Chalcedon Blog

The sad fact is that, along with the toning down or virtual elimination of the need for repentance in the proclamation of the gospel which characterizes so much of modern day evangelism, a neglect of the Christian's duty to pursue sanctification and a failure to discern the Lordship of the Savior is symptomatic of the theological deception currently at large in Christendom.[1]

In simpler terms, the "easy believism" of modern evangelicals has translated into a complete disregard of the absolute Lordship of Christ in sanctification -- a sanctification defined by God's law. If eternal salvation required only the simple repeating of the sinner's prayer, is it any wonder that evangelicals sport such a loosely defined doctrine of sanctification?

The average evangelical Christian is less able to define sin the further they are removed from God's law. Whereas the Scripture declares that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13), we are currently watching the grossest display of mockery in the case of the Irreverend Ted Haggard. Will any of these great Christian leaders cite the following warnings by the Apostle Paul?

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Cor. 6:9-11

The apostle is clear that the grossly immoral shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but that those to whom he was writing WERE some of these in their lives before Christ. Therefore, how dire is the situation when a supposedly converted Christian -- especially a Christian leader -- partakes of those sins which condemn men to hell?

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb. 10:26-31

Those Christian leaders who spew the "greasy grace" of the modern gospel have practically gutted Hebrews 10 from their Bibles. The reason is simply their doctrine of sin. If we react in abhorrence to the Biblical penalties for sins such as homosexuality, it is only because we do not understand its nature, nor the level of its offense towards God. How twisted we are if we can gulp what God vomits?

This is why more outrage is directed towards "Pharisees" like me then is directed at Haggard. Christians hate the punishments of God more so than sin. They despise His righteous judgments for homosexuality, but lovingly protect a man deeply engaged in sodomy with a male prostitute, and that lied repeatedly to their face. I guess they are leaning on the "loving" Father God who is supposed to wink at such things. They obviously misunderstand God's concept of fatherhood:

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Hebrews 12:4-10

Back in Hebrews 10, the writer asked, "How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (v.29). Why is no one afraid? Why do we so casually provoke our Lord to wrath? Why do we seek the friendship of man at the cost of violating the covenant of God?

Does anyone not understand the symbolic nature of the Ted "Faggard" sins? Can you see the cracks in the wall of the Charismatic movement and it's correspondent cousin, the megachurch? Biblical Charismatics must distance themselves from such as these and call for the excommunication of Haggard. If they claim to be "Word People" then let them speak up for something more than "who they are in Christ" and "God shall supply all my needs."

We are without chastisement, and therefore, we are an assembly of bastards. We act as if we have no father because we live like those without discipline. We are unruly, disobedient children that do not share in His holiness. We sleep soundly in a bed of transgression and welcome sodomites as our bedmates.

America is a nation under judgment, and rightfully so. The insanity of the Religious Right, the corporatism and homosexuality of the GOP, and the added perversions of Christian leaders are all clear indicators that mainstream evangelicals are identified with the wrong groups. Granted, a whole host of them have not bowed their knees to Baal, but their silence is deafening.

1. Greg L. Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1977), p. 163.