 says, but not what Matthew 7 says.

Some women will spend 30 minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church, with prayer and meditation?

Maturity comes from obedience, not necessarily from age.

What good does it do to speak in tongues on Sunday if you have been using your tongue during the week to curse and gossip?

The Bible is either absolute or it’s obsolete.

Why do we expect to be better treated in this world than Jesus was?

Today’s church wants to be raptured from responsibility.

Testimonies are wonderful. But so often our lives don’t fit our testimonies.

[Concerning one of the new movements in the church that was causing a stir among Christians:] There’s also a stir when the circus comes to town.

My main ambition in life is to be on the Devil’s most wanted list.

You can’t develop character by reading books. You develop it from conflict.

When there’s something in the Bible that churches don’t like, they call it ‘legalism.’

We can’t serve God by proxy.

We must do what we can do for God before He will give us the power to do what we can’t do.

There’s a difference between changing your opinion and changing your lifestyle.

Our seminaries today are turning out dead men.

How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don’t even have the strength to turn off your TV?

Everyone recognizes that Stephen was Spirit-filled when he was performing wonders. Yet, he was just as Spirit-filled when he was being stoned to death.

If a Christian is not having tribulation in the world, there’s something wrong!

[Concerning the fixation that today’s church has with numbers, with growth at any price:] The church has paid a terrible price for statistics!

Any method of evangelism will work if God is in it.

Church unity comes from corporate humility.

You can have all of your doctrines right, yet still not have the presence of God.

Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day Christ will chastise me, saying, ‘Leonard, you took Me too seriously’?

You can know a lot about the atonement and yet receive no benefit from it.

If the whole church goes off into deception, that will in no way excuse us for not following Christ.

You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there’s a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it.

The Horror of Spiritual Disciplines!

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At the Foot of the CrossOne of the most curious trends in the Godblogosphere so far this year is the utter pummeling that "spiritual disciplines" are taking along with the people who are promoting them. I've lost track of the number of both unknown and well-regarded pastors (and their followers) writing on the topic of how proponents of the spiritual disciplines are part of a vast New Age conspiracy that will culminate in outright apostasy.

Before we go any further, let's list the spiritual disciplines that have got so many people saying they're the toe in the antichrist's bathwater:

Meditation
Prayer
Fasting
Study
Simplicity
Solitude
Submission
Service
Confession
Worship
Guidance
Celebration

Scary list, huh? And yet it has some people tearing their hair out. I won't list who those people and ministries are because I'm not willing to commit the same sort of guilt by association that so readily flows from some of these sources. What bothers me, at least as the critics stand, is that none of them are attempting to ask whether the disciplines are Scriptural or not.

Are they? For most of the following, I'll attempt to list one reference each from the Old Testament, a Gospel, and an Epistle:

Meditation

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8 ESV)

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. (Psalms 143:5 ESV)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 ESV)

Prayer

Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you [God] at a time when you may be found…. (Psalms 32:6a ESV)

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. (Matthew 21:22 ESV)

…pray without ceasing…. (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV)

Fasting

For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. (Psalms 69:9-10 ESV)

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:16-18 ESV)

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (Acts 14:23 ESV)

Study

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalms 119:4-11 ESV)

But [Jesus] answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4 ESV)

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 ESV)

Simplicity

If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above. (Job 31:24-28 ESV)

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV)

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5 ESV)

Solitude

Be still, and know that I am God…. (Psalms 46:10a ESV)

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 ESV)

And after [Jesus] had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…. (Matthew 14:23 ESV)

Submission

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! (Psalms 143:10 ESV)

And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34 ESV)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7 ESV)

Service

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul…. (Deuteronomy 10:12 ESV)

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:26 ESV)

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10 ESV)

Confession

I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. (Psalms 38:18 ESV)

If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld. (John 20:23 ESV)

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16 ESV)

Worship

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness…. (1 Chronicles 16:29 ESV)

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24 ESV)

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (Hebrews 13:15 ESV)

Guidance

Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Psalms 25:5 ESV)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13 ESV)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5 ESV)

Celebration

Then [Nehemiah or Ezra]said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10 ESV)

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11 ESV)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4 ESV)

These things are indeed biblical as practiced. Anyone arguing against them faces an uphill (and unscriptural) battle. Sit down with a good study Bible (I use the Thompson Chain Reference) and check for yourself. In most cases, there are dozens or even hundreds of Scriptures that support each discipline.

Is it somehow hard to believe that the practice of these disciplines won't make a person a stronger, deeper disciple of Jesus Christ? Please, if you are reading this and believe that these spiritual disciplines will actually result in a weaker, shallower disciple, leave a comment and tell me why you believe that to be the case.

And now to the real beef…

The same proofs by which we say that the Bible is uniquely perfect among all books is the same proof that says that all other books are not perfect. Unless modern day Christian writers want to lay claim to their own perfect apostolic authority, then all books outside of the Scriptures contain errors, whether gross or minuscule. (By nature, all errors must be confronted with godly discernment. This is one reason why the Holy Spirit was given: to guide believers into all truth.) It doesn't matter if the book is written by John MacArthur or Richard Foster, it should be read always with one eye on the Scriptures and with one's heart illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

This is where I'm confused concerning the level of discernment practiced by those who are currently assaulting the spiritual disciplines outlined above. They call for discernment, but make blanket statements about those who are advocating the disciplines. Yes, they do a fine job of pointing out what is wrong with the doctrine of some of those advocates, but at the same time they show an appalling lack of discernment for the good in what those same advocates are saying. They act as if what is good is simply what is "not bad," but that's a damningly low opinion of what God has said is good.

We know that the disciplines are biblical, but are there ways to botch their practice? Sure! Any good thing can be muddied. Let's face it, Satan only tries to attack the very best things of God. You can bet that if there's a counterfeit the Enemy's manufactured, God's real version is gloriously wonderful. What I find disturbing is that the current critics of the spiritual disciplines are doing a horrendous job communicating the difference to people, lumping everything—good or bad—into one confusing pile that does nothing but stymie people who are genuinely looking to grow in the Lord.

I'm also confused by the conspiratorial picking and choosing that goes on by some of these critics, drawing lines of connection from one advocate to another in a bizarre game of "Six Degrees of Separation," seeking to create some sort of Last Days corporate hierarchy of apostasy. I'm baffled, though, by their choices of who constitutes the "good guys" and who the "bad guys." Richard Foster and Dallas Willard are perpetually held up for derision for quoting "mystics" who practiced spiritual disciplines (there's that guilt by association again, no discernment needed) while the critics quote A.W. Tozer's comments on discerning truth from error as we head to the End. Foster and Willard get lambasted, while Tozer—who was a strong supporter of Christian mysticism— is used by the critics in their arguments against the disciplines and their advocates. It's the height of hypocrisy if the critics own standards are used to tie them into a mystic like Tozer. Will the last non-heretic left standing please turn out the light?

I continue to be stunned at the lousy state of discernment in the Western Church today. Whether it's a complete lack of discernment, esoteric arguments for/against that no one can understand, guilt assigned by six degrees of separation, or the random picking of what constitutes good and bad—well, the whole state of it all, advocates or critics, has just gotten silly. And when the Church looks silly, the world just goes to hell faster.

I'm not suggesting that people go panning for gold in fields of manure, but neither am I for straining for gnats and swallowing camels. The frenzied fear that many of the critics sell by their inability to sort out the good from the bad in what people say is sad. All it does is make people paranoid; the last time I looked, paranoia was not a spiritual gift!

I'm no apologist for Foster or any of the other folks advocating the disciplines, but like all authors I read, I read them with a critical eye, swallowing the big chunks of truth they might speak while spitting out the questionable bones. And isn't that how any follower of Christ should approach any message from anyone?

No one said that discernment is easy, but neither is it haphazard.

Tags: Spiritual Disciplines, Church, Faith, Christianity, Jesus, God