mgpcpastor's blog

What do you get if you remove Christ from Christianity is the question raised and answered by September’s Australian Presbyterian.
We get a spiffy upgrade to the magazine’s layout this month. It is very easy to read, which is important for a text-heavy magazine.
Michael Horton is the lead interview, which is appropriate as one of his most recently published books is ‘Christless Christianity’. He identifies that within US evangelicalism there are definite strands that actively de-emphasise the redemptive work of Christ, while others continue to affirm that work but elevate other lifestyle issues alongside it in practical importance.
The names mentioned, such as Robert Schuller, Joel Osteen and Brian McLaren, would not generally be known by many Australian Christians (very few in my neck of the woods), though they have presences on the internet and their books are freely available.
This should not detract from the value of Horton’s evaluations, but without some effort at evaluating whether these teachings are manifesting themselves in Australia it feels a little abstract.
Peter Hastie (the issues editor of AP, and the person who interviewed Michael Horton) makes an attempt at providing an Australian perspective with a personal reflection on the presence of theological liberalism in the life of the Australian Presbyterian Church in the second half of the twentieth century. While the teaching emphasis of Schuller, Osteen and McLaren claims for itself a continuity with evangelicalism, it is actually the child of liberalism, the strand of Christian thought that rejected the atoning death of Christ, His divinity and the authority of the Bible.
Demonstrating that every new heresy is actually an old heresy, Hastie turns to the Middle Ages theologian, Anselm. Anselm’s work Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man). His writing defines human need and God’s provision of salvation, an old antidote to a current deviation in Christian thought.
Peter Barnes visits perennial heretic Benny Hinn. Hinn has been so thoroughly discredited that you might wonder why a new article is neccessary. Still, some poor (poorer) folks are paying to keep that jet in the air.
Peter Jones (founder of Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet) provides a summary article again outlining how the movement which tries to present itself as promoting ‘Jesusanity’ (my term) instead of Christianity has really replaced our Lord and Saviour with an ill-defined figure who is more like Bono from U2 than the Jesus of the Bible.
Bible Studies by Bruce Christian focusses on Colossians.
For the first time I can remember the News section contains no articles on Australian Presbyterian Churches. I hope this is because their local news editor was on Long Service Leave.
John Wilson (theological lecturer from Melbourne and all-round good-bloke) gives a powerful testimony of the power of the Holy Spirit applying the Word preached in Africa. Best part of the magazine, and an excellent counterpoint to the powerless gospels which are being evaluated in the front of the magazine.
A couple of reprinted articles point us to the power of the Gospel to redeem present suffering and give us hope for an eternal future. Themes which non-gospels always struggle to deal with, because they have no power.

To be honest this is a heavy read. I can skip through it in an hour or so, because most of it is familiar. If you’re not, take the time to work through the September Presbyterian and appreciate anew the power and the uniqueness of the authentic Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.