Does God Love His Enemies?

Does God love everybody? Does He love everyone in the same exact way? Before we rush in to answer, we need to research the biblical data. Emotions tend to run high when it comes to these questions because they go to the very heart of something intensely personal to us all, drug our very view of God.

From what I can glean of the Scriptures, I think it would be easy to prove that God has a measure of love for His Son that he does not have for Satan and the demons. That’s fairly obvious of course, but once stated, it does show that although God is love, He possesses the ability to love with differing degrees.

However one interprets the phrase “Jacob I loved, Esau I have hated” (Romans 9:13) I can see no way to avoid the conclusion that God had a different measure of love for one twin above the other.

I believe John 3:16 clearly reveals that God does love the world. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” I have written elsewhere concerning John’s use of the word “world.” He uses it at least 10 different ways in his gospel. Yet I believe the most natural interpretation of “world” in his famous verse (from what I can gather of the context) is that it refers to all the people on planet earth, rather than the elect. I believe the text teaches us that such is God’s love for the human race that He has given them His Son as the Savior. That does not imply a universal redemption for everyone in the world however, for as the rest of the verse teaches, the giving of the Son was for the purpose that the believing ones would in no way perish but instead have everlasting life. God gave His Son as the world’s only Savior. Only through Jesus will anybody be saved in this world, and yet, there is no possibility of a believing one perishing.

Elsewhere in the same chapter, in verses 35 and 36 we read, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Just as a man is expected to have a different degree of love for his wife than every other man’s wife, or his child, rather than everyone else’s child, or his mother rather than the dog next door, so God has different degrees of love. God set His love on Israel in a way He did not for Egypt. He explains this love in Deut 7:

“6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

God loved Jacob in a way He did not Esau and this love manifested in his unconditional election (Romans 9:6-13). So God has a love for His elect sheep that is different in dimension to those who are merely goats. In John 17 He says, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”

There is much to consider on this topic. I would recommend Dr. R. C. Sproul’s book “Loved by God” as a great resource in this regard.

It is interesting that today I read the following from Tommy Clayton, Content Developer and Broadcast Editor at Grace to You.

I can still remember the chair I was sitting in years ago when I read a life-changing page in John MacArthur’s book The God Who Loves. In an economy of words, John exposed, confronted, and changed my thinking on one of the most critical areas of theology, the nature of God. My understanding of God’s love—specifically His love for the non-elect—was never the same.

For months, I had been wrestling with the question of whether God’s love extends beyond those He chose for salvation. “Does God love all humanity, even the Judas Iscariots and Adolf Hitlers of the world?” At the time, I couldn’t answer that question with any degree of certainty. And although I was sitting under sound biblical teaching, I had begun entertaining the idea that God’s elect have a monopoly on His love. I couldn’t reconcile the idea of God loving His enemies with the following texts:

• Psalm 5:5, “You hate all workers of iniquity.”
• Psalm 7:11, “God is angry with the wicked every day.”
• Psalm 26:5, “I have hated the assembly of evil doers.”

Beyond those troubling texts, I was grappling with God’s explicit statements about hating Esau found in Romans 9 and Malachi 1. “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” You have to admit, that’s a hard verse to refute. God’s hatred was unrelated to Esau’s conduct or character. It was rooted in His eternal, sovereign purposes.

The more I pondered those verses, the more resistant I became to acknowledging God’s love to all humanity. I failed to see the tragic effects such thinking had on my evangelistic fervency. I had adopted a self-righteous mindset, thinking God was absolutely repulsed by unbelievers—probably just as repulsed as I was. I became blind to all the Scriptures speaking to God’s steadfast love and compassion for the lost. Somewhere along the way, my love and compassion for sinners waned.

I was convinced in my own mind. God loves the elect and hates the non-elect. End of discussion.

But then, I read the following words by John MacArthur:

Scripture clearly says that God is love. “The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (Ps. 145:9). Christ even commands us to love our enemies, and the reason He gives is this: “In order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45). The clear implication is that in some sense God loves His enemies. He loves both “the evil and the good,” both “the righteous and the unrighteous” in precisely the same sense we are commanded to love our enemies.

In fact, the second greatest commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. 12:31; cf. Lev. 19:18), is a commandment for us to love everyone. We can be certain the scope of this commandment is universal, because Luke 10 records that a lawyer, “wishing to justify himself … said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (Lk. 10:29)—and Jesus answered with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The point? Even Samaritans, a semi-pagan race who had utterly corrupted Jewish worship and whom the Jews generally detested as enemies of God, were neighbors whom they were commanded to love. In other words, the command to love one’s “neighbor” applies to everyone. This love commanded here is clearly a universal, indiscriminate love.

Consider this: Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law in every respect (Matt. 5:17–18), including this command for universal love. His love for others was surely as far-reaching as His own application of the commandment in Luke 10. Therefore, we can be certain that He loved everyone. He must have loved everyone in order to fulfill the Law. After all, the apostle Paul wrote, “The whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:14). He reiterates this theme in Romans 13:8: “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Therefore, Jesus must have loved His “neighbor.” And since He Himself defined “neighbor” in universal terms, we know that His love while on earth was universal.

Do we imagine that Jesus as perfect man loves those whom Jesus as God does not love? Would God command us to love in a way that He does not? Would God demand that our love be more far-reaching than His own? And did Christ, having loved all humanity during His earthly sojourn, then revert after His ascension to pure hatred for the non-elect? Such would be unthinkable; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” (Heb 13:8) (John MacArthur, The God Who Loves, 102-03).

John’s simple explanation of those Scriptures compelled me to rethink my position on God’s love. Jesus was God. Jesus loved His neighbors—even His non-elect neighbors. Jesus was a friendto sinners. Jesus loved His enemies—all of them. How could I have missed that? What caused me to overlook such clear, vital truths about the character of God? The answer is pride, that hideous sin lurking in all of us, waiting for the opportunity to express itself.

If you wrestle with some of the verses I listed, or struggle to reconcile God’s love with his wrath, I’d recommend you pick up a copy of John’s book The God Who Loves.

So back to the opening two questions:

(1) Does God love everybody?

I would say “in a certain sense, yes.”

(2) Does He love everyone in the same exact way?

I would say “no, just as His love for Jacob was different from His love for Esau, and just as His love for Israel was different from His love for the other nations, so God has a different measure of love for His elect people than He does for others.”

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” – 1 Thess 1:4,5

God and Man on the Scales

J. I. Packer:

“I think of the two pans of an old fashioned pair of scales. If one goes up, the other goes down.

Once upon a time folks new that God was great and that man by comparison was small. Each individual carried around a sense of his own smallness in the greatness of God’s world.

However, the scale pans are in a different relation today. Man has risen in his own estimation. He thinks of himself as great, grand and marvelously resourceful. This means inevitably that our thoughts about God have shrunk. As God goes down in our estimation, He gets smaller. He also exists now only for our pleasure, our convenience and our health, rather than we existing for His glory.

Now, I’m an old fashioned Christian and I believe that we exist for the glory of God. So the first thing I always want to do in any teaching of Christianity is to attempt to try and get those scale pans reversed. I want to try and show folks that God is the one of central importance. We exist for His praise, to worship Him, and find our joy and fulfillment in Him; therefore He must have all the glory. God is great and He must be acknowledged as great.

I think there is a tremendous difference between the view that God saves us and the idea that we save ourselves with God’s help. Formula number two fits the modern idea, while formula number one, as I read my Bible, is scriptural. We do not see salvation straight until we recognize that from first to last it is God’s work. He didn’t need to save us. He owed us nothing but damnation after we sinned. What he does, though, is to move in mercy. He sends us a Savior and His Holy Spirit into our hearts to bring us to faith in that Savior. Then He keeps us in that faith and brings us to His glory. It is His work from beginning to end. God saves sinners. It does, of course, put us down very low. It is that aspect of the gospel that presents the biggest challenge to the modern viewpoint. But we must not forget that it also sets God up very high. It reveals to us a God who is very great, very gracious and very glorious. A God who is certainly worthy of our worship.”

HT: JT

Letter to a Charismatic (2)

I received a response from Malcolm by way of e-mail and I replied by interspersing comments in bold type below:

Hi John, thank you for your response. I know you love us and you speak from you heart with any and all types of concerns for God’s people.

Hi Malcolm, I am so glad you caught the spirit in which I wrote. Yes.

When I first encountered God when visiting your church that experience took me way outside of the box, the church box. You preached the Gospel

Yes.. and still do today.. though I feel I have greater insights into it.. I am a Gospel preacher and seek to be nothing else.

and displayed a life encounter with God contrary to anything I had seen or experienced myself. Being under your mentorship was the beginning of God encounters, visions, a trip to heaven, open eyes into the spiritual realm and demonic encounters. I didn’t pick and choose these but they happen. God has always been careful to place people into my life to walk with me, correct me and stand with me when no one else wanted anything to do with who I was.

Yes.. these things do happen.. they have happened many times in church history as God has poured out His Spirit. Jonathan Edwards, mightily used by God in the Great Awakening here in America, write a book about such things called religious affections. He made it clear though that these experiences should not be sought. There is not one New Testament verse that tells Christians to look for trips to heaven this side of the grave. If you remember, I have never taught on such things or encouraged people to seek such things. Even though my understanding of the Scriptures has increased greatly on some things, and even though there is still limitless things I dont know, I have always sought to root people in the word of God and not experience. That was Peter’s whole point in 2 Peter 1.. The text says:

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

having witnessed the transfiguration of Christ with his own eyes, something only 3 human beings ever did, on top of the mountain, he said “we have a more sure word of prophecy.” In other words, “the word of God is surer than any experience we have – even though I have had the greatest.”

When I share the Gospel with people I have the opportunity to see the majority of them receive Christ as their Savior but some do choose to say no, not now or how can you expect me to believe that?

Yes, I have always been aware of your gifting and passion as an evangelist.

I have no idea what they have been through so I know it may be hard for some to accept. When I share my encounters with people as I did in this last email I share them with believers. They don’t need to believe me or choose to accept that what I say can possibly be true just as some of the lost people don’t accept the Gospel I just shared with them but the fact remains the encounters are real and I share them as an encouragement to people. They may never have those experiences but why should I not testify about them. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophesy.

There can be a strong tendency for people to think their Christian life is sooo sub par if they dont have those experiences.. People can say “why dont I have them like Ron does?” Can you not see that? Experiences have to be tested, the word of God does not… the word of God is the diet of the Christian, all else is sinking sand. Yet the Christian who struggles sometimes to read their Bible and pray is just as loved as you.. just as cherished by the Father.. why not share your insights into His word, rather than your experiences? My mother has seen the Lord.. she could have made a movie about her experience.. she could have milked it for all it was worth – but instead she wants Christians to base their lives on the written word of God and in services here and abroad, has always just taught the word of God.

I don’t just want to lead the lost to Christ, I desire to lead those who are discouraged even as believers to a deaper relationship with Christ.

Deeper relationship – yes.. amen.. dramatic experiences – no – that is none of your or my business.. Leave that to God – our task is to preach the word.. in season and out of season..

Until God tells me different this is how I will continue to do it.

He already has said differently in the Bible Malcolm.

My story was not a Gospel presentation it was a story about Jesus sharing something of value to him with me. As for Jenn Johnson, I have not attended any of her classes that are taught at the Bethel School of Supernatual Ministry. That video was one of those classes. I don’t attend this school but I do attend this church. The teachings and the move of God durring these services remind me of a great preacher I have had the opportunity to learn under, You.

I am now at Bethel because I asked God to take me out of my comfort zone to a place I have never been before just like he did when I first encountered your church. A lot of people use to ask me about my comfort zone cause it was a place too hard for them yet it still intriqued them. That part of my life is behind me and I am reaching for more. Bethel Church doesn’t teach their people to bring the lost to church to get saved, they train them to lead the lost to Christ and then get them into a church that will minister to their own needs. I don’t see Bethel Church as a place of signs and wonders, it truely is a place that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is taught and it so happens that signs and wonders do follow, but its happening all over this nation and the lost are coming to Christ in a way I have never seen before.

I seek none of these experiences you mention.. I seek to spend time with my Lord and in His word each day and to feed the flock He has entrusted to me. All else is foolishness.

Because you have shared this with me I will be dillegent to keep my eyes and ears open to what is being preached to everyone here. You are a true friend..

I hope so – I remain very deeply concerned.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

This incredible video shows a wall of dust moving into the Phoenix Valley just before sunset on Tuesday. The dust wall – commonly called a Haboob – was 50-60 miles wide, and covered the city of millions with a thick layer of dust that turned the summer sun black. One woman said she’s lived in the Valley for 50 years, and she’d never seen anything like the Tuesday dust wall.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport had to shut down for about an hour, causing some flight delays. The storm also caused power outages in some areas.

Driving my car here in Phoenix last night, it was all I could do to find my way home. I drove slowly, straining my eyes to find the comfort and security of familiar signs to guide me, as tree limbs littered the road. As I write this, the current headline on the foxnews website says, “DUST MONSTER BLANKETS PHOENIX – Storm descends, limiting visibility and delaying flights as wind topples trees and knocks out power.”

Before bearing down on Phoenix, radar data showed the storm’s wall of dust had reached as high 10,000 feet. Its all part of the Arizona monsoon season, which typically starts in mid-June and lasts through the end of September.

I DIDN’T SEE THIS ONE COMING
Sometimes, significant, powerful storms interrupt our lives without any warning. When we encounter such storms, we cant see the way ahead. It is then that we must remember the things we learned when we could see. Trust in the dark what you saw in the light. Lets always come back to what we know for sure – God is good, His word is true, and Jesus is the conquering Savior. He will never let go of us, no matter what we may face in this world.

I love Alistair Begg’s devotional entry for today:

Divine love is clearly observable when it shines in the face of judgments. Fair is that single star that smiles through the gaps in the thunderclouds; bright is the oasis that blooms in the wilderness of sand; so fair and so bright is love in the midst of wrath. When the Israelites provoked the Most High by their continued idolatry, He punished them by withholding both dew and rain, so that their land was visited by a sore famine; but while He did this, He took care that His own chosen ones should be secure. If all other brooks are dry, yet shall there be one reserved for Elijah; and when that fails, God shall still preserve for him a place of sustenance. Not only so, the Lord also had a remnant according to the election of grace, who were hidden by fifties in a cave; and though the whole land was subject to famine, yet these fifties in the cave were fed, and fed from Ahab’s table too by His faithful, God-fearing steward, Obadiah. (2 Kings 18:1-16).

Let us from this draw the inference that come what may, God’s people are safe. Let convulsions shake the solid earth, let the skies themselves be torn apart, yet amid the wreck of worlds the believer shall be as secure as in the calmest hour of rest. If God cannot save His people under heaven, He will save them in heaven. If the world becomes too hot to hold them, then heaven shall be the place of their reception and their safety. Be confident then, when you hear of wars and rumors of wars. Let no agitation distress you; don’t be unsettled by fear of evil. Whatever happens on the earth, the believer is sheltered beneath the broad wings of Jehovah and shall be secure. Take your stand upon His promise; rest in His faithfulness, and boldly face the darkest future, for there is nothing in it harmful for you. Your sole concern should be to display to the world the blessedness of taking heed to the voice of wisdom.”

When God the Holy Spirit breathes life into the dead spirit of a man, he does so singly and individually; yet when He does so, making him His child, He immediately places him in His family, the Church, the Body of Christ.

In Romans chapter 8:28-39, there is one group in mind: the “those”, the “we”, the “us” who are “God’s elect.”

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christianity is not merely a personal and individual walk with God. There is a strength we find in fellowship with each other. The passage does not say “you are more than a conqueror.” It says “we are more than conquerors.” God never intended for you to try to win on your own. But together, with all the saints, we are hyper conquerors, more than victorious ones, no matter what the storm may be.

Dearly loved child of God, there is no condemnation for you now you are in Christ Jesus. You will get through this storm – you’ll see. You are condemned only to victory!

You’ll never walk alone.

A history of the work of redemption

The final portion of Jonathan Edwards’ first sermon on “A History of the Work of Redemption” relates five designs of God in the great work that he carries on from the fall to the end of the world.

(1) According to 1 Corinthians 15:45 and 1 John 3:8, “one great design of God in the affair of redemption was to reduce and subdue those enemies of God till they should all be put under God’s feet.”

(2) God’s design was “perfectly to restore all the ruins of the fall, ” including both souls and body of elect men, and the physical world, so that there is a new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17).

(3) God aims “to bring all elect creatures in heaven and earth to an union one to another, in one body under one head, and to unite all together in one body to God the Father” (Ephesians 1:11).

(4) God designed “to advance all the elect to an exceeding pitch of glory, such as eye has not seen.” This glory includes the beauty, excellency, pleasure, and joy of the church and the elect angels.

(5) “In all this God designed to accomplish the glory of the blessed Trinity in an exceeding degree. God had a design of glorifying himself from eternity, to glorify each person in the Godhead… It was his design in this work to glorify his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in this great work, and it was his design by the Son to glorify the Father (John 13:31–32; 17:1). And [also] that the Son should thus be glorified and should glorify the Father by what should be accomplished by the Spirit to the glory of the Spirit, that the whole Trinity conjunctly and each person singly might be exceedingly glorified.”

Conquering evil, restoring the world, uniting all things, beautifying the elect, and glorifying the Godhead

Letter to a Charismatic Friend

A friend of mine whom I will call Malcolm (not his real name) wrote to me this week. He recently moved to Redding California to be part of Bill Johnson’s church there. He writes:

I haven’t purchased a digital recorder yet so I’m an sending these God moments to you via email. This is what happened today – Saturday July 2nd, 2011.

Caroline (not her real name) and I went to the Healing Rooms at Bethel Church here in Redding California this morning. Caroline has been having some pain in her knee joints as well as some other issues in her body. I didn’t go for prayer myself, i just wanted to be there to be in the soaking room. This room is filled with the loving fragrance of God. People are dancing, praying, singing and worshiping God to come into His presence. It is such a wonderful place to be it is easy to get caught up in the Spirit as he moves among his people. My goal was to be in that presence this morning because I just wanted to look God straight in the eyes and tell him I love him. I didn’t really know what to expect but I did go there with an anticipation of having a refreshing encounter with him some how.

I was sitting in a chair rocking back and forth just soaking in the moment when two ladies started dancing in front of me. These were worshipful dances, I sensed it was an expression of their love for God. As I was watching them I asked God if the people in heaven dance the same way or is the motion and movement more elevated than what I was seeing. Right then I saw myself standing in a park like setting. I don’t know what was behind me but before me I saw hundreds of people in what looked like a park It was somewhat bowl shaped. There were a lot of kids dancing and laughing and just having a wonderful time. I saw older people joining them, it almost looked like Gypsy’s dancing as they moved in and out of the people around them. Their movements were smooth and precise and very fast. There was so much laughter. I stepped forward to join them and then I was no longer watching myself but I was seeing what was going on from the perspective of being in the flow of people. The music was very worshipful. As I danced through the people I moved on to another group also dancing but not to the same music as the first group. It appeared as though they were doing a two step country jig. Although the music was different it did not clash with the other dancers or the music they were dancing to. I asked what was going on and I herd someone say that the first group were worshiping God in their dance and the second group was declaring his power and authority in their dance. There also appeared to be more men in this group than women. The first group there were more children, then women then men. I hope that makes sense. As I was watching these worshipers in the expressive dances I looked further away into the park and could see an elevated patio off in the distance. It was large about half the size of a football field actually a little smaller. It was elevated four steps higher than the grass area and there were large columns on it but no solid roof over it. It all looked like a white polished stone. It had the appearance of fogged glass. I walked up the steps and to my right stood a very large angel. As my son Brian would say when he was six years old, “he was a dark man”. He looked like a warrior, maybe 8 ft. tall and well over 400 lbs. I’m not sure how I know this its just a guess.

I walked up to him and he just stood there looking straight ahead. I asked him if he ever smiled and he looked down at me and did so. I looked over to where all the people were dancing and celebrating and I asked him if he could dance. He started moving around like a ballerina. He was very graceful and light on his feet and smoooth. As he danced around more angels appeared. I don’t know where they came from they were just there and they were all watching. They had long hair, some with blond hair others brown hair and still others with black they too looked like warriors. Some of them had braided hair. Their skin color was not all the same but the majority of them appeared to be Caucasian. One stood out cause he looked like the movie character Thore. Then the angel dancing stopped and the others stepped forward and started dancing with power and authority, it was as if they were declaring something or telling a story. It didn’t last very long cause Jesus showed up. He was standing in the middle of them and then they all stepped back to give him some room and he looked at me. I just stared at his face. I walked up to him and said “once you asked me to dance with you and I told you I didn’t want to dance and you replied that you wanted to and so you took my hand and we just started dancing, well would you dance with me now?” And like someone on Dancing With the Stars we just started doing what looked like a Waltz. He took my hands and we just started sweeping around this patio, we looked good. It didn’t seem to last very long, when we were done we just stood silent for a moment then he pulled my head into his chest and just held onto me and loved on me the way a dad does who never wants to let his child go. I buried my face into his chest and just cried. I was so overwhelmed by his love for me. He didn’t have to say a word yet he spoke thousands to me. I just kept saying thank you over and over to him and then it was over. I opened my eyes and I was back at the Healing Rooms with a bunch of people loving on God and getting healed among other things. Several people started standing up declaring that they received their healing and no one had even prayed for them yet.

This is what happened today, it was a good day….Malcolm

I waited a few days to gather my thoughts and pray and wrote the following to him this morning.

Hi Malcolm and Caroline,

Many thanks for the updates. It is always great to hear from you. I think you are a terrific guy Malcolm – always have. Caroline is amazing too – but you already know that. Actually in what I can discern of my heart it is love that prompts me to write this now. That is because I do have genuine concern.

My concern is about where you, places like the IHOP and the Redding Church seem to be going spiritually. I dont attend of course, this is only an observation from a huge distance away. But the e-mail you sent does seem to be a pattern. Please let me explain.

As I understand it – a good day in the church for the people of God is when God is worshiped in reverence, the Gospel is presented clearly, the word of God is read to the people and the saints are edified because the Word is exposited, right interpretation takes place that is then applied to all of life. This last Sunday we had a good day at our Church.

I am not sure that is enough for people in these venues. Actually I feel sure it is not. They want something much more dramatic – visions, dreams, experiences, out of body experiences, gold dust, sights of angels.. and on and on we go. I think that is dangerous… VERY dangerous. I am convinced that these poor people would be bored to tears if the Apostle Paul himself left heaven and started teaching Romans in their pulpits.. yawns would emerge from the crowd within minutes.

Yet his charge for ministers remains – 2 Tim 4:1 – I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

I read through your update you sent me Malcolm and as interesting as it is, I dont see anything of the Gospel. There is no word of God expounded. Its just your experience.

… would you be gracious enough to watch a couple of very short videos which highlight my concerns.. Would you do that for me?

(1) From an IHOP church – http://slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/unholy-manifestations-at-ihop/

(2) Jenn Johnson from your church in Redding – http://slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/this-is-sound-doctrine/

Now I dont know if either of these videos are typical or representative of the sort of ministry and emphasis at your church.. I make no accusations at all.. I just believe our safety is in the God breathed Scriptures and not the slippery and dangerous slope of experience.

I just want to alert you as to my concern.

Your friend always and because I care,

John

The Altar Call – Is it Biblical? (2)

Lane Chaplin writes, Charles Grandison Finney. Maybe even more noteworthy is the fact that Finney, just before he died, renounced the very methods that he once founded and used and which many use today…”

There are REAL DANGERS in using these methods. This video is well worth the time investment it takes to view it. My prayer is that all ministers of the Gospel would become aware of the issues here.

Does God Ever Change His Mind?

Pastor John, I have a theological question for you. What would you say to someone (who was an Arminian) if you were having a discussion with them about the sovereignty of God in salvation and they stated that God does in fact change His mind (Exodus 32:14 is an example)?

That is a very good question. Nowadays people like to have instant sound bite size answers to their questions, but that is not always possible. On this issue, it is important to lay the groundwork to provide a satisfactory, biblical answer and to do that necessitates serious study and application of the Scriptures. Let’s take a look at this question from a few different angles.

Hermeneutics is the science of biblical interpretation. One amongst many sound principles of interpretation is that we should base our view of God on the didactic (teaching) portions of scripture rather than the narrative (story) or poetic portions. This is why although the Bible says we can hide under the shadow of the Most High and under His wing find refuge, no Bible scholar expects God the Father to be a winged bird in heaven. This is obvious picture language where God uses images to speak to us highlighting the fact that just as a young bird finds refuge in the warmth and comfort of its mother’s wings, we believers can find refuge in the Lord. The Lord is our rock and fortress, but that does not mean God is a literal rock or castle; or that because the Lord is our Shepherd and the Psalmist wrote, “your rod and your staff, they comfort me” God the Father has a literal rod and shepherd’s staff that He uses with regularity in heaven. No, it is obvious picture language to describe something very meaningful about His relationship with His people, even though it is not to be viewed in wooden, literal terms.

These expressions are what we call anthropomorphic language (taken from two Greek words, “anthropos” meaning human or man and “morphos” meaning form). God communicates with us in human words or form. When you think about it, that is all God has at his disposal when revealing His truth to us because as humans we can only understand human language. Birds speak a bird language to converse with each other and so too, human beings use a human form of communication.

Likewise, when God communicates with us, He uses terms and images that are easy for us to grasp, even though if He explained them in the way He understood them, the concepts would be so far and vastly above our ability to comprehend that they would appear meaningless to us. God is infinite in knowledge and we as His creatures are finite. God has to remedy this in some way when He communicates with us so that He might provide a bridge of understanding. Just as a father smiles and engages in “baby talk” as he stands over the cot of his new born child, so God stoops to communicate with us in “baby talk” using language we can understand. Everything He communicates is true and meaningful, but expressed in terms finite minds can fathom.

All Scripture is equally inspired by God. Each passage has to be interpreted correctly and that means that even when we LITERALLY believe the Bible, we should interpret the parables as literal parables, poetry as literal poetry, the narratives as literal narratives, the historical genealogies as literal historical genealogies (rather than look for a secret hidden message) and on and on we can go.

One rule of interpretation is to build all doctrine on necessary rather than possible inferences. A necessary inference is something that is definitely taught by the text. The conclusion is unavoidable. It is necessary. A possible inference is something that could or might be true, but not something actually stated by the text. Some refer to this as the distinction between the implicit and the explicit. An implication may be drawn from the text of scripture, but we then have to ask if the implicit interpretation is a NECESSARY ONE rather than a POSSIBLE one. We can all have our theories, and we do, but a sound principle we should employ is to not teach as DOCTRINE something that is only a possible interpretation. We should build doctrine ONLY on necessary interpretation.

In practical terms, to make these kind of distinctions are often a lot harder than it might first appear because it means we have to take a step back and analyze exactly why we think a verse teaches something. In other words, it means testing our traditions and doing a lot of thinking. Yet this is something we should do constantly. Paul exhorted Timothy to “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 Tim. 2:7)

All of us should be prepared to hold up our preconceived notions to the light of Scripture to see if these assumptions are valid or not. The result of this process often involves the killing of some sacred cows, but that’s a good thing, if what we have held to be true cannot actually be supported by the biblical text. We all have our blind spots and traditions but we are not always aware of them. Therefore, the serious Bible student asks questions of himself and of the text constantly in order to determine what the sacred text actually says and then he builds his thinking on that.

Here’s one text as an example: John 20:19 says, “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Many people read this narrative passage and conclude that Jesus walked through the locked door in order to present Himself to His disciples. But does the text actually say that? No, it does not. The text might be teaching that. It is certainly a possible inference drawn from the text, but by no means a necessary one. There are other possible explanations.

Concerning this verse the ESV Study Bible says (correctly in my opinion), “Some interpreters understand the doors being locked to imply that Jesus miraculously passed through the door or the walls of the room, though the text does not explicitly say this. Since Jesus clearly had a real physical body with flesh and bones after he rose from the dead… one possibility is that the door was miraculously opened so that the physical body of Jesus could enter, which is consistent with the passage about Peter going through a locked door some time later (see Acts 12:10).”

To state the principle again: we should build all doctrine on necessary rather than possible inferences, on the explicit and not the implicit. All else is speculation.

Another rule: Interpret the unclear passages in Scripture in light of the clear. Though all Scripture is God breathed, every passage is not equally clear (easy to understand). Even the Apostle Peter struggled with Paul’s writings at times, as he found some of it “hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16)

When determining what the Bible teaches on a particular topic, find the passages which CLEARLY address the issue at hand and make this the starting point of your doctrine, rather than an obscure (or less than clear) passage. Once that which is clear is firmly grasped and understood, then proceed to study the passages which at first seem to be unclear, using the other hermeneutic rules.

In narratives, something may be implied from a story (as in the case above), but we should always ask if it is a necessary implication in the text and secondly ask if that possible interpretation is countered by something explicitly stated elsewhere in Scripture in the didactic (teaching) portions. We do this all the time naturally – which is why we dont think of God as a winged bird with feathers… why? because elsewhere (in the didactic teaching in John 4:24, God reveals Himself to be a Spirit rather than localized in one place with a physical body (He is omnipresent, etc, etc,).

This distinction I make is not mine in the way of origin. It is a carefully thought out method of interpretation employed by all sound teachers of the Bible. It is not a method of Reformed people to deny Arminians.

Of course, none of us follow our own interpretive rules consistently, which is why Christians and even scholars make mistakes, and why we dont all see things the same way. We ALL have our blind spots and traditions. Those most blinded to their traditions are those who dont believe they have any.

If there is a contradiction between two views, at least one of them is wrong.. If we could see our glaring mistakes personally, we would change our views instantly, but that is what theologians call one of the noetic effects of the Fall – we just dont think as perfectly now since the Fall of Adam… God is not confused even if we are.

When we read a biblical story, it is easy to “read into” it to interpret it in ways unintended by the author. This is why sometimes a parable only teaches one main truth and not every detail in the parable can be stretched too far.. the parable merely provides a window to reveal a certain truth – for instance, that men always ought to pray. Incorrect interpretation occurs when we view minor details in the story in the same regard as an explicit statement of doctrine. Great care is needed so that we base our belief system on what it explicitly taught by the didactic portions rather than merely perhaps implied in the narrative ones.

In reading certain narrative portions of Scripture, some have incorrectly concluded that God changes His mind. Yet the Bible is clear that not only does God not change in His essential nature (Mal. 3:6) but that He does not repent or change His mind. The Bible actually teaches this in a didactic portion. “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” Numbers 23:19.

For the sake of argument though, lets try to imagine God literally changing His mind. I want to explain how this concept is inseparably linked with God’s omniscience because for God to change His mind, He would need to make a decision and then be given new information He did not have before, so that He could either see the error of His ways, or choose a better course of action. It is important we see this. Continue reading