10 Ways the Word of Faith Movement (Kenneth Hagin) Went Wrong by JOSEPH MATTERA

As a product of the Word of Faith movement in the early 1980s, I will forever be indebted to the books and teachings of Kenneth Hagin Sr., Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, T.L. Osborn and the like. These were holy men of integrity who turned the world upside down with their faith and teaching.

I learned how to pray for the sick by reading Osborn’s book Healing the Sick, and I learned how to resist the devil by reading Hagin’s The Believer’s Authority. In reading many biographies of Smith Wigglesworth, I have always been challenged by his utter consecration to Christ and to walk in the light of His Word whether in or out of the pulpit. I shudder to think where I would be right now if not for being influenced by these men and this movement.

That being said, as I continued to grow in the Lord and His Word, I saw several flaws in the teaching and in the movement in general. This article is not meant to dampen anyone’s faith but to bring a more balanced picture of the ways of God—especially since many have been discouraged in this movement because they did not understand the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) and did not have a theology that included certain things that challenged their faith.

I have found that whenever we preach or emphasize one truth of God’s Word to the exclusion of the others, it becomes a mixture and produces both good and bad fruit. For example, this has happened with the hypergrace movement, as well as the view of hyperfaith. From an overemphasis on outward holiness, we get legalism. And we come into a form of fatalism when we emphasize God’s sovereignty at the expense of human responsibility.

However, I will go on record saying that I would much rather be with people attempting to walk in faith and victory than be hanging out with depressed saints filled with unbelief and doubt. Also, like most other movements, the Word of Faith movement restored to the body of Christ a biblical truth that was neglected by the church—and in doing so, overemphasized it. But after several years, more balance comes as folks like myself “eat the meat and spit out the bones.” Also, I believe that Brother Hagin never approved of some of the excesses that came out of the faith camp—especially regarding the unbalanced teachings on prosperity that came from some of his more radical followers.

The following are some of the flaws of the Word of Faith movement from my perspective (and I realize these are generalizations that don’t fit exactly every person classified as “Word of Faith”):

1. They preach a “rights centered” gospel rather then a "stewardship centered" gospel.

Perhaps influenced by our Jeffersonian heritage of individual rights in America, the way the gospel is applied to individuals in the Word of Faith movement is based on personal rights in Christ. Although this is partially true, the New Testament balances our rights in Christ with our responsibility that goes along with these rights.

For example, in Deuteronomy 8:18, we learn that God gave believers “power to get wealth, that His may establish His covenant.” This passage clearly teaches us the primary purpose of prosperity is for the kingdom—not only for our individual comfort and pleasure. Many in the faith movement used to “claim” houses and cars and attempt to use their faith merely for their own individual needs, which, in and of itself, goes against our call to seek first His kingdom (Matt. 6:33) as a prerequisite for our individual needs and wants being fulfilled.

2. Their dispensational belief precludes the role and importance of the Old Covenant in the New Covenant age.

I heard Brother Hagin brag several times in his teaching sessions that he did not read the Old Covenant because we have a new and better covenant now in Christ. The challenge with that teaching is that he did not understand the relevance and role of the moral and civic law of God found from Exodus to Deuteronomy—especially the Ten Commandments that were repeated over and over again either exactly or in principle by the New Testament writers. Without the moral law of God, we have no standard for holiness and will lack the conviction of sin the moral law gives as our standard of holiness and ethics.

Furthermore, Hagin and others like him would only quote the Old Testament when convenient—when it comported to his view of faith. For example, he would quote Exodus 23:25, where God told the Jews He would take sickness from them, but he neglected to also teach that in order to walk in health, they had to follow the strict dietary code as found in Leviticus 11. Thus, healing for the Jews included not only claiming a promise of God but also staying away from unclean food. (In my opinion, walking in physical health also involves having a healthy diet and lifestyle—or else we are tempting God by intentionally violating His natural laws and then expecting Him to heal us.)

3. They have a semi-gnostic dualism regarding their view of God.

Word of Faith preachers have a simple view of God: Everything that is good is of God, and everything bad is from the devil.

While I totally agree God is a good God, sometimes He has to bring judgment or allow things to take place that in our natural minds may be interpreted as bad. What do Word of Faith preachers do with passages like Isaiah 45:7, in which God says He not only brings prosperity but also disaster? Or 2 Samuel 24:13, where God told King David to choose one of three calamities He would bring upon the land of Israel as punishment for his sin? Or Amos 3:6, which clearly says God sometimes brings disaster to a city? What about the book of Job, where God allows Satan to afflict Job physically with boils as well as bring disaster to other areas of his life?

I remember Brother Hagin teaching that Job doesn’t count in the New Testament because Job 42:10 says God turned the captivity of Job and that Luke 4:18 says Jesus set the captives free. That would all be fine, except for the fact that the book of James carries the life and story of Job into the New Testament for the church age—specifically, James 5:11 offers a lesson for us regarding God’s ways and dealings. (Also, without the book of Job, we have nothing to say to Christians who unexpectedly lose a loved one or experience great personal challenges and loss. Job is comforting to me as a pastor because it shows me that God is sovereign over all things—in both the good and the bad—even when it is hard to explain and understand in the natural. Furthermore, God never gave Job an explanation for why He allowed disaster to strike.)

Finally, what do Word of Faith teachers say about Revelation 2:22-23, where Jesus says that He will cast people on a bed of sickness and even strike people dead? This does not go along with the simple dualism they teach.

Now, I will be the first to say that God’s general will, as revealed in the Gospels, is for divine health (see also 3 John 2) and that, in general, He always wants us healthy in spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23) and that Jesus came for us to have an abundant life (John 10:10). But those in the Word of Faith movement have such a narrow view of the Word of God that they do not have any explanations for mysterious things that happen to us that challenge our faith. It is not always true that something bad happened to a person because they had sin (John 9:1-3) or that they didn’t get healed or calamity came to them because they lacked faith. Of course, the instance where Jesus brought sickness and death in Revelation 2:22-23 had to do with disobedience, which took people out from under the covering of the Lord (Ps. 91:1).

In summary, it is still generally God’s will to bring us health and prosperity in the context of obedience to His Word.

4. Positive confession sometimes leads to dishonesty and superficial Christianity.

I have been around many believers who are afraid to be honest and admit they are struggling with their faith. This brings people into bondage and even a form of superficial religion. Some believers are like robots—when you ask them how they are doing, they routinely say, “I am blessed and highly favored!” However, I know some of these people, and they are merely trying to keep a positive confession even though their world is falling apart.

Now, I do believe in speaking the Word of God to our challenging circumstances and not giving in to negative talk, but that is different from what James 5:16 tells us when he exhorts believers to confess their faults one to another. Positive confession is good and biblical (Prov. 18:21) as long as it doesn’t stop a person from getting pastoral counsel and being honest with fellow believers when they need prayer.

5. Their view on prosperity is only based on giving.

While it is true that the Bible teaches we reap what we sow and that if we give, it will be given back to us (Luke 6:38), one of the flaws of the Word of Faith movement is that it only teaches people one side of prosperity. I believe the church needs to equip the saints not only to give but also to get, as well as how to manage what they get  while investing and saving for the future.

When we only teach the saints how to give, we limit the amount of creativity and blessing some people can experience—because without combining giving with hard work, education and an understanding of how to manage and create a budget, many folks will continue in cycles of poverty even though they may experience elements of God’s provision based on their giving. God can only bless in proportion to our ability to manage what He gives us!

In poor countries, I have found that when the only solution presented to the people for breaking poverty is “giving to the church,” the only person who becomes prosperous is the preacher. In the kingdom of God, the church is called to have a more empowering and holistic approach in regard to prosperity and breaking cycles of poverty.

6. They have faith in their faith as a principle rather than it emanating out of the person of Christ.

I have found in many instances where this movement presented faith almost as an impersonal force, like the law of gravity. This led to teachings like “having faith in your faith.” When this is taught, it can disconnect faith from intimacy with the Lord. The more I get to know a person, the more I can trust them. Faith is not a force. It is a result of growing in simple trust based on growing in an experiential knowledge of the Lord. Faith is relational. It is not an impersonal force.



7. Some pastors have modeled their church preaching after these “specialists” in the body. 

Brother Hagin, T.L. Osborn, Smith Wigglesworth and the like were not typical pastors called to oversee a flock. Thus, they were able to preach based on their primary assignment, which was faith and healing.

The challenge is, many pastors who don’t understand this began to mimic these great men of God and attempted to build congregations only around those three themes—faith, prosperity and healing. That is OK if you are a traveling teacher or evangelist, but a congregation needs to have a balanced diet of the Word that includes the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). A pastor needs to preach on healing but also holiness; faith but also tests and trials; moving mountains but also marriage; giving financially but also stewardship and hard work. I love preaching on faith and healing, but as a pastor I often had to preach subjects I really did not have a great passion for but knew others needed to hear to fully mature in the Lord.

8. It can put guilt and bondage on believers.

I have heard of many people who walk around in guilt because they are not healed or because they are struggling financially. In some cases, I have even heard of famous faith preachers who checked into a hospital under a different name so word would not get out that they were sick and under a doctor’s care!

We need to have a culture of faith in our churches, but we also have to engender a culture of humility, honesty and brokenness—admitting that we don’t always walk in victory over sin and sickness as well as making allowances for mystery The fact is, we don’t always understand why certain things happen to believers. (See again the book of Job.)

9. It can produce independent, narcissistic believers.

When the Word of Faith movement went from a stewardship-centered gospel to a rights-centered gospel, it also attracted many self-focused people—people who used God as an excuse for their lavish lifestyles and who frowned upon those living in simplicity. Unfortunately, this teaching often appealed to the narcissistic tendencies in all of us, and many large ministries were built more upon the American Dream of having a nice house and a nice car than upon taking up our cross and following Jesus. Jesus said in Luke 14:33 that we have to lose everything in order to be His disciple, but many in this movement only focus on what we gain. Truly, you can’t be resurrected until you first go to the cross!

10. It is not connected to the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28.

Last but not least, the Word of Faith movement did not go far enough. Instead of limiting faith to merely believing for individual healing and health, the Word of God teaches that our faith should also transform whole cities and subdue kingdoms! (See Isaiah 61:4 and Hebrews 11:33.) The gospel is a blueprint to disciple and baptize whole people groups, not just individuals (Matt. 28:19-20). It not only deals with individual sinners but systemic evil. The Word of Faith movement, though, brings faith for individual victory but doesn’t say much about corporate victory. However, regarding the community of believers, faith is also based on the corporate culture and anointing of a congregation. (First Corinthians 11:27-32 and Hebrews 3-4 teach that whole congregations can be negatively affected by a culture of unbelief or disobedience.)

The Word of Faith movement in general separated the gospel from the kingdom and, in doing so, made it more about individual prosperity then societal transformation. When you separate the gospel from the kingdom, you tend to become more self-focused because the Good News gets disconnected from our responsibility to steward the earth. With the gospel of the kingdom, we believe in individual, congregational and societal transformation!

Finally, I believe with all of my heart that there was more good than bad in the Word of Faith movement and that it was God’s intention that  biblical faith for the supernatural be restored back to the church. All of us only know in part and see through a glass darkly—even the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 13:9,12). Consequently, it often takes years for the body of Christ to discern how to have balance when old truths are restored. One of the keys to life is balance—and biblical balance cannot come until we attempt to embrace the whole counsel of God!

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church, Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can read more on josephmattera.org or connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.

Pastor Paula White Claims July Is 'Prophetically Designated for Victory Over Enemies;' Suggests $229 'Breakthrough Seed' Donation

BY NICOLA MENZIE , CHRISTIAN POST

In a newsletter emailed to supporters this week, Florida pastor Paula White claims that God has shown her that "this is a season of victory for His people." The Christian minister also reveals a strong feeling "that a seed of $229 in accordance with 1 Chronicles 22:9 is a breakthrough seed for the month of July," and declares to recipients of her newsletter, "Do not hesitate to follow a prophetic instruction!"

White, who formerly led Without Walls Church International with ex-husband Randy White, is senior pastor of New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida.

In a newsletter emailed on Thursday to Paula White Ministries supporters, and titled "This Email Will Change Your Life!" White asserts: "YOU are on the verge of complete breakthrough in every area of your life. Spiritually, Financially, and Relationally God has shown me that this is a season of victory for His people."

"As I went deeper in the Spirit the Lord revealed that before the breakthrough comes, certain things must be dealt with. Specifically, there must be a complete defeat of your enemies! I need to explain the importance of this to you, so do not let this email go unread," the newsletter signed "Paula" adds.

White goes on to suggest that 1 Chronicles 22:7-8 reveals that King David was unable to fully realize his dream of building the Temple because "he only secured complete victory over his enemies at an age too old to build!"

"This is why God told me to specifically address the area of defeat over enemies," White declares, continuing in all caps: "JULY IS PROPHETICALLY DESIGNATED FOR VICTORY OVER ENEMIES FOR THOSE WHO ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH ME IN THIS SEASON! DO NOT HESITATE!" It was not clear if the "me" in the minister's newsletter refers to herself, or if she is claiming to speak on behalf of God.

After breaking down what she says are the "7 principles" recipients of the newsletter "must know," White insists that they also "must know" how to "legally engage the enemy" in their life "for his unconditional defeat."

"Part of the legal engagement is in your following prophetic instruction," explains the newsletter. "July is YOUR month of deliverance from your enemy. After July, you will enter your season of rest that you may accomplish your dreams."

White goes on to insist that she has a special teaching that will help supporters attain deliverance from their enemies.

"But first you must get what I have to teach you," writes White.

"I feel strongly that a seed of $229 in accordance with 1 Chronicles 22:9 is a breakthrough seed for the month of July. It is a turnaround, God ordained, demon slaying, abundance bringing seed. Not only will this seed defeat your enemies, but I believe it will bring about an unexpected abundance of miracles. Do not hesitate to follow a prophetic instruction!"

In 1 Chronicles 22:9, King David tells his son Solomon of the message he received from God: "But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign."

If recipients of the Paula White Ministries newsletter are unable to "produce" the 1 Chronicles-inspired $229 "seed" or "offering," then, they are told, "get a seed of $31 or more for the 31 days in July and 1 Chronicles 22:9 (22+9=31)."

On the product pages at paulawhite.org, the monetary figures for White's "Defeating Your Enemy Package" are labeled as "gifts" and "donations," as Paula White Ministries is a nonprofit, or charitable organization.

In exchange for their donations of either $229 or $31, supporters receive White's three-part teaching series, "The Depths of Satan" on how to "overcome and defeat" the devil's tactics; and also a book titled Binding The Strong Man by Archbishop N. Duncan-Williams, described on his official Facebook page as "a pioneer of the charismatic movement in Ghana."

While it is common for Christian ministries to solicit financial donations from supporters, oftentimes providing free resources as a token of gratitude, it is rare for the solicitation to be packaged as prophecy, or with such unction as special revelation from God.

Evangelist Benny Hinn made a similar appeal to supporters last month, encouraging them to step up to "higher seed-level giving" by donating $1,000 to his ministry. The televangelist suggested that supporters would enter a "new dimension of favor and increase" if they took on the challenge.

White, who is described on her ministry website as a "pastor, teacher, author, international evangelist, inspirational figure, popular TV personality…woman of God," has been engaged in Christian ministry since the late '80s. She claims to support through her ministry "hundreds of local and international outreaches." Her list of accolades and official recognitions include the 2011 Impact Leadership Award during the 5th Annual International Financial and Leadership Summit, the 2009 Humanitarian Award by the Trumpet Award Foundation, the 2007 Behind the Bench "Mind, Body Spirit Award" from the NBA Wives Organization, and many others.

White, dubbed a prosperity preacher by some Christians, was among six televangelists, including Hinn, targeted in 2007 by the Senate Committee on Finance for possible abuse of her ministry's nonprofit status. While the minister submitted a financial report to the committee, she failed to disclose her full financial dealings with her church and related ministry.

White, 48, and former husband Randy White grew Without Walls International Church into a mega-ministry in the late 1990s, making it one of the top 10 largest churches in Tampa, Florida. White eventually cut all ties with WWIC, and after the 2011 death of Zachery Tims, was installed, with much controversy, as his successor at New Destiny Christian Center.

'I Believe It's Something God Has Asked Me to Write,' Says Francis Chan on Marriage Book Co-Authored With Wife

Christian preacher Francis Chan and his wife, Lisa Chan, have written a new book for couples who may be so caught up in trying to have the perfect marriage that they have unwittingly made their union, spouse or children into idols.

"The whole idea behind it is, sometimes couples can get so wrapped up on things here to where they're not focused on the kingdom," explains Mr. Chan in a promotional video for You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity.

In the video, Lisa Chan suggests that marriages are about a mission, and not "about how satisfied and happy are we with one another." Her husband points to 1 Corinthians 7, where the Apostle Paul discusses marriage as a potential distraction. Mr. Chan notes that "he was saying how we want to secure undistracted or undivided devotion to the Lord."

Mr. Chan, who says he felt called by God to write You and Me Forever, wants to give away as many copies of the book as possible.

"I want everyone to get this. I believe it's something God has asked me write, and so my whole burden is I've got to get it to as many people as possible. That's why we decided to self-publish because I wanted to be able to give it away for free, to everyone who needs it," he explains.

Proceeds from actual purchases of the book, however, will be used to provide food, shelter and rehabilitation for orphaned and exploited women through charitable organizations working around the globe.

According to an article on the website of Eternity Bible College, the school founded by Mr. Chan, You and Me Forever is not like the plethora of other marriage books that have already been written: "What you won't find here is a handbook of communication principles, advice to strengthen your sex life, or guidelines for handling finances."

Watch the Chans discuss You and Me Forever, available August 26, in the video player below.

You and Me Forever - Francis & Lisa Chan (Trailer) from Room 212 Productions on Vimeo.

The Chans, who have five children (with a sixth on the way), have spoken previously about God's design for marriage, with Mr. Chan saying in one sermon, "I think we've been looking at marriage in the wrong way in the Church."

He made the remark while teaching on the subject in 2011 at Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, the congregation the Chans founded in 1994 and eventually left in 2010. In the message titled "Two People With One Mission," Mr. Chan went on to say that couples who feel inhibited about serving God because they think they first have to get their marriage together, have their priorities backwards.

"You focus on your family, you focus on your marriage, you focus on your kids because you're going, 'Man, we're not the model family. I shouldn't be leading, I shouldn't be teaching.' I'm saying, if you try to do that, it's never gonna work," said Chan.

Instead, "Being focused on the mission is actually what brings your family together," he insisted.

The Crazy Love author then rattled off typical advice newlyweds might receive about their marriage and family life.

"The first year of marriage is supposed to be just for the two of you. Don't get into ministry, focus on each other. You need to be about yourselves, get that right. Then once you have a kid it's like, well you know it's a new baby, you have to really nurture those first couple of years. Now they're in school, well until they're 18, you really have to just focus on your family,'" said Chan.

Implementing such an approach actually goes against what the Bible demands, according to Chan.

"I'm saying that's going to destroy your family and it creates a terrible model for your kids — 'Oh, OK, family comes first. Serving God, we can put that aside until it's convenient.'"

He added, "That's going to destroy you. The very thing that bonds us together is the fact that we're on this mission together. It's like Jesus said, if you seek the kingdom first ...

"When we put the family first and say, 'OK, we have to protect this, we have to guard it, we have to work on our marriage,' and that's your emphasis, then you're just like everyone else out there that just wants a happy marriage."

"Well, God says, 'You seek the kingdom first and watch what happens. Watch what happens in your family, watch what happens in your marriage, watch what happens with your kids,'" said Chan.

Since resigning from leadership of the Cornerstone Community Church, Chan has spearheaded a discipling movement with Alabama pastor David Platt called Multiply, as well as his own house-church planting movement called We Are Church.

City Harvest, Singapore Megachurches Using Pop Culture, Mass Consumption Model for Growth

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV, CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER

The rise of megachurches in Singapore has been documented in a new report that reveals how they are modeling the pop culture and mass consumption structure of society to achieve financial success.

"Mega churches have been able to articulate Christianity in a very contemporary manner," said Terence Chong, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in the report by Bloomberg News. "Being able to adopt the language of pop culture, mass consumption -- we think this appeals to the new middle class, people who are aspiring middle class."

Among several growing churches in Singapore, the report also highlights the rise of City Harvest Church, the non-denominational church founded by senior pastor Kong Hee, who is currently facing allegations of using donation money to further his wife's music career and for other personal purposes. Hee has denied the charges, however, and City Harvest is said to be standing by him as he awaits trial.

Since 2010, City Harvest has amassed more than 20,000 members, and like a number of other megachurches, is reportedly investing big in Singapore malls and other businesses. Its plans in 2010 included spending $248 million to invest in the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Center, a major multi-use development center, as well as paying for rent and renovation costs.

City Harvest Church Executive Pastor Aries Zulkarnain apparently even "used PowerPoint slides to instruct churchgoers how to give offerings via cash, check and credit card, and highlighted the online donation system," according to Bloomberg. Zulkarnain reportedly shared in the presentation how the congregation had raised close to $18 million for the center since last year.

"The message here is: The more you give, the more you get back from God. It's like an investment," explained Gerard Ee, former President of the National Council of Social Service.

As for the spiritual connection, the Bloomberg report notes that megachurches are linking precisely the economic aspect of church building to people coming closer to God by showing their commitment to their church through their financial contributions.

As they come forth Lord to sow, release upon them Father the power to get, to create, to receive wealth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ," prayed Senior Pastor Joseph Prince of rising megachurch New Creation Church during one service. "Prosperity is right. Amen. We prosper to prosper others. We prosper to prosper God's kingdom, so come believing."

Prince's ministry is a prime example of a megachurch using all available forms of technology and social media to spread its message, and raise donations around the world, according to Bloomberg. The pastor speaks at no less than four sessions a day, and his iTunes podcast is set to reach millions of people across North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, Israel, and Singapore.

"Market-friendly ideologies associated with individualism and self-empowerment are often blended with selective Christian theologies to emphasize positive living and blessings, while deflecting overtly negative Christian doctrines such as suffering, judgment, sacrifice, hell or death from sin," commented Jeaney Yip, a lecturer at the University of Sydney Business School, whose studies focused on marketing practices of megachurches. "Their church services are scripted and 'produced' with deliberate use of contemporary music, sound and lighting."

'I Would Go to Jail over Jesus' Name,' Says Public Official by JOHN JESSUP/CBN NEWS

Robin Bartlett Frazier, who made waves by praying in public meetings, says she is willing to accept imprisonment for the sake of Christ. (CBN)

Robin Bartlett Frazier, a two-term elected official in Carroll County, Maryland, isn't shy about her Christian faith.

It's what almost landed the granddaughter of a Methodist minister on the wrong side of the law in March 2014.

"Thinking of what Jesus did for me on the cross, I would not say his name because I might go to jail?" Frazier pondered. "I just couldn't do that."

No Public Prayers to Jesus? 

Frazier made waves when she defied U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles' order that banned the Board of Carroll County Commissioners from opening meetings with prayers to Jesus, which they had done since January 2011 when they were sworn in.

One day after the temporary injunction against sectarian prayers came down, she made the following declaration at a commission hearing, which coincided with her turn to lead in prayer:

"I think that is an infringement on my freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and I think it's a wrong ruling," she announced. "And just as I wouldn't give up my guns or I wouldn't allow my children to be palm-scanned or I wouldn't give up my property rights with 'PlanMaryland,' I'm not going to give up those rights. But out of respect for my colleagues, I'm not sure how strongly they feel about it, I'm willing to go to jail over it. I believe this is a fundamental of America. And if we cease to believe that our rights come from God, we cease to be America. We've been told to be careful, but we're going to be careful all the way to communism if we don't start standing up and saying 'no.' So, I say no to this ruling."

Shortly after the statement, Frazier recited a prayer which she attributed to George Washington, though experts dispute its true author. "I didn't want to be directly defiant to the judge," she told CBN News. "I prayed about how I could draw a line, [but] the more I thought about it, the more it made me angry that we would be told not only that we couldn't pray to who we wanted to but that we couldn't use certain words."

Residents Say Prayers are Divisive 

Frazier, who became a Christian around the age of 14 at a Youth for Christ event in nearby Hampstead, Maryland, says ultimately it was an easy stand to make, even though she and the commission were in the middle of a lawsuit with the possibility of tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

The legal challenge came from a group of residents who said the prayers were divisive.

Frazier insists that was never the intent, telling CBN News that the commissioners researched the law and tried to be respectful of others while remaining true to their own religious convictions.

"The idea of inviting people to pray with us, we said we wouldn't do that. It would just be the board," she explained. "So, we kind of looked at the law and tried to be within it, but still asked for wisdom and guidance as we conducted our business."

Prayer Policy Coercive and Insulting?

However, the plaintiffs argued the prayer policy was coercive and insulting. "I reached a point, as others had, you just get tired of going to the meetings and being in an excluded class of individuals," Neil Ridgely explained in a documentary produced by a local student at McDaniel College in Westminster. Ridgely is one of the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the county.

Some residents who support the commissioners describe the challenge as Christian discrimination. But the plaintiffs' attorney, Monica Miller, told CBN News she rejects that notion, noting one of the plaintiffs is a practicing Catholic. 

"This isn't about atheism being pushed down someone's throat," Miller said. This is about being inclusive to everyone, including Christians."

Sign of the Times 

The case is still pending, but Frazier remains hopeful she's on the winning side of the law after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of sectarian prayers in another case, Greece v. Galloway, in early June.

 Frazier believes her case and others, like the recent Hobby Lobby contraception case, point to a decline in religious liberties. "All of these things are to try and limit religion," she said. "That's what motivates me to stand up for the Lord because we will not be America if we push God out."

 While she has received plenty of support for taking a stand for Judeo-Christian values, she also has faced a lot of backlash. Some have even suggested this was all a political stunt to sway voter support in her favor.

 "That was the furtherest [sic] thing from my mind," she explained. "I even tried hard not to politicize it, which is one of the reasons why I'm having this interview now and not before the election—because I didn't want to even give the impression that I was trying to do that, because this wasn't about that at all."

 For those who know her best, like lawyer and longtime friend Bob Lennon, they say Frazier is as genuine as they come. "She's an amazing person. She doesn't have an ego," Lennon said. "She's just a genuinely good person. And she's exactly what a public servant should be. She's there to serve people."

 But county voters had the final say in June's Maryland primaries. Frazier lost her re-election bid to represent her district to fellow Republican Steve Wantz. She conceded the loss was, at least in part, possibly the result of the battle over prayer backfiring.

I Wouldn't Change a Thing

Unfazed, she told CBN News she wouldn't change a thing and is proud of her political record and the stand she made for her Christian faith. Keeping taxes low, defending property rights and fighting an "overreaching" state government are among her proudest accomplishments. But two others top her list: leading a local newspaper reporter in the prayer of salvation and fighting for the right to reference Jesus in public prayers.

"It was much, much bigger than me, and it made me know that I was in the right place at the right time to be used of God," she said. "And maybe that was the full purpose I was in here this [sic] four years."

WATCH: Darren Wilson Releases Full 'Holy Ghost' Trailer That Will Give You Goosebumps

Charisma News

Wanderlust has released the full trailer today for their new, highly anticipated film, Holy Ghost. The new trailer gives the biggest look yet at the next installment from filmmaker Darren Wilson.

Watch that trailer below:

"One of my goals in making this movie," says Director Darren Wilson, "was to separate it artistically as much as possible from my previous films (Finger of God, Furious Love, Father of Lights) while still holding onto the spirit of those movies. Those films featured my narrative as more of a curious everyman, wondering about everything he sees. This movie, well, let's just say that I've finally made up my mind."

"I think this is the first time one of our trailers has truly captured the feel of the movie, so I'm excited for people to see it," continues Wilson. "This whole movie is just electric from start to finish, and hopefully the trailer conveys that we're dealing with a lot of big, deep stuff in this movie."

Financed through the popular crowd funding platform Kickstarter, Holy Ghost became the No. 1 most-funded Christian movie in Kickstarter history. As part of that campaign, Wilson and is team have brought their nearly 2,500 backers with them for the entire movie-making process, resulting in over 100 separate updates from film shoots around the world.

(ANTINOMIANISM / Hyper Grace) Doctrinal Hindrances by A. W. Tozer

"While the saved are completely freed from the Law of Moses, evangelical Christians too often forget that we are 'under law to Christ' (1 Cor. 9: 21); and the fracture of this law - practically the entire New Testament - can involve exceedingly grave consequences, though not eternal perdition." - D. M. PANTON.

Editor Note: This excerpt is taken from “PATHS TO POWER” by A.W. Tozer.

If only preachers today had such insight! I have been sounding the alarm on these points for many years, but most people ignore the plea because the infection of deception on these points is so universal in the denominations of America.

Most will not understand the damage and hindrance false teachings cause to true evangelism, because they don’t understand true evangelism. Evangelism is simply bringing someone from a lost condition to being a true Christian; but until you have a proper definition for “Christian”, you will never have a proper definition for “evangelism”.

Most preachers don’t comprehend how Antinomianism (doctrine and influence) is the root to most of the apostate and profane religion in this nation. They don’t sound the alarm because they personally have been influenced more than they realize. May God rid us of these hindrances to true evangelism and revival!

“DOCTRINAL HINDRANCES”

To any casual observer of the religious scene today, two things will at once be evident: one, that there is very little sense of sin among the unsaved, and two, that the average professed Christian lives a life so worldly and careless that it is difficult to distinguish him from the unconverted man.

The power that brings conviction to the sinner and enables the Christian to overcome in daily living is being hindered somewhere. It would be oversimplification to name any one thing as the alone cause, for many things stand in the way of the full realization of our New Testament privileges. There is one class of hindrances, however, which stands out so conspicuously that we are safe in attributing to it a very large part of our trouble. I mean wrong doctrines or overemphasis on right ones. I want to point out some of these doctrines, and I do it with the earnest hope that it may not excite controversy, but bring us rather to a reverent examination of our position.

Fundamental Christianity in our times is deeply influenced by that ancient enemy of righteousness, antinomianism. The creed of the antinomian is easily stated: We are saved by faith alone; works have no place in salvation; conduct is works, and is therefore of no importance. What we do cannot matter as long as we believe rightly. The divorce between creed and conduct is absolute and final. The question of sin is settled by the Cross; conduct is outside the circle of faith and cannot come between the believer and God. Such, in brief, is the teaching of the antinomian. And so fully has it permeated the Fundamental element in modern Christianity that it is accepted by the religious masses as the very truth of God.

Antinomianism is the doctrine of grace carried by uncorrected logic to the point of absurdity. It takes the teaching of justification by faith and twists it into deformity. It plagued the Apostle Paul in the early church and called out some of his most picturesque denunciations. When the question is asked, “shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” he answers no with that terrific argument in the sixth chapter of Romans.



Their error springs from their very eagerness to magnify grace and exalt the freedom of the gospel. They start right, but allow themselves to be carried beyond what is written by a slavish adherence to undisciplined logic. It is always dangerous to isolate a truth and then press it to its limit without regard to other truths. It is not the teaching of Scripture that grace makes us free to do evil. Rather, it sets us free to do good. Between these two conceptions of grace there is a great gulf fixed. It may be stated as an axiom of the Christian system that whatever makes sin permissible is a foe of God and an enemy of the souls of men.

Right after the first World War there broke out an epidemic of popular evangelism with the emphasis upon what was called the “positive” gospel. The catch–words were “believe,” “program,” “vision.” The outlook was wholly objective. Men fulminated against duty, commandments and what they called scornfully “a decalogue of don’ts.”

They talked about a “big,” “lovely,” Jesus who had come to help us poor but well–meaning sinners to get the victory. That part of the New Testament which acts as an incentive toward holy living was carefully edited out. It was said to be “negative” and was not tolerated. Thousands sought help who had no desire to leave all and follow the Lord. The will of God was interpreted as “Come and get it.” Christ thus became a useful convenience, but His indisputable claim to Lordship over the believer was tacitly cancelled out.

Much of this is now history. The economic depression of the thirties helped to end it by making the huge meetings which propagated it unprofitable. But its evil fruits remain. The stream of gospel thought had been fouled, and its waters are still muddy.

Another doctrine which hinders God’s work, and one which is heard almost everywhere, is that sinners are not lost because they have sinned, but because they have not accepted Jesus. “Men are not lost because they murder; they are not sent to hell because they lie and steal and blaspheme; they are sent to hell because they reject a Saviour.” This short–sighted preachment is thundered at us constantly, and is seldom challenged by the hearers.

A parallel argument would be hooted down as silly, but apparently no one notices it: “That man with a cancer is dying, but it is not the cancer that is killing him; it is his failure to accept a cure.” Is it not plain that the only reason the man would need a cure is that he is already marked for death by the cancer? The only reason I need a Saviour, in His capacity as Saviour, is that I am already marked for hell by the sins I have committed. Refusing to believe in Christ is a symptom of deeper evil in the life, of sins unconfessed and wicked ways unforsaken. The guilt lies in acts of sin; the proof of that guilt is seen in the rejection of the Saviour.


Another doctrinal hindrance is the teaching that men are so weak by nature that they are unable to keep the law of God. Our moral helplessness is hammered into us in sermon and song until we wilt under it and give up in despair. And on top of this we are told that we must accept Jesus in order that we may be saved from the wrath of the broken law! No matter what the intellect may say, the human heart can never accept the idea that we are to be held responsible for breaking a law that we cannot keep.

Would a father lay upon the back of his three–year old son a sack of grain weighing five– hundred pounds and then beat the child because he could not carry it? Either men can or they cannot please God. If they cannot, they are not morally responsible, and have nothing to fear. If they can, and will not, then they are guilty, and as guilty sinners they will be sent to hell at last. The latter is undoubtedly the fact. If the Bible is allowed to speak for itself it will teach loudly the doctrine of man’s personal responsibility for sins committed. Men sin because they want to sin. God’s quarrel with men is that they will not do even that part of the will of God which they understand and could do if they would.

From Paul’s testimony in the seventh chapter of Romans some teachers have drawn the doctrine of moral inability. But however Paul’s inner struggle may be interpreted, it is contrary to the whole known truth to believe that he was a consistent law–breaker and violator of the Ten Commandments. He specifically testified that he had lived in all good conscience before God, which to a Jew could only mean that he had observed the legal requirements of the law. Paul’s cry in Romans is not after power to fulfill the simple morality of the Ten Commandments, but after inward holiness which the law could not impart.

It is time we get straightened out in our thinking about the law. The weakness of the law was threefold:

(1) It could not cancel past sins – that is, it could not justify;
(2) it could not make dead men live – that is, it could not regenerate;
(3) it could not make bad hearts good – that is, it could not sanctify.

To teach the insufficiency of the law lay in man’s moral inability to meet its simple demands on human behavior is to err most radically. If the law could not be kept, God is in the position of laying upon mankind an impossible moral burden and then punishing them for failure to do the impossible. I will believe anything I find in the Bible, but I do not feel under obligation to believe a teaching which is obviously a mistaken inference and one, furthermore, which both contradicts the Scripture and outrages human reason.

The Bible everywhere takes for granted Israel’s ability to obey the law. Condemnation fell because Israel, having that ability, refused to obey. They sinned not out of amiable weakness, but out of deliberate rebellion against the will of God. That is the inner nature of sin always, willful refusal to obey God. But men still go on trying to get conviction upon sinners by telling them they sinned because they could not help it.”

Editor note: The law was a rule for faith to follow. The righteousness of faith (willing obedience stemming from confidence in God’s character and words) is always within man’s reach, and is the very thing God has always required of man as a condition of God’s gracious salvation. We encourage you to read “Paths to Power” by A.W. Tozer. There is much more that we could not include in this short publication. Listen, for example, to the following observation by Tozer:

"The Church of our day has soft–pedaled the doctrine of obedience, either neglecting it altogether or mentioning it only apologetically and without urgency. This results from a fundamental confusion of obedience with works in the minds of preacher and people. To escape the error of salvation by works we have fallen into the opposite error of salvation without obedience. In our eagerness to get rid of the legalistic doctrine of works we have thrown out the “baby with the bath” and gotten rid of “obedience” as well.

The Bible knows nothing of salvation apart from obedience. Paul testified that he was sent to preach “obedience to the faith among all nations.” He reminded the Roman Christians that they had been set free from sin because they had “obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” In the New Testament there is no contradiction between faith and obedience. Between faith and law–works, yes; between law and grace, yes; but between faith and obedience, not at all.

The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The message of the Cross contains two elements: (1) Promises and declarations to be believed, and (2) commandments to be obeyed. Obviously faith is necessary to the first and obedience to the second.

The only thing we can do with a promise or statement of fact is to believe it; it is physically impossible to obey it, for it is not addressed to the will, but to the understanding. It is equally impossible to believe a command; it is not addressed to our understanding, but to our will. True, we may have faith in its justice; we may have confidence that it is a good and right command, but that is not enough. Until we have either obeyed or refused to obey we have not done anything about it yet. To strain to exercise faith toward that which is addressed to our obedience is to get ourselves tangled in a maze of impossibilities.

The doctrine of Christ crucified and the wealth of truths which cluster around it have in them this dual content. So the apostle could speak of “obedience to the faith” without speaking contradictions. And it can be said, “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,” and “He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.’ There is nothing incompatible between these statements when they are understood in the light of the essential unity of faith and obedience.

The weakness in our message today is our overemphasis on faith with a corresponding underemphasis on obedience. This has been carried so far that “believe” has been made to double for “obey” in the minds of millions of religious persons. The result is a host of mental Christians whose characters are malformed and whose lives are all out of proportion. Imagination has been mistaken for faith, and belief has been robbed of its moral content and made to be little more than an assent to gospel truth. And all this in the name of orthodoxy.



There is a mental disease fairly familiar to all of us where the patient lives in a world wholly imaginary. It is a play–world, a world of pure fancy, with no objective reality corresponding to it. Everyone knows this except the patient himself. He will argue for his world with all the logic of a sane man, and the pathetic thing is that he is utterly sincere. So we find Christians who have lived so long in the rarified air of imagination that it seems next to impossible to relate them to reality.

Non-obedience has paralyzed their moral legs and dissolved their backbones, and they slump down in a spongy heap of religious theory, believing everything ardently, but obeying nothing at all. Indeed, they are deeply shocked at the very mention of the word “obey”. To them it smacks of heresy and self-righteousness and is the result of failure to rightly divide the word of truth. Their doctrine of supine inaction is New Testament religion! It is the truth for which the Reformers died! Everything else is legalism and the religion of Cain.

All this we might pass over as merely one more of those things were it not that this creed of the moral impasse has influenced practically every corner of the Christian world, has captured Bible schools, has determined the content of evangelistic preaching, and has gone far to decide what kind of Christians we all shall be. Without doubt the popular misconception of the function of faith, and the failure of our teachers to insist upon obedience, have weakened the Church and retarded revival tragically in the last half–century. The only cure is to remove the cause. This will take some courage, but it will be worth the labor.

We are always in danger of falling victim to words. An unctuous phrase may easily take the place of spiritual reality. One example is the expression “Following the Lord,” so often used among Christians, or its variation, “Following the Lamb.” We overlook the fact that this cannot be taken literally. We cannot now, as those first disciples could, follow the Master over a given geographical area. We tend to think of it literally but at the same time feel its literal impossibility, with the result that it has come to mean little more than a nodded agreement to the truths of Christianity. It may startle us to learn that “following” is a New Testament word used to cover the idea of an established habit of obedience to the commandments of Christ.

What does all this add up to? What are its practical implications for us today? Just that the power of God is at our disposal, waiting for us to call it into action by meeting the conditions which are plainly laid down. God is ready to send down floods of blessing upon us as we begin to obey His plain instructions. We need no new doctrine, no new movement, no “key”, no imported evangelist or expensive “course” to show us the way. It is before us as clear as a four–lane highway.

To an inquirer I would say, “Just do the next thing you know you should do to carry out the will of the Lord. If there is sin in your life, quit it instantly. Put away lying, gossiping, dishonesty, or whatever your sin may be. Forsake worldly pleasures, extravagance in spending, vanity in dress, in your car, in your home. Get right with any person you may have wronged. Forgive everyone who may have wronged you. Begin to use your money to help the poor and advance the cause of Christ. Take up the Cross and live sacrificially. Pray, attend the Lord’s services- Witness for Christ, not only when it is convenient, but when you know you should. Look to no cost and fear no consequences. Study the Bible to learn the will of God and then do His will as you understand it. Start now by doing the next thing, and then go on from there.” A. W. Tozer

Editor note: AMEN! May God increase this understanding and overthrow Satan’s false gospel! “Law- works” are works thought to atone for my own sin or cause me to not need atonement at all. Being saved by these “works” would then nullify the need for Christ’s atonement (Gal. 2:21). Obedience stemming from faith has always been and will always be the condition for finding grace in the eyes of the Lord. Obedience to Christ is necessary to receive the benefits of his atonement and remain “in Christ”. (Heb. 5:9; I John 2:24; John 15:10).

If you check the Greek words behind “unbelief” in Heb. 3:18; 4:6,11, and “disobey’ in I Peter 2:7, you will find something very interesting - it is the same Greek word. We need more men like Wesley, Finney, Tozer and Adam Clarke who understood the dangerous deception of Antinomianism, which gives false assurance, vaccinates against the true gospel, secures poor souls for hell instead of heaven; and destroys the power and testimony of churches. Listen to this short quote from Adam Clarke:

“Shall we continue in sin.... It is very likely that these were the words of a believing Gentile, who – having as yet received but little instruction, for he is but just brought out of his heathen state to believe in Christ Jesus – might imagine, from the manner in which God had magnified his mercy, in blotting out his sins on his simply believing on Christ, that, supposing he even gave way to the evil propensities of his own heart, his transgressions could do him no hurt now that he was in the favour of God.

And we need not wonder that a Gentile, just emerging from the deepest darkness, might entertain such thoughts as these; when we find that eighteen centuries after this, persons have appeared in the most Christian countries of Europe, not merely asking such a question, but defending the doctrine with all their might; and asserting in the most unqualified manner, ‘that believers were under no obligation to keep the moral law of God; that Christ had kept it for them; that his keeping it was imputed to them; and that God, who had exacted it from them, who was their surety and representative, would not exact it from them; forasmuch as it would be injustice to require two payments for one debt.’ These are the Antinomians who once flourished in this land, and whose race is not yet utterly extinct.”


Adam Clark on Romans 6:1

“We must beware of Antinomianism; that is, of supposing that, because Christ has been obedient unto death, there is no necessity for our obedience to his righteous commandments. If this were so, the grace of Christ would tend to the destruction of the law, and not to its establishment He only is saved from his sins who has the law of God written in his heart; and he alone has the law written in his heart who lives an innocent, holy, and useful life.” Adam Clark on Romans 3 endnote.

Editor Note: Much celebrated ‘evangelism” today is spurious and destructive in the long term fruit because of this very popular notion of Antinomian “easy believism” and “once saved, always saved” deception. The evangelism of Christ called men to take up the cross, follow, obey, and suffer for right unto the death.

True evangelism makes disciples, not Jesus fans.

True evangelism changes society by changing people, and doesn’t just make religious sinners.

True evangelism is nearly impossible today because of the destructive work of the Antinomians who have poisoned the minds of society against the place of” obedience”, ‘submission”, and “perseverance” in the message of salvation. Humanism, individualism, feminism, sensualism, hollywoodism, materialism and all other “isms” will be destroyed, not employed by true evangelism.

True evangelism will tell people how to live (Acts 26:20). It will command them in the way of righteousness (II Peter 2:21 ). It will provide a body (church) for them to be nurtured in; and it will lead them to submit to the accountability of this body for their perfecting.
(Eph. 4:11–15).

Shared in Love by Mrs. Dewey Smith (Our Plain and simple Life)

Test All Things by MARK HENDRICKSON

There is no shortage of wranglings over theological private interpretations of Scripture, so how do we evaluate whether something is valid or not.  Should we follow the loudest voice, stick to tradition, get offended at everyone, take the easiest route, bail out, give in to intimidation, take a vote, toss a coin…?  Sadly, most people cave in to one of these easy-out methods.  But test it we must, because “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” (Rms 14:12)… and none of us wants to blindly run head long over a cliff.  Paul charged us to test all things and only hold what is good.            

“Test all things; hold fast what is good.” – I Thess 5:21

So beyond the theological points, here are some of my personal thought processes I use to find my footing in this abounding grace movement.

If I could only find a few people who were getting this ‘download’ about abounding grace (Rms 5:20), I would tend to feel suspicious of the veracity of these revelations.  And even if I was confident of their veracity, yet didn’t know that others were experiencing the same thing, I might still feel tenuous about buying in.  Like Elijah, who thought that he was the only one who still served God (I Kngs 18:22;19:10) I could feel prone to either pride… or discouragement and insecurity.

Thankfully, we’re not like Elijah.  We don’t believe that we’re the only one(s) who are walking in this revelation.  Figuratively speaking, there are ‘7000’ (I Kngs 19:18) who are leaning hard into abounding grace.  Across the globe many different and unrelated sectors of the body of Christ are getting rocked and liberated in this wholesale revelation of abounding grace.  This gives much confidence and impetus… and brings up a good point.

Consider the prayer movement which grew so rapidly in the last 1 1/2  decades… the fact that it emerged in so many unrelated sectors of the body of Christ gave credibility to it being Holy Spirit’s initiation and co-ordination of the movement.  Likewise this grace movement is springing up in many unrelated streams and groups… which by itself tends to give credibility that this is Holy Spirit’s abounding grace message.

Further, if the fruit of any movement leans toward increased carnality and lawlessness, then that poor fruit gives evidence of its undesirable source (Lk 6:44).  Conversely, if the grace community is falling more in love with this wonderful Man Jesus, then the fruit speaks of Holy Spirit’s handiwork.

Remember when Jesus was assailed by the religious crowd and His message was assigned to the devil, He said, “…A house divided cannot stand.  If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished!” (Mk 3:25-26).  In other words, the devil wouldn’t undermine his own ‘house’ by making more deeply devoted disciples of Jesus… not 2000 years ago… and not today.

But we must establish some criteria as we seek to evaluate the fruit and thus, determine the root or origin.  There have always been rogues and renegades within any movement who make obtrusive and cross-current waves… even destructive waves.  But just because an individual runs amuck doesn’t necessarily indict a whole movement… e.g., mainline Christianity has way too many egg-on-the-face outbreaks of maverick individuals and spurious groups.  That didn’t negate the veracity of Christianity… it just gave insight into those who shipwrecked.  In like manner, if individuals distort and pervert abounding grace, it doesn’t necessarily black-list abounding grace… it just gives us insight into those who shipwreck.  Rather, we must look for the fruit of the movement as a whole.

So the way a movement emerges… and a movement’s fruit… both help to determine its authenticity.

We must watch to see how and where the Godly fruit of this abounding grace wave breaks out.  That will be the hot spot you’ll want to drink from.  That’s where God is giving His attestation from Heaven… where the abounding grace anointing is most strong… and where you get ‘infected’ most impactingly.  Ripe and hungry believers will instinctively be drawn there.  You won’t be able to keep them away.  It’s always been that way.  Even the Magi did it… they went to where the greatest outbreak was (the Star) in order to see for themselves.

And you know… true wise men are still looking and listening for the evidence… and then they go to find Him where ever He can be found.

– MLH

Is True Grace Hyper? by MARK HENDRICKSON

True grace (I Pet 5:12) is so much better than we can comprehend.  In fact, New Testament grace is described as amazing grace, abundant grace, abounding grace, the gift of grace, exceeding grace, exceeding riches of grace, all grace, multiplied grace, grace according the measure of the gift of Christ and the manifold grace of God.  It just doesn’t seem like the Bible has any limits whatsoever on grace.  But could grace legitimately be called hyper?

Some have brandished the term ‘hyper-grace’ around in negative connotation, but exactly what they mean by this misleading label is hard to come by… and who they’re talking about is even harder.  It’s usually just “those people”.  Unfortunately, in some camps, this mislabeling has cast a negative stigma on the whole topic of grace.  The result is that a wet-blanket of confusion and intimidation has fallen over many conversations that mention the word grace.  This is unbelievably sad… even a travesty, because grace is the central and foundational underpinning of our salvation.

“For by grace are you saved through faith….” – Eph 2:8

There is no salvation without grace!  Nothing in all of Christianity makes any sense without the grace of God.

Actually, we shouldn’t be surprised when accusing mortars sail over the bow of true grace preachers.  Martin Lloyd Jones, a very highly respected writer/elder statesman and main-line evangelical Bible scholar and preacher says this;

“If you are properly preaching the true gospel of salvation by grace alone, you will likely be misunderstood… don’t underestimate how radical God’s grace is.” – Martin Lloyd Jones

The fact is that the Bible itself describes grace as being ‘hyper’.  Consider this:

“But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” – Romans 5:20

In the Greek, it reads like this; where sin abounded – pleonazo – grace did much more abound – huper-perisseuo.  The Greek prefix huper is used like our English words ‘super’ or ‘hyper’ which serve to heighten the impact of grace.  Thus, hyper abounding grace!!!

Now with that in mind, how does the aforementioned negative labeling of grace square with Scripture’s actual description of grace?  Inappropriately, to put it mildly.  It seems that it may be necessary to re-label the criticisms of what should really be called “perverted” (Jude :4) grace.

Sadly, in their discovery and exploration of grace, some Christians have perverted the grace of God into a license for sinning.

They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. (Jude :4 NIV)

But if cannon volleys are not defined when fired in a generalized way at some erroneous aspect of perverted grace, they create the distinct likelihood of cutting their own salvation off at the knees.  If the authors of these volleys are going to be respectful of true grace, which is so vital to salvation and Christianity in general, they should take great pains to affirm the solid preeminence of grace… and that “hyper abundant grace” is Biblical… and they should include sincere affirmations to all those who believe in and preach Biblical grace.

FYI – Despite the controversy over grace, did you know that it’s impossible to truly reign in life without an abundance of grace?

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” - Rms 5:17

God’s true grace goes way beyond any sin we could ever commit.  For sure, it addresses the sin issue, but it addresses a whole lot more… it’s vital for reigning in life.  You see if we don’t learn to live in hyper grace and the gift of righteousness, there will be no reigning.

Grace is not a license to sin!  In fact, true grace compels a person into deeper devotion to Jesus.  Apostle Paul was the most prolific writer on grace and the contrast of his life (pre and post conversion) demonstrates the greatest example of this: from serial murderer… to the poster-child of a godly life.  Those who say grace is a license to sin do not understand true Grace… or they are living under some other gospel.  According to Jude this is “perverted” or distorted grace.  “Perverted” grace and ‘hyper-grace’ are not to be misunderstood… they are diametrically opposed to each other.  True grace trains our hearts into godliness.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:11–12 NIV)

The two main enemies of the gospel of grace are; legalism (keep the Law) and libertinism (license to sin).  They have always been present since the Covenant of Grace began.  The book of Galatians was written to legalists—thus the strong emphasis on liberty, freedom, and grace.  James was written to libertines, those who presumed on the grace of God and turned it into a license to sin.  Thus the book of James is strong on obedience, faith that expresses itself in works, repentance (for the believer), and false faith (or presumption).  Legalism and libertinism are the two ditches on either side of true grace… and are always at war with grace.

So, according to Martin Lloyd Jones, if we’re preaching true grace and getting mislabeled and misunderstood… not to worry… that’s to be expected.  There’s a good likelihood that we’re onto something good.  Here’s a simple litmus test: if we think we’re preaching grace and immorality breaks out everywhere, then we’re not preaching grace… we’re preaching something else.  But if we and our listeners are discovering liberty and falling more in love with the Man who is grace (Jn 1:17), then it’s likely that we’re preaching true grace.

Take home points:              

~ We must better define the dialog of grace… and remedy the negative stigmatizing of true grace.
~ Those who use grace as a license to sin are perverting grace
~ True grace teaches us to not sin… and how to live godly lives.
~ Grace is central and foundational to salvation.  It’s so amazing… it’s even, HYPER.
~ If you’re preaching true grace and you’re labeled ‘hyper’… wear the label confidently.

– MLH