Examining "A More Christlike Word"
by Brad Jersak
Day 64
“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” (Paul’s concern from 2 Corinthians 11:4)
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The False Filter |
The Biblical Filter |
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The word OR the Word |
The Word THROUGH the word |
Now, back
to our consideration of the ways BJ is trying to make God’s word less than it
really is.
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BJ’s Claim |
Monte’s Response |
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“The moral sense follows 2 Timothy 3:16-17, affirming that since the
Old Testament is regarded and received as Christian Scripture, then it must
be useful to Christians” (the rest of the paragraph says about the same thing
so I will stick with just this introductory sentence to evaluate) (p. 130). |
This needs CLARIFICATION! First, BJ is saying this in his belief that the Bible is NOT the breathed-out words of God as Paul taught it. He believes the Bible, including the Old Testament Scriptures, is a God/man hybrid full of mistakes that Jesus has to correct to make “more Christlike”. This is why he is deceptively pushing his fictitious treatment of Scripture. It gets around all the things the breathed-out words of God say about how God deals with sin. It also deceptively keeps making the BJs the authority over what is Christlike and what is not! Second, the question is not whether we can use a “moral sense”
approach and still treat the Scriptures as useful. The question is, when we
argue against what Paul said, that “all Scripture is God-breathed”, and we
explain away the history of books like Jonah, and explain away the attributes
of God in carrying out justice against criminal nations (as he did with
Nineveh later on), we then lose so much of how useful the Scriptures are to
teach us, reprove us, correct us, and train us in righteousness, because we
are denying some of the things God has revealed in his own words. Third, because the “useful” (profitable) sense is that the
breathed-out words of God are beneficial for teaching us, if we refuse to let
the Scripture teach us history, we are already limiting how they can teach us
obedience. If we deny that the Scriptures are God-breathed, how can they
reprove us in such a false belief? If we deny that God breathed out in his
own words the history of his work with Jonah, how can those Scriptures
correct us from our unbelief? And if the Scriptures are not breathed out by
God and authoritative over all we believe, do, and say, how can we be trained
in righteousness when the very title of this book claims that Yahweh was not
righteous enough!!! My conclusion here is that BJ is being deceptive in his use of II
Timothy 3:16-17 since he has already acted as an authority who can rewrite
what the Holy Spirit carried Paul along to write down in God’s breathed-out
words. It is dishonest to claim that Scriptures Paul meant were historical,
but the BJs have authoritatively claimed are figurative, can possibly give
the same teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness, as
Paul meant as he led Timothy to treat them as the very words of God. |
As we
leave BJ’s twisting of the history of Jonah, and we consider his limited
application of the book’s lessons, let’s consider how Jesus applied the book of
Jonah to the people of his day. It not only is a God-breathed application of
God’s word to real life, but it shows how Jesus treated Jonah’s book as real
history, exactly the opposite of what BJ is doing!
Jesus mentioned the Ninevites and their repentance, contrasting that response to the unbelief of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matthew 12:39–41). Rejecting Christ has no excuse: “The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent” (Luke 11:32, NLT). Being far greater than the prophet Jonah, Jesus had shown Himself to be the Messiah, but the Jewish people still refused to believe in Him or repent of their sin (Matthew 12:22–24). The Ninevites had responded to God’s message delivered by a lesser man (Jonah 3:5), and here was God’s message delivered by the Son of God Himself.[1]
Remember
that earlier, BJ raised the question whether Nineveh ever actually repented. He
wrote, “A literal reading of Jonah, for example, does not depend on finding a
fish big enough to swallow a man, or discovering when in history Nineveh
actually repented, if ever” (p. 127). But Jesus not only said that they
had repented at the preaching of Jonah, LITERALLY as described in Jonah’s book,
but he said that they would stand as witnesses against the Jews of Jesus’ time because
they “refuse to repent”.
If I
was reading BJ's book for my own sake, wanting to know if BJ was on the right
track by telling us Yahweh and the Bible were not Christlike enough, and all
his misuses of Scripture hadn’t yet convinced me he was one of the false
teachers Jesus and the apostles warned us about, to see in such clear words
that BJ suggested his “if ever” like Nineveh’s repentance may never have
happened while Jesus’ very clear declaration says that it did happen, and Jesus
said that the people it happened with would be witnesses against the people he
was talking with right then, the glaring contradiction between BJ and Jesus would
have me deleting this book and going back to the book about Jesus as Messiah I
was telling you about. That would be so much more
edifying!
However, because even such glaring contradictions between the BJs and Jesus
Christ have not stopped people from applauding BJ as an expert peddler of God’s
word, I must continue. We are so close to the 50% stage of the journey that
would give me something to celebrate even though nothing in the book gives me
reason to do so!
On
page 130, BJ has some summary points that would apply to the
Historical-Grammatical sense very well. However, he again brings in his
poisonous belief that the Bible needs to be taken figuratively because the
plain history of God’s work has elements the BJs don’t like.
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BJ’s Claim |
Monte’s Response |
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“As I wrote previously, in I Corinthians 10:1-10, Paul explains how,
more often than not, the lessons we find in Scripture are cautionary tales of
what not to do and how paths other than the Jesus Way harm others and
ourselves” (p. 130). Note: I’m including the text here so you can test BJ’s claims by
seeing what Paul actually wrote. It was not included in the book. 1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were
all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized
into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual
food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the
spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless,
with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. (I Corinthians 10 ~ ESV) |
Yes, in the Historical-Grammatical sense, we often find negative
historical events that direct us into a positive relational dynamic with God.
There is no allegorical approach required for this. However, in looking up I Corinthians 10:1-10, we find that it
contradicts BJ’s view since Paul treats history as history and makes direct
application to real life without fictitioning anything that happened during
the time of Moses. For example, Paul lists various aspects of the history of Israel
during the time of Moses. He shows how this was about the way the people were
relating to Christ, not just to Moses. This is a beautiful breathed-out-by-God
description of how we see Christ throughout the Bible, but the way God
describes, not the way the twisters deceive. But then Paul writes, “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not
pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (vs 5). Paul is
affirming the history of God’s judgment on his people by keeping them out of
the Promised Land for 40 years so that the generation that would not trust
Yahweh died without going into the land. This is God carrying out judgment on
his people for their sin even while caring for them while that judgment took
effect. He then states how “these things took place as examples for us” (vs
6), which means they “took place”, not that they were fictitious stories. And
he called the actions of those people “evil”, urging “that we might not
desire evil as they did.” It is very historical, and very applicable even to
this day. Paul continued by treating their idolatry as idolatry, their sexual
immorality as sexual immorality, and described God’s real response to them as
“and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day” (vs 8). HOWEVER… in direct contradiction of BJ’s claim that we need a more
Christlike Bible, Paul said that it was “Christ” who was put to the test, and
links this to the way some “were destroyed by serpents,” and “were destroyed
by the Destroyer” (vs 10). My point is that BJ throws in I Corinthians 10:1-10 as if it affirms
his fictitious misrepresentation of Scripture, but a look at the breathed-out
words of God through Paul confirms the breathed-out words of God through
Moses so that both Yahweh and Christ are equally involved in carrying out
judgment against that “evil” generation of Israelites. And with BJ being wrong again, people should most certainly have given
up on him by now, repented of following a false teacher, and returned to the
word of God with all their hearts! |
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BJ’s Claim |
Monte’s Response |
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“The traumatic training offered in the Bible’s R-rated material should
not be read as the threats of a violent deity but as the loving (and
dramatically memorable) warnings of a good Father in good faith” (p. 130). |
More inciteful (not insightful) words. What God breathed out through
Moses is history. There is nothing to be ashamed of in how God handled sin
except to feel ashamed if we are sinning in the same ways! God does not make “threats”. As Paul showed, God carried out justice. God is not “a violent deity”, but a God of justice who punishes the
wicked and shows grace to the humble. No, what Paul described of what Moses described (Paul affirming Moses’
account, by the way), was not merely a loving warning (although the Scripture
describing it certainly is), but a holy judgment against evil. Yahweh is a
good Father, and we can receive the Scriptures in good faith as both Moses
and Paul were carried along by the Holy Spirit to write them down. But
quoting Paul affirming the history recorded by Moses is AGAINST everything
the BJs claim about their allegorical version of God’s word. And, since Paul
made that history that was clearly about Yahweh equally about Christ as the
Son of Yahweh, and neither Jesus nor Paul corrected any of that, BJ is bogus
to suggest that any of this supports his spiritualizing deception. |
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BJ’s Claim |
Monte’s Response |
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“The people of God made countless missteps that become vivid moral
lessons for avoiding landmines. God wastes nothing” (p. 130). |
It is sadly fascinating that when BJ needs to bolster his case he uses
inflammatory terms to describe God’s judgment against sinners (R-rated,
temper tantrum) but then uses minimizing words to describe how evil the
people were (missteps, landmines). Both Moses and Paul describe God’s people making countless forays into
“evil” and “wicked” behavior. The lessons are far more than “moral lessons”.
They are extreme warnings about the dangers of turning to sin, and God’s
judgment against the sinners is to literally put “the fear of God” into us
just as described in both the Old and New Testaments.
|
Now,
to join God in wasting “nothing”, let’s use this opportunity to show another
connection between the Old Testament and the New. In Psalm 2:11-12, God
breathed out the words,
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
This
is one of the references from the Jewish Scriptures that shows God has a Son.
Many Jews and Muslims do not know about this because their teachers hide these
things from them.
However, my point for the moment is on the “fear” and “trembling” God
was urging on the “kings” and “rulers of the earth” (vs 10) because of the way
it connects with the fear and trembling urged upon us by the apostles. Paul
wrote,
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).
Even
in this exposé of BJ’s false teachings, we should feel fear and trembling as we
see what God is working into us to will (to desire to have nothing to do with
people like BJ) and to work (cutting ties with BJ and his false teachings) so
that we can unite with Jesus and the apostles in upholding the Scriptures as
the breathed out words of God, the living and active word of God, and the words
from the mouth of God we are to live by in everything we do, including the
handling of false teachers.
The
bottom line is that THIS is how we should apply our response to the negative
lessons of real history from the past, by looking at our own lives with a fear
and trembling response to God so that we do not fall into the same sins and
under the same condemnation.
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BJ’s Claim |
Monte’s Response |
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“This limits our use of Old Testament ‘toxic texts’ to what can be
applied to Christ-centered gospel preaching and Christlike exhortation” (p.
130). |
No, there are no “toxic texts”. Just more inflammatory bogusness. No, we are not limited to demanding fictitious treatment of historical
descriptions breathed out by God. Christ was present in the evil things the Israelites did to Yahweh and
Moses, so we can indeed bring this into “Christ-centered gospel preaching” to
warn people of the coming wrath of God against sin. And, because what the people did for evil was against Christ then, we
can apply it to “Christlike exhortation” today since Yahweh and Jesus acted
thoroughly Christlike in the judgments that both Moses and Paul described as
historical acts of justice against evil people. |
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BJ’s Claim |
Monte’s Response |
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“For example, because of Jesus’ instructions on loving, forgiving,
blessing, and praying for enemies, and his explicit rejection of retaliation,
vengeance, and violence, we must never use a text where the Philistines were
slaughtered to call for the slaughter of ‘infidels’” (p. 130). |
Of course, slaughtering anyone today would not be a holy and righteous
application of the gospel of the kingdom! HOWEVER!!! We must use such texts where God clearly carried out vengeance against
his enemies, including enemy Israelites, to warn people that when God told us
not to carry out revenge, the reason was, “but leave it to the wrath of God,
for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans
12:19). That is Paul affirming “the wrath of God” is still in effect against
evil people. It is promising “I will repay”, which is the reason we don’t
need to. And it is declaring this as God’s breathed-out words with “says the
Lord”, which in the Old Testament references is “the LORD”, which means
Yahweh. And that means that Paul in the New Testament is stating that God is
just as much a God of wrath and vengeance against evil people as he was in
the Old Testament Scriptures. How does this apply in our preaching of a Christlike God and a
Christ-centered message? That we declare the good news of how Jesus came to
save us from the wrath to come (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7). We show people how
evil people will call “to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us
from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’”
(Revelation 6:16-17). We show how “God did not send his Son into the world (the
first time) to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him”, and then warn them that “Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has
not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:17-18). In other words, because we take the history of God’s word seriously,
and we know that the same God who breathed out the history described in the
books of Moses, and breathed out Paul’s affirmation and application of those
events in his epistles, is going to judge the world as described, we must
make known to people the gospel of the kingdom as the only hope of escaping
the wrath to come. And we don’t need to apologize for anything God did in
dealing with sin anywhere in his breathed-out words. |
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BJ’s Claim |
Monte’s Response |
|
“Rather, we might see how they foreshadow Christ’s victory over the
nonhuman enemies of satan, sin, and death, and our personal battles with the
spirit of pride, malice, and other un-Christlike attitudes within ourselves.
Clear?” (p. 130). |
No, BJ’s fictitious view of the Scriptures does not foreshadow
anything. Instead, the history of God’s literal and real victories over all
his enemies assures us that he will have literal and real victory over all
his enemies in the end, carrying out his wrath against sin just as described. |
Well,
that is clearly enough for one day! I bid you goodnight, and see you in the
morning of our next day’s journal journey!
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
A More Christlike Word © 2021 by Bradley Jersak Whitaker House 1030 Hunt
Valley Circle • New Kensington, PA 15068 www.whitakerhouse.com
Jersak, Bradley. A More Christlike Word: Reading Scripture the
Emmaus Way. Whitaker House. Kindle Edition.
Definitions from the Bible Sense Lexicon (BSL) in Logos Bible
Systems
[1]
From the article, “What is the
significance of the city of Nineveh in the Bible?” by our Got Questions
friends: https://www.gotquestions.org/Nineveh-in-the-Bible.html
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