What do we mean by this?
In the early years of my discussions with my Uncle Jim regarding his preaching, I recall a dialog wherein he stated his endeavor to preach after the similitude of Paul the Apostle.
I understood through many of the radio ministry cassette tapes distributed by the Sheepfood that the preaching was always started with the following assertion:
"...preaching the whole counsel of God regarding Jesus Christ His eternal Son as He has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in the written Word of God, the Holy Bible..."
And "with intrepid step", James P. Rines Jr. preached on living Biblical precepts and doctrine, including but not limited to, the Trinity, the sovereignty of God, the exaltation of Christ, the working of the Holy Spirit, salvation by grace, mercy, hardening, vessels of honour, vessels of wrath, unconditional election, predestination, total depravity, limited atonement, irresistable grace, perseverance of the saints, Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will, and the free-will dogma of salvation.
And so, since 2005 when Jim Rines completed his own earthly race and journey, it is appropriate to declare a portion of Paul's farewell charge to the Ephesians elders:
25 "And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears.
32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." (Acts 20:25-32)
In preaching the whole counsel of God, the Sheepfood Broadcast and Ministry has cautioned and warned Christians who believe in, teach, and practice the free-will dogma of salvation.
Dogma is:
- a set of ideas or beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted
- a belief or set of beliefs that is taught by a religious organization
- something held as an established opinion
- a definitive or authoritative tenet
- a code of such tenets
- a point of view or tenet put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds
- a doctrine or body of doctrines concerning faith or morals formally stated and authoritatively proclaimed by a church
A phrase asserted frequently in the Sheepfood Broadcast and Ministry preaching is reference to "...the Arian, Arminian, Pelagian, Socianian, pseudo-Calvinistic, free-will gospel...."
The free-will gospel dogma is by nature:
- Arian: One who agrees with Arius and his doctrines especially that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not of the same substance as the Father but was created as an agent for creating the world
- Socinian: One who agrees with Socinius and his doctrines and denies the divinity of Christ and thus denies the Trinity, of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, their work in creation, and their role in the salvation of the believer
- Armenian: One who agrees with Arminius or his doctrines and denies and opposes the predestination of elect believers and maintains the possibility of salvation for all
- Pelagian: One who agrees with Pelagius and denies original sin of Adam and its consequent effect on all of humanity, and therefore holds that individuals have perfect freedom to do either right or wrong; Denies the precept that each person is dead in trespasses and sins and at enmity with God; Denies the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and salvation
- Pseudo-Calvinistic: One who partially or incompletely believes, teaches, or practices the five tenets of Calvinistic belief under the generally used acronym TULIP: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistable Grace, Perseverance of the Saints
What should our response be to these things?
First, the authority of God:
6 "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." (I John 4:6)
Second: The Good Shepherd, Jesus said
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)
Third: Prove, try, assay, and test the spirits of doctrine and dogma through study and questioning:
1 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out of this world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:" (I John 4:1-2)
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15)
Fourth, Contend for the Faith:
3 "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 3-4)
Fifth, Make Your Calling and Election Sure:
10 ....brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We exhort then, from Paul's letters to Timothy:
1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (II Timothy 2:1-3)
18 "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:" (I Timothy 1:18-19)
Pray for us, that He would continue to enlarge the borders of the Sheepfood Gospel Broadcast and Ministry to the ends of the earth; and that the Word of the Lord might have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you.
JEM
