Living Journey

A few posts ago, I made a special note on the ‘Red Letter Christians’. Politically they stress the Red Letter’s which are found in some versions of the bible, these letter’s indicate to the reader the actual words of Jesus spoken to the people. I spoke about religion and politics, - two things which most people get hot under the collar about. So combining them…. look out! Perhaps I should duck, but no matter, I still have an opinion and a voice with which to say it.

It seems that many people are being challenged by the Red Letter Christians, as predicted. But where does this lead? These value voters have re-directed the more controversial conservative biblical values (perhaps they were called into question by the lefties anyway) and have taken the safer road toward more contemporary issues like social in-justices and environmental issues; that is to say they have broadened their views toward the global village. In broadening their path do they run the risk of not even finding the narrow gate - maybe the path has become less recognizable because the signposts have changed altogether and are pointing to different things? (Matt 7:17)

With bringing in the value voters are the leaders in Government and Churches hoping to have a more inclusive brand of religion and politics? They call it ‘Voting God’s Politics’ and are pushing for a new dialogue for today. God’s Politics is a hotly debated topic at the moment and Jim Wallis has his own blog dedicated to these issues and concerns. He is currently debating Ralph Reed, you may want to check it out.

Red Letter Christians was organized by the evangelical left Sojourners magazine and its affiliate, Call to Renewal. The Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the magazine, said he will be debate former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed this week on a new blog at www.godpolitics.com. Sojourners also plans to issue 200,000 “Voting God’s Politics” voter guides and sponsor an Oct. 2 candidates’ forum in the key electoral state of Ohio.

“The monologue of the religious right is finally over, and a new dialogue has just begun,” Mr. Wallis said. “That’s good news for churches, for politics and really, for both parties. We believe the debate on values should be central in American politics. The question is: Which values, whose values and how should we define moral values?”

How should they define values is a good question indeed, I would like to know too… well, trying to define christian values is going to be pretty subjective when there are education seminaries like ‘Rockbridge Seminary’ whose emphasis is on the less traditional systematic theology and focused more on competency development. The trouble with this new breed of Seminary graduates trickling out of the system, is that they are being taught in such a way that the Word of God has lost all its authority and biblical inerrancy is even to be considered a secondary issue compared to what the ’story of God’ can actually mean. The focus has shifted entirely for ‘God’s Word to mankind’ to ‘mankinds word about God and His story’ that is told by man anyway. It is a topsy tervy way of studying the Word of God, not to unlike the Gnostic’s of the 1st and 2nd Century AD. The inspiration of the Holy book no longer exists - or at the very least is not to be focused on - but experience does!

God’s values are written very clearly in the bible, and one only has to read it to know what they are, I am not only talking about reading just the Red Letters of the Word but the whole book itself, as a collective whole. It’s very easy to tear shreds out of something that has already lost most of its threads due to poor exegetical analysis and has been bent all out of shape through the use of liberal theology. One has to ask ones-self, what will be left to hold onto if the very foundations are knocked down. ‘You don’t like that verse, OK, no matter just get rid of it’…. ‘uh-oh, but that relates to that verse, so that has to go too!’ ‘Oh!….. and so does that, well we will just rip it out then’ - and it goes on and on and on. At the end you have something that does not even resemble the original because the original intent has been torn up thrown in the bin.

God Himself is not a fence sitter, He is not politically correct, He is not a wish washy insipid grey, He is quite Black and White when it comes to His Word - you better believe it, He means business. It will not return to Him Void and He will accomplish what His Word says He will accomplish in regards to Sin, Holiness, and His justice. Yes that’s right… His justice, not yours and not mine but His. Remember even the prayer of Jesus (for those of you who only read the Red Letters) says, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven - not my will be done! Heavy words when you consider an Holy God has every right to not only show mercy through His son but also must show judgment towards all those who are not clothed with the blood of the Lamb. An Holy God can do no-other if He indeed is Holy!

God is mostly concerned about people’s eternal welfare than that of the environment, so much so that He sent His son as a sacrifice for our atonement from sin. To think that God concerns Himself with anything less is to reduce His son’s cross to nothing more than a political statement and will lose all its profundity with an incomplete, deficient and second-rate understanding of the fulness of His Grace through His sacrifice. We would do well to remember, It cost Him His Son!!! no-less. That is the eternal gospel, that is the point of the Word of God full stop. It is not a book that helps us to live a better life. It is a book that highlights the cross and what was done on that Calvary hill, the ‘place of the skull‘ - Golgotha.

The new Seminary’s of today however, are not big on stressing theological scholarship as Rockbridge has pointed out. They are following the purpose driven model that it is pushing a social agenda that was never intended to be the emphasis of God’s Word. We are called to make disciples of men firstly, and to do that means converting lost souls that are bound to eternal hell without Christ has their mediator.

As you study the curriculum design of Rockbridge Seminary (our courses and how they are arranged), you’ll see something new in seminary education.Traditionally, American seminaries have arranged courses according to categories of knowledge (Old Testament, Systematic Theology, Philosophy of Education, etc.). This traditional approach to curriculum design was carried over to seminary education from the European university system nearly 200 years ago. Its structure reflects the university’s primary purpose of producing scholars.

Some seminaries are called to emphasize theological scholarship in their training design, a design well-served by the traditional arrangement of courses. Rockbridge Seminary, however, is called to emphasize ministry competency development, making the design around church purpose rather than by category of knowledge a more natural learning environment.

In summary, if you seek study that emphasizes theological scholarship, RS may not be the best match for your learning objectives. However, if you want to emphasize ministry competency development, consider our innovative Purpose Driven® curriculum design as a fresh approach to seminary study that may benefit you.

This is dividing Christian’s the world over. Judah’s Lion has this to say about his observations regarding this other ‘social gospel‘ which he calls the ‘me gospel’ that has permeated itself within evangelical circles.

One of the dangers we were warned about when we became believers, if you were saved decades ago, was the social gospel. This was defined as meeting the needs of the poor and allowing the gospel to be inherent in the act of kindness itself. This approach reasoned that sinners would see Christ in the good works of Christians as they were fed and clothed and that the sharing of the gospel was not necessary or at least subservient.

Today there is another social gospel that has been birthed and now flourishes in most evangelical churches. This preaching centers on meeting the needs of poor and rich alike, I call it the “me gospel”. It accepts the doctrine of original sin as a statement of faith doctrine but never brings it to the pulpit, so instead of sinners becoming anxious about their sin as they sit in the pew, they let the car salesman disguised as a preacher try and convince them that Jesus is what they need to iron out some of the difficulties they are experiencing in their lives. And the salesmen attempt to make Jesus relevant, so, if the audience is affluent they project Jesus as a worry remover. If they are poor they project Jesus as a wealth builder. If they are having marital problems they project Jesus as a counselor. If they have low self esteem they project Jesus as a motivator. That, my friends, is nothing more than the new social gospel at best and flat out lies at worst. @ Judah’s Lion

This social gospel coupled with the new ‘Value Voters’ and/or (you can by the way effectively be an atheist and agree with the Values set out by this movement) the ‘Red Letter Christian Movement’ is going to be huge, bigger than you ever imagined if they manage to get non-Christians on board. In all likelyhood it could take off like wild fire with a momentum of a steam train locomotive.  This will play in perfectly with the ‘Dominionists and the Kingdom Now theologians‘.  ‘Rick Warren‘ has been very busy indeed with his laying down the footwork with his P.E.A.C.E plan.  He and others like him will start to see the benefits real soon!
Other sites of Interest

• Chicago Tribune
• Mitch Lewis
• Traditional Values Coalition