Are you a Confessional Theologian?

Wednesday nights is an informal Question and Answer time at the First Church of God, in which I try to tackle some of the tough issues that people want to deal with.

One of my favorite invitations to people who want to talk about the great mysteries about God is to join the “Confessional Theologian” community. I’m a “Confessional Theologian” which means that I confess that I am not God but only a human being trying to understand God. Therefore, anything I am about to say or conclusion I am about to draw will only be a limited understanding of God, and not God Himself.

I wish to invite you to the community of “Confessional Theologians” as well. This humble community of people who don’t think to much about what they think are primarily on a search of a functional truth that enables us to relate to God while not being to arrogant about making God conform to our agendas.

Some would be fearful about such a simple practical approach to our conversations about God, but that does not mean anything goes. A ‘confessional theologian’ is bound by reason, universal truth, and the revelation of God’s word as found in the Holy Bible. We are true to our Lord Jesus Christ and lean heavily upon the Holy Spirit to open our minds to the vastness of God’s glory.

If we are going to take God seriously, we are going to have to take ourselves less seriously. Our attempts to define Him will always fall short of His true self.

Yet I believe, even as humans, we can grasp some of the vastness of God, enough to have a personal relationship with Him.

During the Easter season I marvel that Christ could lay aside his might, power and glory to reduce Him self to a man and walk among us even to death on the cross. He was fully God and fully man. What we saw in Christ was the essence of God’s nature which does not depend on upon ultimate power for His sense of self. Christ could lay all that aside and still be fully God.

I don’t think I will ever understand what all knowing, all powerful, and all present means since I’m rather limited in these areas. But I know better what real love, hope and faith since Jesus came and revealed it in His life and death. That is good confessional theology.

Have a blessed Easter walking humbly before the Lord and led by the Holy Spirit.

Are their prophets today? What about false prophets?

At a recent session of "Ask Pastor John" the issue of prophets was discussed.

I moved to the Rogue Valley almost fifteen years ago and I have never run into so many people who think they are prophets for God. Many of them are not prophets at all, but just people wanting to be special and to impress others.

In this session I deal with the question covering issues like:
-are their prophets today?
-how can you tell who is real prophet of God?
-what does the Bible call a prophet and what is their job?
-can prophets can their predictions wrong and still be prophets?

I think you will find this one fun to listen too and as always we would love you to post your comments below after listening.

I really do try to keep our discussion to under an hour but have failed miserably as question give birth to more questions. If you listen to the real audio recording you will hear how the group just wants to keep going.

To listen to the latest editon of "Ask Pastor John" follow this link.

Keep seeking, asking and knocking.

Pastor John

Armegdon, End of the World, and Judgement Day

The History Channel has featured documentaries about the end of the world and various prophesies made by famous 'seers' in history. Such dooms day predictions and preoccupation with the end of the world results in some distorted thinking about what the Bible actually tells us about what is to come.

In our last 'Ask Pastor John' we explored these questions and about the Judgment Day that is about to come. On that last day will God forgive everyone or will there be a sorting of those who are found to be worthy and unworthy of entering into heaven?

Follow this link to hear the Real Audio recording of our question and answer session. The audio has been edited to cut some of the commentary from those participating so the audio isn't too long, not because they weren't good comments.

If you want to be apart of the next session of 'Ask Pastor John' send your questions to pastorjohn@clearwire.net or join us at the First Church of God, Medford, OR at 7 pm this coming Wednesday night. Go to www.fcog.us to find out more.

Why Pain?

Last Wednesday I was hit with three questions that are related.

1. Do some people get away with evil on this earth?
2. Why does a loving God allow suffering?
3. Why are some healed and some are not?

Any one of these questions are tough but I took them all on and try to show how they are connected in my response. It was an interesting night and we explored a variety of issues along the way. You can find a Real Audio Streaming recording of this at this link.

As always, I am interested in your comments and questions.

"Ask Pastor John" is on again tonight at 7 pm at the First Church of God in Medford. If you are in town feel free to drop in. If not you can send me an email at pastorjohn@clearwire.net and I will add it to our growing list of questions. You can log on latter and watch for your topic to come up on this blog and an audio recording of that session.

Keep asking questions, seeking the truth, and knocking on heavens gates.

Are we all saved if Christ died for all? THE ANSWER?

Dear John,

Let me take a stab at this and see if I help…

Come let us reason together….

1. There is no Arminian who could call themselves Christian who holds that God saved all people by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross whether they want it or not.
2. There is no Calvinist who could call themselves Christian who holds that people are lost or saved by pre-programming of God whether they want it or not.

These are the two extremes of both arguments and no Christian can go that far and remain Christian. So let us be reasonable. It is possible to be Arminian or Calvinist while not being a Christian.

So I begin with being a Christian. What does the Bible say about being a Christian? Please refer to my pamphlet “The Full Disclosure Gospel.”

Free will necessary for salvation.

8But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Romans 10:8-10 (New International Version)

Our assurance of salvation is the relational presence of the Holy Spirit. Give me that rather than a cold contract any day. It is written on our hearts and sealed.

Romans 4:16
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

2 Corinthians 1:22
set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 5:5
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Ephesians 1:14
who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

Finally I can not know if someone else is truly saved, but every person can known for themselves if they are saved or not if I really want to know.

7After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
Acts 15:7-9 (New International Version)

If you would like a more detailed description of what actually happens when we are saved I can tell you about the court case taking place in heaven right now.

For a summary of the two positions see http://www.the-highway.com/compare.html

I really differ with both when it comes to “election” because that is where the train comes off the tracks.

Pastor John

If Jesus died for ALL the sins of mankind, everyone would be saved?

This week I received a question by email that was very challenging. Here, in his own words are the comments made by John from Wisconsin.
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Greetings Pastor. As always, you make things easy to understand without the mumbo jumbo.

I would love to visit your church. If I'm ever in the area, I'm stopping by. Having said that, I doubt that will ever happen.

I have a good Christian brother who I've known from high school. He lives in Texas. He was down here over the summer and we got together. He told me he's turned Calvinistic, and takes all the 5 views. We got to talking and he made some good points. Bottom line is we still are good brothers, but disagree. He made the EXACT same quote that Sproul said. He said if Jesus died for ALL the sins of mankind, everyone would be saved. All I said is what I told you regarding that just because Jesus died, man still has to accept or reject what Jesus did. Man has a choice/free will.

Yes, I don't doubt Mr. Sproul is an intelligent man. I also don't doubt his love for Christ or salvation. I wouldn't have a problem getting into a discussion with him. Note I said discussion, not debate or argument. Although as of this moment he could probably talk circles around me. But hey, so what! He's just a human being like you and I. Who cares if he holds a PH.D or masters in whatever. Don't be intimated. It's kind of like David & Goliath you know? God will give us the words, as well as the knowledge to go against anything, if that's what He desires.

What did Jesus mean by seal or bind?

This question came to our session last Wednesday from someone who had extensive contact with the Mormon church. This expression by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Matthew had been used in several different ways.

As we talked others shared how it has been used in Pentecostal congregations and even in our own church. The Mormon use the word seal, but what they are referring to are these verses:

Matthew 16:19
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Matthew 18:18
"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

What followed is an interesting discussion about what Christ meant. There was some concern it had to do with our salvation. The evening ended with learning how to pray for someone who has hardened their heart towards the gospel.

Follow this link to listen in our session and leave a comment or send an email with your questions. I would love to hear from you.