Joint College Response to Gospel of Inclusion

of course we agree mr. Pearson can I have to make a preface statement on behalf of the entire panel for clarity and to set the tone of our presentation it is important that we establish on behalf of the entire panel that our presentations are based upon the written presentation bishop carlton pearson submitted to the joint college the interview bishop pearson granted to the gospel today and the doctrinal statement contained on bishop Pearson's website which were not articulated by the oral presentation further we declare that the theological scrutiny of inclusion ism is not the same thing as attacking the inclusion is because clearly we embrace the spirit of love and accommodation and just respect that every person is do I will now present my presentation the purpose of this discourse is to present a defense of the Bible based doctrine of justification by faith in contra distinction to the doctrine of inclusion ISM these presentations are based upon the inerrant Word of God and not upon the opinions of men no matter how attractive this presentation will focus on two fallacies in the inclusion is debate the fallacy that inclusion ISM is the correct understanding of justification by faith and the exegetical fallacies in the inclusion is presentation with a major emphasis on the book of Romans a fair summation of the inclusion is position is that because of the death of Christ Jesus is efficacious all human beings regardless of confession belief lifestyle practice or religious protestations are ultimately guaranteed entrance into Christ 7 further that if even one soul were to suffer the pains of eternal death God's sovereign status would be nullified and his claims of power would be exposed as a farce leading the inclusion is to conclude that's such a God that would allow the destruction of one single soul albeit unregenerate and unrepentant should be recharacterized as a devil we pause for a moment to strongly admonish the inclusion is to tread lightly on this ground as Matthew 12 seems to indicate that the specific components of unrecoverable reprobate nests resulting from blasphemy against the Holy Spirit include attributing the works of God to the devil in this case judgment the inclusion is appeals to the book of Romans to gather a menagerie of proof texts isolated from their contextual setting in an effort to demonstrate that Muslims Hindus atheists and all other unregenerate and unrepentant people will be included in the population of Christ's heaven the exegetical fallacies abound in this view experienced primarily by the inclusion as'll of scriptures to the contrary based solely on the inclusion as arbitrary interpretive methods and fondness for speculative opinion in fact the process the inclusion is use uses to engineer these novel theological constructs is not exegesis at all but eisegesis where the word exegesis is from the greek preposition tech out of and Jesus from ganas go to know and eisegesis from ice the preposition into and ganas go to know as the conclusions drawn cannot be derived from the text but have been forcefully and unnaturally infused into the text the inclusion is claims the right of private interpretation contra Peter in 2 Peter 1:20 which is actually a private rewrite and by whose authority one wonders secondly the inclusion is seeks to declare certain words found in the text to be terminus technical or technical terms having the same meaning everywhere specifically the inclusion assumes that all means all without exception in every place it is used in fact all can also mean all without distinction and not necessarily all without exception hence it is fallacious to suggest that all without exception shall enjoy the blessings of heaven produced by the sacrifice of Christ how indeed could all mean all without exception when there are a plethora of Scripture stating emphatically that judgment eternal damnation await the unregenerate except that the inclusion is due to his preference for a kinder gentler message cannot abide the thought that God actually meant what he said in Luke 16 the Bible concedes that the reality of eternal torment is overwhelming to the unregenerate the rich man in Hell who suddenly has become both a believer and evangelistic pleads to send a message from Hell to his five brothers Abraham - is the thought if they will not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead we can understand how the Unruh generated five brothers could reject the testimony from hell what we cannot understand is how the inclusion is could reject the more reliable testimony of the scriptures the book of Romans to which the inclusion astre firs for proof texts of inclusion ISM presents a dramatically different presentation Romans displays the unworthiness of all categories of human beings in general in Chapter one Jews or Israel in particular in Chapter two and the individual in Chapter three and concludes that all the world is guilty before God chapter three continues by introducing the concept of justification at this point let us explore some dramatic contrast between justification and inclusion ISM justification is by through and in something the inclusion is argues that justification is in spite of something Roman's demands that access to this justification is by faith of and belief in Jesus Christ the inclusion is counters that justification is impervious to being trampled upon being held in contempt by and the explicit repudiation of its provisions by the unrepentant and unregenerate Romans chapter 8 verse 9 declares If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his the inclusion is counters in spite of being none of his you can have all of his including heaven Romans displays justification as by faith in chapter 3 verse 22 by grace in verse 24 through Redemption the inclusion is primarily on the basis of philosophical imagination contradicts the text by assuring the unbelieving unregenerate unrepentant complete and total access to the state of justification with its associated prize of eternal bliss in a Christian heaven even though they will have none of Christ the inclusion is craving recognition in and acceptance by the modern world and post modernity has become a victim of and is victimizing his audience by a gross distortion of the sacred text by shifting the focus of attention from the supremacy of Jesus Christ's offer of salvation to an undeserved evaluation of humanities significance the inclusion is manipulating the divine attributes specifically love attempts to enslave our Sovereign Lord to the arrogant rebellious parade of the sinful nature and a self-centered attitude of unrepentant man to put it succinctly the inclusion is rubs the sin hardened repudiation of the Gospel message in the face of a loving Lord who died for the sins of the world to suggest that the reward of heaven the ultimate gift of salvation will be provided to unrepentant unregenerate man even against the wheel or desire of those for whom this aberrant gospel is being developed and who have actively throughout their lifetimes spurned the Gospels invitation is ludicrous in its concept lethal in its effect and contrary to both the content and intent of Holy Writ the inclusion aspra tests the indictment of being against a cross of Christ by embracing inclusion ISM however the cross makes the inclusion is umbrella that prohibits God from exercising his sovereign right to dispense judgment on his own creation or else risk being labeled a devil quite problematic if in order to be loving God cannot hurt a single soul that what does the inclusion is say about the horrific portrait of the cross how does the inclusion is reconcile the brutal bludgeoning of Christ on the cross which came not only by God's permission but was inflicted on Christ by the father in his version of a loving God Joshu McDowell's book evidence that demands a verdict includes a chapter title Jesus lunatic liar or Lord which one of these is Jesus to the inclusion asti's as' and the Apostles taught on the dire consequences of rejecting the Gospel message Jesus taught about Hell more specifically the lake of fire jesus said of that day depart from me that purse into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels was a lying in mark 9 Jesus refers to Hell as the unquenchable fire and says that hell is a place where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched was he lying for if everyone without exception is going to be saved from the penalty of eternal damnation Jesus must have been lying if you cannot bring yourself to accuse Jesus of lying then you must conclude him to be deluded for anyone who would die for a worthless cause has to be crazy why die to save a people from damnation if damnation is an empty threat such a thought is damnable the inclusion is in his gospel today interview offers to prove that Muslims Hindus and other unrepentant unregenerate will populate Christ's heaven by quoting Romans 3 specifically what if some did not believe shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect god forbid the inclusion is says see if you don't believe it's okay because god's faithfulness will overlook it wrong this is an interpretive fallacy first the text here isn't addressing salvation require qualifications rather it shares that the jews of the bible entrusted with god's word had been unfaithful to their charge however while the jews were unfaithful God is not somebody please warn the Muslims Hindus and all unrepentant and Unruh generated people that their Romans 3 exemption is invalid the unreliability of private interpretation is further revealed by observing that juxtaposed in the very text the inclusion as appeals to here in chapter 3 is a clear repudiation of his position the inclusion is rights moreover a God who deliberately allows and I quote a God who deliberately allows the uninterrupted existence of endless or eternal torments is not God at all but more like what we would describe as the devil Romans 3 had its brand of such a theological speculation so not that drastic they presumed in verse 5 that breaking faith with God is good our sins serve a good purpose for people will notice how good god is when they see how bad we are is it fair then for him to punish us when our sins are helping him verse 6 god forbid then what kind of God would he be to overlook sin how could he ever condemn anyone for he could not judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty brought him glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies if you follow through with that idea you come up with this the worst we are the better god likes it the Apostle Paul's response is compelling he states emphatically that their damnation is just I must revisit the devil comment we know the devil he is not the one that executes judgment against his enemies he is the one who when Eve quoted God's words shall he countered shall not his attempt to change God's Word failed then and his attempts will fail now If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathema maranatha first the lord cometh in wood Parker Bishop Ellis Bishop Owens to Bishop Pearson I would like to focus on aspects of the shippers and presentation that concerns the church's presentation of the gospel the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:16 and 17 for I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes first for the Jew then for the Gentile for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written the righteous will live by faith I commenced my presentation with the writings of the Apostle Paul because it offers insights into the Gospels content and intent as well as is extant and simplicity Paul declares that the gospel is good news or glad tidings that God has provided salvation through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ he further reveals that the gospel has an interest in efficacy not found anywhere else on in any other religion and that it reveals the righteousness of God or the character and nature of a holy God Paul speaks of a provisional righteousness or how men can be considered righteous while in chapters 6 through 8 of Romans Paul speaks up an ethical righteousness or how of how men must live in response to a righteousness reveal and provided to him by God Paul is clear that the efficacy of the gospel depends on man's willingness to receive and believed and therefore must be a product of a process from faith to faith God's faithfulness to man's faith Paul further contends that the gospel has a scope that began at a particular point where the particular people but its movement clearly would ultimately be to all nations of people I submit upfront that I am proposing that the evangelism of the church must all within the context of Paul's writing mr. Pierson however challenges the church's presentation of the gospel because he believes that after 30 years of preaching holiness with the accompanying Hellfire and brimstone warnings to final judgment that he has been arrested by the Holy Spirit for not having preached an accurate gospel message he therefore challenges to church to rethink its presentation of the gospel and of Jesus Christ in a modern world underneath all of the hype and controversy is a question of the church's relevance at a time when there is societal movement toward a pluralistic and multicultural norm that offers multiple challenges to any group with hegemonic tendencies about who they are and what they believe the church and these contemporary times must be prepared to present its faith in a way that would draw people to God versus just turned them off because of the rigidity of this presentation or because of what has been a somewhat primitive and somewhat antiquated presentation of one dimension of God that emphasized Hellfire and damnation it must however be cautious of gravitating to the other end of the continuum and only presenting a gospel that asserts the sovereign love of God while dismissing other elements that are interested to the nature of God such as his holiness and his righteousness as the church however becomes progressively relevant in its mentalism it must be sure that its methodology does not undermine its theology herein lies my basic departure with Bishop isness contention I believe that in an effort to be culturally relevant and to worship as a citizen of the modern world that bishop Pearson's accommodation of the contemporaneous methodology saps white biblical text second I'm concerned about his use of the doctrine of universalism to support his claim for modern evangelistic theology and third I'm concerned about his notion of the extent of the atonement as a determinant for how to present the gospel on several occasions in the collection of writing that I studied by Bishop Pearson he uses an either-or construct and either-or construct suggests that either a is true or B is true and that both cannot necessarily be true at the same time for example he says in his article Jesus Savior of the world that the gospel is not so much what we must do to a set price but what Christ has done in order that God may accept us he further says and another writer it appears to me that salvation is not so much an issue of between God and man as it is more significantly an agreement between God the Father His Son Jesus Christ and thirdly he says we must ask ourselves does believe in make a person born again or does being born again make you a believer in each of these cases while he speaks truth regarding the message of the gospel he inadvertently sets up a dichotomy that suggests that both of these concepts cannot co-exist while it is true that the gospel is about what God has done it is also equally true that there is a demand on the gospel as to what we must do to accept Christ after all the scripture does state that God so loved the world and issued between God and man and that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes an issue between men and God in him should not perish but have everlasting life and his question as to whether believing makes a person born again or does being born again make you a believer he sets up at the economy because he does not treat the word believe in his total perspective the Old Testament Hebrew understand another word believe involves both and objectively relation to the object of belief and thus the person who believes takes cognizance of Anna Sethi RJ as truth simultaneously the person also experienced a subjective relation and that person must be an act in accordance with that belief the Greek word for belief Castillo is also twofold and that it is not that it is not a punt Illya term it is a linear time it means to believe and to keep on believing and manifesting a lifestyle commensurate with that belief a more appropriate construct would be to use a both/and paradigm that allows two things to co-exist and to be true at the same time while simultaneously not being mutually exclusive this would allow us to better treat the text systematically Bishop Pearson continues this non systematic treatment of the text and his use of universalism or inclusion isms to shape the evangelistic message given to the world tracing his route linking to the early church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen bishop peterson identifies himself as a modern Universalist who believes that emphasis on the sovereign love of god will win the world the challenge with this is that it does not represent the whole truth emphasizing the love of god is good but Universalists do not systematically deal with all the scripture Clements view that the torments of the Damned are curative and of the perfect Ori nature is exposed in business writing Origen created a doctrine of a pocket auspices which is to believe that the punishment of the wicked has merely purgatorial functions and therefore cannot be eternal and use it to support his belief that all will be saved I appeal to a more systematic theology if the church is going to tell the whole story it must share the message of Hell not as a scare tactic but as a consequential reality of rejecting the gospel message what does one do with the scripture Matthew 18 and 8 it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to be cast into eternal fire on Matthew 25:46 and these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life so what does the Universalists do with these scriptures one approach is to reinterpret the Greek word AE to mean something different than what it does in the context for example the Universalists would say that a er9 means age because the root of it is a an alien which means age or eon therefore they would say then that he'll must be temporal but how can one look at the scripture with a Arnon used in both cases and make one temporal while make the other one eternal so if Hale then is temporal must heaven also be temporal covered with the Universalist belief of universal atonement is the belief what let me back up a minute but what if their claim is true and Hale is curative would this be stronger in opposition to their own thinking that man has no responsibility towards his salvation a person being cured in hell was strong and suggests that such a person is made worthy to be with God through his own sufferings and Corrections in the afterlife this is certainly contradiction contradictory to the notion of universal atonement and would imply that the cross is not a finished work if Jesus already took away my sins and paid the price then why am I in Hell trying to get right the Universalists also believes that universal atonement is the same as universal salvation for example in 2nd Corinthians 2:14 and 15 which states that because we are convinced that one died for all and further sake that he died for all that those that believed that they should not live for themselves universities would use this text as an attempt to promote universal salvation with in man's participation without man's participation in this text our album Hall is not suggesting that irrespective of their response and attitude all men know forgiveness of sins or experience ceteris living there is universalism in the scope of redemption since no man is excluded from God's offer of salvation but there is a particularity in the application of redemption since not all men are croupier the benefits afforded by this universally offered salvation the atonement involves two separate factors an objective factor and a subjective factor the objective factor represents a divine sovereignty of God and is rooted in the concept that God has a SKU that no one in his merciful provision God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to eternal life the subjective factor represents human responsibility God and created man in his own image and in his own likeness created man as a free moral agent with the capacity to exercise his own volition as God has always allowed men to exercise choice so it is consistent with the nature of God to offer men a choice any response to the provisions that salvation offers man as a free will agent and must respond to the grace offered him through the salvation in my conclusion again while I agree with Bishop Pearson's query regarding the church's evangelistic efforts as to how to present Christ in a more eleven way out apart from his conclusion that this is best done through the doctrine of universal reconciliation and universal salvation while I do embrace the concept of universal intone meant I do not believe nor support the idea of universal salvation and the purgatorial nature of hail as motifs for a softer and milder approach of Jesus in the story of Jesus must eventually result in one knowing the whole truth and embracing the totality of who he is as the divine logos this would dismiss the notion of an either/or paradigm to consider the attributes of God and demand a both and construct that was systematically include both the holiness and justice of God as well as the love of God Millard Arison writes in his book Christian theology that not everyone will be saved this is not a conclusion which we state with satisfaction but it is most faithful to the entirety of the biblical witness it should be a spur to invest listicle efforts but how are meant to call upon them 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 preach without a preacher and how can men preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news thank you to His Eminence Bishop JW Ellis our president our Dean and host mr. Alfred Owens and pastor Susie Owens to our friend and brother Bishop Carleton Pearson brother and sister bishops pastors Christians and friends greetings in the name of Jesus the very Christ of God who is God a response to the gospel of inclusion one of the remarkable characteristics of the Christian tradition has been its consistency that despite violence persecutions and schisms something unmistakably Christian has persevered for nearly 2,000 years the Christian tradition has sustained a substantial array of religious beliefs some have been considered Orthodox while others have been considered heretical as citizens of the modern world we would all do well to consider the Apostle Paul's exhortation to us in Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man and being found in the appearance of man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross therefore God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those things in heaven and those things on earth and those things under the earth and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father this passage of Scripture speaks of becoming a becoming of what we already are as believers which is risen with Christ to a new life to a working out of the new life received in Christ Jesus the gospel of inclusion which closely resembles the universalistic the ecology refers to salvation as being universally inclusive I would respond however with Philippians 2:5 2:11 that the obedience that Christ undertook is a direct indication that all believers are to exemplify like obedience essentially salvation must express itself in the life of the believer through a lived out faith obedience and a posture of complete obedience to the will the word and the way of God God's word to the world in Jesus Christ is not ambiguous in him all of the promises of God are yes and amen but neither are we allowed to reduce the message that Jesus Christ has lived and died and been raised for all into an abstract guarantee of universal salvation grace is not cheap and faith can never be separated from obedience dr. Pearson in your reference to the centrality of the Cross you contend that God could not or would not permit a single soul that he created to be destroyed or even eternally separated from him I would respectfully respond by referencing the classic sermon written by the renowned Jonathan Edwards entitled sinners in the hands of an angry god he writes God has laid himself under no obligation by any promise to keep any natural man or woman out of hell for one moment God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life or of any deliverance of preservation from eternal death but what are contained in the covenant of grace the promises that are given in Christ in whom all of the promises are yay and amen but surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the Covenant who do not believe in any of the promises and have no interest in the mediator of the Covenant God is indeed a God of love on this we all believe and agree however he is also a God of justice as evidenced in judges chapter 2 11 through 20 then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and serve the bales and they forsook the Lord of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and they followed other gods and from among the people who were around them and they provoked the Lord to anger I contend that while God does not choose to destroy any of us so often sadly regrettably we too often choose to be destroyed and eventually the Lord God Almighty who is both rich in mercy but also injustice chastises of people of disobedience in the juristic theory of atonement there was an amazing mixture of love and anger in God God in this theory built tremendous anger at human sin but God also felt great love for humankind as the pinnacle of the earthly creation in order to spare people God's wrath God diverted it onto Jesus his beloved son so both humans and Jesus experienced a mixture of love and anger in God on the cross Jesus absorbed God's wrath against human sin exhausted it satisfied God's judgment in his faith seeking understanding dr. Daniel migliori professor of systematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary States this is the clear teaching of Romans 9 through 11 the locust classic us of the biblical understanding of the relationship of grace and judgment election and rejection in this passage the Apostle Paul does not teach that some human beings Jews are eternally rejected while others Christians are eternally elected by God nor does he contend that glad and faithful human response to God's free gift is a matter of indifference since all will be saved in the end rather his point is that God's mercy is a free gift romans 9 and 19 that God indeed judges human sin and unfaithfulness but that this judgment is not necessarily final for God's will if that all would turn to him and that he would have mercy if any are excluded from the community of grace at the end it is because they have persisted in opposition to the grace and the mercy of God not because they were excluded before the foundation of the world I would further maintain that because God is completely loved that he must uphold the virtue and consistency of his own divine nature and moreover hold the consistency and virtue of the set order of creation which proceeds from him for the most godlike thing in Jesus Christ was his creative self outpouring in love a self outpouring like that of the Father from whom all things have their being and the climax of that self outpouring of Christ was his passion and his death the Nicene Creed adopted as a defense of the faith and 381 ad declares that we indeed believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord the giver of life who proceeds from the father who would the father and the son is worship and glorified the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ intends to lead intends to lead a life in the spirit and this spirit sets all of creation in motion nurturing it towards its final liberation Christ's death accomplish its purpose reconciling humankind to God however the God who is over and for God the Father and the son is available to be God in and through us God the Holy Spirit therefore I would contend that the significance of the cross cannot be separated from the work of the resurrection to live in Christ is to live by God's love and grace through the Spirit of God as an extension of the emerging post-resurrection life of Jesus Iranians of Lyon taught that we lost in Adam have been restored in Christ having fallen by our solidarity with Adam we can now be reconciled by solidarity with Christ our sympathetic representative to a merciful God God suffers with us for our sins and in Christ gladly forgives the reconciliation is not the result of required substitutionary payment but a relationship restored when we believe in the restoring initiative of God in Christ and then choose to appropriate to ourselves its benefits and dedicate ourselves to its sacrificial way of life the focus lies in a restoration to be achieved more than a payment to be made humanity needs to be healed restored to the original divine image within us freed from the bondage of sin and restored to the image of Christ Athanasius for example said that in the Incarnation God became us so that we might become like God the significance of the resurrection of Christ is that it points to the final resurrection of the Dead God's overcoming of all that impedes the perfecting work of his creation it represents an initiation into a new quality of life filled with hope for the future the victory of the Cross of and the resurrection of Jesus Christ addresses the guilt as justification provides the power as sanctification and assures the consequences as eventual glorification the kingdom of God has been inaugurated in Christ on our historical scene and its first fruits are to be the liberation reconciliation restoration and commissioning of Kingdom citizens for new life in the world through Christ our human understanding of the proper focus of Christ's atonement should not be limited to a resolution of the guilt of our past sin it is also our being set free for life now a life dedicated to God's mission in this world and indeed God freely elects creatures to become partners in the creation election is not a call but a privilege to serve to service ezreal called to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth Genesis chapter 12 2 and 3 the servant of God is to be a light to the nation's Isaiah 42 and 6 and Isaiah 49 and 6 Jesus Christ is a chosen son of God who immediately does the work of God and cause others to take part in this work John 4 and 34 John 15 and 16 human beings are called to be co-workers with God in the mission of liberation and reconciliation every gift of the Spirit of God includes a responsibility as Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes the grace of God is freely given but it is not a cheap grace we have been called and commissioned to costly service finally the inclusion is asserts that faith may be more of a privilege than a requirement for salvation and that faith does not necessarily change or affect the eternal destiny of a person I would contend however that the assumption of the open door of prevenient grace and the goal of transformation into the likeness of Christ justification begins with God forgiveness that releases the contract heart from the guilt of committed regeneration rebirth is received through faith alone according to Romans 3:23 228 believers are justified restored to a right relationship with God by God's initiative of sheer unmerited grace Sola Gracia and by the response of faith and trust for Christians justification is the declaration of God that a believer who trusts in Christ's atoning work of the Cross is now accounted righteous before God through faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ humanity is justified in the sight of God throughout the Bible we see signs faithfulness and signs of God's love and God's act of mercy and justice toward his people however those who respond indeed with a resounding yes to the person of Jesus Christ are those who enjoy the benefits of being in a right relationship with God in the early days of the Church of God in Christ Bishop Charles Harrison Mason in his prayer closet came to one of the early convocations as he came out of his prayer closet he responded to the voice of God and taught a prayer chant to the congregants and that chant was yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord the world even today is called to respond and say yes Lord yes to your will yes Lord to your way yes Lord to your word for as to many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons and the daughters of God bishop Tavis grant

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Keywords: carlton pearson, j delano ellis, universalism, joint college of bishops

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Length: 41min 38sec (2498 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 17 2018