Is God Using Rob Bell for God's Greater Glory

There has been much written and said about Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins. A link to Bell's own introduction is included here https://www.robbell.com/lovewins/ Many will agree with Bell's comments. He leads a 10, 000 member church and by the world's standards is considered a success. Orthodox writers have panned the book as heretical. Bell likes to pose questions to his audience setting them up for a non-offensive and palatible answer. Let us not forget that the crafty serpent set Adam and Eve up for the Fall with a question, "Did God really say..."  But I would like to ask a question myself: Is God using Rob Bell for God's own greater glory? Let's be clear. I disagree with Bell's teaching. I find them to be universalist in nature and his use of Scripture smacks of modernism. But God neither slumbers nor sleeps. Can God be using false teachers for His greater glory in the redemption of the world? Why do people flock to preachers of all kinds whose teachings twist Scripture? The answer may be that these teachers are raised up as a judgment upon people who desire a 'gospel' that fits a self-centered ideal rather than a Christ-centered truth. The bible warns that false teachers and false prophets will arise. This is no surprise to God! Jesus proclaims, "And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will will be saved." (Mt. 24:1-13) Note the word, "will". It's going to happen and is happening. It's part of God's plan and we cannot stop it. And the one who endures will be saved. Only those who endure will be saved! So, like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Paradise, it's there and we will be judged by our consumption. We will also be judged by God's Word, that commanded, "Don't eat!" Those who endure will be saved!

St. Paul warns Timothy that "the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. And will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Tim. 4:3,4) Note the word, "will". False prophets and false teachers are here for our judgement. We do not have to eat of their fruit (Mt. 7:15-20)

Listen to evangelist Paul Washer remind us why we seek out false teachers. Repentance means turning away from our own passions and turning to God and His help through Jesus Christ. For love to win, the truth must be preached!

Why Christianity is the Only Right Religion

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:1-6)
The way to salvation is through Jesus alone. No if's, and's, or but's! Jesus did not say, "I am one of several ways, truth is whatever you want to believe, and by the way, you are just alive as I am". Jesus is quite clear that if we wish to be holy, and righteous we must go through Him!

Our culture claims there are many ways to God and God is whatever we want God to be! There are many book from different faiths making contradictory claims on how to live and what happens when we die! If one book or system of religion claims to be true, then all other faiths must be false. Thinks about it. What is 2 + 2? We all know that 2 + 2 = 4. But what if someone said, "2 + 2 = 16!" We would know they would be wrong. The same is true for religion! There can only be one right answer!

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! He can make this claim because He is the Son of God. It is important for us to know there is right and wrong, truth and falsehood. There is only one right answer. God in His perfect nature can only be the Truth. We, as fallen creatures, need to seek the truth and not assume we already know it. Jesus, Himself, says, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32) So, His Word is His truth! Let us abide in it, and not only will we know the truth, but we will be free to serve God for we will grow in His righteousness!

　

Law and Gospel

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian
. (Galatians 3:23-25)

St. Paul is writing to an early church in Galatia who were being led astray by those who felt strict adherence to the Law of Moses was the only way to be justified before God. To be justified meant to be found innocent before the judge. The problem that the law presents to us is that if at anytime we have broken just one aspect of the Law, we cannot be justified at all. We are all guilty before God.

The Law is our guardian. The guardian spoken of here was a slave to the master of the house whose responsibility was to protect the children and ensure their studies so that one day they may take over the family responsibilities. Therefore, until we are mature in faith, we have the Law to show us right and wrong. And it exposes our guilt. If we are honest and compare our thoughts, words and deeds, to the Law, we fall short and see our guilt as God sees it. But we have a redeemer!

Jesus Christ took our guilt upon Himself once and for all at Calvary! He stood in our place. By His stripes, we are healed! When we get a traffic ticket for breaking a law of the road, we must appear before the judge in traffic court and pay a fine. Jesus has stepped in between us and God the righteous and perfect judge to pay our fine. After all the wages of sin is death! When we know He has done this for us, we have faith that Jesus fulfilled the Law completely and perfectly for you and me!

The Law remains for us a remimder of our guilt. But Christ came that we might not be a slave to the law, but rather that we be a slave to righteousness. As Paul reminds us, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24) Let us feel sorry for our sins (repentance) and trust Christ as we accept His gift of eternal life!

Jesus the Messiah: Can You See Him?

For the Jews of Jesus' day, the Messiah was expected to be an earthly king, a descendant of David who would lead Israel guaranteeing her autonomy until the end of time! Jesus was a descend ant of David. But the House of David had lost its privileged position after many exiles and domination by foreign nations.
At an appointed time, Mary gave birth to the Messiah long expected. He had no army but the fact that Mary and Joseph brought turtledoves for His presentation to the temple meant the family was temporally poor. The Gospel writers make it clear that not everyone recognized Jesus as Messiah. Where was His army? They knew His parents! He hung out with tax collectors and sinners. If anyone recognized Jesus as the long awaited Messiah, it was by supernatural revelation!

But one group of people who seemed to have this supernatural knowledge were the most broken of Jesus Day! They were the physically ill, the most dependant requiring the help of others. St. Matthew describes such an encounter:

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; (Mt. 9:27-29)

Blind men, “Son of David”. They did not ask for political action but for healing! They understood the new Davidic King was to restore the body and the soul. They had faith Jesus could do whatever he pleases! Faith is supernatural, a gift from God. Only through faith can we come to see Jesus for who he truly is! Even though they were blind, they could see with their spiritual eyes that Jesus was the Messiah.

We need spiritual eyes to see our broken condition and our need for Jesus. We get sick, have pain, fever, and are afflicted with disease that many times lead to death. We lack judgment, common sense and wisdom to avoid accidents. We die because it is the just penalty for the sin we are born with. But God has sent His promised Messiah. If it is His will, He can heal us. If we recognize Him as the Messiah, we will call out, “Have mercy on us!” We can only see the Messiah if we sense we have a need for one! The poor, the outcast, the infirmed, often see Him before the proud, arrogant and self-sufficient. Jesus greatest desire for us is for us to know we cannot live apart from Him. The Messiah of the Holy Scriptures is not a military ruler who lives far away in a palace, but the only-begotten Son of God who want to live in our hearts to rule us from the inside out.

Do you see the Messiah?

Idolatry, A Lenten Meditation

What Does the Church Look Like?

The answer to the above question may elicit many different responses. One person may say that the Church is a building where people gather every week to worship God according to their traditions. Someone else may reply that the Church is not a building at all but just the people gathering and worshipping God. The point is that every individual may have their own opinion as to the definition of a church. Which one is correct? I suppose one could say that each opinion is an aspect of what the Church looks like and should look like. But there is one opinion that has to be considered above all other opinions. And that opinion is not even an opinion at all but rather God's will for how He has designed the Church. To go against God's will at any time is to go against God!

So let us ask ourselves, what is God's vision for the Church? The answer to this question can be found in Scripture. The Acts of the Apostles provides a picture, a vision, for the Church. One will notice that buildings are not mentioned as being necessary for being the Church. Unless, of course, you include the prisons where the apostles found themselves in. And even there they sang songs of praise, miracles occurred and people came to believe Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! St. Luke, the author of Acts describes in detail the early church. It is our manual for how our church should look today. Today we can make the mistake of looking to churches on television as examples of what the church should look like. Such popular churches are indeed successful. Successful in the eyes of the world that is! And that is a problem. God will never use worldly standards to judge the success of the Church. In fact, each individual is called to renounce all aspects of the world when becoming a Christian. St. John writes, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15) St. Paul also states, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:2)

Is it wrong, then, not to desire a large Church? No, as long as the true Gospel is preached whereby we hear the Word of Faith, repenting of our sins and our worldly self and becoming a new creation in Jesus . A godly Church is a place where Jesus is the Good Shepherd calling the lost back to Himself, regenerating our hearts. The problem with many large American churches is that people attend for the celebrity status of the preacher, the feel of the sports stadium or it is like a rock concert. In other words, they are attending for their feelings. They are not really leaving the world. The success of the Church will always be judged not by the world, but by God our Father who is looking not at numbers but at our hearts! A successful church is a church where hearts are changed and souls are saved!

What is Jesus Teaching You?

Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. Matthew 23:10ESV


Jesus is speaking to His disciples exhorting them not to be like the scribes and Pharisees who desire to place heavy burdens on the peoples’ shoulders. Jesus is emphasizing His role as our instructor, our teacher. We recognize Jesus as a savior from our sins. We call Him Lord of our lives. But we also need to see Christ as our teacher.

We have the Scriptures that teach us what God has said giving us knowledge of His will for our lives. But in our lives that we live daily, we can also see Christ directing events in such a way that He has something to teach us. Not everything goes our way. When times are frustrating in our lives, we should look to Jesus as our teacher. When we are not happy, we should ask the Lord, what is it that we need to learn. Is there something that we need to change in our lives that would reflect God’s will for us. Perhaps it is just an attitude. A rich ruler, a man with power and money asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The ruler quickly learned no one is good but the Father in heaven. And he also learned that keeping the commandments were not enough. He loved his money more than God. In other words, he saw where he needed to change. But we know how the story ends, the rich ruler went away very sad. (Luke 18:18-25) Happiness would have come if he had let go of his possessions. What is Jesus teaching you?

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:25-30ESV)