The Shadow Proves The Sunshine

On my way to the Y this morning I was looking for some music to "pump me up." Yes, I need all that I can to get me motivated. So, I put on some Switchfoot which I haven't listened to in a while. I forgot how philosophical the album "Nothing Is Sound" is. I enjoyed listening to one of my favorite tracks called "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine." Some of the lyrics include:

Oh Lord, why did you forsake me?
Oh Lord, don't be far away away
Storm clouds gathering beside me
Please Lord, don't look the other way

We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain where
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

Sometime we get so wrapped up in our lives; storms of life, relationships, etc. that we forget about God's providence. We talked about this last night as well. We need to see life from a different perspective - God's perspective. Switchfoot gets it right, the shadow proves the sunshine. Even though there are dark days, there is always Someone who is bigger than any problem. As God's children, He will never leave us or forsake us. This week focus on God's providence. He is our Father and He cares for us and protects us. We read this verse last night: "Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things (Acts 17:25, emphasis mine)." God doesn't need anything and He gives you and I everything. That is an amazing truth!

Dangerous Theology Of The Gift Of Prophecy

There is another dangerous theology found in C. Peter Wagner's book 7 Power Principles I Learned After Seminary. It is one of extra-Biblical revelation. This is prophecy above and beyond the Bible. This is so dangerous that Joseph Smith picked up on this and started a cult. Let me briefly breakdown this dangerous theology in the following paragraphs.

Wagner writes, "The reason that God has provided prophets is so that His will can be heard, understood and obeyed by the Body of Christ. The major source of the revelation of God is, of course, the Bible, and no authentic prophecy could ever contradict what the Scriptures say. Nevertheless, there are many things that God wants to tell us today that cannot be found in the Bible (pg. 46)."

Wagner is confusing an OT office of prophet with the NT gift of prophecy. The Bible specifically says, "I testify to everyone who hears the prophetic words of the is book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, written in this book (Revelation 22:18-19)."

The reason God spoke through prophets in the OT is because Christ had yet to die making Himself a mediator between us and God (1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 8:6, 9:15, 12:24). God used His prophets to speak to man. Today, thanks to the blood of Jesus Christ, we now have the ability to enter into a personal relationship with God. God has spoken. He has revealed all of Himself that He wants us to know. That is through general revelation (nature, earth, sky, universe, etc.) and special revelation (through Jesus Christ which is revealed in the Bible). Today, we do not need anyone to talk to God for us (1 Pet. 2:9) and we don't need anyone to speak for God - we now all have equal access to God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says about the Holy Spirit, "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take form what is Mine and declare it to you (John 16:13-14)." If every believer has God indwelling inside of them, there is no need for someone to speak for God anymore. This eliminates the OT office of prophecy.

Basically, with all of this I conclude, as with Wayne Grudem, "So prophecies in the church today should be considered merely human words, not God's word, and not equal to God's words in authority (Systematic Theology, 1055)." I believe that I have the spiritual gift of prophecy. It DOES NOT mean that I speak for God. God has spoken and reveled Himself. I believe that God gives me a message FROM HIS WORD, to share with the congregation that God has called me to serve. It is not new. It is an interpretation of Scripture applied to our local context and to His body of believers.

God does NOT have anything to tell us that is not in the Bible. We can apply Biblical principles differently, but God does not SAY anything different. If so, God could change. If God keeps changing we could never know Him, and only those with a "special" gift could tell us who He is. This denies the Christian unity of the Body of Christ in the church as prescribed in Scripture. Also, this gift of prophecy goes hand in hand with my other highest gift of exhortation. I believe I stand in the pulpit to point out sin and the direction we need to take as believes and a church (as given by Scripture), but also to encourage all believers to keep on keeping on in the faith. This is exactly what the apostle Paul did throughout his letters.

One of my former pastors, Harlan Caton, sums up my view (the Biblical view) of the gift of prophecy when he writes, "Notice that the gift of prophecy is to be distinguished from the office of the prophet. The true New Testament office of a prophet was a man who was at the particular time actually receiving the Word of God, while the gift of prophecy is the divine-given ability to preach the Word of God. Since we have the written Word of God, there is no longer any need for the office of a prophet, but we do have those who have the fit of prophecy. It certainly should be stated here that the gift of prophecy has nothing to do with the ability o tell the future. It is the divine-given ability to preach the Word of God and is given only to men (Strengthening The Saints Through Sound Doctrine, 175)."

Basically, God is not saying anything new about Himself. God does not need anyone to talk specifically for Him because He can simply tell each believer who has the Holy Spirit indwelling inside of them. Therefore, there is no need for a future-telling gift. We already know what's going to happen! What do you think? Stay tuned, there is more to come...

A Dangerous Theology Of The Trinity

C. Peter Wagner’s book 7 Power Principles I Learned After Seminary lends itself to a very scary, but accepted, doctrine of the Trinity. I believe this belief in the Trinity is not compatible with Scripture and I briefly hope to make my case here. Wagner writes,

"The pragmatic question, then, becomes, What does it take to reach the lost? The answer, of course, is that it takes the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not simply a theologically correct statement. It has been borne out of empirical research. The churches that are growing most vigorously in the world, are with few exceptions, the churches that are permeated by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, supernatural power becomes a determining operational force. It is derived from the premise that the Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity most directly involved in effective evangelism. This does not mean that the emphasis on the Father and the Son is reduced in apostolic churches, but rather that the emphasis on the Holy Spirit is increased.

This is not only a pragmatic conclusion based on the premise that the more we have the operational power of the Holy Spirit the more we'll evangelize, but it is also understood as a clear biblical principle. While I was in seminary, I was taught that the Cross was an indispensable lens through which I should interpret the Bible. Before coming to a conclusion on any doctrine or important idea for ministry, I was taught to ask the test question, How does this relate to the Cross? The assumption behind this was that our focus should constantly be on the work of the Second Person of the Trinity - Christ. As I look back on this assumption years later, I regrettable feel that it ingrained in my mind an exaggerated Christology. The slogan 'Christ is all!' has its positive connotations, but it can also become and obstacle to biblical evangelism (pg. 20-21)."

And later,

"What Jesus was telling His disciples is the point I am trying to make now, namely for the purpose of evangelization, the immediate presence of the Third Person of the Trinity is more important than the immediate presence of the Second Person of the Trinity (pg. 22)!"

Wagner here is very close to saying that Jesus is no longer needed because His work is done. The work is now done by the Holy Spirit and Him alone. Also notice that there is no mention of the Father anywhere. This is because I believe Wagner is leaning towards a Trinitarian theology called modalism (which is accepted by the United Pentecostal Church which I believe Wagner uses for many of his examples in the book. For an eye opening look at their doctrine on the subject visit http://www.upci.org/doctrine/60Questions.asp).

Modalism, as defined by theologian Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology, is "God is not really three distinct persons, but only one person who appears to people in different 'modes' at different times (pg. 242)." This means that God was the Father in the OT, the Son in the NT, and the Holy Spirit today (technically after Jesus ascended). This theology is nothing new. It was introduced in the third century by a teacher in Rome named Sabellius and is sometimes known as Sabellianism.

There are big problems with this. First, God reveals Himself as plural in the OT. This does not tell us exactly that He is one God in three Persons, but it points to the fact that there is more than one person that makes up this one God. A great example is Isaiah 6:8, "Who should I send? Who will go for us?" God speaks of Himself in the singular and the plural. If that is not enough, the biggest hurdle in my mind to get past would be Jesus' baptism in the Gospels of the NT. Here we see Jesus, hear the voice of God the Father, and the Holy Spirit rests on Jesus like a dove (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-10; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34) If this is not true, then either Jesus or someone nearby was an awesome ventriloquist!

Plus, this theology denies relational aspects of the Trinity which is the core of Trinitarian theology. Human beings are relational begins by nature and this comes from the relational nature of the Trinune God.

Next, let me interact with a few words from the above quotation that jumped out at me. First is the use of the word "empirical." As we will see as we flesh out more of the ideas in this book, the focus is on an experience or feelings. While feelings and emotions are important, it is not how we judge or base our relationship with God. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is important to know what God is like. To know His character and to trust Him - even if we don't have the emotional experience we are hoping for. It does not diminish God's work.

Also, the word "force" is used. Now, thanks to Jonathan and my own doing, I have been watching Star Wars way too much. As you know, the focus of the movie involves a New Age-ish philosophy focusing on a force around us. We have to be careful to turn the Holy Spirit into a force or focus on the force of His power. If that is the case, the Holy Spirit is diminished to a weapon. The Bible is our weapon (Eph. 6:17). The Holy Spirit does have power - all power - because He is God, but He is not the only source of power. God the Father has power and God the Son has power. Our desire is to seek the will of the Father, live like Jesus Christ, and be guided by the Holy Spirit. Every person of the Trinity plays an important role in our sanctification.

Lastly, there seems to be an emphasis on the number of the Trinity. Remember that those numbers are just placed there for human understanding. Every person of the Trinity is equal - no One is more important. It does not matter that three comes after two and that the Holy Spirit is now more useful or powerful. They are all equal because they are three persons as ONE God. Hard to understand - yes! What the Bible teaches - yes! Accept it by faith - we're gonna have to!

So this leads us to ask, what is the difference in the three Persons of the Trinity? Well, I'm glad you asked! Join us on Sunday nights at 6pm as we look more carefully at the Trinity starting with God the Father in two weeks (no PM Sunday due to Father's day). See you then!

7 Power Principles...Um, No

Last night I finished reading a new book I purchased called 7 Power Principles I Learned After Seminary by C. Peter Wagner. I felt duped. I figured it was a leadership book with practical ideas I could apply to ministry. I was mistaken. Instead, I found that it was purely Pentecostal theology. I am not "against" any of our Pentecostal friends, but I do have some problems with some of their extreme theological interpretation. So, for the next few blog posts, I will interact with this book and some of the ideas presented, some being very close, if not directly heresy. I will explain more.

To make myself clear though, I know that not all Pentecostals are the same and believe the same (as the book even points out). So before we begin, know that not ALL Pentecostals adhere to the ideas in the book, just like not every Baptist believes the same thing. I am sure that some of the views expressed are extreme and I will deal with those. So, stay tuned and be ready to interact!

VBS Recap

What an amazing week!! This had been the best VBS ever and I am so proud to be a part! Here are some of the numbers that I have so far:

• 10 professions of faith
• over $1,000 given to missions
• an average of 92 kids each day with the high of 97 on Wednesday
• about 200 people here last night for family night
• 1 big chicken!

There are three things that made this week so amazing:
1. God showed up in a huge way! He did all this!
2. People prayed
3. The volunteers/workers did an outstanding job

Continue to pray for those kiddos who put their faith in Christ this week and again if you see some of these volunteers around, give them a big hug and tell them "thank you!"

Don't forget to be here Sunday to hear more and see more. We're going to show a video of the week and you won't want to miss it!

VBS Update

God is definitely up to something at FBC!! Yesterday we had 85 kiddos and today we have 95!! Praise the Lord! This is due to the faithful prayers of our members and all the hard work and obedience of these incredible workers. As you see these workers around town or at church on Sunday, hug their necks and tell them "thank you!" Thank you church for your prayers and support. God is absolutely amazing! Y'all have a G'day mates!