Plato in the Old Testament?

One of the main criticisms of the emergent movement about "fundamentalists" (that includes evangelicals also, in their eyes), is that they have Platonized Christianity. They also like to talk about how we need to go back to the Old Testament Judaism as a lens to understand Christianity instead of the Greek-philosophical Platonic mind. I'm reading in the book of Hebrews this month and....oh my..... looky what I found?

Look at this passage,

Hebrews
9:23-24: So the copies of the heavenly things had to be made pure with those sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves had to be made pure with better sacrifices. 24 Christ did not enter a sacred tent made by people. That tent was only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself. He did it to stand in front of God for us. He is there right now.

10:11 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming. It is not the real things themselves.

Oh my! This looks like Plato's forms, doesn't it. So, if this is the understanding of the Jews in the Old Testament times (after Moses), then it's interesting to note that Plato lived way, way after most of the OT time of the law. In other words, "Platonism" existed in Judaism before even Plato. So much for this emergent argument.

A Very Sad Day

Sadly, Davd Wilkerson, one of the few true prophets in our country, was killed in an auto accident in Texas yesterday (April 27, 2011).

I read his book The Vision when it first came out in the 1970's and I felt right away that here was a true prophet. And, I still feel that in the midst of all the prophetic-babble of the false imitators today.

MacArthur Quote Concerning Bell's Views

The quote below is the last part of an article by John MacArthur concerning his assessment of what Rob Bell is saying in his new book. I thought, when I read this part of the article, that it was one of the best descriptions of the past 20 years in evangelicalism, how to remedy it--AND----why Bell's book is so popular.

It is also time for the people of God to proclaim the gospel more clearly and more carefully than ever, including the difficult parts of the message. For too long evangelicals have been prone to omit the full truth about sin, righteousness, and judgment—falling back instead on dumbed-down, dampened, defanged versions of the message. In all candor, that is one of the main reasons there is so much confusion over Rob Bell’s book among evangelicals today.

Quote of the Week

"Pentecost is yet within our grasp. If revival is being withheld from us it is because some idols remain still enthroned; because we still insist on placing our reliance on human schemes; because we still refuse to face the unchangeable truth that "it is not by might, but by My Spirit."

_____Jonathan Goforth
.....Late 19th-early 20th century missionary to China

I Dreamt of a Palm Sunday Service

.........

I dreamt a dream.

It's Palm Sunday. The children go to the front of the church carrying palm branches. Selected ones tell the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. This plays out in many churches on Palm Sunday. Selected children tell the story in song and narrative. Some children talk and some children sing. And all wave their palm branches. In my dream certain things happened after each segment of the story. The children started out telling why the people were waving palm branches when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a mule. They were in wonderment at Him because he healed the sick and cast out demons. At that point in the service, those who were sick were asked to come to the front if they wished to receive healing. The elders actually obeyed James 5:14-15,

14 Are any of you sick? Then send for the elders of the church to pray over you. Ask them to anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer offered by those who have faith will make you well. The Lord will heal you. If you have sinned, you will be forgiven. and

Sick people came forward ot the front and were healed, many on the spot. People who were oppressed and even a few who were possessed of demons came forward and the demons were cast out. And wonderment of wonderment, some of the children participated in these prayers for healing and deliverance.

The children then told how the people had marveled at the authoritative teaching of Jesus. At that point everyone sat down and the pastor gave an authoritative teaching, so based on the Bible as well as so filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, that people were actually feeling the glory of God all around them.

And then, wonder of wonders, the pastor ended by actually, and very specifically, telling the gospel and why Jesus had to die. And then he invited those who wished ot receive Christ to do so after the service with one of the prayer leaders.

After the teaching, all took communion, sitting at tables eating bread and glasses of grape juice (or wine for our Reformed or European friends) instead of those horrible little "Catholic" tasteless wafer things and a swig of grape juice. All of this with the glory of God still in the place.

And then I awoke from my dream.

Wuest on Hebrews 1:3

I found this while using Kenneth Wuest's Word studies in the Greek in my study of the book of Hebrews. I thought it was a very fine compilation of the gospel. It not only discusses how we can live our lives on earth, but what happens inside of us here and also in the future life.


"When God saves a sinner, He breaks the power of the indwelling sinful nature at the moment the sinner places his faith in the Lord Jesus (Rom. 6). When that believer dies, he loses the sinful nature, and in his glorified body has only the divine nature. God also removes his guilt and penalty of sin and gives the believer a righteous standing. The Son of God made all this posible when He died on the Cross. His blood delivers the believer from the power of sin in this present life, and from the presence of sin in the future life. His blood removes the guilt and penalty of sin and cleanses the believer from its defilement. That is what is included in the act of our Lord making purification for sins [on the cross]."

The Alternate Evangelical Universe

This is an excellent summary of the alternate evangelical universe where "anything goes" as far as belief systems go.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/110401