Election: The Calvinist Arminian Debate; Are both wrong? Part 3

This is the third post in this series. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here.

It is my belief that all of the discussion in the New Testament about election is there to explain why the Jews who were God's elect in the Old Testament missed out on their Messiah, and why the Gentiles who had not believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were included in the New Covenant in great numbers while the Jews were not.

Romans chapters nine, ten, and eleven are Paul's mini opus on this subject. Paul began his apostolic mission evangelizing the Jews in the diaspora. However, God had chosen him ultimately to be the apostle to the Gentiles, and not just to the Gentiles but specifically to the new creation/ new creature of the New Covenant. The timing of the New Testament writings are unique. There is a transition taking place from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. It is a gradual transition that took place in various stages. This transition began with John the Baptist, the last Jewish prophet other than Christ, and moved on through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The next phase in the transition was Pentecost, and the birth of the first Christian church... still strictly Jewish. It went on from there to the home of Cornelius, where God gave the Holy Spirit to Gentile God fearers. Shortly after that, God showed Paul that he wanted him to move on to the Gentiles and Paul was given revelation about the New Creation.

Also, during this period, it would appear to the onlooker that God had two plans in the works. One, the Old Covenant Jews following the Torah, and the second, the Christ followers made up of believing Jews and Gentiles. Both were claiming that they were the true people of God. Both sincerely thought that they were following God. Jesus told his disciples that the time would come that those who would kill and incarcerate them would believe they were doing service to God. So, when Paul wrote about awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God, he was speaking of a time when God would demonstrate who his true people, true followers were. Jesus had prophesied that this would be accomplished by the destruction of the temple. I like the way that the NLT phrases Romans 8:19 NLT "For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are." How would that come about? The first century believers thought that it would be established by the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. Yes, the manifestation of the sons of God was accomplished by the destruction of the temple. This is a theme throughout the book of Hebrews that I believe is the Rosetta Stone of the New Covenant.

The emphasis on election then was not to show that God arbitrarily elected some to salvation. It was to deal with the reasons for the rejection of many of the Old Covenant Jews. However, Paul also states that the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. The unbelieving Jews were not eliminated from God's plan for all which was eternal life. They were hardened for a time, until the fullness of the Gentiles were brought into the New Covenant. If you look at Part 2 of this series you will discover that there are three distinct ages... Adam to Abraham.... Abraham to Christ.... Christ to the year 2000 give or take.... and there is now quite likely the beginning of yet another age. I would also call those ages, "humanity in general".... "Old Covenant"...... "Christian Church".... and the age we are now approaching "New Jerusalem." I predict that this age will be one of inclusion. However, the Old never dies easily, and Judaism is still alive and well today.

So then, there is an alternate way to look at the facts. If presuppositions change, the paradigm can shift, and for me it has. Once a person has changed the presuppositions, then either paradigm can be valid and that is where using the preponderance of the scriptural evidence comes into play to convince one of the correctness of a paradigm. There is an equally valid alternative way to look at election. This is my reason for this series. It will never be understood completely without reading the entire series and that means looking forward to subsequent posts as well.

More to come!

Election: The Calvinist Arminian Debate; Are both wrong? Part 2

In the previous blog post in this series, I began to look at Calvinism and Arminianism and their treatment, understanding and teaching about election and salvation. I am offering a third possibility. All of us have presuppositions that we bring to scripture. As I have shown over and over on this blog, even Jesus and his first century followers, had presuppositions with respect to scripture interpretation. They presupposed that Jesus was the fulfillment of scripture, they defined the gospel as the word of God instead of scripture, and they saw scripture as solely redemptive. Further they presupposed that the impending judgment of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the temple was the fulfillment of the day of the Lord as prophesied by the Prophets.

Since the Old Testament, Tanakh, spoke often of Israel's election by God, it was necessary for the first century writers of the New Testament scripture to deal with election, and God's choice of Israel the nation. This becomes the source of the Calvinism/Arminian debate. First, let me state unequivocally, that God is absolutely sovereign. It can be no other way. While both Calvinists and Arminians are in error, the Calvinists are right about God's sovereignty. It is necessary that God elects those who are saved or are not saved. The question is whether or not the election is limited or unlimited. Certainly, one cannot deal with this unless one deals with the concept of judgment and hell. Moreover, it is somewhat dependent on whether or not hell is eternal torture. If election is being elected to eternal salvation, and the non-elected are provided a life here on earth and then annihilated, it is a different matter than if the non-elect are given eternal torture, and separation from God eternally. This is especially true because there is no choice available.

So then, let me deal with one aspect of the doctrine of hell. Jesus use of Gehenna, which is translated as hell in the KJV Bible is metaphorically speaking of the impending judgment on Jerusalem. I have written a blog post about the connection between Mark 9:44-48 and Isaiah 66 it entitled "Jesus Teaching on Hell" Read it for an in-depth look at how I believe much of the teaching on hell as eternal torture is just plain erroneous. If one accepts the concept of annihilation, then Calvinism becomes more palatable, yet, I personally still think it is error. In either event, the teaching about election deals with Israel, God's stated elect from the Old Testament, and the concept of the election as it relates to the bulk of the natural elect, missing out on Jesus and being judged for that. I accept the fact that biblical history deals with two, two thousand year ages. There is Adam to Abraham, and Abraham to Christ. Since that time, another two thousand year age has transpired. Let's call it the age of the Gentiles or the church age. Are we in fact moving into yet another age? I think it is possible.

With that in mind, let's look at God's actual position and view of humanity. Genesis 1:31 NASB "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day." God was happy with his creative work including mankind. He said it was VERY GOOD! This of necessity is God's view of humanity forward, the fall notwithstanding. Yet, from Adam to Abraham, most of the people did not see God as gracious and believe in His love and grace. So the first two thousand year age no one acknowledged God except a few. With Abraham, God chose a specific people to show his mercy and grace. You then have the age of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through Moses and the Prophets, all the way up to the resurrection. The Jews focused on the Law and missed God's grace. Finally, you have the birth of the church of Jesus, and God included the Gentiles, in fact, in this age it was mostly the Gentiles that heard about God's grace. Yet, they too added religion to God's grace and missed just how loving and gracious God really is.

Now look at this from Romans eleven; Romans 11:25 NASB For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; The fullness of the Gentiles is the fullness of the church age. Two thousand years have passed and the church has not done a much better job with the pure gospel than the Jews did. This makes it plausible to see the following passage as declaring yet another age. Romans 11:30-32 NASB "For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, (31) so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. (32) For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all." The approaching age will be indicative of the passage that directly follows this one...  Romans 11:33-36 NASB "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (34) For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? (35) Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? (36) For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." It is plausible that we are now heading into the mercy on ALL age. It was a mystery but is now being revealed. Certainly there is still reason to preach the gospel. We should, like Paul explained in 2Cor 5, encourage all people to be reconciled to God... Why, because God was in Christ, reconciling the WORLD not the ELECT. Yes world/KOSMOS so this passage does not fit nicely with Calvinism but works well with the fact that ALL  are elected to redemption and reconciliation. In this scenario God remains sovereign in election.

More to come.

Election: The Calvinist Arminian Debate; Are both wrong? Part 1

I have avoided the topic of election for some time now. However, I can no longer remain silent. The debate goes all the way back to Augustine and Pelagius. It is the great divide in Protestant theology. The question is this; is God sovereign, or does humanity have a choice when it comes to salvation? I will likely alienate many in both camps. However, I deem it necessary. It appears that the bible teaches both, and because of this, a great debate ensues. Both sides accuse the other side of being heretical. I think that the debate comes from a total misunderstanding of scripture. In shifting my paradigm, I have come to realize that so much of what evangelical theologians , see as obvious is merely a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of scripture. In no idea is this more true, than election.

First off, let's look at election. It is prevalent throughout scripture. God elected Abraham to bring forth the seed of blessing. Old Testament Israel was elected to be the vehicle by which the Messiah would come. Pharaoh was elected to show God's power. Election merely shows God's sovereignty. When one thinks about it. God must be sovereign, or He would not be God. The very concept of an all knowing, ever and all present, and all powerful God demands sovereignty. One cannot say that God in His sovereignty has given humanity choice, because the minute one says that humanity has more power than God. If humans have a choice in salvation, then they in essence become their own savior. God is left powerless in the salvation realm to the choice of humanity. Ultimately theology demands that God is sovereign.

On the other hand, if God is sovereign, and some people are not saved, then it is of necessity that God elected some to damnation. Even if one says that God foreknew that some would not be saved, the knowing, in and of itself makes God ultimately responsible for their damnation because knowing they would not be saved, He created them anyway. How can this possibly be reconciled with the statement that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance? Certainly this is a dilemma. Yet, if God is truly sovereign and truly does not wish that any should perish, then quite frankly none will perish or God is not sovereign.

Because they mistakenly believe that the scripture teaches this kind of election, there are some that actually believe and teach that God elects people to salvation and damnation. They are fearful of questioning themselves because they are so certain that the scripture teaches this form of election. They never really then ask themselves what kind of a God would create creatures to damn to eternal torture? The reverse however creates complete chaos. When one can choose to be saved or reject salvation, they can never really know if they are truly saved, or if they will stay saved. At least for those who believe in Jesus, election offers the comfort of remaining saved. So I am not in any way siding with the Arminians. Their theology is equally destructive and I believe equally wrong.

What if election was time specific? What if, election was a first century phenomenon that was used by God to include the Gentiles in the good news? What if Paul's mentions of election, as well as Jesus mentions of election, were to explain why many of the Jews who had been Torah Observant missed out on the Messiah, and why the Gentiles who had not sought after God, were included in the New Covenant? When one examines Romans 9, 10, and 11 it becomes clear that Paul, after explaining the gospel of grace, spends time explaining why the Jews missed out on Christ, and the Gentiles were recipients. It is parenthetical.

Jesus' words, "too whom much is given, much is required" explains God's ultimate plan for the Jews and the New Covenant. The blessings of the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants carried responsibility. Yes, the Jews were originally elected by God to bring about the promised Seed of Abraham. And, the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable.

The below passage is misunderstood by all. Yet it truly gives the answer to God's sovereign plan. "God has shut up ALL in disobedience so that he can show mercy to ALL." It brings about the hopefulness of universal salvation, determined by an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and sovereign God. I will posit this portion of Romans 11 for you to peruse and ponder. Romans 11:25-36 NASB "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; (26) and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." (27) "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS." (28) From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; (29) for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (30) For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, (31) so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. (32) For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. (33) Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! (34) For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? (35) Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? (36) For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

Much more to come!

Serving in the Newness of the Spirit Part 1

Romans 7:6 NASB "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."

What did Paul mean when he had his amanuensis pen this verse? Yes, Paul did not actually pen his own epistles and if you don't know, it would be good to look up amanuensis. Why do I always digress? It must be the teacher in me LOL. Meanwhile, back to the topic at hand, seriously, what does serve in the newness of the Spirit mean? And further, what does the oldness of the letter mean? Actually today, especially in constitutional law, we frequently hear the term "spirit of the law." In this case it means what the original authors of the law had in mind when they wrote it. However, I do not think that is what Paul referred to in Romans 7:6. He was contrasting serving in the *spirit* and serving in the *letter* and the most important take-away is that they are contrasting or opposite concepts.

Yet, when one looks historically, at orthodox doctrine, it becomes crystal clear that it has a read and do focus that is akin to the Pharisees of the first century. There is no possible way that serving in the newness of the Spirit will coincide with this read and do focus. The reason is that the Pharisees focus of scripture coincides directly with the oldness of the letter. It is a polar opposite to the newness of the spirit. So what exactly is the newness of the spirit? Well, since it was contrasted with the oldness of the letter, then it must be understood to be related to scripture interpretation. I think this is precisely where the scripture focus of Jesus and his followers comes into play. As I have established over and over, in this blog, with a preponderance of evidence, Jesus, and his first century followers focus was extremely targeted. It was solely redemptive.

Jesus was the end of the law. A proper translation would be that Jesus was the goal of the law. So then, serving in the newness of the spirit, is to serve with the indwelling Spirit of Christ. The new covenant, the only covenant that includes uncircumcised Gentiles in the people of God, does not make scripture a legal-constitutional document. It only sees scripture as the story of redemption, or the redemptive narrative. Under the old covenant, Israel served in the oldness of the letter. They actually broke the covenant according to Jeremiah 31, and further to the point, they actually broke it shortly after accepting it, but still it was a legal constitutional covenant. Paul's point was that since they only had the old covenant, prior to the resurrection, they could only serve in the oldness of the letter. However, now because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which installed the new covenant, it was possible to have the indwelling Spirit of Christ, thus allowing one to serve in the newness of the Spirit.

So now, we need to look at what serving in the newness of the spirit actually looks like, and how is it accomplished practically? First, let me explain what I believe the majority opinion is on this within orthodox/evangelical doctrine. In the evangelical view, serving in the newness of the spirit involves acknowledgement that once a person is a christian, they are empowered by the holy spirit to live a lawful life; I did not say a perfect life, I said a lawful life, and by that I mean lawful form the Law of God standpoint. I do not believe that this is correct. I believe that serving in the newness of the spirit is directly related to believing the gospel message. The message that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses and he further made him who knew no sin to be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Believing this no matter what produces the fruit of the Spirit. It produces love for God ultimately, and that comes through peace and joy. Love, joy and peace ultimately lead to all the other spiritual fruit. However, that will only happen as one rests in the truth of the above gospel message. If you have a group/the body all rehearsing and believing the gospel, eventually, the final fruit mentioned, self-control/temperance will be there in ever increasing portions.

Romans 5:1 says it all: "Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God." Peace with God from hearing and believing the gospel message is the way one serves in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. This is why it is necessary for seasoned saints to hear the gospel over and over and over and over again! It is likewise why Paul told the Corinthians that he determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ crucified... the gospel.

The transforming gospel: Part II How the Holy Spirit Transforms Lives

If you visit the evangelical and orthodox churches across the country you will find that the majority of time, the majority of sermons, the majority of emphasis focuses on using scripture as a prescription for aiding the saint to become a better person, a better Christian. They view the gospel as an evangelical tool to help bring converts to Christ. Further, they believe that once a person is "saved" they need to use scripture to show them how to live as a Christian. Therefore, the bulk of Sunday Morning Sermons focus on making Christians better Christians. This was not the way of the first century churches. They were all about preaching/proclaiming the gospel.

If you look at the history of revival, the greatest revivals came about from preaching the gospel of grace. A prime example of this is the revivals of George Whitfield. He proclaimed grace and the finished work of Jesus Christ. Thousands upon thousands of people were revived, drawn closer to the Spirit in those revivals.

Further, in examining the evangelical and orthodox churches across the country you will find that they all teach that the Holy Spirit enables believers to live a more Christ like life. The problem is that they do not give a hint as to how the Holy Spirit accomplishes it. I believe it to be, that they do not know how the Spirit enables a more Christ like life so they simply state it saying that if one is saved then the Holy Spirit will automatically enable them to live the Law. People act as if this process happens by spiritual osmosis. In fact, I think that this is a most appropriate way of defining the teaching on sanctification. The spiritual osmosis of the the saved saint allows and enables right living. Of course, a very apt aid in this process is reading, studying and hearing the scripture. But, is this what the first century church taught? I think not.

The first century church understood the transforming power of the gospel first hand. Further in all subsequent revivals historically, the real revivals, the preachers and evangelists understood the transforming power of the gospel. When people hear the truth, that God has redeemed them, that they have Christ's righteousness as a free gift of grace, that they can be at peace with the Father because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, that they are eternal and eternally with Christ and the Father, they begin to have peace that leads to joy and ultimately to love. This is exactly what John meant in 1 John 4:10; "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." The gospel (good news) tells the story of God's love, (God's love is the good news) because Jesus is the manifestation of God's love and Jesus is the good news/gospel. The gospel and ONLY the gospel produces genuine love for God. Let me repeat this; only the gospel produces genuine love for God.

Love for God is the way that the Holy Spirit helps to change the hearts and behavior of the saints. The Holy Spirit uses the gospel to assure you that God is love. It is NOT OSMOSIS. It is the transforming power of the gospel. It can never be preached too often or too much. The more the gospel is preached, the more ones love for God grows. This is the ONLY reason for saints to come together. It is to share, rehearse, proclaim and BELIEVE  the gospel.... Why don't most preachers see this? Why don't most churches do this? I will guarantee that if great numbers of churches began to understand and do this, they would be full to overflowing. People would be shouting and praising God for real... not ginned up by some praise and worship leader that uses shame to get people on their feet praising God.

The transforming power of the gospel is God's way of transforming lives... would to God that the current leaders would repent and preach the gospel; that they would determine to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Misunderstanding Holiness: The error of the holiness movement

There are many verses in the New Testament scripture that refers to holiness. Unfortunately, there are those who erroneously think that holiness is something that saints can do or become. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could be farther from the truth. Sanctification is something that is done for the saint by God and growing in holiness is something that accompanies the transformation power of the gospel. This is a continuation of the last blog post  "The Transforming Gospel."

The truth is that many a life has been shipwrecked by the error of holiness, and specifically the Pentecostal movement known as Holiness Churches. The reason for this is that in holiness, as defined by the Holiness Church, it is all self effort. Holiness is something one does. Being sanctified is earmarked by a set of observed behaviors. In fact, the Holiness Church ignores the most important of all concepts, the transforming power and action of the gospel message. Now I realize that it would seem in reading the New Testament that there is a strong case for the necessity of holiness. The problem is that it has been sorely misunderstood. There are many scriptures that the Holiness Church uses to prove the necessity of the holy life. However, they do not mean what the connotation placed on them by the Holiness Church has given them. I will give an example. Hebrews 12:14 KJV  "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" Pretty straight forward and clear right? WRONG!

Holiness begins with the Greek word HAGIAZO... this means to make holy. It is also used for sanctify, sanctified and sanctification. Then we have HAGIASMOS... this means to become holy or to move toward holiness and sanctification; to become sanctified. Next comes HAGIOS, this word is translated saint in the New Testament scripture. Finally, there is HAGION... this is a sanctuary or a consecrated place. They can be found in Strong's Greek Dictionary as 37, 38, 39, and 40 respectively. I list all of these here because they will aid in showing just how far off the mark the Holiness Church Movement is. Let me give you a hint right now. Anyone's holiness begins with HAGIAZO which God did FOR US in Christ, and HAGIASMOS is something that is done supernaturally over time by hearing the gospel. We, by the act of God in Christ, become HAGIOS, and at the same time we are the HAGION for the Spirit of Christ here on earth. Absolutely none of this is done by our effort, and most definitely, it is not accomplished by our reading and doing. The fact is that the so called Holiness Church has a different gospel. It is a damaging gospel as it kills spirituality.

So let's use the example form Hebrews listed above. There is no way that one could say that the author of Hebrews means what the Holiness Church teaches it means. The reason is that the same author stated a redemptive decree in Hebrews 10:10-14 KJV.  "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  (11)  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:  (12)  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;  (13)  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.  (14)  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." There is no possible way that the Hebrew writer could have meant what the Holiness Church has claimed for Hebrews 12:14. Paul also writes similarly.  1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: God made Jesus our sanctification, or in other words our holiness.... and again.... 2 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

So what about HAGIASMOS? Well, this is where the previous blog post comes into play. Hearing the gospel over and over again builds our peace with the Father and causes us to love the Father "for real" at a depth that is impossible without the gospel. It is from this place that our HAGIASMOS, sanctification and holiness grows ever stronger and more and more like our Savior. However, law and the striving for holiness actually kills this supernatural spiritual movement in our hearts.

The Holiness Church needs to REPENT!!!

The Transforming Gospel...

Romans 12:2 NASB "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

The perfect will of God is as follows: John 6:40 NASB "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." The will of the Father is simple... He wants everyone to accept the reconciliation he provided in Jesus Christ. The fact is that the gospel should be transforming. Let me repeat that for effect. The gospel SHOULD be transforming. The gospel should be transforming all by itself. How does it work you ask? Great question! The answer is simple. The gospel gives one peace with the Father. Once the gospel is believed, apprehended... peace/shalom with God is experienced. This is the fertile ground of the gospel seed. The gospel seed brings about the fruit of transformation. Therefore, it is imperative that one renews their mind continually to the gospel. Paul begs by the mercies of God, again the gospel. Anyone that wants to know what the mind must be renewed with should realize that it is the gospel. It is not the Law. It is not the scripture. Yes, if one is to ever experience transformation, it has to come from the gospel and grace. 

Unfortunately current evangelical and orthodox doctrine is WAY off the mark in this regard. Almost universally, people are taught that they need to renew their mind to the scripture and especially the law. This is completely the opposite of what Paul was getting at when he wrote the first two verses of Romans chapter 12. The mind of the saint MUST  be renewed to the gospel for transformation to ensue. This is why it seems that people are so spiritually dead... especially those in the church. The vibrant ones are vibrant in spite of church doctrine. They are vibrant because deep down in their Spirit they realize that God is graceful and they actually rest in his peace. The really vibrant ones do not FEAR God, rather they truly love Him. Not because of the commandment, but because they have renewed their mind to the gospel. Gospel is good news. It is truly good news that one can have peace with God the Father on the basis of the actions of the Lord Jesus Christ, and him alone. Now hear me, let him who has ears hear the Spirit right now. It takes more for some of us to be at peace with God than others. Not because of God, but because of our faith. Therefore, in order for the gospel to transform, grace must be UNLIMITED!

Yet, today, most of the focus of evangelical Christianity is on self reformation. The jumping off point for this is reading scripture, especially the Law portions, and striving to be better, striving to be more Christ like. Reformation is a fleshly pursuit. It is not placed on the supernatural foundation of true transformation. The majority of evangelicals are caught up in the rat race of being reformation worker bees. Most of what they do is focused on self improvement. This all in the light of, Paul stating, that in him, that is in his flesh, there dwells no good thing. This is not as so many think that Paul is self loathing. No, it is Paul admitting that aside from the gospel of Christ, and God's redemption plan he does not stand a chance of pleasing God. The gospel that Paul and the first century Christian leaders taught is a different gospel than what is taught today. The reality is that evangelical Christianity has developed and is teaching a different gospel.. It is a gospel that demands self effort and reformation in addition to the transforming work of Jesus Christ.

Still, this knowledge is just that, merely knowledge, without the strength of the unified body of Christ, the ekklesia, the called out ones. The transformation, to be ultimately successful requires the body believing the gospel. Until there are groups of saints that join in regularly to renew their minds to the gospel... notice I said to the gospel and not to the scripture and law. The full transformation will not take place, rather it is still-born. People are fearful of trusting completely in grace. They have been duped by ignorant and many times arrogant leaders that make them think they are heretics for believing the gospel of grace. Oh, these leaders talk about grace, but only in a schizophrenic way. They do not allow the time or the atmosphere for the gospel to really transform. These leaders, will ultimately face judgment for their error but not in a time frame that will help the saints move forward in the transformation process.

I challenge anyone to go to any church, pay close attention, and it will become evident that the focus is not on the gospel. Sunday after Sunday the main focus will be on self improvement. It will focus on read and do and not believe and be. NOTHING, in scripture can be properly taught until the gospel and grace are paramount, foundational, and the only focus. There needs to be a paradigm shift that will allow the many things covered in the scripture to be understood within their contextual and historical significance. While I want to see the saints transformed, I also want to see the leadership cease and desist from the current error that they operate under. Stop reading the scripture as a legal constitutional document and begin to see it solely as the redemptive narrative.

She/He who has an ear let him/her hear!