REFORMATION WAS MORE THAN JUSTIFICATION

Theology, Worldview September 26, 2017 Leave a comment

PMT 2017-078 by Larry E. Ball (Aquila Report)

As we prepare to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, we celebrate the rediscovery of the foundational doctrine of justification by faith alone. It is the very breath that gives life to every Christian. It is one evidence of our new birth in Christ. However, my personal celebration will be mixed with sadness. Let me be plain about the reason for my dejection.

The Reformation was a movement of the Holy Spirit that changed western culture, but modern Reformed churches have created a pietism that is absorbed with individualism and the heart. Continue reading →

SAMOA OFFICIALLY A CHRISTIAN STATE

News, Uncategorized September 22, 2017 1 Comment

PMT 2017-077 by Grant Wyeth (The Diplomat)

In early June, the Samoan Parliament passed a bill amending the constitution to transform the country from a secular to a Christian state. The objective of the amendment was “to insert in the Constitution that Samoa is a Christian nation to declare the dominance of Christianity in Samoa.” Of the Parliament’s 49 representatives, 43 voted in favor of the bill.

Samoa already had a reference to Christianity in the preamble to its Constitution, which declared that the Samoan government should conduct itself “within the limits prescribed by God’s commandments,” and that Samoan society is “based on Christian principles.” This kind of wording is common in the preambles of constitutions among Pacific Island states (the exception being Fiji). Continue reading →

SAME SEX AND TRANSGENDERISM ISSUES

Culture, morality September 19, 2017 Leave a comment

PMT 2017-076 by Rosaria Butterfield (Coalition for Biblical Sexuality)

Gentry introductory note:

The postmillennial worldview necessarily involves a biblical view of morality. Postmillennial expects God’s grace, peace, and righteousness to conquer our sin-fallen world. Thus, we must engage all moral issues from a biblical perspective. Rosaria Butterfield is a strong witness in the area of gay and transgender issues. Dr. Butterfield is writing about the “Nashville Statement” which she signed along with John Piper, J. I. Packer, James Dobson, John MacArthur, Russell Moore, Wayne Grudem, Tony Perkins, D. A. Carson, Albert Mohler, Francis Chan, R. C. Sproul, Sam Allberry, Marvin Olasky, and many other noteworthy evangelicals.

Rosaria Butterfield: “Why I Signed the Nashville Statement”

Great battles in theology faced by the church over the centuries have been caused by the introduction of unbiblical categories about the nature of people and the nature of God, and the imprecise language that emerges from this. Are we justified by faith or are we justified by faith alone? Does the Bible contain the word of God or is the Bible the word of God? Should we refuse to bake cakes for gay weddings because marriage is a creation-mandated institution and not a social privilege that can be re-packaged as the world whims? Or should we bake two cakes because sexual orientation as a category of personhood erases sexual sin without the blood of Christ? Continue reading →

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE

Culture, Theology September 12, 2017 Leave a comment

PMW 2017-076 by Richard Phillips (Reformation 21)

[Gentry note: Postmillennialism is a rigorously Bible-based eschatological outlook. It has to be since it runs counter to current cultural decline (though we understand that decline only to be temporary). Too many evangelicals are not as rigorous regarding biblical foundations. They slide away from the biblical worldview, slowly but surely. This article is not written by a postmillennialist, but his sentiments are certainly valid.]

Over twenty years ago, while in seminary, I was present during a hallway conversation with a professor who then seemed to be moving toward liberal theology. A student asked how this man’s higher critical methods would enable him to remain a Christian. The professor gave quite the revealing answer: “I have a Jesus Box that I never touch.” By this, he meant that he had drawn a line of piety around his faith in Jesus to keep out the implications of his liberal scholarship. I remember thinking at the time how vain was this hope. Method always gobbles up message, and no pietistic zeal will ever protect us from our actual lack of faith. That professor has long since moved on, and from his seat in a liberal college he has not surprisingly revised his former evangelical faith in Jesus. Continue reading →

JIHADI WHO TURNED TO JESUS

Evangelism, salvation September 8, 2017 Leave a comment

PMW 2017-074 by Patrick Kingsley (New York Times)

When 22 Christian refugees gathered in the basement of an apartment in Istanbul early on a recent Sunday afternoon, it was quickly clear that this was no ordinary prayer meeting. Several of them had Islamic names. There was an Abdelrahman and even a couple of Mohammads. Strangest of all, they jokingly referred to their host — one of the two Mohammads — as an irhabi. A terrorist.

If Bashir Mohammad took the joke well, it was because there was once some truth to it. Today, Mr. Mohammad, 25, has a cross on his wall and invites other recent converts to weekly Bible readings in his purple-walled living room. Less than four years ago, however, he says he fought on the front lines of the Syrian civil war for the Nusra Front, an offshoot of Al Qaeda. He is, he says, a jihadi who turned to Jesus. Continue reading →

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

Ethics, Law September 1, 2017 Leave a comment

PMW 2017-071 by Chris Hume (originally posted at Reformed Hope)

[Gentry note: Postmillennialism expects the conversion of the vast majority of men and nations before Christ returns. Conversion by God’s free grace necessarily leads to a desire to obey and serve God. Serving God involves obedience to his law which is a transcript of his holy character. God is holy, just and good, therefore “the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12). Therefore, his law is to be promoted to men and nations (Rom. 3:19, 31), not as a means of justification, but as an instrument of sanctification. Chris Hume’s article is helpful for our better understanding the significance of God’s commandment against theft.]

The Ten Commandments and the Moral Law of God

Whenever we begin to discuss the commandments of God, we would do well to ask ourselves the following question: Who is required to obey said laws? Continue reading →

REVELATION AND ORIGINAL INTENT

Interpretation, Preterism, Revelation August 29, 2017 Leave a comment

PMW 2017-070 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

I am concluding a brief series presenting interpretive issues necessary for understanding Revelation rightly, i.e., from the preterist perspective. Many evangelicals deem Revelation’s judgment passages to be counter-indicative to postmillennialism’s long term hope. In this article I will focus on John’s original intent which shows he was not speaking past his audience to an audience thousands of years in the future.

Today we are so distant from the events of A.D. 70, so removed from the ancient culture, so little acquainted with the first century Jewish outlook, and so accustomed to the Christian perspective, we tend to overlook the enormous redemptive-historical significance of A.D. 70. Those events are not merely another sad instance in the history of “man’s inhumanity to man which makes countless thousands mourn.” They serve not as demonstration of “nature, red in tooth and claw.” Neither do they merely remind us of “the carnage of war, the blood-swollen god.” Continue reading →