Pagans in the Keep

“Your best friend is turning to Buddhism; your young nephew is confused about his sexuality; your wife is learning new spiritual techniques from a spiritual guide; you are beginning to wonder if Christianity is too restrictive. If these and other such issues are a concern for you, your friends or loved ones, then this book is for you.”

So writes Dr. Peter Jones in the preface to his latest book entitled One or Two: Seeing a World of Difference (ISBN 978-0-9746895-2-4). Dr. Jones is well qualified to write this book, holding an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a ThM from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Westminster Seminary California. Dr Jones formerly taught seminary for seventeen years in France, returning to the US in 1991. Along with his seminary work and writing ministry, Dr. Jones maintains a busy schedule as director of truthXchange (www.truthxchange.com), a ministry devoted to researching, warning, and educating the church with regard to the growth of ancient paganism and how to conduct worldview evangelism.

The title of the book refers to the competing worldviews which Dr. Jones has named “One-ism” and “Two-ism.” “One-ism believes that ‘all is one’ and shares the same essential nature…everything is a piece of the divine. Two-ism believes that while all of creation shares a certain essence (everything apart from God is created), the Creator of nature, namely God, is a completely different being, whose will determines the nature and function of all created things” (17).

The book is divided into three sections each of which is organized around a different aspect of Rom. 1:18-32. Section One establishes the need for the church to hear Paul’s ancient words afresh – pointing out through numerous examples and supporting documentation the major inroads paganism has and is making into the culture, and consequently into the church. The militancy of the spiritual/political powers behind the rise of paganism have in many cases forced believers from public discourse and are succeeding in redefining true and acceptable “spirituality as a combination of social justice and mysticism” (13).

Dr. Jones writes that the two issues over which the church is being intimidated into silence are “Christian uniqueness” (basic theology) and “homosexuality” (basic anthropology – humans as male and female) (58). Among young Evangelicals a growing commitment to mystical experience and deeds of social justice are replacing the gospel’s claim that Jesus is the only way of salvation, and absent a Biblical worldview, many eighteen-to thirty-year-olds think homosexuality is a valid lifestyle.

Section Two of the book is by far the longest and is devoted to an exposition of Romans 1, with particular emphasis upon “The Lie” of paganism (Rom. 1:25). In this section Dr. Jones traces the outworking of that lie in three areas: First, the overturning of sane thinking by making nature its own creator. Second, the overturning of sane worship by the abandonment of the Creator God and the substitution of created images, and thirdly, the overturning of sane sexuality by the embrace of unnatural sodomy (80). Dr. Jones provides an interesting and insightful subsection on homosexuality, paganism and the new spirituality (173-183) – shedding light on the driving politicalization of the gay agenda both nationally and internationally.

In Section Three Dr. Jones deals with the application of the truths of Romans 1 for both individuals and the church at large, noting that it is only in the mystery of the god-man Jesus Christ that a Transcendent Creator and his creation meet. “The ultimate pagan declaration is “Man becomes God,” but the Christian declaration is: “God became man” (241). It is this message that has the power to transform sinners and has been the church’s answer to paganism for the past 2000 years. May God grant us the grace to live and speak to our world in light of this reality regardless of whether the message is welcomed or not.

If you read only one book in 2012 this may well be the most important you can select. The infiltration of ancient paganism into our culture and churches present us with a scenario that would be easily recognized by the NT Apostles. In the last century the threat to Biblical Christianity came from atheistic humanism. In this new century the threat is not secular but spiritual - the pantheistic spirituality characteristic of the "Age of Aquarius"

What is the Mission of the Church?

What is the mission of the church? This question generates different answers depending upon who you consult and what books you read. For some the mission of the church includes the active engagement with culture in a way that is designed to bring relief to physical suffering and for others it is confined strictly to evangelism and discipleship. Authors Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert tackle this question in their recent 266 page book of the same title (ISBN 978-1-4335-2690-9). On Page 62, after examining the classic texts relating to the Great Commission, they answer the question as follows: “The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship the Lord and obey his commands now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father.”

DeYoung and Gilbert are not blind however to the significant healing ministry of Jesus (and the Apostles), as well as the obvious OT emphasis on God’s loving concern for the economically and socially vulnerable, a concern shared by the writers of the NT (Gal. 2:10; Jam. 1:27). In working through the difficulties of applying these two truths the authors develop the idea of a “wide-angle” and “zoom lens” to explain the various Scriptural emphases (pg. 94).

In their view the “wide-angle” approach, which they later call “the gospel of the kingdom” (pg. 106), focuses upon the passages in both the Old and New Testaments which speak of “the entire package of benefits that Christ secures for his people” (pg. 95). While the “zoom lens” approach, which they also call “the gospel of the cross” focuses much more narrowly on the forgiveness of sin through the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross (pg. 100). In this discussion they correctly note that the blessing of the former depend completely upon the redemption secured in the later.

Chapter six of the book includes a very helpful and exegetically sound explanation of “social justice” in the OT, which by itself would be worth the price of the book. In chapter nine the authors deal with the responsibilities of both the church as an institution, as well as the individual Christian, correctly noting that they have overlapping, but not identical spheres. The church must preach the gospel because it is uniquely the guardian of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). The individuals who make up that church may legitimately choose to become involved in a plethora of social ministries, but they do not individually set the agenda for the church. The church may choose to become involved in various ministries to improve social conditions, but if it so engages it must never forget the eternal truth that “there is something worse than death [hell], and there is something better than human flourishing [heaven]” (pg. 242), and only the preaching of the cross enables a person to escape one and gain the other.

I found this book to be very profitable to read and think through. I recommend reading it with a Bible at the ready in order to follow the flow of the argument and evaluate its exegetical support. My only real criticism of the book comes in its confusing eschatology (particularly chapters 5&8) in which the millennial promises to Israel are transferred to the church, or confused with the new heavens and new earth. In fact the whole section on the “wide-angle” and “zoom lens” gospel would have been much clearer and compelling if the authors were able to acknowledge the great physical blessings of Messiah’s Millennial Kingdom that come only to those who enter through the doorway of spiritual redemption (Jn. 3:5).