PORNEIA

Even for a guy who’s proud of sleeping with his step-mom, we should count out no one when it comes to salvation, nor should we be concerned that it’s too late when we die.

“Chloe’s people” (1 Corinthians 1:11) from Corinth went to Paul in prison with a list of problems in their church. Believe it or not, one of those problems was . . . well, you can read for yourself:

1 Corinthians 5:1-7 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father's wife. ² And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you? ³ For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment ⁴ in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. ⁶ Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal (Passover) lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. (italics mine)

Recall again that the word “saved” is used in three ways in the New Testament. One, it refers to the salvation of the world 2000 years ago on the cross. Two, it refers to our coming to knowledge of and trust in that salvation. And three, it refers to the completion of salvation on the last day.

In 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul makes reference to “saved” in the third sense, the salvation coming in the general resurrection, the day of the Son of Man. Amazingly, Paul still holds out last-day hope for a man who is “fornicating” by “having” his father’s wife. The Greek word translated usually as “fornicating” is telling. It’s porneia {pronounced por-ni'-ah}, from which we get the English word pornography.

Porneia means illicit sexual intercourse; it’s a general word that refers to any extramarital, unlawful, or unnatural acts, including adultery and prostitution. In 1 Corinthians 5:1 Paul calls the behavior of this man with his stepmother porneia. English versions of the Bible translate it as “fornication,” “sin of the flesh,” “sexual immorality,” “whoredom,” and “lewdness.” Notice that Paul uses the word twice for emphasis. 

^ASV 1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is fornication (porneia) among you, and such fornication (porneia) as is not even among the Gentiles (pagans). . .

So this fellow, this church member in Corinth, is living with and sleeping with his stepmother. We have no details of this relationship. We don’t know their names. We only have the word “fornication” (2x) and the phrase “has his father’s wife.” He “has her” means having sex with her or living with her, probably both. 

Paul’s use of the term for fornication confirms that he is sleeping with her. I suppose the man in question could have actually married her if his father had died or divorced her, but if he had, Paul would have said so. And if he did marry her, likely Paul would have called it porneia anyway. I think Paul would have labeled this arrangement incestuous, and therefore illicit sexual intercourse, meaning porneia. Did his dad divorce her? Had his father died? Were his father and the step mom separated, or more disturbingly, were they still together? Paul doesn’t say. I think it likely that the man’s father is living and still married to the woman. Paul is obviously alarmed, however, not only by the behavior of this man and woman, but also by the church’s boasting about this matter! Apparently they were proud of it, perhaps because they thought that it demonstrated (or flaunted?) the breadth of their liberality. But Paul doesn’t celebrate it. He mourns it. And he gives the church advice on handling this distasteful state of affairs.

Paul advises the church that when they next assemble they should “turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.” (No advice on what to do with the step mom.) What in the world does that mean? The New English Translation Notes call this verse one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament to interpret. But the most straightforward way to interpret this is that Paul is very concerned that the church has not mourned this immorality and removed the person or persons involved. His ruling advises that very thing. To turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh is a poetic way of saying kick him out and let him keep on hanging himself if he so chooses. What these persons are doing is not the fruit of the Spirit or the kingdom. They are producing the fruit of Satan and his kingdom.

A friend told me of an incident in her parents’ church when the pastor had an affair with a married woman. The woman and her husband were both members of the congregation. The church officials met, and you’ll never guess their ruling concerning this adulterous affair. Are you ready for this? They kicked the woman’s husband out of the church! Sometimes church rulings are just ludicrous. 

I think Paul’s ruling, however, and his advice is straightforward and wise. But notice that he condemns the behavior without condemning the people involved. Far from condemning them, Paul holds out hope at two levels. The first hope is similar to Jesus’ hope that his parables will so infuriate a person who doesn’t understand them that they (the parables) might break through his hardheadedness and hardheartedness. I believe Paul hopes that by holding this man accountable for a sinful choice by kicking him out (notice that Paul never blames the woman), the man might reverse course and ask for readmittance to the congregation. If that were to happen, I feel certain that Paul would have ruled in favor of it. The second hope is that in the case of this illicit behavior continuing even after the man is confronted by and removed from the congregation, that he, as late as the last day itself, the day of the coming of the Son of Man, the day of resurrection and judgment, might yet be saved spiritually! Apparently Paul believes that the last day is not too late. Paul clearly believes concerning this man “that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 5:5)

Not only was I taught that the last day is too late, but I was also taught that the moment of your physical death is too late. Paul certainly seems to believe otherwise, even for a man who does not hide his incestuous, illicit affair. If Paul didn’t write off this fellow, I think it’s safe to say that he never wrote anyone off. Yes, Paul wrote “I have already pronounced judgment.” (5:3) But by judgment he does not mean final condemnation. He means he has already decided or ruled on this “case,” just like a judge might do in his courtroom. Paul’s opinion was to be considered authoritative and final. He expected the church members at Corinth to abide by that ruling: Kick him out, but do so in hope for him. Never say never for anyone.

After she read the last paragraph, my friend Carrie Smith asked, “And why would we want to write people off?” She pointed back to parable characters like the older brother who resented grace given to his little brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son(s), and the all-day workers who resented getting the same pay as the one-hour workers. “Why all the scorekeeping and resentment?” she asked. “I just don’t understand why we don’t want to share our ice cream with the rest of the world!”

For more on the Apostle Paul see my blogs Paul Never Converted to Christianity, Paul Didn't Go to Heaven, and The Soul Doesn't Leave the Body at Death.

The Christian Ambush: A True Story

 
I was once suckered into a captive audience situation. In high school I was a music lover. That’s an understatement. I suppose that’s what made me vulnerable. A girl I liked invited me to a “concert” at her church. “What kind of concert?” I asked. “I don’t know really,” she lied, “just a live band. They’re supposed to be really good.” But the lie was justifiable, her youth pastor had explained on Sunday (a friend later informed me), because the teenagers in the high schools don’t realize the precariousness of their eternal fate. When an immortal soul is at stake, sometimes you have to do or say what’s necessary to get them to church, he said.

How dumb am I? Of course it was a rat trap, and I was the rat. Things went badly for me fast. Just in case you’re wondering why I didn’t just walk out; I hadn’t driven myself, being only 15 years old. They’d picked me up, and it was a longish drive in the rain at night. I wasn't going to call my mommy to rescue me. There you have it. They were my ride, and unless I wanted to be soaked to the bone and freezing, I was stuck. 

Well, first of all the band stank. And the songs stank. I was just sitting there minding my own business when the critical moment came. I didn’t see the ambush coming. The lead singer asked everyone who was “saved” to stand up. Suddenly I had a choice to make. I felt the pressure build around me. It was in the air. I had to choose. I could stand up and avoid the humiliation that was about to be unleashed upon the poor seated “unsaved” kids, or I could risk staying seated and hope for the best. Well, the best was not to happen for me that night. I should have run to the bathroom and hid in a stall until it was over, but that option didn’t occur to my 15-year-old stupid self because my folks “raised me up” not to be rude. (Never mind the rudeness that was about to be inflicted on me!)

From my seat I looked around, and as far as I could see, I was the only one seated. I felt like a toadstool in a giant redwood forest. I sat there wondering how any of these teenagers could possibly think they knew what “saved” meant. I wondered how many of them stood up to avoid being singled out. I remember actually praying to God to help me be brave in the face of the pressure that was about to be applied to my boneheaded remaining-seated concert-going self.

“We’re going to pray now for those who are seated that they might know the Lord and accept Jesus into their hearts to make him the Lord of their lives and be born again,” the lead singer said (or something to that effect). He prayed for a long while. Yes, he started with threats of hell. There were lots of Amens and teary halleluiahs from my “friends” in the immediate vicinity. But wait, there’s more. 

They asked my friends for my name. The singer began praying into the microphone for “Bert’s” eternal soul. Entrapment and now I was betrayed by my buddies. (But it was entrapment and betrayal for a “noble cause,” they certainly rationalized.) At least I found out at that moment that there were others seated like me. My name was not the only name called. I had partners in crime somewhere else in the forest of standing, praying, weeping “Christians.” I felt a little better knowing I wasn’t alone. 

Why didn’t I just stand up? I considered it seriously but decided against it. It wasn’t that I considered my self “unsaved.” I didn’t. It was just that I resented their presumption that I was unsaved (simply because I was from another denomination I suppose), and resented their assumption that my status before God was their business, and resented their covert conniving to lure me in and “fix” me, and resented the absurd assertion that just standing up at their church somehow magically made you saved. So I sat while the lead singer prayed for my salvation. But that’s not all.

After a very long prayer supported with tears and whispers of “Yes Lord,” the singer instructed everyone to lay hands on those seated as he prayed. The first hand put on my head made me really angry. They had shanghaied me and now they were violating my personal space. I didn’t give anyone permission to touch me. But they got away with it because, I presumed, there were only two ways I could have stopped them from touching me at that point. I could physically protest in some way, push their hands away, but I worried that would draw even more unwanted attention. Or I could stand up and “get saved!” But I didn’t do either. I folded. At least a dozen hands touched my shoulders and head, and I just sat there humiliated. Surely I was the victim of the longest mercy molesting in the history of Christendom.

My “friends” didn’t talk to me on the way home. They were punishing me for something, I guess. I wondered if the silent treatment was a planned response designed to shame recalcitrant heathens who refuse to knuckle under to pressure. I couldn’t believe the hostile atmosphere in that car. No one said a word the entire way home. But I was glad in a way. I had nothing to say to them—nothing nice anyway. They dropped me off in cold silence. Maybe they took it personally, like I had held out on them so as to embarrass them in front of their church friends and youth pastor. Perhaps I robbed them of bragging rights: “We saved Bert Gary! Can you believe it? Bert Gary! It’s a miracle!” I really don’t know. But one thing was certain. They judged me as hopelessly hell-bound and never spoke to me again.

For more evangelical bad behavior:
Hell House
The Prosperity Gospel: God In a Box
Katrina - The Wrath of God?
Don't You Hate Christian Tracts


See this blog published as an article in PTM with a fantastic layout

Don't You Hate Christian Tracts?

I found a “Christian” tract in the airport. It’s a good example of modern evangelicalism’s unfortunate cluelessness about the Gospel. It’s entitled “You have God’s Word on It.”

When you open this little tract, the very first three words inside are these:

“THE BAD NEWS”

I’m not kidding. Modern evangelicalism begins with bad news. That in itself should clue you in that something is wrong here. Like this tract, the message of the church, especially from modern evangelical circles, begins with bad news, not good.

What is this bad news that so many churches begin with? I’m following the tract word for word. If you doubt me, order the tract for yourself. Ways to order it are listed below.

The tract quotes below are in italics with quotation marks. My rebuttals, occasionally dripping with sarcasm, are in parenthesis:

1. “You are a sinner.” (What a shock!)

2. “You will die [damned]. . . because of your sin.” (The reason that damnation is God’s factory default setting for you is because, the tract writer assumes, you are a sinner and God is holy. And since God supposedly can’t even look at your sin, he can’t accept you as you are. He can’t even come near to you. You are separated from God. He’s turned away from you and is far away. Hmm. Funny how God the Son, Jesus Christ, the one who said, “When you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father,” the one who said that he “came to seek and save the lost,” entered a sinful world, loved sinners, welcomed sinners, touched sinners, and ate with sinners. Hey, Paul wrote that Jesus even became sin. (Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21) But if God the Father is far from me and can’t accept me and can’t come near to me because I’m a sinner, and Jesus can do all those things easily, then Jesus and the Father aren’t alike. And if they’re not alike, how can they be one? Does this tract expect me to believe that the loving side of God sent a sinner-friendly Jesus to take my whipping to appease God’s holy side? Please pardon my sarcasm. The God of this tract is double-minded about me.)

3. “[You will] be cast into the lake of fire.” (God’s very first impulse toward me, a creature he made in his own image, a creature he supposedly loves, is to reject me and punish me forever? Is this supposed to be the “gospel”—a word that means good news?)

Then the tract presents a “solution” to God’s bad news, calling it:

“THE GOOD NEWS”

1. “God doesn’t want you to perish.” (Wait a minute. God doesn’t want to fry me, but that’s his first impulse toward me because he’s holy and I’m a sinner? Again, pardon my sarcasm, but following the logic of the tract, God’s Eternal Plan A is to torture me. Though his loving side really doesn’t want to do it, he has to do it because he’s a holy, legal God. How comforting to know that God is bound by law to reject me! (Dripping sarcasm. I apologize again.) There’s nothing God can do about it. His hands are tied. Rules are rules. He’s regretful, but he has to follow regulations. I wonder who came up with these laws that GOD has to follow?)

2. “God has provided the only way to be saved from hell.” (Is it just me, or does this sound like he’s trapped me like a rat and gone away? Is he an absent rejecting Trapper who requires me to love him? That makes sense . . . NOT. And not only that, but rather than salvation being about universal grace, here in this tract, you are saved from your sentence to hell. But who sentenced you to hell? The tract says God did. That means Jesus came to earth to save you from God! Think about that. The tract is telling you that the “good news” is that God sent Jesus to earth to save you from himself! Is that what the Scriptures say Jesus came for? Did he come to save you from God? Do you see how utterly bankrupt this theology is? If a legal, non-relational God must avoid sin and must punish sin, then why would he bother to send Jesus to stop himself?)

3. “God saves you forever when you trust Jesus.” (The distant Trapper’s holiness demands my blood. But the Trapper has a split personality. He sends someone (Jesus) to spring the trap he set for me. Does that make God holy or psychotic?)

Finally the tract instructs you on how to implement your escape from God’s eternal sinner roast. This section is entitled.

“IT IS YOUR DECISION”

Well, at least the tract is consistent. If your theology is decisional rather than relational at the beginning, it should remain decisional throughout. Who wants personal relationships anyway—not when you can have the comfort and warmth of legal, decisional individualism instead? (I’m truly sorry about the sarcasm. One of my friends says I can sometimes get a bit snarky. I have no idea what snarky means, but I don’t think it’s good.)

1. “You must turn from your way and completely trust Jesus.” (Turn from my way? I guess that means turn from sinning. So all I have to do is obey all the Trapper’s rules from here on out. If I can manage to be a perfect peach, then maybe he’ll come back. Maybe he’ll accept me. But wait. It also says I have to “completely trust Jesus.” But if I try to turn from sin and keep Gods laws, then I’m not trusting Jesus. And if I completely trust Jesus, why do I have to keep all the laws? There is a contradiction here. Which do I do? Trust completely that Jesus has taken care of me? Or work hard as hell to keep all the rules so Trapper-God won’t zap me? I can’t do both! What’s the point of having a savior if we do all the saving?)


2. “Will you . . . ask Jesus Christ to save you?” (I have one more question. If Jesus saved humanity 2000 years ago, being the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world, then why do I have to ask him to save me? I thought Paul said God saved us while we were still sinners to prove the Father’s love for us. Why can’t I just say, Thanks, Jesus? And by the way, what’s the difference between “the sinner’s prayer” and a Harry Potter incantation? Yeah, I know. I’m being snarky again.)

3. “If you will accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, please pray the sinner’s prayer with all of your heart.” (So what words exactly do I use to make sure this “sinner’s prayer” works? How can I make sure that I really mean it? Will it help if I kneel and cry a lot when I ask? Do I get dramatic and throw myself prostrate on the ground? How will I know when I’ve groveled enough? Do I have to walk the isle of a religious institution? Do I have to shake the “right” preacher’s hand? Wait a minute. Come to think of it, if it’s up to me believing enough, then I’m just thrown back on myself. I’m not believing in Jesus. I’m believing in believing enough! I’m having faith in having enough faith. But how do you ever know you have enough faith? How do you know that you believed in believing enough for Jesus to save you from God? How much screwier can decisional evangelism get? Parenthetically, I have a comment about acceptance: I thought that the point of the incarnation and crucifixion and resurrection and ascension was Jesus accepting us into the heart and Life of his joyful relationship with his Father, not us accepting him into our hearts. Who made your heart anyway, and if he made it, how could he not be in it from the start?)

OK, let me get this straight. (I’m on a snarky roll! Sorry, I can’t help it.) According to this tract, the only thing standing between me and eternal punishment is whether or not I can stop sinning and then believe completely without a doubt that I’ve convinced Jesus in a very sincere prayer and/or religious ceremony to stand between me and the blood-rage of a rule-driven G-O-D? How should I word the prayer? “Jesus, please save me from your Dad. Amen.”?

Then the tract ends with a warning and a plea:

1. The Warning: “If you reject Jesus Christ—condemnation.” If you don’t turn from sin and ask Jesus to save you from God’s destiny for you in hell and believe with all your heart that Jesus has saved you from God’s plan, you are rejecting him. If you reject Jesus, you will burn in “a lake of fire” as planned from the beginning by G-O-D. You’re toast.

2. The Plea: “Please don’t reject the Gospel.” In this tract, the Gospel, which is supposed to mean Good News, is that God’s eternal plan to roast you might be changed provided you stop sinning and start praying earnestly the “Jesus-provision prayer.”

Let me personalize this:

1. God’s initial plan for Bert is to burn him forever because he’s a dirty sinner.


2. If Bert doesn’t improve his morals dramatically, and if Bert doesn’t pray sincerely enough, God will burn Bert as planned.


3. But if Bert cleans up his act and convinces Jesus of the sincerity of his I-wanna-get-saved prayer, then Jesus will try to stop G-O-D from burning Bert.

I have one question: In what sense is this Good News?

First, it’s certainly not good news about God. The tract portrays him non-relationally. He’s an automaton bound by rules. He doesn’t love first. He doesn’t love last. He’s absent from you and cannot reverse your sentence unless you invoke the Jesus clause. His first impulse toward you is fire-torture. Good News about God in this tract? There is none.

Second, what about the relationship between Jesus and his Father? In this tract there is none. They are at crossed purposes. They are bound together by rules, not love. It’s God’s job to broil you. It’s Jesus’ job to stop God. Your job is to convince Jesus to stop God. If you don’t, he won’t. Good news? Hardly.

Third, what about Jesus? No good news there either. Jesus not only doesn’t have a relationship with his heavenly Father in this tract, he doesn’t have a relationship with you or anyone else either. Jesus is a mere legal loophole. He’s a provision. If you invoke the Jesus clause, Jesus is legally bound to try to stop God from microwaving you as planned. It’s legal, decisional, and contractual, but not relational. Is that Good News? No way.

Enough said. If you love laws, rules, verdicts, sentencing, punishment, and no loving relationships whatsoever, you’re going to love this tract. If you’d like a copy, you may order it at:

Fellowship Tract League (A non-relational tract is produced by a “Fellowship”? How ironic.)
P.O. Box 164, Lebanon, OH 45036

They are not for sale. Request © Tract 134

Or order online

If you love the gospel, however, you might like this quote from author Wayne Jacobson:

“When you realize sin doesn’t make you worthless it just makes you lost, you will know God’s compassion for people caught in sin, not contempt for them.”


For more evangelical bad behavior:
Hell House
The Prosperity Gospel: God In a Box
Katrina - The Wrath of God?
The Christian Ambush: A True Story

A Country Fried Parable

(Or a Lynyrd Synyrd Parable of the Kingdom of Heaven)

Appendix D from "Heaven for Skeptics"

© 2008 by Bert Gary for FaithWalk Publishing

Perhaps I should just do as Jesus did and tell a parable. And since I'm from the South, perhaps a country fried parable is called for.

ACT ONE

Entering the kingdom of heaven is like this: You are incarcerated for life in a dark and crowded Birmingham maximum security prison when out of the blue a letter arrives containing your pardon and an invitation to a party. In the neighboring cells, all of your fellow jailbirds received the same.

Just then you hear a band from somewhere outside the prison launch into "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. And just then every prison door unlocks with a clang. The doors fly open. All of them.

You look around at the other prisoners. They're standing there rereading their pardons. They look at you and back at the papers. You read your pardon and your personalized party invitation again. Is this some kind of sick joke? Is it a test? Is it a trap?

You hold your breath and inch toward the open door. The others are watching you. You see your hand reaching for the opening like it's hot, like it's wired. But your hand goes through unharmed. Others inch toward their doors, suspicious eyes darting left and right, uncertain hands reaching out and quickly drawing back.

By now the chorus of "Freebird" is roaring in your ears, and something hopeful is growing in your heart. Without thinking, you bolt from your cell and run for your Life. Right behind you another prisoner runs for his. Then many run, tearing through the cellblock, all the doors wide open. Running and screaming like warriors charging into battle, you emerge from the prison into a green sunlit park.

You and your cellmates rush the stage where you see none other than Ronnie Van Zant himself smiling as he looks right at you. Then he grabs the mic and directs the crowd, an enormous chorus, millions and millions of pardoned cons singing,

"So won't you fly high free bird, yeah!"

Guitars roar. Apple wine is flowing. Lamb is served. And Life is good.

COMMENT ON ACT ONE

Pardon the interruption, but a couple of Bible verses come to mind. Jesus quoted Isaiah saying,

"He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives . . ." (Luke 4:18)

I quoted it before, but Paul's words may make better sense here:

For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all. (bold italics mine) (Romans 11:32)

Oh, yeah. I forgot about hell. Hell is easy to forget at a party! My parable continues:

ACT TWO

In the back of the prison, in the last cell at the end of a long ward, a prisoner sits in the corner fuming. "It's not fair," he says. Then he says it again. Louder. Again. And again. Like a chant. A chant that the other prisoners in nearby cells join in. "It's - not - fair," they chant. More join them. They begin banging and raking their tin cups across the cell bars. It is loud. Very loud. A multitude of freed prisoners refuse to leave their unlocked cells in protest of the general pardon of all. "It's - not - fair! It's - not - fair! It's - not - fair! It's - not - fair! It's - not - fair!"

It was loud as hell.Yet at the free-bird party in the park, Lynyrd Skynyrd was just warming up! The sound of "It's - not - fair!" coming from the unlocked prison was being drowned out by Ronnie and the boys, who were now singing,

"Won't you give me three steps, gimme three steps mister, gimme three steps towards the door?"

Ironical, isn't it?

COMMENT ON ACT TWO

While a Skynyrd concert might not sound like heaven to you, to a good old Southern boy, it's not bad at all. If you like, set the parable in a Detroit prison for women and let Janis Joplin sing "Bobby Magee."

"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

"The doors of Hell are locked on the inside." CS Lewis


If you like this parable, try my others: Pews Stink (A Black and White Satire), What Color Is a Green Apple?, The Kingdom of Heaven is Like Gravity, and A Guitar Hero Parable (Or the Gospel According to Slash).


For Jesus' parables see The Absurd Parable of the Unforgiving Slave, The God Who Gambles, Parable of the Vine and Branches, The Crooked Manager, The Friend at Midnight, Heaven Is Like a Crazy Farmer, He Speaks Of . . ., Salted With Fire, Talking Sheep and Goats, Is Your Eye Evil?, Two Prodigals and Their Strange Father, The Lazarus Parable Is Not About the Afterlife,and Jesus Used Parables Like a Sieve.

You're Saved - Whether You Like It or Not

"the Savior of the world" 1 John 4:14 "the Savior of all people" 1 Timothy 4:10 "bringing Salvation to all" Titus 2:11 PAGE 2 On December 26, 1944 at the age of 23, Japanese 2nd Lt. Hiroo Onoda was sent to tiny Lubang Island in the Philippines. It was near the end of World War II. He became one of only four soldiers who survived the American landing there. They hid for years. Two of them died in 1954; that's ten years later. Still in hiding, the Lieutenant's remaining buddy died in 1972. Onoda was the lone survivor. "Despite the efforts of the Philippine Army, letters and newspapers left for him, radio broadcasts, and even a plea from Onoda's brother, he did not believe the war was over." (press) Onoda disbelieved all efforts to convince him of the war's end. He said he was waiting for orders from one of his commanders. Finally, Onoda's one-time superior commander, Major Taniguchi, was located and brought in March 9, 1974, thirty years after Japan's surrender, to deliver the oral orders for Onoda to surrender. He did. And he wept. More on Onoda in a moment. Salvation has three tenses in the Scriptures. The New Testament speaks of Christ's saving work in the past, in the present, and in the future. In this brief pamphlet, let me show you how the Bible distinguishes what I will call Finished Salvation (past), Now Salvation (present), and Final Salvation (future). To understand these three biblical distinctions is to understand the real good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It begins with this: When he saved the world, he saved you too. It is finished. (John 19:30)  The Real Good News of God's . . .  1. Finished Salvation  2. Now Salvation  3. Final Salvation PAGE 3  1. Finished Salvation - Jesus, says the New Testament, saved the world. Yes, everyone. All people. He saved everyone Hebrews 2:9 [B]ut we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (italics mine) He saved the world John 1:29 The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (italics mine) 2 Corinthians 5:19 [I]n Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. (italics mine) 1 John 2:2 [H]e is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (italics mine) 1 John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. (italics mine) He saved all people John 1:4 [I]n him was life, and the life was the light of all people. (italics mine) John 12:32 "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (italics mine) Colossians 1:20 through [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (italics mine) 1 Timothy 4:10 For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (italics mine) Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all . . . (italics mine) [See also Luke 2:10; John 1:9, 1:16, 3:17, 4:42; 6:33, 6:51; Acts 10:36; Rom 5:18, 6:10, 8:32, 11:32; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Col 3:11; 1 Tim 2:5-6; Heb 2:17, 7:27, 9:12, 9:26, 10:2, 10:10, 10:12; 1 Pet 3:18] PAGE 4  2. Now Salvation - New Testament salvation in this 2 sense refers to the present when a person freely trusts, lives, and rests in the acceptance that salvation in the 1 sense is already true for him. It's the present experience of a past event. It's salvation's nowness. It's discovering and trusting in the present that Jesus' universal atonement two millennia ago applies to me now. John 10:9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. (italics mine) Acts 4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved. (italics mine) Acts 16:30-31 Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." (italics mine) Romans 10:9-10 [I]f you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. (italics mine) Romans 10:13 For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (italics mine) 2 Corinthians 6:2 See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! (italics mine) 2 Thessalonians 2:10b [T]hey refused to love the truth and so be saved. (italics mine) 1 Timothy 2:3-4 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (italics mine) Hebrews 7:25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (italics mine) 1 Peter 1:9 [F]or you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. [See also Luke 8:11-12; Acts 10:43, 11:14, 13:38-39, 16:30-31, 26:18; 1 Cor 9:22, 10:33] PAGE 5  3. Final Salvation- Biblical salvation has a not-yet-ness too. Final Salvation is in Jesus' second coming, in the resurrection of the dead, and in the full arrival of the kingdom of heaven. It's salvation's future tense. Matthew 10:22 [Y]ou will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (italics mine) Acts 15:11 [W]e believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. (italics mine) Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. (italics mine) Romans 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, "Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob." (italics mine) Romans 13:11 [F]or salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; (italics mine) 1 Corinthians 5:5 [Y]ou are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (italics mine) 1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (italics mine) Hebrews 9:28 [S]o Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (italics mine) 1 Peter 1:3-5 By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (italics mine) The New Testament affirms that all people were reconciled to God through the death of Jesus. That's 1. And 2 is faith that 1 is true. But 3 claims that those with faith in 1 naturally hope for salvation's fruit on the last day—resurrection to Life with the Lord. Those who rest in 1 look forward to being saved in this final 3 sense. PAGE 6 A nationally known pastor and author hosted a Christmas Special from his California mega-church. He gave the standard, modern evangelical message. First he quoted from the Bible. Then he elaborated. Colossians 2:13-14 And when you were dead in trespasses . . . , God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. Then the very famous preacher said to a worldwide audience: "Jesus wants to wipe it all out. He offers you a chance to be forgiven." The Bible is at complete odds with this modern evangelical message. The Bible says God made you alive with him already—past tense—when he forgave you of all your trespasses—past tense. He erased your record—past tense—by nailing it to the cross two thousand years ago, says Scripture. That's the good news. But what does the famous preacher do with this good news? He takes it back. It isn't true, he says. It could be true. It could apply to you. But not now. Not yet. Now it is only a "chance," he says. Now it is merely an "offer." "Jesus wants to wipe it all out," he says, but it's all up to you. The preacher is pressing you for a decision that you can make, he says, that will make his "big if" a reality for you. You must take Jesus up on his supposed offer of forgiveness and salvation for it to go into affect. Until you do this—assuming you do it absolutely correctly—you aren't forgiven, he says. But this so-called "gospel offer" is totally distorting what Scripture says. It says that something has already happened to you and to the cosmos in Jesus. He saved all. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. (italics mine) The good new is not that we can receive an absent Jesus into our hearts, but that Jesus has already received us all into his. This is exactly the good news that modern evangelicalism rejects. Modern evangelicalism has rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ and doesn't know it. It's both tragic and infuriating. So what's the point here? It's that without 1, there is no 2. Again, biblically speaking, by 1 I mean the good news that Jesus saved the world including you, and by 2 I mean believing and living in 1's freedom and rest: Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (bold italics mine) PAGE 7 So the peace was real, World War II having ended decades before, but Lt. Hiroo Onoda wouldn't believe it. This shows how something can be objectively true and still not subjectively believed or experienced. For thirty years this guy fought a war that was over. It's tragic, isn't it? All those hellish wasted years! Onoda's story serves well as a parable of biblical salvation in the 1 and 2 senses. The first is objectively true. Jesus reconciled the world to his Father. The war is over. That's salvation in the 1 sense. But to believe that 1 is true is to understand and admit that the war is over. The New Testament says that you can surrender. You don't have to fight your way to God's approval anymore. You don't have to waste your life fighting a war that was long ago won. That's your subjective acceptance of an objective truth. That's salvation in the 2 sense. You can say to your heart, the war is over, thank God. This is the biblical gospel, the good news. The peace is already real, say the Scriptures. And they invite you to trust and live and rest in the liberty of that peace. Colossians 1:20 . . . through him (Jesus) God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (bold italics mine) (See also 2 Corinthians 5:19) What I love about this eternally established peace, this objective good news, is that it cuts the legs out from under religious striving. The problem in modern evangelicalism is that it's based on that striving. Many don't realize they've rejected a gift in favor of trying to make a deal. They don't believe the war is over, so they continue to fight for their salvation. (You have to pray the sinner's prayer and really mean it this time. You have to stop drinking, smoking, and gambling. You have to attend a religious institution Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night. You have to tithe. You have to pray and read the Bible daily. On and on.) Salvation is made into something you have the power to make true only if you do and say all the right things just so. But if it's already true that he saved you, then all that effort not only earns nothing, it steals your freedom and Life. That's the gospel punch line: The peace with God for which you are striving was long ago achieved for you. Tragically, our churches are full of Hiroo Onodas. They needlessly fight a war that they cannot win, that's long over anyway, that's won for the world by someone else. This someone else is the savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Scripturally, you're saved. Whether you like it or not is the only question. PAGE 8 This Is Not Universalism Whenever I discuss Finished Salvation, I usually get this question: Does that mean that everybody's going to heaven when they die? This question is really a theological objection to universalism, not biblical Finished Salvation. Universalism is the belief that everybody is "saved" on resurrection day without exception, with humans having no choice in the matter. Universalism claims that in the end, God's grace will be irresistible. The heresy of universalism (or apocatastasis in Greek), though embraced by some theologians as early as Clement (A.D. 150-215) and Origen (A.D. 185-254), was rejected by the church in every age. Christ's universal salvation, however, is not universalism, though many theologians who affirm Christ's universal atonement are accused wrongly of universalism, including Karl Barth. The reason I reject universalism is because it eliminates God's loving gift of free will. Jesus is not in the business of forcing anyone to trust him. Universalism leaves no room for the freedom to say No to God's grace in Christ. Yes, we are all forgiven and atoned for, so say the Scriptures. But some don't want to be forgiven because they are eaten up by evil, and some because in their blindness they don't think they've done anything needing forgiveness, and still others because in their scorekeeping mindset they resent everybody being forgiven. God's love graciously allows everyone the freedom to say No to the salvation they already have, and No to the grace that God has showered indiscriminately on the earth like an insane farmer throwing precious seed everywhere, even on the road, among the rocks, and in briars. (Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:2-9; Luke 8:5-8) His grace is like the sun shining and the rain falling indiscriminately on the good and evil alike. (Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:35) Grace is for all, but not all want grace. (Matthew 20:15; Romans 2:4) The love of Jesus may be written on every heart, but not every heart chooses to embrace it. Some choose darkness, evil, judgmentalism, and hate. Some even kill innocent people in the name of God. Is such sin unforgivable? No. But can you refuse the forgiveness you already have? Yes. The urgency of telling the world that it is "saved" in the 1 sense is to get people off of their self-salvation schemes. Religious programs are endless treadmills of anxious climbing, scorekeeping, performing, and posing. But there is rest if 1 is true, if Jesus saved all on the cross, if forgiveness is universally inclusive, and if the Spirit is already at work in all flesh. (Joel 2:28) So if the Spirit of Christ is at work in every person seeking to communicate this truth (that the world has been saved and all can rest in this truth), then perhaps this good news will resonate when it is proclaimed unashamedly to the world. (Romans 1:16; 2 Timothy 1:8) You may order this blog in tract form here: http://www.ptm.org/uni/resources/images/ResourceListS106.pdf