It’s all about the Atonement, again!
Carla over at ‘More Books and Things‘ has been doing an excellent job at reviewing the book ‘Stricken by God’ by Brad Jersak. She is doing this chapter by chapter.
With Mr. Jersak calling us to unite and follow Christ, the first question we should ask ourselves is… who is Christ and what was His purpose…
“With significant breadth and depth of perspective, our authors unite now in inviting the reader to follow Christ into that same victory” (of the resurrection)
-Jersak, page 53, SBG
We should all be very wary that there will be those who will preach another Jesus in the last days and because of this you will have to judge which Jesus it is that you are going to follow. Is it the one that is found in the Word of God, the one who is the Word of God in the flesh? Or is it the one that has become nothing more than a political leader fighting against the religious and political domination of his time. [Please note the small 'h' is used deliberately by these new age teachers. Concerning the dual nature of Christ, the deity of Christ is reduced as the man Jesus is being exalted, more about these doctrinal complications in a future post]
2Co 11:2-4 I am jealous of you with God’s own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or should you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you are all too willing to listen.
This new Jesus, the man, has become nothing more than a political leader fighting against the religious and political domination of his time…
“following Jesus, is not about believing a correct atonement theology” …but a “commitment to the path of confrontation with dominations systems”
“The way of the cross is about discipleship, not believing in the blood of Jesus as a substitute for our own. I think it’s bad history because it presumes that Jesus’s death was part of the plan of God.” (p. 158, SBG)
Like the above scripture says, we are set aside for one husband… Jersak and his ilk are temple whores in the kingdom of God! I am beginning to understand the increasing relevance of the following scripture when Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God being like a fish net which needs sorting out. The good fish are kept the other bad ones will be thrown into a blazing furnace, a place where there is gnashing of teeth… Hades, Hell, you know that other not so popular place that certain teachers say doesn’t even exist (Emergents like Doug Pagitt)
Mat 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea that gathered all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen hauled it ashore. Then they sat down, sorted the good fish into containers, and threw the bad ones away. That is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the evil from the righteous and will throw them into a blazing furnace. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
‘Stricken by God’ is all about the ‘Atonement’ and how to understand it properly according to this new way of teaching.
Any false teaching…teachings straight from the pits of hell, whoops can I say that???…will not preach the biblical understanding of the ‘Atonement’ and/or the resurrection. Of course it wouldn’t. Why? Because, if you had even a cursory understanding of this you may be convicted of sin and find out that you need to be born again of Spirit to enter heaven…Oh, silly me I can’t say that either. Satan would not be too pleased about someone becoming born again now would he? Wait a minute…I can’t say that there is a Satan either… can I?
No sin, no problemo. This is the kind of teaching that will lead people straight into that ‘place of which we do not speak’.
Hey Vee, thanks for the link. And for the strong and truthfilled words.
They may seem rather strong, but this is serious stuff isn’t it? I think that denying the power of the cross is something that really needs to be addressed.
V
[...] If the atonement is brought down to the level of praxis and community only, then the divinity of Christ could very well be lost. As a result, the injustice of the cross against a man is exalted above the Penal Substitution act and this is because the emphasis is the man being punished by God the so called ‘child abuser’… [...]
This man-oriented false gospel is truly a powerless gospel! A counterfeit gospel with a counterfeit Christ. Only those who have diligently trained themselves in God’s Word will be able to see the difference. Shut off the talk shows, soaps and sitcoms, people, and get into God’s Word, or you WILL be deceived!
2 Timothy 3
1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF; FROM SUCH TURN AWAY.
6For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s also was.
10But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
11Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
By the way, Vee, I meant to say what an excellent job you did on these posts on the atonement. Excellent and relevant quotes. Keep up the good work. May God bless and protect you as you continue to expose the works of darkness and reveal the light of God’s Word.
Very appropriate scripture Bonnie…and thanks for the encouragement.
Interesting to note that the verse…
2Ti 3:8 But in the way Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so also these withstand the truth, men having been corrupted in mind, found worthless (reprobate) concerning the faith.
Means that these teachers are from the spirit of anti-Christ, and are likened to the two magicians…
Jannes … Jambres — traditional names of the Egyptian magicians who resisted Moses (Exo 7:11, Exo 7:22), derived from “the unwritten teaching of the Jews” [Theodoret]. In a point so immaterial as the names, where Scripture had not recorded them, Paul takes the names which general opinion had assigned the magicians. Eusebius [Preparation of the Gospel], quotes from Numenius, “Jannes and Jambres were sacred scribes (a lower order of priests in Egypt) skilled in magic.” Hiller interprets “Jannes” from the Abyssinian language a trickster, and “Jambres” a juggler” (Act 13:8).
[Bengel]. Alford takes passively, “not abiding the test”; rejected on being tested (Jer 6:30).
resist — “withstand,” as before. They did so by trying to rival Moses’ miracles. So the false teachers shall exhibit lying wonders in the last days (Mat 24:24; 2Th 2:9; Rev 13:14, Rev 13:15). Reprobate — incapable of testing the truth (Rom 1:2
These teachers are incapable of testing the truth because they are not of God at all.
Rom 1:28 And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
God Bless you too Bonnie!