Thomas Brooks and False Teachers: part 2

I once had the joy of spending a Saturday listening to J.I. Packer teach on the book of Colossians. During a break someone asked him about reading Puritan authors. His reply was to the effect that one would do well if they spent their whole life in the reading and study of Puritan writers. So continuing on …

Thomas Brooks, one of the Puritan pastors of the seventeenth century, in his book, Precious remedies against Satan’s devices, lists seven characters of false teachers. I have listed and written about four of the traits in my last post. I will list the last three characters and examine them in this posting.

The fifth character: “False teachers cover and color their dangerous principles and soul-impostures with very fair speeches and plausible pretences, with high notions and golden expressions."

Brooks states that in his day many are “bewitched and deceived by the magnificent words, lofty strains, and stately terms of deceivers …” But all days, all years, are, seemingly like that. Brooks lists some of the stately terms used: “illumination, revelation, deification, and fiery triplicity.” And those words are not unfamiliar to the postmodern world particularly when a form of Gnosticism or New Age spirituality gets in the mix of some teachers and preachers in the Church.

Brooks refers to several verses, Gal 6:12, in which Paul points to the false teachers who wanted the believers to be circumcised, so that the teachers “will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 2 Cor. 11: 13-15, is another text where Paul explains that false teachers “disguise themselves as servants of righteousness,” since they are servants of Satan who disguises himself as “an angel of light.” Romans 16:17-18, refers to the “smooth and flattering speech” of false teachers. Another is Matt 7:15 which refers to those who come in sheep’s clothing but instead they are “ravenous wolves.”

The important point in all of this is that without the true goodness and purity of the gospel false teachers have to search for all kinds of ways and words to attract people to themselves. Jesus Christ lifted up draws the needy home. The gospel doesn’t need glitter but counterfeit teachers do.

Brooks’ reference to “fiery triplicity” is interesting although I admit I don’t know what he is speaking of with those words. He was in London during the “Great Fire of 1666,” and wrote a treatise titled “London’s Lamentations (based upon Isaiah 42. 24-5) …” it might be interesting to read the work and find out if there is a connection. (it is only 312 pages!)

The sixth character: “False teachers strive more to win over men to their opinions, than to better them in their conversations.”

Bettering others in their conversation has to do with “mending” and transforming their hearts. The good news that Jesus transforms the sinner is important here. To paraphrase Brooks, false teachers are simply interested in changing people's minds not their hearts. Only the Lord can change the whole person so the true teacher of the gospel points her hearers away from herself and to the cross and Christ’s transforming work. The false teacher points to herself and her own opinions.

The seventh character: “False teachers make merchandise of their followers.”

Brooks refers to 2 Peter 2:1-3 here.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Brooks also refers to Jer. 6:13.

That verse is, “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.” Brooks does not list the following verse. But it is so full of the hurt people of God that I will end with it.

“They have healed the brokenness of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.”

Thomas Brooks and False Teachers: part 1

Thomas Brooks, in his book, Precious remedies against Satan’s devices, published in 1652, writes about false teachers. That chapter is “Seven Characters of False Teachers.” Brooks in the introduction to this chapter offers several Bible verses. Perhaps the best is “Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; when they have something to bite with their teeth they cry, ‘peace,’ but against him who puts nothing in their mouths they declare holy war.” (Micah 3:5)

Brooks lists seven character traits which I shall list and write about using his book.

The first one is, “False teachers are men pleasers” Brooks explains that in this case false teachers preach or teach in such a manner that those who listen will be pleased with their words. They are not interested in changing the heart of their hearers. He suggests that such teachers “handle holy things rather with wit and dalliance than with fear and reverence.”

In this day being men (people) pleasers would undoubtedly apply to those who agree with the culture of the day, preaching in place of the gospel a cheap grace that has no transforming power. They lift up the spirit who supposedly blesses all religions rather than the Holy Spirit who leads the sinner to Jesus Christ and his unique saving work.

The second character: “False teachers are notable in casting dirt, scorn, and reproach upon the persons, names, and credits of Christ’s most faithful ambassadors. Brooks points out several godly persons in the Bible who had false accusations thrown at them. In the Old Testament Moses and Micaiah are mentioned. The story of Micaiah is found in 1 Kings 22:5-26. In the story Ahab, the King of Israel expresses his hatred for Micaiah, saying of him, “I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”

Micaiah told King Ahab the truth, he would be defeated in battle and Israel would be scattered. Some of his words are pastorally prophetic, telling of the condition and need of God’s people.

“I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace.’”

For this Micaiah received prison with only bread and water for nourishment.

Paul and Jesus are the New Testament persons Brooks points to. Of Paul he writes, “They rather contemn him than admire him; they look upon him as a dunce rather than a doctor.” Of Jesus he writes, “And the same hard measure had our Lord Jesus from the scribes and Pharisees, who labored as for life to build their own credit upon the ruins of his reputation.”

The third Character: “False teachers are venters of the devices and visions of their own heads and hearts.” Brooks gives several biblical texts including Jeremiah 23: 16.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.” Actually this whole chapter in Jeremiah is helpful in understanding God’s concern for the false teacher who is misleading the Lord’s people. And it begins with the promise of the one who would be and is a wise King and our righteousness. (23:5-6)

The fourth character: “False teachers easily pass over the great and weighty things both of law and gospel, and stand most upon those things that are of the least moment and concernment to the souls of men.”

Brooks quotes 1 Tim. 6:3-5 here and I will use his translation. “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmising, perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.”

According to this scripture text it is the false teacher who causes strife and disputes. Rather than preaching and teaching the gospel, the good news, that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Father who took on flesh and died on the cross for our sins, she teaches about God's supposedly "unconditional love" or about "women's choice," etc. Rather than teaching about the righteousness that Christ imputes to us because of his death and resurrection, he teaches about "Christ consciousness" or "culture as God's revelation, etc.

The people of God, the Christian believers, are hungry to hear the word of God preached and taught in its fullness and purity. No more political speeches or hymns doctored up with political or cultural allusions but faithful worship of the Lord. Whether it is a praise song full of scripture, or a traditional hymn resounding with God’s redemption through Jesus Christ, or a class which is faithful to the biblical text and confessions of the Church, or best of all a sermon where the preacher is not afraid to speak of the blood Jesus shed for our sins, the people of God are longing and needing the truth that is God’s word. We too are scattered on the mountains and need to go home in peace.

I will write of the last three character traits of false teachers in my next posting.

A glorious proposition

In the book, Precious remedies against Satan’s devices, written by the Puritan, Thomas Brooks, he lists “six propositions concerning Satan and his devices.” The last proposition is glorious.

“That God will shortly tread down Satan under the saints’ feet. Christ our champion, hath already won the field, and will shortly set our feet upon the necks of our spiritual enemies. Satan is a foiled adversary. Christ hath led him captive, and triumphed over him upon the cross. Christ hath already overcome him, and put weapons into your hands, that you may overcome him also, and set your feet upon his neck. Through Satan be a roaring lion, yet Christ, who is the lion of the tribe of Judah, will make Satan fly and fall before you. Let Satan do his worst, yet you shall have the honour and the happiness to triumph over him. Cheer up, you precious sons of Sion, for the certainty and sweetness of victory will abundantly recompense you for all the pains you have taken in making resistance against Satan’s temptations. The broken horns of Satan shall be trumpets of our triumph and the cornets of our joy.

The Trinity: A mystery known by the Christian

Someone writing comments on a blog has given me an opportunity to write about the Trinity and Jesus as the only Son of the Father.

Quite a while ago, almost a year, some one wrote this about the Trinity in the comment section of a blog:

"God is Father when we ask of God the things we ask of a Father. God is Spirit when we ask of God the things we as [sic] of God the Spirit. And God is the Son when we ask of God the things we ask of God the Son.

Ask and it shall be given unto you.

It is maddening to hold these three in our head at the same time. Which is He. Father? Son? Holy Spirit? the answer is "yes". Is he Wisdom? Again the answer is "yes". Can there be more persons to the Trinity? Sure, why not? It does not violate Scripture at all. The only thing that violates Scripture is to think of them as separate gods.

They are all one and the same. What we see depends on how we look. And if we look in a really weird way, we will see a really weird manifestation."

I felt this person must be thinking of the Trinity in modalistic terms. That is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are thought of as offices rather than eternal in their person. Like people who belong to the United Pentecostal Church or those who are called Jesus only Pentecostals they would in some way envision God as being sometimes father, sometimes son and sometimes spirit. Of course this would mean that when Jesus was praying to the Father he was really just praying to himself.

On the other hand, there are progressive Christians who have loosely formulated an old heresy that tends to divide the Trinity into different historical ages. This in its self is a kind of modalism. For instance according to this view there was the age of the Father (O.T.), then the time of the Son (The Gospels), and then the age of the Holy Spirit. They percieve that now in the age of the Spirit, the Spirit is doing a new thing or revealing more of God's revelation. In past ages the Ranters and Men of the Free Spirit held such a view. Some of todays' Pentecostal groups also fall into this aberrent teaching.

But then the person I mentioned above suggested that there could be more than three persons in the Trinity. That is, of course, a heresy. A very blatant heresy!

In this manner, some aberrent Christian groups have seen the Church as the fourth person of the Trinity. They are usually, but not always, Pentecostal groups. But what is important to understand here is that when the emphasis is on the Holy Spirit rather than Jesus, or when Jesus Christ is not lifted up to his proper position as the eternal Son of the Father all kinds of strange teachings slip into both the Church and individual conceptions of the Christian faith.

We are aware of God as Trinity because of our knowledge through the Scriptures of Jesus as the eternal Son of the Father.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. ...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-3, 14)

Recently in another comment section on a different blog, the person mentioned above, rejecting modalism, tried explaining what they wrote earlier:

"Just to set the record straight, I am not a modalist. Probably the biggest difference between what I said and what modalism says is that Modalism says God puts on different masks, and what I said is that >we<> put on different masks.

Beyond that, the Doctrine of the Trinity is a human invention that tries to explain how it is that we can be monotheists and worship God the Father, his Son, and the Holy Spirit. The fact that people still argue about it passionately today is evidence that a) it is an unsatisfactory explanation, and b) nobody has any idea what they are really talking about. God Is Who God Is. That is God's name. We will never fully understand it and that is what the Doctrine of the Trinity ultimately asserts: A Mystery."

This turns into the very post-modern and progressive idea that we are the one who defines God.

Now that can turn on two different wheels. One can believe that we really do define God since we somehow are a part of God and there is this give and take between divinity and our own selves. Or, and this is probably what this person is referring to, God is so mysterious that we can't really know anything about him so we attempt to use words to define what is undefinable.

But here again we should return to the person of Jesus Christ. Since he is God's revelation of who God is we must look to Jesus as he is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. To attempt to define God without Jesus Christ is to miss not only the Trinity but also the grace of God.

From the very beginning the promise of the Messiah defines God as the gracious and forgiving one who provides for His people. For instance connected to the sin of Adam and Eve is the promise of a Savior.

God in the midst of his rebuke to the snake, who is either an image of Satan or is used by Satan to lead Eve astray, (so in reality God is speaking to Satan) promises the coming One who will defeat Satan. He states "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." (Genesis 3:15)

Derek Kidner in his wonderful little commentary on Genesis writes of this verse:

"There is good New Testament authority for seeing here the protevangelium, the first glimmer of the gospel. Remarkably, it makes its debut as a sentence passed on the enemy (cf. Col. 2:15), not a direct promise to man, for redemption is about God's rule as much as about man's need ... The prospect of struggle, suffering and human triumph is clear enough, but only the New Testament will unmask the figure of Satan behind the serpent (Rom. 16:20; Rev. 12:9; 20:2), and show how significant was the passing over of Adam for the woman and her seed (cf. Mt. 1:23; Gal. 4:4;? 1 Tim. 2:15)"

So back to the Trinity; we know from the biblical text that God is one, that Jesus is God and that the Holy Spirit is God so we know that God is one, known in three eternal persons who are co-equal, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is a mystery not because we don't have knowledge about God, God's word gives us that knowledge, but because we have not experienced a human who is both one and three.

The Trinity is also a mystery in the sense that God is truly wonderful, awesome, in His being and in His graciousness toward us. And added to that is the mystery of the incarnation. Paul speaks of the Christian's true knowledge which comes from a "full assurance of understanding." And that true knowledge is of "God's mystery, that is Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col 2:2b-3)

So we are not without knowledge or understanding of the being or graciousness of God. And all of this because of Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the Father.

The Hound of Heaven, the Word of God and conversion stories

Last week the temperature soared to 108 and smoke from fires in the hills and mountains hung in the trees of Sacramento. But the wind from the ocean and the coastal fog has sent the delta breezes our way. The last two mornings and nights the wonderful delta breezes have blown away the smoke and heat.

In the same way the testimonies of both Toby Brown and Bill Crawford have, at least for me, blown away the lingering effects of General Assembly. That is not to say that there are not great and troubling effects for the whole body of Christ when one part sinks into apostasy.

But the stories of how others were converted to Jesus are like great big gulps of water to thirsty people. While it is always the “Hound of Heaven” relentlessly pursuing us that is the actual cause of our conversion, the ways of coming to Him are like snow flakes, of a unique design. But one part of the story, always, is in one way or another, the word of God.

I thought of my own interaction with the Bible and my conversion as I read about Toby’s journey to an acknowledgement of the total truthfulness of God’s word.

I cannot remember a time, after I learned to read, when I did not read God’s word. But I didn’t understand it; I just thought it must be important. When I was thirteen my Sunday School teacher, who had also been my fifth grade teacher, my sixth grade gym teacher and the wife of the postmaster in our small town, asked us all if we were Christians. I said I was trying to be!

I was baptized in the Methodist Church that year, because I was trying to be a Christian and because everyone else my age was also getting baptized. Later in Stockton, California I started searching for God. The Hound of Heaven was pursuing. I tried different Churches, read books by Christian Scientists and kept reading the Bible. I knew it pretty well I just didn’t understand it.

Finally I asked God to help me understand what the Bible was saying.

A school friend took me and my sister to her father’s church for what she called a revival. We went all week to a little store-front Southern Baptist Church. On the last evening I was convinced, by some dear church ladies who thought I was already a Christian, that I should be baptized by immersion. (God has a sense of humor after all.) So down to the front I went.

When the pastor asked me, “Do you believe the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin?” yes, it really was like a light bulb going off in my head. No one in that church ever knew but my yes was my yes to Jesus Christ.

I was sixteen and finally the Bible opened up with God’s wondrous story of redemption. I couldn’t get enough. The first book I devoured was Romans.

My college experiences were different than either Toby’s or Bill’s. Well to start with, I had six children first! But I went to two secular colleges, a city college, and then the University in Sacramento. And I went as a Christian who believed God’s word was true. I had some wonderful yet hard experiences, because when God sends you somewhere you go in the strength of God’s care but he doesn't always send you to easy places.

Some examples of studying philosophy, religions and finally history in a secular college arena: at City College where I majored in philosophy I came across my first progressive Presbyterian. He taught many of my philosophy classes. Dr. Merritt did not believe in the deity of Christ and hated Augustine as we all found out in the History of Modern Philosophy. World Religions was taught by a Wicca member. And the class I took on the new search for the historical Jesus was, of course, taught by a fellow of the Jesus Seminar. I could go on.

But the important point here is that God’s word was always sufficient in those classes. At one point Dr. Merritt asked if someone had a Bible so they could read Isaiah 53. He wanted to show how the writer was speaking of Israel as God’s son. How easy it was to read and then slip in the words, “You know, some people believe these words were written about Jesus Christ.”

His words and His presence are always sufficient.

"But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Romans 5:8-10)

A book review of William Hague's "William Wilberforce" by Exiled Preacher

As if listening to the comments that ended my last posting, Guy Davies, Exiled Preacher , has posted a great review of a new book on William Wilberforce, the Evangelical Christian who spent his political life ridding Great Britain of the slave trade.

William Wilberforce by William Hague is written, according to Davies, by a non-Evangelical who is nonetheless sympathetic to his subject. The review begins,

“Last year marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. Slavery itself was abolished in the British Empire in 1833. Many men and women campaigned against the slave trade, but the acknowledged leader of the anti-slavery movement was William Wilberforce. William Hague has put us in his debt with this well written and compelling biography. He evidently does not share the reformer's evangelical convictions, but he evidences a sympathetic understanding of his subject. The author's political background (he was a Conservative Cabinet Minister, then Leader of the Opposition and is currently Shadow Foreign Secretary) give him a valuable insight into the political aspects of Wilberforce's life.”

Another section: “But Wilberforce was involved in much more than the abolition of slavery. He was a best selling author. His A Practical View of Christianity exposed the nominal religion of the upper classes and set forth the evangelical faith in a provocative and winsome manner. He was an active philanthropist, involved in many good causes including the improvement of working conditions in the factories, the RSPCA. He advocated the work of overseas mission. In a three hour speech to Parliament, he successfully argued against the East India Company’s ban on evangelistic work in India.”

To read all of the review go here. William Wilberforce by William Hague .

Three theological And historical misunderstandings

Three points I wish to make about what I see as three theological and historical misunderstandings. The first has to do with false doctrine and individuals within the Church. The second has to do with false theological groups within the Church. The third has to do with renewal and revival movements within the Church.

Drawing by Melissa McHenry Tregilgas

(1)Individuals and groups who call themselves Christian but teach false doctrine are just that, individuals and groups who call themselves Christians and teach false doctrine. They are just like the rest of us: sinners. A few of them great sinners, some of them seemingly of very good character and most of them very enjoyable people to know.

I noticed this misunderstanding about false Christians as I worked in ministries to new religions. As the Director of Apologetics Resource Center I was usually the person who wrote about off-beat Christian groups. Most people reading this will have not heard of any of them. For instance, have you ever heard of the “Manifest Sons of God” movement? Or what about Free Love Ministries or Aggressive Christianity? (Same group!)

My point is most of the people in those groups were not monsters like Jim Jones or L. Ron Hubbard, instead they were people who didn’t understand the very basic foundation of Christianity. They needed biblical Pastors, teachers and friends.

The problem with false doctrine is not that the perpetrators are horrid people but that they have made Christianity a religion of works. When they sin there is no hope. Instead of the death of Jesus Christ providing the sinner with the righteousness that belongs only to Jesus Christ the believer has to “know” or “realize” who they are. Or the sinner has to somehow fulfill the very same work as Christ, for example empty themselves in order to be transformed.

Instead of the Father reaching down and placing them in safety because of the Son, they are left climbing ladders to God. That is why I write about false teachers, because both they and their followers are left without the righteousness that belongs to Jesus Christ.

(2.)Historically strange and false movements have grown in the Church, but the Church has outlasted them. The gates of Hell shall not prevail! In American Church history various movements have formed and grown in the Church but they have eventually moved out of the Church. For instance, the Unitarian church grew out of the early Congregationalists as a debate about the Trinity seemed to almost overcome the Church of early America.

The interesting part of this is that eventually the Unitarian Church had its own battle against those who no longer wanted to celebrate the communion service in any way. This was the battle the Unitarian Church had with the Transcendentalists. Later as false religion grew the Pagan and Wicca groups became a part of what is now the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Another movement that festered within the nineteenth century American Church was the Metaphysical Movement which was later to form into such groups as Christian Science, Unity School of Christianity and Science of Mind. Not many people know that early on this movement sought a home in the Christian Church. (And sadly it has influenced some of the Pentecostal churches and the Mainline Churches even now.) But the point is that God always has His Church somewhere and “having done all” she can still stand in His truth and grace. Error does not last.

(3.)A lot of writing has gone on recently about renewal groups having a slogan of “stay, fight win” in the mainline churches. I don’t think this is really the slogan of anyone but I want to address what it means to be renewal people in the Church. It means to be faithful to Jesus Christ and to be where He has called. And historically it can mean many things.

It can be a dying church that leaves a witness. Sometimes Christianity starts in the world as in seventeenth century Japan where most Christians died until Christianity was only a shell. It can be a renewing Church that waits a long time for renewal. Sometimes Christianity is renewed in the Church as it was in the Catholic Church of John Hus only to face death and a wait of a hundred years for the rise of a new reformation.

It can be renewal that lasts for years and changes history. Christians, in what would become modern Germany, were in prayer for church renewal when Martin Luther began his biblical preaching in what would become the Reformation.

We do not know where God is leading or what will happen in the mainline churches in the future. We cannot insist others follow Christ in the same way He calls us to follow Him. There is an old hymn that goes “Some through the water, some through the flood, some through the fire but all through the blood.”

But we can trust that His call is real and has value in His Kingdom. And we can keep loving those teaching false doctrine in the Church as we speak truth to them. We can also keep loving, caring for, and having fellowship with those God calls out of the mainline Churches. Perhaps in God’s plan they will bring blessings back to us.