Specifically, what were Finney's most serious errors? At the top of the list stands his rejection of the doctrine of justification by faith. Finney denied that the righteousness of Christ is the sole ground of our justification, teaching instead that sinners must reform their own hearts in order to be acceptable to God. (His emphasis on self-reformation apart from divine enablement is again a strong echo of Pelagianism.)
Finney spends a considerable amount of time in several of his works arguing against "that theological fiction of imputation" Memoirs, 58. Those who have any grasp of Protestant doctrine will see immediately that his attack at this point is a blatant rejection of the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide). It places him outside the pale of true evangelical Protestantism. The doctrine of imputed righteousness is the very heart of the historic difference between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. The whole doctrine of justification by faith hinges on this concept. But Finney flatly rejected it. He derided the concept of imputation as unjust:
"I could not but regard and treat this whole question of imputation as a theological fiction, somewhat related to our legal fiction of John Doe and Richard Roe" Memoirs, 60. Dismissing the many biblical texts that expressly say righteousness is imputed to believers for their justification, he wrote,
These and similar passages are relied upon, as teaching the doctrine of an imputed righteousness; and such as these: "The Lord our righteousness" (Phil. 3:9). . . . "Christ our righteousness" is Christ the author or procurer of our justification. But this does not imply that He procures our justification by imputing His obedience to us. . . Charles Finney, Systematic Theology My note...what about the just for the unjust? His righteousness for our filthy rags.
Here Finney offers no cogent explanation of what he imagines Scripture does mean when it speaks repeatedly of the imputation of righteousness to believers ( Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:4-6). But throughout all his discussions of imputation Finney repeatedly insists that neither merit nor guilt can righteously be imputed from one person to another. Therefore, Finney argues, the righteousness of Christ can provide no ground for the justification of sinners. Furthermore, he continues:
Foundation of the justification of penitent believers in Christ. What is the ultimate ground or reason of their justification? 1. It is not founded in Christ's literally suffering the exact penalty of the law for them, and in this sense literally purchasing their justification and eternal salvation Systematic Theology, .
My note...Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheeps clothing!Gods word is truth and not mans!
By employing terms such as "exact" and "literal," Finney caricatured the position he was opposing. (The immediate context of this quotation makes clear that he was arguing against the position outlined in the Westminster Confession, which accords with all major Protestant creeds and theologians on the matter of justification.) But Finney could not obscure his own position: Having decided that the doctrine of imputation was a "theological fiction," he was forced to deny not only the imputation of Christ's righteousness to believers, but also the imputation of the sinner's guilt to Christ on the cross.
Under Finney's system, Christ could not have actually borne anyone else's sin or suffered sin's full penalty in their place and in their stead ( Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2). Finney therefore rejected the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.
Finney's position on these matters also caused him to define justification in subjective, rather than objective, terms. Protestants have historically insisted that justification is a purely forensic declaration, giving the penitent sinner an immediate right standing before God on the merit of Christ's righteousness, not their own ( Rom. 10:3; Phil. 3:9). By forensic, we mean that it is a legal declaration, like a courtroom verdict or a marriage pronouncement ("I now pronounce you husband and wife"). It changes the person's external status rather than affecting some kind of internal change; it is a wholly objective reality. The subjective transformation of the believer that conforms us to Christ's image is sanctification—a subsequent and separate reality, distinct from justification. Since the dawn of the Protestant Reformation, the virtually unanimous Protestant consensus has been that justification is in no sense grounded in or conditioned on our sanctification. Catholicism, on the other hand, mingles justification and sanctification, making sanctification a prerequisite to final justification.
Finney sided with Rome on this point. His rejection of the doctrine of imputation left him with no alternative: "Gospel justification is not to be regarded as a forensic or judicial proceeding" Systematic Theology, 360. Finney departed further from historic Protestantism by expressly denying that Christ's righteousness is the sole ground of the believer's justification, arguing instead that justification is grounded only in the benevolence of God. (This position is identical to that of Socinians and theological liberals.) Obfuscating the issue further, Finney listed several "necessary conditions" (insisting these are not, technically, grounds) of justification. These "necessary conditions" included Christ's atoning death, the Christian's own faith, repentance, sanctification, and—most ominously—the believer's ongoing obedience to the law. Finney wrote,
There can be no justification in a legal or forensic sense, but upon the ground of universal, perfect, and uninterrupted obedience to law. This is of course denied by those who hold that gospel justification, or the justification of penitent sinners, is of the nature of a forensic or judicial justification. They hold to the legal maxim, that what a man does by another he does by himself, and therefore the law regards Christ's obedience as ours, on the ground that He obeyed for us Systematic Theology.
Of course, Finney denied that Christ "obeyed for us," claiming that since Christ was Himself obligated to render full obedience to the law, His obedience could justify Himself alone. "It can never be imputed to us," Finney intoned Systematic Theology, The clear implication of Finney's view is that justification ultimately hinges on the believer's own obedience, and God will not truly and finally pardon the repentant sinner until after that penitent one completes a lifetime of faithful obedience. Finney himself said as much, employing the undiluted language of perfectionism. He wrote,
By sanctification being a condition of justification, the following things are intended: That present, full, and entire consecration of heart and life to God and His service, is an unalterable condition of present pardon of past sin, and of present acceptance with God. That the penitent soul remains justified no longer than this full-hearted consecration continues. If he falls from his first love into the spirit of self-pleasing, he falls again into bondage to sin and to the law, is condemned, and must repent and do his "first work," must turn to Christ, and renew his faith and love, as a condition of his salvation. . . . Perseverance in faith and obedience, or in consecration to God, is also an unalterable condition of justification, or of pardon and acceptance with God. By this language in this connection, you will of course understand me to mean, that perseverance in faith and obedience is a condition, not of present, but of final or ultimate acceptance and salvation Systematic Theology
Thus Finney insisted that justification ultimately hinges on the believer's own performance, not Christ's. Here Finney once more turns his guns against the doctrine of imputation: Those who hold that justification by imputed righteousness is a forensic proceeding, take a view of final or ultimate justification, according with their view of the nature of the transaction. With them, faith receives an imputed righteousness, and a judicial justification. The first act of faith, according to them, introduces the sinner into this relation, and obtains for him a perpetual justification. They maintain that after this first act of faith it is impossible for the sinner to come into condemnation; Systematic Theology,
But isn't that precisely what Scripture teaches? John 3:18: "He that believeth on him is not condemned." John 5:24: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Galatians 3:13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." It was immediately following his great discourse on justification by faith that the apostle Paul wrote, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). But Charles Finney was unwilling to let Christians rest in the promise of "no condemnation," and he ridiculed the idea of security in Christ as a notion that would lead to licentious living. He continues, again caricaturing the position he opposes: that, being once justified, he is always thereafter justified, whatever he may do; indeed that he is never justified by grace, as to sins that are past, upon condition that he ceases to sin; that Christ's righteousness is the ground, and that his own present obedience is not even a condition of his justification, so that, in fact, his own present or future obedience to the law of God is, in no case, and in no sense, a sine qua non of his justification, present or ultimate.
Now this is certainly another gospel from the one I am inculcating. It is not a difference merely upon some speculative or theoretic point. It is a point fundamental to the gospel and to salvation, if any one can be Systematic Theology, 369 As the final paragraph of that excerpt makes clear, Finney himself clearly understood that what he proclaimed was a different gospel from that of historic Protestantism. By denying the forensic nature of justification, Finney was left with no option but to regard justification as a subjective thing grounded not in Christ's redemptive work but in the believer's own obedience—and therefore a matter of works, not faith alone
Most Christians in North America want to be fed a continuous diet of "milk" rather than growing up to "meat." Hardly anyone preaches about the realities of an eternal hell anymore, nor spiritual discernment, nor any deep subject that requires a real commitment. Pastors give their flocks what they want lest they lose members and income. God is not only a God of love, but of justice, and wrath against unrepentant sinners. American Christians prefer warm fuzzy feelings and entertainment to spiritual truths. "...don't tell us the truth; tell us nice things; tell us lies. Forget all this gloom..."
Isahiah 30: 1-18
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt [your] confusion.
For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
They were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence [come] the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people [that] shall not profit [them].
For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength [is] to sit still.
Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
That this [is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [that] will not hear the law of the LORD:
Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water [withal] out of the pit.
For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
One thousand [shall flee] at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD [is] a God of judgment: blessed [are] all they that wait for him.
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate . Rev. 2:15
Psalm 119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
Psalm 119:128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way
Psalm 119:163I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love
Psalm 139:21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil
Amos 5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph
How sad indeed when churches refuse to give their members spiritual food but wildly go after any Hollywood entertainment labeled Christian. The Church is in pitiful condition when it relies on unrighteous Hollywood for help to teach and evangelize. Mel Gibson's movie The Passion was certainly a lucrative blockbuster hit but it was essentially an emotionally assaulting portrayal of a false Jesus primarily from the occultic visions of Catholic mystic nun Anne Emmerich who had never read the Bible at all.
The inaccuracies in the movie were numerous, not to mention the number of unrepentant porn stars acting in it. Gibson has stated that he believes people of other faiths can enter heaven too. So Mel does not believe the words of Christ himself as being the only way to heaven. Yet many, many churches have followed him like a pied piper. That which is sacred should never be used as a form of entertainment. Play acting is hypocrisy. Indeed the word hypocrite means actor. Maybe that's why so many churches embraced the movie so enthusiastically. "Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold here is the Christ,' or 'There He is,' do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to misleed, if possible, even the elect. So if they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go out, or, 'Behold He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them." Mat. 24:23-24,26.
Certainly God can use the most unlikely means to draw the lost to himself but the end does not justify the means. The Bible never encourages Christians to promote what is false and deceptive. Satan is very good at taking what is true and mixing in a few lies to deceive. God has apparently never endorsed play acting as a viable means of evangelization, as history will attest of it's failures. Even more repulsive has been the merchandising of Christianity with this movie in the form of numerous trinkets such as coffee mugs, T-shirts, key chains, crucifixion nails, etc. The merchandising of religion was the one thing that made Jesus angry, as he drove the moneychangers from the temple.
Where in the Bible is it written we Christians are called to a life of comfort? History itself teaches just the opposite. From the early Church on down through the ages the true Christian life has been one of sacrifice and suffering. God is more interested in transforming our character than in providing for our earthly comfort. "For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake." 1 Phil. 1:29.
We are called to worship, obedience, and service, no matter what the cost to us. "Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." 2 Tim. 3:12. There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than all previous history combined. God is not some cosmic spiritual teddy bear just to cling to when we feel bad. This world is engaged in a great spiritual war and God wants participating warriors, not spectators. "Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm." Eph. 6:13. "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perserverance; perserverance, character; and character, hope." Rom. 5:3-4.
Yet in spite of hardships, there is great peace and joy to be had within one's spirit. "Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those that love him." 1 Cor. 2:9. "For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Rom. 14:17.
Christianity is not an insurance policy against hell so we can live for self. It is an intimate relationship with the living, personal God that demands separation from the world's lifestyle of sin and self gratification. The grace of God is a wonderful gift, not a license to sin as many Christians seem to believe. How much time do you you spend in fellowship with Christ daily? The more you love someone the more time you want to spend with them. Is that not so? Do you bear any scars for being a Christian? The world (and religious people) hated Jesus and he said it would hate his followers too. North America has thus far been spared severe persecution of Christians but a truly righteous Christian will find that there is a degree of persecution even here.
Apparently at best most Christians in North America want to be fed a continuous diet of "milk" rather than growing up to "meat." Hardly anyone preaches about the realities of an eternal hell anymore, nor spiritual discernment, nor any deep subject that requires a real commitment. Pastors give their flocks what they want lest they lose members and income. God is not only a God of love, but of justice, and wrath against unrepentant sinners. American Christians prefer warm fuzzy feelings and entertainment to spiritual truths. "...don't tell us the truth; tell us nice things; tell us lies. Forget all this gloom..." Isa. 30:10-11.
For decades there has been a gradual slide into liberalism and apostasy and so today we have this pluralistic culture where anyone can pick and choose what he wants to believe and what kind of Jesus one wants to follow. Absolute truth is politically incorrect. Well, this world was created by Jesus Christ and he will have the last word. "For not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgement to the Son." Jn. 5:22. "For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.' So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. "Rom. 14:11-12.
Most that profess Christianity are not true Christians. God has always only had a remnant of true believers for himself. Jesus said there would only be a few saved. "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Mat. 7:14.
Hell will be full of deceived people who thought they were Christians but were only deluding themselves. Over centuries past much of the organized church has mixed or replaced pure Biblical truth with manmade doctrines and multitudes have fallen for their lies. In these end times it is reaching a climax. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Prov. 14:12.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?' And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.' Mat. 7:21-23. This is surely one of the most frightening truths in the Bible, to think that many will have sincerely believed they were serving God but in reality were not. That is one reason why Biblical exposition is so much needed in today's churches.
This slide into apostasy results in lack of discernment politically too. How else can you explain the fact that among President Bush's greatest supporters are Christians, totally oblivious to his completely rotten spiritual fruit, his support of gays and abortion, his gutting of the Constitution putting in tyrannical laws that rival those of Nazi Germany, etc. Don't Christians realize that you don't judge a man's character by what he says but by what he does? "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"
My note...seems that American so called Christians go with the flow...(Obamma worship now!) Lk. 6:46.
True Christians that support evil men will one day stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ and give an account. Ignorance is no excuse. Indeed the works of some Christians are built with perishable materials that will be burned up and they will suffer great loss. Those that are truly born again will still enter heaven, but as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor. 3:11-15)
John Kerry and the democratic party are no better. The issues are actually not political but right and wrong, but the Church seems to have totally lost it's bearings in that regard. There is no legitimate two party system in America anymore for the Republican and Democratic parties both are just two arms of the same satanic beast system taking America forward to the New World Order of the coming antichrist.
It is time for Christians to quit putting men like Bush, Graham, the Pope or others on a pedestal to idolize, and worship God only! "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." Ps. 118:8. The idolization of men will always end in disappointment. 'Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind..." Jer.17:5.
But sadly most people believe what they want they want to, even with mountains of evidence to the contrary. "For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false." 2 Thes. 2:11. Like the Bereans, in Acts 17, who searched the scriptures daily for truth to be sure what they were being told was true the Church needs more people like that, and who also search for the truth in news events rather than believing everything they are told by mass media propaganda. "My people perish for lack of knowledge." Hos. 4:6. "...be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Mat. 10:16. "...see to it that no one misleeds you." Mat. 24:4.
Christians need to be like the early Church and commit all to Christ. "In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine..." Tit. 2. American Christians have lost sight of the fact that HOLINESS is the number one attribute of God and he expects his people to be HOLY, a separate, peculiar people.
And America deserves harsh judgement for it's mountainous sins, nearly 50 million killed from abortion alone, not to mention multitudes of other unspeakable evils here, and committed around the world by USA government. Unless God delays very much longer that day of judgement is soon coming for America has turned it's back on the one true living God who has blessed it so much. God's patience will not last forever. "Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you."
Ezek. 7:3. Even though the devil had his influence America was nevertheless founded as a Christian nation and blessed like no other has been but the righteous have allowed the pagan and wicked to take over and rule. "...from everyone who has been given much, much will be required..." Lk.12:48. In many ways America is already under the beginnings of judgement but the people are too blind to notice. While these and other verses of judgement may not have been given directly for America the principle remains the same, that nations who forget God will suffer the consequences.
It is personally disheartening to hear and read of the unbiblical beliefs Billy Graham has embraced in recent years, since decades ago he had such a positive influence on my life. But Graham's slide into apostasy started long ago and it has been fully documented.
Paul Crouch's TBN has so many false prophets and teachers on TV it is disgraceful to true Christianity, some of it being a disgusting spectacle of demonic activity rather than the alleged manisfestation of the Holy Spirit.
George Bush's hypocrisy is so overtly apparent how can any genuine Christian fail to see it? After almost a full term as President most Christians continue to enthusiastically support Bush despite tons of evidence of his pathological lying and other unregenerate behavior. No man can serve both God and Lucifer yet Bush continues his membership with the satanic Skull and Bones secret society. It would be fitting irony if Bush was used as the catalyst to discredit fundamental Christianity and bring widespread persecution of Christians to America. It is abundantly clear that persecution of believers as those in China and other countries endure would be the greatest gift God could give to the American Church now since the opportunity to repent has been repeatedly rejected.
Catholicism began incorporating pagan customs and corrupt doctrines into the Church many centuries ago, Protestanism following suit also in similar ways later. Now Protestantism is gradually rejoining back with Rome in many ways paving the way for the coming one world religion of the New World Order of the antichrist in which all religions will be incorporated together in global unity. God is abundantly warning all who will watch and listen to his signs of end time prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes. "...in the last days difficult times will come. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, ...unholy, unloving, ...without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, ...lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying it's power. Have nothing to do with them. Evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 13. The Church has always had to deal with false doctrine but never before with such cancerous growth accompanied by so many other signs of the end.
When the Bible alone is not the foundation for spiritual truth it opens the door for all kinds of error. It warns of adding to or subtracting from it. Relying on so called hidden books of the Bible and other extrabiblical writings, visions, revelations, or prophesy is a sure way to end up being deceived if they are considered inspired as the Bible is. False teachers also love taking scripture out of context and using it to develop false doctrine.
The wildly popular prayer of Jabez in 1 Chronicles, for example, was never meant to be taken out of context and used as a magical formula for obtaining our hearts desires, no matter how righteous our goals are. "But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do." Mat.6. How much better it would be to focus on the pattern of how Christ taught us to pray. (Mat. 6:8-15). It is wise to be wary of anything in Christianity that becomes wildly popular.
These words have not been written to condemn, but in an attempt to awaken true believers from slumber and deception, and call unbelievers to a saving, life changing, eternal faith in the only one and true Saviour, Jesus Christ. I know what it's like to be deceived, having been a victim of spiritual deception myself in the past, of false Christian doctrines. My prayer is that God's people would open their eyes, study the Word regularly, and pray for discernment about the perilous times we are in. Do not let emotion or religious tradition cloud your mind. Be like a Berean and examine the evidence yourself. "And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Jn. 8:32. "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." Col. 2:8.
If Christians cannot even discern basic issues what hope is there for them when much greater deception comes as prophesied? Christians need to be prepared since nobody can be absolutely certain of the timing of Christ's coming to take his bride, the Church, home to heaven. God's wrath is being prepared for an unbelieving world but true believers have no reason to fear. "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Phil. 1:21.
The coming of our Lord is nearer than ever but we are to occupy until he comes. If you happen to be in one of the few remaining churches where absolute truth is coveted, be very, very grateful and support your pastor. Like the Philadelphian Church described in Revelation there are still a few churches like that, which Christ promises to keep from the "hour of trial" that is going to come upon the whole world. But always remember that the true Church does not consist of buildings but comprises all true believers in Christ.
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer
As Patrick Henry said: "We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth...for my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it."
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to annoint your eyes so that you may see." Rev. 3:15-18
One of the greatest signs of the last days Jesus spoke about is a departing of true faith by the Christian Church. Never has that been more apparent than today. Whether it is President George W. Bush worshipping in a Japanese Shinto shrine and hosting Islamic services in the White House, Billy Graham saying that Jews, Muslims, and pagans without a knowledge of Christ can still go to heaven, head of Trinity Broadcasting Network Paul Crouch saying that we are little gods, or the Pope kissing the Koran, and welcoming all religions as one, apostasy is rampant within the Church.
This apostasy filters all the way down to even small churches. Leaders and teachers are a necessary part of the Church but when they consistently depart from the Word of God and refuse to repent of their error then they are no longer worthy of trust. Plus the fact that many of them are involved with the gay lifestyle and adultery. "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." 2 Cor. 11:13-15.
Jesus had harsh words of denunciation for the religious hypocrites of his day with their traditions and outward piety. It is no different today. Most of the Church leadership and membership are just playing Church. They have turned Christianity into churchianity. "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far way from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." Mk. 7:6-8.
The extent to which the devil has infiltrated the Church is staggering, as a thorough research will attest. Volumes have been written documenting the evidence. Christians today do not want to study the Word of God, be discerning, and face truth, lest their comfort zone be disturbed. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires." 2 Tim. 4:3.
However the Bible tells us to expose the works of darkness, Eph. 5:11, and be discerning. "He who is spiritual judges all things..." 1 Cor. 2:15. "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and training in righteousness." 2 Tim. 3:16.
Churches in general have become no more than social clubs giving people what makes them feel good. "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 Jn. 2:15.
Poor, persecuted Christians overseas, uncorrupted by materialism, can easily recognize the apostasy in western Christianity. It is no wonder that Chinese Christians reportedly pray for persecution to come to America and purify the Church, and why when the new openess of the dissolusion of the Soviet Union occurred Russian leaders of the previously persecuted underground Church were very saddened with the arrival of so called "Christian rock" music from America, which they appropriately called "music from hell". They wondered how American Christians could be so much like the world.
Music itself is not amoral as producers of decadent "Christian" music have led others to believe. No wonder Jesus called his people sheep, for they so easily wander into danger and become devoured by wolves in sheep's clothing. "...there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies..." 2 Pet. 2:1.
We are supposed to go out into the world and make disciples of others. Churches are for building up believers in truth and righteousness equiping them for personal evangelization. The Church was never intended to sink down to a worldly level to attract unbelievers. When the apostle Paul said he became all things to all men in order to save some he certainly didn't mean he adopted the standards of the world to do so. We are commanded to preach the gospel, the whole gospel, not weaken it down and sugar coat it for mass consumption. Such a perverted gospel only leads people to a false salvation. Does the modern Church consider the Holy Spirit so impotent that manmade formulas and seeker friendly programs are necessary to attract the lost?
Some of the areas that Billy Graham deviates from Scripture are as follows:
He is on public record supporting homosexuality, abortion, his disbelief in a literal hell his support and practice of infant baptism to save children, his support for the Catholic church's worship of Mary (yet he calls himself a Protestant). He has repeatedly praised infidels and apostates as great Christians. He actively supported the American government policy to fight the Vietnam War. He would not challenge the idea that the Bible is mythology, when directly questioned. The deception doesn't stop with the Protestants, Catholic supporters have been kept in the dark about his abortion views. The deception goes way beyond Protestant, Catholic beliefs.
As a programmed multiple who participates in Satanic Ritual,(He is a Mason) Billy Graham has deceived everyone. The second area is concerns about his support for a One-World Church and a One-World-Government. This stems from:
Billy Graham 's public endorsements of the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches,
Billy Graham's consistent attendance at the World Council of Churches' meetings, that Billy Graham has done more than anyone in the world to bring about the One-World-Harlot church, and he has done more than anyone to unite all the Christian groups into one organization,
Billy Graham's support of the Pope and the Catholic church which is the largest Christian religion and one of the pillars of the New Age One-World religious body being set up. The support that the NCC and WCC gives him, The support that the internationalists and globalists give Billy Graham. Billy Graham was first asked to do his Portland Crusade in 1993 by the WCC/NCC representative in this area who is GAY, a new ager, and leader of the ecumenical movement...check out FriendsOfLiberty SiaNews archives
A third area is concern over the lack of depth that conversions at Billy Graham's crusades have, Some of the details on this are:
l. Only 2% of the people coming forward at a Crusade have never been Christians and are actually giving their life to Christ for the first time, and of these 80% fall away,
2. A great majority of people that come forward are sent to Catholic and extremely liberal Churches, extremely few are sent to solid Bible believing churches., In the Catholic Standard and Times, Thursday, July 16, 1992 this Catholic paper reported that 1,900 Catholics responded to Billy Graham's call to make decisions for Christ in the Philadelphia Crusade and were referred to about 250 parishes.
3. People that come forward are sent even to Jewish synagogues and New Age churches,
4. Converts are given the impression that Christ wants decisions for him, rather than that Christ wants disciples.
5. The people attending the crusades are almost all Christians, due to the high numbers of Christian counselors and the high number of church people which are always intentionally bussed in, (Frady exposes this, and in 1992 a writer of the Williamette Week did a major story for the magazine detailing how she had searched the entire week at the Billy Graham Crusade for an unsaved person and failed to find a single non-Christian. There were a few, but so few she didn't find any. Williamette Week, Oct. 1,1992.)
6. Most decisions at the crusades are for trivial things such as to stop smoking. Interestingly, Christians with discernment spoke about how hurting the churches were after the Billy Graham Crusade here in Portland. They had been made wild promises of success, they were fleeced of their money, and then given a lukewarm spiritual boost. Their comments reminded me of this warning to Billy Graham clear back in the 1950s as to how he was ruining the harvest field. Part of Satan's Planetary control is through religious leaders.
Christians have been conditioned to believe that Billy Graham is a great prophet of God by the establishment media, who have told us for years that Billy Graham was the most respected man in America, The percentages that the controlled Media have reported for Billy Graham's popularity may have been inflated.
The accomplishment of the cross is offered freely to be received by faith alone apart from works of the law, meaning, any work of the heart or hand at all, anything other than faith.
Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:30)
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:2
Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16)
Distortions and Denials of the Gospel as an Offer
I will leave aside the Roman Catholic and some Disciples of Christ who distort “faith alone” and undermine the gosel by their view of baptismal regeneration that disconnects the new birth from the word of the gospel believed (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:1.
I want to focus on the various ways that justification by faith alone is obscured today. You could lump all these under the New Perspective on Paul, but some forms of the distortion are very old. The concern we have at this point (on the offer) is that in two general ways faith alone is being undermined:
By treating “works of the law” as not all works but only ceremonial works of circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath-keeping. Thus when Paul says that “one is justified by faith apart from works of the law,” he is only excluding ceremonial Jewish boundary markers which contradict the Gentile-including scope of the gospel. But this has opened the door to allowing other moral works of love to slip in along with faith as the basis of our justification.
The other way “faith alone” is being obscured is that faith itself is pressed as a virtue in and of itself, and is virtually synonymous with “faithfulness” and thus is and includes other virtuous acts of the soul. So the reception of the offer of the gospel happens not by faith alone in the traditional sense but by faithfulness, or by the virtue of faith and its expression in life of obedience.
Let us hold fast to the free offer of the gospel which is good news because it is an offer to faith alone, that is, it is to be received as a gift, not a purchase. It is already purchased. If we put anything but receiving in the place of faith, we diminish the glory of the accomplishment of Christ in the purchase.
6. The gospel promises a supremely happy future.
Support and Explanation
The final destiny promised in the gospel is God. 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.
Not ultimately, regeneration, or forgiveness of sins, or justification, or adoption, or sanctification. All of those are means to an end. The end of our reason for existence to “Glorify God and enjoy him for ever.”
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:260
Distortions and Denials of the Gospel’s Promises
Here anything can be a denial of the gospel if you put anything as the treasure that Christ died to bring you above God himself. Christ died to give you Christ, ultimately.
Not ultimately prosperity, health, wealth, self-esteem, family, successful church, reunion with deceased loved ones, lawful behavior, forgiveness of sins, removal of wrath, removal of guilt, escape from hell or anything else.
He died so that you might see and be everlastingly and increasingly satisfied in all that God is for us in Christ.
This is where we must take people. Anything short of this goal is falling short of the gospel, and the reason Christ died and rose again.
All of these eight are essential to the gospel. If any one of them is omitted there is no gospel. And all of them are infallibly secured in the accomplishment of Christ in the cross and resurrection.
Regeneration
You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:1
God’s begetting creates our believing. But they are simultaneous the fire and light are
Eternal Life
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. (John 3:36)
This life is what is most foundationally imparted regeneration. New birth is the creation of spiritual life.
Faith
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:
Faith is awakened by regeneration and becomes the cause of the remaining applications of the work of Christ.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. (1 John 5:11)
Forgiveness
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1)
Justification
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:2
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:10)
Reconciliation
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Adoption
You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" (Romans 8:15)
Sanctification consummated in glorification
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)
Note: sanctification is not in the list because glorification is sanctification consummated.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. (2 Corinthians 3:1
The first seven are simultaneous with faith and the last, sanctification is over a life time, though there is a positional sense in which it happens decisively at faith.
Distortions and Denials of the Gospel as an Application
1. Arminianism
Arminianism teaches that God helps all people overcome their deadness of soul and leaves to the decisive will of man whether to follow that grace and trust Christ and as a consequence be born again. In other words regeneration does not cause faith; faith, in an act of ultimate self-termination, chooses to agree with God’s grace and believe and thus be born again.
How serious is this? Must one believe that faith is decisively caused by God through regeneration? Or can one be saved believing that faith causes regeneration?
The issue comes down to this: Is the heart relationship to God one of utter reliance on God’s grace in Spirit-wrought humility, such that God gets the glory for all of my salvation, both accomplishment and application?
Can the heart be truly humble and reliant in this way while the mind espouses a theology that claims that the human will is taking credit for what the humble heart is really depending on God to provide?
Answer: There are those who totally rely on God in their heart but who fail to see with their minds that total reliance on God includes reliance on God for their reliance on God. Their hearts are better than their heads. They humility echoes the truth while their theology is out of sync with it. God is willing to look at their heart for the truth.
There are more and less virulent forms of articulated non-reliance on God for the gift of faith.
Pelagianism says that our will is free to will our faith and not so enslaved that we need any divine assistance to do so.
Arminianism in its popular form (most of evangelicalism) says we are unable without divine assistance to believe, because we are dead in trespasses and sins, but God gives assistance to all, making it possible for us to believe but not bringing us to believe. That is left for our decisive determination. At that point we are ultimately self-determining.
Pelagianism has historically been regarded as such a virulent form of self-reliance and such a virulent assault on grace that it is considered heresy in the sense that to truly hold it damns. That is, it stretches charitable judgment to the breaking point if one attempts to say that the heart is truly reliant on God in salvation when the mind is saying that there is no need of divine grace in the use of the will to believe.
Arminianism recognizes more truth about our sinful and helpless condition apart from grace, and gives more credit to grace, but stumbles intellectually over the implications of sovereign grace. It cannot bring itself to embrace the apparent implications of faith as a gift of God, namely, unconditional election. It appears to them unjust and unloving. Historically charitable views of a good heart behind this mistaken theology have been encouraged.
But how should we regard these errors in relationship to the teaching office of the church and other institutions?
Here’s my rule of thumb: the more responsible a person is to shape the thoughts of others about God, the less Arminianism should be tolerated. Therefore church members should not be excommunicated for this view but elders and pastors and seminary and college teachers should be expected to hold the more fully biblical view of grace.
Do you separate from a denomination that allows pastors and seminary teachers to believe and teach this error? You can. We do. Oh, how we need discernment concerning how helpful you might be to the cause of Christ and his truth.
2. The denial of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness in justification.
Robert Gundry denies that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. It is not a New Testament doctrine. .
N. T. Wright considers the historical doctrine of God’s or Christ’s righteousness being imputed to us as making no sense in biblical categories.
Others are saying that the righteousness that is imputed to us is not the moral righteousness of Christ, the perfection of Christ or the obedience of Christ, but rather the status of vindicated. Righteous, they say, doesn’t mean morally right in the legal context of the relevant texts but only having the legal status of the acquitted. So Christ’s obedience is relevant for his being a perfect sacrifice, but not relevant as being counted as ours. .
. . . As to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 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. (Philippians 3:6-9)
Three bad effects of denying the imputation of Christ’s righteousness:
1) It diminishes the work of Christ by denying that he did one of the glorious things he did.
For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
2) It leaves the guilty soul languishing when the imputation of Christ’s righteousness is what God tailor made to free the saints.
3) When the glory of Christ is partially obscured and the assurance of the soul is weakened, the costly, sacrificial labor of love is hindered.
6. The gospel promises a supremely happy future. Support and Explanation
The final destiny promised in the gospel is God.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.
Not ultimately, regeneration, or forgiveness of sins, or justification, or adoption, or sanctification. All of those are means to an end. The end of our reason for existence to “Glorify God and enjoy him for ever.”
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:260
Distortions and Denials of the Gospel’s Promises
Here anything can be a denial of the gospel if you put anything as the treasure that Christ died to bring you above God himself. Christ died to give you Christ, ultimately.
Not ultimately prosperity, health, wealth, self-esteem, family, successful church, reunion with deceased loved ones, lawful behavior, forgiveness of sins, removal of wrath, removal of guilt, escape from hell or anything else.
He died so that you might see and be everlastingly and increasingly satisfied in all that God is for us in Christ.
This is where we must take people. Anything short of this goal is falling short of the gospel, and the reason Christ died and rose again.
1 Corinthians 15:1-5 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve
The gospel is an accomplishment.
Support and Explanation
The gospel is an objective accomplishment—the purchase or obtaining of redemption for all who would believe (verse 3: “Christ died for our sins”—the debt was paid)
In his death he bore our sins.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
He paid the price of our redemption.
You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19)
He endured God’s wrath and condemnation in our place (propitiation).
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. (Romans 8:3)
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)
He completed a life of perfect obedience.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:
The truth of “limited atonement” comes in here. The L in Tulip. It is not a suitable description. What it means is that in dying for us and in paying the price for us and in completing an obedience for us and in bearing God’s wrath for us, these things were certainly and decisively accomplished for us. These things will become ours because they were obtained for us by the work of Christ.
Christ knows those who are his sheep and he lays down his life for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)
Christ knows who are his believing friends and lays down his life for them.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Christ knows who is his bride and he lays down his life for her.
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)
The death and resurrection of Christ really accomplished these things decisively and once for all.
The right title of this teaching would be successful atonement or definitive atonement or triumphantly effective atonement.
This doesn’t mean that the atonement isn’t offered to all. This is what needs to be clarified. Those who oppose this teaching say: No, Christ died for all and quote John 3:16 or 1 Tim. 2:4 or 2 Peter 3:9.
We say yes, that is true in the sense that you mean it: What Christ did is proclaimed to all and offered to all. Absolutely, without distinction. And any who believe will be saved by this accomplishment. Christ died for all in the sense that all who believe may be saved and the salvation is offered freely to all.
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Revelation 22:17)
We agree. But we say more was accomplished at the cross than the possibility that all who hear and believe could be saved. He did not die for all in the same way. The salvation of Christ’s sheep was actually secured. All that it takes to save those his chosen ones was obtained by Christ.
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. (Revelation 5:9)
In John 17:6,9,19 Jesus prays, "I have manifested Thy name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and your gave them to me...I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you gave me, for they are yours. . . And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth."
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
Problem: 1 John 2:2, "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."
Solution: John 11:51-52, "He prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."
Distortions and Denials of the Gospel as an Accomplishment
I will mention four claims that have risen up to obscure the triumph of God in the accomplishment of the cross.
1. Universalism: Christ effectively saved everyone on the cross and all will be in heaven some day. George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis’ mentor believed this. But it flies in the face of the Biblical teaching that we must believe (John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him), and the biblical teaching the punishments of hell are eternal (Matthew 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life).
2. The view that since Christ died for all the sins of all people in the same way all those sins are forgiven and the only sin that Christ did not die for is final unbelief. So no one is condemned for their sins but only for their unbelief. This goes against the focus of the atonement that we saw in John 17 but also against Colossians 3:5-6:
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
3. The atonement accomplishes potential salvation for all but accomplishes definitive salvation for none. This is typical Arminian teaching. It diminishes the glory of the cross and encourages people to take into their own hands what belongs to the work of the cross, namely the purchase of their own rescue from unbelief. God is allowed to rescue them from the guilt of sin by the cross, but not from the bondage of unbelief by the cross. The cross does not obtain or accomplish that. I must provide the decisive impetus for overcoming my unbelief, the cross did not accomplish that. In that way part of the gospel is undone.
4. The claim that God’s punishing sin in his own Son (Rom. 8:3; Gal. 3:13) in morally unacceptable, a kind of cosmic child abuse.
“The fact is that the cross isn’t a form of cosmic child abuse—a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed. Understandably, both people inside and outside of the Church have found this twisted version of events morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith. Deeper than that, however, is that such a concept stands in total contradiction to the statement: God is love”. If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus’ own teaching to love your enemies and to refuse to repay evil with evil.”
That undoes both the heart of God’s love for us and the accomplishment of the cross
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3)
But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: 'They hated me without a cause.' (John 15:25)
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, 'He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' (John 13:1
At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." (Matthew 26:55-56)
So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, "They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." (John 19:24)
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. . . . For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken." (John 19:34-36)
For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27)
When was this plan made?
All who dwell on earth will worship [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 13:
Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. (2 Timothy 1:9)
Therefore: part of the gospel is that it was a plan from eternity. This is good news because:
God was not taken off guard by the horrific deeds against his Son; Sin and death and hell and Satan are not frustrations of God’s eternal design but fit into it;
God’s love for us and his willingness to die for us is not an afterthought but eternally deep in the heart of God;
It is all the more clear that the events of the gospel were God’s doing, not historical turns of fate.
This all strengthens and deepens our certainty of God’s commitment to us in the gospel
Distortions and Denials of the Gospel as a Plan
There are many today, as in every day, who bring to the Bible the presupposition that sinful man must have the power of self-determination in order to be held accountable by God. This is not a biblical presupposition. It threatens to undermine the gospel because it pushes people away from believing that God can plan and bring to pass the sins that are essential to the death of his Son.
We don’t usually think about Arminianism as a threat to the atonement. It usually comes in at the point of the accomplishment of the gospel and the offer of the gospel, not the point of the plan of the events of the gospel. But here we see that there is an intrinsic incompatibility between the basic Arminian presupposition and the gospel as including a set of planned sins against the Son of God.
That presupposition is that for humans to be morally accountable agents they must have the ultimate power of self-determination at all those points where they are found blameworthy or praiseworthy
That presupposition pushes people away from believing that God has the right and power in righteousness and wisdom to infallibly plan the death of his Son through the sinful acts of morally accountable men. But the Bible teaches that he did. There is no atonement and no gospel without God-planned sins against the Son of God. He died at the hands of sinful men by God’s design. That is an essential part of the gospel. “He died for our sins according to the scriptures.”
2. The gospel is an event.
Support and Explanation
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture. (1 Corinthians 15:3)
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. . . . But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:17)
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, "Peace to you!" But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." (Luke 24:36)
So he really physically died and he really physically rose from the dead.
Distortions and Denials of the Gospel as an Event
What is remarkable about modern liberal Christianity is how much of the gospel can be denied and the pastors and teachers still call themselves Christian.
John Selby Spong is a typical liberal mainline teacher of religion. One article notes,
In . . . a five part criticism of Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ," published in installments between February and June, 2004, by Insights, the magazine of the New South Wales Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia . . . wrote:
The idea that a convicted felon, like Jesus, would be given a burial attended by such splendor is obviously not history. . . The probable fate of the crucified Jesus was to be thrown with other victims into a common, unmarked grave. The general consensus of New Testament scholars is that whatever the Easter experience was, it dawned first in the minds of the disciples who had fled to Galilee for safety, driving us to the conclusion that the burial story in the gospels is … legendary.
Typically liberal Biblical Scholars in the twentieth century like Rudolph Bultmann argued that the resurrection-language of the early church was mythological language that really meant the death of Jesus was a triumph and means of our existential renewal. The event of Easter was the resurrection of the hope of the early church not the resurrection of the body of Jesus.
Take heed to any diminishing of the historical realities of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
. American Christians have lost sight of the fact that HOLINESS is the number one attribute of God and he expects his people to be HOLY, a separate, peculiar people. 
