The current issues that we believe are ‘first principle’ issues that must be addressed for the advance of the Gospel and increase of the Kingdom of God, particularly for the re-evangelisation and cultural transformation of the West:
- The current redefinition of the Bible’s ‘inerrancy’ (without error) by certain neo-evangelicals that allows for errors in the original autographs (texts); it is a repeat of the ‘infallibility’ conflict of a century ago between theological liberalism (higher criticism) and the historically orthodox view of the Bible; the downgrade of the Bible as God’s verbal communication to humankind was the first step in the 20th century spiritual and cultural decline of the West.
- The misconstruing of the relationship between Law and Gospel for the lack of a covenant hermeneutic such that contemporary Christianity has become antinomian (i.e. anti-law; hyper-grace), and thus, void of any objective ethical standard; resulting in the acceptance and/or promotion of homosexuality and its concomitant – same-sex marriage – as morally valid, or at least morally neutral.
- The defence of Christianity (evangelism) in an increasingly hostile environment must return to the two-fold apostolic message of the resurrection of Christ and of the kingdom of God; while evidences for these and for God’s existence are useful, these realities are transcendent (i.e. wholly independent of all physical laws and human reasoning) and must be posited on the basis of biblical revelation, and thus, as absolute; this entails a confidence in the Holy Spirit to witness to truth in the hearts of men when the Word of God is declared; this is the genius of presuppositional or transcendental apologetics as taught by Cornelius Van Til.
- The privatisation of faith and the exorcism of Christianity from the public square through the lack of a vision of Christ’s lordship over the totality of human existence and of God’s creation purpose; resulting in a myopic vision of the Great Commission focussed only on personal salvation, rather than the discipling of whole nations and cultures.
- The historic divorce between the Word and the Spirit—the theology of the former and the experience of the latter; this is reflected in the entrenched separation between the Evangelical/Reformed movement and the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement to the detriment of both and the larger Body of Christ; both must be fully recovered – and held in tension – for the Body of Christ to mature into the full stature of Christ.
- The confusion between the role and identity of Israel, the church, and the kingdom, again for the lack of a covenant hermeneutic, must be clarified so as to bring in the fullness of the Gentiles and thereby the re-inclusion of the Jews; this covenantal confusion has led to a neo-judaizing Zionist movement within the church, promoting a reversion to Sabbaths, Sacrifices and Temple; it is not only a reversion to a superseded administration, but a diversion from the advance of God’s kingdom in history and in the nations.
- The contamination of the charismata (gifts of the Spirit) by certain elements within the contemporary charismatic, ‘prophetic’, and ‘apostolic’ movements of unbridled ambition, self-aggrandizement, avarice, and huckstering—by making merchandise of God’s gifts and of the Gospel; this is particularly true of inordinate focus on certain spiritual manifestations, and market-driven, celebrity, or platform focussed ministry models; wholesale repentance and dismantling of ministry empires is demanded for true change to occur.
- A consumerist church culture moulded by worldly values, institutional systems, and denominational sectarianism cries out for radical reformation (new apostolic movements are not exempt from this): God’s authority and humankind’s congenital rebellion demands authentic spiritual authority to be restored to the Body of Christ and thereby true catholicity (unity); primarily in God’s verbal communication to humankind (i.e. the Bible) and derivatively in those divinely called and qualified as apostles and teachers of that Word through charisma and character; this reformation demands a recovery of the ‘Gospel of the Kingdom of God’ (Mtt 4:23; 24:14; Acts 1:3; 8:12; 19:8; 28:23, 31), a recovery of Christian initiation according to the ‘Peter Package’ (Acts 2:38), a recovery of the ‘First Principles’ of the doctrine of Christ (Hebrews 6:1-3), and a recovery of apostolic church life through ‘Covenant Community’ (Acts 2:42; Eph 4:11-16).
Read more: Christianity in Crisis: A Personal Journey
