I'm Getting Really Frustrated Here!

When I started this blog back up a couple of months ago I mentioned it was going to be it an outlet for spiritual frustration. Well, it's finally happened. My level of frustration is starting to go off the scale. So let me vent:

For almost 40 years I (along with my wife Claudia since we married in 1987) have operated an outreach ministry to people who are lost in pseudo-Christian and other religious cults. As a Christian, it really hurts me to see people who have (for whatever reason) wound up in organizations that claim to have God's truth, but plainly twist (or even ignore) God's Word, the Bible. One of the most important things in the Apostle Paul's ministry was his continual striving against false doctrine. And I stand against these groups who distort or pervert the Bible with every fiber of my being.

But, now I'm seeing a new and highly disturbing (and even frightening) trend within the Body of Christ itself. We now have Christians who have taken to the Internet, cable television, books, CDs, DVDs and other media in a deliberate attempt to destroy their brother's unique relationship with Christ, attempting to win them into their own camp.

At this point, perhaps I should make an effort to define who and who isn't in the Christian community, otherwise referred to as the "Body of Christ." I prefer the National Association of Evangelicals definition above all I have seen. Based on Holy Scripture, the NAE lists four points of doctrine that tell us what true Christians should believe. They are:

1. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity...Father, Son and Holy Spirit
2. The doctrine of the Inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures
3. The doctrine of Salvation by grace alone by faith alone through Christ alone.
4. The doctrine of the certain return of Christ at the end of the age.

Perhaps points 2 and 3 would be similar to what is known as the "Five Solas." At any rate, anything beyond these four comes under Augustine's heading of "non-essentials" in which we are allowed liberty in our beliefs.

However, here I return to the shocking trend I have seen over the last several years as Christians attack Christians, and the hatred I have seen spewed of late simply because a brother won't get on the same page in his "secondary" beliefs with another brother.

Having been a member of, or having ministered in, a host of various churches in my life and ministry (Methodist, Baptist, Assemblies of God, Calvary Chapel, Reformed, New Wave, you name it), I think I'm in a somewhat unique position the make these observations. And I do not like what I see. The Baptists are sniping at the Lutherans. The Nazarenes are firing shots at the Pentecostals, and the Charismatics are after everybody. Please people! Listen to Rodney King! Why can't we all just get along? How do you think Jesus feels to see his followers in-fighting like this? I'm sure He's disgusted to the max.

What disturbs me the most is something that happened over 15 years ago, and although I did not think much of it at the time, I'm now convinced it's as dangerous as trying to set off a stick of dynamite in your own hand. I'm referring to the "Cambridge Declaration of 1996."

The Cambridge Declaration appears (at first look) to be a fine document, outlining Biblical doctrine without compromise (and yes, the 5 solas are included). But look deeper. What does it really say? Here's a quote from page 2, under the heading of "Thesis One: Sola Scriptura." It says, "We deny...that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation." When I read that, I was flabbergasted! And anyone with half a brain in his head realizes by reading these words that they are intended as direct slap in the face of every Pentecostal and Charismatic on the face of the earth (they take on the Catholics in another part of the Declaration, but that is a topic for another time)!

Think a minute about what they are saying. If personal spiritual experience is not a vehicle of revelation, everyone in the Bible from Abraham to the Apostle John had no basis for writing Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit! Think about it again. ALL that God tells anyone is done through the revelation of personal experience. Are those who signed off on the Cambridge Declaration saying God has never impressed something upon them? Has He never moved them in prayer to learn something of the direction God has for their life? Of course not. For example, when a pastor (who approves of the Cambridge) says something like, "I feel that God would have me begin a new sermon series on Repentance," you have to ask, "how does he know that?" He knows that because (I hope) God told him! In his life, personal spiritual experience has become a vehicle of God's revelation to him.

What really bothers me is the many well known (mostly Reformed) pastors, preachers, lecturers and authors that put their seal of approval on this document. These are men I admired and believed in, but now I'm not so sure (Do names like Alistair Begg, Michael S. Horton, Albert Mohler, R. C. Sproul, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Sinclair Ferguson, John MacArthur, John Piper and Derek Thomas ring a bell?). I've honored these men, read with enthusiasm their works and also gone to their conferences. Now I'm beginning to wonder.

The Cambridge document is quick to point out that any "revelation" that doesn't line up with the Bible is a false one, and on that score I'm in TOTAL agreement. The Bible is the rule, the plumb line, the final authority in all matters of doctrine. But, when you take the supernatural out of it (i.e. "personal spiritual experience and a vehicle for revelation'), you have reduced Christianity to nothing more than an academic dialog.

Being a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP), I don't believe I had ever experienced being hurt for being part of a particular group until now. Yes, I am a Charismatic. And yes, I'll feel hurt by what my Christian brothers (albeit from 15 years ago) are saying about my non-essential beliefs. If they want to try to convince me of their position, they're a little late. I've seen too many signs, miracles and wonders performed by God to convince me otherwise. And they've all lined up with Scripture, at least the ones I've witnessed.

A wise man once said, "The man with the experience is never at the mercy of the man with an argument." And never have I felt that truth more than now. I have trouble believing that the 500,000,000 currently living Christians who have experienced the Charismatic Experience have gotten something from the devil. Not when it glorifies Our Lord Jesus Christ so thoroughly.

Am I shooting back at the supporters of the document and doing the very thing I am accusing them of doing? No! Understand me. I'm only saying to ALL my brothers and sisters in Christ -- STOP IT!! Stop the fighting over secondary doctrine. Stop hurting one another and get on with the business of the Kingdom and go out and win the lost!