4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

v.4 We live in a world at war, a spiritual war, a war that has been fought since the fall of man. While we may be persecuted and physically oppressed because of our belief in Christ, our fight is nonetheless a spiritual one. We fight the good fight of the faith with divine power, power from God. In I Corinthians 1:18 we find that the message of the cross is the power of God “to us who are being saved.” This means that the strongholds are ideological strongholds, in which men entrench themselves through self-deception.

v.5 in the first half of this verse, there are two conflicting ideologies man’s opinion, which is not founded upon objective knowledge but man’s sinful desires, and the perfect and objective knowledge of God. Through the word of the cross, which is the power of God, we destroy every opinion that conflicts with God’s word. I think that is where most of us stop destroy, destroy, destroy. However, Paul takes it one-step further by saying that we must subjugate their thought life. There is a definite difference between destroying an individuals thoughts and subjugating them. The subjugation of an individual’s thoughts implies that their thoughts will be useful when brought into captive obedience to Christ. This phenomenon is largely due to the role of general revelation, although perverted by sin, upon the formation of man’s thoughts (see my previous post “The Sin of the Monoculture” for more information regarding this).

In Acts 17 Paul is brought before the Areopagus so they might understand his strange new teachings. Paul both destroys their ideological stronghold and subjugates their thoughts.

Paul destroys their ideological strongholds by informing them that:

• God rules both heaven and Earth.
• God created the world.
• God does not dwell in temples nor is He served by man.
• God is the source of all life.
• Etcetera

Paul subjugates their thoughts by informing them that:

• There is a god whom they do not know.
• He even goes on to point out that; their own poets have made correct statements about God. Paul probably knew this because he spent everyday in the marketplace proclaiming Christ.

Too often we are so caught up in refuting an argument that we forget to listen to the individual we are sharing with. Like Paul, we should know their poetry, favorite band, or simply their thoughts on life. This allows us to understand and destroy their stronghold with God’s Word and it aids us in subjugating their correct thoughts to Christ. Presuppositional apologetics does not work in a postmodern age; after all the only thing you can presuppose about postmoderns is that, there are no presuppositions. We must form relationships and allow individuals to construct their worldview before us so that we can destroy the fallacies that support it and use what truth may exist in it to construct a Christian worldview.

I will close with a modern example that really hit me this week while reading. Immanuel Kant was a Newtonian Determinist, he believed that the universe was like a machine entirely determined by the laws of nature; this encompassed everything from the orbits of the planets to the synapses firing in your brain. At the same time, he maintained a paradoxical view that man was an autonomous free moral agent, or at least there is the illusion of such. After reading that I could only sit and think about what would have happened if an individual, like Paul, said to Kant; “you are right the actions of the universe are entirely determined by the laws of nature. Laws created and sustained by an absolute Sovereign God, and in Him, all things hold together, from the microscopic double helix DNA carrying the code of your genetic makeup to the rotation of the Milky Way Galaxy. Un-paradoxically your moral accountability is not an illusion it is real and one day the absolute Sovereign God who holds the planets in orbit will hold you accountable.”

In short, our job as apologists is not only to show corrupt ideology for what it is but also to confirm what man has gleaned from general revelation as true, once that thought has been freed from the false ideology, which suppresses the Truth. All of which must happen within the framework of a relationship.

Something that particularly disturbs me and causes much confusion within modern Christianity is the difference between Church growth and church growth. Church growth always results in church growth but church growth does not always mean Church growth. What am I talking about?

Organism vs. Organization

The problem is that we have institutionalized the body of Christ. It is the difference between the Organism and the Organization. The Church is a living organism; it is the body of Christ, the worldwide body of believers. The church is an institution, a localized organization existing within a given space, in its most fundamental form it is an earthly association existing within and around a building or location. Before continuing, it is important to note several distinctions between the Church and the church.

• The Church is eternal and global while the church is temporary and localized. The Church is the global body of Christ and being such exists eternally. The church is a local entity and is temporary, there is one church in eternity, and that is the Church.
• The local Church is different from the local church. The local Church is the body of believers within a given location, which may exist within many churches. The local church is an entity, where members of the local Church may congregate.
• Church membership is active while church membership static. Membership within the Church denotes the bearing of fruit; it means taking initiative and action. There are no nominal members of the Church; everyone is active. Membership within the church is an association that can be inactive and does not necessarily denote the bearing of fruit. You can be a member of the church and have no real connection to it, other than your name being present on a list. There are active members in the church but sadly, activity does not necessarily determine membership.

Alive and Well

I hope that the following passages of Scripture on suffering and the body of Christ will exemplify what I mean by the Church. The Church is the body of Christ and it is a living Organism, it moves, it grows, it talks, and it suffers. That is exactly what Paul means when he says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). He was not saying that the death of Christ was insufficient but that we are Christ’s body and the world must see Him suffer, through our suffering. That is the cry of Hebrews 13:12-13 “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” If you are persecuted ultimately Christ is persecuted and you are blessed enough to bear His reproach. That is why Christ asked “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

The Method to This Madness

I am not trying to undermine the importance of membership in the local church. My point is this: the prominent evangelism model in evangelical Christianity is a “come and hear” model rather than a “go and tell model.” We focus so much of our time persuading individuals to come to our church that we neglect to confront them with what really maters, membership in the Church. I am privileged and blessed to have an awesome pastor who takes time to disciple me and expounds the Word of God every time he steps into the pulpit. There are also several other pastors whose churches, if you lived near them, I would beg you to attend. However, we must always set Church growth as a higher priority than church growth. With that in mind there are certainly churches that I would plead with you not to attend and in many places there may only be one church worth attending, if that. Our priority must not be inviting individuals to the church so that they can hear the Gospel; our priority as Christians must be going and telling the Gospel and, if necessary, encouraging individuals to come and hear our pastor. Honestly, if they truly are members of the Church then they will want to go to a church and hear God’s word. The Church is not an institution, it is not an organization, and it is not centered around a building; the Church is a living organism centered around the living God all the while bearing out the sufferings of Christ for the whole world to see.

“3Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

v.3 Jude desires to write about their common salvation but is unable; John MacArthur uses the illustration of when you start writing and then wad your letter up and throw it away repeatedly. That is what Jude is doing and what was intended to be an encouraging letter about their common salvation turns into a call to arms. He exhorts them to contend and agonize, to preserve the faith.

v.4 He cannot write about their common salvation because false teachers who, by an act of God’s sovereign choice, were destined for damnation have secretly began perverting God’s grace and denying His sovereign rule.

In the four passages that I have gone through under the heading, “The Reality of the Monoculture” it is important to notice the progression of events throughout these passages. Matthew 7:15-23 issues a warning to be on your guard against false teachers. II Timothy 4:3 warns of a coming time when sinful man will surround himself with false teachers. II Peter 2:1-3 again warns that just as false prophets arose in Israel that false teachers will arise among the church. Jude 1:3-4 no longer issues a warning of coming false teachers; but rather it issues a call to defend the faith that is under attack by false teachers.

Jude was the brother of Jesus so this letter was not written long after Christ’s resurrection and in that short time false teachers have perverted the Gospel to the point that salvation in no longer common. The situation is just as serious today; we live in a veritable cornucopia of heresy.

Catholicism teaches that individuals are saved based on their own merit. They also view the Pope as the supreme and universal master over the church. Universalism believes that every individual is saved through Christ regardless of his or her belief or acknowledgement of Him. Arminianism denies the lordship Christ by limiting Gods sovereignty. Open Theism denies God’s omniscience thus limiting His sovereignty. Still others believe you can loose your salvation or that you can be saved without acknowledging the lordship of Christ. Not to mention those who would add works, such as baptism, onto salvation. These things are not small matters; many of these are salvific issues. We should not ignore these issues for the sake of ecumenism and unity. Far too often Christians are unifying themselves with error for the sake of peace. We must stop being politically correct and start being intolerant of error in whatever way it may manifest itself. We must contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

My past three posts have been exposition on texts dealing with false teaching and since it appears that, no one is reading them I am going to mix things up with a book review. For those of you who did not notice while my past three posts had the same title they dealt with different passages of Scripture, I am sure everyone is scrolling down to read them now. In my reviews I simply write reviews; I try not to draw points out of books because you would be better off reading the book and hearing it from the author. I simply want to point out the strengths and weaknesses of books that I enjoyed reading.

I was walking by the church library and saw this book and new I would love it, while secretly wishing I had written a book with that title. The back cover says it all “Our generation is being destroyed by manic tolerance.” Written by Ryan Dobson, who enjoys surfing and skateboarding, means that the book is loaded with language geared toward reaching today’s youth culture. However, I think this is a great book for everyone for several reasons. First, it teaches simple apologetic arguments suitable for anyone to learn and use to defend the Faith. Second, it presents solid arguments that will be useful in examining your own worldview. Third, the author unashamedly and vividly confronts the most popular worldview today, relativism (manic tolerance). Fourth, the title is truthful and frank, which I very much enjoy. In short, the book is straightforward, easy to read, and an excellent tool for defending the Faith and standing against the ecumenical monoculture.

“1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

My previous two posts have been on the lengthy side so I am only going to highlight a few key points in this passage.

v.1 Peter assures the recipients of this letter that just as assuredly as false teachers emerged to deceive Israel false teachers would arise to deceive them as well. This remains a sure reality to this day; that false teachers will arise to deceive God’s people. By “secretly,” Peter is not talking about individuals who are covert but prominent teachers who covertly disguise damning lies as Truth. The Greek word (despoten) Master is the word from which we derive the English word “despot.” These false teachers deny, by both their teaching and their lifestyle, the absolute sovereign nature of God.

v.2 Many, who appear to be of God’s chosen people, will follow their evil desires and embrace false teaching. Because of these nominal Christians, the True Gospel is blasphemed. This is exactly what Paul describes in Romans 2:23-24 where the hypocrisy of the Jews led the Gentiles to blaspheme God.

v.3 Driven by covetousness false teachers will try to take advantage of you with their lies. After what seems to be a discouraging promise that false teachers will arise to deceive nominal Christians; Peter encourages us with God’s sovereignty. God, in an exercise of His sovereign choice (Romans 9), prepared these false teachers for destruction, a destruction that is not idle but is actively storing up wrath for the day when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed (Romans 2:5). False teachers do not exist outside of God’s control, they may reject His rule and His authority but He remains sovereign over them (Romans 9:14-23).