The Manhattan Declaration

This article was written by John MacArthur in Pulpit Magazine (A Ministry of Shepherds Fellowship).  This is worthwhile reading for anyone in political and/or spiritual leadership.

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The Manhattan Declaration

Posted: Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009

(By John MacArthur)

Here are the main reasons I am not signing the Manhattan Declaration, even though a few men whom I love and respect have already affixed their names to it:

• Although I obviously agree with the document’s opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and other key moral problems threatening our culture, the document falls far short of identifying the one true and ultimate remedy for all of humanity’s moral ills: the gospel. The gospel is barely mentioned in the Declaration. At one point the statement rightly acknowledges, “It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season”—and then adds an encouraging wish: “May God help us not to fail in that duty.” Yet the gospel itself is nowhere presented (much less explained) in the document or any of the accompanying literature. Indeed, that would be a practical impossibility because of the contradictory views held by the broad range of signatories regarding what the gospel teaches and what it means to be a Christian.

• This is precisely where the document fails most egregiously. It assumes from the start that all signatories are fellow Christians whose only differences have to do with the fact that they represent distinct “communities.” Points of disagreement are tacitly acknowledged but are described as “historic lines of ecclesial differences” rather than fundamental conflicts of doctrine and conviction with regard to the gospel and the question of which teachings are essential to authentic Christianity.

• Instead of acknowledging the true depth of our differences, the implicit assumption (from the start of the document until its final paragraph) is that Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant Evangelicals and others all share a common faith in and a common commitment to the gospel’s essential claims. The document repeatedly employs expressions like “we [and] our fellow believers”; “As Christians, we . . .”; and “we claim the heritage of . . . Christians.” That seriously muddles the lines of demarcation between authentic biblical Christianity and various apostate traditions.

• The Declaration therefore constitutes a formal avowal of brotherhood between Evangelical signatories and purveyors of different gospels. That is the stated intention of some of the key signatories, and it’s hard to see how secular readers could possibly view it in any other light. Thus for the sake of issuing a manifesto decrying certain moral and political issues, the Declaration obscures both the importance of the gospel and the very substance of the gospel message.

• This is neither a novel approach nor a strategic stand for evangelicals to take. It ought to be clear to all that the agenda behind the recent flurry of proclamations and moral pronouncements we’ve seen promoting ecumenical co-belligerence is the viewpoint Charles Colson has been championing for more than two decades. (It is not without significance that his name is nearly always at the head of the list of drafters when these statements are issued.) He explained his agenda in his 1994 book The Body, in which he argued that the only truly essential doctrines of authentic Christian truth are those spelled out in the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds. I responded to that argument at length in Reckless Faith. I stand by what I wrote then.

In short, support for The Manhattan Declaration would not only contradict the stance I have taken since long before the original “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” document was issued; it would also tacitly relegate the very essence of gospel truth to the level of a secondary issue. That is the wrong way—perhaps the very worst way—for evangelicals to address the moral and political crises of our time. Anything that silences, sidelines, or relegates the gospel to secondary status is antithetical to the principles we affirm when we call ourselves evangelicals.

John MacArthur

The Cross

Think about the theology in this…

How can the cross shape:

          – your identity?

          – your motivations?

          – your goals and desires?

          – how you relate to other people, especially those who hurt you?

We need to think about the cross everyday of our life.  Everything Jesus endured in the hours leading to the cross, the time on the cross, and the days after the cross was all to “demonstrate his love for us.”  It really is unimaginable when you encounter the reality of the physical, mental, and spiritual trauma Christ suffered because of your sin and mine.  It gives meaning to the phrase, “amazing grace.”

Carnal

Jason Cruise – The Man Minute – 11-16-09

When people hear the word “carnal” they often think of things like rampant sex, extreme greed, gross demands for independency, or even grotesque social injustice. Those behaviors are just that – behaviors. Those are manifestations of a carnal heart, much like symptoms of a virus. Vomiting, headaches, and dizziness are not the problem … the viral infection is the actual problem. The same is true with carnality.
 
Carnality is a disease of the heart; it is an attempt one makes to find satisfaction or fulfillment outside of the heart of God.

Simply put, being a “carnal” person is really a matter of trying to do for yourself only that which God can do. It’s trying to accomplish supernatural living standards through human efforts and strength. Thus, when a person attempts to live by one’s own personal standards, or by one’s own set of rules, life eventually breaks down and doesn’t work.

You were never meant to do for yourself those things that only God can do.

God…on God

Listen to what God says about Himself in Isaiah 46:5,9…

“To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?…for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.”

I read things like that and it takes my breath away…WOW!  God is magnificently amazing! Glory is all His.

Glorify

God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it…. He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [does not] glorify God so much as he testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

- Jonathan Edwards

Divine Spark?

This article was passed along to me and sheds more light on the problems with the emergent church.

EMERGING CHURCH LEADER SAYS OSAMA BEN LADEN HAS “DIVINE SPARK”

(Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

Shane Hipps, Rob Bell’s co-pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, made the following statement on October 5, 2008, in the first of a series of sermons on the Gospel of John: “Jesus is the ultimate unifier of these various diverse ways of looking at the world. Having a distinct religious identity marked by some boundaries, knowing how you are different from other religions, isn’t a problem. John isn’t trying to get rid of that. He is trying to point beyond it. To lose your religious identity is like losing a sail at sea. The sail is like religion. The wind is the spirit. You need a sail to catch the wind, to harness the wind. But you gotta realize that the sail isn’t the wind. … Just because we claim Jesus as the center of our religion does not make us one and the same with the wind of God. It just means we have another sail. … This is what John is doing, and it is extremely innovative, and it’s very unsettling, that he’s inviting us beneath and beyond the things that make distinctions between us. … That’s why it says it [Logos, the Word] was the light and life of all people. It didn’t say it was the light and life of people who believe in Jesus. This Logos affects everybody, including Osama Ben Laden. As long as he’s got breath, in him is the spark of the divine” (http://trinitymennonite.com/audio/TMC-Sermon-2008-10-05.mp3).

Hipps quotes some strange “translation” of John 1:9 or makes up his own, changing the wording from “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” to “it was the light and life of all people.” In truth, Jesus gives light to every man through creation (Rom. 1:20) conscience (Rom. 2:14-15), and Scripture (Mark 16:15), but this does not add up to the gross emergent heresies of there being “a divine spark” in every man or every religion being a “sail” for God’s Spirit.

Jason Cruise – “The Man Minute”

Jason Cruise wrote these practical thoughts today in his devotional called “The Man Minute: sixty second investments in Christ-like manhood.”

Every day. 24/7. You are being told through pop culture and it’s media sources that you must to be tolerant. Tolerance is no longer a buzz word. It has become a commandment. For without tolerance, you’re told, that you surely cannot be in the righteous flock of God’s “loving people.”

You are being told that you must not only embrace other “ideas” – you must fully endorse them lest you be a bigoted, backward, mean-spirited, anti-intellect.  The tolerance police have made the concept of tolerance a right of passage for those who are the truly “good” people that posses righteous hearts.

Tolerance may be politically correct, but tolerance will never correctly align with the heart of God. Never.
 
Love and tolerance are not the same thing. Grace is of the Lord, tolerance is not. Grace is based on God’s holy love, tolerance is based on deception.
 
God will never call you to be a religious jerk. He will never call you to be arrogant about your convictions. Yet He has called you to live life out loud in true righteousness.

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” 
- 1 Corinthians 13:6
 
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.”
- Ephesians 5:6-7

The Glory of Salvation

It is so easy to fall into the mindset of “doing your job.”  It is easy to just become “intellectual.”  However, the majesty of God was on display in our youth meeting last night.  I had the privilege to stand and speak the truth of God’s Word to 80 teens.  We talked about what it means to be a “Christian.”  In our culture the term Christian ranges from Fundamentalist to evangelical – liberal to conservative – buddhist to catholic – you get my point.  So, we just took some time to talk about what it really means, according to the Word of God, what being a Christian is all about at its bare essentials.

At the end of youth group a 7th grade girl walked up to me in tears over her sin.  One of our youth leaders had the awesome priviliege to lead her to Christ.  As she stood in front of me weeping because of the Grace of God in her life I was reminded of Romans 1:16 when the Bible says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.”  What an incredible worship time when Christ calls another into His family.

Moral of the story: Ministry is not just a job, its ministry.  We are here to serve Christ and others.  Intellectual endeavours are great, but we cannot forget to love people.

Missing the Point!

Brian McLaren writes this in his book titled “Adventures in Missing the Point.”

“Drop any affair you may have with certainty, proof, argument – and replace it with dialogue, conversation, intrigue, and search. The ultimate Bible study or sermon in recent decades yielded clarity. That clarity, unfortunately, was often boring – and probably not accurate, either, since reality is seldom clear, but usually fuzzy and mysterious; not black and white, but in living color” (pg84).

“Find other things to do with the Bible other than read and study it” (pg85).

I find the title of his book “Adventures in Missing the Point” to be slightly humorous considering the above quotes.  McLaren has missed the point that Christ claimed to have absolute certain truth.  In fact, Christ claimed to be absolute truth.  Beyond that the Bible points out that Scripture is the Word of Christ and His word is truth.

John 17:17  “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.”

John 1:14  “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Ephesians 4:14  “We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.”

Matthew 28:18  “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth”

For McLaren to be infatuated with Christ and deny Him as the absolute certain truth is illogical and contrary to the explicit teaching of the Scripture.  I would contend that McLaren is one that Scripture warns us of in Ephesians 4:14.  It seems that McLaren has “Missed the Point,” not the certainty of truth in Christ and His Word.  May we never undermine the power of the precious Scripture and our Majestic and Soveriegn Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Drops Like Stars – Rob Bell

So, my evening with Rob Bell proved to be an interesting one.  I really did not know what to expect.  Instead of critiquing everything that can be critiqued (there is plenty) let me give you the outline of his speech and then share the three issues I had with Rob Bell last night.

I must admit Rob Bell is an incredible communicator.  He was very easy to listen to and be engaged in the message.  Perhaps that is one of the dangers?  So, here is the outline of his speech and a few sentences to explain the main point.

1) The art of the disruption. 

When our “box,” “insulators,” or “frame of reference” is removed we are confronted with a disruption.  We plan our life and how it should work out, then we are disrupted.  When the insulators are removed we suffer. Suffering defines and shapes us. 

2) The art of elimination.

“Simple is the most difficult to reproduce.”  Greatness ”is in there” and you have to figure out what to take away.  He uses the example of a sculptor. The sculptor creates something beautiful by taking away what isn’t necessary.  Suffering has a design by elimination.  We realize what is important and what is not.  Encountering suffering refines us.  Encountering other peoples suffering shapes us.  Suffering opens us up to people and creates a bond with them.

3) The art of solidarity.

 The cross unites cultures and even religions because it is a cosmic sign of suffering.  The world is made better by sacrificial suffering (i.e. Jesus).  The first Christians sensed the divine among them as flesh.  He was not a distant deity to them.  God came into the world and suffered alongside of us.  The cross is God’s way of saying “I know how you feel.”  Rob asks, “Is our greatest need to have black and white answers? Or, does the healing really star with solidarity?”  The cross is the cosmic hope that someone knows how we feel.  There is a difference between ownership and possession.   Apostle Paul has nothing, but possesses everything. (He doesn’t say what he is reading, but it is 2 Corinthians 6:3-10)

4) The art of failing.

What every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential.  Nothing is wasted in God’s economy.  The heart of the historic Christian orthodox faith is that God takes our blemishes and makes us beautiful.  

We must realize that, “This too will shape me.”  The question is “how.”  Will it make me, Bitter or Better?  Close Down or Open up?  You cannot create without pain.  When we suffer we give meaning to our life.

Now, there are 3 issues that I would like to mention with what Rob Bell had to say last night.  Obviously, there are more, but 3 main ones I had problems with.

1) Rob Bell at the very beginning made a statement within an illustration that said that, “his God does not create suffering.” 

This is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches.  God’s Word tells us in 1 Peter 4:19, “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right.”  This verse makes it very clear that God does indeed not just allow suffering, but it is His will!  Verse 16 also tells us that we should not be ashamed at this suffering because it glorifies God.  For Rob Bell to say that “his God” does not cause suffering is to say that he does not believe in the God of the Bible.

2) Rob Bell refers to the cross as the “cosmic hope that someone knows how I feel.” Due to that, that the heart of the historic Christian orthodox faith is the God takes our blemishes and makes them beautiful.

This was not the purpose of the cross.  God does identify with our suffering, but that was not the reason for the cross.  The reason for the cross is payment for sin.

Hebrews 9:23-28 (New American Standard Bible)

 ²³Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, ²⁸so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

John 3:14-18 (New American Standard Bible)

  ¹⁴“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; ¹⁵so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The purpose of the cross was for Christ to pay the penalty for sin.  He became the ultimate sacrifice.  Luke 19:10 reminds us, “The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.”

3) The final thing that bothered me was the endless reference to the things that we “feel” or “experience.”  There was a strong existential thread to his message.  At one point Bell even made a negative reference to systematic theology.  Yet again, on Biblical grounds I have an issue with this.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (New American Standard Bible)

¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

We systematically study the Bible because the bible instructs us to.  We are to be equipped as men of God.  Not everything in life finds meaning because I have “experienced” it or “suffered” it.  I agree with Bell that our suffering shapes us and molds us, but that is only because the Almighty Potter has formed us.