An Emergent Critiques My Sermon - My Life In Denmark (Part 18)

After the events that transpired in my previous post I eventually received some feedback from one of the camp leaders. I am posting some of this correspondence today because I believe it may be helpful in recognizing the winds of pragmatism, popular psychology, and self esteem philosophy that are blowing hard in opposition to straightforward biblical theology. This is a pervasive problem and the following correspondence is in no way meant to be a shot at the individual who wrote the mail. His approach is merely a product of these prevailing winds in modern evangelicalism, and perhaps even more so, within the emergent movement. The correspondence in question contains some personal discussion which is unnecessary in this forum and as such, I am posting small portions in italics followed by my responses in bold and my quotations in bold italics. There is also some additional commentary in CAPITALS.

I am a fan of Ray Comfort whom you also quote on your webpage, so in many ways I personally agree on your teaching but there are also something that I do not agree on. I do like that you are firm and direct in your preaching but when you are speaking such a strong message to young people then I would say that you have to talk a lot more grace as well.

I spoke more about God's grace than any other speaker I heard at the camp. Also remember that the first message (though it did focus on the cross) plowed the soil for the second message which was about the meaning of the cross (my favorite subject). What is grace? It is God's undeserved favor. Why don't we deserve it? Because we are people who have sinned wickedly against a good God and we deserve his fierce wrath. God doesn't love people for who they are, He loves them inspite of who they are. Anyone who claims to preach the grace of God without preaching the wrath of God is a liar or deceived. Grace has no meaning without the context of God's wrath. That is why Paul Washer and Ray Comfort are some of the strongest grace preachers I have ever heard.

Martin Luther said in his Galatian commentaries that:

Satan the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.

The grace of God is one of the most precious subjects I love to talk about. The more sin hardened a culture is the more their hearts need to be plowed with the law of God before they can ever see His grace. Try asking someone if they think that it would be fair and reasonable for a good God to damn them to hell? Try asking most church-goers. Few in Denmark say yes to this and that is exactly the problem. If you can't see the problem how can you ever see the solution of God's grace. Furthermore how will it ever become meaningful? The grace of God is clearly seen in the Christ's substitutionary death on the cross in which he bore the sin of the sinner so that the sinner can bare the righteousness of Christ. How can that ever have any value to a person who cannot see their own unrighteousness.

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher."

"A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." (Luke 7:37-47)

Many of our teenagers are not brought up in Christian families and do not automatically know what the Love of God means or Gods grace just by a preacher saying Jesus died for you, because he loves you. When that sentence is comming right after 40 min. of hell fire brimstone then it is difficult to be encouraged to come to the cross with your sins.

I would also contend that it was not 40 minutes of hellfire preaching. Hell was one of many subjects I discussed. The reason many notice it is because they almost never hear about it.

I want them to acknowledge that sin is wrong and is having the consequence of seperating us from God

Hell is not separation from God. Those in hell are tormented in the presence of Christ:

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." (Revelation 14:9-11)

I also want to preach a thousand times that Jesus is the friend of sinners and that His Love is never failing and is never ending. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. That is what the Bible teaches and that is what I experience.

The kindness of God that leads to repentance is actually a part of a verse in Romans 2. The context is that God's kindness is defined in His patience and forbearance - that He delays His wrath giving us time to repent. That is exactly what I was preaching. Furthermore, Paul goes onto tell the Corinthians that godly sorrow (sorry because I sinned against God) leads to repentance but worldly sorrow (sorry because of the consequences) leads to death. If we want to see true repentance we need to cultivate godly sorrow and that is done by starting with preaching the Holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the coming judgment which is the sequence Paul follows in his letter to the Romans.

Luther himself said that:

The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God's moral law and to show the nature of sin.

Paul Washer had this to say (click here) on the subject.

Actually I think that you could have an even stronger message by diving into the individual sins and how they are changing our chraracter and in that way isolating us from both God and people. Really specify the nature of sin and then use a lot of time on how we as the body of Christ can help each other instead with discipleship to walk to the cross, confess our sin and turn away from it.

Thank you for this critique. It is difficult with the limited time to delve into some of these issues. But I made a conscious decision to address our personal responsibility to cry out to God in brokenness and desperate need. We can certainly help other believers in their war against sin. But those who have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit need that before any human being can provide any Spiritual help. Until we are regenerated the Scripture pronounces us dead in trespasses and sin and in need of a resurrection. And there were clearly people there in the meeting who were not Christians.

As I mentioned, I am encouraged that you have planted your own church, but there is also a part of me that is concerned when a Christian brother like you won't attend and strengthen existing churches.

You don't know the full story here so I will inform you about what has taken place and why we planted a church. Since moving to Denmark my family and I have attended and visited a lot of different "churches". The local Pentecostal pastor did not want me talking to anyone about sin and refused to even discuss it over the Scriptures. The local Baptist church did not even believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word. The Methodist pastor turned out to be a universalist (everyone goes to heaven). The Inner Mission Lutherans taught my daughter that it was baptism that would save her. And the Lutheran priest supported homosexual marriage. I am a reasonable man but these are not small issues. I can work with people, I can submit to authority, I can lay down my agenda for the sake of unity. But truth must never be sacrificed at the altar of unity.

Ultimately, this is about the Gospel. In all my travels to many different churches for over 3 years in Denmark I have only ever heard three faithful Gospel proclamations - two were by visiting preachers and the third guy was never allowed to preach again. I don't say this lightly - this is a disaster! There is no more pressing matter in Denmark right now that Gospel purity and Gospel proclamation. According to Luther and the reformers, any church that does not preach the Gospel and faithfully teach the Bible is not a church. For the sake of being a godly husband and father, for the sake of obeying God's command to integrate into a community of believers - it was necessary to plant a church. I would love for you to prove me wrong and send me audios of faithful gospel preaching around Denmark. If you do this I will gladly promote these churches and do everything I can to work together with them. (AS USUAL THIS CHALLENGE WAS NEVER TAKEN UP)

I know that Christians will never agree 100% on doctrine and teaching but we are still called to unity with one another. We also need unity to get a revival to our nation.

I attend a Reformed Baptist church but I never used a moment during the camp to argue my position on baptism with Lutherans. Why - for the sake of unity. But when it comes to the Gospel there can be no compromise. Not preaching the Gospel, or changing it, is a sure way to avoid revival. I long for revival which is why I poured my heart out at the camp.

(AT THIS POINT THE WRITER CHOOSES NOT TO BIBLICALLY CRITIQUE BUT RATHER, TO CRITIQUE ONE OF MY FRIENDS CALLED RENE. A FRIEND WHOM I HAD NEVER MENTIONED AND COULD ONLY HAVE BEEN KNOWN THROUGH HIS OWN INVESTIGATION)

I have often read articles from Rene and felt very sad and frustrated afterwards. There are roughly no righteous christians on the planet besides him. Where is the UNITY in Christ ?????

I don't mind you criticizing my friend Rene but you should not do this unless you are willing to back up what you are saying about him. You need to give me some examples of what Rene has said that was wrong or untrue. I promise you, if you can show me something Rene said that was false or unbiblical then I will speak with him and get him to remove it from his blog and get him to make a public apology (I have already spoken with Rene and he has agreed to this challenge). And also, please show me where Rene has proclaimed himself as someone more righteous than anyone else.

(OBVIOUSLY, TAKING A SHOT AT RENE WAS EASIER THAN BACKING IT UP - AGAIN HE REFUSED TO RESPOND AND GIVE EVEN ONE EXAMPLE ON WHICH TO BASE HIS ACCUSATION)

You also asked "Where is the UNITY in Christ". To that I would have to say that my experience of Rene is that he is someone who fights for unity in the way Paul commanded in Romans 16:17:

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

Paul here is saying that we should "mark" or point out false teachers because it is they who cause division (ie destroy Christian unity) by teaching doctrine contrary to Scripture. Take Brian McLaren for example who was being heavily promoted at your camp. Rene is pointing him out as a false teacher because he denies the atonement, denies that Jesus is the only way, denies a literal Hell, and denies the authority of Scripture. These are teachings that cause division among true Christians and are particularly harmful to our impressionable youth. I would ask your fellow leaders about their concern for Christian unity when they promote books by authors who preach a different gospel to the true Gospel found in Scripture. When Rene is one of the few people willing to point out heretics like McLaren (all the while comparing it to the true Gospel), he becomes one of the few people fighting for true Christian unity.

Furthermore, I even heard some leaders at the camp have an open discussion with the youth where they answered questions. Where Scripture had a clear cut answer I heard one of them give his own opinion instead which was directly translated "there are no right or wrong answers to this question". This sort of talk does not promote unity - it is postmodern anarchy.

We do what is possible and God what is impossible

Actually, Jesus said "without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

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Postmodernism And Flying Pigs - My Life In Denmark (Part 17)

The camp discussed in my previous post was a surreal experience in many ways. It was a Lutheran camp but the leaders knew virtually nothing of what Luther wrote and taught. The camp was run by an arm of the Danish Lutheran movement that is heavily immersed in the teachings of prominent emergent leaders like Brian McLaren - and they invited a bare knuckle reformed preacher like myself to come and minister to them. Not only that, but I was asked to deliver three messages! I don't live under a rock and am well aware that I lived on a different theological planet to these people, and as such, the likelihood of sermons number two and three ever seeing the light of day after sermon one landed on their postmodern table was as likely as Rick Warren getting invited to speak at John Piper's conference . . . hey what's that! Is it a bird? is it a plane? No it's a . . .


Well, it seems that pigs actually can fly! Warren did get invited by John Piper (more about that next week)! And I was preparing three sermons for this "emergent Lutheran" camp. Welcome to the bizarre world of 21st century evangelicalism - just last night I heard John Macarthur preach a topical sermon about making the Bible more relevant by not preaching from it while he rode his Harley onto the stage . . . . . . . but that was just a scary dream! The rest, however, was all true.

I decided the best approach for a clear conscience on my part, was to be explicitly clear about my opposition to the emergent teachers these Lutheran leaders were reading (if the words "enemies of the Gospel" qualify as explicit). I also sent transcripts of all three sermons months in advance so that they would have plenty of prior warning thinking this may deter them. But the flying pig still arrived on my doorstep with the preaching invitation in his mouth and I headed out to the camp fearful in my desire to faithfully deliver Christ's beautiful Gospel but fearless with regards to the reception that may await.

After delivering my first sermon, which can be heard on my previous post, it was readily apparent that a bomb had been dropped. I knew it was a jolt to the audience who were not used to hearing about subjects like God's wrath, judgment, our sinful nature, penal substitutionary atonement, and true repentance. And several third party sources informed me of the strong displeasure certain leaders had at the content of my sermon. But not a single leader at the camp gave me any critique or feedback. The fact that my first sermon was loaded with Scripture and quotes by Luther probably made it difficult for them to censor me. It was also a problem that I had sent a transcript of the sermon months in advance. Nevertheless, the following morning I was informed about a "sudden change of plan" where they needed to have a different speaker on the Friday night when I was to deliver my final message. It would have been nice if they had informed me of this some time prior to the day before the event. Perhaps even prior to the many hours I spent preparing that particular sermon for that particular event. I was, of course, cynical as to whether they had given me the real reason for the change of plans. If there is one thing I have learnt about the "emergent conversation" it is an almost total lack of genuine communication.

After the camp I continually tried to get some feedback as to what was really going on and if the real reason for the late changes was mainly to do with the content of my final message. A response eventually came, albeit after a long wait, which I will discuss on my next post - on Friday.

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Preaching The Gospel At An Emergent Camp - My Life In Denmark (Part 16)

It is just after Christmas now and my Rick Warren at Desiring God series is about to launch next Monday. I recently concluded my Life in Denmark series but wanted to add three interesting appendices that didn't make it into the original 15 part series. I am posting the first of these today with a sermon I preached at an emergent camp and will follow it up on Wednesday with some interesting background information and then on Friday with some correspondence that took place after the event.

Sometimes the planets align in a bizarre way and this was certainly the case in July of this year. I was invited to speak at a large youth camp organized by a group of emergent/postmodern leaders in Denmark. In a strange turn of events certain people within this group started to get concerned with the accelerating decline into liberalism that authors like Brian McLaren were taking. There was also the growing problem of overtly sinful behavior that was getting even too much to bear for this liberal crowd. Someone connected to them recommended me as someone who knows Paul Washer and is a bit of a firey preacher. They somehow thought this might spice things up nicely and get people to tone down their rampant carnal behavior. I had a good sense of where these people were at theologically and tried to give them every reason to not invite me, including calling Brian McLaren and Rob Bell "enemies of the Gospel" and raging heretics who were poisoning their movement. I also told them what I would be preaching, if invited, and sent them postscripts in advance. Though taken aback by my un-Danish forthrightness, I was still invited. Strange I know!

I was nervous before I came, not because of preaching, but because of a heavy burden for so many false converts who need to be awakened to the pure Gospel and it's call to genuine repentance. I arrived to preach and without going into too much detail about the atmosphere and activities, I will only mention one example that paints enough of the picture - there were two openly practicing lesbians sitting in the front row unaware of what was coming.

Click here to hear the sermon, it also features a danish translator and has low volume so you'll need to crank up the sound on this one.

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Kristuskirken Reformed Baptist Church Of Denmark - My Life In Denmark (Part 15)

I am proud to attend and be associated with Kristuskirken which is the first Reformed Baptist Church to be planted in Denmark. Kristuskirken is a church which preaches Christ crucified without apology. A church where the Bible is the sole rule for all matters of life, faith, and practice. Kristuskirken is a church that recognizes the Holiness of God, the utter sinfulness of all men, the reality of God's wrath, the constant danger of hell, the necessity of the Christ's death as a penal substitute on the cross, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ, the call on all men everywhere to repent of their wickedness, and the glorious eternal hope for those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ - Who is the resurrected Savior.

Kristuskirken was formed in November 2009 by several Christian families in Denmark who were desperate for fellowship and a place where the Christian Gospel would be preached in purity. Everywhere we looked we saw either a society headed for hell, or liberal churches leading the way there. Kristuskirken was birthed out of necessity - the necessity that God's great Name be glorified and magnified in Denmark. Kristuskirken was also birthed out of a desire to see a sinful people saved by a merciful God. The same God that saved sinners like us.

For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (Romans 10:11-15)

Kristuskirken meets at 10am every Sunday.
Gyvelvej 1
8850 Bjerringbro
Denmark
Phone +45 8668 0345
Email henrikruth@gmail.com
ALL ARE WELCOME!!!
Lunch is provided.

KRISTUSKIRKEN DOCTRINE
Kristuskirken holds to the 1689 Baptist Confession Of Faith. Our desire is to be absolutely clear about who we are and what we believe. We are well aware that there is no shortage of churches that desire to be as vague as possible to those who visit in the hope that they will join regardless of beliefs. Kristuskirken wants to be sensitive to the One True Seeker - the One Who came to seek and save the lost. For this reason we welcome all to attend - believer and unbeliever alike - in the knowledge that our preaching is not aimed at comforting the believer and accommodating the unbeliever. Our preaching and teaching is aimed at building up the Christian, and bringing conviction upon those who are not. We love people so much that we are not willing to conceal any of God's message to mankind.

KRISTUSKIRKEN IS A MEMBER OF THE NINE MARKS NETWORK
Kristuskirken is one of only three churches in Europe that are members of the 9 Marks church network. This is a network of churches that grew out of the ministry of Mark Dever and his landmark book "Nine Marks Of A Healthy Church". It is a model for advocating, planting, and growing healthy biblical churches. You can find us here in their directory where it reads that:

Kristuskirken is a newly planted Reformed Baptist Church in Denmark. We hold to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. We place great emphasis on the authority of Scripture, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ, gospel purity, and the call on all people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. We believe that evangelism should be normal Christian behavior. We stress the biblical importance of male headship. We love the fellowship of believers and seeing sinners come to saving faith. And we desire to see God's Name magnified and exalted in Denmark.

KRISTUSKIRKEN MISSION
We at Kristuskirken are very grateful for the guidance and assistance we have received from Paul Washer and his Heart Cry Missionary Society. Brother Washer was the chief instigator in provoking the pioneering work of Kristuskirken when he came and ministered to us in 2009. Kristuskirken is a proud financial supporter of the preaching ministry of Paul Washer and of the heart Cry Missionary Society. They train faithful indigenous ministers of the Gospel all over the world at a fraction of the cost of sending a western missionary. We also consider ourselves to be one of their mission fronts.

KRISTUSKIRKEN EVANGELISM
Kristuskirken is proud to be a Way Of The Master Evangelism Embassy. Two of our members have travelled to California to be personally trained by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron at their evangelism academy. The ministry of Way of the Master recognize Kristuskirken as a church that teaches and practices biblical evangelism. We actually go out on the street to share the Gospel with strangers. For those who would like to see this in action come and join us in Bjerringbro on Saturdays. You can also watch these videos (please excuse the background noise):





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Come Out From Among Them - My Life In Denmark (Part 14)

I was desperately sad and grieved after almost three years in Denmark. We had started an evangelism ministry but I could not find a church where the Gospel was preached. Paul Washer's two ultimatums were still ringing in my ears:

1. If you are in a church where the Gospel is not preached - get out! Come out from among them! Touch not the unclean thing.
2. If you are not in a biblical church then find one or start one.

It was painfully clear that my family either had to leave Denmark or plant a church with some like minded believers. I did have people who agreed on the Gospel but were very hesitant about starting something. I, on the other hand, had an unusual fearlessness about this. Not because I am naturally courageous, far from it in fact, but because I was absolutely convinced that I was incapable of contributing anything that could possibly deteriorate the situation for Christians in Denmark - it's pretty hard to drill into the bottom of the toilet bowl!

When I was at the end of my rope and ready to pack up and leave (much to my wife's disappointment) a man called Henrik Mortensen walked into the picture. Not only was Henrik on the same page with me concerning the Gospel, he knew church planting was the only option and was ready to pay the price. As someone who was cryogenically frozen during the Puritan era (and defrosted in the 80's), Henrik was the perfect man to have on board in this project. Some others joined with us who also knew the stakes were high.

The wheels were turning and things were moving - especially my family. In November of 2009, we were packing up and moving south to the little town of Bjerringbro in Denmark. Did I have a job - no! Did I know anything about church planting - no! Was I assured of a prosperous future for this church (that was only a vision at this time) - no! I am normally a man to err on the side of caution, but I was experiencing tremendous liberty in this pursuit because I knew this was the only option we had within the Danish borders.

I will conclude this series on Friday with a post on our thriving little house church in Bjerringbro by the name of Kristuskirken. The local church is where it is at and I want to culminate this saga by flying the flag of the local church. I have also been surprised about how much less difficult planting a biblical church has been than trying to reform an apostate one. One of the deceptive realities out there stems from the countless number of attempts at starting a new church based on methodological differences rather than theological differences. When it is based on methodology the hard work is continually innovating with newer and more exciting programs. When it is based on theology, the hard work is the joyous labor of faithfully preaching the text, witnessing to the lost, and cultivating a community of loving brethren. So be encouraged and tune in for Friday's post where I will discuss my local church in greater detail.

But in closing todays post I want to refer back to Paul Washer's ultimatums that he gave us (see above). Do you treasure Christ and His beautiful Gospel but never hear about it from the pulpit? Is rampant sin tolerated and never disciplined in your local congregation? Does your pastor handle Scripture as God's authoritative word or does he treat it like a buffet, always staying well away from the parts that don't taste so good? Does your congregation allow women in the pulpit - violating the clear teaching of Scripture? Is it governed by a team of godly men or by someone who thinks he is a pope? Does it have a doctrine statement? Does the doctrine statement ever venture outside the church's filing cabinet? Does doctrine matter - particularly the purity of the once for all delivered Gospel? Are you someone who claims to be born again but is willing to settle for the safety of a gathering of goats that is shepherded by a wolf? Danish brothers, I beg you to contemplate these questions and receive this counsel from Carter Conlan . . .



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Socialism, The Opiate Of The Danish Masses - My Life In Denmark (Part 13)

I'm not sure if Karl Marx ever realized how upside down his famous statement was. It is actually when many of Marx's socialist ideals get put into practice, for an extended time, that you get to see a general populace that is both sedated and pacified. This is strongly evident in Denmark where the state has taken on the role of national nanny. Never in my life have I encountered so many passive and indifferent men who have been sedated under the narcotic of a massive welfare system.

In Denmark, work is an option that someone may take should he find the place of employment that meets his specific requirements. And why be entrepreneurial and visionary when the state circles your profitability like a vulture with its ravenous claws of taxation. Mediocrity is the happy middle road winding its way through this socialist landscape.

Options abound for those who get their fix from the state. You can take a job and work at your own pace. No worries, the union will make sure that you cannot get fired . . . that is unless you want to take a two year holiday courtesy of your employment insurance. Why have initiative, why be industrious, why care for your neighbor - when the government can do it all for you.

Marx never understood that it is actually a biblical worldview flowing out of a genuine Christian conversion that generates a sense of drive and destiny in the individual. A willingness to risk one's life for the sake of a transcendent and worthy cause. Indeed it was Paul who said:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us (Phillipians 3:7-17).

Paul even admonished the Christians at Thessalonica that if a man does not work then he should not be fed (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Christians are a people so enraptured with the ultimate sacrifice of their Savior that they joyously enter in to a life of self sacrifice and labor that they may be salt and light in an evil generation.

This all relates specifically to the work of planting a biblical church in Denmark. There are those who profess Christ and as such can agree with the need for sound biblical churches. But when push comes to shove, many professing Christians are still dangerously contaminated from years of being assimilated into the socialist machinations that drive this country. Many are unwilling to venture away from the secure surrounds of an apostate church where the gospel never gets preached. Some are overly fond of the state sponsored day care centers that raise their children. Even the Lutheran priests are on the state payroll - so why take the risk of opposing anything unbiblical.

It was five hundred years ago that Europe saw men like Martin Luther put his life on the line before the evil Roman Catholic empire when he said:

To renounce these writings would be unthinkable for that would be to renounce accepted Christian truths... The second group of my work is directed aginst the foul doctrine and evil living of the Popes, past and present... Through the laws of the Pope and the doctrines of men, the consciences of the faithful have been miserably vexed and flayed. If I recant these books, I will do nothing but add strength to tyranny and open not just the windows but also the doors to this great ungodliness... Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason and not by Popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.

How did Europe go from from reformers willing to risk their lives to priests who won't risk their jobs?

God has graciously blessed our new fellowship of Kristuskirken beyond my wildest pessimistic expectations. But I remain equally surprised to see how unwilling some people have been to leave the "safety" of their apostate surroundings nor their socialist safety net. Christian men of Denmark - please wake up, man up, and get off the drugs! Your nationality is no longer Denmark if you belong to Christ - you are strangers and aliens in a foreign land looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. Becoming a Christian means becoming a part of one culture - a biblical one with a worldview to match.

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Discerning True And False Churches - My Life In Denmark (Part 12)

Paul Washer had come and ministered to us in the summer of 2009. He stressed the need for those of us in apostate churches to "get out". He also hammered home the point that our evangelism labor would be empty without healthy and mature biblical churches. This brings us to the critical question concerning what is a true church and what is a false church? Answering this question will answer many questions that perplex the modern day church goer with regards to the overwhelming abundance of seeming contradictions between modern churches and Scripture.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of(Z) living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:9-17)

That is an exciting picture. But if you talk to many professing Christians today they will complain and give you a huge list of negative things about the church. Paul Washer commented on this:

I want to talk about finding the church, in other words, stopping the slander. If you want to be endeared to me, then treat my wife with the greatest respect. If you want to be on my bad side, then slander my wife. The accusation of infidelity and immorality is the hindrance in the work of missions.

We have experts who tell us over and over that there is little difference between the actions of the church and the actions of a fallen world. We hear experts that there is just as much immorality in the church as there is in the world. I am here to tell you that angers me because it is a lie. The experts do not even know what the church is. The church today is absolutely beautiful, and I will have words for anyone who says anything else. Because we are talking about Christ’s bride.

The church is in a process of sanctification. Yes she has her weaknesses; yes she has failings. Our bride is broken and humble and believing her master, and she is following him and being changed by him in a way that exalts the power of God in salvation. We are calling Christian that which is not Christian, and it has led to the slandering of the bride of Jesus Christ. Because of our watered-down view of the gospel, our superficial views of regeneration and conversion, because we believe that God is enough to save from the condemnation of sin but not enough to save from the power of sin.

It is not the fault of a liberal political party; it is the fault of pastors. Even conservative, fundamental pastors.

Theologians through church history have made a distinction between what they call the “visible church”, the “invisible church”, and sects/cults/false churches. The greek word used for church in Scripture is “ekklesia” which describes the called out ones. All true Christians all over the world. These are the ones Jesus prayed for in John 17. This is every name written in the Lambs book of Life. Do we know every name written in that book? That is why we call the whole body of Christ the invisible church. There is no real argument here. It is when we discuss the visible church that the big problems start.

When I stand up to preach in Kristuskirken I stand before an example of a true visible church. It is something I can see every time I visit an area where professing believers gather to worship God and hear His word preached. These local churches are visible churches. The seven churches in Revelation are visible churches with one of them on the edge of apostacy by departing from the Gospel and was being strongly warned to repent by our Lord Himself. Professing believers gather in a visible church but we are always aware that there is always tares among the wheat, goats among the sheep, and false converts among true Christians in a visible church. The visible church is called to deal with this through church discipline but some goats are able to wear a sheep suit all their life as Judas did. I once told Ray Comfort that I am so thankful for him being the first person to teach me about false conversion. It has helped in many ways but none more so than in harmonizing passages that I used to find difficult.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19)

John says that true Christians or members of the invisible church cannot apostatize: "for if they were of us, they would have continued with us." The fact that these professing Christians departed from the church is empirical proof that they were never true Christians. While I was in America a friend with Arminian theology asked me “Who perseveres until the end” and I said “the elect”. He then asked me “who are the elect” and I said “those who persevere”. Dear friends, this may make our head spin but it is easily understood in the Sovereign mind of God. It is ultimately He who will divide the sheep from the goats.

When God saves someone they become a part of the invisible church. They then need to find a true visible church to join. Hebrews 10:25  tells us not to forsake gathering together with other Christians. This is where a lot of the problems happen. Rick Warren, for some very strange reason, recently preached to a lot of reformed pastors. During his “talk” he rebuked them for teaching too much Scripture and not enough application. Why would Rick Warren say something so incredibly stupid and unbiblical? Because his church growth philosophy has perverted how he defines a visible church. When he sees a large group of people who pray a sinners prayer but keep living in their old way he doesn't see false converts – he sees people who have not been taught how to apply all the teaching that they are getting too much of. Guess what will happen if I start teaching all my fornicating friends the application of waiting until they are married? They don't sin because they have never been taught application, they sin because they are evil, and love their sin, and hate God, and so did I, but God saved me and gave me a new heart with new desires, and now I am called to preach this Gospel to all those wicked sinners because God loves to save wicked sinners just like me!

When we look for a visible church to join we need to look much deeper than seeing a building with a sign that says church. The reformers fought against the false church of Roman Catholicism all their lives. To this day the Catholic church denies salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. The council of Trent pronounces damnation on anyone who believes that. The Reformers defined a true Church in article 29 of the Belgic Confession:

Article 29 of the Belgic Confession
We believe that we ought to discern diligently and very carefully from the Word of God what is the true church, for all sects which are in the world today claim for themselves the name of church.1 We are not speaking here of the hypocrites, who are mixed in the church along with the good and yet are not part of the church, although they are outwardly in it.2 We are speaking of the body and the communion of the true church which must be distinguished from all sects that call themselves the church.

The true church is to be recognized by the following marks: It practises the pure preaching of the gospel.3 It maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them.4 It exercises church discipline for correcting and punishing sins.5 In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God,6 rejecting all things contrary to it7 and regarding Jesus Christ as the only Head.8 Hereby the true church can certainly be known and no one has the right to separate from it.

Those who are of the church may be recognized by the marks of Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ the only Saviour,9 flee from sin and pursue righteousness,10 love the true God and their neighbour11 without turning to the right or left, and crucify their flesh and its works.12 Although great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their life.13 They appeal constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of Jesus Christ, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins through faith in Him.14

The false church assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God. It does not want to submit itself to the yoke of Christ.15 It does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in His Word, but adds to them and subtracts from them as it pleases. It bases itself more on men than on Jesus Christ. It persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke the false church for its sins, greed, and idolatries.16

These two churches are easily recognized and distinguished from each other.

1.Rev 2:9. 2. Rom 9:6. 3. Gal 1:8; 1 Tim 3:15. 4. Acts 19:3-5; 1 Cor 11:20-29. 5. Mat 18:15-17; 1 Cor 5:4-5, 1 Cor 5:13; 2 Thes 3:6, 2 Thes 3:14; Titus 3:10. 6. John 8:47; John 17:20; Acts 17:11; Eph 2:20; Col 1:23; 1 Tim 6:3. 7. 1 Thes 5:21; 1 Tim 6:20; Rev 2:6. 8. John 10:14; Eph 5:23; Col 1:18. 9. John 1:12; 1 John 4:2. 10. Rom 6:2; Phil 3:12. 11. 1 John 4:19-21. 12. Gal 5:24. 13. Rom 7:15; Gal 5:17. 14. Rom 7:24-25; 1 John 1:7-9. 15. Acts 4:17-18; 2 Tim 4:3-4; 2 John 9. 16. John 16:2.

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When Paul Washer Came To Denmark - My Life In Denmark (Part 11)

Yes, pinch me, I couldn't believe it either. The seeds of this visit were planted in the summer of 2008 when three guys and myself crammed into my 97 Corolla and drove 10 hours to Holland (on the one day of the year when you need air conditioning . . . and we didn't have it). The reason for our long trip (in the football locker room atmosphere that my Corolla generates) was that we had heard that Paul Washer would be preaching at one of the summer conferences in the land of canals and windmills. We arrived in time for the first sermon. It was kind of odd because while we had bled the internet dry of every Washer sermon we could find, this Dutch crowd seemed oblivious to how blessed they were to hear from this fine preacher who is the most downloaded on youtube.

At the end of the meeting the dutch all stampeded for the door to relieve their caffeine cravings, leaving us four Danes alone with brother Washer. We thanked him for his ministry and asked a few questions at which point he grew animated. He spoke with great fervor and passion of his heart for frontier mission and his desire to help our labor in Denmark. He told us he would come, and true to his word, he arrived with Charles Leiter (more about him later) just 12 months later in the summer of 2009. For someone in so much demand we are truly humbled for his willingness to come and his continued support on this Scandinavian frontier.

There has been some conjecture over the internet concerning Paul Washer's theology regarding whether he preaches faith alone, and whether he advocates sinless perfection. Both these accusations are utter nonsense propagated by people with faulty soteriology and I have previously dealt with them on an earlier post which is also happens to be the most popular in this blog.

Paul Washer was shocked and deeply grieved over the rampant apostasy that gets passed of as mainstream Christianity in Denmark. He commended us for our evangelism ministry but fervently urged us with the need to plant biblical churches - without which our evangelism ministry would be of little consequence. This was a major shift in our focus and priorities and Kristuskirken became a vision in the minds and hearts of several hungry Danes.

The major highlight of Paul Washer's visit was a public meeting we promoted through Facebook. We had no idea who or how many would show up. But lo and behold, people started streaming through the doors half an hour before the start and we were a packed house once brother washer mounted the pulpit. What a beautiful historic moment to see the Gospel faithfully preached before such a gathering. Here is the video which also includes Mikael Thomsen doing Danish translation . . .


Paul Washer taler i Randers 2009

Rene Vester | Myspace Video

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Reds Under The Beds - My Life In Denmark (Part 10)

The Danish workplace is a very new experience to the uninitiated. More than a century of socialist leaning (some might say falling over) politics has left Denmark with a heavily entrenched and muscular unionism in almost every workplace. When the conservative political party is called "Venstre" - directly translated as "left" in english - you know that the political spectrum runs all the way from socialism to . . . well what is to the left of socialism?

Anyway, in a difficult employment environment, God has graciously blessed me with a new job at a pump factory. It didn't take long, first day on the job in fact, until I was approached by the local union representative. He looked like he had been hiding under a bed since the McCarthy era. He had the standard issue protestor ponytail along with the Malcolm X glasses. He gladly informed me, in no uncertain terms, that he was very RED and very proud of it! He then proceeded to make me aware of the "fact" that the USA has 43 million people living on less than $2 per day and that is because they don't have unions. Therefore unions are a great thing and I should join one - specifically his.

In fairness to the guy, he was friendly and didn't try to threaten me like the powerful waterfront union did in my previous job. I was also able to show him that his doomsday statistic of less than $2 per day in the USA was actually referring to the "poverty line" which is more like $80 per day for a family of five. He willingly conceded this point, only to launch into another anti-american tirade. It seems that the only publicly approved racism left these days is anti-Americanism and this guy was willing to take relentless aim! I then informed him that I was more concerned with the real persecution and poverty experienced by suffering Christians in places like North Korea, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia and that these people groups are almost totally ignored by the UN. Furthermore, it is America that leads the way in providing financial aid, labor, and missionaries to these people groups. The downward spiral continued as he then mocked this generosity as something driven by sinister empirical motives.

I have often theorized that it would make a fascinating experiment to take a sampling of union representatives and power brokers and give them everything they want. This would have to push their complaining capability to the limit. It would be intriguing to hear what grievances they could concoct in an environment where they always got what they wanted.

My union friend, and I do like to chat with him, always asks me how I'm doing, and I always asking him how the revolution is coming along. Just last week he told me that he was fighting for justice which was a green light for me. "Oh no, you don't want justice" I told him. Now I was really pushing his buttons and he asked why I said that. I told him that if everyone got justice then we would all be damned to hell. The problem with workers, bosses, corruption, cheating, greed, and selfishness, was not a problem of injustice but the problem of human sinfulness. The good news is that God is delaying His justice giving us time to repent. I then proceeded to share the Gospel with him. Pray for him, that God may open his eyes, save him, and call him to fight for something infinitely more important than workplace politics - the cause of Christ.

It reminded me of my last day at work in my previous job when I did something that really scared me . . .



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Frikirkenet's Opposition To The Gospel - My Life In Denmark (Part 9)

Our evangelism organization - Tilbage Til Bibelen (Back To Scripture in english) - has continuously encountered resistance to the biblical Gospel from church leaders in Denmark. This resistance was actually a kind of stealth hostility that brewed beneath the surface of Danish civility. But we were brought face to face with this antagonism towards the biblical Gospel when one of our evangelism videos got posted on Frikirkenet's danish website otherwise known as Domino. Frikirkenet is the Danish version of an "evangelical" alliance between most professing Christian denominations. This evangelism video was put on their website to proclaim the Gospel and teach others how to evangelize (for my english speaking friends there is an interactive transcript of this witnessing encounter if you double click on the video, which will take you to the youtube page, and then click on the transcript icon beneath the video).



If you look around the Domino website you will struggle to find anything about Christ crucified and the Gospel He delivered. You would think an evangelism video was just the right thing for this website - but NO! This video was removed within a day of being posted and it wasn't even stored in their archives. Yet the following bizarre and irreverent video of a man diving into a baptismal font was actually posted on the Domino website for months (you only need to watch the first few seconds):

Här dyker Jorge ner i dopgraven from Tidningen Dagen on Vimeo.

This series of my life in Denmark is going to culminate with the local church that we (some like minded believers) planted in Denmark (Kristuskirken) and why we needed to plant a church. Frikirkenet serves as an excellent illustration of why biblical churches are needed in Denmark. To join Frikirkenet you have to pay a fee and agree to their "doctrine". What is their doctrine? "Believe the message of the Bible and the old church creeds". That is about as foggy as the winter mornings in Denmark. Unity is easy when you agree on the message of the Bible without ever delving into what that message actually is. And you can forget altogether about anything that even remotely defines or explains their version of the gospel - all we know is that they don't like the real one.

Just recently, Frikirkent showed more of their true colors by inviting New Age philosopher, Steen Hildebrandt, to be the keynote speaker at their leadership conference. What's more, after exerted pressure to explain themselves, Frikirkenet finally responded to explain themselves. They didn't even deny Hildebrant's new age philosophy, they just thought they could learn from him (and throw 2 Corinthians 6 out the window at the same time). How can I sit in silence while many of my Danish friends are caught up in this farce! This is a disgraceful joke and it needs to be publicized so that those who love the truth would wake up to this con. Supporting Frikirkenet, either financially or through involvement, is actually participating in an organization that opposes the Christian Gospel. There may well be authentic believers and sound preachers within the Frikirkenet umbrella, but now is the time for those people to "man up" and start forcefully contending for the once for all delivered faith. If you are one of those people and you're not willing to contend then come out of it. Church goers of Denmark - wake up, rise up, and join or start a Christian church that actually preaches and teaches Christianity. If you love the Gospel then you will find a sanctuary at Kristuskirken where the Gospel actually does get preached - and we even define it! My conscience is clean of the idea that this is brazen self-promotion. All fear of that evaporated when I realized that the theological shortcomings within my local fellowship are incapable of plunging the depths of biblical incompetence on display with Frikirkenet.

For those readers in the english speaking world "Frikirkenet" is the Danish word for a network of church leaders united by their common ignorance of plain biblical teaching. More to come . . .

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Justin Peters Calls Denmark To Discernment - My Life In Denmark (Part 8)

The previous post in this series highlighted the farcical state of professing Christianity in Denmark. When high profile Pentecostal leader, Lars Due Christensen, evicted me from a Christian conference - for sharing the Gospel with people - it was just one example of the dreadful biblical illiteracy that plagues church leadership throughout Denmark - whichever denominational stripe they may be. Not only that, it was a blatant demonstration of the overt hostility to the biblical Gospel by those who profess to be the shepherds.

The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. (Ezekiel 34:1-16)

True shepherds do two things; they feed sheep and they protect them from wolves - not feed sheep to wolves! With this in mind and the reality that many church goers in Denmark were entranced by the "kookiness and spookiness" of the Word Faith prosperity preachers (at least the remainder of those who were not either liberal, emergent, or purpose driven), I called upon my dear friend Justin Peters to see if he was traveling anywhere near Europe in the coming months. As providence would have it Justin was going to be doing seminars in England and had space in his schedule to fly over to us in the summer of 2008 and teach his "A Call For Discernment Seminar". Consistent with the cowardly practices of Danish church leaders it was apparent that there had been somewhat of a stealth campaign with "strong encouragement" for people not to attend Justin's seminar. As usual, it seems that an open discussion with Tilbage Til Bibelen (our evangelism ministry) was not an option. Nonetheless, Justin graciously came and ministered to us. If you haven't seen his seminar, it is jaw dropping! Justin is not a bitter individual, but he does offer an even handed, yet devastating, biblical critique of the preachers who seem to monopolize airtime in religious broadcasting. Here is an overview of Justin's seminar:



Thou shalt not criticize is not the eleventh commandment. It is a manipulative technique used by false teachers to protect them from scrutiny. God's Word has survived millennia of scrutiny, but these Word Faith charlatans cannot survive any!

Coming Friday - Frikirkenet (which is a Danish word that means "a network of church leaders united by their common ignorance of plain biblical teaching").

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Getting Kicked Out Of A Pentecostal Camp For Evangelizing - My Life In Denmark (Part 7)

Today I am going to talk publicly for the first time about an awful personal experience that occured over two years ago at a Christian conference in Denmark. It was the day I incurred the wrath of the Pentecostal movement in Denmark for witnessing to some people at their annual conference. What triggered my decision to speak publicly was when I recently found out that the man who banned me from the 2008 Pentecostal conference in Denmark (Pinse Camp in Danish) - because I was sharing the Gospel - is the same man who has recently labelled one of my closest friends as a "modern day pharisee" (there is some conjecture that he actually gave that label to the whole evangelism ministry I am a part of). Well how about that! I was under the strange impression that one of the hallmarks of acting like a pharisee is sabotaging the preaching of the Gospel . . .

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. . . So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. (Acts 4:1-3,18)

The man in question is Lars Due Christensen who is a high ranking Pentecostal pastor in Denmark and is also an influential voice in the wider Danish evangelical landscape. It would seem that playing the Pharisee card is a useful option for a church leader who needs to deal with a problematic church goer - especially the problem of those who dare to ask theological questions or preach the Gospel based on what Scripture says. Christensen's Pharisee comment (which he claimed was the general consensus of his peers) resulted in a close friend of mine being banished from the pulpit of his home fellowship. With ramifications like that, you would expect a pastor to provide some biblical basis for such a strong allegation. But no, the Pharisee card has diplomatic immunity. The Pharisee card demolishes all objections in it's path. The Pharisee card absolves the prosecutor of any responsibility to substantiate his claims. The Pharisee card is the emergency off ramp from the hermeneutical highway. The Pharisee card is the steadfast friend of the biblically incompetent pastor.

After almost four years of living amidst the catastrophe otherwise known as "Danish Christianity" I can no longer remain silent. What follows is my account of the day Lars Due Christensen had me evicted from the 2008 Pentecostal Conference in Denmark! It would seem that I committed the unpardonable sin of the annual Pentecostal summer conference - preaching the Gospel where it never gets preached - at the annual Pentecostal summer conference! I think it is time to set the record straight. When friends of mine cut all correspondence with me without ever giving a reason or even talking to me, when a fellow evangelist nearly has a speaking engagement cancelled because he is friends with me, and when I keep learning shocking truths about myself through third parties - then it is time for me to recount the events of July 14th 2008 as they actually happened.

Monday the 14th of July 2008, my family and I travelled to the small town of Mariager to visit some friends who live there. It just so happened that the annual Pentecostal summer conference was happening at the same time. We saw that there were meetings being held there during the evening and decided to go and hear the speaker who was from England (I always like to take the opportunity to listen to messages in English). The sermon was something along the lines of Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings and ended with an "inverse altar call". What do I mean by "inverse altar call"? It is an altar call where, instead of people coming forward under conviction of sin in order to repent before God, hurting and victimized people were called forward to get a big cosmic hug. You can tell a lot about the gospel a man preaches by how he portrays mankind. Are we victims in need of therapy or sinners who need to repent. Undoubtedly, some people are victims, but unless the victim sees his personal guilt that is transcendent over his misfortune, he will never comprehend a cross meant for criminals that was substituted with a Savior. The whole experience was all so lame and pathetic that I went out into the pleasant night air of the Danish summer. What I witnessed outside, looking around the conference grounds, was a large smattering of teenagers and young adults enjoying the wide variety of entertainment being provided for them on site.

I stood in line to buy some candy and satisfy my sugar habit. I usually carry tracts and talk to strangers wherever I go and standing in line was no different. I had some optical illusion tracts in my pocket and offered one to the guy behind me. He showed it to his friends and they came to me wanting one of the tracts. More and more people started to gather around asking me for these tracts. I decided to tell them that they had to let me ask them 2 questions before I gave them each a tract. The first question was – if I wasn’t a Christian tell me why I should become one? By this point there was maybe 20 or more people gathered around me and none of them were able to give an answer to this question. It is important to remember that the day will come when we will answer to God for the things we say and the things we are silent about. If someone who professes Christ cannot give a good reason why someone should become a Christian it should raise a serious question as to whether that person understands the message of the Christian Gospel.

The second question I asked them was – if I had three minutes to live and I wanted to know how to get to heaven what would you say to me? Again no one could answer this question. At this point I was grieved in my spirit and longed to tell them about the Cross of Jesus Christ. These were not difficult questions about transubstantiation or ecclesiology. This was basic level Christianity and these youth were completely out of their depth. I longed to share the Gospel with them and I did. CJ Mahaney says that we should preach the Gospel to ourselves every day and I am a firm believer that you can never hear the story too many times. Furthermore, I told the people nothing outside of normal historical Pentecostal doctrine. Pretty much similar content to what was on the tract. By this point even more people had gathered around. I told them about the Holiness of God, and then about the sinfulness of mankind and how we have all broken God’s commandments, then I spoke about how the day is coming when everyone will be judged by God and that our greatest need will be righteousness on that day, then I spoke about what Jesus did for sinners by fulfilling the law that they had broken and then by taking the Father's wrath that they deserve as a substitute on the cross. That the good news of the Gospel is about how the wonderful Savior took the sins of the sinner upon Himself and imputed His perfect righteousness to the sinners account that we can have pardon from sin, and righteousness before God. I finally shared how God now calls all people everywhere to repent of their sinful ways and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save them from the wrath that they deserve.

I stopped speaking and stood there expecting everyone to leave. Some people applauded and others were weeping under conviction but no one left. Several of them asked me to continue - this was not planned and noone was being held against their will. With all the other entertainment going on around them they were free to leave but they were hungry to hear more. How dull and pathetic worldly entertainment is when compared to the thrilling doctrine of imputed righteousness - especially to a group of people, many of whom were beginning to grasp their own unrighteousness.

I pleaded with them to think about these things. I told them not to just believe what I was saying but to test it according to Scripture and read one of the four Gospel’s in the Bible. I was not after their money or trying to get them to join a church. I was concerned about them and their understanding of salvation knowing I may never speak with them again. That was certainly Lars Due Christensen's desire - that I would not speak with these people again. The following day, Lars Due Christensen, who was one of the main leaders and organizing pastors at the conference had people on the lookout for me. He duly tracked me down, demanded that I leave the conference site immediately or security would provide personal assistance in finding the exit. In fairness to Lars Due, he should have been concerned - I could have been a Mormon! But he was in no mood for conversation. I asked him to give a reason for the eviction and he wouldn't give me one. I showed him one of the tracts I had been handing out and asked him if he objected to any part of the message contained therein - again he wouldn't answer. I asked him what I had done wrong - you guessed it, no answer. Just prior to my hasty departure I was given the obscure remark that I had confused the people I talked to but no further explanation on what he meant by this.

Some of the readers may consider the possibility that I am only giving my skewed perspective of a tense situation. Well this is how I later recounted the events to Lars Due via e-mail, a version of events that he never even questioned (except for our farewell conversation - I have a recording of that instead). But in the days, weeks, and months that followed, I easily noticed that my popularity had declined to the level of a pork chop in a Synagogue. Nothing was said to me directly, but the silence was deafening. The saga will continue on Monday . . .

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Starting To Take Action - My Life In Denmark (Part 6)

Pop Quiz - what did many Lutheran churches in Denmark do on October 31st?
A - Commemorate the Reformation
or
B - Celebrate Halloween
Clue - If you are a cynic then you will get the right answer!

Yes, that's right, on the 493rd anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, many Lutheran Priests in Denmark decided to celebrate halloween. After all, the Reformation was only the single most momentous event to ever happen in Europe. Unfortunately, irony is nothing new to the state sponsored Lutheran culture in Denmark. Luther never wanted a movement named after him but his conscience was captive to Holy Scripture. Today, in Denmark, we have a movement named after him that wants nothing to do with Holy Scripture. If you are a Lutheran Priest who fits this profile then do everyone a favor and stop masquerading as a spokesman for God (I refuse to even acknowledge female priests). If you are one of the conservative protestors of this madness then start actually making some noise as you protest. Being protestant does not mean hiding in a corner in a silent vigil of opposition!

Over the last few posts I have been lamenting/documenting the catastrophic collapse of biblical Christianity in Denmark. I say it not for the sake of complaining, but as a call of provocation! I have quickly learnt that courtesy and good manners have become a massive hindrance to people responding proactively. It's the old frog in the kettle syndrome! It has led to the point where many of the professing Christians here, actually comfort themselves in the knowledge that they attend a "church" that is less heretical than most of the others.

My discontent had become unbearable by early 2008. I drew up a battle plan taking much confidence from the fact that I was absolutely convinced of my inability to make the situation any worse. My starting point was that I knew the Gospel and as such, knew that it was not being preached anywhere (though I have since become aware of a few Lutherans who do proclaim the true biblical Gospel) in Denmark. Jehovah's Witnesses needed to beware that they were no longer going to be the only ones who witnessed to Danes. And we planned to testify about the real living Jehovah!

After extensive sniffing around and surveillance of Danish internet pages, I was able to gather a dozen people in my sunroom (a Danish oxymoron if ever there was one) and cast the vision for an evangelism network. Tilbage Til Bibelen was born that chilly night in April 2008. It was a plan to evangelize people via Gospel tracts and one-to-one witnessing, train willing Christians, and exert pressure on churches/ministries by challenging them to approve/repudiate an orthodox doctrine statement.

It was a start, but not a total solution. And I was about to find out that evangelism can be a very serious crime in the eyes of a Pentecostal pastor . . . serious enough to get me evicted from their conference site! More to come . . .

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Discerning/Defining True And False Gospels - My Life In Denmark (Part 5)

The "Christian landscape" in Denmark was a very bleak place to survey. What was I doing here? Amidst all the negatives (see part 4) I venture to see that God's providential hand in all of this was to sharpen my understanding of the Gospel, and my ability to discern between the true Gospel and the myriad of false ones (many of which thrive in modern evangelical churches).

At the core of this season of discovery was immersing myself in the wonderful doctrine of double imputation. John Macarthur says that this is the doctrine that clearly separates Christianity from all other works righteous religions. Avatar is boring. "Your Best Life Now" – yaaawwwwn! But becoming a Christian is a supernatural transforming work of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:21 is exhilarating! It is about double imputation – what is that I hear you ask? Imputing the sinners sin to Christ and imputing Christ’s righteousness to the sinner. It is about God treating the righteous as if he lived the sinners life so that He can treat the sinner as if he lived the life of the righteous one. That is unbelievable good news. As grace is favor that we don't deserve, so double imputation is a credit to our account earned by Christ and a debt laid upon Christ's account owed by us. It is a system where God gets all the glory and we should give all the praise.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

So I'll leave you the reader with an investigative assignment in your own local church to see how they measure up. 8 signs of a gospel without double imputation and 8 signs of a Gospel with double imputation at its core:


What Does a Gospel Without Double Imputation Look Like

1. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel where God forgives us because we tell Him we're sorry. God is bound by His character and nature - He cannot violate His demand for justice. All of mankind must suffer the just wrath of God for eternity in hell unless . . . a substitute stands in our stead!

2. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel where Jesus died to give us a second chance. A man who is unregenerated by the Holy Spirit is a man dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1-3). A second chance is no use to a corpse. He needs the Divine intervention of resurrection power!

3. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel with a god who loves us but requires no justice. If God were unjust He would not be loving.

4. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel where Jesus is an example but not a substitute. Passages such as Phillipians 2 certainly teach us that Jesus set an example how we should live. But it is His role as a penal substitute that only makes that possible. Jesus came to do something we are incapable of doing - fulfill the law without sinning. Jesus came to suffer what we cannot endure - take the punishment of God's wrath in the place of sinners. It is only possible to follow Him as your example after you have trusted Him (in repentant faith) as your penal substitute. Modern catch phrases like "live the gospel" and "you are the gospel" are ludicrous in the light of the fact that we should be proclaiming the One Who is completely unlike we are as fallen men.

5. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel where conversion requires a decision but not a transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Does your salvation hinge on the prayer you pray or on the finished work of the One you are praying to?

6. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel where people are victims but not guilty criminals. Therapy and self-esteem are hindrances to true repentance. It is only when we see ourselves in the true light of our wretched depravity that we can see the kindness of God demonstrated in sending Jesus to die for sinners. Sinners who need forgiveness more than social justice. Sinners who need imputed righteousness more than hedonistic happiness.

7. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel where repentance is an option but not a command. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31)

8. A gospel without double imputation is a gospel that says plenty about "global warming" but is silent about "global burning". A gospel without double imputation is a gospel that frightens lost men with the ecological plight of this world but neglects to warn of their eternal plight in the world to come.

What Does a Gospel With Double Imputation Look Like

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17a).

1. A Gospel with double imputation is a Gospel where conversion is a miracle. You are not an upgraded model, but a new creature, regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

The old has passed away; (2 Corinthians 5:17b)

2. A Gospel with double imputation is a Gospel where, prior to conversion, we are described as dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1). And dead men need a lot more than a second chance - they need resurrection power. It doesn't mean that we stop sinning but it does mean that we have a new relationship with sin. The sin we once embraced we now despised. The peace that held sway between our spirit and our flesh has now given way to full scale war!

behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17c).

3. A Gospel with double imputation is a Gospel where God gives a new heart with new desires (Ezekiel 36:25-27) - a love for righteousness and a hatred for the sin we once loved.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18)

4. A Gospel where conversion is totally a work of God and not of the human will. Any gospel based upon a human decision fails to understand Who does the converting and the miraculous nature of that conversion.

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 5:19a).

5. A Gospel with double imputation is a Gospel where Christ is infinitely more than an example but a propitiation (Romans 3:25). Paul Washer believes that Romans 3:25 is the greatest verse in the Bible because it talks about Christ as a propitiation. Propitiation describes a sacrifice that takes away sin and satisfies wrath. God has wrath and you can't solve the problem by denying this explicit truth (as many vainly try). Every time you break God's law by lying, stealing, sex outside of marriage, or even a lustful thought, or any other part of God's law - God cannot violate His demand for justice because He is good. Most people try to reassure themselves as they face eternity with the thought that God is good and loving. Yes God is good and loving - and that is exactly the problem. If God overlooks sin He stops being good and loving and becomes corrupt. So either we must burn in hell for all eternity to satisfy His wrath or a substitute must endure God's wrath in our place. Here is where we find God's love.

How often do you hear Jesus referred to as an example to follow. While there is truth to this idea (Phillipians 2:5-9), it is transcended by Christ's role as a penal substitute. We need the imputed righteousness of Christ before we can even be able to follow Him as an example. Furthermore, the major reason Jesus came, to bring salvation, was because He is not like anybody and nobody can really be like Him. No one could keep the law, and no one could suffer God’s wrath. There are some ways in which I try to follow Jesus’ example but I am a hundred times more greatful that He fulfilled the law that I had broken and suffered the punishment that I deserve. There is the real good news.

As a footnote commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:19 it is wothwhile responding to universalists (people who believe that everyone will be saved) who try to use this verse to support their heresy. When Paul says that God was "reconciling the world to Himself" he clearly does not mean that everyone is reconciled to God as Rob Bell teaches:

So this reality, this forgiveness, this reconciliation, is true for everybody. Paul insisted that when Jesus died on the cross he was reconciling ‘all things, in heaven and on earth, to God. This reality then isn’t something we make true about ourselves by doing something. It is already true. Our choice is to live in this new reality or cling to a reality of our own making. (Velvet Elvis p146, emphasis mine)

We need to remember that Scripture cannot contradict Scripture and other places clearly teach that God divides people into "sheep and goats" (Matthew 25), some will be saved and go to heaven, and others will be damned and go to hell. They are places God has made, not "realities of our own making". Another point is that if everyone is already reconciled then why are Christians given the "ministry of reconciliation" as seen in the prior verse. We also need to remember that Pauls context in 2 Corinthians 5:17 is "if anyone is in Christ" - he is clearly not teaching universalism. The meaning of "world" in 2 Corinthians 5:19 actually refers to:

the entire sphere of humanity (Titus 2:11, 3:4), the category of beings to whom God offers reconciliation - people from every ethnic group, without distinction. The intrinsic merit of Christ's reconciling death is infinite and the offer is unlimited. However, actual atonement was made only for those who believe (John10:11,15). (John Macarthur, commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:19)

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19b).

6. A Gospel with double imputation is a Gospel where, because of what Christ has done for us, we are given the responsibility to preach that message to every person.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 corinthians 5:20).

7. A Gospel with double imputation is a Gospel with the responsibility to tell it to others. What a priveledge. God does not need us but has blessed us with a part to play in His redemption plan. I know that Rick Warren says "preach the Gospel, if necessary use words". That's like saying "wash always, if necessary use water". Every time the word "preach" appears in the New Testament it means loudly spoken. It is a verbal message. Being salt and light backs up the message but it isn't the message. We cannot live out the Gospel because Christ came to do what we cannot do. We are called to speak about the One Who lived the life that we cannot live, and live a life that bears witness to the work of the Holy Spirit.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

8. A Gospel where, in the words of John Macarthur:

Christ was not a sinner, but was treated as if He were, so believers who have not yet been made righteous are treated as if they were righteous. Christ bore their sins so that they could bear His righteousness. God treated Him as if He committed believers’ sins, and treats believers as if they did only the righteous deeds of the sinless Son of God (John Macarthur, commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:21).

So have a good listen to the preaching in your local church through the filter of these 16 points I have laid out. Needless to say that hearing about double imputation in a Danish church is like an Elvis sighting . . . only more rare!

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