The Coming Persecution

by Bruce Mills

As I watched and read the news stories this week about the loss of Miss California in the Miss USA contest because of her answer that she believes marriage is to be between a man and a woman, I couldn't help but think how the Christian perspective on truth has been marginalized in our society. Gone are the days when someone would publicly state a truth based on God's Word and there would be general acceptance and understanding across the culture.

This young lady, Carrie Prejean, is a student at San Diego Christian College, an evangelical school founded in 1970 by Dr. Tim LaHaye of the "Left Behind" book series fame. When infamous gay activist Perez Hilton, who was one of the judges in the contest, asked her whether or not she supported gay marriage since she was the representative of the state which narrowly voted for a ban on homosexual marriage, Miss Prejean answered the question by saying that while she did not wish to offend anyone, she believed marriage was to be between a man and a woman. Mr. Hilton gave her a score of "zero" for her answer, thereby knocking her out of first place and making her the first runner up. He then went on a media campaign, slandering her character and beliefs, stating that anyone who believed as she did had no business being Miss USA and that he couldn't believe she would interject her politics and religion into such a contest. Needless to say, the irony of him doing the very same thing as that of which he was accusing her was seemingly lost in the media reports. Even the pageant officials quickly distanced themselves from Miss Prejean, stating that they were saddened by her response to Hilton's question.

To her credit, Miss Prejean did not back off from her answer, repeating in follow-up news stories that she believes what she stated. She stated she knew that her answer cost her winning the contest, but that being biblically correct was more important than winning the contest. When I read that, my first thought was, "Wow! A beauty contestant who has character and is more than skin deep!" I know I shouldn't stereotype all beauty pageant contestants that way, but my past experience indicates that many, if not most, of them are like politicians; they are more concerned about telling people what they want to hear rather than speaking the truth regardless of the outcome.

Mr Hilton then followed his assault on Miss Prejean by publicly confronting other celebrities to ask them their viewpoint on gay marriage in an attempt to get them to commit one way or the other on the issue. He is apparently smart enough to know that many of them place very high value on maintaining their fame and stature within the entertainment world and, therefore, they are unwilling to say anything publicly to offend the strident gay activist movement of which Hilton is a part. Sure enough, several of them, including a couple who were supposedly from Southern Baptist roots, quickly came out with statements about how they support gay marriage and didn't want to be identified with the position stated by Miss Prejean.

Now, why have I taken four paragraphs to describe what many consider to be a seemingly insignificant incident that took place in a beauty contest that the majority of Americans, and certainly the vast majority of evangelical Christians, couldn't care less about? Because this incident is merely another piece of evidence that our nation has reached the point at which it has so completely turned its back on God's Word as objective truth that when someone publicly proclaims what it says, he or she is slandered, ridiculed, and ostracized as being unfit to even win something as seemingly innocuous as a beauty contest. Americans have rejected the idea that truth is absolute and objective, choosing rather to believe the idea which says, "Truth is relative. Whatever your personal truth may be is fine for you, but I have my own personal truth and although it differs from yours, they are both okay. Unless of course, you tell me that God forbids something that I consider to be my own truth, in which case, you no longer have the right to say what you claim is true. And if you do, it will cost you."

But we shouldn't be surprised that it has come to this. In John 15:18-21, Jesus said the world would hate and persecute those who are identified with Him just as they did with Him. Eventually, it will reach the point that those who are willing to stand up and proclaim biblical truth such as what Miss Prejean said will find themselves losing more than just a beauty contest; they will lose their jobs, their freedom, and perhaps even their lives. If they persecuted Jesus and the prophets (Matthew 5:10-12, Hebrews 11:35-40), what makes any of us think we are somehow exempt from such treatment?

Just to show how far this developing persecution of Christians has progressed, there is already a growing effort in our nation to require all physicians to perform abortions, even those who say it would violate their faith to do so. The abortion activists who support that position have publicly stated that any physician who refuses to perform an abortion is unworthy of being allowed to remain as a physician and should have to leave the medical profession. It doesn't matter to them that there are plenty of other doctors who are willing to perform abortions; it only matters that no one be allowed to refuse to perform one on religious grounds. They even go so far as to say that church-supported hospitals which refuse to perform abortions in their hospitals would have to comply or close. This area is clearly an example of where radical dogma has lost all connection with common sense.

In light of these growing developments, my question is whether or not you have considered whether or not you are willing to pay the high price of faithfully following Christ, even if it means the loss of all that is dear to you? Some people say, "Oh yes, I'm not concerned about losing my life for Christ because I know that if I am absent from the body, I will be at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). If that claim is true, then why do we have so few American Christians who are willing to go as missionaries to countries where losing one's life for Christ is a genuine possibility? But what if, rather than losing your life, your children were taken away by the state because teaching Christian doctrine to children was considered a negative form of brainwashing? That happens in some countries of the world. Or what if your house and life savings were confiscated and you were fired from your job or given a new job as a menial laborer under very harsh conditions, simply because of your faith in Christ? That, too, takes place in many parts of the world.

Don't think that it won't happen here. Perhaps it won't within the next decade, but the rejection of all things Christian within our society is coming, and the day will most certainly arrive when those who believe the gospel and hold to orthodox Christianity will be persecuted here in America. I pray that when that day comes, if I am still alive, that I will be faithful to our Lord till the end, regardless of the cost. And I pray the same for you and my children and grandchildren.

"In the Flesh" vs. "In the Spirit"

by Bruce Mills

I have been studying Romans 8:9-11 over the past few days in preparation for teaching my adult Sunday School class, and found that these verses provide significant instruction for us on the difference between those who are genuine believers and those who are not. There is no more important issue, as man's eternal destiny is determined by whether a person is "in the flesh" or "in the Spirit."

In these verses, Paul gives the litmus test of whether or not someone is a true Christian. Notice Paul's direct and ruthless logic. First, in verse 9, he says if you do not have the Spirit of God, you do not belong to Christ. Second, in verse 10, he says if you belong to Christ, you have the Spirit of Christ, and three, in verse 11, he says if you have the Spirit of Christ, you will not be controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit. In other words, if you belong to Jesus, you will live like it. If you do not live like it, you do not belong to Him, regardless of your outward profession.

However, in this post I only want to draw out some thoughts from verse 9. Paul begins by saying, “you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” The word “dwells” has the idea of being in one’s own home, a place where you settle down and relax because you are comfortable there. In a marvelous and incomprehensible way, the Spirit of God makes His home in the life of every person who trusts in Jesus Christ.

Now, don’t be confused by that statement “if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” That is not a way of throwing doubt on this matter of the Spirit of God indwelling believers. This is what is known in the Greek as a first class conditional statement. While the word used here means “if indeed,” it carries the force of “if, as is the fact.” It comes very close to meaning “since.” So there is no doubt here in Paul’s statement. He is saying that if “the Spirit of God” is in you, you are “in the Spirit.”

In contrast, however, “anyone [who] does not have the Spirit of Christ…does not belong to [Christ].” The person who gives not evidence of the presence, power, and fruit of the God’s Spirit in his life has no legitimate claim to Christ as Savior and Lord. The person who demonstrates no desire for the things of God and has no inclination to avoid sin or evil desires in order to please God is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and thus does not belong to Christ. In light of that sobering truth, Paul admonishes anyone who claims to be a Christian to “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5).

This is absolutely critical because it means that being a Christian is not merely a matter of adopting a particular set of intellectual or theological beliefs, however true they may be. It involves a change of state, which is accomplished, not by us, but by God who saves us.

This change also means that being a Christian is not a matter merely of living in a Christian manner either, as important as that also is. If you are a Christian, you will live like one. But living like a Christian, at least in an external, observable sense, does not in-and-of itself mean that you are one. Many unbelievers live outwardly moral lives.

I have had occasion through the years that I have been involved as an elder at my church to have people come to me and say, “Bruce, I’ve been thinking about what I’ve been learning from the Word here at the church and I’ve been examining my life and my sin, and I’m not sure whether I’m really a believer or not.” Now when someone comes to me and says that, I don’t say, “Well, of course you are. Don’t you love Jesus? Didn’t you pray a prayer to ask Him to forgive your sins one time? You know, I’ve seen all the things you’ve done around the church here; you’ve been involved with all kinds of things. Sure you’re a Christian. Stop having those doubts.”

Now, there is no question that Satan loves to cause genuine believers to doubt their salvation and live defeated lives that accomplish little for Christ. But I don’t think we should be quick to reassure someone who is doubting their salvation that they really are saved and to stop thinking that way. It may be that they aren’t truly saved and that it is the Holy Spirit who is at work in their heart.

So when someone comes to me with questions or doubts about their salvation, I usually say something like this: “Why do you think that might be the case? Is there some particular sin in your life that you are struggling with, or do you find that your life is characterized by a love of sin?” (Often, if the person is a true believer, that’s why he is doubting his salvation—there is a sin issue in his life). And then I’ll tell them, “I think you need to examine your heart before God and let His Spirit and the Word reveal the truth to you. If you are a believer, it will become clear to you, and if you are not, pray that the Spirit will reveal that to you also.”

And then I make some suggestions of questions they should ask themselves to help them examine their heart. I’m going to give you those questions starting in about two more paragraphs, so don’t think that I’m going to leave you hanging, wondering what those diagnostic questions might be. I promise I’ll give them to you.

But that isn’t always the answer they wanted to hear—they just wanted me to give them quick, simple assurance that they are a real Christian because of some spiritual epiphany or emotional experience that took place in their life at sometime in the past. But only the Holy Spirit of God can give someone genuine assurance. I can’t do that. All I can do is point them to the Word which tells us to examine our hearts to make sure we are truly in the faith, and then let the Holy Spirit do His work in convicting and convincing them of the truth of the matter.

Now, here are the questions that I suggest to people as an excellent test of whether they are genuine Christians. They are not original with me, but I recommend people use these questions to examine their own heart before God to determine if they are genuine Christians. After all, that’s what we saw that Paul instructed us to do in 2 Corinthians 13:5.

1. Is God real to you? I do not mean, “Do you understand everything about God and God’s ways?” Of course, you do not, and you will never understand God completely. I simply mean: Is God real to you? When you pray, do you know that you are really praying to Him and that He is listening to you and will answer you? When you worship Him in church, is it a real God you are worshipping?

2. Is the Bible a meaningful and attractive book to you? I do not mean, “Do you understand everything you read in there?” Obviously you do not. But does it seem to be right when you read it? Are you attracted to it? Do you want to know more of it?

3. Are you drawn to other Christians? Do you want to be with them? Do you enjoy their fellowship? Do you sense how much you and they have in common? Do you find yourself having a love for them and desiring to spend time with them, worshipping God together and studying His word with them?

Let me just say that if God is not real to you, if the Bible is not attractive to you, and if you are not drawn to other believers, you have no valid reason to believe that you are a Christian. In fact, you probably are not. On the other hand, if those things are true of you, that is evidence you are a genuine believer. You should be encouraged by them and press on in following after Jesus Christ.

Understanding the Will of the Godhead

by Bruce Mills

Following the previous post on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, I received an email from a church friend who asked the following question: Do the three distinct Persons of the Trinity operate from (or do they have) one distinct will? Or do they have three distinct wills operating synchronously within the Godhead?

This gentleman's reason for asking this question arose from Jesus’ answer to the Jewish religious leaders in John 5:19 when they were seeking to kill Him. In His response to them He stated, “…whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” This reader understands that the Son and the Holy Spirit do not act outside of the will of the Father, but wondered whether or not, based on this statement by Jesus whether or not he could say that the three persons of the Trinity share one will or whether each has His own will and they are simply in synchronous agreement?

The answer to this question can never be completely adequate to our limited, finite minds because we are trying to understand an infinite, unlimited God, but let me tell you the answer which I gave to this man.

Because the Godhead consists of three different persons, there is a sense in which one might suppose that each member has His own will, yet because the triune Godhead is One, God has only one will. It is impossible to distinguish the will of the Father from the will of the Son or the will of the Holy Spirit. Since there is only one God (albeit in three distinct Persons), He can only have one will. Yet because there are three Persons, each has a will—but it is one and the same with the other members of the Trinity.

When we come in Scripture to passages such as John 4:34, 5:19, 5:30, 6:38 in which Jesus made several statements regarding His will being one with the Father’s will, we have to understand that within the Godhead, while there is absolute unity and equality, there are also roles that each member takes. So there is a Father-Son relationship between God the Father and God the Son in which the Father initiates, sends, commands, commissions, and grants, and the Son responds, obeys, performs His Father’s will, and receives authority. Yet, because the Son is fully divine, equal, and unified in all ways with the Father, His will is indistinguishable from that of the Father.

The same is true of the Holy Spirit. John 14:26, 15:26 tell us that His role is that of the Helper, who is sent by the Father in Jesus’ name. Again, that indicates a role of submission to the Father’s will because He obeys and comes to reside in the heart of believers as the resident truth-teacher. Since the Holy Spirit comes from the Father, His will is identical with and unified with that of the Father. So in 1 Cor. 12:11, where the Spirit is said to be the member of the Godhead who distributes spiritual gifts to each believer “just as He wills,” His will is the same will as that of the Father and the Son.

Logically, it has to be this way because no member of the Godhead will ever act apart from the other members of the Godhead. They always act as a unified individual; thus, God has only one will.

I hope this answer may help clarify this issue for anyone else who might be thinking about such matters. As I told this man (and periodically tell my Sunday School class when we get into difficult issues), we are swimming in the deep end of the theological pool on this issue; we aren’t wading in the shallow end anymore. Trying to wrap our minds around the infinite Triune Godhead is like trying to empty the ocean with a thimble—it simply cannot be done. But that doesn’t mean that we give up and don’t try to gain more understanding. So I applaud when I hear of a believer making the mental effort to dip his thimble in and learn more about our Lord God. I hope all who read this will do the same.

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

by Bruce Mills

I introduced Romans 8 in my Sunday School class this past Sunday. In doing so, I presented a brief overview of pneumatology--the study of the Holy Spirit--because the Holy Spirit's role in initiating and maintaining our salvation is the focal point of Romans 8. After being mentioned only four times in the previous seven chapters, the apostle Paul mentions the Holy Spirit 16 times in Romans 8. When I was finished with my brief overview of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, several people in the class told me that it would be greatly appreciated if I would put the information on the blog so that they could review it later. So that's the purpose of this post.

There is no member of the Trinity about who there is more misunderstanding today than the Holy Spirit. Yet there are few subjects more important to the believer than understanding who He is and the nature of His work in the believer’s life. So who is He? My one sentence definition goes like this: He is the eternal Spirit who is a member of the eternal triune Godhead and who is the source of the Christian’s spiritual life, both as to its origin and its continuation.

The Holy Spirit is to our spiritual lives what the Creator is to the universe. Without God as Creator, the universe would never have come into existence. And without God as the continuing, sustaining, preserving power, the universe would crash out of existence. In similar fashion, without the Holy Spirit of God, the Christian would never have been born again. He would never have come into existence as a believer. And without the Spirit’s ever-present, sanctifying influence, the spiritual life of the Christian would drop back into spiritual deadness from which it came.

So who is the Holy Spirit, and how are we to understand Him? Well, first of all, the Holy Spirit is not some kind of impersonal force that flows through the universe and the objects in it like the force of Star Wars fame. That is a pantheistic concept which arises out of eastern philosophical mysticism. So He is not some influence or some energy that somehow emanates from the presence of God. Rather, the Holy Spirit, as the third member of the Godhead, is a person possessing a complete entity and personality of His own, just like the God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.

The Holy Spirit should never be referred to as “it,” but as “He.” That’s the way He is always referred to in Scripture. And if you need some proof that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, a person, you need only to study the Scripture and find out that the Scripture ascribes to Him intellect, emotion, and will, which are the three essential ingredients of personhood.

The intellect of the Holy Spirit is indicated in 1 Cor. 2:10, where it says, “The Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” The intellect of the Holy Spirit is such that He can plumb the depths of the knowledge of the eternal God.

The emotion of the Holy Spirit is indicated in Romans 5:5, where it says that “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit…” His emotion is also presented to us in Isa. 63:10 and Eph. 4:30 where it says that He can be grieved.

As to the will of the Holy Spirit, we are told in 1 Cor. 12:11 that the Holy Spirit makes decisions, “distributing [spiritual gifts] to each one individually, just as He wills.” So, because He possesses intellect, emotion, and will, He thus manifests all of the elements of personhood, and thus orthodox Christianity has historically held that He is a person.

Further, Scripture indicates that He is revealed as one who speaks (Acts 13:2, Rev. 2:7). He prays in Rom. 8:26-27. John 14:26 tells us that He teaches us. He guides us, according to John 16:13. He commands us, as he did with Paul in Acts 16:6-7. And 2 Cor. 13:14 says that He fellowships with us. Scripture also says He can be lied to (Acts 5:3), He can be tested (Acts 5:9), He can be resisted (Acts 7:51), and He can be blasphemed (Matt. 12:31, Mark 3:29). So He is a person in every sense.

Further, we have to understand that the person of the Holy Spirit is also God. There can be no doubt about the deity of the Holy Spirit. He is God and always has been. This is made plain in three ways: His attributes, His works, and His titles.

Thinking first about the attributes of the Holy Spirit, it tells us in Scripture that He is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, holy, and glorious. All those are attributes of God.

And then when we look at the titles of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, we find that He is called by titles which demonstrate that He is God.

Rom. 8:14; Phil. 3:3 – the Spirit of God

Luke 4:18; 2 Cor. 3:17 - the Spirit of the Lord

2 Cor. 3:18; Heb. 10:15-16 – the Lord

Judges 3:10 – the Spirit of Yahweh

Isa. 61:11 – the Spirit of the Lord God

Matthew 10:20 – the Spirit of the Father

2 Cor. 3:3 – the Spirit of the Living God

Acts 16:7 – the Spirit of Jesus

Phil. 1:19 – the Spirit of Jesus Christ

Rom. 8:9; 1 Peter 1:11 – the Spirit of Christ

Gal. 4:6 – the Spirit of His Son

Those are all titles of deity; titles showing a relationship of equality with the Father, and a relationship of equality with the Son. Therefore, by attribute and by title, He is clearly God.

Furthermore, if we study the works of the Holy Spirit, we find evidence of His deity. Gen. 1:2 makes it clear that He acted in creation. It says, “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” Yet in John 1:3, speaking of Jesus, it says that “all things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” So if Genesis says that it was the Holy Spirit who acted in creation, and John says it was Jesus who acted in creation, then they must both be God. Both are eternal members of the Godhead and both acted in creating all that is.

It is the Spirit who acts to convict men of sin (John 16:8). It is the Spirit who enables men and women to serve God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It was the Spirit who energized the writers of Scripture and breathed out His word, so that they precisely and exactly penned the inerrant Word of God (2 Peter 1:20-21).

During the life of Christ, the Spirit was the agent of Christ’s birth and He was the means by which Jesus was identified by God as the Messiah at His baptism. The Spirit was there to strengthen Jesus in His temptation. The Spirit anointed Him for ministry. The Spirit was the source of His teaching and the power behind His miracles, so that blaspheming His miracles was blaspheming the Spirit. The Spirit even participated in His death, burial, and resurrection.

When it comes to mankind, the ministry of the Spirit continues as He convicts of sin, as He calls men to Christ, as He bears witness to Christ, as He regenerates and brings about the new birth, and then glorifies Christ as He indwells the believer and imparts the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

He seals the believer, communes with the believer, fellowships with the believer, teaches the believer, comforts the believer, sanctifies the believer, and empowers the believer for service. With regard to the church collectively, He forms the body of Christ, appoints those who are to lead it, and gives guidance to the church through His word and those men.

So that’s a short study on the Holy Spirit. He is God, He is a person, and He indwells all who are genuine Christians. I hope this brief study is helpful for you. If you want to read more on the Holy Spirit, I recommend getting a good Systematic Theology reference book, such as those written by Robert Duncan Culver, Wayne Grudem, Millard Erickson, or Lewis Sperry Chafer and study the Holy Spirit in depth. If you can find it, an older book which is unfortunately out of print, written by Rene Pache and titled The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit is outstanding.