Thursday, August 29, 2013

Why I Support Pastor Chuck O'Neal and Beaverton Grace Bible Church

Pastor Chuck O'Neal and the Beaverton Grace Bible Church family are my friends. They are family to me. The five years of blogosphere terrorism to which they have been subjected to by some is unconscionable. Sadly, the ungodly attack by some has been so concerted, conniving, loveless, twisted, and deceptively convincing that some otherwise very reputable men of God have been misled to believe their unholy rantings.

And now, because I refuse to keep silent about my support and love for Pastor Chuck O'Neal and the Beaverton Grace Bible Church family, the revilers will turn their sights on me. That's okay. Pharisaical efforts like the one to which Pastor Chuck and BGBC has been subjected usually find very little good to say about anyone. Men like Voddie Baucham are on their hit list, too. So, I will find myself in good company.

Then again, not even God and His Word are safe from attacks from those who profess to know Him, but clearly don't. One reviler, claiming to be a follower of Christ, compares Christian Patriarchy to the Muslim Brotherhood. Such hatred for God and His design for men and women--spiritual equality and dignity while fulfilling distinctly different roles--is not the behavior of Christians.

One who chooses to write about pharisaical cloisters of false converts finds himself in a catch-22, on the side of the blade of a double-edged sword, a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" position. Some will say, and rightly so, "You are fueling what motivates their hearts and minds to attack Christians--attention." Others will say, "Don't give them the time of day. You're playing into their hands. Now, they will write about you writing about them and relish in the false martyrdom their haughty spirits contrive in their hearts and minds."

I understand the above concerns. Believe me, I've considered them. But my friends are being attacked. People I care about and love as brothers and sisters are being viciously and wrongly maligned. To say and do nothing while claiming to support them, while claiming to "be there" for them, would be to violate my conscience and to violate what I believe the Word of God teaches about true friendship.

So, here I stand. I stand beside Pastor Chuck O'Neal and Beaverton Grace Bible Church.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Slaying Friendship Evangelism

Friendship Evangelism as it is most often practiced, is neither friendship nor evangelism. Far too often it's more about the believer than it's about Jesus Christ. What happens to the "friend" if they die in their sins before you decide the time is right to share the gospel with them?

Waiting for an unbeliever to give you permission to share the gospel, which Jesus Christ has already commanded you to do, is asking a criminal (a violator of God's Moral Law) if you can obey The Lord and Savior, which is blasphemy against God Almighty.

It's time to end this tool of Satan which has deceived many unwitting Christians and become another man made tradition of Modern American Evangelicalism.

You can listen to the sermon here: Slaying Friendship Evangelism

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Slaying the Sinner's Prayer


I preached this sermon during the Biblical Church Evangelism Conference, in Beaverton, OR. The American Evangelical tradition commonly referred to as the "Sinner's Prayer" has created more false converts than any other unbiblical tradition inside the Church. An untold number of people have been pronounced "saved" after "praying the prayer" by well-intentioned, sincere, caring Christians and by charlatans, hucksters, and personal kingdom and legacy builders.

The result: many, many people one-day standing before the Lord to hear Him say, "Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness; I never knew you."

It's time for this sacred cow of the Church to be slaughtered for the idol it is. If you believe you are saved because you "prayed the prayer," then you must examine yourself to see if you are truly in the faith. Salvation is by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. No one is saved because they prayed a prayer. Salvation is the result of the sovereign, monergistic work of God. Salvation is not the result of the synergistic, cooperative effort between God and man.

Listen to the sermon here: Slaying the Sinner’s Prayer

Monday, August 12, 2013

I'm Not 'Entitled' to My Opinion

The following was on my mind this morning.

Some argue that women can preach the gospel in the open-air if a woman's church or husband gives them permission. There is not a single verse of Scripture to support such a notion. Those who argue in favor of women preaching in the open-air, as I once did, has as the foundation of their argument the silence of Scripture.

I once thought to prohibit women preaching in the open-air was to argue from the silence of Scripture. Not so. After months of study, interviewing several respected pastors and Bible teachers, and engaging in conversations with apologists and theologians it has become abundantly clear to me that the Word of God is not silent about women preaching the gospel in the open-air.

There is not a singularly specific verse to which we can point to explain the Doctrine of the Trinity. And the word "trinity" is not found in Scripture. However, the Doctrine of the Trinity is expressed and magnified throughout the Word of God. The hermeneutic principle known as the "Analogy of Faith" (allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture), rightly employed, allows the open-eyed Christian see this precious and essential doctrine leap from the pages of Scripture, while the spiritually blinded (1 Corinthians 2:14) and dead (Ephesians 2:1-3) remains unable to understand essential, Trinitarian doctrine.

While carrying none of the essentialiity of the Doctrine of the Trinity, a biblical understanding of the important prohibition of women preaching the gospel and reading the Word of God in the open-air can also be clearly seen in Scripture through the hermeneutic application of the "Analogy of Faith." For years I lived as if I was blind to it. Frankly, I didn't want to see it. The implications and ramifications of a biblical understanding of the issue were too great, too costly, too inconvenient, too uncomfortable.

While I was sincere in my beliefs that women could open-air preach and engage in the public reading of Scripture in the open-air, I was sincerely wrong. My upcoming book, Should She Preach? - Biblical Evangelism for Women, is an admission of my exegetical and theological error and an effort to correct the myriad consequences of that error--namely: an effort to undo my mistake of equipping and encouraging hundreds of women to do something God would not have them do--preach in the open-air.

Recently, a brother in Christ who adamantly disagrees with my change of understanding and position regarding the issue said, "You are entitled to your opinion."

No I'm not! Neither I nor anyone else is "entitled" to an opinion about the Word of God. Opinions regarding the Word of God are utterly irrelevant. For a Christian to assert their opinions about the Word of God, apply their opinions to the Word of God, or impose their opinions upon the Word of God is to sit in judgment over the Word of God. It is to filter truth through the strainer of one's own fallible opinion. And who is it that entitled us to our own opinions about the Word of God? God? What verse is that?! No, it is man who arrogantly entitles himself to an opinion of God's Word. And that's as ridiculous as me entitling myself to the opinion that Prince Charles is not next in line for the British throne; I am.

Inevitably, when the standard of opinion is applied, poured over the Word of God, the material that slips through the strainer is the truth, while what remains inside the strainer is opinion, conjecture, and eisegetical conclusions about the Word of God. Frankly, to read and study the Word of God through the opaque lenses of opinion is to apply an atheistic hermeneutic to the Word of God. This is unconscionable for the Christian to do. It is unconscionable for the born-again follower of Jesus Christ (John 3:3-7) whom God has caused to be born-again (1 Peter 1:3), translating him from death to life (John 5:24; Ephesians 2:1-3),  removing the blinding veil from his eyes (2 Corinthians 4:3-6), and giving him the Holy Spirit-enabled ability to understand His Word (1 Corinthians 2:9-16) to then subject the Word of God to the force of his fallible opinion.

No, I'm not entitled to my opinion about the Word of God, and neither are you--whether atheist or Christian. The Christian making the assertion "you're entitled to your opinion" is akin to the neutralitarian, humanistic musings of the college student with one semester of philosophy under his belt who asserts there are no absolutes. "You have your truth and I have mine."

"By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, 'That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged'" (Romans 2:4). And, as both the psalmist and God the Son rightly and powerfully affirmed to the God the Father, "The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever" (Psalm 119:16). And, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17).

There is only one interpretation of God's Word that matters, that is valid--God's. The challenge for every follower of Jesus Christ is not to rest on the laurels of his opinion of the Word of God, but rather to study and pray to come to a right understanding, God's meaning of Scripture. "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

Don't be lazy, Christian. Set aside your opinions of God's Word and do the integrity-challenging, rewarding, correcting, humbling, edifying work of studying God's Word. You're not entitled to your opinion.

Monday, August 5, 2013

The Man Who Will Marry My Daughter

This article first appeared on "The Lawman Chronicles" blog, on June 5, 2009. The occasion was the graduation of my two eldest daughters from our local community college. They have since moved on to graduate from university, with both continuing their education. The then appeared on the "On the Box" blog on September 15, 2011. The occasion for the re-post was my youngest daughter's seventeenth birthday. I've decided to re-post the article, again, with revisions and new content. The occasion for this third posting of the article is the soon-to-be published book, "Should She Preach? - Biblical Evangelism for Women," and my growing disdain for effeminacy and feminism in the American Church. Godly, manly young Christian men are harder to find these days. But I will not lower my standards for my future son-in-laws. I will answer to God, not the culture, for to whom I give my daughters.

Since our daughters were very young, Mahria and I have instilled in them a family commitment to courtship. Our girls will not "date" before they are married. We see no biblical precedence for "trying people on for size" or being in relationship with a member of the opposite sex because it is pleasurable or "something to do." Courtship is a family affair. The purpose of courtship is to prepare a young man and a young woman for marriage.

Mahria and I understand that the day will come, probably soon, when three godly men (one for each daughter) will seek our daughters' hands in marriage. During a time of family devotion several years ago, the subject came up.

At the time, Michelle (my oldest, and now 26) had been reading Sarah Mally's book, Before You Meet Prince Charming. One section of the book offers a family activity in which each person (parents and daughters) makes a list of essential and preferable qualities of a husband. We decided to do the activity and discuss the results.

What follows is my original list of essential qualities for a man who would seek to marry one of my daughters. I've updated and expand the list for the re-posting of this article. The list that follows is not exhaustive, although some of you may become exhausted reading it. With the exception of the first entry on the list, these essential qualities are in no particular order.

The man who will marry my daughter must...

...know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

(Note to any potential candidate who may read this: if this first essential quality is not true in your life, you need not bother reading the rest of the list. You may be a wonderful young man, but you are not the one my Lord and Savior has chosen for my daughter.)

...not be an adulterer in any form, including pornography (Matthew 5:27-28).

...open car and building doors for women whenever given the opportunity. Chivalry is not dead (1 Peter 3:7).

...understand and accept his biblical role as head of the home and his wife (Ephesians 5:25-32).

...be able to provide, financially, for his wife and family (1 Timothy 5:8)--with the understanding that a man and woman are to remain married in times of plenty and in times of want.

...be able to physically protect his wife and family (Matthew 10:26-29; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10)--with the understanding that a man and woman are to remain married in sickness and in health.

...must leave his parents and cling to his wife (Ephesians 5:25-33). While a man should honor his parents, he must not allow his parents to come between him and his wife. No "mamma's boys" need apply.

...be able to teach/lead his family, spiritually. He must be knowledgeable and discerning when it comes to the Word of God (2 Timothy 4:1-4).

...have a biblical understanding of the Church and is actively participating in a local body of believers--submitting to the authority of the leadership therein (Acts 2:42:47; Hebrews 10:24-25).

...love my daughter more than he loves his own life. He must be a 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and a John 15:13 man.

...aspire to the spiritual qualifications of an elder, even if the Lord does not call him to serve in that capacity. He must be a man of biblical character (1 Timothy 6:11-12).

...understand and practice biblical evangelism, in keeping with his own God-given personality. No, he doesn't have to be an open-air preacher like his future father-in-law. But he must love God enough to obey his commands to reach the lost with the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8).

...be able to look me in the eye and respectfully say, "Dad, I disagree." He must have a spine (1 Corinthians 16:13).

...not a coward (Revelation 21:8). He must have an enduring and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. The man who marries my daughter must act like a man, live like a man, and if necessary die like a man. My son-in-law won't quit.

...be be a good steward of his finances (Matthew 6:19-24) while being generous with the same (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

...be teachable, respectful when receiving counsel, and able to make decisions after seeking God's counsel and will through the Scriptures and prayer (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Philippians 4:6-7).

...exhibit the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-24, while fleeing from the sins found in Galatians 5:19-21.

...choose his recreation and entertainment in light of the holiness of God and his personal pursuit of holiness. He must not be a hypocrite with his eyes and his ears (Matthew 5:29-30; James 4:4).

...not have been a party in an unbiblical divorce. He will not make my daughter an adulteress (Luke 16:18).

...understand that if he ever lays a hand on my daughter, only the terrible wrath of Almighty God will be worse than facing me.

...receive my consent to marry my daughter. Otherwise, he is nothing more than a thief.

Now, I understand that no one is perfect. I understand that sanctification is a process and that no man will attain perfection in this life. But any young man who finds this list too much to bear, who is unwilling to try to live up to the personal qualities described in the above list, should examine himself to see if he is even in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). You may have bigger issues than whether or not you will marry my daughter.

Well, there you have it. I hope the above list is both helpful and encouraging to many. I don't expect everyone to agree with my list. Frankly, I don't care. Michelle, Marissa, and Amanda are my daughters, not yours.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

REAL Hope

The Pope, Joel Osteen, Paul and Jan Crouch (and the other false teachers in their heretical, blasphemous TBN stable), Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, T.D. Jakes, Bill Johnson (Bethel Church), Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, Fredrick Price, Rob Bell, Brian MacLaren, Paula While, Joyce Meyer, Patricia King, Todd Bentley, Juanita Bynum, "The Purpose Driven Life" (there's no gospel in it), Catholicism, Mormonism, Muhammadism, Hinduism, Buddhism, The Watch Tower Society, Atheism (and every other religious "ism") and, sadly, segments of American Evangelicalism.........

What none of the above can offer you or provide for you is..........

HOPE. Real hope.

Here is real hope, which is found only in Jesus Christ:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ~ 1 Peter 1:3-9