Good News in the Fight Against Abortion

If Wendy Davis and Planned Parenthood are the face of the pro-abortion movement, then there may yet be hope that this is the last generation for legal abortion in the United States.

First some background: Yesterday the 5^th-Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling and allowed Texas’ new restrictions on abortions to remain in effect. This case will certainly be heard by the US Supreme Court, and is probably the most significant case in the struggle to end legal abortion. 

The case started last year when abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of eight counts of murder for botched abortions. Essentially, Gosnell ran what was described by a grand jury as a “house of horrors” where young women were drugged, labor was induced, and if any babies were old enough to survive delivery, they had their spines cut with scissors. He continuously infected patients with STD’s, reused dirty instruments, and misused drugs. Cats roamed the halls, and the place was a urine and blood-soaked mess.   Continue at Jesse Johnson

5 Differences Between Catholic Theology and the Gospel

With Reformation Day this week, it is a good time to remind ourselves of what exactly the differences are between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestants. Certainly on just about every single area of theology there are differences, but here are what I think are the five most glaring and significant issues that separate the Catholic Church from the gospel of grace:  

1) Justification

Evangelicals teach that sinners are justified on the basis of faith alone, and that ones’ faith is placed in the finished substitutionary work of Jesus on the cross, confirmed by his glorious resurrection, and that this is a gift based entirely on his grace. Finally, that justification is complete and total at the moment of our conversion, and that believers never grow more justified.

In contrast the Catholic church teaches that justification is a process that includes works (with those works “infusing” one’s faith), and that those works are the cause of the justification process. Beyond that, the Catholic Church teaches:

“If anyone says, that by faith alone the impious is justified; let him be anathema” (Council of Trent #9)    Continue at Jesse Johnson

Carson and the Gift of Tongues, or Something

My continuationist friends (and I do have a few) proudly trumpet D. A. Carson as being one of them. In fact, I have met more than one person who has told me that they are continuationist in large part because of Carson’s book, Showing the Spirit, which is his exegetical work on 1 Corinthians 12-14.

And, truth be told, this is one of Carson’s best books, and certainly is one of the best books on spiritual gifts ever written. It is thorough, compelling, and takes the reader deeper into the meaning and significance of every verse in those chapters…with one obvious and comical exception.  

In the NT, the gift of tongues was the ability to speak in actual languages. Just about every NT scholar grants that. Carson establishes that as well, and his case is unassailable. With that in mind, there are really only two semi-plausible ways to legitimize the modern use of “tongues.”

One is to say that what happens today is an actual known language. What you hear at your local Pentecostal church is some language that you simply are not familiar with, such as Swahili.  But with the advent of tape recorders and airplanes (and the field of linguistics), these claims are really untenable. Carson even grants that to be the case.   Continue at Jesse Johnson

Is it Ever OK to Lie?

Is it ever not a sin to lie? Or—to let the double negative cancel itself out and get  right to the chase—does God ever put you in a position where sinning is the right thing to do?

 

This question is as bothersome as it is perennial. It invariably comes attached to this hypothetical: say you lived in Nazi Germany, and you have Jews hiding in your living room, and the SS guards knock on your door and ask if you are hiding Jews. What do you do? Do you lie?

Let me give you my conclusion, and then try and walk you there with me. First: GOD HATES LYING. So yes, it is always a sin to lie, and no, it is never ok to lie. Proverbs 12:12-13 explains why:  

“No disaster overcomes the righteous, but the wicked are full of misery.  Lying lips are detestable to Yahweh, but faithful people are His delight.”

Lying lips are one of the seven things that God finds detestable (Proverbs 6:16). Christians are called to let their yes be yes, and lying violates that basic principle (James 5:12). Meanwhile, God is a God of truth (John 14:7), while the devil is the father of lies (John 8:38). Lies are an affront to providence, as they imply that the world would be better if God simply would have worked it out more to our liking. Thus every lie is an attack against the sovereignty of God, and essentially places you in opposition to that which is true. Instead of lying, speak the truth (Col 3:9, Eph 4:22, 24).

It really is that simple.    Continue at Jesse Johnson

A Pastor’s Reflections: Social Media and Your Congregation

I feel like a dinosaur because I can remember when the internet was really lame and when e-mail was a novelty. When I was a child I actually used 8-track tapes. If you don’t know what that is, Google it! Anyway, one of the things that has come about with the internet is social media, things like Twitter and the Facebooks (yes, I know that it’s really called Facebook). It used to be that people talked with their friends on the phone and kept their deepest darkest thoughts in their journal in their nightstand. Now, people Tweet and post all sorts of things to Facebook. Personally, I have no interest in such things. Why would anyone care whether I just hit Starbucks and had a half-calf-decaf-mocah-choca-ya-ya? But just because I personally don’t care about or have interest in social media doesn’t mean that I’m totally ignorant about social media or that it has no use for the pastorate.

For reasons that still bewilder me, some people don’t seem to realize that the interweb is called the world wide web for a good reason—anyone can read what you post or tweet, unless you keep things password protected or private through your settings, though Facebook can take your pictures and use them if they want (don’t get me started on that one). People post all sorts of things on-line that, to be frank, makes me question their wisdom. How does all of this bear upon the pastor and his congregation, you ask?   Continua at Valiant for Truth

See Also:  Facebook friends and sin

IMAGE

Is Jesus Plus Nothing a Formula for Sanctification?

When D. James Kennedy fell asleep in Jesus, Coral Ridge Presbyterian found itself in a bind. A church with a massive building (dedicated by Billy Graham), Kennedy was their founding pastor and an icon of American Christianity. A leader like that is impossible to replace, but the longer Coral Ridge went without a pastor, the more their attendance dropped, and the more pressure there was to find someone who could follow Kennedy.

Meanwhile, only a few miles away, one of Billy Graham’s grandsons was pastoring a church plant with swelling numbers, and no building. In a match straight out of E-harmony, the elders from both churches realized that each congregation was incomplete. One had a building, the other had none. One was growing, the other not so much. One was famous, the other unknown. One had a pastor, the other was on the hunt. One was dedicated in the 1970’s by Graham, the other was pastored by his grandson. You don’t have to be a Calvinist to see how God was setting this up.

Eventually, Coral Ridge called Tullian Tchividjian to be their pastor, and the two churches merged. What happened next though, is not the stuff of fairy tales. To make a long story short, Coral Ridge seemed to revolt, and after a while the elders called a congregational vote to consider removing Tchividjian as their pastor. Before the vote, Tchividjian went away on vacation, and spent his vacation studying Colossians.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything is the story of Tchividjian and Coral Ridge, interwoven around a commentary of Colossians. At the center is the spiritual epiphany he experienced through his study of that book.   Continue at Jesse Johnson

So…is Mormonism a cult or what?

A few months ago Franklin Graham found himself in all sort of evangelical hot water when he removed a page from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s website that had labeled Mormonism as a cult. The timing of the removal—a few weeks before the presidential election and a few minutes after Billy Graham gave his presidential imprimatur to Romney—made any nuanced reasoning behind the Graham’s move impossible.

They compounded their problems when their defense of the action was “God has not called us to call other people names”—a defense which is about as thoughtful and persuasive as saying “Mormons really are nice people after all.” As Dan Phillips  over at Pyromanics pointed out, how can you possibly argue with someone when they say that God has not called them to do what you think they should be doing? Doesn’t that mean you are arguing with God? Who, exactly, do you think you are?

But there remains an obvious question that bears exploring: Is Mormonism a cult? I want to put forward a nuanced answer: it depends on what you mean by Mormons, and it depends on what you mean by cult.  

First the cult part:

 

I read dozens of blogs skewering the Grahams for their defrocking Mormonism of its cult status, but I don’t remember seeing anyone lay out what exactly it means to be a cult. Certainly there are several definitions of cult. What are they, and how does one qualify?   Continue at Jesse Johnson

27 Murders After Breakfast

A deepening sense of sadness is growing within me this week. It is a sadness which is welling from my spirit for the families who are heart-broken by Friday’s shooting.  The grief and loss they are dealing with is beyond expression.

I am also saddened by some of the foolishness being seen on social media.  Amidst the heartfelt sympathies, there are glib comments, arguing over silly issues, and a hardness shown by those with a point to make that is disturbing (both liberal and conservative.)

I am saddened for our country.  How can we live in a land where these things happen?  As a pastor, I know the spiritual reason. But really, how does someone murder 27 people after breakfast?  How do we have a society where such an act can happen? I mean – the building was secure, safety procedures were being followed.  But this young man was so intent on slaughtering children that he blasted his way through a door and window to begin the killing spree.  Why?

It would be so easy for me to slip into my “preacher-mode” here; and, in a sense, that would be appropriate.  And to some extent, that is what I’m doing.

But would you please think with me…

Why?

Is it guns?

Is it video games?

Is it the fervency to remove God from anything “public”?

Is it a lack of education?

Is it liberal fanatics?  Or conservative?

Is it?

If all of these were “fixed” to the degree society found acceptable, would that prevent further massacres? Would it?

I don’t think so.  In fact, I know it wouldn’t. No, definitely No. No matter how much I wish the solution was that easy, fixing those things is not the answer.

Our problem is not a lack of education or social civility.  It is not a lack of police or the proliferation of weapons. It is not entrenched political beliefs at either end of the spectrum.  It is also not a biological problem that can be fixed with chemicals.   Continue at Shawn Barr

See Also: The lessons from Newtown are not Political

Implications of God’s Passion for His Glory

The essence of Christian Hedonism (as Piper calls it) is that  that everything was made by God to give him glory, and thus (as his creatures) we are happiest when we are seeking to glorify God. In fact, all things derive their meaning by the way in which they magnify the glory of God.

That is easy enough to believe at first glance. When I first picked up God’s Passion for His Glory (half by Edwards, half by Piper), I read the summary of the book: all things exist for God’s glory. I agreed easily. But then in the introduction, Piper hits his readers with a list of implications.

I did not get very far down that list before I realized that I had it all wrong. I had God existing for me, and not me for him. I thought I knew what it meant that my purpose was to glorify God. But this list exposed how flimsy my theology was. It convicted me to read more, study more, and finally to go to seminary. I’m posting these here to provoke you to read the book, and to be thankful that we were made for him.

If man’s chief end is to glorify God by enjoying him for ever, then the following (all off these are taken from God’s Passion for His Glory) are true:  Continue at Jesse Johnson

Four Reasons my Family Trick-or-Treats

Tomorrow night my children will hit our cul-de-sac, knocking on neighbor’s doors, and looking for candy. One will be dressed as a lady bug, and the other will probably be crying because she is not matching her sister.

I recognize that the issue of Halloween and the celebration thereof is a gray area. Because it was not a holiday celebrated in the first century, the Bible does not expressly say one way or the other if children in Christian families should be free to frolic dressed as Pterygota.

Yet the Bible does give us some principles that do apply. The first is that you should not violate your conscience. So if participation in these kind of festivities causes you to associate door knockers with worldly delights sprinkled with the demonic, then I’d stop reading right about now. 


The Bible also tells us a few other principles that apply. Namely that dates are not sacred, and that a particular day cannot reasonably be associated with either demonic practices or godly practices (Col 2:16; Rom 14:5). We are bound to days only insomuch as our conscience binds us, and we should strive to bring our consciences into conformity with Scripture.

But I also understand that the whole issue of days and holidays in the NT are in the context of when to worship, and not when to beg for candy. So let me explain below why I choose to participate in my family’s quest for Reese’s:   Continue at Jesse Johnson

40 Reasons to be Part of a Local Church

Is it possible to live a faithful Christian life without being a faithful part of a local church? I’ve heard many people make the argument that it is indeed possible—especially if there are no good churches around. I disagree.

At the bare minimum, there are forty different commands in the New Testament to live life in some sense with other believers. While certainly it is possible to do some of these with Christians in general, the weight of this list should convince you of the necessity of having on going relationships with other believers.

And those relationships are only strengthened by the fellowship of the local church. In fact, I submit that some of this list is simply impossible to obey if you do not have the kind of ongoing  and ever increasing fellowship with other believers that only comes through ministry in a local church:   Continue at  Jesse Johnson

Trump, Liberty, and Getting Even

Earlier this week, businessman, reality TV star, and former presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke at Liberty University’s convocation. As far as I can tell, convocation is like chapel, except that non-Christians are allowed to occasionally ascend the pulpit. In his speech, Trump said that if you want to be successful in business, you need to learn to punish people for crossing you. You have to be comfortable sending a message to those who wrong you by “getting even,” so others learn not to mess with you.

This was not the only troublesome line in his speech. He encouraged people to get prenuptial agreements in case of divorce, then joked that “you people never get divorces” (the “you people” apparently referring to Christians and/or Liberty students), and he spoke disparagingly of the President. But Trump is on his third wife, does not claim to be a Christian (as far as I know), so certainly can’t be expected to have a handle on the finer points of Christian business ethics, the seriousness of marriage, or the what it means to honor our leaders.

Thus, one could argue that it was unwise for Liberty to expose their student body to a non-Christian’s business ethics… Or one could argue that it was helpful to the University’s mission by giving their students a front row seat to a non-Christian businessman showing how radically different worldly ethics are from the Bible’s. I’d buy either argument, and since Liberty isn’t a church, I ultimately don’t really care one way or the other who speaks at their convocations.    Continue at Jesse Johnson

Evangelicalism Really is Divided

The year was 1950, and evangelicalism was at a crossroads. For the previous 50 years evangelicals had fought to create an identity. Having separated from the main-line denominations, evangelicals now were an mish-mashed group lacking identity. The former generation of evangelicals was tired, having fought battles for the purity and proliferation of the movement. Feeling that the gospel’s integrity was at stake, they had worked to raise up a younger generation of like-minded evangelicals.

This new generation realized that their movement lacked identity. They also noticed that the previous generation had fought battles, some of which appeared to be little more than shadow-boxing as the former enemies had receded for the time being. As this new generation looked across the evangelical landscape, they saw a blank canvass. This new generation labored to create an identity for their group. Ian Murray, in Evangelicalism Divided, shows the struggles that ensued during the battle for the identity of this second generation.

This is one of those books that every American Christian needs to read. In fact, I bet many readers of our blog have already read it, and the rest probably own it. If you have not cracked it, then dust it off and break it out. Before I moved to Viriginia, the elders at Grace Church spent much of the year reading this book together. It was stunning how much of Murray’s details related directly to present controversy in evangelicalism.   Continue at Jesse Johnson

Jesus Calling

Although it came out in 2004, Sarah Young’s devotional has seen a steady increase in popularity over the last two years. Published by Thomas Nelson, Jesus Calling has to be one of the more popular devotionals today. While Challies reviewed it last year, I had not given it much thought until recently, when the radio station I listen to started reading excerpts from it every morning. I was understandably startled to hear Jesus speaking directly to me, through my speakers, on a daily basis.

If you are not familiar with it, Jesus Calling is a collection of transcribed messages that were given verbatim from Jesus to Sarah. As such, they are all in the first person from Jesus’ perspective. Here is a typical example (from the day I wrote this review):

(July 8) “When you seek my face, put aside thoughts of everything else. I am above all, as well as in all; your communion with me transcends both time and circumstances. Be prepared to be blessed bountifully by my Presence, for I am a God of unlimited abundance. Open wide you heart and mind to receive more and more of Me. When your Joy in me meets my Joy in you, there are fireworks of heavenly ecstasy. This is eternal life here and now: a tiny foretaste of what waits you in the life to come.”

Most of the book is relatively harmless, content wise. There are some minor issues where I would object to the actual content of the devotionals, but generally the book is so generic and positive that it stays out of serious theological ditches.   Continue at Jesse Johnson

What Happens to Infants who Die? The NT answers

Yesterday we saw 16 verses in the OT that address the issue of what happens to little children who die. I hope you saw that the OT lays the groundwork for a category distinction: there are two kinds of sinners who die. There are those who die because of their sin nature, namely infants. And there are those who die because they love sin, and actively embrace it; namely, adults. This distinction is important to grasp because the NT does not reestablish it from the ground up but rather Jesus and Paul both teach in such a way that the distinction is reinforced.

Again, if any of these verses trouble you, simply skip them, and let the weight of the full list be enough to convince you. The numbering picks up where yesterday left off.

17) Jesus blessed little children. There are no examples of Jesus blessing anyone who was in open rebellion to God. Again, much like Jonah 4, Jeremiah 19, 1 Kings 11, this (at the very least) creates a category distinction between sinful adults in rebellion against God, and the childlike innocence of children (Matt 18:3-5).

18) In Matthew 18, Jesus not only blesses the children, but uses them as an earthly analogy of childlike faith. He says that “unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child– this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Everyone is free to debate what exactly Jesus means here, and there are Christian answers all over the spectrum. But at the very least, Jesus has to be implying that children in their current state would go to heaven if they died. Consider this statement: “my car is as fast as a cheetah, and unless your car is like a cheetah too, it can never be fast.” Everyone can debate what it means to be fast, or how fast my car really is, or if your car even should be fast. But the entire analogy would break down if cheetahs were not indeed fast to begin with. That is the assumption that makes the analogy make sense. Whatever Jesus is saying Matthew 18, it only makes sense if the destination of children who die is an enviable one.   Continue at Jesse Johnson

Depression and Serotonin

If you have been a pastor for longer than one week, you have probably counseled someone who was taking medication for depression. This presents a consummate pastoral dilemma because pastors want to bring the Bible to bear on all of life, and at the same time, we didn’t go to medical school.

There is the reality that the help God gives us in the world comes in the form of special revelation (his Word has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness) and general revelation (medicine can really help you when you’re sick). 

Depression seems to have one foot in both worlds, and so it can offend secular psychologists when pastors take people to the gospel to bring joy, and it can rankle pastors when a person says that they are taking medication to find a way to cope with life.

And let me admit right away that the only medical knowledge I have comes from Wikipedia, I cheated in high school biology (I was caught and repented at conversion), and know nothing about the inner workings of the brain.

So I defer to the professionals when it comes to medical issues, and if a doctor says someone has a chemical imbalance that medicine can correct, I am certainly in no position to quibble.  Continue at Jesse Johnson

Self-examination and Resolutions

While some may scoff at a New Year’s Resolutions, I embrace them. The scriptures are filled with various challenges to examine ourselves, and to see where we fall short God’s standards. Introspection is a healthy part of our relationship with the Lord.

Before a believer takes communion, he is to “examine himself” (1 Corinthians 11:28). Paul, in a rebuke to the Corinthians, told them to “examine yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Colossians 3 presents a pattern of putting off sin and putting on conduct becoming of those who love the Messiah. And in Colossians 3, Paul culminates his description of sanctification with this charge: “whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17).

Normative Christian living contains self-examination. There is a morbid introspection that goes too far; we all know those who are Christian Eeyores, moping about, striving to uncover any hidden motive behind every action. That sort of spiritual depression is not what I am talking about. But there is a healthy self-examination that should be part of the Christian life. Self-assessment can be extremely beneficial in our quest for godliness.  Keep Reading >>>

From Calvary Chapel to Sovereignty and Elders

I have a confession to make: I have a Calvary Chapel past.

Don’t jump to conclusions though…trust me—I can explain it. I am from Albuquerque, where for the longest time the Calvary Chapel was the banner of evangelicalism in Albuquerque. The evangelical scene has significantly changed since, but that is a story for another time.

When I was a sophomore in college, I had been a believer for only two years and was one of the only college students at my church. I was desperate for Christian friendship, and found a flier for an STM trip to Nicaragua put on by Calvary Chapel. Since I was a Spanish major, I took the flier to the church, and met the missions pastor. He began meeting with me and teaching me about both missions and ministry.

That started my relationship with Calvary. I was attending the same small non-denominational church where I had come to Christ a few years earlier, and the Calvary pastor never asked me to leave. Because Calvary did Saturday night, Sunday night, and a midweek service, I was actually able to attend three services a week without disrupting my commitments at the church where I was a member (I would not recommend this approach to ecclesiology, by the way). By the time I graduated, I was working with a now-defunct group called LifeLine missions, and regarded Calvary as the source of my rapid spiritual growth.   Keep Reading >>>

David a Model of Restoration?

Does David’s life teach us that God can restore an adulterer to ministry? After all, David was a murderer and an adulterer, as well as a liar and poor father. 

Polygamy aside, his family life was a catastrophic train crash matched only by the debacle in 2 Samuel 11. 

Yet God did not remove him from the throne, and allowed his reign to directly last 40 years, and indirectly forever. Why? What is the lesson there?

The wrong lesson is this: God does not take sin seriously. I have heard people who commit immorality point at David and say, “See! God let him be king, so he can return me to ministry despite my unbiblical divorce and/or adultery.”

Let me be clear about two things. First, God does use sinners (those are the only kind of people there are!). At the same time, there are some sins that in the church disqualify someone from being an elder or church leader. Second, it is possible for people who have committed certain disqualifying sins to eventually be restored to pastoral ministry after an extended time away. An excellent book on that topic is The Stain that Stays, as it provides principles to apply in  those situations. This post does not want to go down the road of looking at those principles.

But I have heard Christian leaders who have committed disqualifying sexual sins point to David as justification for their refusal to take time away from ministry. The goal of this post is to explain why David’s life does not function as an example of God blessing the ministry of a disqualified leader.   Keep Reading >>>

Pastors and Tithing

I was recently asked by a church if Grace Church requires their pastors to practice tithing. This is my response to that email:

The word tithing means giving ten-percent of income to the church. I do not teach or practice that approach to money. I think that is based on a faulty understanding of the Old Testament practice, and creates and propagates a wrong understanding of God’s relationship to our money.

In the OT, the Israelites were living in a theocracy, and everything they owned really belonged to God. God drove that point home by making them revert their land sales and free their slaves every 50 years. Tithing in this system served as a form of taxation. While God owned everything, he required his people to fund the Levitical system (Levites were priests, and thus generally were not farmers, merchants, or shepherds) with a tithe collected annually (Deut 12:2-19; 14:22-29). Leviticus 27:30-32 reiterates this tithe, and applies to livestock as well.

In the NT, the tithe goes the way of the Levites and the temple curtain. As the Baker Bible Encyclopedia says, “Tithing is mentioned in the New Testament only critically.” The fact was, Pharisees loved the tithe, because it was easy to enforce, said nothing of the heart, and had little to do with actual love for God. Not only that, but religious leaders were the recipients of it, and in exchange all they paid was ten-percent (to themselves!).   Keep Reading >>>