The War on Christianity, Part 1

by James Perloff

This post is adapted from Chapter 17 of Truth Is a Lonely Warrior.

Producing a One-World Religion: A Three-Step Plan 

Karl Marx denounced religion as the “the opiate of the people,” and communist states tried extensively to abolish it. However, the Illuminist oligarchs who run most of our world know that man has a spiritual nature which cannot be fully eradicated. They therefore deemed it more practical to infiltrate and control religion than try and destroy it outright.

The basic mechanism underlying the satanic New World Order: consolidation. In the context of nations, this has meant ending national sovereignty – bringing Europe from the Common Market to the European Union, and North America from NAFTA to the proposed North American Union, eventually merging these regional structures into a one-world government. In the world of “big business,” a parallel consolidation process is taking place, as multinational corporations merge with each other and buy up small competitors.

The Illuminati also want consolidation of religions. The technical word for this is ecumenism, which comes from the Greek word “oikoumene” meaning “world” and “earth.” All avenues of life must be consolidated for the Antichrist to rule, and religion is no exception. British globalist historian Arnold Toynbee stated: “I believe that, in the field of religion, sectarianism is going to be subordinated to ecumenicalism, that in the field of politics, nationalism is going to be subordinated to world government . . . .”1

Of the many tasks to which the Rockefellers committed their vast fortune, one was ecumenical religion, which apparently required three steps:

1. Degrade Christianity as a unique faith; this necessitated providing loans to major churches in exchange for doctrinal changes, and funding seminaries that would produce “Modernist” ministers who would undermine the faith. The subsequent weakening of Christianity would ultimately ripen it for consolidation with other religions.
2. Specific organizations (such as the National Council of Churches) would be formed as the framework by which various denominations – and ultimately various religions – could be brought together under the ecumenical banner.
3. To give churches motive for unification, social causes, acceptable within the morals of most denominations and religions, would be promoted as rallying points for “united action.”

THE EARLY YEARS

Degrading Christianity

The Illuminati understood that Christianity would be difficult to incorporate into a world ecumenical movement, because Christianity has always been unique among religions – offering salvation not by good deeds, but faith in Jesus Christ through His finished work on the cross. An Illuminati goal, then, was to attack the authority and historicity of the Bible.

To this end, the Rockefellers heavily funded seminaries that would question the Gospel, the most notorious probably being Union Theological Seminary in New York City. It was Presbyterian theologian Charles Briggs – both a graduate and a professor of Union Theological – who, in the late 19th century, prominently introduced into America “Higher Criticism,” claiming the Bible was full of errors, and denying that many of its books were actually written by the attributed authors.





Above: Charles Augustus Briggs

In 1922, Baptist pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick, another graduate of Union Theological Seminary, delivered a controversial sermon called “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” at the First Presbyterian Church of New York. In it, he cast doubts on: the Bible being God’s Word; the Virgin Birth; the Second Coming of Christ; and even Christ’s death on the cross serving as atonement for sins. And he denounced Fundamentalists – who held these beliefs – as “intolerant.”







Harry Emerson Fosdick, who got MSM stamp of approval; Raymond Fosdick

The sermon sparked outrage. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church demanded an investigation of Fosdick, who was forced to resign his pastorship. However, he was then immediately hired as pastor of Riverside Church – the church attended and built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. at a cost of $4 million. Rockefeller paid for 130,000 copies of Fosdick’s notorious sermon to be printed and distributed to Protestant ministers. Significantly, Fosdick’s brother Raymond was president of the Rockefeller Foundation for 12 years. The views expressed by theologians like Briggs and Fosdick were called “Modernism,” which also included denying Christ’s divinity, miracles and resurrection. In short, Modernism was not merely a quibbling over some gray area in a passage of scripture; it was a complete repudiation of the faith’s major tenets. And with Rockefeller backing, it made its way into seminaries, Christian colleges and churches across America. Modernism did not simply “happen”; it was an orchestrated, financed agenda.





John D. Rockefeller, Sr. with John D., Jr.; Riverside Church

Christians who opposed this movement were called “Fundamentalists” because they defended the fundamental doctrines the Modernists were assaulting.

Forming an Ecumenical Structure

In the Illuminati’s long view, once Modernism had sufficiently degraded Christianity into “just another religion,” it could be bonded with other faiths. But before achieving this last step, Christian denominations themselves had to be united.

The Federal Council of Churches (later called National Council of Churches) was founded in 1908. Heavily funded by the Rockefellers, it was to become the structural core of the drive to consolidate American Christianity. The man chosen to spearhead ecumenism was John Foster Dulles, an in-law of the Rockefellers. Dulles was the attorney who defended Harry Emerson Fosdick during his heresy investigation, and he served as chairman of the trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation, where Emerson’s brother Raymond was president.

At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, which formed the League of Nations – first step toward world government – John Foster Dulles was legal counsel to the United States delegation. A founding member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dulles contributed articles to the CFR’s journal Foreign Affairs beginning with its very first issue in 1922. An inveterate globalist, he eventually helped write the preamble to the United Nations Charter (which makes no mention of God). Dulles also chaired the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where his choice for president of that institution was Alger Hiss, the notorious communist spy who was secretary-general at the UN’s founding conference in 1945.

Part of Dulles’s religious agenda was to persuade American churches to accept world government. In 1937, he wrote in the magazine Religion in Life: “Where then does the solution lie? A theoretical solution lies in the abolition of the entire concept of national sovereignty and the unification of the world into a single nation. All boundary barriers are thus automatically leveled . . . .”2





John Foster Dulles with his brother Allen (left), who served as both president of the Council on Foreign Relations and director of the CIA.

John Foster Dulles was on the executive committee of the Federal (later National) Council of Churches. In 1942, he chaired a meeting of 30 religious denominations brought together by the Federal Council of Churches, and Time (March 16 of that year) reported they adopted a program calling for “a world government of delegated powers,” “strong and immediate limitations on national sovereignty,” “a universal system of money,” and various other globalist measures.

Since the Illuminati ambition was not merely to consolidate churches in America, but throughout the planet, in 1948 the World Council of Churches was formed. John Foster Dulles attended the founding conference in Amsterdam. The conference’s director of research was John C. Bennett – member of the Council on Foreign Relations and president of Union Theological Seminary. Also attending was Reinhold Niebuhr (CFR, Union Theological). Funding for the World Council of Churches came from the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations.



World Council of Churches founding conference, 1948

The Social Gospel: A Method for Implementing Ecumenism

Although the National and World Council of Churches provided structures for consolidation, the question remained of how to motivate churches to unite. Christian denominations often differ over various theological issues. But they generally agree on values (helping the poor and sick, for example). The strategy for unification, therefore, was to encourage them to collaborate where they did agree. This took the form of an action-oriented program known as “the Social Gospel.”

Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist minister trained at Rochester Theological Seminary – also funded by the Rockefellers – became a socialist and was known as “Father of the Social Gospel.” In 1893 – about the time Charles Augustus Briggs was initiating the U.S. Modernist movement – Rauschenbusch declared that “the only power that can make socialism succeed, if it is established, is religion.” He said that “Christianity is in its nature revolutionary,” denied that Christ died in substitutionary atonement for our sins, and said the Kingdom of God “is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven.”3





Walter Rauschenbusch

Perhaps the most notorious “Social Gospel” pusher was Rockefeller-backed Reverend Harry F. Ward, who taught for 23 years at Union Theological Seminary. Ward was also founding chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – an ironic position, since the organization has been a dedicated opponent of religious displays on public property. Ward also chaired the American League against War & Fascism, which was founded by the Communist Party, USA. Manning Johnson, a former Communist Party official, told Congress in 1953 that Ward “has been the chief architect for communist infiltration and subversion in the religious field.”4 Union leader Samuel Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor, called Ward “the most ardent pro-Bolshevik cleric in this country.”5 (Note the irony of a clergyman supporting communism, an ideology that denounces religion as “the opiate of the people” and has slaughtered millions of Christians.)





Harry F. Ward

Ward’s Social Gospel was a push for ecumenism. He helped found, in 1908, the Methodist Federation for Social Service (now called the Methodist Federation for Social Action). Ward was its secretary for 33 years. In the Federation, the Gospel of Christ took a back seat to the Social Gospel, which called for Christians to fight for things like social justice, better labor conditions, and “world peace.” Not surprisingly, these were the same goals proclaimed by Marxists. Christians were thus to be united into a cheap volunteer work force for a socialist new world order.

Missionary work was not neglected. In 1930, at John D. Rockefeller, Jr.’s request, and with his financial support, a group of Baptist laymen persuaded seven denominations to participate in the “Laymen’s Foreign Missions Inquiry.” Their report, Re-Thinking Missions: A Laymen’s Inquiry after One Hundred Years, recommended that missionaries de-emphasize Christian doctrine and seek to ally themselves with other religions in doing good works.

The denominations distanced themselves from the report. However, Pearl Buck, author and former missionary to China, praised it in The Christian Century, saying every Christian should read it. In articles published in Harper’s and Cosmopolitan, Buck rejected the doctrine of Original Sin, and said that belief in the divinity – and even historicity – of Christ was unessential to the faith. She criticized the typical missionary as “narrow, uncharitable, unappreciative, ignorant.”6 In place of evangelization, she recommended that missionaries help with agricultural, educational, medical and sanitary work (i.e., the Social Gospel). In short, Pearl Buck’s pronouncements fit perfectly with the “modernized” ecumenical Christianity. It should not be overlooked that, subsequent to praising Rockefeller’s missionary inquiry, her novel The Good Earth was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and was turned into an Oscar-nominated movie.





The “Re-thinking” report; Pearl Buck

RECENT YEARS: THE THREE-STEP PLAN CONTINUES

Degrading Christianity

The process begun by Charles Briggs, introducing “Modernism” with its attack on every fundamental of Christianity and the Bible, continues today.

One prominent assault on the Bible’s authenticity has been the Jesus Seminar, begun in 1985 by the late Robert Funk, with backing from the Westar Institute, whose financial supporters are not publicized. Funk packed his seminar with liberal “scholars” – more than a dozen had studied at Union Theological Seminary, and about half came from three liberal Establishment schools: Harvard and Vanderbilt (both of whose divinity schools were heavily funded by the Rockefellers) and the openly ecumenical Claremont School of Theology.

The Jesus Seminar used a system of colored beads to vote on whether something was really said or done by Jesus. A red bead meant “definitely yes,” a pink bead “probably yes,” a grey bead “probably no,” and a black bead “definitely no.” In short, the Bible’s historical accuracy was to be determined by votes, based on personal opinions of people living two thousand years after the original eyewitnesses to the events.

The seminar concluded that over 80 percent of the sayings attributed to Jesus were not actually said by Him, and that only 2 percent were definitely accurate. Likewise, the seminar followed Modernist tradition by denying the miracles, divinity an resurrection of Jesus. Funk, who himself held these views, had handpicked his seminar’s participants; thus its outcome was no surprise. Nonetheless, the media touted the proceedings as a “scholarly” refutation of most of the New Testament.



Additionally, a slew of “documentaries” aimed at casting doubts on the Bible have aired on TV. These typically spend most of their air time interviewing Modernist theologians rather than conservative ones. The documentaries have aired prominently on:

• the History Channel (owned by A & E Television Networks, a joint venture of groups with CFR fingerprints: Disney-ABC Television Group, NBC International, and the Hearst Corporation);
• the National Geographic Channel (owned by CFR member Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Cable Networks and National Geographic Television); and
• the Discovery Channel (which, in 2005, hired as its managing editor Ted Koppel – former CFR member and good friend of CFR heavyweight Henry Kissinger).

Perhaps the most ambitious strike at the Bible has been Dan Brown’s 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code. As of 2009, it had sold over 80 million copies, making it the best-selling English language novel of the 21st century. It was also made into a film, released in 2006, which grossed over $200 million.

Although The Da Vinci Code is cast in the mold of an historical mystery – much like the “Indiana Jones” movies – its punch line is an assault against Christian faith. It is rife with false assertions regarding the early church. Despite thorough refutation by church historians, many people, caught up in the hype, accepted The Da Vinci Code’s disinformation as fact. At the heart of its message: Jesus was not divine, was never resurrected, and married Mary Magdalene and had children by her.

Lo and behold, within months of the film’s release, the Discovery Channel aired a documentary claiming a tomb had been found containing the bones of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This was not a chance sequence. Media events are being orchestrated to deceive the public.





The Ecumenical Structures Grow

The National Council of Churches (encompassing 37 Christian faith groups) and World Council of Churches (representing 345 churches, denominations and Christian fellowships) continue today. They have been reinforced by such organizations as Christians Uniting in Christ (established in 2002) and Christian Churches Together in the USA (formed in 2006).

Not to be missed is the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Yes, the former British Prime Minister – a consummate insider who recently refused to speak at a world hunger conference because it could not meet his speaker’s fee of 330,000 pounds – has formed another ecumenical organization. Blair might be compared to John Foster Dulles, the globalist politician who helped form the World Council of Churches. On the foundation’s website, Blair stated:

I launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation to promote respect, friendship and understanding between the major religious faiths . . . . I have always believed that faith is an essential part of the modern world. As globalisation pushes us ever closer it is vital it’s not used as a force for conflict and division. . . . Rather, faith is something that has much to give and to teach a world in which economic globalisation and political change is offering many opportunities but also presenting many dangers.7

Note Blair’s emphasis on globalization and his desire for unity among all faiths. Behind the fuzzy talk about “respect, friendship and understanding” is an aim for one-world religion – which the Antichrist will require to rule the globe. In fact, the Antichrist probably couldn’t have said it much better.

The New Social Gospel: Today’s Methods for Implementing Ecumenism

What is used to motivate today’s churches to unite? As before, it’s social action. Just as Marxist pastor Harry F. Ward headed the Methodist Federation for Social Action, the website for Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation originally had a section called “Social Action Projects.” Viewers were asked to sign a declaration which stated: “I commit to working together with people of all faiths to fight against disease and poverty.”

In short, it’s not about what you believe – social action should transcend your faith, so that it can be melded with all the others.

In America, the push for ecumenical social action has been spearheaded by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. He is perhaps best known for his book The Purpose Driven Life, which by 2007 had sold over 30 million copies. Many churches were persuaded to join Warren’s “Purpose-Driven” movement because his book topped the New York Times bestseller list and he was featured on MSM shows such as Good Morning America. After all, didn’t this prove Warren was anointed by God? Somehow, where other evangelical spokesmen had failed, Warren had penetrated the anti-religious bias of America’s mainstream media. CNN even called him “America’s Pastor,” and Barack Obama invited him to give the invocation at his inauguration.

The true reasons for Warren’s bursting on the scene suggest something besides God’s anointing. Warren is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has distinct ties to media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, whose empire includes the Wall Street Journal and England’s The Times. Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life was published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins, which has been owned by Murdoch’s News Corporation since 1989. Murdoch also controls Fox, which produces the viciously anti-Christian TV show Family Guy; and he owns pornographic channels in Europe. Yet Rick Warren was quoted in The New Yorker as saying that he is Rupert Murdoch’s pastor.8 If so, Christians have been asking, why does he not influence Murdoch away from his anti-faith, anti-family programming?





Once one realizes that Rick Warren is intimately connected to a man who is arguably the world’s most powerful media magnate, and that both have been CFR members, Warren’s rising star becomes more fathomable.

While many Christians have criticized Warren for his theology and for his use of questionable Bible translations, his most disturbing attribute may be ecumenism. In 2008, helped by a $2 million donation from Murdoch, Warren launched the PEACE Coalition. Time magazine reported the initiative with the headline “Rick Warren Goes Global.”9 The organization’s website states that “The plan is a massive effort to mobilize 1 billion Christians to attack the five global, evil giants of our day – spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease and illiteracy/education.” Once again, behind idealist language lies a plan for an ecumenical world. Would it be healthy for Rick Warren to preside over an empire of a billion Christians?

Warren’s PEACE coalition was an obvious complement to the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Not surprisingly, Warren was on the Religious Advisory Council of Blair’s foundation. On the latter’s website, Warren stated: “The vision and values of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation are desperately needed when every major issue in our world is influenced for good or harm by faith factors.”10

As America’s point man for ecumenical social action, Rick Warren might be called the Harry F. Ward of today. Unlike Ward, Rick Warren does not praise communism – which, as an ideology, is considered passé. But like Ward, his coalition plan would forge churches into a volunteer (i.e., unpaid) army in the service of the globalist, socialist new world order.

Adding yet more fuel to the ecumenical fire is the 2009 Manhattan Declaration. Though intended to appeal to conservative Christians, with its anti-abortion, traditional-marriage, religious-freedom proclamation, it is highly ecumenical. The declaration states: “We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered together in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration . . . .” One of the three men on the declaration’s drafting committee was Robert George – a CFR member who serves the UN on UNESCO’S World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology. A signer of the Declaration is Richard Land, then President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission – and a CFR member. A major ecumenist, Land also signed the 1994 document Evangelicals and Catholics Together, and is a member of the Leadership Group on U.S.–Muslim Engagement – a role he shares with several other CFR members, such as Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

An Analogue in Catholicism

The Rockefellers, as “Baptists,” made non-Catholic churches their zone of influence. However, parallels exist in Catholicism, on whom pressures tend to emanate more from European than American sources.

The Catholic Church has had its own experience with attempts to degrade faith through Modernism: pressures to reject the authority of Scripture, to compromise with Darwinism (as prominently advocated by the priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin), to accept abortion, and to ordain women and homosexuals as priests.

Like the non-Catholic church, the Catholic Church has recently seen major ecumenical developments, such as: the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by Lutheran and Catholic representatives (1999); dialogue with Eastern Orthodox churches, resulting in the Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (2006); an unprecedented Catholic-Muslim summit at the Vatican (2008); and visits of Pope Benedict XVI to Israel and to the Great Synagogue of Rome (2009). Pope Francis is also prioritizing ecumenism, and has issued a 192-page encyclical on climate change, a cause which globalists view as a major pretext for world government.

And Catholicism has experienced its own “social action” movement – comparable to the tactics of Harry F. Ward – as in the doctrine of liberation theology, which was seen especially in Latin America beginning in the 1950s and 60s, where the Gospel took a back seat to fighting poverty and social injustice via Marxist precepts.

Unity and Discernment

Unity is a complex matter. The Apostle Paul did say to be “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3) and “to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus” (Romans 15:5).

Furthermore, we know that a satanic strategy is to “divide and conquer.” At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin famously warned his peers that “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

So has Satan’s goal been to unite the church or divide it? It appears that he has employed both strategies, but that essentially division was the first phase and ecumenism the second.

Intelligence analysts have cogently argued that:

• The Illuminati were behind nearly every major split in the Christian church – beginning with the Catholic-Orthodox division of 1054.
• Illuminati infiltrators in the Catholic Church spawned the Inquisition to deliberately alienate Christians from their faith.
• This infiltration was also responsible for the 16th-century Papal corruptions – such as selling indulgences and squandering the church budget – that resulted in the Protestant split. Martin Luther, while himself a sincere reformer, was encouraged by Illuminati seeking church division.
• The Protestant church was in turn infiltrated to split it into smaller and smaller denominations, ostensibly over doctrinal issues – some less essential to the Gospel than others. Unquestionably, many of those who argued for division were sincere in their beliefs, and truths can probably be found on both sides of most doctrinal rifts. But Satan held the long view: divide to conquer.

As part of its strategy to fragmentize Christianity, the cartel was also reportedly behind the formation of major cults – including Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormonism. (I mention this while having great respect for the morality and sincerity of many of the followers of these two sects.) Jehovah’s Witnesses deny Christ’s divinity, His physical resurrection, and the existence of hell. Mormons believe in multiple gods, that Jesus is a created being – Lucifer’s brother – and treat the Book of Mormon as holy scripture, equal or even senior to the Bible.

Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Witnesses, and Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, were both Freemasons. Early issues of The Watchtower – the Witnesses’ official publication – bore the Freemasonic cross on their covers.





Compare the cross in this Masonic meeting hall to the one on the Watchtower.

Russell is buried next to the Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center. A pyramid, displaying a Masonic cross, marks his grave:



Masonic symbols also adorn Mormon temples. An all-seeing eye crowns the entrance to the Salt Lake City temple:



According to some researchers such as David Icke, initial funding for both the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons originated with Rothschild banks. These sects did not “just happen,” but were created to confuse and splinter the Christian church.

From the perspective of the twenty-first century, it appears that the strategy of division has now essentially completed its season. With the church successfully fragmented, and disoriented by Modernism, it appears nearly ripe for the Illuminati’s final phase: ecumenism – the uniting of all Christian denominations, in turn to be merged with other faiths, to create a one-world religion over whom Antichrist can rule.

However, this does not mean churches should never stand together. For example, if several local pastors, from different denominations, wish to engage in a joint protest against abortion, nothing is inherently wrong with this. Discernment is called for. Is unity for the purpose of serving God – or of serving Satan’s ecumenical goal? Examine the hearts and motives of those calling for unity. And follow the money: efforts tied to Rockefeller-Murdoch-Warren-Blair initiatives should be absolutely avoided.

Part 2 of this post will address an equally pernicious and even more controversial step in the war on Christianity: infiltration and subversion of the Fundamentalist/evangelical churches themselves, especially through the introduction of Christian Zionism.

NOTES

1. “One World Is Coming Says Arnold Toynbee,” The Milwaukee Journal, May 2, 1964, 10.
2. John Foster Dulles, “The Problem of Peace in a Dynamic World,” Religion in Life, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Spring 1937): 197, as quoted in Alan Stang, The Actor: The True Story of John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State 1953 to 1959 (Belmont, Mass.: Western Islands, 1968), 98.
3. “Walter Rauschenbush,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Rauschenbusch
4. Ronald J. Lawrence, The Marxist Goliath Among Us: The David We Need to Be (Xulon Press, 2010), 319.
5. LeRoy F. Smith and E. B. Johns, Pastors, Politicians, Pacifists (Chicago: The Constructive Educational Publishing Co., 1927), 95, quoted in Alan Stang, The Actor: The True Story of John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State 1953 to 1959 (Belmont, Mass.: Western Islands, 1968), 48-49.
6. “Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist%E2%80%93Modernist_Controversy
7. At the time of publication of Truth Is a Lonely Warrior (2013), this quote appeared in “Message from Tony Blair” at http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundationus.org/page/message-tony-blair. The quote has since been removed.
8. Malcolm Gladwell, “The Cellular Church,” The New Yorker, September 12, 2005, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/09/12/the-cellular-church
9. David Van Biema, “Rick Warren Goes Global,” Time, May 27, 2008, http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1809833,00.html
10. Warren is no longer listed on Blair’s site, but the quote can still be found abundantly on the Internet.

Rothschild's War on Christianity - James Perloff

Do Not Frustrate the Grace of God - Galatians 2:21

by Robert Traill

"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." — Gal. 2:21.

I told you the last day (what you may learn by your own reading), that the end in view of the apostle in this epistle is, to teach and defend the doctrine of the justification of a sinner by the righteousness of Christ, apprehended by faith alone. In the text the apostle hath two arguments for this truth, against the contrary error, with which the Galatians were plagued; and both arguments are taken from the absurdities that follow upon the contrary doctrine.

1st, That seeking righteousness by the works of law, doth frustrate and make void the grace of God.

2dly, That it makes Christ's death to be in vain: and there is nothing revealed by the Lord, in his word, more sacred, and more solemnly majestic than these two — the grace of God, and the death of Christ; and therefore it must needs be a great wickedness to enervate, and overthrow both these. From the first part of these words I observed four things, and have already spoken to the first of them, and would speak to the next at this time.

1st, The grace of God shines gloriously in the justifying of a sinner through Christ's righteousness alone. All the revelations that are made of this great way of God's justifying a sinner, are all made with a high deference to the grace of God, as the original thereof.

2dly, I am now to speak to this point — that frustrating the grace of God is a great and horrible sin: the apostle here brings it in as such, and denies his concern in it; "I do not frustrate the grace of God." The scope of his discourse leads me to this head: "If I seek righteousness by the works of the law, I should frustrate the grace of God; but I do not seek righteousness that way, therefore I do not frustrate the grace of God." Frustrating the grace of God is a great and horrible sin: there are two things I would speak to upon this head — to shew you how this sin is committed — and then, wherein its greatness doth appear; for there are many that commit this sin, and when they have done, think nothing of it.

1st, How is this sin committed that the apostle here vindicates himself from? "I do not frustrate the grace of God." This sin is committed two ways: 1st, By not receiving the grace of God when it is tendered. 2dly, By seeking other ways and expedients for righteousness than the grace of God.

First, Frustrating the grace of God is not receiving it; the grace of God is frustrated when it is not received: the right entertaining of it is by receiving it. The apostle exhorts the Corinthians, "We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also, that you receive not the grace of God in vain," (2 Cor. 6:1). I have told you in what sense the grace of God might be received in vain, and in what sense it could not. The doctrine of the grace of God, the offer of the grace of God, may be received in vain, and rejected, as many times it is; but the grace of God itself cannot be received in vain, for it always worketh its effect wheresoever it lights. The grace of God is an irresistible principle of salvation: never man had one mite of the grace of God, but he was saved by it. Christ Jesus hath two quivers, if I may so say: there is a common quiver, out of which he draws some arrows, and shoots them at sinners, and they can fence against these well enough, and never be hurt by them; but then he hath other arrows, that are marked with his love, and sent by his power, and there is no guarding against them. As there are arrows of destruction, so there are arrows of salvation: "Let thine arrows be sharp in the heart of the king's enemies," is the prayer, Psalm 45. My work then is to shew how it is that the grace of God is not received.

1st, The grace of God tendered in the gospel, and the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, is not received when it is not minded. There is little hope of that man's salvation that doth not think of salvation, or when the matter is neglected. "How shall we escape," saith the apostle, "if we neglect so great salvation?" (Heb. 2:3). The true sense of the original word lies mainly in this, not so much in a stated formal enmity to it, but only in a careless indifferency about it: the grace of God is not received when it is not minded. Therefore, would you know when you profit by the gospel, know it this way: if what you hear from the word doth not occasion many thoughts in your hearts, you get no good at all. If the matter of salvation do not become the matter of your serious meditation, you receive the grace of God in vain. God may say concerning such men, "They will not so much as think of my proposals to them."

2dly, People do not receive the grace of God when they do not see their need of it, when they do not see their absolute need of it. As long as a man hath this dream — and every natural man falls into such a dream — as long as a man thinks in his vain mind that any thing else but the sovereign grace of God can save him, this man wilt never receive the grace of God. It is impossible that a man can receive it till he see that nothing else will do his business. Woe be to them that think any thing but grace can save them: they are in a forlorn state indeed!

3dly, They that do not believe that the grace of God alone can save them, therefore they do not receive it; for as the grace of God is sent to men as that which they do simply stand in need of, and as that which nothing can supply the lack of, so it is sent as a sovereign remedy, that whatsoever ails the root creature it will cure them. So much for this first thing: They that do not receive the grace of God, are guilty of this great sin of frustrating the grace of God.

Secondly, This sin is also committed by men's taking other methods and shifts to obtain the favour of God than this grace alone; they frustrate the grace of God. I would speak a little to this under two heads: 1st, I would shew you the cause of it. 2dly, I would shew the effects that proceed from those causes.

I. Of the cause of it. The world is full of it: this heresy, if I may so say, runs through the whole earth; no man is quite free from it but only the sound believer. A man may be orthodox in his judgment, and subscribe to the orthodox doctrine, and Protestant truth; but every natural man is a heretic in this matter: he hath secretly something else in his eye to recommend him to God, and to make his state safe before God, besides the righteousness of Christ. Now the cause of this universal hankering after ways of people's own devising to do their business with God, without this grace of God through Christ, is what I would speak a little to.

It flows from nature: now nature is so strong a spring, that nothing but the mighty grace of God can turn it, it is so strong a principle. I would shew this in a little.

1st, The grace of God in saving sinners by Christ Jesus is above nature in its best state; it is above sinless nature. If you could suppose such a thing as this, that there was a man as holy as the first Adam was; if God should create another man as holy as the first Adam was, and bring to this man the doctrine of the righteousness of Christ, and of the grace of God in him, it would be above his nature. It is above sinless nature; it is that which Adam did not know, neither was he bound to know it, for it was not revealed to him; nor did he need to know it, for there was another way provided for his standing, that he might have kept.

2dly, This way is not only above sinless nature, but it is quite contrary to corrupt nature. If it be above sinless nature, it must needs be far above corrupt nature; but not only is it so, but it is also cross and contrary to it. There are in this corrupt nature four things that are its strength, and from that strength comes this enmity to this way of salvation.

1. There is in this corrupt nature dismal darkness and ignorance, expressed by the apostle in the abstract, (Eph. 5:8). "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord." Not only are they dark and blind, but they are darkness and blindness. Now in this darkness, as to this matter, I will name two or three things: 1st, There is ignorance of the righteousness and holiness of God, (Rom. 10:3). 2dly, There is ignorance of the holy law of God, (Rom. 7:10). 3dly, There is utter ignorance of God's righteousness in Christ Jesus. A little to each of these:

1st, In every natural man there is an ignorance of the righteousness and holiness of God. I know that in man's nature there is a knowledge that there is a God, and that this God is a righteous and a just God. The greatest heathens, by the mere light of nature, have arrived at some competent knowledge of this; but the exactness of this righteousness of God never did any natural men know. They do not know the unspottedness of His righteousness, nor how unsufferable to him the least impurity is. Would any bold sinners venture to present to God their rottenness and vileness, if they knew God's righteousness? The righteousness of God is such an sublimely magestic thing, that no natural man can understand it, but he must be presently confounded.

2dly, Every natural man is ignorant of the strictness of the law of God; the severity of God's law in forbidding every sin, and in condemning every sinner, without any respect to any sin, or to any man that commits it. The law of God is an impartial rule of righteousness, that condemns every transgression; and it cannot do otherwise: it is the glory of the law so to do; its strictness makes it judge all sin; and its righteousness makes it condemn all sinners; and therefore, when this righteousness of God's law is once revealed, it presently breaks all the confidence of a natural man. "I was alive without the law once," saith the apostle Paul, Rom. 7:9, "but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." How could the apostle Paul be said to be without the law? I believe that the apostle Paul, even in his natural state, was better acquainted with the law, and the Old Testament, than any man in London now is; for the Jews, even to this day, teach their children with great carefulness: now the apostle Paul was one of the best Jews in all that country. How then could this man be said to be without the law? He had the law in his mind, and in his memory, and in his hands, and was exceeding zealous for it — "I was," saith he, "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless," (Phil. 3:6). Aye, but the man only thought so, when he did not know the law of God; but when the commandment came, it made another manner of discovery. It condemned those things in him that he never thought to be sin before, and it made other things in him to be exceeding sinful. All natural men are under utter darkness about this; and therefore it is no wonder that they betake themselves to other ways than the grace of God in Christ.

3dly, All natural men are ignorant of the righteousness of God in Christ.

2. In every natural man there is pride. Every natural man is a proud man; proud towards God. That which goes under the name of pride amongst men is greatly mistaken. Pride towards man is a base thing; but it is pride towards God that I am speaking of. The poor sinner thinks that he is not quite so bare and empty, but that he hath something of his own wherein he may stand accepted before God. Every natural man doth think so. It fares with a natural man as it doth with some poor men that are born of great families, whose fathers left them, as we use to say, a high birth, but a poor purse. Now this proud gentleman chooses a great deal rather to wear his own thread-bare coat, than another man's livery. Just so it is with sinners: their father Adam was a great lord, — lord of this world, heir of righteousness, rich in stock — enough to have made all his posterity rich before God; but he broke and failed, and turned us all beggars into the world. But there comes another person, God's own Son, and he offers to clothe the poor beggar; but the poor proud man had rather go to hell in the rags that his father Adam left him, than go to heaven in the robe that Christ offers him, dyed in his own blood.

3. In every natural man there is awful trifling about the great concerns of salvation. The truth is, people are not thoroughly awakened, nor in good earnest about the matters of salvation. It lies not near their heart as a weighty question, "What shall I do to be saved?" These thoughts do not press them, "I am a poor man that must shortly die, and this sickly carcass of mine will shortly moulder into the dust of the grave; but my soul must live for ever in, and enter upon an eternal state, as soon as the last breath of my body expires; and what shall become of me then?" The greatest part of the world trifle about this great question, "What shall I do to be saved, to be secure to eternity?" What a shameful thing is it to think of this! I have often told them that I have spoken to, — and it is to be told till it be mended, — that it were a happy thing if people would but spend half that time, nay a quarter of that time, in secret thoughts about salvation, that they spend in hearing the word of salvation; and it is a hard matter if people cannot be prevailed with about this. I can well assure you, that all the solid soul-thriving of the hearers of the gospel is not so much in what they hear, in the preaching of the word, as in what they digest in their secret thoughts and meditations about it. Now, is it any wonder that people take to any courses about their salvation, when they thus trifle about it? For if the end be not precious in a man's eyes, you can never expect to have him thoughtful about the means.

4. In all natural men there is unbelief of God's word. It is a hard question to resolve, What was the first sin? Any child can tell you, that the first sin of mankind was eating the forbidden fruit: it is true, the first sin was ripe in that action; but what was the first wandering thought from God? Whether it was the man's discontent with the state that be was made in; or aspiring after a higher state than that in which he was made; or a jealousy of God; or unbelief of the word of God: that unbelief was in it is most certain. The serpent began his temptation this way, "Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden? Hath God said you shall surely die? Ye shall not surely die," (Gen. 3:1,4). The scope of his temptation was this, to bring in sin and ruin upon the world, by making sinless Adam to doubt of the truth of God's threatening; and he well knew that if once the majestic faith of the truth of God's threatening was weakened in their minds, that they would soon make bold on the sin. God's threatening was as a kind of fence against the sin: "In the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die." "Assure thyself of death if ever thou meddle with the forbidden fruit." Satan knew that death was terrible to man, and that he would not easily rush upon it; "aye, but," saith he, "God hath not said ye shall surely die, but you shall live, and be as gods, if you transgress." Sirs, the devil brought in the first sin and ruin upon mankind, by the unbelief of God's word of threatening. And he brings in the eternal ruin of men under the gospel by unbelief of God's word of promise: every natural man hath an evil heart of unbelief in him, as the apostle warns all to take heed of, (Heb. 3:12), "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." This matter of unbelief is many ways spoken of in the word: the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, and his righteousness, stands all in the word of God. If you ask the last question concerning a man's faith, you must resolve it into the word of God: there are, indeed, many questions that go before it, but this must be the last. If you ask, How may a sinner be saved? The answer is, By the righteousness of Christ. If you ask again, Who is this Jesus Christ, whose righteousness will be the salvation of all them that have it? He is the great Son of God, that took our sins on him. Well, but how shall this righteousness be mine? By faith alone: if I lay hold of it, and venture my soul on it, it is mine? Aye, but the last question is, How do you know that it shall be so? God hath said it in his word, Acts 10:43, "To him give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." Now, every natural man having unbelief in him, God's word hath no weight on him. We find they proclaim their unbelief in every thing. When God commands, they proclaim their unbelief in disobeying; when God corrects them, they proclaim their unbelief in rushing again upon the same courses that God punishes them for; when God threatens and warns the sinner of his danger in such a sin, the man proclaims his unbelief by staying still in it: and what are all these but acts of gross unbelief? When God commands, the man thinks that God means not as he speaks: when God threatens, the unbeliever thinks God will not do as he threatens: when God promises, saith the same unbelief, "Though God speaks fair, he will not be as good as his word."

Now, is it any wonder that every natural man takes another way of salvation besides the righteousness of Christ, when every natural man hath these four woeful things in him? And, indeed, none can do otherwise till these four things are overthrown in him — till the darkness is removed by the illumination of the Spirit of God — and the pride be brought down by humbling grace — and the security of the conscience be brought down by awakening grace — and till the power of unbelief be broke by the Spirit's working faith. So much for the causes of this.

II. I am now to shew what the effects are that flow from these causes; or, what flows from this woful natural aversion in all men from the grace of God, and from their inclinations to frustrate it.

1st, Hence it comes to pass that the world is filled with fancies and devices of men to please God.

This runs through the whole earth: the religion (if I may call it by that name) of the Pagans, the religion of the Turks and the Mahometans, and of the Papists, however they may differ in a great many points of doctrine, and particular circumstances of worship, yet they all agree in this; all these religions, and all religions in the world, except the true, are filled with many devices of men to render themselves acceptable to God. The Lord brings them in (Micah 6:6), making this inquiry, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Pray take notice here: one of the grossest idolatries that ever was in the world, and the most abominable act of it, is this, when parents, to pacify God for their sins, have offered their children in sacrifice to their idols: this hath been frequently practised in the world, and, it may be, is at this day in some parts of the world. Whence can this be, that there should be so strange a violation of one of the strongest bonds of nature? It is not to be supposed that these people did so because they did not love their children: no doubt but they loved them as well as you do yours; but only, here lay the matter: they were under a strong conviction of sin, and under strong desires to please God; and they were ignorant of the true sacrifice, and therefore they offer to God what they think best, and what they love best; and that they hope God will accept most kindly from them. Sirs, you think there are many fopperies in Popery, fit only to be laughed at, and so indeed there are: their whipping themselves about that time of the year they call Lent; and great persons do this, kings, and queens, and lords, and great men. One would think it strange that so many great people should play the fool so: the true reason of it lies here, — they have a conscience of sin, and they know they are sinners, and they do not know the true way of peace with God through the righteousness of Christ, and they are taught these foolish ways, and therefore they pursue them. And truly, if the light of the gospel should be darkened yet much more in England, I cannot tell how many poor, helpless professors amongst us might be drawn even into this foppery. It is natural for all men ignorant of the righteousness of God in Christ, to devise ways of their own to render themselves acceptable in the sight of God.

2dly, The next effect of this woeful aversion from the grace of God, in justifying us by the righteousness of Christ, is in men's going to the law, and the works of it. I do but name this, because I shall speak more largely to it by itself, under the third and next doctrine.

3dly, I would speak something to the sad effects of this, that are found even in them whom God saves. This aversion from the grace of God is so natural, that it puts forth itself strongly in them that the Lord is at work savingly upon; and I will name a few things about this, that some here can witness to, and I am sure that many more can witness to them than are here.

1. Hence it comes to pass that, in many who are saved in the issue, there is a long sorrowful trouble of mind that they live under, and all the world shall not persuade them what the true cause of it is. They are full of sorrow and complainings; no other language to be heard to God or man, but many sorrowful complaints; their corruptions are strong, their souls dead and dark, their consciences disquieted. And what is the true reason of all this? They are yet averse from giving glory to the sovereign grace of God in saving them by Christ. Many sorrowful hours many of the elect of God have gone through in the strength of this corruption, and they have never seen it till a long while after. It is a shame and reproach to professors, and a dishonour to our Lord Jesus Christ, that so many in whom the root of the matter is, have their hearts sinking within them when relief is so plainly provided for them. The true reason is, because they are averse, and not willing, nor inclined to be indebted solely to grace, and to have all their supplies singly from it.

2. From hence it also comes to pass, that there are so many outbreakings of sin, or at least the working of it in the hearts of many that the Lord hath a mind to save, and doth work savingly upon. How many poor creatures are there that know this? That from the time that the Lord first began to deal with them, and made them serious about salvation, their corruptions have grown more strong, and Satan more formidable and vexing; and, it may be, they are left of God to commit some gross sin, that they were never guilty of before. Whence comes this? It is not only from the strength of temptation, nor is corruption grown stronger; but here lies the reason: Now God hath begun to awaken them, and they are not yet disposed kindly to yield themselves up unto the entire conduct of grace; not willing to give the grace of God its proper employment: but this is the way people generally take whensoever they are awakened, and made serious about salvation; then they fall to work, and set about duty — they pray, and hear, and read, and repent, and labour to reform their conversation, and in the mean time they are utterly unacquainted with employing Christ; and, therefore, the Lord in his righteous judgment leaves them to themselves, and lets them see that they must stand upon another bottom, or they will surely totter and fall; that they must be quite weaned from themselves, and all things made new in Christ, or nothing will be done rightly.

3. And thus some, as they live sorrowfully all their days, so they also die sadly: they have been leaning on their own righteousness as far as they could all their life long; sometimes hanging upon one twig, and sometimes upon another; and one breaks, and the other breaks, and here they get a fall, and there they get a fall; but at last, if the Lord hath mercy upon them, they are made to see the vanity of all these shifts, and then they betake themselves in earnest to that which is without them, to a righteousness that they have no hand in, that is wrought out by Christ alone, and given by pure grace. So much for this first head, How this sin of frustrating the grace of God is committed.

2dly, I am now to shew the sinfulness, and the greatness, of this sin of frustrating the grace of God. The apostle is here vindicating himself from it: "I do not," saith he, "frustrate the grace of God." Now, there are two things especially that aggravate all sins, and the more of them there be in any sin, the more sinfulness is there in that sin. 1st, The direct tendency o£ any sin to damnation. 2dly, The direct enmity that there is in any sin to the grace of God; and wheresoever there is a sin that is especially framed both these ways, that sin must needs be a great one.

1. This sin of frustrating the grace of God is directly against man's salvation, and tends directly to damnation. All sin against the law tends to damnation by its desert; every sin deserves hell. Every sin against the law of God works out wrath by deserving; but sin against the gospel works out wrath by special activity, by its apt acting; and there is a great difference between these two: a man that commits a sin against the law, he commits a sin that deserves death; but he that sins against the grace of the gospel, in that very sin he works out his own death. Other sins expose a man to the wrath of God as a judge, but this sin is like self-murder, the man executes the law upon himself. Every man by nature is under a sentence of condemnation; but rejecting the grace of God leaves and binds a man under that condemnation: there is no other remedy for it, but only the grace of God through Christ; therefore rejecting that, is rejecting the only remedy.

2. This sin is directly against the glory of God. There is a great deal of the glory of God concerned in his grace. This grace of God tendered to us through Jesus Christ, is God's great plot and contrivance for his own glory; and frustrating of it is all that man can do to frustrate God, and to disappoint him in his main design. Blessed be God, no creature can do this; but woe be to them that do all they can against it. The Pharisees "rejected the counsel of God against themselves," (Luke 7:30). Sirs, God would never have suffered the first Adam to have fallen, unless he had had a greater contrivance for his own glory in raising him up again. God would never have suffered the dishonour that sin's entrance brought upon him in the world, unless he had designed the bringing about of greater glory to himself by the manifestation of his grace. Therefore, "where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded;" and that brings a great deal more honour to God than sin brings dishonour. The grace of God is the very heart and the inmost character of God; and to frustrate this, is to kick against the very heart of God. The grace of God is all through Jesus Christ; it flows through him, and therefore all reflections upon the grace of God reflect upon him. The grace of God is offered to men by the Holy Ghost; and, therefore, refusing and frustrating the grace of God is rejecting of the Holy Ghost. In a word, this grace of God is the great scope of the whole Bible; and to frustrate the grace of God, is to make the whole Bible in vain, both Old and New Testament too. The Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation, but it is through faith that is in Christ Jesus, (2 Tim. 3:15).

APPLICATION. — There are only two words that I would speak to for the improving of this doctrine. Is frustrating the grace of God such a horrible sin? Then, 1st, Do you all beware of it. 2dly, Receive this grace of God; for there is no other way to avoid the frustrating of the grace of God, but only by receiving it.

1st, I would have you all beware of this sin of frustrating the grace of God; but, more especially, I would direct a warning of fear against this sin unto several sorts of persons.

1. Unto moral, civil, well-natured people, good livers, as we use to call them. Through the mercy of God, some are born of a better nature, as we call it, than others; of a sweet easy temper; and it is a great mercy to have a well-tempered mind, by a natural constitution, as well as it is to have a well-framed body. Now, when this virtuous natural temper hath the advantage of a godly education, these sort of people come quickly to look very well; and, therefore, they ought to take great heed. You civil, well-natured people, do you have a great care of frustrating the grace of God, for it is a sin that you are especially tempted to. There are some people so ill-natured, and of so bad a temper, that they need, as we use to say, a great deal of the grace of God to save them. And are there any that do not need the grace of God? The Lord save any of you from thinking so! He is in a woeful case indeed that thinks he doth not need the grace of God. Moral, civil people are in great danger of this sin: they think they have a good stock of their own to set up with, and therefore they do not borrow of Christ.

2. People that have taken upon them the profession of religion, had need to take heed of this sin of frustrating the grace of God. They have taken upon them a profession, it may be they know not how, nor wherefore; but it is come upon them. If you be clothed with the garment of profession, have great care of this sin. There are many that profess the grace of God, that yet are strangers to the thing itself, and they are in a very dangerous case.

3. They that boast of outward privileges should have a care of this sin of frustrating the grace of God: they were baptized when they were children, and have heard the word, and attended upon ordinances, and they begin to think themselves fair before God for the hope of eternal life. They are blameless in their walk and conversation. Let such people, in an especial manner, take heed of this sin. I can assure you that a blameless conversation hath been a great temptation to a great many too undervalue the grace of God, and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. These sort of people were never sick at heart.

4. Awakened souls; they whose consciences are awakened, have great need to take heed of this sin of frustrating the grace of God. The Lord sometimes makes both light and fire too to dart in upon the consciences of poor sinners, and they begin to see and feel what they never saw nor felt before; and when it is thus with them, sometimes, they think things are a great deal better with them than they were before; and, sometimes, they think it is a great deal worse with them; and they that in their awakening think it to be a great deal worse with them than it was before, are in a more hopeful state than they that think it is better with them; for it is not a thorough awakening, if the person thinks that awakening to be enough. Such people should take heed of this sin, lest they frustrate the grace of God, for there are two things that they are especially endangered by.

1. By the force of this conviction they set about duty, and that pretty warmly; and these are lovely things in the eyes of poor creatures that never knew before what praying and reading the word of God were; but when once their consciences come to be awakened, they begin to get alone, and cry to the Lord. Now, when the soul is in this ease, it had need take great heed of this sin of frustrating the grace of God. How many poor awakened sinners are there that have made a pillow to sleep to hell upon with their own duties and performances, as if it were by the righteousness of the law! And thus they do not submit to the righteousness of God in Christ, nor do they attain to the rest that remains for the people of God, (Rom. 10:3, Heb. 4:9).

2. If they do not sit down upon their duties, then, on the other hand, they are apt to be quite discouraged, and to give up all for lost. An awakened conscience, if it be thoroughly awakened, is upon the point of despair; and the point of despair is the point of ruin, or the point of salvation, as God pleases to issue it. It is the turning point. When the poor sinner's conscience is awakened to see its lost and undone condition, in that case he is just on the point of winning or losing for evermore. If the man hearkens to God, and gives glory to his grace, by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, the bargain is made for evermore; but if the poor sinner turns aside, and stops in any thing short of this, then either the disease grows greater, or else a hardness comes in the room of it, that is worse than the disease itself. That is the first exhortation:—Have a great care of this sin of frustrating the grace of God. And, to that end,

2dly, Give the grace of God a hearty welcome. There is no other way to prevent the sin of frustrating the grace of God, but by receiving and welcoming it. Welcome the grace of God for your work, but not for the devil's work. All God's work, that which God craves of you; all that you may give to the grace of God to do for you; all the work that you have to do with God, that you may give to the grace of God to do for you; only do not set the grace of God to do the devil's work; that is sinning, turning the grace of God into wantonness. The grace of God will do every thing for us but the devil's work. And, if I may so say, he hath a great deal of the spirit of the devil in him, that will give so precious a thing as the grace of God to do the devil's work. Aye, but how shall we receive the grace of God? I answer, three ways. 1st, Doubt not your need of it. 2dly, Do not delay your accepting it. 3dly, Do not question your title to it.

1. Doubt not your need of it. If the Lord hath a mind to save you, I know very well there will be no great need of this caution. Every sinner that God saves effectually, is a person that not only thinks he is needy of the grace of God, but he thinks he is more needy of it than any body else in the world; that if there was any such man in the world that could be saved without grace, he was the farthest from such a one; that if there was any man in the world that needed more grace than ordinary, he was the man.

2. Do not delay your accepting of grace whensoever it is revealed to you. Whensoever you have the offer of the grace of God, whensoever you are about the means of grace, labour to get this grace itself, "Therefore the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." (Heb. 3:7). You may not hear his voice to-morrow; hardness of heart grows mightily by delays.

3. Do not question your title to it. I mean this, — Make no doubt but that it is as lawful and as allowable in God's sight for you to lay hold on the saving grace of God, as ever it was for any sinner in the world. I do not mean that graceless people should presently think that they have a title to the grace of God; for no man hath a title to it till he receives it. But this I say, the offer of the grace of God, in the gospel, gives fair warning and liberty for every one to embrace it. "He that will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely," (Rev. 22:17). And that which is thus freely offered, and freely given, should be thankfully welcomed, and thankfully received, when it is enjoyed.

You Must Have the Right Jesus

A Guide for Young Christians

by John W. Robbins

When God saves us sinners, he causes us to believe certain propositions about himself and about ourselves - ideas that we formerly thought were not true. In an instant, God resurrects us from the spiritual death of unbelief and makes us understand and believe the truth about both Jesus Christ and ourselves. Scripture refers to this event by using several figures of speech: being born again, being born from above, enlightening the mind, being resurrected from the dead, and giving us a heart of flesh for our heart of stone. What this figurative language literally means (and if you do not know what figurative language literally means, you do not know what it means) is that God affects our minds directly, causing us to accept as true, ideas we formerly thought were not true. He gives truth - figuratively called “light” in Scripture - directly to our minds.

Jesus had a conversation with his disciple Peter that illustrates the point: Jesus asked Peter, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 16:15-17). Now Peter had traveled and lived with Jesus, and certainly he had heard Jesus preach many times. But Jesus says that it was God the Father who revealed these truths to Peter’s mind. Jesus explicitly denied that Peter had come to know and believe these propositions on his own steam, for “flesh and blood did not reveal” these truths to Peter - God the Father had revealed them to Peter directly. We are all in the same situation as Peter in this regard; Peter’s answer is every believer’s answer; and Christ’s response to Peter is the same as his response to all believers. Just as Peter is not the unique recipient of this truth, so he is not the unique recipient of direct revelation. All believers get the truth they know directly from God. We are not aware of the Father’s work, just as Peter was not aware, but had to be informed by Christ. The truth just “dawns” on us. (This figure of speech is also used in Scripture: See 2 Peter 1:19.) John tells us that “the anointing you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in him” (1 John 2:27). The anointing does not give us truth apart from or different from the Word; the anointing is the Word in us - the “implanted word,” to use James’ phrase.

But God did not reveal to Peter - and he does not reveal to us - all truth in one instant. In the first moment of faith, God reveals to us all the truths required to save us, but they are not all the truth he intends for us to know. When we are saved, God gives us part of his truth, the fundamentals as it were, but we will be learning his truth the rest of our lives. We will never exhaust all the truth that God has to teach us, even during endless years in Heaven. But with many distractions competing for our attention today, the young Christian may need some guidance on where to find that truth, and how to study.

The Truth of Scripture

When we were saved, the truths we believed came from the Bible. We may not have been reading the Bible at the time; perhaps we were listening to a sermon in church or on the radio; perhaps we were simply talking to a friend, or meditating silently in our home. But whether we actually had a Bible before us or not, we were saved only by believing the truths found in the Bible. As we grow, that is, as we learn more and more of God’s truth, we will continue to find truth only in the Bible. Again, we may be reading the newspaper when God uses a story on crime, for example, to remind us of some truth that we had read in the Bible the day before. God causes us to understand what we read in the Bible, and to believe it.

God’s truth is found only in the 66 books of the Bible. That does not mean that all other books are absolutely false, for some authors have studied the Bible for years and have written excellent discussions of the truths of the Bible - discussions that the Holy Spirit can use to help us understand God’s Word more quickly and more accurately than we might if we relied merely on our own education and background. But the statement does mean that the Bible is the only source of truth. Whatever truths other authors may have, they have received them from God’s Word.

Christianity Is Unique

You as a young Christian should understand that Christianity is unique. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Christianity is not one among several competing religions, each of which possesses some truth and has some value. Jesus Christ is “the Truth.” All other religious and philosophical figures are imposters. Religions may promise to satisfy our senses, our feelings, our desires, and our wills, but Christianity alone satisfies our minds. Alone among the religions and philosophies of the world, Christianity offers us truth. You have probably seen the bumper sticker: “Jesus is the answer.” If we understand that in the Bible alone Jesus has given us the answers to our questions, we can understand how Jesus is the answer to our questions about God, man, and the universe. Scripture provides us with information that can be found nowhere else. Christianity denies that any other religion is true; that all roads lead to Heaven; and that there is any other name in the universe by which we must be saved.

Because Christianity is the truth, and because truth is intellectual, not emotional or experiential, Christianity must be understood and believed - not caught, felt, sensed, or encountered. Because Christianity is the truth, the importance of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom can hardly be overstated. God himself is a God of truth. Deuteronomy 32:4 describes God as “a God of truth.” In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me.” In John 14:17 the Holy Spirit is called the “Spirit of Truth.” One of the tools you should obtain very early, as we will discuss below, is a good concordance, for it will assist you in finding quickly the hundreds of passages in Scripture in which understanding, truth, wisdom, and knowledge are praised, and we are commanded to seek them.

Feeding on the Word of God

God reveals his mind, that is, himself, to us in Scripture alone. God has graciously given us a book of a thousand pages to read, study, meditate on, understand, and believe. We grow spiritually only when we “bite,” “chew,” and “digest” the Word of God. “Biting” is reading the Bible or listening to the reading of Scripture. “Chewing” is comparing one passage of Scripture with other passages of Scripture, or memorizing a passage of Scripture in order to think about its meaning later, or listening to or reading an exposition of Scripture. “Digesting” is meditating on Scripture - not the mindless meditation of Eastern religions, in which the goal is to empty your mind of thought - but the intellectual meditation of Christianity, in which the goal is to fill your mind with the thoughts of God revealed in the Bible. By pondering them, turning them over and over in your mind, all the while asking God to help you understand their meaning and to see how they relate to other truths in the Bible, you digest the spiritual food-the intellectual food - God has so generously given to us in the Bible.

“Digesting” is first understanding and then believing the truths of Scripture. As we eat a meal, we do all three things - biting, chewing, and digesting - simultaneously, after taking the first bite. We do not wait until the first bite of food is digested before we take a second. And as with eating meals, it is important to bite, chew, and digest God’s Word simultaneously, and on a daily basis. In order to grow and be healthy, we need to eat frequently and regularly-and our spiritual food is much more important than our physical food. As we digest the truths of the Bible, we grow in grace and knowledge, which is the prayer that the apostles utter in their letters to the churches. As we grow, we are able to understand and articulate the truths we have learned more and more clearly, more and more consistently, more and more accurately. We become more fruitful. We are able to work out-to practice-what we have learned. But if we do not read the Bible, if we do not think about its message, if we do not understand what it means, we cannot and will not grow as Christians. Just as there is no royal road to learning, so there is no mystical road to spiritual growth. The Bible itself, while commending the trusting attitude of children toward their parents, an attitude that should be our model of Christian faith toward our Father in Heaven, commands us not to remain children in understanding, but to grow up: “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20). Growing up requires food, and a lot of it; a Christian’s only food is the Scriptures; and our only provider is God himself, who feeds us daily.

The First Book

Because of the absolutely indispensable role of the Bible in your growth and life as a Christian, it is important to acquire and read an accurate translation of the Bible. All translations are not equally good. In the twentieth century there were scores of Bible versions published in English. Many of these are not translations at all, but paraphrases, condensations, amplifications, and adaptations. None of these is suitable for the study of the Bible. When God inspired the Bible, he inspired not only general ideas, but also the exact words the apostles and prophets wrote down. Consequently, for a translation to be accurate, it must recognize the importance of the individual words, and stick as closely as possible to a word-for-word translation. Any purported translation of the Bible that treats the Bible’s actual words loosely is misleading. Such a loose translation will make a close study of the text impossible. Of the commonly available versions, you should acquire and study the King James or the New King James versions and avoid those versions, such as the New International, the New English, the Revised Standard, and Bibles produced by cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Roman Catholic Church-State, for they treat the actual words that God inspired with less respect than they deserve. They add to, subtract from, and mistranslate the Hebrew and Greek words of the originals. Another good, though less easily available, translation is the Literal Translation, edited by Jay P. Green, Sr. Both the Literal Translation and the New King James avoid the archaic English of the 17th century King James, which hinders the understanding of 21st century readers.

As you grow as a Christian, you will want to learn the Greek alphabet, and later some Greek grammar, so that you will be able to check the translations against the original Greek of the New Testament. A good Greek textbook is J. Gresham Machen’s New Testament Greek for Beginners.

Once you have an accurate translation of the Bible to study, you should read the Bible from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, in order, with no skipping. It is sometimes surprising to talk to Christians who have been saved for years who have not even once read the entire Bible. Part of our sinfulness is our laziness, and Satan uses every vice and device he can to keep us from the Word. The first time through the Bible, you may not understand much of what it says. That is normal. When one studies any new subject, whether that subject be history, geometry, or Christianity, he is likely to miss most of what he reads the first time he reads it. The first time a youngster tries to ride a bicycle he is likely to fall. That is no reason to give up - otherwise no one would learn either to ride a bike, to demonstrate a theorem, or to understand theology. Understanding usually requires study, just as riding well usually requires practice. You as a young Christian should not borrow the books mentioned in this essay, but acquire them for your own permanent library. They should be readily available for repeated and frequent reference and study. They will prove useful to you, your family, and your friends for a lifetime. After you have read the Bible through once, begin again at Genesis - this time with a specific question in mind, such as, “What does the Bible say about God?” or, in keeping with the plan laid out below, “What does the Bible say about itself?” Repeatedly reading the Bible with specific questions in mind is one of the most effective methods of study. Be sure to take notes on what you find, and keep them in a permanent notebook.

There are several good reference works that will help you understand what you read. A good concordance - both Strong’s Concordance and Young’s Concordance are based on the King James Version and remain the most thorough concordances available - is indispensable to Bible study. (A concordance is an alphabetical list of words that appear in the Bible, together with the citation for each appearance, and information about the Greek and Hebrew originals. It functions as a cross-reference and an elementary dictionary. Good computer software will contain the same elements as a good concordance.) In addition to a concordance, a Bible encyclopedia and dictionary are very helpful for furnishing background information on the culture, geography, customs, and technology of the cities and nations mentioned in the Bible. Two very helpful encyclopedias are the two-volume Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia and the five-volume Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible.

Three very useful guides for studying the Bible are the Westminster Standards, consisting of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism, and the Shorter Catechism, all written in the 1640s. The Westminster Confession remains the best summary of the Bible yet written. The Confession summarizes in 33 short chapters the teaching of Scripture on everything from Scripture itself to the Last Judgment. Dr. Gordon Clark’s commentary on the Confession, What Do Presbyterians Believe? is the best short introduction to what the Bible teaches. You as a young Christian should read What Do Presbyterians Believe? and the Scripture verses cited in it very early in your studies. This will give you an introduction to the whole system of truth taught in Scripture and will enable you to see the forest, not merely the trees. The Catechisms will help you grasp the definitions of important terms in Scripture, such as justification, adoption, predestination, and alone, as well as understand such basic items as the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. A useful study guide to the Westminster Confession is Dr. W. Gary Crampton’s Study Guide to the Westminster Confession.

The goal of seeing or understanding the big picture early in one’s Christian life is very important. It is one of the reasons why you ought to read the entire Bible through, in order, from Creation to Consummation. Unless you can see the whole picture, you will not understand many of the details found in Scripture. You will not understand how the parts relate to the whole, how the doctrines mesh together into an elegant and intricate system of truth. Many older Christians remain lost in the details, not knowing what Abraham has to do with Jesus, nor love with law. They know some Bible stories and have memorized a few favorite verses, but how all these things fit together into one coherent and unbreakable whole escapes them. They may not even realize there is a whole, not seeing the forest for the trees. (This is not to say, of course, that memorization of Scripture is bad; Scripture itself says it is very good: “Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” As you read, you should commit verses and entire passages on such topics as Scripture, God, Jesus, and salvation to memory.)

After you have read What Do Presbyterians Believe? you should take the time to study what is perhaps the best systematic theology ever written: The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin. While keeping in the mind the whole of God’s message to his people, The Institutes fills in many of the details. It is organized in roughly the same fashion as the Westminster Confession of Faith, beginning with a discussion of how we can know God and, unlike the Confession, ending with a discussion of government. You may find it helpful to organize your detailed studies in the same fashion. The major topics to be studied are

1. The Doctrine of Scripture
2. The Doctrine of God 
3. The Sovereignty of God and God’s Decree
4. The Doctrines of Creation and Providence 
5. The Doctrine of the Covenant 
6. The Doctrine of Sin
7. Jesus Christ
8. The Doctrines of the Atonement and Salvation
9. The Doctrines of Justification and Faith
10. The Doctrine of Sanctification
11. The Doctrines of Worship and the Church
12. The Doctrines of Marriage and the Family
13. Civil Government and Society
14. Church History
15. Christian Philosophy
16. The Defense of the Faith
17. Cults and Pseudo-Christianity

1. The Doctrine of Scripture

On the doctrine of Scripture, which is foundational for all of Christianity, you should acquire, read, and re-read God’s Hammer: The Bible and Its Critics, by Dr. Gordon H. Clark. Clark explains what it means to say the Bible is truth, and how we may know it is truth. As part of his explanation he refutes those scholars who have attacked or rejected the complete truth of Scripture.

Then read The Divine Inspiration of Scripture, by Louis Gaussen. Gaussen was a nineteenth-century Swiss pastor whose book assembles and organizes in one place the hundreds of statements in Scripture in which Scripture claims to be the Word of God. The cumulative effect of Gaussen’s work is the refutation of any critic who suggests that the Bible claims to be God’s Word in only a few instances, and that it is really not the Word of God, but a work of mere men.

Read The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, by Benjamin Warfield. Warfield was a professor at Princeton Seminary at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. His book is an excellent explanation of the doctrine of the verbal (the exact words) and the plenary (the entire Bible) inspiration of the Scriptures.

Read The Battle for the Bible, by Harold Lindsell. Lindsell chronicles, explains, and refutes the attack on the inerrancy of the Bible within churches calling themselves “evangelical.” Previously Roman Catholic and Modernist churches had denied the inerrancy of Scripture, but from the 1950s on more and more men and churches that identified themselves as “evangelical” denied the inerrancy of Scripture as well.

There are several books that are helpful to the young Christian who faces objections from unbelievers that the Bible is contradictory or simply historically inaccurate. Among these are the following: Alleged Bible Contradictions Explained, by George DeHoff; Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, by John Halley; and the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, by Gleason Archer. The book by Dr. Archer is the most recent and comprehensive; the first two are older, though still useful, works.

As you mature as a Christian, you will hear about something called “textual criticism.” This is an important topic, and it concerns the original Greek text of the New Testament on which all translations into English or other modern languages are based. Some schools and scholars have sought to undermine confidence in the reliability of the Bible by casting doubt on the reliability of the Greek text. There are several books that are very useful for the Christian to study on this matter. Among them are these: The Future of the Bible, by Jakob van Bruggen; The Identity of the New Testament Text, by Wilbur Pickering; and Logical Criticisms of Textual Criticism, by Gordon Clark. The first two books are a more general discussion of the whole field of textual criticism, while the last is a narrow examination of some of the conclusions reached by textual critics showing how capricious and whimsical they are in their judgments of the reliability of Greek texts of the New Testament.

While the student is mastering the doctrine of Scripture, he should be reading good commentaries on Scripture. There are several general texts that act as helpful introductions to the Bible, and many commentaries on individual books of the Bible. Among the introductory texts are The Five Books of Moses, by Oswald Allis; The New Testament: An Introduction to Its Literature and History, by J. Gresham Machen; An Old Testament History of Redemption, by Franz Delitzsch; and A Survey of the Bible, by William Hendricksen.

Helpful commentaries on the Bible include those by Calvin, Gill, Hendricksen, and Clark:

Commentaries on the New Testament, by William Hendricksen. Hendricksen is a twentieth-century Reformed theologian whose commentaries on several New Testament books are quite helpful. 

Exposition of the Old Testament and New Testament, by John Gill. Gill is an eighteenth-century Reformed Baptist whose commentaries are in many instances better than Hendricksen’s. 

Calvin’s Commentaries, by John Calvin. Calvin wrote a commentary on almost every book in the Bible, and his commentaries are still among the best available. If you are in doubt as to the meaning of any passage of Scripture, consult Calvin, Clark, Gill, and Hendricksen, in that order. 

Clark’s Commentaries, by Gordon Clark.

Gordon Clark wrote commentaries on 12 New Testament books:

Colossians 

Ephesians 

First Corinthians 

First John 

First and Second Thessalonians 

New Heavens New Earth (1 & 2 Peter) 

The Pastoral Epistles (1& 2 Timothy, Titus) 

Philippians

Read them in any order you wish, according to your interests, but read them all. They are not technical commentaries, but commentaries intended to be read by ordinary Christians who want to grow in their understanding of the Bible. Clark’s comments are always helpful.

Charles Hodge, one of the leading Reformed theologians of the nineteenth century, also wrote some excellent commentaries on Scripture, including Ephesians, First and Second Corinthians, and Romans.

Edward J. Young, one of the foremost Hebrew and Old Testament scholars of the twentieth century, wrote several excellent commentaries on Old Testament books, including

Isaiah 

Genesis 1 

Genesis 3 

My Servants the Prophets 

Prophecy of Daniel 

Psalm 139

2. The Doctrine of God

After studying the doctrine of Scripture and reading good commentaries on the Scriptures themselves, the doctrine of God is the next topic to tackle. Steven Charnock’s The Existence and Attributes of God may be intimidating to a young Christian, for it is more than a thousand pages long, but it is worth the time and effort involved. Here are a few more books by Gordon Clark, not only to read before one reads Charnock, but also to add to one’s personal library: Lord God of Truth, The Holy Spirit, and The Trinity.

3. The Sovereignty of God and God’s Decree

Because of the sinfulness of men, the sovereignty of God has been a topic of debate within the churches since the time of the apostles. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans answers some of the more common objections to the doctrine of the absolute predestination of God. Among the better discussions of this issue are these books, which you should acquire and study:

Absolute Predestination, by Jerome Zanchius 

The Bondage of the Will, by Martin Luther 

Calvin’s Calvinism, by John Calvin 

Predestination, by Gordon Clark 

The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, by Loraine Boettner 

Religion, Reason, and Revelation, by Gordon Clark.

4. The Doctrines of Creation and Providence

There have been many books published on the topic of creation in the twentieth century, but virtually all of them are written from a scientific point of view or are narrowly focused on such topics as the length of the days of Genesis 1 or problems with the theory of evolution. No sound book-length discussion of the doctrine of creation written from a theological or philosophical point of view seems to be currently available. However, there are many chapters in other books that discuss the doctrine in very helpful ways. Read the chapters on creation and providence in Clark’s Predestination, Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology, and Calvin’s Institutes.

5. The Doctrine of the Covenant

O. Palmer Robertson’s The Christ of the Covenants is one of the best books on the subject.

6. The Doctrine of Sin

Gordon Clark’s The Biblical Doctrine of Man is an excellent discussion of the nature of man, the fall of man, and total depravity.

7. Jesus Christ

We measure all of history by the birth of Christ, yet he is a figure mostly misunderstood two thousand years after his birth. In The Incarnation, Gordon Clark has written a path-breaking book defending the Biblical doctrine that Christ was and is both fully God and fully man. Another important book from Clark in understanding Jesus Christ is The Johannine Logos. An older, standard work is The Person and Work of Christ, by Benjamin Warfield.

8. The Doctrine of the Atonement and Salvation

We recommend reading Clark’s book first, and then filling in the details with Smeaton: The Atonement, by Gordon Clark; The Doctrine of the Atonement According to the Apostles, by George Smeaton; The Doctrine of the Atonement According to Christ, by George Smeaton.

9. The Doctrines of Justification and Faith

While the apostles were still alive, the churches began departing from the Gospel by denying that the objective and alien righteousness of Christ alone justifies us. Paul wrote a polemic against such denials of the Gospel in his letter to the Galatians, and spent three chapters discussing justification in his letter to the Romans. But for 1,400 years, the Gospel was obscured by legalism in the churches, until God enlightened the mind of Martin Luther in the sixteenth century, and from Luther spread across the globe. You should read these books on justification:

Commentary on Galatians, by Martin Luther 

The Everlasting Righteousness, by Horatius Bonar 

Faith and Saving Faith, by Gordon Clark 

The Doctrine of Justification, by James Buchanan 

Justification by Faith Alone, by Charles Hodge

Another good source of information on justification is The Trinity Review, which contains scores of essays on various topics, including many on justification by faith. One volume that is scheduled to appear in 2001 is The War on the Gospel by John Robbins. Remember that the doctrine of justification is the central doctrine of the Bible, and that if it is denied, all the rest of one’s ideas, though they may sound very Christian, are not. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians damned men who denied the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ even though they professed to believe in God, the deity of Christ, and other doctrines of the Bible. Luther called the doctrine of justification the doctrine by which a church or an individual stands or falls, and Calvin called justification the principal article of the Christian religion.

10. The Doctrine of Sanctification

Two of the best books on the subject are Jerry Bridges’ The Pursuit of Holiness and Gordon Clark’s Sanctification.

11. The Doctrines of Worship and the Church

A large part of the reason for the Protestant Reformation was the perversion of Christian worship that prevailed in the Middle Ages. An excellent discussion of the reform of worship in the sixteenth century is Carlos M. N. Eire’s book, War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin. Eire, a Roman Catholic, shows how superstitious and idolatrous even the late “enlightened” Middle Ages were. A new book, The Church Effeminate and Other Essays, edited by John Robbins, is a large collection (740 pages) of some of the best essays of the past five centuries on the structure, purpose, and function of the church and Christian worship. Douglas Bannerman’s The Scripture Doctrine of the Church Historically and Exegetically Considered is also very helpful.

12. The Doctrines of Marriage and the Family

The books of Dr. Jay E. Adams are unsurpassed in this field. Start with Competent to Counsel and Christian Living in the Home.

13. Civil Government and Society

Christians have written a great deal on political matters. E. C. Wines’ The Hebrew Republic is a nineteenth-century work, and Gordon Clark’s Essays on Ethics and Politics is a more recent statement of Christian political theory. Ecclesiastical Megalomania: The Economic and Political Thought of the Roman Catholic Church by Dr. John Robbins teaches by contrast what a Christian society should look like. One should also read the chapter on “Politics” in Dr. Clark’s book, A Christian View of Men and Things.

14. Church History

Much of the history of the church is almost invisible to the modern Christian. Soon after the first century and the deaths of the apostles, the churches fell into serious doctrinal errors, including serious errors in the doctrine of the church. A perverted form of church government arose, transforming the presbyteries of the early church into episcopacies and monarchies. For more than a millennium in the West the churches, united under the Bishop of Rome, oppressed and persecuted those who professed Biblical faith. One of the policies of the Roman Catholic Church-State was the re-writing of history through the fabrication of many false documents and the suppression of accurate records. Consequently, it is difficult to obtain an accurate history of the church during the millennium when the Roman Church-State dominated Europe. Some books that are helpful, however, are The Complete Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, originally published as Acts and Monuments in eight volumes; The History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff (Schaff held some un-Biblical theological views, but his history is a standard work); and The History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin and History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, both by J. H. Merle D’Aubigne.

15. Christian Philosophy

As you grow and understand in greater detail how Christianity is a whole system of thought, not just scattered truths about God and man, you will become more and more interested in applying that system to such diverse topics as education, economics, politics, and philosophy. You will benefit greatly from studying the works of Dr. Gordon Clark in these fields, for Clark, more than any other thinker, has applied Biblical truth to the whole of life and thought. He has earnestly sought to “bring every thought into captivity to Christ,” as each Christian is commanded to do.

Against the World: The Trinity Review 1978-1988, edited by John W. Robbins. Against the World is a collection of 70 essays, many written by Dr. Clark, originally published in The Trinity Review. The essays discuss such topics as the role of Biblical law in the life of the individual and society, the arguments for the existence of God, psychology, economics, current events, apologetics, scientific creationism, the nature of the church, and many more.  

A Christian Philosophy of Education, by Gordon Clark. 

A Christian View of Men and Things, by Gordon Clark. 

Education, Christianity and the State, by J. Gresham Machen. This book is a collection of essays and speeches by one for the most courageous and knowledgeable defenders of Christianity and freedom in the twentieth century. 

Historiography: Secular and Religious, by Gordon Clark. 

Language and Theology, by Gordon Clark. 

Logic, by Gordon Clark. 

Thales to Dewey: A History of Philosophy, by Gordon Clark. Thales to Dewey is Dr. Clark’s peerless explanation and refutation of 2,500 years of secular and religious philosophy. There is nothing like it in any language, for rather than confusing the student with innumerable details about men and ideas, Dr. Clark focuses on the theories of knowledge of the major philosophers, showing them all to be failures. The failure of non-Christian theories of knowledge is the fatal flaw of non-Christian philosophies. By laying an axe to the root, Dr. Clark destroyed non-Christian philosophy and religion.

16. The Defense of the Faith

Many books that purport to be Christian apologetics have been published in the twentieth century, but nearly all of them espouse a Roman Catholic approach to the subject. Gordon Clark, however, developed a Biblical approach to the subject, and his principles for defending the faith are set forth in these books: An Introduction to Christian Philosophy, The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God, and Three Types of Religious Philosophy.

17. Cults and Pseudo-Christianity

Three of the most influential pseudo-Christian movements in the West are Roman Catholicism, Arminianism, and Pentecostalism. There are many good books about Roman Catholicism:

Counterfeit Miracles, by Benjamin Warfield. Counterfeit Miracles discusses not only the miracles of Christian Science, but also Roman Catholicism and other cults. 

Ecclesiastical Megalomania: The Economic and Political Thought of the Roman Catholic Church, by John Robbins. This book is a detailed examination of the official statements of the Vatican on economic and political matters. It demonstrates the collectivism and totalitarianism of the Roman Catholic Church-State. It is the only such book written by a Christian in the twentieth century. 

Graven Bread, by Timothy Kauffman. Quite Contrary, by Timothy Kauffman. These two books by Kauffman focus on the Roman Catholic idolatry of the Eucharist and Mary. 

Papal Power, by Henry T. Hudson. Hudson was missionary in Rome and became familiar with the power of the papacy while working in the shadow of the papacy. 

Roman Catholicism, by Loraine Boettner. Boettner’s large book discusses many aspects of Romanist doctrine. It is the most comprehensive book currently available on the subject. 

Two of the best books on the charismatic movement are The Charismatics and the Word of God, by Victor Budgen; and A Theology of the Holy Spirit, by Frederick Dale Bruner. Both books are excellent. There are also many issues of The Trinity Review that discuss the charismatic movement at www.trinityfoundation.org.

Perhaps the best antidote to Arminianism is John Gill’s The Cause of God and Truth, which examines all the “Arminian verses” in the Bible and explains their meaning.

The Theology of the Major Sects, by John Gerstner is a useful guide to several contemporary cults.

The Changing World of Mormonism, by Gerald and Sandra Tanner is an excellent explanation of the American religion of Mormonism, written by two former Mormons.

Dr. Martin and Deidre Bobgan have written several good books about psychology, showing that it is incompatible with Christian theology and demonstrating how some prominent Christian leaders rely on psychology rather than the Bible.

Conclusion

There are many religious books that will be vying for your attention as a young Christian. Some of them are helpful; most are harmful. We live in a time of great apostasy, when most of the religious literature rolling off the presses of Europe and North America is either blatantly hostile to Christianity, or subtly subversive. Remember the warning of the Apostle Paul at the conclusion of his letter to the Ephesian Christians: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

This list of books, though relatively short, will give you as a young Christian the beginnings of an excellent theological education. Of course, all uninspired books are liable to error, and these are no exception, but you can read and study them with confidence, praying all the while that God will enlighten your mind, keep you from error, and guide you into truth. When you are done, you will be able to say with the Psalmist:

Oh, how I love your Law! 

It is my meditation all the day. 

You, through your Commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; 

for they are ever with me. 

I have more understanding than all my teachers, 

for your Testimonies are my meditation. 

I understand more than the ancients, 

because I keep your Precepts. 

I have restrained my feet from every evil way, 

that I may keep your Word. 

I have not departed from your Judgments, 

for you yourself have taught me.