Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

12 December, 2006   comments: (0) Purpose Drivenism   "Attack Cults Not Purpose-Churches, Evangelize" We were due. It's been a while since the last "legalistic Pharisee" charge directed at Old Truth. This time it includes the challenge to stop wasting our apologetics on (Purpose Driven) believers and turn our efforts instead towards unbelieving cults. Here are three quotes that summarize why I do not agree: "The most insidious opposition to the Gospel has come from within worldly churches." --Iain Murray "The greatest threat to the gospel specific to today is the indirect challenge of pragmatism among evangelicals". --Mark Dever "The biggest mission field in America is professing-Christianity". --John MacArthur I don't mean to minimize apologetics aimed at cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons. We need such efforts, and I'm not proposing an either/or emphasis. In my opinion however, we need a more widespread effort aimed at false movements *within* the Church however. In case you missed it, you can listen to an audio clip that I posted a while back, in which Tom Chantry explains how falsehoods that are closer in proximity to the truth are so very destructive. They are subtle and dangerous, and therein lies the heart of my concern. The suggestion to refocus Old Truth on the cults, came from a comment posted on this thread, which is actually one of the most heavily trafficked posts here on Old Truth (currently the #4 ranked outbound link over at SeekerSensitive.com). The post is the testimony of someone whose church became a Purpose Driven franchise. Here was the commenter's reaction to that post: [Dear OldTruth.com]: I understand that there is probably nothing that I could say to slow this PD [Purpose Driven] bashing bandwagon. But let me say this: I wish that you could hear yourselves. I wish that you would direct your efforts toward the lost instead of being accusers of the bretheren. No man or church has perfect theology - you included. Augustin said, in the essentials, unity, in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things charity. The accusations listed here are all non-essentials. They have to do with style and technique, not essentials of the faith. Your brothers and sisters in the 40,000 PD churches love and follow Jesus. But I guess you know better. If you are going to tell me that the KJV is the only valid translation, then please tell me what your theology degree is, because you don't know what you're talking about. If you're going to tell me that your church is the only right church, and that all PD churches are wrong - you're deluded. There are so many lies circulating about PD and Rick Warren, it is sad - and you're participating in repeating this high tech gossip. See 1 Tim 5:19. This is pure legalism and you are acting like pharisees, plain and simple. You're the self appointed ones that have the "pure view", and you know that anyone trying to reach a "seeker" is a "compromiser" - what utter arrogant nonsense. Stop ripping at the body of Christ, and go witness to someone. If you don't like a church's techniques, then go find one you do like. Just don't pretend that you hold the keys to the kingdom. If you want a doctrinal fight, go do something productive and go debate with a mormon, jehovah's witness, a satan worshipper, or someone who is lost. Oops, that would require real theological work. No, I guess it's easer to simply lob a grenade - frag your lieutenant - and spread a little more of your cowardly "friendly fire." This ripping at Christ's bride is absolutely unacceptable to Jesus. Please think about it. You are called to seek grace with you brothers and sisters in Christ. You are called to unity and preferring one another. God bless you! --Terry G. If I understand Terry correctly, he feels that we are out of bounds correcting or rebuking others in the church, and that we should instead spend that time evangelizing or attacking cults. Couldn't those sentiments be aimed as easily at the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:11-14 when he spoke of rebuking Peter? We might imagine some followers of Peter reacting to that charge by saying "Paul, quit being an accuser of the brethren, spend all of your time evangelizing instead. Leave Peter alone - he's doing many good works and he has quite a following". Paul however, was correct in his rebuke. In another short audio clip, John MacArthur explains why it's necessary for public ministries to be exposed to public scrutiny. When a teacher holds up a set of beliefs as truth, their statements can be judged, and in fact SHOULD be judged, in light of scripture. He gives an example of 'naming names' in scripture; Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:19-20 "some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme". Elsewhere, MacArthur goes on to correct Terry's misunderstanding of what a Pharisee is, and why this charge of legalism simply doesn't hold water. I do hope that Terry will visit Old Truth again soon, and spend some time trying to understand what exactly our concerns are, related to the Purpose Driven movement. A good place for an open-minded person to begin looking at these things, would be Bob DeWaay's page called the Berean Discernment Tool for the Purpose Driven life. I would also recommend comparing the sermons preached at any Purpose Driven church to the sermons of previous centuries. They are probably not the same, so the question that should be asked is, "what things were emphasized in those older sermons that I don't hear emphasized in my church?". And finally, study what the bible says about who church is for; is it for believers or unbelievers? Terry and others in the Purpose Driven franchise system should not misconstrue anything here as a denial of, or a lack of zeal for, evangelism. Nor should they assume that because we speak out against Seeker Sensitive methods that we are not involved in outreach. Such assumptions would be in error. Ours is a desire to glorify God through following His biblical directives of what church is supposed to be, and how we can reach the world in ways that are obedient to His Word. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.560   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism