Does Prophecy Matter??????

Is Bible prophecy important? Judging by the number of prophecies contained in the Bible I would have to say it is very important. The Apostle Peter thought so. He was an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus and saw the wonderful miracles He did, such as raising the dead and healing people. Peter witnessed the Transfiguration and heard a voice from Heaven declaring “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The things Peter saw should convince anyone that Jesus Christ is God. Yet after all he saw and heard, Peter still declares “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1:19. Did you get that? Peter says that prophecy is even “more sure” than seeing Christ’s miracles first hand. He likens prophecy to a light that shines in the dark.

Both the Old and New Testament contain numerous prophecies and many have been fulfilled, but many more are to be fulfilled in the future. Jesus Christ’s first coming fulfilled over three hundred of these prophecies. In actuality, fulfilling just twenty of these specific prophecies relating to Him would have been a mathematical impossibility. One of those prophecies is found in Micah “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2. The Jews knew this to mean that their Messiah would come from Bethlehem. In fact, when the wise men inquired of Herod where they could find the child who was the King of the Jews, Herod went to the chief priests and scribes for an answer. They quoted from Micah. “And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” Matthew 2:5-6. The Jews knew this prophecy regarding the Messiah but they didn’t believe the prophecy was meant for their time in history. Isn’t it strange that foreign men from far away took prophecy of the coming Messiah more seriously than the Jewish leaders? By believing prophecy the Magi found Jesus but the Jewish leaders remained blind. Maybe we should take prophecy seriously too.

The Pharisees were so busy being religious that they were blind when it came to seeing God’s truth. They overlooked the prophecies of His birth, but they also overlooked those of His rejection. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3. Yes, those men who studied the Scriptures should have understood. They rejected Him, thus prophecy was fulfilled. “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?” Matthew 21:42. This offended the Jewish leaders…of course they read the Scriptures, they just didn’t take prophecy seriously. Instead of looking into Scripture and understanding who He was, they tried to do Him harm right then. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand prophecy and know what was to come. “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Mark 8:31. It’s interesting that when Jesus taught this prophetic truth to them Peter rebuked Him. It was only later that Peter understood how important prophecy is and wrote that “We have also a more sure word of prophecy…” Yes, Peter learned a lot over his life, and one of those lessons was that Biblical prophecy is true.

When God through His Holy Spirit dictated the scriptures to the forty plus writers of The Old and New Testaments, He designated two thirds of those Scriptures to be prophetic. He wants us to understand what the future holds. He did it so we would believe His word. Why? He knew that human nature wants “proof”. What better proof is there than revealing future events? If we weren’t so much like the Pharisees we would see the events happening around us and be able to discern the signs of the times. We would know that Daniel’s 70th week is close so the Rapture is even closer. Instead of honestly looking at prophecy and current events and reading the signs of the times, we hold on to interpretations formed long before current prophetic events could be understood. God has not finished dealing with His chosen people, yet ignorance of prophecy causes many people to believe the Christian Ekklesia has replaced Israel. When Gabriel gave Daniel the prophecy regarding the 70 weeks he said “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” Daniel 9:24. Notice it is “thy” people and “thy” holy city. Daniel was Jewish so “thy people” means the Jews. Jerusalem is “thy holy city”. When Daniel was given this prophecy Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed, but Daniel didn’t question the truth of the prophecy. In that final week (a 7 year period of time) there will be Gentiles in the world who will suffer greatly, but God’s attention is turned upon the Jews. Where is the Ekklesia? “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”? Galatians 3:28. We will have been Raptured. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Thessalonians 5:9. God’s wrath during Daniel’s 70th week is not for Christian’s to endure; our salvation is in Him. True born again Christians will be with our Lord during this time of wrath.

Daniel was also given more end times prophecy which is recorded in chapters 11 and 12. It was impossible for Daniel to understand. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Daniel 12:4. Today knowledge has increased. We can understand more than people a few decades ago. At a time when swords and spears were the most advanced weapons Zechariah wrote “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” Zechariah 14:12. That sounds a lot like nuclear weapons. Today we are better able to understand because our knowledge has increased. “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Daniel 12:9. If we pay attention and study we can see how close we are getting to the last week of Daniel’s 70 week prophecy.

Headlines tell of war in the Middle East, terrorist attacks on Israel, Muslim hatred toward Jews and Christians, and so much more. Yet, a century ago many people could not believe Israel would be in their God given land again. It is miraculous that Israel is once again a nation, but then God said it would happen. “And I plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” Amos 9:15. They were “planted” in May 1948 and this time they will not be “pulled up out of their land” again. They have fought for their survival ever since that date but one day they will turn to the LORD and He will fight for them. That day is yet in the future, but it will come very soon.

According to Jesus, the Great Tribulation will occur in the last half of Daniel’s 70th week “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matthew 24:21. There have been some very bad times throughout history, but Jesus says that this time will be worse than anything previous. This is a time directed at Israel, not Christians. Before this happens there will be an event that will be hard for the secular world to explain. Jesus dictated seven letters for John to send to seven congregations and they are recorded in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Each one told what they were doing right or wrong. If you pay close attention you will see that the history of Christian era is laid out by these letters. After the last letter John was called up (Raptured) to Heaven. “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” Revelation 4:1. Once there He stood before the throne of God and the candlesticks that symbolized each of the seven churches was present before God…they were no longer on the earth. Then he was shown happenings in Heaven, but also the events of Daniel’s 70th week on earth.

I have barely scratched the surface of the subject of prophecy. There are many, many other Scriptures regarding Christ’s birth, His ministry, wars to come, and the end times. Time is short and the Rapture is imminent. Only those who are born again believers in Christ will be taken away from the horrors of Daniels 70th week. If you have any doubts as to your salvation now is the time to settle that question. Accept the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as atonement for sin…then turn from sin and live for Him. If you claim to be a Christian but have wandered away from your walk with Him, get right with God and don’t live in a question mark wondering if you will go to Heaven when you die.

Study prophecy and you will see that God accurately foretold Christ’s first advent and His death. Further study will reveal that the Rapture is close and you don’t want to be left here on earth to face Daniels 70th week. God exists outside of our time dimension and so He sees the beginning and He sees the end, but it’s all in the present for Him. He knows what will happen tomorrow, the next day, and for all of eternity. He chooses to share that knowledge with us. God wants us to know. “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” Isaiah 46:10. We can study prophecy and be enlightened as to the future, or we can fool ourselves into thinking that prophecy doesn’t matter. If God didn’t want us to know what the future holds, He wouldn’t have filled Scripture with so much prophecy!

Prophecy does matter!

Hamartiology: The Doctrine of Sin

Hamartiology: The Doctrine of Sin

Purpose: It is the purpose of this study to acquaint the disciple with various aspects of sin that would help him with questions often posed by our society today.

Objectives

1. The disciple will understand truths about the origin of sin.

2. The disciple will see more clearly the fact of sin in the human race.

3. The consequences of sin will be clearly understood.

4. The disciple will understand that sin has permeated the entire human race.

Scripture Memory

For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

James 2:10
Agenda

1. Mutual accountability and prayer.

2. Sharing of memory work.

3. Discuss the study materials.

4. Discuss review questions.

5. Discuss any new terms.

Introduction

One of the chief questions posed by the human mind is, “where did sin come from?” That evil is in the world is not debatable. Every day there are threats and killings and sorrow that seem to fill our lives at every juncture.

This session is set apart for a discussion of sin and its impact upon the human race as we experience it.

We will discuss the beginnings of sin, its reality in the world, what happens because of sin, and its universality. We will also speak of its ultimate banishment from the earth and universe.

Worksheet

WHERE DID SIN ORIGINATE?

The origin of sin is not totally clear. There seems to have been a revolt against God before the world began. In Isaiah 14:12-17, there are words that are believed to relate to Satan sometime before the world was made. In reading this account, the statement _____ __________ occurs five times. That seems to be the essence of sin in its beginning. When we compare 2 Peter 2:4, we see that ___________ sinned having kept not their first estate. We don’t know for sure exactly what that was. There also seems to be a period of time between Genesis 1:1 and verse 2. Some have said that the translation should read, “the earth became void...” They suggest that the earth became void as a result of angelic rebellion, possibly because the angels aspired to a higher place than their creation allowed.

SIN’S ENTRANCE INTO THE HUMAN RACE

Having accepted the reality that sin is in the universe, how did the sinfulness of humanity come about? We find the account of this in Genesis 3. Read this account and see if you can answer the following questions.

1. Who was the primary person involved in the fall of Adam and Eve?

2. What was his appearance like?

3. Who did he approach?

Why do you think the approach to Eve was made rather than Adam?

4. What was the nature of the temptation?

5. How was Satan’s appeal to Eve similar to the account in Isaiah 14?

6. What was the result of the fall as indicated in Romans 5:12?

What was the result of the fall to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:14-24?

So what is in the human race today that speaks of sin? See Psalm 51:5; 58:3; Genesis 8:21
THE REALITY OF SIN

There are several ways we know that sin is in the universe We will consider nature, law, the human heart, and divine revelation.

I. Look at the contrasts that exist in nature, such as every rose having thorns. There is an awesome howl in every storm, the shriek of a captured animal, the minor key in all of nature and the shifting of the earth that shakes and causes the death of many of us who inhabit the earth.

We know that sin has affected creation because of Romans 8:19-22. How does this passage speak of the effect of sin in creation?

From this passage, is anything tied to our ultimate redemption that involves creation? Discuss this subject briefly.

II. How does the law give the knowledge of sin, Romans 3:20?

“Law” refers to the commandments given by the Father in the Old Testament.

A. James 2:10

B. Romans 7:10

C. Romans 7:7

III. Man confesses that he is a sinner. What do the following verses say about man’s own confession?

A. The prodigal son, Luke 15:21
B. King David, 2 Samuel 19:20
C. Achan, Joshua 7:20
These are but a few men who confessed their sin. Surely you and I would acknowledge the same.

IV. The very presence of Christ and the knowledge of the Father speak eloquently of the reality of sin. When an awareness of the Father and the presence of Christ are experienced, this brings a new awareness of the sinfulness of man. How was this described in the following verses?

A. Luke 5:8
B. Job 42:4-6

C. 1 Timothy 1:15

There is no goodness we can claim before a righteous God.

The Nature of Sin

Lest any misunderstand, it is important to state what sin truly is. There is no better Scriptural statement than that which we find in Romans 3:23. Most feel that sin is only capital crimes such as murder, adultery, kidnapping, etc. The above verse in Romans indicates that sin is to miss the mark. What does Scripture say in Galatians 3:10 about keeping the Law? “Cursed is__________________ who does not abide by _________ things written in the Book of the Law, to perform them.”

The Father requires absolute perfection. Who is able to meet that standard? “But,” one might say, “I have come fairly close.” Years ago I heard Donald Barnhouse give this illustration. In the state of California (before Alaska became a state) there is the lowest and highest elevations in the Untied States: Death Valley, and Mount Whitney. He compared lives of men to these. Some live lives of brokenness and debauchery which he compared to Death Valley. Most live in areas such as the San Joaquin Valley. They fudge on their income taxes, exceed the speed limit and occasionally shoplift. Yet they manage to stay out of jail. Then there are those with higher morals, who do their best to keep the law and have good family relationships. Perhaps they are even regular attendees at some church. Then there are those who are high moral people who become noticed by many: Billy Graham, Mother Teresa and a few others, who give their lives for the sake of mankind. These people seem apart from most and could be compared to Mount Whitney. But you could no more easily reach the moon from the top of Mount Whitney than you could from Death Valley.

In the same way, we have all fallen short of the glory of God — we have missed the mark of _______________. We miss it through negligence, unfaithfulness, crossing the boundaries set by God, and by ________________ _______________, James 4:17. Every thing we should do and don’t do is sin!

SIN, ADAM AND ME

It is impossible to escape sin and its effects. I become a sinner through whose sin? Romans 5:12 _________________________________________ Because I sinned when Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, I cannot be anything but a sinner. I sinned in Adam. What is the result of Adam’s sin in my life?______________ What does death mean in this instance? ___________________________ We might well say that because of the actions of Adam, we are all condemned to sin and death. What has our “last Adam” done that provides a refuge from this? I Corinthians 15:45.

Perhaps it would be good at this point to review the meanings and types of death spoken of in Scripture, and in Session 2. It would also be helpful for you to review the truths taught in Romans 3:10-23.

Questions for Review and Discussion

1. How is the sin of angels and humans different?

2. What are some of the effects of sin in nature as we see them today?

3. How much sin must a person commit to be condemned?

4. Describe sin from the standpoint of neglect as compared to disobedience.

5. Discuss some of the general ways we see the consequences of sin in the world today.

Praying Scripture

Praying Scripture
Engaging the Bible and praying are the primary methods for developing a deepening relationship with God. In fact, all other spiritual disciplines (e.g., fasting, study, simplicity, worship, confession, service) have their foundation in the disciplines of reading the Bible and praying. While many tend to think of prayer and Bible reading as separate spiritual practices (e.g., first I pray, then I read the Bible), they can be even more powerful when combined into one practice of “praying scripture.” Personally, nothing has been more enriching in my own spiritual life than this process of daily praying scripture.

Are you ever unsure about what you should pray? Do your prayers become dull or repetitive? Do you feel like you’re praying “wrong?” Your confidence in your prayers will be strengthened when you pray God’s Words. Praying the Scriptures allows you to use the words and emotions of the Bible to gain more confidence in your prayers. What do we mean when we say to “pray scripture?” Evan Howard (>Praying the Scriptures) writes, “To pray the Scriptures is to order one’s time of prayer around a particular text in the Bible.” This can mean either praying the prayers of the Bible word-for-word as your own prayers, personalizing portions of the Scriptures in prayer, or praying through various topics of the Bible.

Praying Biblical Prayers

The Bible is full of prayers! From Genesis to Revelation there are biblical prayers we can pray to strengthen our spiritual lives. These prayers express every kind of emotion and experience. The whole book of Psalms is a prayer book! By praying the prayers of the Bible we identify with the biblical authors and we are encouraged to allow God’s Spirit to shape us into the people he wants us to be. The prayers of the Bible, especially the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:1-4), become our tutors to learn how to communicate with God.

Praying other Portions of Scripture

Not only can the prayers of the Bible be prayed, any part of the Bible can be used to communicate with God. As we read the Bible (stories, history, poems, parables, etc.) in the presence of God and pay attention to the Spirit, we will identify with passages that relate to our lives, the world, and people we know. Over time it will become natural to immediately turn these thoughts into prayer. Out of the thoughts we are having as we read, we turn to God in worship, confession, thanksgiving, and petition for ourselves and others. Our Bible reading becomes a conversation with God, a cycle of reading and prayer.

Praying Topically

Along with praying the prayers of the Bible and making prayer part of your normal Bible reading, searching for topical passages in the Bible is helpful. These may reflect your present emotional state, a specific need, the desire to worship, or the need to give thanks, confess, or to be encouraged. Maybe you need to pray for someone you love, to pray through some biblical promises, or pray to be challenged by God. To help you locate passages on a specific topic, you can look in a concordance in the back of many Bibles or in books on praying Scripture (see Praying Scriptures Resources).

Praying Scripture in other Scripture Engagement Practices

Praying Scripture plays a role in many of the other Scripture engagement practices as well. For instance, within lectio divina, there are four steps, one of which is oratio or prayer. Lectio divina is a practice that emphasizes the process of praying through a passage that you are reading and asking God to reveal his truth.

Praying Scripture is also inherent in the practice of writing out the Bible by hand. The goal is for you to interact with the Word while copying it down. You learn what a passage says with more depth than when you just read. As you allow the passage you are copying to seep into your thoughts, it will also impact your prayers.

Singing Scripture is another deeply meaningful way of praying Scripture. We don’t just sing or listen to a passage set to music for ourselves or for an audience. We sing or listen to a passage as an act of prayer to God.

Praying Scripture is a useful and valuable discipline for Christians of any age or maturity level. We need to engage Scripture to the fullest extent of its power. Praying the God-breathed words of the Bible is a fascinating way to engage with our Creator and Lord.

Financial Faithfulness

Financial Faithfulness


Introduction

One of Satan’s most effective delusions is the idea that happiness consists in the things that we possess. Through his deceitfulness, he has erected a golden calf, an idol called materialism. Like a barker on the midway, he calls to every passerby, “come and worship at its feet, buy, sell, get gain, and possess, and it will make you happy.”

Christians, though a people with a spiritual calling and heavenly assets beyond compare, are not automatically exempt from Satan’s schemes nor inoculated against infection from the deadening disease of materialism. Like a plague, it stalks us from every corner—on television, the printed page, the display window, the showroom, the Jones’ driveway. Everywhere the seductions of materialism fill the air and seek to come into our lives through both conspicuous and subliminal messages.

In a context that instructs us to live as aliens and strangers (1 Pet. 1:17-18; 2:11), and as a people who are to live with a view to a heavenly inheritance that is untouched by decay, unstained by evil, and unimpaired by time (1 Pet. 1:4), Peter also warns us to be sober and alert against Satan’s devices (1 Pet. 1:13; 5:8). Why? Because, if we are not on guard, Satan will distract us through possessions from our heavenly calling as a people for God’s own possession who are to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness (the delusions of Satan) and into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9).

Money is a very little thing (Luke 16:10). Why? Because money cannot buy happiness. Money cannot give eternal life nor real meaning in life (Isa. 55:1-3; Rev. 3:16-18). Yet, there is nothing that reveals our spiritual orientation and relationship with God like our attitude toward money.

Jesus Christ made it clear that a mark of true spirituality was a right attitude toward wealth. The mark of a godly and righteous man is his preoccupation with God and heavenly treasure.

Scripture has a tremendous amount to say about money or material possessions. Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus deal with money. One out of every ten verses in the New Testament deal with this subject. Scripture has 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but over 2,000 verses on the subject of money. Money is an extremely important issue because a person’s attitude toward it is so determinative of his relationship with God, on fulfilling his purpose in this life, and on his character.

The Responsibility for Planning

Without planning based on biblical values, goals, and priorities, money becomes a hard taskmaster and, like a leaf caught up in a whirlwind, we get swept into the world’s pursuit of earthly treasures (Luke 12:13-23; 1 Tim. 6:6-10).

Financial planning is biblical and is a means to good stewardship, to freedom from the god of materialism, and a means of protection against the waste of the resources God has entrusted to our care (Prov. 27:23-24; Luke 14:28; 1 Cor. 14:40).

Financial planning should be done in dependence on God’s direction and in faith while we rest in Him for security and happiness rather than in our own strategies (Prov. 16:1-4, 9; Psalm 37:1-10; 1 Tim. 6:17; Phil. 4:19).

The Responsibility for Discipline

If our financial planning is to work, it will require discipline and commitment so our plans are translated into actions. We must follow through on our good intentions (Prov. 14:23). Financial faithfulness is an important aspect of complete, well-rounded spiritual growth and godliness (2 Cor. 8:7). But godliness requires discipline (cf. 1 Tim. 4:8; 6:3-8).

Good intentions are useless without plans that translate them into actions. The Corinthians had indicated their desire and willingness to give and had even been instructed on planned giving (1 Cor. 16:1-2), yet they had failed to follow through on their good intentions (2 Cor. 8:10-11).

The Responsibility for Stewardship

Financial faithfulness ultimately flows out of the recognition that everything we are and have belongs to the Lord (1 Chron. 29:11-16; Rom. 14:7-9; 1 Cor. 6:19-20). Life is a temporary sojourn in which Christians are to see themselves as aliens, temporary residents, who are here as stewards of God’s manifold grace. All we are and have—our talents, time, and treasures—are trusts given to us by God which we are to invest for God’s kingdom and glory (1 Pet. 1:17; 2:11; 4:10-11; Luke 19:11-26).

The Responsibility for Working

One of God’s basic ways to provide for our needs is through work—an occupation through which we earn a living so we can provide for ourselves and our families (2 Thess. 3:6-12; Prov. 25:27).

The money we earn is also to be used as a means of supporting God’s work and helping those in need, first in God’s family and then for those outside the household of faith (Gal. 6:6-10; Eph. 4:28; 3 John 5-8).

Guidelines Regarding Savings

BIBLICAL SUPPORT

(1) God directed Joseph to save for the future (Gen. 41:35).

(2) Saving for the future shows wisdom and is demonstrated in God’s creation (Prov. 21:20; 30:24-25; 6:6-8).

(3) Saving for the future is responsible stewardship when designed to meet both the predictable and unpredictable needs of the family (1 Tim. 5:8; 2 Cor. 12:14).

BIBLICAL GUIDELINES

(1) Maintain a proper view of ownership. Remember, all our wealth ultimately belongs to God. We are managers, not owners (1 Chron. 29:11-16; Luke 16:12).

(2) Maintain a proper view of our security. We are to put our trust in the Lord and not in our investments (1 Tim. 6:17).

(3) Beware of impure and unbiblical motives, priorities, and reasons for saving such as anxiety and hoarding as a result of insecurity or covetousness (Matt. 6:25-33; Luke 12:13-31).

(4) Decisions concerning future investments are to be made prayerfully in view of the Lord’s will (James 4:13-15).

(5) Don’t use money in saving/investment programs that God desires be used for giving. This occurs when savings or investments become extreme and for the wrong reasons as seen above (Luke 12:16-21; 1 Tim. 6:18-19; 1 John 3:17).

(6) Avoid high-risk investments or get-rich-quick schemes (Prov. 21:5; 28:20, 22; 1 Tim. 6:9).

(7) Watch those priorities. Make the kingdom of God your number one investment (Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31; 1 Tim. 6:18-19).

Guidelines Regarding Spending

CONTENTMENT

We need to learn to be content (spiritually independent on the details of life for our happiness and security) with what we have (Phil. 4:11-13; 1 Tim. 6:6, 17-19; Heb. 13:5). When we are content with what we have, we are free from servitude to materialism. This means freedom to follow the Lord; freedom to pursue His values and objectives. How does one acquire contentment? Contentment is the product of possessing heavenly treasure and casting the whole of one’s care on the sovereign God as our loving heavenly Father (Matt. 6:19-33; 1 Pet. 5:6-7).

TEMPTATION

Be on guard to the temptations and messages of the world (Rom. 12:1-2; 13:11-14; 1 Pet. 1:13-16; 5:8). There are thousands of messages every day that clamor for our attention through the press, television, radio, billboards, salespeople, and store displays—all designed to get us to buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t know, and to find happiness where it simply cannot be found.

EVALUATE PURCHASES ACCORDING TO BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES

(1) Can we pay cash or will the purchase put us in debt? (See Guidelines Regarding Credit.)

(2) Do we have complete peace about it with no doubt? (Rom. 14:23; Col. 3:15) We need to watch our tendency to rationalize—giving ourselves deceptive answers to do a bad thing.

(3) Is it a real need or a matter of greed? (1 Tim. 6:9; 1 John 2:15) Will it be profitable to our family, our spiritual growth, our health, our ministry, the Lord’s reputation, and will it increase our love for the Lord or could it hinder it? (1 Tim. 3:4: 5:8; 1 Cor. 6:12)

(4) Is our lifestyle adequate or more than adequate? Do we need to reduce our spending by lowering our expected standard of comfort? (Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:15, 23; Prov. 15:16-17; 16:8; Eccl. 5:10-11).

Guidelines Regarding Credit

BASIC PRINCIPLES

(1) God favors lending (investing) over borrowing because it promotes freedom and wise stewardship (Deut. 15:5-6).

(2) Unwise borrowing can put us in a position of servitude (Prov. 22:7).

(3) Use credit wisely and avoid it whenever possible. Though not prohibited by Scripture, credit is generally mentioned in a negative sense. Romans 13:8 is often used as an absolute prohibition against borrowing, but it does not necessarily forbid the use of credit. It may simply teach the necessity to pay one’s obligations whether physical or spiritual as they come due.

(4) Concerning credit there are two basic alternatives: (a) Buy now on credit and pay the installments with interest. (b) Save now and buy later with cash and save the interest.

KEEP BORROWING TO A MINIMUM

(1) Interest adds to the cost of living and thereby reduces our capacity for wise stewardship. If we must borrow, we should seek low interest for short terms.

(2) Credit can be risky because it can place people in bondage to creditors and to their own desires rather than to God’s will. It makes impulsive buying too easy. The world system depends heavily on impulsive buying as a balm for being bored and frustrated with life.

(3) Credit can be used as a substitute for trusting God or to get what we want in place of waiting on Him. We use it to buffer ourselves from having to depend on the Lord. Why? Because we are often afraid He won’t give us what we want when we want it (Ps. 37:7-9, 34; 147:11; Matt. 6:30-34; Phil. 4:19).

(4) Credit reduces our ability to give to God and to those in need.

(5) The use of credit is often nothing more that a failure to be content with what we have (the sin of dissatisfaction) (Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:6-8; Heb. 13:5). The materialist is never content, but the godly learns contentment.

DON’TS FOR BORROWING

(1) Don’t purchase something on credit if it will jeopardize your financial freedom.

(2) Don’t go into debt today based upon a future event (such as a raise or a potential sale). This is presuming upon the Lord and His sovereignty.

(3) Don’t go into debt for a house before you have secured a source of income (Prov. 24:27).

(4) Don’t finance daily needs, living expenses, or pleasure items.

(5) Don’t finance items that depreciate quickly, except on very short terms (i.e., 30-90 days).

(6) On appreciating items, such as a house or for business investments, don’t borrow beyond your ability to cash out of the obligation through sufficient collateral plus the value of the item, should it be necessary to sell.

(7) Don’t allow debts (excluding mortgage) to exceed 20 percent of your take-home pay. Shoot for ten percent or less.

(8) Don’t allow a mortgage payment (including insurance and taxes) to exceed 25 or 30 percent of your take-home pay.

Questions to Ask Before Borrowing

(1) Do I really need it?

(2) Have I asked God for it and waited long enough for Him to supply?

(3) Am I impatient and seeking immediate gratification?

(4) Is God testing my faith, my values, my motives, etc.?

(5) Did I wrongly spend the money God provided for this item or have I violated God’s financial principles?

(6) Am I guilty of:

Stinginess: “There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want” (Prov. 11:24; 11:25-27).
Hastiness: “A faithful man will abound with blessings: but he who makes haste to be rich shall not go unpunished” (Prov. 28:20).
Laziness: “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then your poverty will come as a robber, and your want like an armed man” (Prov. 24:34).
Guidelines for Giving

GOD EXPECTS US TO GIVE

(1) By His Grace Work: Through fellowship with Him, giving is to be the product of God’s grace working in the life so that it first produces a commitment of one’s total life to God with giving as an overflow of that previous commitment (2 Cor. 8:1-2, 6-7; 9:9-11).

(2) In faith: He has promised to supply all our needs; our giving will not be our lack (2 Cor. 9:7f; Phil. 4:19).

(3) Purposefully: We are to give from careful and prayerful planning. “Let each one do just as he has purposed (planned beforehand) in his heart” (2 Cor. 9:7).

(4) Regularly: “On the first day of every week” helps promote diligence and disciplined giving. This creates a consistency and regularity that translates good intentions into actions (1 Cor. 16:2).

(5) Personally: “Let each one of you” brings out the need for every believer to take giving as a personal responsibility for which God holds us each responsible (1 Cor. 16:2).

(6) Systematically: “Put aside and save” brings out the need to have a method or system whereby money for the Lord’s work is specifically set aside, stored up for giving, so that it is not used for other things (1 Cor. 16:2).

(7) Proportionately: In the New Testament, set amounts of compulsory giving (as in the tithe) have been replaced by the grace principle of voluntary, purposeful, and proportionate giving. The new standard for today is “as He may prosper” (1 Cor. 16:2), “they gave of their own accord” (2 Cor. 8:3), “it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality …” (cf. 2 Cor. 8:12-15, Mark 12:41-44), and “let each one do … not under compulsion” (2 Cor. 9:7).

To Whom Should We Give?

THE LOCAL CHURCH

“And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches” (Gal. 6:6; cf. also 1 Tim. 5:17-18). If the local church is to form a solid home base for other ministries of outreach, it is only logical that it should become a first priority for our giving.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS

This would include missions, para-church groups and individuals who are involved in these ministries (3 John 5-8).

FELLOW BELIEVERS IN NEED

Those unable to support themselves or who have faced serious problems are to be helped as we are able. Those who refuse to work are not to be supported (1 John 3:17; Jam. 2:15-16; Gal. 6:10; Heb. 10:33-34; 13:1-3 with 2 Thess. 3:6-10).

UNBELIEVERS IN NEED

Our first priority is to those who are of the household of faith, but we are also to reach out to others in need as we are able (Gal. 6:10).

The Tithe of the Old Testament

The word “tithe” means “a tenth.” In the Old Testament, however, there is good evidence that the Old Testament saint was required to give at least two tithes and possibly even three tithes per year.

(1) The first was ten percent of all one’s possessions (Lev. 27:30-33). This was given to the Levites for the temple ministry (Numb. 18:20-21).

(2) A second tithe was taken from whatever produce was left after the first tithe was given. This tithe was for the Lord’s feasts and sacrifices (Deut. 12:17-18; 14:22). “This command was considered by Jewish interpreters to be for a second tithe (see Lev. 27:30 and Num. 18:21 for the first; also the note on Mal. 3:8), which was brought to the central sanctuary either in kind or in money. Apparently the offerer could use a part of this tithe for a feast at the sanctuary (vv. 26-27).”1

(3) Another tithe was taken every third year for the welfare of the Levites, strangers, orphans and widows (Deut. 14:26-29). This third tithe may have been separate from the second, though we are not certain. At any rate, each Jewish family was responsible to give not ten percent, but approximately 19 percent.

If the tithe was God’s will for believers today, then believers who give ten percent are under giving.

Because the tithe was required in the Old Testament, it was more of an income tax than a gift given under the theocratic kingdom of Israel. In fact, the Old Testament often speaks of “tithes and offerings” which makes this distinction. Frieson says, “that is why failure to submit to the ‘whole tithe’ could be described as robbing God.”2 If one of God’s people wanted to express his worship through a voluntary offering, it had to be over and above the two tithes of his income which was owed (Deut. 16:6, 11; 1 Chron. 29:6, 9, 14).

The New Testament Economy of Giving

There is very good evidence the tithe is not for believers today. There are godly men who teach the tithe, but they are clinging to an Old Testament theology that does not apply to the church today. The following is presented as evidence in support of this position.

The tithe of the Old Testament was a part of the economic system of the Law but the New Testament specifically teaches that believers are not under law (Rom. 6:14; 7:4, 6; 8:3; 2 Cor. 3:11; Gal. 3:19-25; 4:21-31). There is a two-fold emphasis here.

(1) Believers today are not under the legal, economic, social, or religious system of the Old Testament Law. The Law was a temporary system until the coming of Christ. The coming of Christ and the New Covenant, as it applies to the church, supersedes the Old Covenant with a higher law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which enables believers to fulfill the spiritual and righteous requirements of the Law but through the leading of the Spirit rather than by the imposition of legal regulations.

(2) “Law” in Romans 6:14 is anarthrous. It is qualitative. It is not talking about just one specific law, as the Old Testament Law, but any kind of law. This means we are not under any kind of legal system of external rules or legal regulations which we are to keep in relation to our walk with God. Though we are not without law, being under the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2), the standard for how much we give in the church age is not an amount set by some external law or some form of compulsion. This would include the tithe either under the Law or even before the Law, because either way, the moment a definite amount is established for believers to give, it becomes a legal and external matter rather than a matter of the inner man and the leading of the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:1, 18, 24, 25).

The New Testament teaches us that giving for the church age is to be proportionate by the grace work or leading of God through the Spirit (2 Cor. 8:1-3, 7; 1 Cor. 16:2; 9:7). In keeping with this concept, when we turn to the New Testament we find no New Testament regulation or commandment which continues the tithe for New Testament believers. The word “tithe” is never used in the New Testament as a command or regulation for the church. In fact, it is used only of historical occurrences where it pertained to Israel under the Old Testament economy, but never in such a way it could imply this is the rule of life for the church.

Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42. Both of these passages applied to Israel. Christ was speaking to Jews who were still at that time under the Law. They were also offering sacrifices in the temple.

Luke 18:12 is merely an historical reference of the prayer of a self-righteous Pharisee who was still under the Law and before the coming of the Spirit and the beginning of the church age.

Hebrews 7:5-9 is an historical reference to Abraham who paid tithes to Melchizedek. Some use this as proof the tithe is legitimate for today. They say it was pre-law, so it should be used as a guideline for all dispensations. But there are two things wrong with that line of reasoning:

Other Old Testament practices predated the Law, yet they are not used as norms or as requirements for the church. (a) The concept of the Sabbath predated the law (cf. Heb. 4:3-9), but it has been replaced by the first day of the week, and even that is not presented as a legal requirement. (b) Circumcision also predated the law (cf. Rom. 4:9-13), but it has been replaced by baptism. (c) Likewise the tithe which also predated the law (Heb. 7:5-9), has been replaced by proportionate giving (1 Cor. 16:2). To insist on a tithe is really a disobedience to the direction of 1 Corinthians 16:2.

Giving according to a tithe is a hindrance to proportionate grace giving as it is prescribed in the New Testament. Let me explain.

Many believers give their tenth and never even consider that they could (and perhaps should) be giving even more. Actually, to demand a tenth from all believers is disobedience to the principles set down in 2 Corinthians 8:12-15 because the tithe may become an unequal yoke. By that I mean it is a burden to some, and a limitation to greater giving by others according to the principles of equality and proportionate grace giving (1 Cor. 16:1-2). Please note the following:

(1) Giving ten percent for one man might be considered “sowing sparingly” if he was giving proportionately.

(2) Giving ten percent for another could be considered “sowing bountifully,” if he was giving proportionately.

(3) Giving ten percent for some would be giving beyond their ability and could be considered sacrificial giving, giving “according to what they do not have” (cf. 2 Cor. 8:12; 9:6).

(4) In essence this means some are being eased of their responsibilities because of their abundance and others afflicted by the tithe compulsion because of their lack (2 Cor. 8:13).

(5) Proportionate grace giving in the New Testament eliminates this and brings about what Paul calls “equality” (2 Cor. 8:14-15). See the illustration below concerning proportionate giving.

(6) This means to be a good steward of the resources God supplies, the more prosperous believers give more out of their abundance, not just in dollars but in the percentage (20, 30 percent and even more), while those with less give a smaller percent, one determined out of their walk with the Lord. They may decide to give sacrificially as did the Macedonians, but it should be the product of the work of the Spirit of God and not the legal demands of a church that insists on the tithe. Indeed, the tithe is an unequal yoke. Think about it. If you tithe, you may be sowing sparingly.

Proportionate Giving

The big question is, what does it mean to give proportionately? How does one determine how much (what percent) to give? It is easy enough to figure ten percent of something, but how much is “as he purposes in his heart,” or “as he has been prospered,” or “may prosper,” or “if there is a readiness it is acceptable according to what a man has …” How much is that?

(1) It is not a specific amount, or a certain percent, but a proportion based on what one has, one’s own needs, and on the needs of others, including the work of Christ or the ministry of the local church.

(2) Those who have little may give the little they are able (2 Cor. 8:2-3).

(3) Those who have nothing, if there is a readiness, are not expected to give anything (2 Cor. 8:12).

(4) Those who have less than enough (genuine needs) are to receive from those who have more than enough so there is a balancing out, a kind of equality (2 Cor. 8:13-15). This is not socialism or communism which is coercive and seeks for a total equality that does away with any variations in society based on individual differences in hard work, in giftedness, and personal incentive (cf. 1 Tim. 6:17f).

(5) God is not asking those who have plenty to become poor or burdened that others may be made rich (2 Cor. 8:13). The equality envisioned here through proportionate giving is twofold: (a) It involves aid to help people through a condition of need until they are able to get on their feet financially by working (Eph. 4:28; 2 Thess. 3:10-15). We do not give so others can live in ease or have the same standard of living as everyone else. (b) This creates an equality in the sense that those with less give proportionately less and those with more give proportionately more and are able to carry more of the load in giving.

(6) Those who have an abundance are to be rich in good works; they are to use their abundance liberally in the cause of Christ (2 Cor. 8:14; 1 Tim. 5:17-18).

(7) Increased prosperity should not result in a higher and higher standard of living, or wasteful spending, but in an increase in giving, not only in the amount but in the percent given. If believers today were committed to proportionate giving, many would be giving far in excess of ten percent. Statistics show, however, that most believers give no more than 3-5 percent.

DEFINITION OF PROPORTIONATE GIVING

Proportionate giving is giving in proportion to God’s blessing, as a steward who wants to invest his life in heavenly treasure. Proportionate giving does not mean just giving more, but giving a greater proportion of one’s income—a greater percentage invested in God’s work.

In Proportionate giving:

(1) OUR MOTIVE for giving is God’s spiritual blessing, to increase fruitfulness and bring glory to God (2 Cor. 9:8-15).

(2) OUR MEASURE for giving is God’s material blessing (1 Cor. 16:2).

ILLUSTRATION OF PROPORTIONATE GIVING

Believer A has an income of $20,000 per year and he gives ten percent which is $2,000. Believer B has an income of $50,000 per year and he gives ten percent which is $5,000. Believer B has given $3,000 more per year but this is not proportionately more because Believer A has $18,000 left to live on and Believer B still has $45,000 left, over twice as much. Believer B could give 20 percent ($10,000) and still have $40,000 left to live on which is still over twice as much as Believer A. Believer B would then be giving not only more, but proportionately more as well.

PROMISES FOR THE GENEROUS PROPORTIONATE GIVER

Luke 16:10-11: Generally, God does not entrust more wealth to us to manage until we prove faithful with what we have now.

Second Corinthians 9:8-11: Our giving will never be our lack; God will not only resupply what we have given, but He will increase our giving capacity as we give abundantly. The goal here is not increased personal wealth, but greater giving.

Biblical Challenges Regarding Earthly Riches

WHERE IS OUR TREASURE?

Basic Principle: What we treasure is determined by our perspective or insight to the real values of life (Matt. 6:22-23).

Biblical Insight: Our treasures should be in heaven (Matt. 6:19-20).

Biblical Reasons:

(1) Our treasures in heaven are permanent (Matt. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:4).

(2) Our treasures on earth are temporary and can be lost. We can’t take earthly treasures with us (Luke 12:20-21; 1 Tim. 6:7).

(3) Our treasures on earth are really unfulfilling in that they cannot buy true happiness or significance (Isa. 55:1-3; Luke 12:15, 23; Eccl. 5:10).

(4) Our treasures on earth cannot prolong life or give security (Luke 12:16-21).

(5) Our treasures determine our pursuits and priorities. Without the right treasures, we will pursue the wrong things and waste our lives (Matt. 6:21; Luke 12:34; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; Luke 19:23-26).

(6) Our greatest treasure is godliness with contentment (1 Tim. 6:6; Heb. 13:5; Phil. 4:11-12; Prov. 15:17; 16:8; 17:1).

Biblical Explanation: Heavenly treasures consist of crowns, rewards, and responsibilities given to believers at the judgment seat of Christ for faithful stewardship (Luke 19:16-19; 1 Cor. 3:12-15; 9:25; 1 Thess. 2:19; 1 Tim. 4:8). The ultimate treasure is glory to God (1 Pet. 4:11; Rev. 4:9-11).

WHO IS OUR MASTER?

A servant cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve God and mammon (materialism) (Luke 16:1-13, cf. Matt. 6:24).

Biblical Reason: It is impossible to hold allegiance to two masters at the same time. “For either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other” (Luke 16:13).

Biblical Insights:

(1) Luke 16:1-2: Life is a stewardship and we are each servants of God who will be held accountable for the way we have used our stewardship. Stop thinking like an owner. Start thinking like a manager.

(2) Luke 16:1, 11-12: Are we squandering God’s investment in our lives or investing it wisely for His glory?

(3) Luke 16:10: Money, in terms of true value, is a “little” thing, however, faithfulness in little things (money) is an indicator of our faithfulness in big things (eternal values).

(4) Luke 16:11: The use of money is a test of our faithfulness.

(5) Luke 16:11: Money does not constitute true riches.

(6) Luke 16:12: Money is to be used wisely and faithfully as part of our stewardship from God.

(7) Luke 16:12: Money and its acquisition, if we are not careful, can become our master.

Biblical Challenge:

(1) Am I a slave to money and earthly treasures? Is it possible that I am and do not even know it? We must choose between serving money and serving God!

(2) Do I sacrifice Christlike qualities and responsibilities in my pursuits for earthly treasures? (a) Clear conscience; (b) Honesty, moral character; (c) Friendships; (d) Family (wife, husband, children, in-laws); (e) Reputation; (f) God’s glory, etc.

(3) Do I care more about earthly treasures and money matters than I do about my relationship with the Lord and the pursuit of the kingdom of heaven? (a) Priorities; (b) Use of my time, how and where is it spent; (c) What do I think about most—money and what I think it will purchase or God and my trust in Him?

(4) Do I seek from money and earthly treasures (prestige, power, position, pleasure, possessions, etc.) those things that God alone can give? (a) Happiness, real joy; (b) Contentment; (c) Peace of mind; (d) Security; (e) Purpose or meaning in life.

If your answer is yes to any of the above questions, money has become your master to some degree!

Conclusion

Having studied these principles, let’s ask ourselves a question: Am I willing to commit myself to these concepts as a way of life in order to become a good steward of the grace of God? May God keep us from the altar of the golden calf of materialism.

And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:17-19).

Spurgeon, The Forgotten Calvinist

Spurgeon, The Forgotten Calvinist

by Godwell Andrew Chan

"Calvinism IS the Gospel, and nothing else."

(C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, Vol. I: The Early Years)

"The longer I live, the clearer does it appear that John Calvin's system is the nearest to perfection."

(The Forgotten Spurgeon,by Iain Murray)

"Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin."

(C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, Vol. II: The Full Harvest)

These three quotations should be sufficient to establish incontrovertibly that Spurgeon was a Calvinist. Unfortunately, there have been many attempts to sweep this fact under the rug. For example, the Kelvedon edition of Spurgeon's sermons removed all his criticism of Arminianism with no warning to the reader of any abridgement.1 The result of such censorship is that today, while many know Spurgeon to be the "Prince of Preachers," few know that he was a staunch Calvinist. Let us, therefore, hear Spurgeon's own testimony–from his own autobiography–and from his biographer and historian, Iain Murray, what his convictions were.

Testimonies

Charles Haddon Spurgeon began his ministry at the age of nineteen. Right from the start, he was a staunch Calvinist. In a letter to his friend, Charles Spiller, a fellow Baptist minister, he described his chief task as a preacher as follows: "[M]y daily labour is to revive the old doctrines of Gill, Owen, Calvin, Augustine and Christ."2 He equated Calvinism with historical and Biblical theology: "The doctrine which I preach is that of the Puritans: it is the doctrine of Calvin, the doctrine of Augustine, the doctrine of Paul, the doctrine of the Holy Ghost."3

One critic of Spurgeon's was Silas Henn. In his book, Spurgeon's Calvinism Examined and Refuted (1858), Henn said: "[C]omparatively few in these times, amid such enlightened views of Christianity, dare to proclaim, openly and without disguise, the peculiar tenets of John Calvin. Even in many professedly Calvinistic pulpits, the doctrines are greatly modified, and genuine Calvinism is kept back. But there are some who hold it forth in all its length and breadth, and among these, the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, the notorious preacher at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens, is the most prominent."4

Spurgeon's convictions brought along plenty of enemies and critics, even from within the church. He lamented, "We are cried down as hypers; we are reckoned the scum of creation; scarcely a minister looks on us or speaks favourably of us, because we hold strong views upon the divine sovereignty of God, and his divine electings and special love towards his own people."5 John Anderson of Helensburgh, a friend of Spurgeon, said of him, "Mr. Spurgeon is a Calvinist, which few of the dissenting ministers in London now are. He preaches salvation, not of man's free will, but of God's good will, which few in London, it is to be feared, now do."6

Were these the convictions of an immature preacher of nineteen who would later renege? In 1877, during a picnic at the Pastor's College at which Dr. A. A. Hodge was present, Spurgeon said, "The longer I live, the clearer does it appear that John Calvin's system is the nearest to perfection."7 In his mature years, in fact, near the end of his life, he testified, "In theology, I stand where I did when I began preaching, and I stand almost alone."8 Of the articles of faith of the church he founded, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, he said, "As for our faith, as a church, you have heard about that already. We believe in the five great points commonly known as Calvinistic. . . . Against all comers, especially against all lovers of Arminianism, we defend and maintain pure gospel truth."9

During a vacation to Geneva, Switzerland, to recover from bad health, Spurgeon visited the various sites associated with the great Genevan Reformer. Afterward he wrote a moving eulogy to Calvin in his journal:

Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival. In theology, he stands alone, shining like a bright fixed star, while other leaders and teachers can only circle round him, at a great distance–as comets go streaming through space–with nothing like his glory or his permanence. Calvin's fame is eternal because of the truth he proclaimed; and even in heaven, although we shall lose the name of the system of doctrine which he taught, it shall be that truth which shall make us strike our golden harps, and sing. . . . For the essence of Calvinism is that we are born again, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13, emphasis added).10

Testimonies from Spurgeon himself, and from friends and foes alike all agreed: Spurgeon was indeed a true, full-blooded five-point Calvinist. It takes extreme ignorance to overlook, and extreme prejudice to cover up, this fact.

Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism

As Spurgeon himself has lamented, hyper-Calvinism is a label gummed to Calvinists like the scarlet letter, regardless of whether they actually were or not. This misrepresentation is to a large extent due to an ignorance of what hyper-Calvinism actually means. What is hyper-Calvinism? Gordon Clark, quoting from Donald Dunkerley's article, "Hyper-Calvinism Today," defines the term as follows:

"the view of Calvinism which holds that "there is no world-wide call to Christ sent out to all sinners, neither are all men bidden to take him as their Savior." Hyper-Calvinists . . . maintain that Christ should be held forth or offered as Savior to those only whom God effectually calls.11

The hyper-Calvinist makes the blunder in logic that since faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) and not of man's free will (true premises), therefore, there should be no evangelism, calling, and commanding men to believe (false conclusion). The fallacy of the Arminian is that since men are indeed commanded to believe (true premise), therefore, faith cannot be a gift of God but must be from man's free will (false conclusions). Spurgeon refuted the hyper-Calvinist and said: "They have said, 'God has a purpose which is certain to be fulfilled, therefore, we will not budge an inch. All power is in the hands of Christ, therefore, we will sit still'; but that is not Christ's way of reading the passage. It is, 'All power is given unto me, therefore go ye, and do something.' "12

The Arminians misquote these statements of Spurgeon's to attempt to oppose him to Calvinism. But it is hyper-Calvinism, not Calvinism, which Spurgeon opposed. It is a slander, or just plain stupidity, to call a Calvinist a "hyper-Calvinist" and vice versa. No Calvinists believe that the doctrine of eternal election in any way hinders evangelism. Hyper-Calvinism and Calvinism are two different theologies.

Two Extreme Sides of the Same Truth?

The modern theological cliche is that while Calvinism upholds the sovereignty of God, Arminianism upholds the responsibility of man; these are but two sides of the same Biblical truth. You hear this repeated so often that after a while, like a hypnotic suggestion, you begin to believe it. But nothing can be further from the truth. It is a blatant caricature to view Calvinism as upholding the truth of the sovereignty of God while neglecting the responsibility of man. Calvinism upholds both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. Arminianism upholds neither.

Spurgeon recognized that the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism is not one of "balance." Spurgeon himself preached the doctrine of the responsibility of man vigorously, as only a Calvinist can do. Murray puts it succinctly: "The error of Arminianism is not that it holds the Biblical doctrine of responsibility, but that it equates this doctrine with an un-Biblical doctrine of 'free-will' and preaches the two things as if they were synonymous." The doctrine of free will is a foundational tenet in Arminianism. Murray further contends: "That man must be able to believe and repent in order to be responsible for unbelief and impenitency is a philosophical conception nowhere found in Scripture; in fact, it is directly contrary to Scripture."13

Calvinism and Arminianism are not two sides of the same truth. The difference between them is not one of balance or emphasis. The difference between them is one of truth and heresy. William Tyndale condemned the free will doctrine of the Arminians: "[T]hey go and set up free will with the heathen philosophers, and say that man's free will is the cause why God chooseth one and not the other, contrary unto all of Scripture."14 Because Arminianism is a heresy, condemned as such by the Synod of Dort, 1619, there can be no middle ground, no compromise, between them. Listen to what Spurgeon said: "The Word of God says they [sinners] cannot come, yet the Arminian says they can."15 "When some of us preach Calvinism, and some Arminianism, we cannot both be right; it is of no use trying to think we can be–'Yes,' and 'No,' cannot both be true. . . . [Spurgeon is applying the law of contradiction.] Truth does not vacillate like a pendulum which shakes backwards and forwards. . . . One must be right; the other wrong."16 In a sermon titled "Free Will–A Slave," Spurgeon preached that "Free will has carried many souls to hell, but never a soul to heaven yet." In the same sermon, Spurgeon quoted Martin Luther: "If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright."

In a sermon titled "All of Grace," published a few years before his death, Spurgeon said: "The man believes, but that belief is only one result among many of the implantation of divine life within the man's soul by God Himself. Even the very will thus to be saved by grace is not of ourselves, but it is the gift of God."17 In Arminianism, this Scriptural order is reversed, placing the man's decision before the divine act. Preaching to the unconverted in another sermon, Spurgeon said: "Sinner, unconverted sinner, I warn thee: thou canst never cause thyself to be born again, and though the new birth is absolutely necessary, it is absolutely impossible to thee, unless God the Spirit shall do it."18 That is the point of John 3. Nicodemus saw clearly that it was impossible to be born again. Jesus does not answer and say, "Oh, I was talking about spiritual rebirth, which can be done, and not physical rebirth, which cannot be done." Jesus says the new birth is by the Spirit, and the Spirit gives it to whomever He wants, just like the wind blows to wherever it wants. Regeneration is in the hands of the Spirit, not under the control of the will of man.

For Evangelism or for Mature Audiences Only?

There is a prevalent opinion that says that Calvinism should be, if it is discussed at all, reserved for more mature Christians, not taught to new converts, and certainly never ever preached to the unbelievers in an evangelistic message. This is one result of the idea that Calvinism is somehow incompatible with evangelism. From the several sermons quoted, it is obvious that Spurgeon did not believe that Calvinism should be hidden from the unconverted nor the new believer. Why? Because Calvinism is the Gospel:

[T]here is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called . . . , after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor.19

Those who preach a gospel devoid of the five points commonly called Calvinism are not preaching the Gospel at all, but a false gospel.

If Calvinism is appropriate for the unconverted, certainly it is fitting for all Christians. Condemning the preachers who want to censor Calvinism, Spurgeon said: "There has sprung up in the Church of Christ an idea that there are many things taught in the Bible which are not essential . . . that provided we are right in the fundamentals, the other things are of no concern. . . . It becomes an awful thing . . . for men to leave a single mandate unstudied, lest we shall lead others astray, while we ourselves are acting in disobedience to God. . . ."20 Spurgeon said: "It were better for me that I had never been born than that I preach to these people carelessly, or keep back any part of my Master's truth. Better to have been a devil than a preacher playing fast and loose with God's Word, and by such means working ruin of the souls of men. . . . It will be the height of my ambition to be clear of the blood of all men."21 He was, of course, referring to Acts 20:26-27, where Paul, in a farewell address to the Ephesian elders, says he was cleared of the blood of all men because he has not kept back any doctrines in his evangelism and preaching. Those who avoid the doctrines of predestination and the inability of man's will, and who censor others from teaching them, have blood on their hands.

Separation, Not Schism

Did Paul not condemn following any human system? Is Calvinism not a divisive human system in the order of the Corinthian slogans, "I follow Paul" or "I follow Apollos"? Well, if Calvinism were indeed merely a human system, then there might be some merit to the charge of being divisive. But Calvinism, as we have seen already, is not a human system.

Truth is by nature controversial. Jesus says he came not to bring peace, but a sword. Jesus and his disciples were not persecuted because they were non-controversial. Spurgeon saw as much. He declared, "Controversy for the truth against the errors of the age is, we feel more than ever convinced, the peculiar duty of the preacher."22 Therefore he was not at all surprised by the enmity toward his proclamation of Calvinism, or the doctrines of grace, as he sometimes called it. The reason, he said, is this: "The fact that conversion and salvation are of God is an humbling truth. It is because of its humbling character that men do not like it."23 And because they do not like it, they controvert it.

As for unity, Spurgeon said, "I am quite sure that the best way to promote union is to promote truth. It will not do for us to be all united together by yielding to one another's mistakes."24 Spurgeon said something that would not sit well with modern day churches: "I glory in that which at the present day is so much spoken against–sectarianism. . . . Success to sectarianism; let it live and flourish. . . . When we cease, each of us, to maintain our own views of truth, and maintain those views firmly and strenuously, then truth shall fly out of the land, and error alone shall reign."25 What Spurgeon meant was that once debates are censored and hushed up, error alone will reign. But if everyone would maintain their views of truth strenuously, there will be debates, and truth will always triumph in any conflict. Error thrives in the environment of "No controversy" and "Don't talk about it."

Spurgeon eventually broke away from the Baptist Union at the height of the Down-Grade Controversy, October 28, 1887. Murray says, "The Union was preferring denominational peace to the duty of dealing with error and thus, by tolerating sin, they made the withdrawal of Christians unavoidable."26 False rumors and "What is said of us is nothing; but shall truth be sold to keep up a wider fellowship?" "Long ago I ceased to count heads; truth is usually in the minority." As for disunity, Spurgeon, in his magazine, The Sword and the Trowel, 1888, wrote, "As to a breach of unity, nothing has ever more largely promoted the union of the true than the break with the false." In another article titled "Separation, not Schism," Spurgeon wrote, "Separation from such as connive at fundamental error . . . is not schism, but only what truth, conscience, and God require of all who would be found faithful."

No Compromise

Spurgeon withdrew from the Baptist Union precisely because he would never compromise the truth. The Down-Grade Controversy was not about Calvinism in particular, but about the equivocation of terms. This naturally brought in Calvinism, since Calvinism insists on precise definition of terms. Spurgeon wrote of the Baptist Council, "Whatever the Council does, let it above all things avoid the use of language which could legitimately have two meanings contrary to each other. Let us be plain and outspoken. . . . Right is safe, and compromise by the use of double meanings can never in the long run be wise."27

One example of equivocation is on the doctrine of justification by faith. Spurgeon charged Arminianism of leading to legalism by their doctrine of free will. He said, "Do you not see that this is legality–that this is hanging our salvation upon our work–that this is making our eternal life to depend on something we do? Nay, the doctrine of justification itself, as preached by the Arminians, is nothing but the doctrine of salvation by works, after all; for he always thinks faith is a work of the creature, and a condition of acceptance. It is as false to say that man is saved by faith as a work, as that he is saved by the deeds of the Law. We are saved by faith as the gift of God. . . ."28 To Spurgeon, to equivocate is to compromise. To agree to ambiguous terms is to compromise. Therefore, he made a stand and broke away. Of the one who compromises, Spurgeon said, "[H]e has, in truth, gone over to the enemy."29 Like the weeping prophet Spurgeon prophesied, "We are going down hill at breakneck speed." And like a voice calling in the wilderness, Spurgeon cried and warned: "Let all who love the Lord, and hate evil, come out of this more and more apostatising church, lest they be partakers of the plague which will come upon her in the day of her visitation."30

Conclusion

The Calvinism of Spurgeon brought him nothing but success in his evangelism, seeing his congregation grew from less than twenty to over six thousand. At the same time, it brought him nothing but controversy. Slanders and false reports dogged him all his life long. Through it all Spurgeon never gave way. He stood his ground despite suffering the mental agony from theological antagonism, which was, no doubt, aggravated by physical pain from his chronic illness of gout. To those who are going through the same struggles, Spurgeon gives his consolation: "We need not be ashamed of our pedigree, although Calvinists are now considered to be heterodox." The situation is the same today, if not worse, as in Spurgeon's day. Calvinism is labeled as "extreme," and worse, "heterodox," while the real heresy, Arminianism, is hailed as orthodoxy. In Spurgeon's bedroom, Mrs. Spurgeon hung the text, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Matthew 5:11-12). It is an indication of how pressed Spurgeon was from all sides to have to be constantly reminded by that verse every night before he went to bed. He was faithful to the Gospel until death.

Let all who would be true to the Gospel declare with Charles Haddon Spurgeon:

If all men that live or ever shall live should throw up the old Calvinism, there remains one that will hold it, for the reason–that he could not hold any other. I must be crushed out of existence before my convictions of the truth of the doctrines of grace in the old-fashioned form can ever be taken from me.31

Notes

1. Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, 52.

2. Murray, 58.

3. The Early Years, 364.

4. Murray, 54.

5. Murray, 59.

6. The Early Years, 339.

7. The Early Years, 79.

8. Spurgeon, Autobiography, Vol. II: The Full Harvest, 393.

9. The Full Harvest, 12.

10. The Full Harvest, 29.

11. Gordon Clark, The Atonement, 136.

12. Murray, 49, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 42.

13. Murray, 61-62.

14. Murray, 9.

15. Murray, 90, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 53.

16. Murray, 57.

17. Murray, 84.

18. Murray, 87, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 3.

19. The Early Years, 168.

20. Murray, 56, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 6.

21. Murray, 39, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vols. 19 & 27.

22. Murray, 13.

23. Murray, 60, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 6.

24. Murray, 65, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 6.

25. Murray, 66.

26. Murray, 144.

27. Murray, 147, quoting from The Sword and the Trowel, 1888.

28. Murray, 81, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 9.

29. Murray, 161-162.

30. Murray, 133, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 15.

31. Murray, 168, quoting from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 30.

Spiritual formation is gearing the Church up for self delusion

Spiritual formation is gearing the Church up for self delusion

The greatest danger to Christianity today is the downplaying of biblical doctrine. The Church is built upon the word of God given to the prophets and the apostles for leading people to Christ and for maturing believers in the faith.

True Christianity is not built on personal feeling or what you think God is saying to you because you learned to practice certain spiritual disciplines. Yet, that is what many Christian leaders and Christian education centers are teaching others.

Spiritual formation is taught and is required in almost all Christian higher leaning centers today and the graduates then teach it from pulpits, in seminars, and in Christian books. I think what was said on this gty.org blog gets to the heart of the spiritual formation movement.

many of the leading voices in the spiritual formation movement stress the need for more intuitive interpretations of spirituality. They encourage believers to incorporate a wide variety of extrabiblical spiritual practices, such as contemplative prayer, silence, meditation, creative expression, and yoga. In fact, some of the most popular methods of spiritual formation have been lifted from Catholicism, new age mysticism, or other religions and rebranded with biblical-sounding terminology.

But any kind of subjective spirituality that draws your focus away from the Lord and His truth can have disastrous results, derailing your spiritual growth and cutting you off from God’s plan for your sanctification.

All true spiritual growth starts with the preeminent role of God’s Word in the lives of His people.

Further, I think the following article by Christian Pack on Christian Formation goes on to explain the issues and the dangers. You really need to read the whole article but here is one excerpt.

Spiritual Formation is identical to classic occultic meditation practices taught in Hinduism, Buddhism, wicca, paganism, etc. The technique goes something like this: find a quiet spot to sit or lie down, breathe deeply, and begin to focus on something for the purpose of stilling your thoughts. (The “something” can literally be almost anything: a candle, a word, a phrase, repetitive music, drumming, one’s own breath, etc.) After about 20 minutes of practicing this technique, which is simple to do, a person will enter into an altered state of consciousness. In this altered state of consciousness, the mind is no longer active and critically engaged, and able to assess data. In this state, the mind is passive, its God-given barriers down; it is able only to receive information, much like a radio receiver. Mystics from all faith traditions the world over often report ecstatic experiences of becoming yoked to some spiritual energy, leaving them feeling refreshed, energized, and peaceful after engaging in their mystical practices.

I am going to try to explain the issues of spiritual formation with its contemplative prayer so that everyone can understand. I think one reason people do not understand this stuff is all the fancy terminology used.

Either those identifying with Christ believe that God gave His revealed word once and for all through his written word or they think that God is still giving further revelation and it is up to each individual to learn how to obtain that new revelation and get into the ranks of the spiritually elite that hear His voice. (Of course the Pope, the Mormon Prophet and the self-appointed-anointed of the Charismatic Movement claim direct Revelation just by their position.)

The biblical path to God’s revelation means that God is sovereign and was fully able to give His inerrant unchangeable word for all people through His own chosen prophets and apostles. The second path to revelation means that God is dependent on our actions and is a respecter of persons that learn how to hear His “still small voice”.

They get this “still small voice” from 1 Ki 19:12. What they do not understand is that Elijah was a chosen prophet of God. And God spoke to Him quite distantly before, during and after this passage. So the passage is not saying what they read into it. Let me explain.

Elijah was on a very long fast because he was in fear for his life and was praying that God would judge Israel that killed all of Jehovah’s prophets and that were trying to kill him. God clearly spoke to Elijah while he was hiding in a cave and told him to go before the mount so that the nature of Jehovah could be reveled to him.

The message given was that God was not to be found in great natural events and catastrophic judgment that Elijah wanted but God was revealed in a “calm voice”. Then God told Elijah that he was to go to Syria and anoint Hazael as King of Syria and Hazael and Syria would severely chastise Israel in God’s own timing.

So this was God’s calm rational measured method to chastise unbelieving Israel rather than some national catastrophe like Elijah obvious was praying for and wanted to see in Jehovah. And why no instant catastrophe on Israel? Because there were thousands of people in Israel that still had not bowed their knee to Baal. People should not build theology about hearing from God on a verse that they do not understand.

We do not learn how to become Ezekiel and we do not hear God by mystical spiritual formation techniques. Some think they can learn to become prophets but they are wrong and these presumptions people are infecting Christendom with bad doctrine because gospel lite church leaders share media platforms with these heretics and even promote them.

I am one that thinks that everything we need to know for faith and practice can be found in the scriptures and that God speaks to us through His revealed word. That does not mean that the Holy Spirit can not enlighten us or impress upon our hearts spiritual direction but this spiritual guidance is not the same thing as the Rhema words of presumptions revelation that the hyper-charismatics and spiritual formation programs promote.

If these people were meditating on God’s written word, I would find no fault in that because we are clearly told to do that. However by learning spiritual formation techniques they are really trying to find God in their own mind instead of in His written word.

Through Spiritual formation techniques, the god or Jesus created by their own mind is self-made, or even worse, their god or Jesus may have been implanted in their mind by a deceiving spirit.

How many mystics have received revelation from the occult that they thought was coming from God? Even many of the great humanistic philosophers of the last few centuries communicated with familiar spirits. That fact can be verified from some of their own writings

There are those that think God gives direct messages like some weak radio signal and if they get their flesh quiet enough and their spiritual importance antenna high enough above the rest, they can tune in and hear His latest broadcast. Believe me, when God spoke to His prophets they had absolutely no problem hearing Him. I do not recall one prophet ever saying huh or having to go through a learning curve like some modern false prophets claim when they are proven wrong? The one time God spoke audibly to Israel they were so terrified that they asked Him not to speak to them again lest they die (Ex 20:19). Presumptions false prophets claiming to hear from God ought to take heed and repent.

The mind is deceitful and it plays tricks. As a new Christian in the Charismatic Movement of the 1970’s, I was taught that I needed to speak in tongues, so I did. However, it did not take long for me to realize that when using and interpreting my “prayer language” I was really telling myself what I wanted to hear. In other words, through tongues, I was making God say things to me that He was not saying. When I realized that, I stopped the practice and separated from churches that were teaching people to interpret illusions of their own minds. How is this Spiritual Formation with its contemplative prayer any different?

Today, hearing from God is being taught everywhere. The methods are the same that Eastern pagan mystics and Catholic mystics use to hear from the spirits. Thanks to the influence of Charismatic movement leaders, and the Spiritual Formation discipline taught in almost all Bible colleges, most of the Evangelical movement now believes that direct revelation from God is something to be achieved.

Spiritual formation is really nothing but a bio-feedback technique as is transcendental meditation, it is a form of self-hypnotism. You learn to quiet your body and focus your mind to hear very selective self-speak. Everyone talks to themselves mentally, even in their sleep, if you don’t you’re probably dead. Just because you can learn brain wave altering techniques to tune into normally subconscious thoughts, and to run with those thoughts to some Christian sounding jargon or image, does not mean that you reached Jesus or are hearing from God.

There were times when I was awakened from sleep that I could pick up where a dream left off by willfully focusing on the dream and going back into dreamland. This is much the same thing and with lots of practice the technique can get much more highly focused and controlled. That becomes self-effort to reach God. That is contrary to God being totally available to all of faith that call on Him.

You might say, I have Jesus and that is why I can hear voices from God, but if you actually had Jesus you would have no need to try to have a dialogue with Him in dreamland brain wavelengths through spiritual formation techniques. God is not the author of confusion. Can you imagine the confusion when everyone in a fellowship is telling everyone else a different version of what Jesus or God told them this week. I have news, it is already happening in some circles.

Apparently, many church leaders think that God does not have issues with those speaking presumption. Judge not lest you be judged is one verse that they love to throw at you. Or touch not my anointed is another one. Grow up people! Quit with the ignorant childish clichés and learn to discern scripture in full context of all the scriptures. God gave you His word and He gave you your brain so that you could sort out truth from error. It is time that some people used those tools. The Bible is not a book where Bible clichés overrule solid biblical doctrines.

The Bible is God’s revealed word to the nations. We are not to blindly follow every new wind of doctrine. But, the wind never stops blowing and itching ears are always looking for some new wind to tickle them .

People are claiming revelations from God that come from themselves or the Devil. That is why nothing they say comes true. That is why biblical doctrine needs to be taught now more than ever. It is not a coincidence that the same people pushing people to get some private mystical revelation from God are the same ones that downplay biblical doctrine and Bible prophecy.

Spiritual formation with its contemplative prayer and its Emergent Church movement and its ties to the hyper-charismatics is just another fleshly self-aggrandizement diversion to keep churches and Christians off focus from what they really should be teaching and doing in these last days.

Did God really tell you to build that bigger church building and put your church in debt or did you tell yourself that? Did God really tell you that you are going to marry that woman or did you tell yourself that. Did God really tell you that you are healed or did you tell yourself that. Did God really tell you that you are a prophet or did you tell yourself that? Did God really tell you to give to TBN to get a hundred fold blessing or did you tell yourself that or did someone on TBN plant the suggestion in your mind? The list of presumptions justified by claims of hearing from God are endless.

Today more than ever we should be preaching the revealed word. Apostasy is upon us and we are nearing the end times. It is time to get our house in order. This should be a major focus of the Church. Instead, too many people in our churches are promoting techniques for people to find their own fairy dust so they can magically make their life on earth wonderful. The book stores are full of smiling faces telling you how you can have a better life now. Don’t go there! If you follow them, they will lead you to “The Shack” that has “The Secret” that allows the spiritual elite to speak into existence their own worldly utopian reality.

Spiritual formation is gearing the Church up for more self-delusion. They downplay the Bible. They want you to believe that you can hear from God through some mystical technique where subjective Rhema words from God becomes the new gospel truth. Spiritual formation was designed for our biblically dumbed down post-modern generation where the only absolute truth is found between one’s two ears.

Pornography has seduced a large number of Christians

SYNOPSIS
Millions of people view pornographic magazines, DVDs, and Web sites each month. What appears to be a secular problem, however, is also prevalent among Christians. Because pornography has seduced a large number of Christians, it has impacted the church in three destructive ways: it creates a dependency that weakens the individual; it causes a disruption of the “one-flesh” union that weakens marriages; and it results in a distortion in thinking that weakens the ability to relate and function.
“The light of the body is they eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:22-23)1
I remember clearly, and with inexpressible regret, the night I walked into an adult bookstore and entangled myself in the use of pornography. I was a 23-year-old former minister at the time, well on my way toward a fully backslidden state, and I was considering whether to indulge in the many sexual sins that I had, at that point, only allowed myself to imagine. That evening in the spring of 1978, my decision was sealed when I embraced what I now call the “dark magic.”
The “magical” qualities of pornography were obvious and immediate. One glance around that roomful of graphic sexual images sent a rush through my system very much like a narcotic response. The longer I gazed, the more intoxicated I became, and over the next few hours the porn brought me temporary escape and exhilaration. I’d found a new drug, and it seemed to work beyond my expectations.
The darker aspects of this newfound magic soon became clear to me. I revisited the same porn shop nightly for the next two weeks. I then spiraled into the use of prostitutes, an affair with a married woman, homosexuality, and a five-year habit of reckless, degrading sexual practices. It began with the use of pornography, a product I continued to consume during my backslidden years, and which I have come to regard much the way an addict regards a drug — a destructive vice I have to strenuously avoid, always remembering its lethal impact on my life.
THE PROBLEM THAT GROWS UNNOTICED
That same lethal impact is being felt on a broader level today as pornography’s availability has reached levels unimaginable 25 years ago. Through cable, videotape and DVD products, and the Internet, virtually anyone wanting to view porn is able to do so with minimal effort. The statistics on porn usage, therefore, while tragic, shouldn’t be surprising:
During the single month of January 2002, 27.5 million Internet users visited pornographic Web sites.2
Americans spent an estimated $220 million on pornographic Web sites in 2001, according to a New York-based Internet research firm. (The same firm, Jupiter Media Metrix, noted that the $220 million figure was up from $148 million in 1999; Americans are expected to spend $320 million annually on porn sites by the year 2005.)3
In a national survey polling 1,031 adults, Zogby International and Focus on the Family found that 20 percent of the respondents had recently visited a pornographic site.4
Every month millions of people stop what they’re doing to look at erotic images and, in most cases, pretend that they are sexually interacting with the women or men on display. It makes St. John’s description of the world — a place dominated by the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes (1 John 2:16)
— chillingly relevant.
What, at first glance, appears to be a secular problem is, in fact, a problem more commonly found among Christians than any of us would care to admit. Over 18 percent of the men polled in the Zogby/Focus survey cited above, for example, identified themselves as Christian believers.5 The Promise Keepers Men’s Conference conducted an informal poll during its 1996 rally and this poll yielded even more dismal results when one out of three men in attendance admitted they “struggled” with pornography.6 Finally, the Colorado-based Focus on the Family organization reports that 7 out of 10 pastors who call their toll-free help line claim to be addicted to porn.7
The use of pornography is not restricted to men, either, as is often assumed. Thirty-four percent of the readers of the popular magazine Today’s Christian Woman admitted to the use of Internet pornography,8 and the Zogby/Focus poll indicated one out of every six women surveyed viewed pornography regularly.9 James P. Draper, president of Life Way Christian Resources, was hardly exaggerating when he stated, “It appears the sin of choice among Christians today is pornography.”10
Considering the prevalence of pornography use among Christians, it’s time we examine the effect it’s having on individuals and families within the church and on our Christian witness in a secular and increasingly sexualized culture.
DEFINING PORNOGRAPHY
Webster defines pornography as “obscene literature or art.” This leaves the term “obscene” open to interpretation since a good deal of socially acceptable material may be obscene to some while artistic to others. The legal definition of obscenity, however, as established by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1973, narrows the term:
Do you like what you’re reading? Take a look at this.
pr1507-godscrimescene-hero pr1507-godscrimescene-hero wallace-bam-20150715-crime-scene-home-slider wallace-bam-20150715-crime-scene-home-slider graham-veale-bam-20150703 graham-veale-bam-20150703 hero_home_crj_382 hero_home_crj_382 stand-with-hank-home-hero2a stand-with-hank-home-hero2a
1. While applying contemporary community standards and taken as a whole, it is something that the average person would consider appeals to prurient interest.
2. The work (or material) depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way as specifically defined by the applicable state law.
3. The work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value.11
By this three-part standard, sexually explicit videotapes, DVDs, magazines, and Web sites qualify as porn. Honesty and common sense will also allow that any visual material used to incite an erotic response, even if the material is not generally considered obscene, becomes a form of pornography to the individual who uses it to that end. For the purposes of this article, however, we’ll use the Supreme Court’s definition as a reference point.
THE LETHAL EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY
The use of pornography, I believe, weakens the church today in three significant ways: First, it creates a dependency on pornography that weakens the individual believer. Second, it causes a disruption of the “one-flesh” union that weakens Christian marriages. Third, it results in a distortion in thinking that weakens a Christian’s ability to relate and function.
A Dependency That Weakens the Individual Believer
The value of personal freedom is an ongoing biblical theme. Adam was created under God’s authority with the freedom to choose, manage, and procreate (Gen. 1:27–30); Israel’s slavery was an evil that God sent Moses to confront and dismantle (Exod. 3–15); Jesus began His public ministry by announcing He had come, among other things, to set captives free (Luke 4:18); and Paul asserted that liberty is what God has called us to, that Christian liberty should be protected, and that bondage is to be avoided (Gal. 5:1, 13). The Judeo-Christian ethic places a high premium on personal freedom and condemns anything that restricts or prohibits a person from reaching his or her God-given potential. If liberty is good, it stands to reason that addiction — a dependence on a certain behavior or experience — is bad; and if something can be shown to be addictive, that in itself becomes a strong argument against it.
There are limits to this argument, to be sure. Most would agree that caffeine is an addictive substance, and yet coffee drinking is generally not frowned on; nor is the use of sugar, which many consider a relatively addictive substance. What distinguishes these substances from cocaine or heroin is the degree to which their use impairs a person’s freedom and productivity.
A woman who drinks three cups of coffee daily, for example, is different than a woman with a thousand-dollar-a-day heroin habit. Both of them may be, in the strictest sense, dependent on their drug of choice, and so their freedom is impaired. The coffee drinker is not, however, in virtually all cases, significantly and functionally impaired by her drug. She can operate on the job, maintain focus and stability, and manage personal responsibilities quite well despite her habit. The heroin user, in contrast, is rendered largely dysfunctional by her drug, will often resort to illegal activities to support her use of it, and is affected by heroin in such a way that it becomes increasingly difficult for her to sustain even the most primary human relationships. Both women are in bondage to some degree, but there’s a huge contrast in the nature of their bondage and in its impact on their general abilities.
The nature of immorality and its impact on a person’s abilities are described in Scripture as “enslaving”: “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins” (Prov. 5:22). Peter described the false promise of freedom through immorality: “They allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness….While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Pet. 2:18–19).
Bondage to a sexual sin — a growing dependency on the sin, similar to dependency on a drug — often goes unrecognized because addiction to a behavior is a relatively new concept to many people. Most mental health professionals agree that people can become addicted to chemicals. Many of them also recognize the possibility of becoming addicted to an experience. Those who believe in this possibility — myself included — believe addiction to an experience, such as gambling or the use of porn, follows a threefold pattern: the discovery of a hyperstimulating experience, the repetition of the experience, and an eventual dependence on the experience as a means of functioning or coping.
Discovery, Repetition, Dependence
When pornography is viewed for the first time — discovered, as it were — the viewer experiences a unique rush, accompanied by a strong sexual fantasy. The viewer is not, after all, simply enjoying the sight of another person’s body, potent as that pleasure might be. He is also creating an imaginary bond with the image he’s viewing, enjoying a false but potent connection in which he orchestrates and controls the entire sexual encounter. He has, in short, discovered a powerful and rewarding product, and like any consumer, he will be inclined to repeat its use until he no longer simply enjoys it but becomes dependent on it.
Christian counselor Robert Ellis describes this hyperstimulating experience much as one would describe a narcotic rush: “Use of pornography creates an exotic combination of internal stimulants which cascade through the bloodstream like liquid flesh. They create a sense of relief, excitement, exhilaration or pleasure — when these pleasurable, relieving surges get grooved into association with pornography, the flesh gains control over the spirit and the problem becomes one of addiction. It is not uncommon for pornography to elicit internal surges as addictive as cocaine.”12
This “addictive as cocaine” experience is shared by millions of pornography’s consumers, as evidenced by the National Council on Sexual Addiction Compulsivity, which estimates between six to eight percent of Americans display symptoms of sexual addiction (percentages that translate into 16 to 21 million citizens).13 Indeed, an MSNBC poll showed that in a sampling of 38,000 respondents, one out of every ten persons surveyed indicated they were addicted to sex on the Internet.14
Any form of sexual sin is serious, whether or not the person committing it is “addicted” to the sin or indulging it only on occasion; but when a person becomes dependent on that behavior as a source of comfort or relief, the problem of sin is now accompanied by the problem of bondage. When numerous Christians have come under such bondage, the entire church, like a body with parts that are diseased or crippled, must suffer.
A Disruption That Weakens Christian Marriages
Further problems are created when the use of pornography invades Christian marriages. It will eventually disrupt the unity, both sexual and emotional, that is vitally crucial to stable marital life.
When a group of Pharisees questioned Jesus on the ethics of divorce (Matt. 19:4–6), He articulated a basic standard for the human sexual experience: sexual union is to be heterosexual (“He made them male and female”), independent (“a man shall leave father and mother”), and monogamous (“one flesh”). Paul added that within the sanctity of a monogamous and permanent commitment, husband and wife are to attend to each other’s sexual needs (1 Cor. 7:4–5) and reserve their sexual energies for each other, thus preserving the uniqueness of their bond and avoiding moral transgressions (1 Cor. 7:2).
The benefits of a “one-flesh” union are confirmed elsewhere in Scripture. A cursory look at Old and New Testament figures confirms the wisdom of monogamy and the chaos introduced by infidelity, polygamy, or loss of sexual control, all of which play key roles in some of the Bible’s greatest tragedies. Witness the bitter rivalry between Abraham’s wife and her maid and the painful repercussions that result, the foolish loss of judgment that came with Herod’s sexual obsession with his stepdaughter, the death of a child and permanent family curse caused by David’s adultery, and the spiritual decline of Solomon’s faith because of his appetite for foreign women. A fundamental lesson emerges: The one-flesh union provides psychological safety to individuals, stabilizes the family, and enhances productivity and order within the community.
Jesus further clarified the concept of the one-flesh union when He declared that adultery is not limited to actions but can also occur in the heart: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt. 5:27–28). Pornography, which necessitates lusting after strangers, accordingly disrupts the one-flesh union, depriving husband and wife of the very benefits the Bible promises to those who remain monogamous.
In concurrence with the Bible, a growing number of secular theorists are also celebrating the wisdom of monogamous commitment. Studies show that it enhances the life span of men and women who practice it15 and that the quality of life improves in proportion to the practice of fidelity. Drug and alcohol abuse dropped significantly among married test subjects in a University of Chicago study, and monogamous individuals made more money, had twice as much sex as their nonmonogamous counterparts, and experienced half the domestic violence of those studied who either lived together unmarried or lived alone.16
In light of this, pornography is shown to be especially crippling to marriages, as it damages the ability of its users to maintain an ongoing, committed union. The claim that it is a harmless product and practice belies the biblical and secular evidence that it violates the one-flesh standard. The man using pornography violates this standard, whether he is married or single. If he is single, he violates it by engaging in random sexual fantasies with the innumerable women he views in magazines or pornographic Web sites. He is, in essence, attempting to enjoy the ecstasy of sexual union without any of its commitments or responsibilities and thus creates a false, temporal bond with phantoms. Since a one-flesh union is both authentic and exclusive, he is falling far short of the biblical standard.
When a married man uses porn, he violates the Matthew 5 standard as well: the sexual energy he has pledged to reserve for his wife is now being invested into his private fantasies. He is, in essence, embezzling from his spouse what is rightfully hers, and is instead spending it irresponsibly, much as a gambler steals funds from his employer to support his habit. What properly belongs to one person is thus stolen, making the term “cheating” all the more applicable.
Secular studies confirm the crippling effect of pornography on a person’s ability to maintain a monogamous bond. Researchers Dolf Zimmerman and Jennings Bryant, for example, noted that continued exposure to pornography increased its user’s desires for sexual contacts and behaviors outside their marriages,17 and author Diana Russell found that pornography leads men and women to experience conflict, suffering, and sexual dissatisfaction.18
Common sense would lead to the same conclusion. Each of us contains a limited amount of sexual/emotional energy, which will either be reserved for a monogamous bond or spent elsewhere. Our ability to sustain a bond with one partner cannot help but be impacted by the level of energy we’ve reserved for that partnership.
As a counselor, I see this principle played out repeatedly. When a husband engages in the use of pornography, his wife almost always notices a certain detachment on his part: less time, less sexual interaction, less attention. She suffers; he embezzles; everyone loses. Pornography systematically weakens marriages within the body of Christ, for it disrupts the bonds crucial to a healthy marriage.
A Distortion That Darkens the Christian Mind
The eye is indeed the lamp of the body (Matt. 6:22–23). If a person’s eye is perpetually exposed to darkness, there comes an inevitable distortion in that person’s thinking. It is in this darkening of the mind that pornography makes its leap from an act that is morally repugnant to one that has frightening consequences. “Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33), Paul warned, and the impact on the mind of a Christian consistently exposed to the wrong types of communication is immeasurable.
Zimmerman and Bryant, for example, found that continued exposure to pornography affected a male viewer’s basic beliefs about sexuality in general and women in particular.19 They likewise noted that exposure to porn increased its viewers’ desires for deviant behaviors, such as sado-masochism, and also desensitized their attitudes toward rape. Psychologist Edward Donnerstein of the University of Wisconsin came to similar conclusions, noting that even brief exposure to violent forms of pornography led to antisocial attitude and behavior.20 Clinical psychologist Victor Kline concurs, noting that men who consume pornography on a regular basis experienced increased aggression in attitude and behavior, noticed an increase in “rape fantasies,” and felt increased indifference toward women in general.21
Like any drug, pornography’s effects vary according to the general health of the individual who uses it. In other words, while a person will be adversely affected by using an illegal drug, the specific effect will probably vary from person to person. A person already predisposed toward violence may well become more violent when intoxicated; a person more inclined to depression may find himself acutely suicidal when under the influence. Similarly, not every porn user becomes a rapist or sexual deviant, but there can be no question of its adverse effects on the user’s thinking.
I can testify to this first hand, both as a former user of pornography and as a counselor. Having discovered the “dark magic,” I found myself increasingly withdrawn from genuine interpersonal relationships and more isolated, defensive, and detached. Accustomed to the false world of phantom relations, I found real relations less and less tolerable. I also developed a callousness toward women, which I repeatedly see in my clients. They existed for me — I visually used them daily via magazines and videos; I controlled them in my fantasy world; and I became less tolerant of any defects in real women as I spent more time in the company of unreal, though perfect, images of women. I had discovered a world in which both I and all around me would be perfect. In the shadowlands of pornographic imagery, people existed for my pleasure, and I existed to rule and indulge. In short, I had adopted a mindset so far away from the mind of Christ that I decided to usurp His authority for my own, thus completing the darkening of my mind.
C. S. Lewis alluded to this self-idolatry when he described the world of sexual fantasy as being “a harem of imaginary brides. And this harem, once admitted, works against a man ever getting out and really uniting with a real woman. For the harem is always accessible, always subservient, calls for no sacrifices or adjustments, and can be endowed with erotic and psychological attributes which no real woman can rival. In the end, they become merely the medium through which he increasingly adores himself.”22
PIERCING THE DARKNESS
When a person is angry enough, scared enough, or frustrated enough, that person will take action. So it is with pornography. If you recognize its impact on your life, and you are sufficiently concerned to take action, that is the beginning of true change.
The journey away from pornography, like the journey away from sexual sin in general, is so simple it escapes many people. It can be reduced to three simple principles: repentance, discipleship, and accountability.
Repentance: Reject the behavior by separating yourself from it. If you have not separated yourself from it, you haven’t repented. In practical terms, that may mean purchasing a filtering device (or switching to an Internet service provider that prohibits pornographic material from coming through), or doing away with the Internet altogether. It may mean discontinuing the cable service on your television. In short, do whatever is necessary to separate yourself from the behavior on which you’ve become dependent.
Discipleship: Establish yourself in the daily discipline of prayer and Bible study. If you do not have a regular devotional life, begin now by naming a book of the Bible you can begin reading today. If you haven’t read the Bible before, or you’ve been out of the habit for a while, let me suggest the following books, and read them in this order to get you started: the Gospel of John, Romans, Ephesians, James, and Proverbs. Follow up these daily readings with a time of prayer, following the model of prayer Christ taught in Matthew 6:9–13. Prayer and the reading of Scripture are requirements for anyone wanting to renew his or her mind; they will diffuse the power of deeply ingrained sexual images.
Accountability: Start a relationship with at least one believer who knows about your use of pornography. Have this person ask you, on a weekly basis, whether you’ve repeated this behavior and how well you’ve resisted the temptations to repeat it. Remember, sexual sin thrives in the dark. A large part of recovery from it lies in your willingness to keep your private behavior in the light of another believer’s scrutiny and prayers. This, like the daily discipline of prayer and Scripture reading, is required if you’re serious about your repentance.
A BATTLE WORTH FIGHTING
After the English Parliament’s 1938 appeasement in Czechoslovakia, Winston Churchill saw the danger of choosing peace when honor and common sense called for battle. “You have been given the choice between war and dishonor,” he said. “You have chosen dishonor, and you will have war!” History, of course, would confirm his prophetic warning: refusing to fight an honorable battle may afford a temporary peace, but in the long run it’s too costly. Delaying a necessary battle may well result in a devastating, full-scale war.
Every person who has become involved in sexual sin makes a decision between battle and dishonor. As always, dishonor looks like an easier choice. Dishonor means making peace with your sin. It means telling yourself that after so many years, it’s become such a part of your life that trying to cut it out would be too traumatic and too uncomfortable. It would mean saying goodbye to a reliable (though destructive) friend, and the battle to abstain from this “friend,” with all the temptations and struggles it would involve, seems too demanding, so a dishonorable compromise is therefore reached when a person decides to live in peaceful coexistence with his (or her) sexual sin.
Tyrants, however, never coexist peacefully; by their nature, they demand increased territory, fewer limitations, and more captives. The sin a person decides not to go to war against soon demands more territory. It begins invading career, family, health, and reputation. Now the person finds that what could have been a brief skirmish, if it had been attended to earlier, has become full-blown war. He chose dishonor over battle. In the end, he winds up with both.
If your mind has become a battlefield — darkened by the use of pornography, which has distorted your basic attitudes toward life — you have already yielded a good deal of territory, and your willingness to concede it has already cost a terrible price to you, your loved ones, and the church. God grant that today you find yourself ready to abandon the dark and see again how wonderful the true light can be.
NOTES
All Bible quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.
Marilyn Elias, “Cybersex Follows Mars, Venus Patterns,” USA Today, February 26, 2002.
Ibid.
“Zogby/Focus Survey Reveals Shocking Internet Sex Statistics,” Legal Facts (Family Research Council), vol. 2, no. 3, March 30, 2000, cited in National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families Web site, “Current Statistics,” http://php.eos.net/nationalcoalition/stat.phtml?ID=53.
Ibid.
“Pornography among Christians?” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2001.
Ibid.
Ramona Richards, “Dirty Little Secret,” ChristianityToday.com, http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/ 2003/005/5.58.html.
Zogby.
James P. Draper, quoted in Tim Wilkins, “First Person: How to Surf the Internet and Avoid Wiping Out to Porn,” Baptist Press News, October 30, 2003.
Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973).
Robert Ellis, “The Chemical Science of Pornography,” AFA Online, http://www.afa.net/pornography/re011303.asp.
Alvin Cooper, et al., “Online Sexual Compulsivity: Getting Tangled in the Net,” Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity 6, 2 (1999): 79–104.
Linda Carroll, “Addicted to Online Porn,” June 27, 2000, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078769/.
Christina Hoff Sommers, The War against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000), http://www.andtheylivedhappilyeverafter.com/ 48.htm.
Ibid.
Dolf Zimmerman and Jennings Bryant, “Pornography, Sexual Callousness, and the Trivialization of Rape,” cited in “The Documented Effects of Pornography,” The Forerunner, http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0388_Effects_of_Pornograp.html.
Diana Russell, “Rape and Marriage,” cited in “The Documented Effects of Pornography.”
Zimmerman and Bryant.
Edward Donnerstein, “Pornography and Violence against Women,” cited in “The Documented Effects of Pornography.”
Victor Kline, “The Effects of Pornography,” C.A.S.E, http://www.c-a-s-e.net/The Effects of Porn.htm.
C. S. Lewis, quoted in Laurie Hall, An Affair of the Mind (Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family, 1998), 111.