The Object of God’s Delight
The Apostle John says everything in this world was created through Christ (John 1). With that understanding, picture Him in His “workshop” creating the world. See Him “rejoicing always” before the Father and “rejoicing in the world, His earth.” Then, see Christ creating man, the apex of His creation, in the image of God. You will see Him “having (His) delight in the sons of men.”
I am a pastor, but I am also a shade-tree carpenter, like my grandad and dad before me. I don’t spend much time in my shop now, but when I do, I love to create. The things that I make, as crude as they are compared to real carpenters, are delightful to me.
God’s Joy
Did you know that God delights in what He creates? That it brings Him joy? And that includes you?
In Proverbs, Chapter 8, wisdom is personified. But there can be little question that this is the wisdom coming from God and, many believe, a reference to Christ Himself. Notice His joy and delight…
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Therapeutic-Gnostic Pentecostalism?
Written by R. Scott Clark |
Thursday, September 23, 2021
There is such a thing as a message of “cheap grace” and the Dela Cruzes would seem to be the poster children for it. Any preacher who only offers “free salvation” but who omits “take up your cross” as a consequence (not a prior condition) of that grace is a preaching a false, antinomian, Gnostic, therapeutic gospel.Julie Roys ran a story yesterday by Sarah Einselen about a new congregation, which apparently opened this summer, in San Diego. Living Faith Church is a small congregation pastored by a husband and wife team, Stephen and Angela Dela Cruz. The salacious part of the story is that she was (is?) a porn star and he is a business coach. They met at the former Bethany University, which closed in 2011, an Assemblies of God related school. Together they claim to run ten multi-million dollar businesses. They do not say of what sort. It is not clear whether Angela Dela Cruz is still active in the porn industry but the two are clearly capitalizing on her past to generate “buzz” and interest in this congregation. One social media ad identifies her as an “adult actress,” which is code for pornstar. Judging by what one can see from videos of the services the porn angle may be generating more outrage than new members. They are clearly meeting in a very small space with relatively few people. What is more impressive, however, is how formulaic everything is. We see three musicians on a platform singing the same awful “praise music” as every other would-be mega-church in America. The messages seem to be firmly in the middle of the American evangelical therapeutic religion. Stephen is the poor-man’s Joel Osteen and he is going to help you live your best life now.
Your Porn Life Now
For the sake of discussion, since they are clearly capitalizing on her life in the porn business, let us presume that the Stephen and Angela believe and are teaching others that a being a Christian and living a judgment-free successful life are entirely compatible. The congregation’s statement of faith looks as if it were written by students from an AOG “university” circa 2011. Whoever wrote the confession wants to be an orthodox, Arminian, Baptistic, Pentecostal. It has a relatively high view of Scripture:
The Bible is God’s Word to all people. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Because it was inspired by God, the Bible is truth without any mixture of error and is completely relevant to our daily lives.
The Holy spirit is said to be given “subsequent to salvation” and the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” is a second blessing. “This immersion into Spirit-led living provides the Christian with the power to live a fruitful, victorious life, understanding of spiritual truth, and boldness in sharing the good news with others. He also gives us spiritual gifts. As Christians, we seek to live under His daily guidance.” If Mrs Dela Cruz is impenitent about her role in the porn industry, a major source of human trafficking and exploitation and a source of spiritual destruction for many, then they are proposing a definition of the victorious higher life hitherto unknown. Without a hint of irony their statement of faith unequivocally affirms the existence of a literal hell. Salvation is said to be by grace but the statement offers nothing on the doctrines of mortification of sin or vivification in the new life.
Therapeutic Gnosticism
If the mainstream of American evangelicalism has become entirely captive to what Christian Smith, in 2009, called “moralistic therapeutic deism” much of the rest of it has become a subsidiary: Gnostic therapeutic pentecostalism. In Deism God is largely absent. In Pentecostalism, especially of the sort being marketed by the Dela Cruzes, God is a cosmic Door Dash driver. This is not old-school Pentecostalism, which was rooted in the Holiness tradition. As Marx materialized Hegel (by turning the dialectical process of history into class warfare) so the real second blessing offered by the likes of Stephen and Angela Dela Cruz is an emotionally satisfying, financially prosperous life now. Joel Osteen has routed the Azusa Street Revival. Like all the other second-rate business coaches in the world they have the secrets to success. Mind you, unlike Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos, they are not actually producing wealth themselves but they will show you how you can do it. Instead of cheesy late-night television commercials they are holding church services with the requisite praise music, which promises to give participants that shot of endorphins followed by a rousing pep talk.
This is fundamentally Gnostic because it offers a perverse salvation through secret knowledge (Gnosis). This, of course, is what the Gnostics offered in the second century. Like the Gnostics, they hijacked Christianity through redefining terms and changing the story dramatically. In Gnosticism the God of the Old Testament, Yahweh, was rendered a mean, demiurge tied to creation, which was said to be inherently evil. The immaterial, i.e., the spiritual, was said to be good. The key to deliverance from the material world is a secret known only to true Gnostics. They developed an elaborate hierarchy of being and promised to guide followers through the maze. The Jesus of the second-century Gnostic texts is not the Jesus of the Gospels.
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Now the Word “Equity” Is Being Hijacked!
As America has moved from a Christian nation to a post-Christian nation, the meaning of words have changed. Gay no longer means gay. Equity no longer means equity. Rather than equity being defined by God’s law ensuring biblical justice, it now is a wealth redistribution scheme mediated through the force of law or through guilt-manipulation.
Recently, talk-show host Bill Maher asked Senator Bernie Sanders what the difference between equality and equity is. Sanders responded that he did not know. It was a humorous exchange between the celebrity and the senator who is a socialist leader in modern politics. It was also very revealing.
The word equity is being used as a weapon in the modern woke and cancel-culture movement, but no one seems to be able to define what the word means. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) officers are everywhere to ensure equity, so someone needs to define it. Even in the church there is an absence of knowledge about the meaning of the word. I think this is because the meaning has changed over the last 20 years, and the church has not kept abreast of a world that is being transformed right before her very eyes.
The meanings of words do change. For example, the word gay used to mean happy and delighted. The Flintstones were gay – both Fred and Wilma. Every episode was introduced by their theme song that invited us to participate in a gay experience. “We’ll have a yabba-daba-do day. We’ll have a gay old time.” However, today the word gay refers to sexual perversion. Similarly, my mother used to tell me to stand up straight; “don’t slouch,” she said. Today, that might be considered an inappropriate directive.
The meaning of the word equity has changed. There is the old meaning and a new meaning. The dictionary tells us that it means “even, fair, and impartial,” but that is not enough to capture the use of a word in any society. We always need a reference point or a context.
Historically and traditionally in a Christian society, the meaning of the word equity was rooted in the Bible. It appears at least ten times in most modern English translations. An important text is Psalm 99:4 where the Psalmist says, “The strength of the King loves justice. You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob (NASB).” Equity was equated with treating people fairly, justly, and righteously in accordance with the Law of God.
For example, regarding crime and punishment in the Old Testament, equity was mandated. If a man steals another man’s property, he is not to be put to death or sentenced to ten years in prison. He is to pay back double. This is equity (fair) according to God’s law. If a man steals business property, then he is to pay back more than double, not just to restore the that which was stolen, but to compensate for lost income. This is equity (fair) according to God’s Law.
My wife and I watch old British movies on Britbox, and invariably the story involves someone who is put in prison for 10 years for the theft of something like a few items of clothing. This is not biblical. It is not fair. Old Britain might have been considered a Christian nation, but they drifted too far from the biblical concept of equity. In some societies the punishment for theft is to have your hand cut off. Horrible! Unjust! The same could be said for horse thievery in early western America.
If a man murders another man the punishment is not probation or life imprisonment, but death. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. 9:6).” Murder was a capital offense, when verified by two or three witnesses. We could go on with many other examples, but I hope you understand something of the old concept of equity. It was rooted in the Bible, especially in God’s law.
Also, it should be noted that justice or equity must not consider race, gender, or economic status in judgment. Lev. 19:15 says, “Do not pervert justice, do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.” The symbol of Lady Justice who is blindfolded is appropriate and biblical.
Since we have become a post-Christian society, the meaning of the word equity has changed. It has been hijacked. Maybe this is the reason Senator Sanders could not define the term.
The modern meaning of equity is probably derived from the world of finance. For example, if you purchase a $500,000 home and pay $100,000 as a down-payment, then you have $100,000 of owner’s equity in the home. You own one-fifth and the bank owns four-fifths. In a sense, if it has five bathrooms, you own one of them and the bank owns the other four. Thus, the word equity has been popularized to refer to wealth.
In modern parlance, equity has come to mean the transfer of wealth due to injustice in the past which has resulted in disparity between different groups of people. This transfer is accomplished by either force (government statute or corporate directives), or simply by guilt-manipulation.
It should be noted that wealth is more than just money. Wealth can include positions of power or privilege. Certain other symbols of wealth such as talents and godly parents cannot be transferred, but this does not stop the woke movement from transferring all they can. The goal of modern equity is to right every social wrong by the transfer of wealth, without any reference to biblical law or ethics.
Modern equity is a redistribution of wealth scheme which must first be enforced by civil government. For example, in the City of San Francisco, shoplifting of merchandize under the value of $950 has been decriminalized, and any retailer that seeks to apprehend such thieves can be sued. You can walk in a store, steal property, and walk out and go home. No one is allowed to stop you. You don’t have to go before a judge. You don’t have to return the merchandise. Theft is now considered to be an act that creates equity, not disparages it. It is a state enforced equity in direct opposition to the definition of biblical equity.
The Supreme Court recently declared Affirmation Action as unconstitutional. Again, this was a law that sought to promote the redistribution of wealth based on race or minority status rather than on merit. Remember that wealth is more than money. It includes position and power.
Also, the forgiveness of student-loan debt was another equity scheme to transfer wealth by law from one sector of society (many of those who chose not to go to college) to another sector (students in debt). Reparations is one more scheme to transfer wealth from one class of society to another – again by force of law. From a biblical perspective, reparations is just another form of theft – sanctioned by government force.
In addition to the implementation of modern equity by the force of law, the other major scheme to transfer wealth is simply guilt-manipulation. Because some white men owned slaves in the South, all white men today are perpetrators of injustice or inequity. If you can make another person feel guilty, they will become putty in your hands. This seems to be the goal of the modern social justice movement. Guilt is associated with the color of your skin or into what family you were born. White men are guilty, period!
I must admit, that as a white man I am privileged, but this privilege comes by the grace of God, and not because there is any inherent goodness in me more than what exists in any others. We are all wretched sinners because of our connection to Adam.
It is also interesting to note that within the structure of the white race there are inequities. I was raised in Appalachia where the sun hardly shined (because of the mountains), and where there were few dentists. We wanted to improve our way of life, but we never wanted to do it with handouts from the civil government or by the force of law. The Peace Corps was never welcome in our town. We wanted to climb out of our poor condition, but only through merit and hard work.
As America has moved from a Christian nation to a post-Christian nation, the meaning of words have changed. Gay no longer means gay. Equity no longer means equity. Rather than equity being defined by God’s law ensuring biblical justice, it now is a wealth redistribution scheme mediated through the force of law or through guilt-manipulation.
The gospel is the only answer to this change in America. Only the gospel can right what is wrong. Only the gospel can put fathers back into the home. Only the gospel can give men the drive to use their gifts to the fullest for the glory of God. Only the gospel can give privileged men humility and give marginalized men a hope of advancement in a society such as ours.
It appears that the church is choosing to avoid the cultural battles of our day because we have left the public square, and because we have retreated from leading our people in understanding the issues in the modern culture wars. Understanding the hijacking of the word equity is necessary in order to participate in that war.
Larry E. Ball is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn.
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The Church Triumphant
In a number of cases, the word “church” is used to speak of Christians within a certain geographical region without specifying one particular congregation. In Acts 8:3, for example, we are told, “Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” Saul was ravaging more than one local congregation. In Acts 9:31, we read: “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” This had to do with believers in a number of cities in a large region.
Finally, some passages use the word “church” in a more universal sense, referring to all believers. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” He isn’t talking about this or that local church. He’s talking about the universal church. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12:28, writes, “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.” God did not bestow gifts only on the local Corinthian church. He bestowed gifts on the entire church. In Ephesians 1:22–23, Paul writes, “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” The body of Christ is not limited to the local church in Ephesus. This, too, is a reference to the entire church.
Speaking of the universal church, Westminster Confession of Faith 25.1 explains:
The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that fills all in all.
When we consider the church in this larger sense, the Bible forces us to make several distinctions in addition to those between the local church and the universal church. The distinction between the visible church and the invisible church, for example, helps us understand the difference between those who profess faith and are regenerate and those who profess faith without having been regenerated. It is a way of distinguishing among the kinds of seed that Jesus speaks of in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1–23; Mark 4:1–20; Luke 8:4–15).