Rick Warren’s 60 day Jesus challenge

Rick Warren was on Hannity and Colmes last week (Dec 4th) where he was promoting his new book, The Purpose of Christmas. I think the interview was very interesting and disappointing.  I also think that understanding why this was a HORRIBLE gospel presentation can help us in presenting the gospel the correct way and give people a real reason to turn to Jesus this season.  Here’s the video, watch it and lets reason this out together.

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Right off the bat, I see a problem. Salvation is mentioned, but what are people being saved from? They need to be saved from the wrath of God that is going to be poured out on those who do not know God. Pastor Warren does nothing to tell people WHY they need a savior. The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Most men will proclaim their own goodness. Pastor Warren basically says that we need a savior because God said so. That is extremely inadequate.

Secondly, just “unrapping” the gift is not enough. People are stuck on accepting Christ, but that is so lukewarm and trivial, it has none of the weight that the Bible attaches to salvation… dieing to yourself, picking up your cross daily, forsaking sin, total surrender of one’s self as a living sacrifice to God. There is no repentance in Pastor Warren’s message.  No brokenness.  When James said to weep and mourn over your sins, letting your laughter be sorrow and your joy to heaviness, I don’t think that was code for “accept Jesus into your heart”.

Pastor Warren was asked a specific question about what happens to people who do not “accept” Jesus. The answer was typical for someone who does not build a foundation on the Law of God. There was no judgment, no wrath, no Hell in Pastor Warren’s message (and no cross for that matter). How can a god who loves me be angry at me? Colmes did not seem to think he needed a savior.

And the last point, and the biggest gripe I have, is… TRY JESUS? What is He, a used car? A pair of jeans that you try on just see if they are a right fit for you?  Pastor Warren challenges people to put their trust in Jesus for 60 days like He is some life improvement infomercial. Jesus did not suffer and die so you could try Him out and see if He makes your life better. In fact, the only things promised for a Christian in this life are trials, tribulation, and persecution. Can we receive blessings like a better marriage, or emotional healing from our walk with Christ? Yes, but if you come to Christ because you want something, no matter how bad your situation, then you come with a wrong motive.  If you d0 not come to Christ because you are a guilty criminal in need of a savior, then God will not save you.

Jesus Christ is the sovereign God of the universe, and we are supposed to give Him a shot at being Lord of our lives? Like He is going to say, “oh goody, I get to be Lord today!” He IS Lord, whether you live in rebellion to that fact or not. The only thing Pastor Warren’s message will serve to do is water down Christianity and create false converts.

–Danny

God is LOOOOOOOOVE

I was riding with a friend when he pulled up behind an SUV that had “God loves you” written on the back window. We were discussing spiritual things, so I asked him a tough question. Do you know why the statement “God loves you”, by itself, is totally inappropriate to tell people?

The one thing that is NOT lacking in what we are telling the world is that God is love. Love, love, love, love, love. My radio station said “you should not believe what you hear about Jesus unless it begins and ends with love”.  Emails I have been sent say “if God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it!” UGGGH!!

When you start off with God’s love, you have nowhere to go.  How do say, “Well, God loves you, but He is going to be forced to send you to Hell.” That makes no sense.  I hear non-Christians tell me over and over again things like “a loving god would not send someone to Hell”, “if god is all loving and all forgiving as Christians say he is…”, “How could a god of love create a place of everlasting torment?” “Isn’t God supposed to be all forgiving?” “My god understands that we make mistakes.”

When we do talk about Hell, people get offended. They have been told God loves them, not angry at them. It’s like a criminal brought before the judge and the bailiff tells him, “Ya know, the judge REALLY loves you!”  And then the criminal comes out to a judge full of anger at his crimes and says, “I am forced to sentence you to prison for the rest of your life.” The criminal can’t understand it. He thinks that his “minor” mistakes are in the past, they are not big deal, and besides he has done more good than bad.

People first need know that He is angry and sin- He is angry at THEM.  They need to know He is holy and righteous and will, by no means, overlook sin.  And then, if they are not trying to justify their sin, we can reveal God’s love the way the Bible does; “Here in is God’s love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.” (1Jn 4:10) God’s love is expressed in the cross of Christ. But preaching Christ crucified is foolishness to those whose hearts have not been broken by the Law of God. (1Cor 1:18) Only a heart that has been plowed up will receive the farmers seed.

If we continue to push this “squishy” god to the world, we are going to end up with false religions that call themselves Christian but remove Hell altogether, or claim that everyone goes to Heaven… oh, wait… we already have that… sorry!

–Danny

God is not the God of second chances

It is easy to think that God gives people second chances. That is kinda the way our society is set up. We give criminals three strikes, and we go to counseling to get second chances at our marriage (not me personally, I was speaking in general). We divorce and remarry to get a second chance at love and we coin phrases like, “everybody deserves a second chance”. I have even heard the phrase, “Why not give God a second chance”, like he needs another shot at winning your heart.

The problem is that we have a concept of God that we try and fit into our understanding and sometimes it turns out really bad. Saying that God is the God of second chances has a huge problem associated with it. It puts the burden on the person to make sure they do it right this time. It also makes God out to be unjust. Awww, God will give you another chance. I think people can too easily turn this into works righteousness and think they can be good enough to get to heaven, or they keep failing and sink down into despair.

It’s like we need to preform well to get God’s approval. Well, if you are a Christian, I hate to break it to ya, but you are gonna let God down. BIG TIME. There is going to be some point in your life when you know what the will of God is and you choke. You let what everybody else thinks about you govern your actions rather than what you know God wants you to do. It’s gonna happen.

God is the God of COMPLETE justification of sins, past, present, and future. God is the God of sanctification, growing in holiness and obedience. God is the God of a new heart a new nature, being crucified with Christ to be born again in him. That is a little different than getting a “second chance”. Your salvation is not based on what you do, but who He is. That does not mean he overlooks sin, but that there is NOTHING good that dwells within us. All of our righteousness is like filthy rags in his sight.

If someone tells me that God gave them a second chance, I immediately think that they might have come to Christ for life enhancement and not for forgiveness of sins. I would not dare say that someone who viewpoint could not be a Christian, but it does make me question someone a little more than usual.

–Danny

The Prodigal Son is not about backsliding

A Sunday School class I was helping out with went through the parable of the Prodigal Son but the interpretation that the teacher gave to the students troubled me and I would like to tell you what concerned me and why. I also found out that the interpretation that the teacher gave seems to be a pretty popular one.

I have been told that the first rule to interpreting scripture is that if you have a different understanding of the text than the original hears would have had, then your interpretation is wrong. This parable is a perfect example of how the meaning can get twisted based on the current culture and viewpoints of people today. So what is the view of today’s Christianity and how does it shape the meaning of the Prodigal Son?

Today’s Christianity says that you can be a child of God and “backslide” for a period of time, and not have to question the sincerity of your salvation. You can go off and live in a lifestyle of sin and say, “I backslid for a few years, but I was saved the whole time”. Ted Haggard was an example of this mindset, when he was exposed for having a homosexual affair with a prostitute and taking meth-amphetamines for three years and lying about it, many said, “Don’t question his salvation!” Even though it is likely that he would have continued in that lifestyle for as long as he could.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do not believe that anyone can “lose” their salvation by falling into sin, but when you knowingly live in a lifestyle of unrepentant sin, then you need to question your salvation. Ray Boltz, who says he is still a Christian after admitting he is living openly as a homosexual, is another example.

So, FINALLY, here is the interpretation the teacher gave- The father represents God and the two sons represent Christians. The one child ran away from God and live apart from him for awhile, but came running back to open arms. He was still a child of God but he had to realize that God knew what was best for him. And we need to realize that if we run from God, he is always there ready to take us back.

The Prodigal Son Returns

The first problem was, that Jesus was talking to a crowd of Jewish leaders. They were self righteous Jews who thought that just because they were born as children of Abraham, and were “faithful” Jews, they were children of God already. They would not have understood this “backsliding” concept. They would have believed that the rebellion of the second son was worthy of death.

The second was that the second son, the prodigal, HATED his father. Wanting his inheritance immediately was paramount to saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead so I could get what belongs to me now”. Does that sound like something a true Christian would say, or does that sound like a rebel who shakes their fist at God? The fact that Jesus called him a child does not mean that he was in a right relationship with the father. God created us, so in that sense, he is our father, but this parable shows us that it is not about our heritage, but about our relationship.

The fact that Jesus started the story off where he did tells us a lot too. Jesus did not start off by giving us a son who honored his father and fell away, he started the story off with a son that rebelled against his father.

The third problem I had was that the son went off to live in a lifestyle of open, unrepentant sin. Jesus told us that the son wasted his livelihood on prostitutes and riotous living. There is a saying that goes something like, “you cannot call yourself a Christian and live like the Devil”. If you live in a manner that betrays what you say you believe, then you are a hypocrite, a pretender, you are a false Christian.

One other thing to notice about this story is the first son, the “faithful” son. If you carefully read the story, you can tell that by his attitude, he was not in a right relationship with the father either.

This parable is not about what to do if you backslide, but about true repentance and God’s willingness to forgive.

If you want to dive deeper into this parable, I suggest John McArthur’s book, “A Tale of Two Sons“. The book goes through the culture of the time and the audience that would have heard this story for the first time. It also takes a look at the two parables leading up to the Prodigal Son.

–Danny

Why people reject Christianity

I have found that there are basically three reasons why people reject christianity (or call themselves Christian, but are in reality just cultural Christians).  All of these reasons have to do with understanding.

1. People do not understand themselves –People think that they are basically good. They cannot see that they deserve Hell.  They think that their good deeds should outweigh their bad, or they think that their “not as bad as other people”.  They do not see themselves as criminals, but more as victims of their circumstances.  Even if they have done bad things, it’s not their fault, it’s always someone else’s fault.  If a man is caught molesting children and it they find out that he was molested as a child, then his bad behavior is not his fault, he is emotionally damaged and cannot be held responsible for his own actions.
2. People do not understand christianity –Oprah said that she does not believe that there is only one way to God.  She revealed that she does not understand what christianity is.  Every other “religion” seeks to get right with God through their own efforts; either by doing good or not something really bad.  That is called works righteousness, and it is self righteousness, and will fall WAY short on judgment day.  Christianity is being reconciled to God, not a path you choose to go down. Oprah chose to be a Christian, but did you know that you can’t choose to be a Christian, you can only be MADE a Christian by God? (Psa 3:8)
3. People do not understand God — I run into a lot of people who say, “well if I am sorry for my sins, God will forgive me”.  So I ask them if that would work in a Earthly court.  If they had done something really bad, would the judge just say, “Awww, you said you were sorry, go on home.” To that they reply, “Well, that is here on Earth, God is a lot different.  He isn’t a judge.”  They have a idea of a god who is only love, forgiveness, and mercy, but they miss the other attributes of God which tell us he is a jealous God, full of anger at sin, wrathful and vengeful against the ungodly.  A God of justice who will in no way overlook sin.  I wonder where they get these people get these watery ideas of God from?  Could it be our modern day, lukewarm presentation of God?  Hmmmm… i wonder…

The 10 Commandments shows us the very nature of God himself.  These are not just good ideas, they are who God is.  They also show us why christianity is the only way to God, and finally it reveals to us just how much we measure up to a holy God.  That is precisely why we need to keep the Law of God in our pulpits, in our thoughts, and in our evangelism.

–Danny

Oprah tells everyone in this clip that Christianity is just a “choice”.

Salvation is not “easy”

I just read a tract that talks about how simple it is to be saved. Here it is if you would like to see it.

After reading that tract, there was a little conflict that started in my mind over how we present salvation to others. While I will agree that the PRINCIPLE of salvation is simple (repentance and faith), but in practice, it is the hardest thing someone will ever do. In fact, it is impossible without God working through a person to bring them to salvation. So how we present the gospel is HUGE.

A person has to die to themselves, broken over their sin. That is so contrary to human nature and we are SOOO full of pride. The Bible even says that because of their pride, men will not seek after God. (Ps. 10:4) It takes a miracle to bring us to our knees. We have to be at a point where surrender our very being to God himself as a living sacrifice to his glory. Salvation is nothing short of a miracle!

And yet so many times I have read tracts or heard invitations that trivialize salvation down to a simple decision to follow God, or a prayer to ask him into your heart. They generalize sin and omit Hell, and in the process, water down both. Everybody does it, don’t you feel bad? Say this prayer quick!

Now I have nothing against someone crying out to God in prayer, but sites like www.Jesus2020.com (which advertises all over Godtube) are telling people to recite some words and then pronouncing them saved. That is how “easy” some want to make the gospel.

What are we missing here? Where is the personal conviction of sin? The personal responsibility before a Holy God for our crimes? Where is repentance? Judgment? Hell? Where is God’s Law- the schoolmaster that leads us to Christ? It has been thrown out of our pulpits and out of our theology.

To quote George Whitfield,  “Secure sinners must hear the thundering of Mt. Siani before we bring them to Mt. Zion”.  In other words, if you leave out the wrath of God, His judgment, or Hell, then you are doing your hearer a disservice.

–Danny

Judge NOT! (part 2)

So why DOES Matthew 7:1 say don’t judge? (did you miss part 1?)

If you read down to Matthew 7:5, Jesus says, “You hypocrite! Remove the log from your own eye then you will see more clearly to remove the speck from your brothers eye.” The rebuke is not against judging, but against judging with a puffed up, self righteous, attitude. The Pharisees and Sadducees had that kind of attitude where they looked down their noses at “those sinners” that Jesus ate with. The point is don’t put yourself up on a pedestal. And more than that, if you are living as a hypocrite, you don’t have the right to judge anything.

The problem is, that if you stand up to proclaim truth, or call sin what it is, no matter how humble you are, some are still call you self righteous. Or arrogant, I have heard that one too. In this post-modern world, people think that there is NO ONE that can know truth, so if you show any confidence in the Word of God, be prepared for people to try and shut you down by attacking your motive.

In John 7:24, Jesus says, “Judge not based on appearances, but judge righteous judgment.” I cannot judge motives or appearances, but I can judge actions. If you take my wallet and remove a single dollar, and I catch you, I have the right to call you a thief. In the same way, if you admit to me that you have told lies, then, by definition, I can say that you are a liar.

Something else I cannot judge is where someone will spend eternity, but if I know someone is not right with God, I can tell them that if they die in their sins, then God would be forced to give them justice and cast them into Hell forever. I don’t know if a person will use their last breath to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ, but if I can determine that they are not trusting in Christ alone for their salvation, then I am not giving them my judgment, I am giving them God’s.

Here is an example: If I was witnessing to Howard Stern and there was not a radical change in his religious viewpoint, can I safely say that he is not a Christian? Then at that moment in time, I can tell Mr. Stern that God ‘s wrath abides on him, that he is an enemy of God in his mind through wicked works. I can tell him that unless he repents and puts his faith in Christ alone, he will end up in Hell. Oprah Winfrey has said that “there can possibly be just one way to God”, which puts her firmly outside the bounds of Christianity. If I were to talk with her and spiritual viewpoint is the same, I could tell her the same thing.

So the next time someone tells you shouldn’t be judging people, tell them “I’m not, I’m telling people how God is going to judge them.” And if you use the Law to bring the knowledge of sin, inevitably, someone is going to ask you, “have you done any of those things?” You can say, “I have broken every commandment in spirit if not in letter.”

–Danny

Judge NOT! (part 1)

I think Matthew 7:1, judge not least you are judged, is the most mis-interpreted and best remembered verse in the Bible. I have heard that so many times from so many different types of people, but always for the exact same reason- someone is being told that what they are doing is wrong. Well, when someone says you shouldn’t judge, they are right (to a certain extent)… AND, at the same time, very wrong. I know that might sound like double speak, but let me explain…

Ever hear the expression, so-and-so has really good judgment? The simple fact is that it is an integral part of our lives. If you have ever said to someone, that person is really nice, then welcome to the club- you have just made a judgment call about someone. It was a positive judgment, but a judgment none-the-less.

Secondly, if there was no judging, then there would be no prisons. In reality, people have no problem judging others, especially if it involves some kind of personal violation they can identify with, like rape or murder. If it can happen to them, they are fine with judging it.

They just don’t want you judging THEM, especially if it is one of the “I’m not hurting anyone” activities people participate in. These include things like pre-marital sex, homosexuality, and getting drunk. I have heard someone justify stealing from department stores because the stores can afford it and then get upset when someone labels them as a thief.

When someone says “you shouldn’t judge others”, what they are really saying is, “I want to live my life any way I want to without having to worry about judgment down the road, and in order for that to happen, you can’t start saying that what people are doing is wrong… unless I agree that that it is wrong.”

So why does that verse say don’t judge? (Dive in with me into Matthew 7:1-5 in part 2)

A Christian who never broke a commandment?

Sometimes I meet someone who really causes me to scratch my head and say to myself.. “I don’t get it!” Let me explain myself. Awhile back I was in Raleigh at an outside style mall, and I had a chance to sit down beside an older lady who said she was a Presbyterian. I started asking her a couple of questions and the conversation started to get interesting. (I never take someone’s word that they are a Christian, if they are, then they will LOVE to talk about their savior, and if their not, then most likely they will get a little snippy.)

She said that she was trying to do the right things in order to get into heaven- reading her bible, being good, praying, etc… So I said, “Did you know that God was going to judge us by the 10 commandments? How do you think you do if God did that?” To that she said, “Oh, I think I would pretty good.” So I started taking her through some of the commandments.. here is how it went.

Me– “Have you ever lied before? That is the 9th commandment”

Woman– “No! I don’t lie to people. I am a very honest person.”

Me– “Wow! Really? Never even once?”

Woman– “No, not that I can ever remember.”

Me– “Ever stolen anything? That is the 8th commandment.”

Woman– “No. I have never stolen anything in my life.”

Me– “OK, Ever used God’s name in vain… Even if you said something like “Oh my G__?”

Woman– “Never. Never.”

Me– “Have you ALWAYS put God first and foremost in your life?” …(Look at Psa 14:3)

Woman– “Yes, I have always tried to put him first every day of my life.”

Me– (Trying to find SOMETHING) “Well, Jesus said whoever looks with lust commits adultery in their heart, is it possible you have ever done that?”

Woman– “No. I have never looked with lust.”

Me– “Wow, it kinda sounds like your perfect. Are you perfect?”

Woman– “Well, I am not perfect; I have made some minor mistakes, but nothing bad.”

Me– “Let me ask you this, why do you need a savior? If you have not broken any of the commandments, why did Jesus have to die?”

Woman– (Very politely) “I don’t think I want to talk about this any more.”

See what I mean? I just don’t get it!! Isn’t Christianity supposed to be about forgiveness of SINS?? Why join the club if you’re not a SINNER?? It is important to remember that just because someone attends all the church functions, or carries a Bible around, or lifts their hands in praise to God, it doesn’t mean that they are a child of God. I will talk about what a true Christian looks like later.

–Danny

He who continues in sin…

… is of the devil (1Jn 3:8).

Lets say that you went up to a stranger and asked him what was going on in his life, knowing nothing else about him, and his answer was something like this- “Well, I was caught having a homosexual affair on my wife… again. It would have continued if I had not been caught. I have been lying to everyone, trying to hide it so I would not get in trouble.” What would you say about that man? Do you think it is possible that he is right with God? What if he said to you, “Oh, I am a Christian”, would your attitude toward him change?

I have seen situations like this where people have said, “Oh he is still a Christian, he is just a backslider.” One such incident was concerning the Ted Haggard scandal. Bloggers were defending Pastor Haggard’s salvation while others were saying that it was not possible that he was a Christian at all.

This begs the question, at what point can we say that a person is really a false Christian? Some would say that we cannot make that judgment at all. Or are these people, who are living in a lifestyle of sin, just backsliders who need a little TLC? Do we need to dust them off and prop them back up in the pew, or should we witness to them as we would someone who never claimed to be Christian in the first place?

What if I told you that I am a Christian, but every two weeks I go out and rape a woman and then murder her because I am ashamed of my actions? Don’t all Christians still sin? This may be an extreme case, but I have had people try and justify their actions. Here is the answer I give them.

The answer is YES, Christians do still sin. I am sure I sin every single day, but understand that there is a distinction between falling into sin and diving into it. The unregenerate heart runs to sin. It drinks it like water, it is unrepentant. It is a slave to sin, it can’t help it. People with unregenerate hearts live in a lifestyle of sin, they may know that what they are doing is wrong, but it doesn’t stop them from fulfilling their lusts.

But the heart that has been crucified with Christ is made anew, with new thoughts and new desires. That heart HATES sin. Those people are marked by a thirst for holiness and repentance. They read God’s word, they reach out to the lost, they spend time in prayer and the look to grow in Christ and die more and more to themselves. They are broken by their sin, not empowered by it. If they sin, it is against their will. They FALL rather than DIVE.

The problem is, we are so quick to pronounce someone saved that we forget that true salvation shows itself in our actions not in our profession of faith. I know people who go to church on Sunday and raise their hands in praise to God and then sin to their hearts content until it is time to go back to church.

The apostle John wrote that if you say that you have a relationship with God, but you walk in darkness, then you are a liar and the truth is not in you. And for those of us who know people who are living in persistent sin, we need the courage to reach out to these people and let them know we are concerned for their salvation.

–Danny