The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" (Prov. 22:7)
Over the past half century, we have developed a lifestyle where we buy things we can't afford, with money we don't have with deferred payments and establish a family budget that is largely based on servicing debt. It is the rule rather than the exception to have a house payment and car payment as a minimum. The price and size of the house are usually determined by the payment that the salary will cover without exceeding a certain percentage of the monthly salary, which dictates that the set salary must be maintained over the term of the loan. In a continually expanding economy, such a rationale is workable; however, over a period of years there can be "crunch times" (such as are upon us!) where contractions may occur which can apply stress to the borrower. In years gone by families lived on a cash basis, only buying that for which they could pay out of current income; the life style was determined by the money available--not that for which their credit would qualify them.
After the former mentality was firmly established, the credit card industry was launched which capitalized more on greeds than needs. The idea of instant gratification became the rule of thumb in many arenas. Paying cash for purchases is unusual, and the ease of running up exorbitant credit card debt has forced many into bankruptcy.
Those who build considerable equity in a home mortgage are regularly taunted with the idea of taking an equity loan with no closing costs to consolidate high interest credit card debt which they have amassed, financing current expenses over the term of the loan. Thus, the cycle continues unabated. With many, the idea of paying off the mortgage is not even considered, except to refinance or to sell the home and progress to one with larger principal. Thus, a person 50 or 60 years of age will sometimes get a 30 year loan!
The borrower becomes servant to the lender(s) with life decisions being made (or forced) which are based on debt which must be serviced (feeding the monster). (Prov. 22:7) This being the case, such a person has done involuntary obeisance to the false god of materialism--a paper god that can never be satisfied.
With an entire society built on being servants to lenders, most are forced to play by the golden rule--he who has the gold makes the rules! Almost all businesses are run on a line of credit of some sort with precious few being run without borrowing money for operating expenses as well as for capital improvements.
An executive making a large salary will generally adjust his/her lifestyle to match the salary. A sudden downturn in the economy or losing the position because of the ubiquitous mergers and shifting of management personnel can wreak havoc with the family budget, if not force bankruptcy. Those in the family, not just the executive, will usually develop an identity made possible by such a salary. A major downward adjustment can be a decided blow to the identity; an identity based on money and things must fluctuate with the economy. In the oil crunch of the 80' s in Denver, there were cases where such families went to the back door of churches and picked up food baskets in a Mercedes.
When materialism is providing the needs and many of the greeds such as we find common in the West, it very subtly becomes a substitute god--one that is insatiable, unpredictable and capricious, though it be but a paper god. Obviously, such a pervasive societal trend, can not be reversed overnight. Indeed, such an ingrained identity which is based on the paper god of materialism can only be conquered by shifting to the one true God and finding identity and meaning in Him.
Before there will be the willingness to make such a change, it will probably require a major disruption in the life and economy (such as greatly inflated oil prices) that the paper god can not overcome. Having been slaves to the system and covertly serving a paper god, it will take divine intervention to effect such a transition. Barring that, the stage will be set for a dictatorship to bring order out of chaos, if there is a broad failure of the paper god to continue to service the system.
The extra demands that are presently being placed on the financial system combine to place pressure on lives and families that may already be near the breaking point due to having been built on the shifting sands of the flesh. These pressures include the cost of war preparations, financing a war and rebuilding all that we have destroyed, damage inflicted by terrorism to installations, the downturn of the economy caused by war jitters, oil prices, unemployment, natural disasters and rolling back of salaries. With a preponderance of our population stretched to the limit with debt, such assaults on the economy could make bankruptcy and foreclosures a common occurrence. In such a scenario, it is inevitable that there will be a drastic increase in suicides, as well.
With the identities of the individual, the church and the nation having been based, with few exceptions, on the profferings of the world system, the only answer is for these to come under the influence of the Cross of Christ such that a resurrection life identity may be manifested. (Luke 9:23, Gal. 2:20) When that quality of devotion becomes a significant percentage of believers, there will be repentance on the part of the church which can have a major impact on the nation. Radical Christian Living must become the rule rather than the exception if societal trends, not just financial, are to be reversed and the God of the Universe is to take precedence over the paper god of materialism. Only as we find our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ by having revealed to us, one by one, our death and resurrection with Him, will we be able to transcend the world system and have victory over false gods to which our flesh has become accustomed. (Rom. 6:6-14; 2 Cor. 2:14) Only so will revival begin to spread across our country such that the enemies of the Cross will begin to be pushed back to the glory of our Lord.(Phil. 3:18)When the flesh has been satiated with materialism, the identity and lifestyle are dictated by its demands. The expanding economy to which we have become accustomed in the last half century has accommodated its continuation, with the last two generations knowing nothing else, other than minor recessions. The present oil crisis, itself, can have just such effect as was mentioned above.
Since long distance commutes have been feasible, the property values at a distance from cities and the workplace have greatly escalated, with only those able to work locally or by computer avoiding commuting. Not only in travel to work, but also in leisure time activities, driving great distances has been commonplace, as has attendance at many megachurches.
Since the almost unlimited consumption of oil (our life blood as a nation) has been greatly curtailed, it will have the effect of shrinking the economy. Since a great percentage of our population has become accustomed to using almost all of their income each month, the major increase in fuel prices means that many will have month left at the end of their money!
Many will not be able to reduce spending or obtain additional income to cover the deficit. If a way is found to do so, it can be at the expense of family time, which will negatively impact relationships. If the family already tends toward being dysfunctional, the additional financial down pressure can bring many families to the breaking point.
As has been the case in recent years, the trend of adult children returning to live with their parents can accelerate, with the added feature of bringing their families with them! The cost of distance commuting and the inability to find work closer home may mean that the younger families will be unable to support a separate dwelling.
When that is the case, two or more families forced to share the same home will generate tension in relationships, which can reach the breaking point. As this becomes commonplace, the need for spiritual counseling will multiply exponentially! Since most churches are not even equipped to do it presently, the additional demand can also overstress churches.
On another dimension, distance commutes to megachurches will become increasingly burdensome, which will negatively impact such churches as well as to tax community churches. The former will have surplus staff, and the latter will have insufficient staff to cope with an influx of those making life-style adjustments, with house churches becoming more common.
With the likely demographic shift described above, a significant percentage of our population could be adjusting to a lifestyle which is not friendly to self-centered expectations! Those individuals/families currently living on the edge could easily be pushed over the brink.
With such a scenario, it is obvious that some of those becoming have-nots could be tempted to take from those who have, thus drastically increasing such things as burglary, stealing gasoline, etc. Unsettled people can easily precipitate further unsettled conditions in society.
A forced return to community living, as opposed to bedroom communities in proximity to cities, can cause unrest in society as a whole. Since this would undoubtedly be characterized by lowering the income of many, the financial pressures will be exacerbated.
Since the prognosticators do not see a return to comfortable living in the predictable future, with ample supplies of reasonably priced oil a distant prospect, the Church must gear up for a major role in such a paradigm shift. Business as usual will not suffice when the remainder of society is forced to abandon business as usual!
While the Church has the answer, few indeed are those which are prepared for such an influx of human need--financial short fall resulting in massive interpersonal conflicts within and between families and affecting church budgets.
Self-centered living has never been scriptural, but it has become the norm in today's society with Christian families not escaping it. Only the Church can minister to this malady, but the 'physician' must first heal itself since it has fallen victim to the same trend.
The Cross is the only answer; but its teaching is in short supply, even among sound evangelical churches. While the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the Crosscross of Jesus is commonly taught with its emphasis on justification, the cross for the believer (Rom. 6, Gal. 2:20), or deeper life sanctification, is very uncommon since it runs counter to the self-life.
I have found that believers are not open to ther crucified life (Col. 3:1-9) so long as the self life can cope; when the self life is curtailed, the Cross for the believer may become appealing! The same is true of the Church which has fallen prey to marketing church growth and other fads which run counter to a Christ-centered and cross-centered approach to life and ministry.
The negative impact of the fuel crunch can be used of God to prepare both the believer and church leadership for the return of the role of the Cross in living and ministry. (Gal. 6:12-15) However, it does not promise to be an easy transition from the flesh to the Spirit.
The message, proven materials, and methods are readily available, awaiting the receptivity of church leadership to utilize them. Widespread desperation, which could be upon us, can force the church's hand to return to First Century ministry twenty centuries later! (Acts 2:42-47) This would entail more widespread use of lay ministry and less dependence upon paid professional staff to accord with reduced income. It could easily be increasingly difficult to get blood from the turnip"! Churches can prepare for such societal change by seeing what is coming down the pike or can have it forced upon them as the ripple effects spread out and choice is no longer an option.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
DISCIPLESHIP OR LEGALISM?
Sound teaching heard today
Leaves much to be desired;
The same clarity on salvation,
For discipleship is required.
Sanctification's been neglected
Since our life we must lose; (Matt. 16:24,25)
Between the flesh and spirit
Is left up to us to choose.
Systems of theology
Can a bane or blessing be;
The scriptures may be twisted,
With a system to agree.
Faithfulness to God's Word
Insures the Spirit's moving:
Being crucified with Christ,
And the flesh's reign reproving.
The 'old man' is dead and gone, (Rom. 6:6)
With the body of sin destroyed; (Rom. 6:6)
As we yield to sin's power, (Rom. 6:13)
The flesh is yet deployed.
The 'old man' was our taskmaster
When to Satan we were alive;
As it's dead to Satan, alive to God,
In the Spirit we're set to thrive. (Rom. 8:9)
Absent a spirit in our makeup,
There is nothing to be crucified;
So an alternate explanation
Must deal with that which died.
When we're dead and raised with Christ,
Our doing proceeds from being;
Since our 'new man' is who we are,
Christ in us others are seeing.
Since we are dead to the law (Rom. 7:4,6)
And alive to God in Christ Jesus,
All glory goes to Him
As the world, in Him, sees us.
Thus, sanctification is reality,
Not a doctrine to be defended-
Christ is us, the hope of glory, (Col. 1:27)
Not effort that is expended.
- C. R. Solomon 6-22-08
GRACE DISCIPLESHIP OR FLESH ENHANCEMENT?
Soul or personality problems have long been a topic of discussion as we read in the New Testament-particularly in First Corinthians where the behavior of believers went far afield from that preached by Paul, so corrective measures had to be taken. From then until now, there has been an ebb and flow, both of the behavior stemming from such aberrations and the solution which was prescribed.
We know that Islam goes so far as to sever hands of those caught in thievery or other severe punishment of untoward behavior. In Christianity there have been extremes as well. In the Middle Ages, spiritual direction was advocated and practiced by some mature believers who came to be known as mystics.
At the turn of the twentieth century, psychology and psychiatry had their beginnings. About the same time, the German theologians began their Higher Criticism. As Freud gained popularity with his psychoanalysis, there were offshoots of various kinds. As it gained in strength, there was a corresponding liberalizing of theology which sapped it of its power. Conservative Christians steered clear of it, and the Fundamentalist movement began which had nothing to do with psychology and very little with counseling in general. Slowly, but surely, seminaries began to imbibe at this fountain to the point that most seminaries now have a licensing track to prepare their graduates to collect third party payment from insurance companies and compete in the market place with secular therapists.
As Christians resisted the encroachments of psychology, there began an anomaly called Christian psychology which seemed to be a good compromise. Some made an amalgamation of psychology and the Bible in an effort to integrate the two; however, psychology began to get the upper hand, with the Church gradually ceding its God-given mandate for soul care to the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry so that the trend today is to go outside the church for a resolution to mental/emotional/behavioral problems and for pastors to deny a counseling role.
In this paper, I will be addressing the field of biblical counseling as contrasted with that which borrows heavily from the methods and goals of secular counseling. Though it is called Christian counseling, it is usually some watered-down psychological counseling with scriptures added-- more or less.
There is much that passes for Christian counseling that is not evaluated for its theological presuppositions. One of the early approaches is nouthetic counseling which was developed by Dr. Jay Adams. Since that time, there are a number of deviations from the general Reformed Theology constituency. However, Jay Adams' is probably the best known and most utilized of them all.
There are a number of pastors and schools which utilize his approach who are unaware of its presuppositions based in Reformed Theology. As a result, they espouse one theology from the pulpit and another in the counseling room, while being unaware of the inherent contradiction. About the same time that Dr. Adams was writing his first book, Competent to Counsel, God called me to develop and pioneer a Christ-centered approach to counseling where the theology could be described to follow Keswick teaching or, as Hudson Taylor termed it, exchanged life teaching. It has also been dubbed, crisis sanctification, as contrasted with the progressive sanctification of Calvinism. Handbook to Happiness (1971) was my first book which laid the foundation for this approach and is a polar opposite of Dr. Adams' work, from a theological perspective.
Since scriptural sanctification teaching is the missing ingredient in most churches due to the lack of emphasis on discipleship, I think it is incumbent upon us to bring such teaching to the fore. To do so, it is necessary to search out the role of the cross in the definition of sanctification which should be synonymous with true discipleship. Luke 14:27 tells us that taking up the cross is the key to true discipleship. Without the cross' being an experiential reality in the believer's life, discipleship or disciplines would serve to strengthen the flesh.
Since progressive sanctification does not allow for the application of the cross to the life due to a usual teaching of a dichotomous stand on biblical anthropology, a successful culmination would result in the flesh's being strengthened for its inevitable conflict (Gal. 5:17) with the Spirit. By contrast, an approach to discipleship/counseling where the flesh comes under the work of the Cross, would weaken the reign of the flesh as the believer is filled with the Spirit.
A fair comparison of the efficacy of the clinical teaching of sanctification would be to analyze the utilization of each in a crisis situation. Let's assume, for example, that a believer telephones for help who has a gun to his temple and is crying out for spiritual help. Let's further assume that only an hour or so is available to resolve the situation to see the Spirit transform the life and prevent the suicide.
How would progressive sanctification be applied to defuse the suicidal ideation and lead the believer into a life transformation within the allotted time? The same would be required of a Keswick or exchanged life model of counseling. It would seem obvious that the Holy Spirit must necessarily honor this ministration; otherwise, a suicide or, possibly, a homicide followed by a suicide could be the result!
We have seen a number of such situations, where suicide was definitely planned, that were resolved as the cross was applied to the life in the power of the Holy Spirit. One was the exact situation where the believer had a gun to his head and called 2 or 3 churches but could find no help. One of the churches gave him our phone number, and he found victory; and, subsequently, his marriage was restored from an abusive relationship. The defusing of the situation and his finding of victory was done by the Holy Spirit in about an hour.
Howe would this have been handled when coming from a progressive sanctification stance with no therapy? Or, how would such a view of sanctification handle a pedophile or someone who is clinically depressed? It is not unusual to see a believer who is clinically depressed freed literally overnight, although it is the exception that proves the rule. I witnessed the Holy Spirit's setting a pedophile free in 3 weeks, as he was born again and understood his death and resurrection with Christ at the same time. We have seen many desperate people find victory in Christ in the first interview, where most of the work is done in a short span of time, though this is not the experience of the majority of those exposed to cross teaching.
If progressive sanctification is biblical and honored by the Holy Spirit, there should be miraculous results; and it does not take the Spirit long to do a miracle! Of course, it may take Him years to get us ready for one!
Biblical counseling is not always Christ-centered, but Christ-centered counseling will always be biblical!
Someone has said, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating!" I think we can also say that the proof that sanctification or discipleship/counseling is Spirit-anointed and directed is the results in transformed lives. Theoretical theology is good for arguments; but if it is not attended with life transformation, of what practical good is it? And what is the proof that the Holy Spirit is doing it, rather than an assiduous application of human strength, both that of the counselor and counselee?
A seminary professor once told me that his school had the proper theology whereas my theology resulted in more life changes. I replied, "If I have to choose between something works and something that doesn't, I will choose that which transforms lives in the power of the Holy Spirit".
In an experimental approach, a new development must be capable of being replicated with no dependence upon anecdotal data. We have seen the Holy Spirit honor the model He gave, which utilizes scriptural truth, in other languages and cultures around the world to transform lives for almost 4 decades. Some of these have been followed for more than 30 years, and a good number have been called into such ministry. A number of books have been written which are variations of the core teaching that God has honored with transformed lives.
One young man in Ukraine who spoke Ukrainian and Russian had taught himself English. Sharing the truth with him via internet not only transformed his life but also those whom his life and ministry impacted. Subsequently, he translated 5 of my books into Russian, among others, and published a Russian/Greek Interlinear New Testament with Strong's numbers, revising the New Testament as he went. I met him for the first time when we released my first book in Russian in Bucharest, Romania. Incidentally, he is now 30 years old with no formal education beyond high school!
Last year marked 40 years since God called me to found such a counseling approach based on Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20-a new approach which is 2000 years old! Incidentally, God was honoring it for more than 15 centuries before Reformed Theology was even formulated and more than that before I arrived on the scene! Someone has accurately stated, "If it is true, it is not new; if it is new, it is not true!"
Much time and breath is spent on comparisons regarding soteriology. Who can be saved? How do they get saved? What do they do after they are saved? Will they stay saved? And other such questions about justification. Reformed Theology takes much stock in the 5 points of Calvinism, but I note that not nearly as much paper is consumed writing about progressive sanctification and putting forth lives transformed in a short period of time as an exhibit of its efficacy.
So, laying aside the first principles of justification, regeneration, etc. which the Reformers majored in, where do we find great strides in the transformation of the lives of believers? It seems to me that the emphasis on sanctification by faith leaves much to be desired in the teaching of Calvin, Zwingli, Luther and others of their ilk. While justification by faith was heralded and necessary because of the contradictory teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in their time, Calvin's Institutes tend to make more hay in his 5 points, all of which have to do with justification.
Agreeably, the foundation of justification has to be firmly laid; but once it is, shouldn't we be about building the superstructure of sanctification? Believers from all denominations and no denomination are saying, "I'm saved already; now what?" But adherents of Reformed Theology join the ranks of those in typical evangelical/fundamental churches in withholding practical theology to meet struggling believers at their point of need.
A church built on a solid foundation of justification, but continuing to build layer after layer of justification, does precious little to mature believers. Absent the teaching of sanctification which is cross-centered, the admonition of Galatians 3:3 goes unheeded; and solid biblical teaching serves to entrench the believer and the church in fleshly pursuits. The current seeker sensitive movement has proven the validity of this in amassing great numbers of people in their meetings with very few disciples among them. Now, they are going back to the drawing boards to discern what they have missed in the process-lost, but making good time!
Now, we are facing the prospect of one crisis after another, with a Church woefully unprepared to deal with them in the Spirit. The wholesale referral of soul problems outside the church to the behavioral sciences, a pattern over the last several decades, must give way to providing spiritual answers for non-organic symptomatology. One of the key ingredients is in the training of ministers; their spiritual growth must keep pace with their theological understanding, which is greatly underemphasized in most Christian institutions of higher learning.
Due to the present emphasis on Christian psychology, it is virtually impossible to engage the leadership of seminaries in a dialogue on Christ-centered, cross-centered discipleship/counseling, as I have found in my attempts over the years. Western Europe, the UK and North America are all but closed to the consideration of such teaching, while the developing nations are much more open to solid teaching on the cross for the believer. Brokenness is not in the vocabulary of today's average Christian, and losing their lives is the last thing they want to think about! And yet, the theme of the New Testament is that we must lose our lives in order to save them. (Matt. 16:24, 25)
We know that Islam goes so far as to sever hands of those caught in thievery or other severe punishment of untoward behavior. In Christianity there have been extremes as well. In the Middle Ages, spiritual direction was advocated and practiced by some mature believers who came to be known as mystics.
At the turn of the twentieth century, psychology and psychiatry had their beginnings. About the same time, the German theologians began their Higher Criticism. As Freud gained popularity with his psychoanalysis, there were offshoots of various kinds. As it gained in strength, there was a corresponding liberalizing of theology which sapped it of its power. Conservative Christians steered clear of it, and the Fundamentalist movement began which had nothing to do with psychology and very little with counseling in general. Slowly, but surely, seminaries began to imbibe at this fountain to the point that most seminaries now have a licensing track to prepare their graduates to collect third party payment from insurance companies and compete in the market place with secular therapists.
As Christians resisted the encroachments of psychology, there began an anomaly called Christian psychology which seemed to be a good compromise. Some made an amalgamation of psychology and the Bible in an effort to integrate the two; however, psychology began to get the upper hand, with the Church gradually ceding its God-given mandate for soul care to the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry so that the trend today is to go outside the church for a resolution to mental/emotional/behavioral problems and for pastors to deny a counseling role.
In this paper, I will be addressing the field of biblical counseling as contrasted with that which borrows heavily from the methods and goals of secular counseling. Though it is called Christian counseling, it is usually some watered-down psychological counseling with scriptures added-- more or less.
There is much that passes for Christian counseling that is not evaluated for its theological presuppositions. One of the early approaches is nouthetic counseling which was developed by Dr. Jay Adams. Since that time, there are a number of deviations from the general Reformed Theology constituency. However, Jay Adams' is probably the best known and most utilized of them all.
There are a number of pastors and schools which utilize his approach who are unaware of its presuppositions based in Reformed Theology. As a result, they espouse one theology from the pulpit and another in the counseling room, while being unaware of the inherent contradiction. About the same time that Dr. Adams was writing his first book, Competent to Counsel, God called me to develop and pioneer a Christ-centered approach to counseling where the theology could be described to follow Keswick teaching or, as Hudson Taylor termed it, exchanged life teaching. It has also been dubbed, crisis sanctification, as contrasted with the progressive sanctification of Calvinism. Handbook to Happiness (1971) was my first book which laid the foundation for this approach and is a polar opposite of Dr. Adams' work, from a theological perspective.
Since scriptural sanctification teaching is the missing ingredient in most churches due to the lack of emphasis on discipleship, I think it is incumbent upon us to bring such teaching to the fore. To do so, it is necessary to search out the role of the cross in the definition of sanctification which should be synonymous with true discipleship. Luke 14:27 tells us that taking up the cross is the key to true discipleship. Without the cross' being an experiential reality in the believer's life, discipleship or disciplines would serve to strengthen the flesh.
Since progressive sanctification does not allow for the application of the cross to the life due to a usual teaching of a dichotomous stand on biblical anthropology, a successful culmination would result in the flesh's being strengthened for its inevitable conflict (Gal. 5:17) with the Spirit. By contrast, an approach to discipleship/counseling where the flesh comes under the work of the Cross, would weaken the reign of the flesh as the believer is filled with the Spirit.
A fair comparison of the efficacy of the clinical teaching of sanctification would be to analyze the utilization of each in a crisis situation. Let's assume, for example, that a believer telephones for help who has a gun to his temple and is crying out for spiritual help. Let's further assume that only an hour or so is available to resolve the situation to see the Spirit transform the life and prevent the suicide.
How would progressive sanctification be applied to defuse the suicidal ideation and lead the believer into a life transformation within the allotted time? The same would be required of a Keswick or exchanged life model of counseling. It would seem obvious that the Holy Spirit must necessarily honor this ministration; otherwise, a suicide or, possibly, a homicide followed by a suicide could be the result!
We have seen a number of such situations, where suicide was definitely planned, that were resolved as the cross was applied to the life in the power of the Holy Spirit. One was the exact situation where the believer had a gun to his head and called 2 or 3 churches but could find no help. One of the churches gave him our phone number, and he found victory; and, subsequently, his marriage was restored from an abusive relationship. The defusing of the situation and his finding of victory was done by the Holy Spirit in about an hour.
Howe would this have been handled when coming from a progressive sanctification stance with no therapy? Or, how would such a view of sanctification handle a pedophile or someone who is clinically depressed? It is not unusual to see a believer who is clinically depressed freed literally overnight, although it is the exception that proves the rule. I witnessed the Holy Spirit's setting a pedophile free in 3 weeks, as he was born again and understood his death and resurrection with Christ at the same time. We have seen many desperate people find victory in Christ in the first interview, where most of the work is done in a short span of time, though this is not the experience of the majority of those exposed to cross teaching.
If progressive sanctification is biblical and honored by the Holy Spirit, there should be miraculous results; and it does not take the Spirit long to do a miracle! Of course, it may take Him years to get us ready for one!
Biblical counseling is not always Christ-centered, but Christ-centered counseling will always be biblical!
Someone has said, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating!" I think we can also say that the proof that sanctification or discipleship/counseling is Spirit-anointed and directed is the results in transformed lives. Theoretical theology is good for arguments; but if it is not attended with life transformation, of what practical good is it? And what is the proof that the Holy Spirit is doing it, rather than an assiduous application of human strength, both that of the counselor and counselee?
A seminary professor once told me that his school had the proper theology whereas my theology resulted in more life changes. I replied, "If I have to choose between something works and something that doesn't, I will choose that which transforms lives in the power of the Holy Spirit".
In an experimental approach, a new development must be capable of being replicated with no dependence upon anecdotal data. We have seen the Holy Spirit honor the model He gave, which utilizes scriptural truth, in other languages and cultures around the world to transform lives for almost 4 decades. Some of these have been followed for more than 30 years, and a good number have been called into such ministry. A number of books have been written which are variations of the core teaching that God has honored with transformed lives.
One young man in Ukraine who spoke Ukrainian and Russian had taught himself English. Sharing the truth with him via internet not only transformed his life but also those whom his life and ministry impacted. Subsequently, he translated 5 of my books into Russian, among others, and published a Russian/Greek Interlinear New Testament with Strong's numbers, revising the New Testament as he went. I met him for the first time when we released my first book in Russian in Bucharest, Romania. Incidentally, he is now 30 years old with no formal education beyond high school!
Last year marked 40 years since God called me to found such a counseling approach based on Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20-a new approach which is 2000 years old! Incidentally, God was honoring it for more than 15 centuries before Reformed Theology was even formulated and more than that before I arrived on the scene! Someone has accurately stated, "If it is true, it is not new; if it is new, it is not true!"
Much time and breath is spent on comparisons regarding soteriology. Who can be saved? How do they get saved? What do they do after they are saved? Will they stay saved? And other such questions about justification. Reformed Theology takes much stock in the 5 points of Calvinism, but I note that not nearly as much paper is consumed writing about progressive sanctification and putting forth lives transformed in a short period of time as an exhibit of its efficacy.
So, laying aside the first principles of justification, regeneration, etc. which the Reformers majored in, where do we find great strides in the transformation of the lives of believers? It seems to me that the emphasis on sanctification by faith leaves much to be desired in the teaching of Calvin, Zwingli, Luther and others of their ilk. While justification by faith was heralded and necessary because of the contradictory teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in their time, Calvin's Institutes tend to make more hay in his 5 points, all of which have to do with justification.
Agreeably, the foundation of justification has to be firmly laid; but once it is, shouldn't we be about building the superstructure of sanctification? Believers from all denominations and no denomination are saying, "I'm saved already; now what?" But adherents of Reformed Theology join the ranks of those in typical evangelical/fundamental churches in withholding practical theology to meet struggling believers at their point of need.
A church built on a solid foundation of justification, but continuing to build layer after layer of justification, does precious little to mature believers. Absent the teaching of sanctification which is cross-centered, the admonition of Galatians 3:3 goes unheeded; and solid biblical teaching serves to entrench the believer and the church in fleshly pursuits. The current seeker sensitive movement has proven the validity of this in amassing great numbers of people in their meetings with very few disciples among them. Now, they are going back to the drawing boards to discern what they have missed in the process-lost, but making good time!
Now, we are facing the prospect of one crisis after another, with a Church woefully unprepared to deal with them in the Spirit. The wholesale referral of soul problems outside the church to the behavioral sciences, a pattern over the last several decades, must give way to providing spiritual answers for non-organic symptomatology. One of the key ingredients is in the training of ministers; their spiritual growth must keep pace with their theological understanding, which is greatly underemphasized in most Christian institutions of higher learning.
Due to the present emphasis on Christian psychology, it is virtually impossible to engage the leadership of seminaries in a dialogue on Christ-centered, cross-centered discipleship/counseling, as I have found in my attempts over the years. Western Europe, the UK and North America are all but closed to the consideration of such teaching, while the developing nations are much more open to solid teaching on the cross for the believer. Brokenness is not in the vocabulary of today's average Christian, and losing their lives is the last thing they want to think about! And yet, the theme of the New Testament is that we must lose our lives in order to save them. (Matt. 16:24, 25)
- Charles R. Solomon Ed. D.
Beginning to Blog
Since I continue to write poetry and articles related to Christ-centered discipleship and counseling, a friend has set up this blog for me. Those who have read my books and/or have been through Grace Fellowship International's training or counseling can have access to my more current and brief writings.
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