THE GOSPEL ALONE OVERCOMES TRAUMATIC STRESS, NOT MORE RULES Part I

I'd like you to read the following three paragraphs sent to many evangelicals who are followers of this popular Christian over this Easter weekend. You might have received them. This man's heartfelt plea went to each reader to repent and trust Christ. This is a great idea if you don't know the Savior. These and similar words form the normative Christian message for the Church of Christ today.

It is true that God’s love for mankind is “unconditional.” However, in order for man to be in right relationship with God, man must conform his life to match with God’s requirement of man. And God does not force this decision on man. God draws a person to himself, but it is the free will of the individual to decide if he or she will obey God’s requirements for a right relationship or not.

Jesus called this experience being “born again.” In other words, a person (every human) must understand that he or she has violated God’s laws and is forever separated from God spiritually unless he or she repents of their sin and trust in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross for forgiveness of that sin in order to be counted among those who have been redeemed. Redeemed from the consequences of unrepentant sin which is death and hell. What I am writing here in not popular in modern day America and where we want to live our own life without interference from God. It’s our natural tendency to live for ourselves instead of obey the commands of God. That is the eternal struggle between flesh and the spirit.

In order to prove our love for Christ, he says we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross daily, and follow him. Our “cross” is a challenge to wake up daily and try our best to live like Jesus. The way we learn to live like Jesus is to study the Bible, take time to pray and fellowship with other believers (followers) which we call “church.” God knows we will fail at this precisely because we are human. Sometimes we are tempted by sin and we give in to it. But the Bible also says that if we are willing to confess our sins to God, He is willing to forgive us. That also is great news!

What's at issue in these paragraphs is not the author's heart but his understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel proclaimed in today's pulpits is good and bad news combined to create what some call "the Glawspel," neither Gospel nor law but a meshing of the two, which is not the Gospel. Gospel is Gospel, law is law. The Gospel is the work of God for man in Christ. There is nothing man can do that Christ Jesus has not already done for us. He lives His life through us by His Spirit.  

Like most evangelicals today, the author prefers to combine law and Gospel rather than place Christ as supreme, the Son of God, co-equal with the Father. This article is about what man has left to do, must do, for God, despite what God has done for him. 

But these words go to the center of what many Christian veterans, First Responders, spouses and children, and abused women and children traumatized by a war of some kind hear as the Church's message and how they live under traumatic stress. 

This Christian's message is not Good News at all. To show this, I want to compare two complementary Bible verses. The mediator, Moses, received these messages from the same God, Yahweh Elohim, consisting of two sides of the same coin. Both are necessary but accomplish different ends.

Dt. 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

Dt. 30:6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

Deuteronomy 6:5 is the first use of the law. Its purpose is to crush us, to drive us to despair of ever being able to satisfy God's standards. "Do this and live" (Lev. 18:5). The law was given to make sin more sinful: The Law came in so that the transgression would increase (Rom. 5:20). Toward that end, the law is perfect, holy, spiritual, and Good. Have you ever loved God completely for one second? No. Nor has anyone else since before Genesis 3. God's statutes cannot change because He doesn't change. He demands every generation love Him completely above all else. When we do that, we love our brother as well. Israel failed to love God and man and so do we.

It is true that God’s love for mankind is “unconditional.” However, in order for man to be in right relationship with God, man must conform his life to match with God’s requirement of man. And God does not force this decision on man. God draws a person to himself, but it is the free will of the individual to decide if he or she will obey God’s requirements for a right relationship or not.

Is it true that God's love for mankind is "unconditional"? When God, before the fall, told Adam not to eat of the tree lest he die, God placed conditions on him. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. That sounds conditional to me. Love God perfectly 24/7, 365. Sinful humanity can't obey God in this way. Even Adam before the fall didn't do it

"However, in order for man to be in right relationship with God, man must conform his life to match with God’s requirement of man." This statement is true--as far as it goes. "And God does not force this decision on man." God is not giving man a choice even though God demands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30-31). When Yahweh says, "You shall . . ." there is no choice in the matter: You shall, no ifs, ands, or buts.

"God draws a person to himself, but it is the free will of the individual to decide if he or she will obey God’s requirements for a right relationship or not." "God draws a person to himself," I am guessing the writer refers to pre-saving (prevenient) grace that brings a person to the point of choosing or rejecting Christ. Such grace doesn't exist, but for the sake of argument, I'll allow it to remain, "but it is the free will of the individual to decide if he or she will obey God’s requirements for a right relationship or not."

God illustrates the absurdity of believing in man's supremely liberated will with Israel's bondage in Egypt. After God sent Moses to the Pharaoh, the king increased Israel's workload. Before, Egypt supplied straw for making bricks. The Pharaoh now withheld the straw but required the same quota for bricks. Through the king, God placed Israel between a rock and a hard place. They had no possible way in which to extricate themselves from their bondage to Pharaoh unless God freed them. Israel could not freely walk out the city gate and head to Canaan. They lived in bondage, and God made sure of that. Only He could free them. All the "free will" on planet Earth wouldn't free Israel. This biblical truth is what Paul means when he writes to the believers in Ephesus, "And you being dead in trespasses and sins . . ." Man's state of being is bondage to sin/dead in sin. Israel's enslavement to Pharaoh in Egypt is the greatest illustration of what slavery or death in sin looks like (Eph. 2:1-3). 

We are all born dead in sin, i.e., dead to God spiritually. Romans 5:12 tells us when Adam sinned, we all died at that exact moment in Adam because he was our representative. His sin became our sin, his death, our death. The idea of solidarity comes into the picture. We are in solidarity with Christ and His righteousness when we trust Him, Romans 5:12-21 tells us. Satan has blinded their eyes so that they cannot see the Gospel and turn from sin to God: in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4), and Acts 26:18, to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.'

Nowhere in Deuteronomy or anywhere else in Scripture are we EVER given any hint that man's will is ultimately supreme and free in the salvation process. God NEVER stands by and waits, hoping man will, with the aid of pre-saving grace "given to all men," choose Christ. That mentality doesn't work in the middle of a firefight, either. There we are, getting hammered by Charlie or the Taliban or Hamas, and God appears to be in heaven waiting, watching, hoping we will decide for Him before we end up in a body bag. Who wants to worship an impotent god like that who has made Himself, in the final analysis, dependent on me for my salvation? If God is passive in our salvation, what other areas does He stand by and watch, hoping we will come to our senses?

Does anybody else see the unbiblical absurdity of this position? I taught the other position for years. God puts Himself on hold, if you will, until you or I decide for or against Christ. Who is sovereign here? Man or God? Who saves? Man or God? In evangelicalism, past and present, the sacred cow is man's "free will." We are not to touch it or criticize it. It's real. Order your theology and interpretation around it. Augustine won that argument in the fourth century, but Pelagius, John Cassian, and the men siding with him won the war. That error continues. It was from Augustine that the Reformation sprang. Man had loved to dictate to God the terms of his salvation since Genesis 3 when the debate over God's sovereignty and man's responsibility began. But I won't get off into the weeds anymore on this debate here.

Unfortunately, Pelagius, Cassian, Arminius and Wesley's error continues today with the view of the Bible with which I am now taking issue. It is this error that caused me great spiritual agony for so many years. Continuing with his discussion, I agree with the writer as far as he goes. He has unfortunately  laid the following statement on his previous false foundation, as I have described above.

Jesus called this experience being “born again.” In other words, a person (every human) must understand that he or she has violated God’s laws and is forever separated from God spiritually unless he or she repents of their sin and trust in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross for forgiveness of that sin in order to be counted among those who have been redeemed. Redeemed from the consequences of unrepentant sin which is death and hell.

I don't want to nitpick this to the point of absurdity. We have all "violated God’s laws" and "forever separated from God spiritually unless we repent of our sin and trust in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness of that sin to be counted among those who have been redeemed." Absolutely!

In order to prove our love for Christ, he says we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross daily, and follow him. Our “cross” is a challenge to wake up daily and try our best to live like Jesus. The way we learn to live like Jesus is to study the Bible, take time to pray and fellowship with other believers (followers) which we call “church.” God knows we will fail at this precisely because we are human. Sometimes we are tempted by sin and we give in to it. But the Bible also says that if we are willing to confess our sins to God, He is willing to forgive us. That also is great news!

Assuming we have obeyed God reading this article, repented of our sins, and trusted Christ for salvation--so that we are now on "team salvation," the writer returns to the bad news. Remember, sin binds our wills to do its will. So, we can't turn from sin, which is more bad news. We must "prove our love for Christ; we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross daily, and follow him." This theology has put us right back under the law. He tells us we can have salvation in Christ while extolling the benefits of being back in union with Moses. With Moses, we must "prove our love for Christ. The writer doesn't tell us repentance and faith are gifts Christ won for His people. He tells us to repent and trust, something we cannot do ourselves. But these are minor details.

How exactly do we prove our love for Christ if it must be with the whole heart, mind, and strength? That's Moses' standard. How will I ever know if I have fully and faithfully picked up my cross? This system doesn't tell me. I'm supposed to know what faithful following of Christ is and entails, probably with my whole heart, soul, and might. But how will I know if my cross-taking, self-denial, and following are faithful?  

I realize this short article is not a treatise on the Christian life. However, for most dispensational and Arminian theologians, doctrine is not that important. Doctrinal generalities will do. Therefore, I'm left to figure out most of the pertinent dogma for myself. After all, the Gospel is so simple, right? The writer is attempting to tell me why, on this Easter, I need Jesus, repentance, and faith.

Our “cross” is a challenge to wake up daily and try our best to live like Jesus. 

The cross is a challenge, not the focal point of my death to sin. The writer says nothing about the glory of the resurrection and the new life that comes from it. Now I'm back to Moses, taking up, not new life only Jesus provides, but a challenge. More work, more rules. I will figure it out. It seems so simple.

The way we learn to live like Jesus is to study the Bible, take time to pray and fellowship with other believers (followers) which we call “church.” 

I must learn to live like Jesus. I do that through Bible study, prayer, and fellowship with other believers, that is, going to church. After all, "God knows we will fail at this precisely because we are human." I'm going to stop here and make an observation. This article depicts man at the center and his faithfulness to God, even though "we are human" and "we will fail at this." Although they disagree completely, Moses is the real Pelagian, Cassian, Arminian, and Weslyian hero. 

This article explains what we must do to please Jesus and how to do this. However, it focuses on us, not God's work in Christ for me. This is its great error and impotence. In man, there is no power, only sin and death. In Christ, there are all the treasures of salvation, power, wisdom, and grace. He has made them available to all He has chosen to give them. 

Now take a look at these two verses again.

Dt. 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

Dt. 30:6 “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

In these two verses, we have the three uses of the law as I laid out in Thought for the Day. Deuteronomy 6:5 is the law's first use. Do this and live. We can't do this and live, not for a second or ever. That's the point that the writer misses completely. He assumes we can do this- learn to live like Jesus (no one ever lived like Jesus), take up the cross's challenge, prove our love for Jesus, deny ourselves, etc., etc, and live. That ability died in Genesis 3:7ff-Rev. 20. 

Deuteronomy 30:6 captures the second and third uses well. Having deduced my total inability to "learn to live like Jesus (no one ever lived like Jesus), take up the cross's challenge, prove your love for Jesus, deny yourself, follow Him, yada, yada, yada." I can't and don't want to.

"Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart." This circumcision, the work of Christ, is completely missing from the writer's article. Rather than focusing on men and what they can do, which I can't and don't want to do, Christ should have become the central figure in this man's writing and that system's theology. Otherwise, it's God and men who get the work done. Isn't God lucky to have us and our abilities? 

True, we must be born again, from above, by the Spirit who chooses whom and when to save, not men. He circumcises the heart for obedience, faulty at best. But God sees men in union with Christ as righteous as He is. Christ earns repentance and faith, making these gifts of God's grace. He gives us new lives so that our hearts want to follow God more daily. 

In the third use of the law, God's standards, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live, become our guide, not our master, demanding that we do this and live or else. We are now free to love God as a rule of life in union with Christ. All that God demands of us, perfection, Christ has done perfectly--on our behalf. Now, through the Holy Spirit, He guides us by His law. When we fail, which He expects, He convicts us of sin, causes us to confess our sin, grants me repentance and faith to believe His work for me once more, and leads us into a local assembly of believers where we partake of the means of grace, preaching, the sacraments, fellowship, public prayer, et al., and grow thereby. 

In this way, the Gospel, not we, overcome sin and the effects of traumatic stress, PTSD.