The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon you in your storehouse and in all that you undertake; and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
- Deuteronomy 28:7&8
So, the early verdict is in. The storm that erupted recently on the greatly anticipated book by Rob Bell seems to be justified. Tim Challies reviewed an advance copy of the book which I gladly reference here.
Now, some might ask why I have not taken the time to read the book myself and/or go on someone elses word. The answer is quite simple. Firstly I am a busy father of 4 who needs to be very selective in how I spend my time. And secondly, Rom 16:19 says: “For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (ESV). A lot of information (such as that learned in school) is based on the work done by other people. Just take the accounts of history or even biology.
You were not there to witness the events of the 2nd World War, nor have many of us had the opportunity the dissect and study the brain. So how are we able to know what happened during the war or how our brain works. By relying on the work of trustworthy people. I have therefore chosen to rely on the review by Tim (and Aaron) as trustworthy servants of God to help me manage my time and to be innocent of evil. And yes, I do consider a book that strays this far from the Word of God to be evil. Even Zondervan questioned the value of this book.
Regards,
Berns
This is just a quick post on two really great articles that have been used by God to bless me this week. For more great resources like these go the Tim Challies’ blog. Tim also made me aware of the great opportunity to download a good audio book from ChristianAudio.com. I’ve now signed up for an account to receive notifications of similar opportunities. Lastly, you have an opportunity to pre-order an e-book and get a discount.
Until now I have restrained myself from posting anything on the emerging church. I have and will continue to focus on posting about matters of truth rather than being oppositional. I don’t want to be branded as an unloving “discernment” writer. However at the risk of being branded I will post about my concerns from time to time.
I have seen the social gospel/seeker friendly gospel combined with a “christian” flavoured mysticism enter the mainstream evangelical discourse. Making the church a place of “christian” flavoured self-help motivational messages is not God’s plan for the gathering of the saints. To make the church seeker friendly you are forced to make the gospel less offensive.
Once you have started down the path of watering down the message of the Cross so that it’s not a stumbling block or an offence to unbelievers, then you have to realise that there are only to possible outcomes:
- You repent for teaching “another gospel” and start teaching Jesus with all the offensiveness that had Him crucified, or
- You continue down your path and end in universalism.
As rightly pointed out by Challies we don’t have Rob Bell’s book yet and the troubling comments is publisher hype. However I urge you to read the article linked below and consider the consequences of even using universalism to sell your product.
As Paul so often said in his epistles, grace to you,
Berns
http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/03/01/universalism-as-a-lure-the-emerging-case-of-rob-bell/
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The article below touches on a very important topic. The world is seeking gender equality rather than the Biblical distinction between the sexes. The Bible has never sought to make/present woman as inferior to man. It does however seek to show woman as distinct with a unique place and function. I find the world’s version of gender equality repulsive. We were always intended to be unique. Losing gender distinctiveness makes us loose our uniqueness, which removes part of what should be celebrated in life rather than lamented.
Regards,
Berns
http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/02/22/boys-wrestling-girls-a-clash-of-worlds-and-worldviews/
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