MUCH OF THIS ARTICLE WAS REMOVED BECAUSE OF INACCURACIES. THE REAMINING WILL BE REMOVED AFTER A REWRITE IS COMPLETED.
Grace doctrines that go too far are nothing new. In the early church they were rampant, alongside the other extreme: law doctrines. So it’s grace versus law today, even as back in the New Testament. Paul agaonized over his letters to the church, always dealing with one of these issues, or even both.
I consider myself a grace minister, and a minister of the finished work of Christ. Other ministers calling themselves grace and finished work ministers are now spreading a bit of leaven with this message in a way that we must differentiate the error.
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The grace ministers are moving towards a doctrine that diminishes Christian responsibility and discipline, calling them law, and those that teach them the religious. But in the end, their followers will not attain the life in the Spirit without these vital elements of our life. Sure, it would be great to do whatever we want, whenever we want, with whomever we want, but in the end it is death–death because we are not WALKING with Jesus in close union.
The true grace and finished work message has to help you WALK in the Spirit, in the Light, in His ways, in such a way you walk free, you walk outpouring fruit and gifts, and reflect Jesus, who is our grace. Grace can itself become law.
Why are the grace ministers doing this? They want to lighten the load on weighed down Christians. Christians tend to self-impose doctrinal burdens on themselves to the point they accomplish little. They are always sin-conscious, and they always feel guilty because they are not fulfilling some scripture or Christian service. I get that. And you can amass a large audience with a grace gospel that calls everything law, those teaching it as religious, and since the cross is a finished work, take it easy on yourself.
Only that it was this easy. It is not. Living as a baby Christian in the outer courts of God may resemble that to some degree–that is–until the enemy attacks and you are not prepared to respond. But more so, when you enter into the courts of God, it gets better, and it gets harder. The mountains you are called to go up are higher, you have to sacrifice more of your precious personal time, you are introduced to new challenges that could have been avoided ny staying down the mountain, by staying out in the external courts. For those who dare to enter into the Holy of Holies, 100 fold, service to God, those experiences with God makes all that outer court activity look silly. But, just before you can get cocky, you are faced with giants never encountered. Then, you are brought to enemy maneuvering that is beyond your ability to calculate. It is then the full measure of grace is at hand to give you His eyes to see the giant for what it really is, and to counteract all the tactics of the enemy with pure Wisdom.
As you see. Some grace ministers are seeing fragments and are excited, yet confused. Who’s right? Well, Jesus of course. What message looks like Him? What doctrine has the savour of incense that satisfies the Father? What grace teaching resembles the wisdom that produces maturity?
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John Robert Lucas
November 2011
http://templebuildersministry.com
Thanx so mch Sir for this word..and warning. Such teachings are really a ‘death trap’. True grace really teaches to ‘…DENY ungodliness and worldly lusts…’
These new grace teachers really do not understand grace at all; nor do they understand law. I have watched others try to reason with the teachers and their followers, but every attempt is useless.
Andrew Farley is another prevalent teacher of this type of grace message. You are right, though, it is a death trap, and a slippery slope.
Another thing that is noticable in all of them is that they are so preoccupied with trying to reinvent the foundational doctrines that they never have time to teach the more mature ways of the Lord. Pity.
I believe it’s part of Satan’s ploy to keep the Church in bondage to spiritual immaturity because until our foundations are well laid…which includes REpentance from dead works, we can’t go on to perfection. We will not be able to run the race set before us because of weights and sin that will so easily beset us.
Dear John,
Thank you for drawing your readers’ attention to my writings. I wonder if it would be too much to ask if you could include a link back to my original post. This would give your readers a chance to see for themselves whether I say even half the things you claim I do.
Please point out the errors and I will fix or remove. I also based the work on responses/reviews you received from other readers. You may have a perception issue if you are saying this is factually off.
I have no axe to grind here and have no issue revising or deleting the entire article.
John Robert Lucas
Pretty much every single claim you attribute to me is factually incorrect, but hey, nothing like a good straw man demolition job. Contrary to your tone, I am actually a big believer in repentance. As I say in the post: “Should you repent? Of course! I actually think there needs to be far more repentance, particularly from believers.” I am also 100% opposed to sin. The point that I evidently failed to make in the post is that you don’t get people to turn from sin by telling them to “turn from sin” – that’s old covenant thinking and a flesh-trip. Live like that and you’ll end up either proud or condemned. The cure to sin is not your futile efforts at self-improvement, but Jesus and His finished work. It is grace alone that empowers us to say no to ungodliness.
Sounds like you are making a sound response. I will remove the article. I in no way want to malign what you are saying. I must have misunderstood. But as I recall, others misunderstood as well.