The Biblical Antidote to Legalism Gary DeMar
A great deal of confusion exists in the church over the definition of
legalism. There are those who conclude that a legalist is someone who "keeps the commandments." This cannot be
legalism since the Bible commends those who keep God’s commandments. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep
My commandments” (John 14:15). Others imagine that a legalist is a person who works at keeping God’s law. Such
a person is not a legalist since the psalmist extols the beauty and necessity of a love for God’s law
(Psalm 119)....
Dispensational Distortions (Part 1) Ken Gentry
In this article I will highlight a series of dispensational
distortions that I feel to be harmful to a balanced Christian
worldview. Each of these errors impact our understanding of
Christ and his ministry, making the matter of particular concern
to evangelicals.
Dispensational Distortions (Part 2) Ken Gentry
In this second
installment on dispensationalism's theological
distortions, I will consider the distinctive errors of
dispensationalism relative to redemptive history. The central
message of Scripture is the divinely revealed story which makes
up redemptive history. It involves the progress of God's saving
acts from the fall of Adam to Christ's Return. Unfortunately,
several peculiar doctrines of dispensationalism distort
redemptive history, and therefore the over-arching message of
Scripture.
Dispensational Distortions (Part 3) Ken Gentry
This is my final installment in this mini-series on
"Dispensational Distortions." I come now to their problems in
understanding contemporary history from a biblically based
worldview. Dispensationalism is seriously hampered by a
historical system that is both confused and distracting to a
full-orbed Christian witness.
...Modern Evangelicalism almost uniformly and universally teaches
that in order for a person to be born again, he must first exercise faith. You have to choose to be born
again. Isn’t that what you hear? In a George Barna poll, more than seventy percent of “professing
evangelical Christians” in America expressed the belief that man is basically good. And more than eighty
percent articulated the view that God helps those who help themselves. These positions — or let me say it
negatively — neither of these positions is semi-Pelagian. They’re both Pelagian. To say that we’re basically
good is the Pelagian view. I would be willing to assume that in at least thirty percent of the people who are
reading this issue, and probably more, if we really examine their thinking in depth, we would find hearts that
are beating Pelagianism. We’re overwhelmed with it. We’re surrounded by it. We’re immersed in it. We hear it
every day. We hear it every day in the secular culture. And not only do we hear it every day in the secular
culture, we hear it every day on Christian television and on Christian radio...
...In my article, I pointed to the obviously rival goals of the
fundamentalists who had voted for Reagan: pro-political reform vs. pro-Rapture. Jerry Falwell’s Moral
Majority was inherently schizophrenic.
Premillennial dispensational eschatology is committed to portraying the world as inherently incurable and in
moral decline. Only the following series of eschatologically inevitable events can reverse this decline:
the (somehow) secret Rapture, followed by the Great Tribulation against the State of Israel, followed by the
return of Christ to set up an international Christian bureaucracy.
More than this: all evidence of moral decline had been harnessed for decades to prove the inevitability of
the fastapproaching Rapture of the saints to heaven. The archetype — the literary model — was Hal Lindey's
best-selling book, The Late, Great Planet Earth (1970)...
I would like to talk this morning about what Christian Reconstruction
is. When people ask me for an explanation of what Christian Reconstruction is, I usually give them the short
answer. I say,
Our culture has problems because it is based on the sinful will of men. Rebellion against God never works,
so these problems will progress to a systemic failure. We believe in rebuilding our culture on the Word of
God, starting with individuals and progressing outwardly to families, groups, institutions, communities, and beyond.
Chalcedon is an organization that promotes Christian Reconstruction, but Christian Reconstruction is not an
organization. It is a view of the Christian faith and the believer’s responsibility thereto. I realize that
not all Reconstructionists agree on all points, but I’m speaking now of the historical roots of Reconstruction
and some of the ideas that gave it impetus.
Some dispensationalists are dangerous. When Jews were being
exterminated under Adolf Hitler’s anti-Jewish policy, a number of prominent dispensational writers believed
that prophecy had set the course of inevitability for the Jews. According to dispensationalism, two-thirds
of the Jews will be killed during a future "great tribulation" (Zech. 13:8). This led some to advocate a
"hands off" approach when millions of Jews were being taken to concentration camps and marched into gas ovens.
Bible prophecy had made it so...
...Any Christian with an interest in
biblical theology and eschatology must face the question of the role of Israel
in the plan of God. All evangelicals agree: God’s redemptive purpose in the Old
Testament focuses on Israel as his special people. But all evangelicals do not
agree on the answer to the questions: What is Israel’s PRESENT role in the new
covenant era? What is God’s prophetic purpose for Israel in the FUTURE? These
are important issues, which, if unresolved, wholly undermine one’s understanding
of Scripture. These are issues separating dispensationalism from all other forms
of evangelical theology...
Leading up to the war in Iraq, evangelical Christians
became perhaps the most enthusiastic advocates of imperium. Though politicians have often
abused "Just War theory," it is still an integral part of Christian ethics when examining issues
of war and peace. Thus, one must ask, was the Iraq war "just" based on the criteria of historic
Just War theory?
...Certainly there is evidence of widespread abuse of alcoholic beverages today; this few would
deny. Furthermore, the Bible clearly condemns all forms of alcohol abuse, by binding precept and
by notorious example. Yet the ethical issue before us is, Does the Bible allow for a righteous
consumption of the beverage alcohol? The fundamental question is ethical, not cultural or
demographical; it requires an answer from a Biblical, not an emotional, base.
Government will be quick to point out to pastors and others
who minister in Christ’s name that they must keep themselves out of “politics” and confine
themselves to their “proper” task of preaching the Gospel. This raises the question: What is
the Gospel? Surely it is the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. But it is more than that.
It is the proclamation of the kingdom of Christ and His lordship. Salvation is for the whole
person. It is meant for his whole human existence. It is not meant for his “soul” only.
It affects, in addition to the spiritual sphere, the political, social, and economic spheres
also.
... What we need, now more than ever, is genuine Biblical
revival, based on solid Biblical teaching. John Carrick notes that some 50,000 people were
converted in the First Great Awakening, or roughly one fifth of the population. Were a comparable
revival to come today, he notes, it would mean that “50 million people would press into the
kingdom of God.”7 Now there is something to pray for! But such a God-sent revival should be
pursued only through the forms of evangelism taught in Scripture.
Western civilization has, since the 17th century Enlightenment, shifted its
philosophical base from Christianity to the rationalism of autonomous man. The evidence of this shift has become
increasingly apparent in the last half century. Also apparent, however, has been the decline of cohesion in the West,
of any sense of purpose or direction in society. The greatest unifying factor of post-Enlightenment mankind has been
its repudiation of all things Christian.
With all the wrangling over same-sex marriage within both secular and religious circles, the debate seems stalemated. And one reason
Christian debaters have not succeeded is that they overlook one simple fact: Biblical love is not based on romance.
A cultural brushfire is ablaze in Christian
civilization. The encroaching flames of secular culture threaten our godly
heritage. Most people rush to the aid of a burning community, but many judges
and civic leaders are only too happy to watch the city of God burn to the ground.
The Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages and the Reformation
was, in one respect, more Biblically orthodox than most of the modern church.
In the medieval tradition it saw all of life in religious terms.
Today we would say it had a world and life view that was rightly God-centered.
Unfortunately, however, it saw the work of God in hierarchical terms, with the
institutional church as the mediator between heaven and earth, effectively being
an extension of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
"There have been various attempts to set up a distinctly Christian civil
government throughout the New Testament era. Some more recent endeavors have been that of Calvin in Geneva, Knox in
Scotland, and the Puritans in New England. These attempts had one thing in common: they were sincere and worthy
efforts by godly but fallible men. Their work is instructive and important, and those who would seek to institute a
Christian civil government in their own nation today neglect their work at their own peril. However, none of these
can provide the definitive model for erecting Christian civil government today because none were without error; all
were plagued by human frailty and mistakes. Examples from church history may provide help, and we ought to learn from
them, but none carries divine authority or infallibility. "
Protecting
America's freedoms for over 40 years through education and
activism.
JUPITER PRESBYTERIAN and
REFORMED COVENANT CHURCH
110 Park Street, Jupiter, FL 33458
For information, JPRCC: mailto:jprcc@adelphia.net
Phone: Elder Ron Bull (561) 745-2429
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