Category Archives: New Testament Theology

Who is the antichrist?

in defense of israelJohn Hagee’s knew book claims that Jesus is not the Messiah of Isreal and that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah in word or deed. John Hagee has given himself over to the spirit of Antichrist and will one day be punished for eternity because he did not remain faithful, but instead rejected that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel who came to save Israel from their sins. John Hagee must be called to repentance or else his place will be in the lake of fire that burns with sulfer and brimstone.

Read the reviews at Amazon to get a better picture of what Hagee says. Or, better yet, just look at the video on my previous post and hear John Hagee condemn himself before your very eyes.

If you will read this passage out of 1st John from the New Testament, you will see that John Hagee has forfited the eternal life which he claims to have…

I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us —eternal life.” (1 John 2:21-25)

The end of the ages has come upon us. The end of days have begun. These days began when Jesus, the Messiah and representative of ethnic Israel, died for the sins of His people (both Jew and Gentile) and was raised from the dead and exalted on high as the King of kings and the Messiah of Israel. Jesus’ resurrection began the resurrection from the dead as He was the first fruits of that resurrection. This means that Jesus is now reigning over all the earth and that all who believe in Him have been raised with him in the heavenly places to reign over the entire earth with him as co-heirs of the Kingdom of God, the new heavens and the new earth! (Eph. 2)

For John Hagee to reject the Bible’s testimony that Jesus is the Messiah and, instead, embrace the very people who’s own generation of fathers nearly 2000 years ago rejected and crucified Jesus, their Messiah, is tantamount to blasphemy and destructive and damnable heresy. It is with great sorrow in my soul that I write this blog… but John Hagee has put an unfaithful and unbelieving people in the place of God’s own people, who are true Israel (the Christian Church), and he has chosen to twist the Bible into his own religion of neo-dispensationalism, which destroys the souls of all who hear and embrace it.

Pray for Pastor Hagee, that God will change his mind and his heart and bring him to the repentance and faith that he so desperately needs once again!

In Messiah and In Defense of the Jesus, who is true Israel,

John Piper’s Book is FREE to read online!

The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright

This is the free PDF of Dr. Piper’s new book that Desiring God Ministries has made available for free online! Wow! I cannot say thank you to John Piper’s ministry enough. I’m just waiting for N.T. Wright to make some of his books available for free in response to Piper’s mass distribution campaign. 😉

BTW, if you missed it or if you cannot read the book right now, here is the interview series where Dr. Piper talks about his critique of N.T. Wright and why he wrote the book:

Athanasius’ Creed

Whoever wills to be in a state of salvation, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith, which except everyone shall have kept whole and undefiled without doubt he will perish eternally.

Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit; the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated; the father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet not three eternals but one eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three almighties but one almighty. So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and one Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less, but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity.

But it is necessary to eternal salvation that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world; perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood. Who although He be God and Man yet He is not two but one Christ; one however not by conversion of the Godhead in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God; one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person. For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation.

Harry Potter is Jesus?

The articles:

j.k. rowling

Harry Potter Author Reveals Books’ Christian Allegory, Her Struggling Faith

Additional Info: J.K. Rowling outs Dumbledore!

The Analysis:

Well, I have to say that I am somewhat shocked at this news about the final book in the Harry Potter series. Even though I have enjoyed the movies, I consistently saw a strong affirmation of the pagan occult and witchcraft which made me nervous of recommending them to others. But, after reading the first article referenced above, I ask this question to all of us… Should we now recommend Harry Potter? My answer is as follows.

[NOTE: Do not read further if you are reading the books and don’t want the ending to be ruined. If you are waiting for the movies, you might not care if the ending is ruined, since knowing about it will be extremely relevant to our cultural context and discussions with non-Christians who love these books.]

If you read about the article above, an amazing reality about the Harry Potter books (particularly the last book) comes to light for us… Harry Potter is a Messiah figure in which the climax of his life results in the resurrection of all those dead that he dearly loved!

Now, as happy as I am to affirm the Christian allegory found in this ending, I must say that the author, Rowling, does not do full justice to the Biblical portrait that I believe a book author, writing from a Christian worldview, should. Now, I’m only commenting on this article and I have not read the books and I will not say anything past what she reveals in the interview found in the article of reference…

Rowling offers us two Biblical references on the tombstones of Harry Potter’s parents. One is 1 Cor. 15:26 and the other is Matt. 6:21. They read respectively as follows:

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This means that Harry Potter has defeated death by defeating his great enemy, Voldemort. And Harry Potter’s heart seems to have always been with his family since his greatest memories were about them and those memories were the source of all his strength in magical power.

But what’s the problem here? I know, Rowling never meant for them to be a grand Christian story. I just want to point out why we have to be critical of the Harry Potter story and help others to realize that just because the author reveals that the ending of the book is a Christian allegory doesn’t mean that we need to embrace it as a Christian novel series like C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien…

The problem is that Rowling struggles with her own faith in the resurrection and doesn’t have a fully Christocentric worldview. And as far as I can tell, her Christian allegory was not nearly as powerful as the guarantee that God promises about resurrection, new creation, and the eternal life to come.

God has promised us, in Jesus the Messiah, that he will not only give us resurrected bodies, but will actually re-create the universe, in which all sin and evil of men will be cast out, and only God and His people will enjoy a new heavens and a new earth for ages upon ages to come. From Rowling’s interview, I can only gather that she doesn’t realize the implications of her own belief in resurrection. There is no mention of a new universe in which there is no more death, instead, it seems that Harry is simply able to bring his parents and friends back to life. (Now, since I haven’t read the last book, I might be missing something, but does this resurrection mean that Harry, his parents and friends will never die???)

What about everyone else in the world? Is everyone perfected in goodness and freedom? Or is the world to go on as it is with only Harry’s parents and friend alive once again and able to spend time together and enjoy the rest of their natural lives only to die once again?

Well, needless to say, I’m sure that some of those answers are not dealt with in the final book by Rowling. But the fact remains that Rowling never intended to write a fully Christian novel series with all the Biblical and Redemptive Historical consequences one would expect of the Narnia series and Lord of the Rings.

So, am I happy or sad? I guess both. I’m thankful that Rowling has admitted to some Christian theology being written into her books, but I’m also sad that her own conclusions in the book are weak and local and not strong and global. This should give all of us great opportunities to talk with non-Christian friends about the Christian story as it relates to Harry Potter and hopefully those conversations will glorify God and spread His Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Please think about these things and let me know what you think about this news of Harry Potter and Jesus of Nazareth. How are they different? How are they the same? Are you and your family and friends ready for the resurrection?

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

You Were Made for Earth: An Interview

Trevin Wax over at the Kingdom People blog has conducted a great interview with Michael Wittmer. I encourage everyone to go read it and think about what Dr. Wittmer has to say. Also, Dr. Wittmer has written a book that I’m now very interested in buying. It is called:

Heaven Is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God

Continue reading You Were Made for Earth: An Interview

What is a Healthy Church?

What is a healthy church

I am glad to say that my church is currently holding a Tuesday morning Bible study by working our way through Mark Dever’s book, “What is a Healthy Church?“, which Crossway has recently transformed, from a lowly booklet, into a beautiful hardback “mini” book for large scale publication. In other words, the old booklet that Dever’s 9 Marks Ministry put out has been formatted and enhanced in order to present to the Christian community at large through a major book distributor.

For those of you interested, here is the table of contents along with the intro and 1st chapter of the book.

Mark Dever is senior pastor of Capital Hills Baptist Church in Washington D.C.

He is also executive director of 9 Marks Ministry (9 Marks of a Healthy Church) which I mentioned and linked to above.

Un-Inventing the Church

No guarantees, but as time permits I hope to read back through Un-Inventing the Church by Andrew P. Sandlin as I go through Mark Dever’s book and finally finish the last few chapter’s in Sandlin’s book that I never got around to the last time.

I highly recommend Andrew Sandlin’s book for anyone who leans toward seeing a more “low church” view taught in Scripture, that focuses on the Church as the people of God gathered together and worshiping Jesus for both their individual and corporate salvation, and not all about buildings, traditions, confessions, and liturgy. The preface to the book is available to read here.

If any of you ever a get chance to read these two books, it won’t take you too long and I promise that it will challenge and edify you as you pursue a more Biblical understanding of what God says about what His Church is and what it should always be.

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

G. K. Beale on Revelation

Here is a great seminar on the Book of Revelation, given by G. K. Beale. You should definitely give it a listen sometime! It will be well worth your time given the clarity of thought that will come to you as you study the WHOLE Bible over the coming years. Enjoy!

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

[HT: James Grant]

The New Perspective on Paul and the Historical Jesus Quest

Scot McKnight, over at his Jesus Creed blog, has recently posted several entries summarizing and clearly explaining the history and claims of both the New Perspective on Paul and the Historical Jesus Quest.

I encourage everyone interested in getting a better grasp on what these things are all about to read these entries in full. Here they are:

New Perspective 1
New Perspective 2
New Perspective 3
New Perspective 4
New Perspective 5

Here is a PDF version of all five blog entries on the NPP.

Historical Jesus 1: Reimarus to Schweitzer
Historical Jesus 2: Bultmann to the Jesus Seminar
Historical Jesus 3: Jesus Seminar
Historical Jesus 4: Third Quest
Historical Jesus 5: Summing Up

To supplement the above reading I would also recommend the following articles:

What Did Paul Really Mean? by Simon Gathercole
Further Reading on the New Perspective by Simon Gathercole
What Did Simon Gathercole — and Moses — Really Mean? by Andrew Sandlin

Jesus Creed Historical Jesus Series: Bultmann
Jesus Creed Historical Jesus Series: Jesus Seminar
Jesus Creed Historical Jesus Series: Third Quest and Summing Up

Michael Bird on Piper’s “The Future of Justification”

Justin Taylor has posted another blurb on Piper’s book from Michael F. Bird. Here is the blurb:

The Future of Justification

Biblical commentators since Augustine have struggled with how to understand the relationship between justification by faith and judgment by works. The advent of the New Perspective on Paul has further heightened this tension in recent days with several authors such as N. T. Wright placing more stress on the role of a transformed life as the basis of justification at the final judgment. In light of this, John Piper provides a constructive and critical engagement with the work of N. T. Wright, and Piper convincingly shows that justification, in its present and future tense, is anchored exclusively in the work of Christ and not in our obedience nor in works inspired by the Holy Spirit. Piper’s case possesses exegetical rigor, theological acumen, and pastoral sensitivity. Piper invites us all to marvel at the glory, the magnificence, and the grace of the God who justifies the ungodly through faith in his Son. This book is not a rehearsal of old dogmas, nor a polemical rant, but it is a fresh articulation of the gospel that Paul preached and it is written with a conviction and verve that will inspire young and old preachers to faithfully set forth the whole counsel of God to their flock.

Michael F. Bird
New Testament Lecturer, Highland Theological College, Scotland
Author of The Saving Righteousness of God: Studies on Paul, Justification and the New Perspective

The Saving Righteousness of God