Don't Make Me Come Over There Mark Driscoll!!!

I don't know why, I don't know why we do it. Why were we watching youtube clips of Mark Driscoll last night? It's Aaron's fault. Ok, so not all of his stuff is bad, in fact, he's actually pretty good if you can block your mind (or in my case mouth) from screaming "hypocrite"! Hypocrite because in one segment he preaches grace and the gospel, in the next he's busy telling people what is allowed or not, even in the bedroom. Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciate his willingness to be real and talk about sex so openly, just don't necessarily agree with the reason why he's doing it. He's preaching from the wrong tree, and it's not his job or any other pastor's job to teach us from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Right?

Anyway, as angry as this man can make me (and you'll see what I mean in a minute) I still can't help hoping and praying he'll wake up one day and the veil that covers his face because of sitting under and perpetuating the false doctrine that we are as believers still under Law, will fall away and he will see Jesus clearly in all his New Covenant glory! And worse than angry, what follows makes me extremely sad.

If you still struggle with condemnation and especially in the area of sexual sin then I don't recommend you watch this at all. Aaron and I both felt the sickening evil spell of condemnation as we watched even though the 'rebuke' had nothing to do with either of us! One thing I truly appreciate about Mark is there is no subtlety, he is what he is. I much prefer this to the forked tongued flattery that often clouds the ministry of death and condemnation other preachers are peddling...

So here goes, (and Mark D., if you should ever happen to stumble across this post, I sincerely want you to know that my purpose is not to offend or insult you personally, but you (in this clip at least) have crossed the line when you speak to the Bride of Christ in such a terrible and accusatory manner. This is exactly the kind of teaching that puts people in bondage to sin. In fact, if what you say is true and there are many men in your church who have been there for years and are still entangled in such sin, then maybe you should examine the doctrines that are producing such bad fruit. MAYBE the message matters! MAYBE we should be careful what we preach! You can never never guilt, shame, scare people into becoming righteous, because righteousness is a gift from God by faith. Shame on YOU, for shaming those who don't live up to your self-righteous standards. Shame on YOU for misrepresenting our Father who has promised to never ever be angry or rebuke us again. If he is not angry, he is not rebuking us, what gives YOU the right? Please feel free to contact me with your answers in the unlikely event you ever read this.)

Ahem.






If anyone reading this sits or has sat under this kind of teaching then I am very sorry. I have been there, though Mark is an extreme version. These kinds of lies about who God is and how he sees you cut to your heart and fill you with despair. But there is good news! God is not angry with you, he's not counting your sins against you, there is freedom and joy in the Spirit when you believe in Jesus and his work on the cross! ALL your sin has been dealt with and whether you succumb to temptation in this world or not God will not put you to shame, there is no condemnation for you ever! So come and let Jesus give you rest, his burden is easy, his yoke is light.

Legalism in Sanctification

One of the most frustrating things to deal with is people who understand that justification is by faith through grace and therefore believe there is no possible way that they are legalistic though they believe that they must follow laws in order to be sanctified. It's frustrating because the book of Galatians was clearly written specifically to deal with those who began in the Spirit by faith but were trying to 'be perfected' (hello, sanctification!) in the flesh. 'In the flesh' is clearly connected to 'under law' if you read on in chapter 3. So I was happy to find that Steve McVey addresses this very thing briefly in one of the 101 lies videos, Christian lies #30 "legalism is salvation by works".



If you are one of those who believe that salvation is from faith to works, I hope you are able to re-read Galatians keeping in mind that their problem was not beginning right but not continuing in faith. Don't worry! I'm not saying grace is a licence to sin! True sanctification will only happen if you believe God enough to totally abandon any hope in your obedience to the law and live by his Spirit. Do you think he will lead you into sin???????????

Breaking Free From Fear, Control, Spiritual Abuse, Shame, and Guilt Manipulation

I just wanted to post some links to a few resources for those who have come out of, are coming out of, or want to come out of legalistic control situations. The first and greatest resource is the true Gospel, the pure good news that Jesus came to bring. He himself declared that he did not come to condemn but to find and save the lost. He also declared that anyone who was heavy laden and weary could come to him for peace and rest, that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. If you are not living in the glorious freedom of this as a believer, than you have been listening to lies. No matter where the lies are coming from, the answer is to hear truth!

Any of the resources I recommend will be based on the fact that they unashamedly preach the good news. Here are some, which I'm sure I've recommended many times before:

Joseph Prince (New Creation Church Singapore)

Bertie Brits (Dynamic Love Ministries)

Steve McVey (Grace Walk)


I'm sure there are many others preaching the glorious good news as well, seek them out and allow God to restore your hearts and minds back to the truth of his loving goodness.

God is not and never will be angry with you ever again, any preacher who even hints otherwise (if you believe in Jesus for your salvation) is a liar perpetuating the agenda of demons. I don't mind stating things so clearly when I have Scripture that states things so clearly! (Isaiah 54) You will not be judged for any sin that Jesus has been judged for in your place, so stop letting arrogant men bully you into jumping through their hoops of godliness. Righteousness is a gift from God, and any true preaching of the Gospel will highlight that fact, not your sin.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

Romans 1:16-17

Do you see it? In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith for faith....not the sin of man is revealed, not from faith to works or obedience to the law. If anyone starts preaching another gospel then he is under a curse, and so are all who believe him. Basic Galatians here...

God wants to set you free from all curses and pour out his blessing on you, but you must believe that Jesus, Jesus alone, is enough for you and your sin, is enough for you and your righteousness. When we refuse to receive the righteousness of Jesus as a gift, we will be left to beating our flesh into submission and obedience. Our flesh will fail us every single time. If righteousness could be gained through obedience to the law, then Jesus died for nothing (Galatians again!).

So if you are not free, you are not sure of God's love for you, are not sure he's not ever angry with you, do not have an abundance of joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control etc... you can be sure the old serpent has unlawfully (1 Tim.) slithered back into your life to persuade you that you have not been born again into God's own image, that God has not given you every good thing in salvation, that you need to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Yeah, if you just have that knowledge what's right, what's wrong (thanks so much pastor for being willing to continually expound this for us) then we will be more like God, more godly. WAKE UP! THIS IS THE DEVIL'S OLDEST TRICK!!!

So people, come out into the glorious light of Jesus who loves you dearly! Hear the truth and believe it, it's not too good to be true, IT IS SO GOOD BECAUSE IT IS SO TRUE!!!! (thanks Rob! I think I really get it most days!)



( P.S. An easy place to start hearing the truth would be the grace stream channel posted right here on my blog...)

Do Not Yield

"Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me...

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

Galatians 2:4-6, 11-14

I think there must be many secret societies going on behind closed doors of the church world. I can't understand why whole christian organizations get away with murder, while the people in other similar organizations smile and say "I think they're real nice". Preaching law is akin to spiritual murder. (*2 Cor. 3:6-8

Paul did not privately address a few false teachers (Galatians, he even publicly rebuked Peter! ch.2) with his concerns, he wrote very public letters, showing his anger very publicly, in fact, one might say he ranted and raved when it came to wolves trying to put God's children back under bondage and slavery. He actually pronounced a double curse on anyone who preached any other gospel but the one he preached (*Galatians 1:8-9). This should stop many preachers in their tracks, they should be trembling in fear, but instead they are swaggering drunk with conceit.

I'm tired of the so-called leaders of the church (I'm talking church universal) patting each other on the back, telling each other jokes, and writing up impressive intoductions to each others books all the while one or the other is teaching demonic lies that are destroying the people who follow them. These men are worse than dogs and mutilators of the flesh (*Phil. 3:2-4), they are mutilating souls.

I'm not one of those people who likes to be a watch dog, you know, going around barking about this person in error or that one. I don't think I'm nitpicky, but come on, can't we examine the fruits (or more accurately works) of a ministry and be honest? This peace at any cost idea, love means never telling the truth about the 'important' men of the church, this butter-my-bread-and-I'll-butter-yours doctrine is ridiculous. It's a ring of fear, each man fearing for his own name and reputation, not caring what God thinks of it all but choosing to be ashamed of the Gospel for the sake of his standing among the respectable religious of the 'church'. This makes me sick, really. And angry, angry for the souls of all those who pour out their lives, their families' lives, their wallets, and their hearts to these cowards, thinking that they are God's ambassadors on this earth. They are not. (And I can honestly tell you and I'm not thinking of any particualar ministry here, but more of a jumbled mess of things I've seen everywhere over my life growing up in the church world in general.)

But we are! Every one of us who put our faith in Jesus and his good news. We are not ambassadors who never make a mistake, but we are ambassadors who are not ashamed of the gospel once we have received revelation from heaven of who Jesus really is! And some of the men I'm talking about will live to receive the same revelation, just as Paul did. He was a persecuter of those who in the eyes of the law and religion were crazy fools, but in the moment of the thunderous voice of God and a flash of brilliant light everything changed! So it was for all of us who have received grace and mercy and know we are dearly loved of our Father.

I don't know why, but I feel very compelled lately to speak, or should I say write, very strongly against legalism in the church. At the bottom of it is the violent love of God for his people! I feel his love as I write, I read Galatians and my heart is breaking, tears are welling up in my eyes! God's people have turned away from his glorious grace, from the unsurpassed sacrifice of his only beautiful Son, and gone back to law as a dog returns to it's vomit. It's time to cast out the maid servant's son and stop allowing the legalists to bully the children of freedom!

Let's grow up in grace and stand strong and proud of Jesus! We must never yeild or submit in the face of even the most vicious attacks from those who have fallen from grace, but it is imperative that we preserve the truth of the gospel in these last days. It is not love to watch a brother veer from the truth of the gospel without speaking out, it is hate.

Even as I write this, I'm unsure of what it means for me. I have been careful to avoid publicly criticising people or ministries by name (on this blog, but have sometimes been more specific elsewhere) because of their serious and destructive false doctrines . At this point, I will continue to address the false doctrines without 'naming names'(on here), but perhaps the fear of naming names is not coming from the Holy Spirit. There are names that are named in Scripture, recorded for all time as falling prey to error! I think we have lost boldness and power, not because we love so much, though we like to think of this as the reason, but because we care very much what men think of us or how they might try to slander or persecute us in retaliation! I'm just not sure we can stand for grace without also standing against legalism...it's time to let our "yes" be "YES" and our "no" be "NO"!!!



* 2 Cor. 3:6-8 "He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?"

* Galatians 1:8-9 "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

*Philippians 3:2-4 "Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence."

Spiritual Bulimia

There are those who, as they listen to the good news of Jesus, nod their heads and smilingly agree with everything. They say they love grace! They might even get tears in their eyes when telling of God's amazing mercies, of his salvation available to anyone who believes in his Son and his finished work on the cross. Yep, they might even be able to powerfully preach the whole truth of the Gospel, passionately expounding on the wonders of justification through grace alone, by faith alone. They will tell you that salvation is a free gift from God, that no man should boast.

And at the end of this feast of truth, this love feast of the body and blood of Jesus, they will stick their pointy finger of law down your throat and you will lose every benefit of what you just ate.

For health reasons, I recommend you avoid such teaching...


"For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."
Galatians 2:18-21


Please do not receive anything that nullifies the grace of God, no matter how much you may love and respect the person serving up law, and no matter how much 'grace' they may mix in with it. It can only make a mockery of Jesus' sacrifice and make you very sick.

God, God, lift the veils from our faces! We choose Jesus, and forever forsake the folly of self-righteousness! Open our eyes to you! We want nothing to do anymore with the lies of religion, lies that say we can accomplish anything for you, but we receive all that you have accomplished for us. We rise up into our new life, our new marriage, with our new Husband and we rejoice in your love! The old is gone and the new has come! Forgetting what is behind, we press on toward the goal, finding strength keeps coming to us when we know we should be tired. We have the high of all runners' highs, because we run with your everlasting everfilling power gushing into us and out of us. When our minds and bodies get tired, we rest with no fear of falling behind or missing a blessing, and you refresh us with your love. You, you are our greatest blessing and you promised to never leave us, never be angry with us, never fail us or stop loving us. In you I have everything I ever dreamed of, in me I have everything my heart desires; YOU.

The Hybrid 'Gospel'

A hybrid is the combination of two or more different things, aimed at achieving a particular objective or goal.

I was recently listening to Rob preach the gospel...again...and as I was thinking about the differences between the Old and New Covenant, it struck me that much of the church is teaching (and I was taught some variation of this in many different churches) neither Old or New Covenant but a different 'covenant' altogether, a mongrel hybrid. This is more than just mixing a little Old with New, it's almost a permanent breed of religion that is stripped of even the fading glory the Old Covenant had (see 2 Corinthians 3:7-18). I would venture so far to say that it is a false and heretical religion, based on doctrines of demons.

What am I saying? Well, if we taught only Old Covenant, at least there are still some blessings available...right? I mean, as someone once commented to me, mercy was built into the law, there were sacrifices and provisions made for sin so that some blessing was still attainable, albeit in order to obtain them a person still had to have faith in God and his love. If we teach the New Covenant, it is only a million times better, since there is a permanent provision made for us to receive one blessing after another with no chance at all for receiving any curse since the foundation of everything in the New is the perfect righteousness of Jesus. He fully fulfulled the law--that is, he both rightfully earned every single blessing, as well as received every single curse and punishment,even death!

But men have not been satified with either covenants God has offered us, so they have taken it upon them selves to draw up a new contract thinking God will be impressed. Because the gospel is foolishness in their eyes, they have mixed the old and new together and produced a monster, a weapon that all the hordes of hell have taken up with joy and are using to maim and slaughter millions of people, believers and unbelievers alike.

This covenant says we must obey some of the laws of the Old, especially the 10 commandments, but they make it harder, adding in Jesus' sermon on the mount, so now we must not even hate our brother in our hearts or it is murder, we must not look at someone with lust or it is adultery...and they go on to apply this logic to the rest of the 10 commandments. If we fail, of course God will forgive us! IF we repent, show appropriate godly sorrow, feeling appropriate guilt and shame (to be differentiated somehow from the condemnation of Romans 8...), confess our sin sincerely, crawl to the throne of grace where Jesus reminds us of the nails that we personally drove into his hands and feet and beg mercy, which of course he will not deny us--that's the good news!!! We are forever and eternally indebted to him for his sacrifice, his 'free gift' comes with eternal strings attached and we are his pitiful puppets. Now worship him you dirty rotten worms!!! Where's your joy??? What's wrong with you people??? Aren't you thankful?

Can you see the twistedness of mixing the two covenants in this way, taking both the new and old testament out of context? This kind of teaching is neither Old or New Covenant, but 'another gospel', a gospel that is no gospel at all! (Galatians 1:6-7) I'm amazed at how often proponents of this legalistic religion want to turn this verse and point it at the ones preaching a new covenant grace message! How sadly ironic! The whole book of Galatians is aimed at man centered legalistic perversion of the true Gospel. When Paul says "this gospel is no gospel at all" he's saying plainly, "your 'good news' is not good news at all!".

There is a simple litmus test to know if you're hearing the true gospel. Is it simply and clearly the best news you've ever heard? If it is and you receive it ,it will naturally begin to produce all the glorious fruits of the Spirit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. Those fruits of the Spirit are listed in GALATIANS, that is no coincidence! They are FRUITS of the Spirit, NOT WORKS OF THE FLESH, which are also evident: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. (Galatians 5:16-26)

This hybrid 'gospel' is no gospel at all, it is mostly bad news with a little bit of patronizing 'good news' mixed in to confuse the people who've bought into it. This 'good news' is used to make people feel guilty so that they're easier to manipulate and control. Their gospel is that you are terribly dirty all the time, but Jesus still condescends to love you and give you the occasional blessing, but if you suffer from disease and poverty and your marriage falls apart and your children die, it is no less than you deserve, being the lowly worm that you are, and Jesus has no obligation whatsoever to bless you so be thankful for the few he has given you and stop whining. IT'S A LIE. It sounds very humble and spiritual, but it is not humble to not boldly come to the throne of grace and receive everything we need, choosing to suffer instead, IT IS UNBELIEF.

The Father is obligated to bless us, to save us, to heal us, to love us, to comfort us, to provide everything we need, because he has obligated himself, HE HAS PROMISED. What is the requirement on our part to receive all this? It is believing in Jesus and asking in faith. NOW THAT'S GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will not be ashamed of the Good News! I will joyfully preach it anytime I get a chance, and it is so refreshing to my soul when I do. I haven't written anything like this for a long time it seems, but it feels really really good...and I know it will stir some people up a bit. Trust me, I hope it does stir some of you up...to faith!

Should We Be Cross Centered?

There's an interesting discussion going on over at Dan's blog (Life on Wings), where Peter Day has posted a great piece called "Overturning the Tables of Legalism" about how much we should focus on the cross as believers. The argument on the cross-centered side seems to be that Paul was cross-centered and seemed to use 'the cross' as short-hand for the gospel message as a whole. There's also a quote saying we shouldn't move on from the Cross, however my thoughts on that are that since there is no Scripture saying the same, it doesn't have much authority. On the other side, some are arguing that the throne or empty tomb would be a better symbol for Christianity.

I was sitting playing a mindless computer game when a thought popped into my head. Maybe from God? I think so but you can judge for yourself. What popped into my head was the story of the Israelites in the wilderness with Moses, the time they all got bitten and poisened by serpents and God instructed Moses to raise up a bronze snake on a pole so the people could come and look at it and be healed. (Numbers 21:4-9) What did they do with this bronze snake on a pole afterward? Turns out they decided to worship it, turning it into an idol instead of worshipping the God who saved them... (see 2 Kings 18:4) And there's connection between this pole and Jesus in John 3 v. 14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."

Now to be sure, Paul did sometimes refer to the cross as a kind of short-hand for the work of Christ, and so can we. But I think there can be a danger of turning 'the Cross' into some kind of entity, we can do exactly what the Israelites did with their snake pole--we can end up putting our focus on the means of salvation rather than the person who saved us. I talked about this in my previous post as well, " Not Clinging to the Cross". Yes, we should always remember the death of Jesus, as we do every time we break bread together, there's a right time and and right way to remember the work of Jesus on the cross. But we remember the cross in a way that is life-giving, partaking of the body and blood of Jesus, being renewed and healed by taking his eternal resurrection life into our bodies. The breaking of bread NEVER ministers shame, guilt, condemnation, death, fear, etc...but ALWAYS the life-giving power of God's loving grace.

Another argument is that we need to center our lives around the cross in order to remain humble, but this argument is rooted in the idea that the cross is a reminder of our sin. I'm very sorry to say this (and I've said it over and over) but IF THE CROSS REMINDS YOU OF YOUR SIN THEN YOU ARE DENYING THE VERY POWER OF THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS, THE WORK OF THE CROSS. Once again, take a look at Hebrews 10 (which I also wrote about a while back in my post called "Knowing God Under the New Covenant" The work of Jesus on the cross totally washes all our sin away forever and we are no longer even conscious of it! That's right, if God has forgotten it, so should we. To the extent we live aware of and focused on our sin, to that extent are we living in unbelief, not trusting that the sacrifice of Jesus was enough to put us in right standing before our Father.

And out of curiosity, I went to Bible Gateway and did a few searches (not including the Gospels) just to give a basic idea of what the New Testament church might be centered on. I only found 13 references to 'the cross'. I found 89 references for "gospel", 470 references for "Christ", 345 references for "Jesus" (there is probably some overlap for "Christ" and "Jesus"), and 66 references for "Spirit" (with a capital 's'). In a general way, I think this leads me to believe that we should live Jesus centered lives, not cross centered lives. I think that by over using the phrase 'the cross' without clarying and teaching what we mean by it (we do the same thing with many many other words such as 'gospel', 'grace', etc...), we are not helping people to understand these doctrines well but are deceiving them into thinking that knowing the right terminology means they have adequate understanding and are well-taught.


[ I think it would be good for me to say, not necessarily in relation to this topic in particular, that I also think women need to be looking into these things and are not only qualified as well as men to do this, but are encouraged by their Father in the Spirit to do it! I am publicly, for my sake and for the sake of any and all daughters of the Kingdom of Heaven, renouncing the doctrines of demons in the church today that are trying to suppress, control, manipulate, and destroy women(just as their leader did in the garden many many years ago) and I'm specifically referring to the idea that women are not able to discern and study Scripture and doctrine for themselves by the Spirit, without any man. And we are released from the curse of Genesis 3 sisters! So be free!!!]

Sin, Sin, Sin, and a little God on the Side

Apparently Joel Osteen has just released a new book and the parts of the church and blogosphere are up in arms.(Thanks to Jesse over at Resurgence for making me aware.) To be frank, I don't care that much about Mr. Osteen apart from hoping he meets God one day and experiences the amazing grace that is available through Jesus' finished work on the cross. I say that assuming from watching him on T.V that he doesn't understand the gospel, because if he does why is he keeping it a secret from his huge audience?

But my problem with his teaching would basically be that he doesn't teach God's Word but picks and chooses nice sounding principles to apply and use as needed to improve your life. It's giving people candied law, sweet and tasty on the outside, but death and hopelessness on the inside. We can't change by following certain principles whether they come from the Bible or the Quran or the Book of Mormon. And yes, I agree with his many critics that his teaching is self-centered; man centered.

That's why I'm so surprised that so many think the answer to the problem is to talk about sin more! I agree that if you try to ignore the fact that sin is real, that the entire human race is born into the slavery of sin and death and destined for hell apart from God's saving intervention, then you are in trouble. Apart from this understanding you can't be saved because you don't know you need to be saved. We clearly must teach the law to unbelievers so they will see their sin so that the Holy Spirit can come in and convict them of their sin and draw them to Jesus. But this just doesn't apply to believers. To continually focus on sin is to continually focus our attention on entirely the wrong thing. We are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). We are not to live with a consciousness of sin (though we should acknowledge when we do sin and move on in grace) but an ever growing awareness of God's grace. In fact, the more we experience God in is his glory the more we are changed and the less we think about our sin--we're too busy basking in his wonderful presence, adoring him.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that those who preach sin, sin, sin, and a little God on the side are generally man-centered as well. It goes without saying that if your eyes are on sin, they aren't on Jesus...

Watch Out For Catholic Drivers!!!

I'm serious. The vatican has apparently issued a 'ten commandments' for drivers.

Taken from the article linked above, they are as follows:

The "Drivers' Ten Commandments," as listed by the document, are:

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

Let's just leave the whole issue of who has authority to put law on God's people alone...well, for now anyway...

Are you expecting 60 million or so Catholics to make a dent in the problem of road rage all over the world? Well, I'm sure many of them don't drive but still there must be a significant number of drivers. Yes, they will make a difference. Mostly, they will become worse drivers than ever. That's what the law is for, to increase sin! (Romans 5:20, see below)

Don't tell me you haven't experienced this principle at work. Make a rule for yourself and you will immediately break it and then some. Or maybe you are of the rare 'strong willed' group. Maybe you're more like Paul, and can spout of your own version of "... circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless..."
(Phil. 3:5-6) You are living a lie if you think you can handle obeying the law well enough. 'Well enough' means absolutely perfect obedience just as Christ achieved. If you can pull that off, then you're right, you don't need Jesus. Paul goes on to say in Philippians 3:

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith..."

That word 'rubbish' is more accurately translated 'dung' in the KJV. Or as Rob Rufus says, 'poo'. All your precious works are no more than one big pile of , well , you know. Don't get upset with me, take it up with the Spirit of Christ. He's trying to get through to us! What Jesus did here on earth behalf of sinners was not a pleasant walk in the park. It involved incredible sacrifice and immeasurable suffering, yet we don't think it was really enough. We prove that every time we come up with a new rule or plan to please God our Father.


I've listed below some passages from Romans that talk about what the law is for. I hope to study this more in depth throughout the whole Bible myself over the next few months.

"For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20)

"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression." (Romans 4:13-15)

"Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 5:20-21

"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."
(Romans 6:14)

"Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit."
(Romans 7:4-6)

"But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 1The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me." (Romans 7:8-10)

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:1-4)

If you still don't believe that law makes us sin more, I challenge you to give it a try. Make a rule for yourself, or just pick one out of the original ten commandments (applying Jesus' interpretation involving your heart). Try to keep it perfectly for one week. I was going to suggest some but God stopped me. I don't want to be responsible for provoking anyone to sin!

A Charismatic Resurgence and a Challenge to Bloggers

I have been very very disturbed by a sermon I've been listening to. It was such evil bewitching legalistic heresy that I felt like crying, screaming, and vomiting at the same time. Though I'm tempted to give you all the info I'm going to refrain, at least for now, since I'm not sure it would be helpful.

I do want to put a challenge out there to all my fellow bloggers who long to see God move in power and glory. Prayerfully consider the links you put on your blog and the ministries you recommend to others. So many are legalistic and becoming more and more blatantly legalistic as they are praised by others for their great 'holiness'. We are not doing people a service by pointing them in any direction but GRACE. There is no power in the law, and legalism will kill us spiritually and make us resistant to God's Spirit. It is ONLY as we begin to preach and live pure grace that we will move in the power of the Spirit as we're called to. It's time to use discernment and not give in to the grace hating spirit EVEN FOR A MOMENT!!!!

Gray Matters: Response #2

This response is to a comment left by Andrew Fountain. Now, I'm sure he has a better answer than I do, but I wanted to give it a shot. This is a question I wrestled with last year as I was coming out of legalism and back into grace, and I believe God gave me some revelation. That doesn't mean I'll get it all right though! As always feel free to engage with me over this.

"Here is a question for you Julie: I fully agree with what you say about legalism, but when I read the gospels, Jesus spends a lot of time giving commands. He says things like "If you love me, keep my commandments", "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love." (Jn 15:10) and then "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (Jn 14:21). My problem is how to relate this to grace. I firmly believe that God's love for me is not conditional on my performance, so how am I to understand these verses?"

I remember when these kinds of questions were rattling around in my brain as I read and re-read Romans and Galatians. I would read a glorious passage about God's grace and immediately that loud and obnoxious 'BUT' would resound in my tired little brain. 'But, but, but , what about all the New Testament commands? Didn't Jesus make the law even harder?' (i.e. instead of don't commit adultery, don't even look at a woman with lust... (Mat. 5:28) So I decided to have a look at 1 John since I remembered it as book that is tough on us, you know, not much grace for you if you sin, a good old pull-yourself-up-by-the-boot-straps no-nonsense book of the Bible. That's how I was always taught it growing up in the church anyway.

So lets have a look then. One thing I was searching for was some clearer meaning on what Jesus meant by 'commands'. What commands was he talking about?
I was shocked to find that 1 John commands very little, I mean, if you're making a list of commands, it's going to be pretty short. And I was delighted to find a very clear passage telling exactly what God's commandments are!

"And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." (1 John 3:23-24)

Not only that, but I found assurance that I'm already keeping his commandments because I have the Holy Spirit. In fact I discovered the whole book to be not designed to make me question me salvation but to assure me of God's love and my place in him. Rather than being harsh commands about not sinning, John points out that we no longer go on sinning the way we did as unbelievers and that this is proof that God's seed abides in us (1 John 3:9)

So 1 John 3:23-24, along with verses like:

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." Romans 13:8-10

seem to echo what Jesus himself said:

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:10-12

So my first answer to the problem is that Jesus' commands are not the same as the Law. We are now under the Law of the Spirit of life, as opposed to the law of sin and death (Romans 7:6, 8:2). We have died to the law (Romans 7:4-5) and we now live by the Spirit ALONE. We no longer have any relationship at all to the law. The only proper use for any part of the law is to convict unbelievers of their desperate need for a Saviour and Mediator who will wash away their sin and impart perfect righteousness to them so they can be acceptable to a Holy God.

As I read over the Scriptures dealing with 'law', I see that there are two distinct systems of law. One is the law as seen in the Old Covenant, the other is the law of Christ or law of the Spirit. If we confuse the two, we'll get into trouble. We are dead to the old law. We are not law-breakers or lawless, and we do not teach people who are married to the law to disregard it commit spiritual adultery, but we teach that if we die to the law then we are no longer subject to it (Romans 7:1-6). Our relationship with the law is completely over and now we are married to Christ so we obey Christ, not the law. To teach people that we should obey any part of the law is like teaching a wife that she should submit to another man besides her husband, and so lead her into adultery.

The second thing I want to throw out is just that Jesus had a reason for making the law 'harder'. He wanted those who thought rightousness could be gained through the law (either for justification OR sanctification, see Galatians 2:17-21)to see that it was a hopeless effort. He was trying to show them that they needed a Saviour.

I had a much longer Scripture-filled response to post and lost it all last night. I'm too eager to listen to Andrew Fountain's message so I'm ending it here. I'm sure there's a lot more I could say but I'm not going to, not right now anyway. Believe me, this topic will always be one of my favorites...grace, that is... Besides, I much rather you studied Romans/Galatians or listened to Rob Rufus or Terry Virgo or Andrew's message, or pretty much anyone else that you'll benefit from far more than from me!

What About Gray Areas?

I know I just shouldn't do it, but sometimes I do anyway. I was reading a blog which referred to an article called Gray Matters: Five Principles of Discernment by Eric Simmons (I have no idea who this is)and I want to scream out "stop the legalism!!!!" It's nothing personal, I just can't handle it. But it's EVERYWHERE. You just can't get away from it and no one seems to notice. This article opens with:

"Gray matters. We all deal with them ... those places in our lives where the line between "right" and "wrong" gets fuzzy. Or even disappears.

Is it OK just to fast-forward the sex scene and watch the rest of the movie?
Should I smoke a cigar with my unbelieving father?
How tight is too tight?
Can a Christian play poker?
Can I have a beer with dinner?"

The whole point seems to be that while there are many laws and commands clearly laid out for us in Scripture, sometimes thing are 'fuzzy' and we need to use discernment to figure out what God meant the law to be for us in this area. We seem to miss the point: we are dead to the law! And I'm sure people who think and teach this way have the best of intentions, but there is no mention of Christian freedom in all of this. What about grace? Thankfully there are a couple of other articles on the site that are about grace.

I think there is a deep misunderstanding of God and his holiness and our standing before him. We say yes, we've been made holy, but we don't believe it. We think that God in his holiness is still angry about our sin. Not our sin from the past of course, but if and when we sin now as his children. He is holy and hates sin...so of course isn't happy with us when we sin. The problem with this is that is goes against Scripture (and the very nature of God as our father. We still don't get it!!! HE LOVES US HE'S OVERJOYED WITH US HE'S PLEASED WITH CHRIST AND WE ARE IN CHRIST 100% OF THE TIME. We are in a new covenant now. We should not read the Old Testament looking for judgement, but looking for mercy (because we trust in the finished work of Jesus). I've been reading through Isaiah and the redemptive purposes of God are revealed there in amazing clarity. He is a God of great compassion toward his people. He is not disappointed with us. Don't you think his heart breaks to see us unaware of his love? To see us rushing around trying to figure out what pleases him, living in constant anxiety plucking our proverbial daisy petals "he loves me , he loves me not" ?? I could list many many examples of this kind of legalism being published all over the Internet, and sermons, and books and conferences...I'm saddened by it. I'm very very concerned for the people who are buying into it and the leaders who are sincerely but blindly leading them. And it sobers me to think how easily I am drawn into the same thing. I'm not being self-righteous I just feel I must tell the truth. I can't pretend legalism isn't serious and fatal and I can be quiet about it!

Of course I'm not saying it's o.k to sin, I'm saying we have the freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want if we're living according to the Spirit. I like what Ryan Rufus says in his book "Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature?" :

"...if the way we preach grace does not provoke the question, 'Shall we just keep sinning if grace will keep increasing?' then we are not preaching true grace!"

I'm praying that the church will begin to embrace true discernment and will uncover and destroy legalism wherever it's found. I'm praying we stop acting like the Pharisees coming up with new laws to try to please God and start celebrating the reason why God left so many areas 'gray'--FREEDOM!!!

The Doctrine of Indwelling Sin

Now, before I start, I just want to remind you that I'm no theologian. I'm just a Christian with a Bible and the Holy Spirit. But I can't ignore this false doctrine any longer, I just have to say something. When I say false doctrine, I'm referring to the teaching that Christians have indwelling sin. I firmly believe that we are all born with a sin nature (indwelling sin). I also want to say that I have no problem understanding that you can be a true believer and accept this doctrine (I did). When I first heard this teaching of indwelling sin for believers, I fought hard against it--or rather my spirit and God's Spirit fought hard against it. I, in my flesh and fear of man fought hard to ignore my spirit and God's, succeeded, and have been since paying the price. And really, I'm not trying to stir up trouble. I'm trying to stir up a revelation of grace and the freedom we are meant to experience.

I've had some idea that I more and more strongly disagree with this doctrine for some time now. But recently the revelation hit me as I was listening to a list of signs of legalism in a sermon. All the signs of legalism are the same things I was taught were proof of indwelling sin. The more I believed this doctrine, the more the fruit of my life proved it: I sinned more and more! I became so cold and distant from God I began to doubt my salvation, and even doubt God existed. I lost the joy and and experience of God's presence and love. I lost hope and stopped fighting the true enemy of my soul--Satan. I believed all the lies he fed me and went into a severe depression. I researched ways to kill myself and lived dreaming of death or running away from everything I've ever believed in and loved--God,family, and friends. This is what legalism does. As described in Galatians 5:19-21:

"...sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Doesn't this list remind you of something? I thought that indwelling sin was responsible for all these awful things. I thought I had to learn to beat this awful sin out of me somehow. I thought I had to plan and work and re-commit to more rigid spiritual disciplines in order to overcome these things. And if by some miracle I was not doing or thinking these things, I had to search for them and find them somehow residing/hiding deep inside of me. In fact, it's almost as if this doctrine stirred up more sin. But there is only one thing that can stir up sin in this way. That is the law (of works). "...the law came to increase the trespass..." (Gal. 5:20)

It seems to me that this doctrine stands mainly on two passages of Scripture.
First, Jeremiah 17: 9:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

It is so obvious to me that this refers to our condition before salvation. It should be obvious to all. Jesus even said he came for the sick, I mean, he came to heal us, not leave us sick. It is because we were born with deceitful hearts that God says in Ezekiel 36:26, promising us a better covenant,:

"And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

The other passage is Romans 7. I'm not going into a big argument here, but if you want to read a good argument for an alternative meaning I can highly recommend Terry Virgo's God's Lavish Grace (incidentally this book is endorsed by one Mr. Mahaney for those of you who would be interested to know) And also "Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature" by Ryan Rufus. This book deals very simply with all the arguments or concerns/questions you might have (such as why do Christians still sin). I challenge you to at least read and consider the possibilities.

Some months before I was willing to consider that this doctrine was wrong, my dad challenged me to read through Romans and really honestly by the Spirit of God question my beliefs. I was surprised at the results. I was amazed at what God actually says about us, his children. He says we are set free from and dead to sin. He calls us sons, saints, and many others things but NEVER sinners. We are no longer sinners. I've also spent many hours in Galatians, learning that I'd been bewitched, and had fallen from grace. I lived as though severed from Christ in many ways. It was a terrible way to live, and by his grace I hope I will never ever live that way again. I learned that all the things I was striving to attain are completely unattainable in the flesh. Galatians 5:22-24:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

What I'm trying to say is that I believe the doctrine of indwelling sin is actually legalism dressed up as pious and humble sounding doctrine. I believe it is very deceptive and will lead to spiritual ruin. I plan on continuing along these lines in the next couple of posts sharing my testimony of how legalism affects marriage and then parenting, and also the new joy and hope we have found in an ever increasing revelation of God's overflowing love and grace.