Recently, on an A/G forum I participate in, somebody raised a question about Paula White, and several folks jumped in to offer their opinions. Some way through the discussion, we received this contribution from a long-time member of the group who is a seasoned minister in the Assemblies of God. He begins with a very brief critique of Paula White in response to the questioner, but then expands on some ideas about what Paula White and her colleagues represent as a trend in the Pentecostal and charismatic tradition.

I thought it was too good and on-point a post to share. Not because it slams the A/G … Mark loves the A/G and is a faithful minister within our Fellowship. But this is a timely and critical warning. I think Mark speaks the truth, and we should heed it. This is why we have the Carlton D. Pearson’s of the Church promoting heresy and unusual doctrine.

Read on.

Update (07/14/2007): "Carlton Pearson: The closest to God you’ll probably ever get"

On Heresy

What is heresy? The textbook definition is simply:

• An opinion or a doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs … or
• A controversial or unorthodox opinion or doctrine.

And right alongside that definition — at least on this weblog, anyhow — you can find a picture of Bishop Carlton D. Pearson who wants to "rewrite the theology of the charismatic world" by preaching a "Gospel of Inclusion" asserting that Christ's death conclusively reconciled all mankind to God — whether we realize it or not — and that the only separation between man and God's grace is subjective, illusionary, and exists only in unenlightened minds (Carlton Pearson, "Jesus Savior of the World/Gospel of Inclusion — Position Paper," Higher Dimension website, viewed March 5, 2006).

More on that later, but first.…

My longtime email friend and fine Bayou pastor, Rev. Louis Bartet (The Grace Place), recently posed this thought-provoking question, which I have attempted to answer from my perspective.

« What in your opinion should be the primary basis of Christian ethics?»

Lou, doesn’t believe in simple questions with short answers!

Okay. I'll give the short answer first—just to save you time: the character and nature of God should serve as the primary basis of Christian ethics. God created us, and formed us in his image, therefore our ethics should reflect his character and nature. Like Jesus, we should do what we see our Father doing (John 5:19-20).

Unfortunately, the Fall in the Garden marred and damaged God's image within us. As a result, we can no longer consistently act within an ethical framework reflecting God's character. All have acted unethically: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Therefore, any ethical system which does not ultimately move us closer to the Divine ideal reveals a fatal flaw. Indeed, even our attempts to interpret the revealed ethical framework of Scripture inherits this flaw because God did not give us a systematic ethical calculus to cover every circumstance. Our ability to "tease out" the ethical underpinnings of God's character, nature, fall short. The flaw reveals itself in our tendency to legalize the framework and ignore the spirit of the laws he did provide.

Now, to unpack that a bit.

What is ethics?

This question was recently posed to me (and some other friends) on an email discussion-group:

« What is your take on Matthew 5:17-18 regarding the Law and Prophets? Do you believe we are still under the Law, and do you believe that we have Prophets today, and if so for what purpose in light of receiving the Holy Spirit individually? »

I waited with anticipation for an answer to these questions from the group, but nobody dared venture forth... I suspect it’s because the answers to those questions would require so much explanation that too many are daunted!

I too am daunted, but I've never let that stop me from being a foolish blow-hard (witness this weblog!). So, here goes a long answer.

First, see the a larger context of the verses cited:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have

For all who were in last week’s open house, and for those who missed it, here are the little mini-presentations I gave regarding the future of this class.

For anybody else familiar with this site, this is my “boss blog” for the folks taking the Believer’s Life Institute classes at Calvary Chapel. Feel free to listen in and enjoy. But if this bores you, sorry.

Don’t have much to say on this first post except that we’re planning to talk a lot about Heaven and Hell over the next six or seven weeks. The next class will feature a video: The Search for Heaven. Here’re my open house talks.

[audio:http://tatumweb.com/blog/wp-content/mp3/bli-hh-01a-open-house.mp3]
[audio:http://tatumweb.com/blog/wp-content/mp3/bli-hh-01b-open-house.mp3]
[audio:http://tatumweb.com/blog/wp-content/mp3/bli-hh-01c-open-house.mp3]

You can also download them here, here, and here.

[tags]BlogRodent, podcast, heaven, hell, heaven-and-hell, mp3, doctrine, theology, afterlife, death[/tags]