Category Archives: Personal

Back to the Word of God Conference

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by in Church, Ecclesiology, Personal, Seeker Sensitivity

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Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 1st Kings 19:18

the authority of the word of god0409121 Back to the Word of God ConferenceA few weeks ago I returned from Norway, where I attended the “Back to the Word of God” conference. I went expecting quite a bit of hostility, as the Gospel was going to be proclaimed to pastors who had been preaching a false gospel.

Most pastors in Norway, like many in America, have replaced the true Gospel with the false seeker driven gospel, that consists of a watered down version of the Law and a sinner’s prayer, or even worse, the command to “be a Jesus follower,” that makes no mention of the need for repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins. As well as this seeker driven gospel there was the word-faith / dominionist gospel, which is all about making demands of God as if He is a genie who does the will of whoever can rub his lamp the right way by saying the right words, having enough faith, being audacious enough, tithing, or keeping certain laws. This false gospel is usually accompanied by manufactured miracles and false healings.

To my surprise, and I think to the surprise of the host of the conference, this isn’t what we found. Rather than a group of pastors who had never heard, let alone taught, the true Gospel, we were blessed to have a gathering of mostly true believers; pastors and lay people who knew, proclaimed, and loved the Good News of Jesus Christ who paid for the sins of His people; a remnant of the invisible true Church holding fast to the Gospel despite their very small number and the opposition of the false churches and the enemies of the Gospel urging them to compromise.

By God’s grace, a remnant from all over Norway gathered to hear the Gospel, to be encouraged by the Gospel, and to fellowship with others who believe.

For sure, the false teachings I mentioned above exist and run rampant all over Norway, but the people who preach such things didn’t show up; instead, news of the conference spread across Norway and a remnant came to hear the Truth. There were some who were influenced by such things, especially those who have heard of the false miracles Bethel Church in Redding, California claim to be performing on a regular basis, but after some reasoning from the Bible and explanation of the “gospel” Bill Johnson and Jesus Culture proclaim, I think those who were influenced by them were able to see the truth.

If at any time then we are troubled at the small number of those who believe, let us, on the other hand, call to mind, that none comprehend the mysteries of God save those to whom it is given. – Calvin. Institutes 1.7.5

One of the best things I think will come of this conference is believers meeting one another and knowing they aren’t alone. Rather than hiding in fear believers will hopefully be emboldened to proclaim the Gospel, knowing they aren’t alone, even if they are few. Along with this, there was some good instruction as to how and what to preach.

As for me personally, aside with knowing the hosts and wanting to hear solid preaching, I didn’t have a reason to go, and I wondered why God would have me there. Thankfully, God did have work for me to do there. I was able to do some teaching one on one or in small groups between sessions and I was able to enjoy the fellowship and make some new friends.

It is my prayer that God will use this conference to increase the faith of all who attended, that we may all go our way encouraged and instructed in how to share the Good News with an unbelieving world. And, that this remnant in Norway will be used to reach the elect with the Gospel.

And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

2nd Kings 19:30-31

Pastors standing in the way?

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Church, Ecclesiology, Grace, Law, Personal, Preaching

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THIRTY-FIFTH EVENING LECTURE
September 18, 1885

Jesus says regarding Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Peter confirms this statement in Acts 4:12 when he declares before the Jewish Sanhedrin, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Paul adds his testimony by telling his Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Truly, then, it is a great and awful sin not to draw any soul that has been entrusted to us for instruction to Jesus and not to tell that soul again and again what a treasure it has in the Lord Jesus, its Savior. To keep someone from believing in Christ is such an awful sin that words cannot express it. A preacher who restrains a soul from confidently laying hold of Christ, whether he does it consciously or unconsciously, purposely or from blindness, through malice or as the result of a perverted zeal for the salvation of souls, deprives that soul, as far as he is concerned, of everlasting life. Instead of being a shepherd to that soul, he becomes a ravening wolf to it. Instead of being its physician, he becomes its murderer. Instead of being an angel of God, he becomes a devil to that person. Alas, so many preachers have not realized until their dying day how many souls they have kept away from Christ by their unevangelical preaching and by their own fault have caused the souls entrusted to them to die of spiritual starvation. The result was that these unhappy preachers shortly before their death have had a severe soul battle to fight with self-accusations and despair, and not a few of them have departed this life without consolation, in anguish, misery, and despair.

The worst offenders in this respect are the so-called Rationalistic preachers, who with devilish audacity mount Christian pulpits and instead of preaching Christ, the Savior, to all sinners, recite their miserable moral precepts for a virtuous life and fill the ears of the people with their empty blather. To these Rationalistic mercenaries, “Whose God is their belly” as it says in Philippians 3:19, the terrible woe is addressed, even in our day, which the Lord denounced in Matthew 23:13 saying, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” What terror shall seize these preachers who used to call themselves friends and adorers of Jesus Christ when they must appear before His judgement seat and hear Him address them in words of flaming anger, “And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Matthew 7:23

- C. F. W. Walther

In two paragraphs Walther explains why I left my church. If a pastor isn’t preaching the Gospel, but instead replaces it with life tips for living well, how to have a better sex life, how to make every day a Friday, etc., he is leading people to hell rather than leading them to Christ who is offering far better than any of these things. Not only is this pastor a distraction, but he is a hindrance, opposing people who would look to Christ.

Should I stay or should I go now?

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Church, Personal

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Wretched Radio brought up a good question on today’s (3/6/2012 hour 1) show. It is a question that I’ve had to consider in a practical way over the last couple of years. The question is, if someone is in a bad church or denomination, should one stay in it and try to work to right the church or should one jump ship and instead serve in a church that is healthy.

As one could see in my first two personal posts, I was in a bad church and ended up leaving. (and somehow started an anonymous blog using the moniker of a 16th century theologian) The role I had in the church gave me the opportunity to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to a couple dozen youth in the years that I was in the church, and kept me in the church despite my desire to leave.

As opportunities presented themselves over the years I asked people whom I respect what they think I should do. One told me that he thought working to reform the church from the inside was the best thing to do, and to leave was one of the worst things one could do. Another, who had been in the church in the past but had since moved on for other reasons, told me that I should move on and find something more biblical. One said to eat the meat but to spit out the bones. Some said to run for my life. The host of a popular radio show and blogger said to stay as long as I can to teach the kids, because they wouldn’t get the Gospel from anyone else, but to moonlight at a solid church.

In the end I went with the advice to stick around but moonlight. As providence would have it, the Sunday school teaching gig ended only a few weeks later, and I didn’t even have time to moonlight more than a couple of times. When I no longer had responsibility for that ministry I was relieved to be able to fully move on.

From the personal and practical to the theoretical and likely more interesting though, Joey from Wretched Radio used an analogy of guys riding in the back of a truck that is tilting to the left and about to roll. If you are one of the riders on the right, do you jump to save your life, and allow the truck to tilt further left and increase the likelihood of rolling, or do you stay and risk going down with it?

At what point do you jump ship? What would it take for you to leave? Is there hope for these liberal churches, or are they too lost to be saved?

Reflections

28 Wednesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Church, Personal

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The reason I started this blog was so I had a place to share my thoughts without outright opposing my church in theology, methodology, and without calling out the pastors who failed to proclaim the Gospel in their sermons. tumblr llo54xdhhZ1qdr7cvo1 400 ReflectionsThere must be a fine line between divisive and biblical. Not being sure where that line is, I didn’t really want to cross it.The reason I stayed, rather than departing right away was because I was in a position with responsibility and some leadership, that is, teaching Sunday school to around a dozen youth who may not otherwise hear the Gospel proclaimed. As I stated in the last post, things have changed, and opportunity to depart has arrived.Today I told the students in the Sunday school class that it would be my last day teaching, and that when Sunday school resumes in January they would be under different teachers. It wasn’t as hard as I had expected it to be, and having it over with is definitely a relief. I did, of course, take the opportunity to do everything I could to get the simple message of the Gospel across to the students. We started in Acts chapters 2 and 3 (as we had been in Acts for the last month), and from there I jumped to John 3, followed by Ephesians 2. The clearest and simplest Gospel passages that I could think of to repeatedly state that it is by God’s grace that we are saved, and that we must repent from sin and trust in the Savior.As far as the blog goes, I no longer have a need for this to be so secretive. Though, I kind of like having a semi-anonymous blog, and I love the name. So, I do plan to stick with it, and hopefully post more often.

Now that the Exodus is complete, I hope to not have 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Instead, I have a friend who is a reformed believing pastor at a local church that I hope will be a good fit for me and that I will be a good fit for them. Prayer is appreciated.

Last thought, I was hoping to somehow name this post Leviticus, given that the other personal posts have had Genesis and Exodus in their names. But, I have no idea how to use Leviticus in a blog title. icon smile Reflections

My Exodus

11 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in Personal, Youth Ministry

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For a few years now I’ve known that I was different. Well, I’ve known I was different for a long time, but different from the others at my church anyway. But, you can see more on that in my first post here.

The youth pastor at my church announced a couple of weeks ago that he would be leaving for an associate pastor position at a church in the next city over. He was the only person on the church staff that seems to have a firm grasp on what the Gospel is and the need to proclaim it from the pulpit.

Along with this, starting next month the church is cutting back from three services to two, something that has long been needed. Previously we had two hours of Sunday school, I taught the second hour and the youth pastor would teach the other. With the new schedule there would be only one Sunday school hour. When I heard this I thought that may be my chance to leave, since I didn’t want to leave handing over a burden to the church. But, with the youth pastor leaving that wouldn’t be the case, as it seemed like I would be teaching the new combined class.

Today I talked to the departing youth pastor, and he informed me that the church has decided that in the future they would prefer a member of the church faculty be the one to teach the Sunday school classes when youth are involved. Not being part of the faculty, that means it won’t be me.

I’ve prayed about how and when to leave for a few years, but my responsibility to serving the youth has been the one thing holding me back the whole time. As of next Sunday that is no longer an issue. So, now I am free to leave to seek greener pastures and a church that proudly proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is relieving to finally have this happening, but it is also very difficult knowing that I will have to say goodbye to the youth I have had the opportunity to get to know and to teach. Also, the worst of it is, the one who will be replacing me doesn’t teach the Gospel.

I ask for prayer for the youth, that they will remember what I have taught them and that the Holy Spirit would do a work in them to regenerate their hearts and lead them to saving faith. That all would be at peace, myself included, in my departure from this church. Also, that I would find a good church to worship and serve in.

To God Be the Glory.