QUESTION:

I have read your articles on replacement theology and Israel. You stated that Gentiles observing the festivals and other Torah laws were frauds. Could you please explain?

RESPONSE:

That is not what I actually said, nor would I accuse those who sincerely think they are doing God's will of being "frauds." I would reserve that term for those to whom it properly applies. What I did say, in October 2005, was that "for a Gentile to keep those [Jewish] feasts today would be a fraud"-and I stand by that.

The Passover, for example, was clearly to be kept by Jews as a "memorial" of the deliverance of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt and as proof that they were the chosen people of "the God of Israel" to whom that land belongs today. It would, therefore, be improper for Gentiles to celebrate the Passover-and the same is true of the other Jewish feasts. Though all relate to the gospel symbolically, they are specifically for Jews to keep as part of their heritage in relation to the land God gave to them alone.

And yes, I have made it clear that I reject categorically the very word "Messianic." It is confusing and is not found in the Bible. To speak of a "Messianic Movement," or "Messianic Christians," or "Messianic Jews," etc., is not biblical. Such expressions were never used by Christ, the apostles, or the early church. Yet one gets the impression from "Messianic" believers that they are being more biblical by using that term.
The Hebrew word Messiah (mashiah) appears only twice in the Old Testament, both in the same passage (Dn 9:25,26). The Greek form of it, Messias, appears only twice in the New Testament (Jn 1:41 [1]; 4:25). In Israel, prophet, priest, and king had to be anointed with a special oil symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The words "Messiah" and "Christ" signified the Anointed One, in whom all three offices would be fulfilled.
In contrast to only four appearances of "Messiah/Messias" in the entire Bible, the word "Christ" (Gr. Christos) occurs hundreds of times in the New Testament. So it would seem more biblical to refer to "Christ Movement," or "Christ Christians," or "Christ Jews" than to "Messianic." That word purports to call us back to the Jewish roots of our faith. Unfortunately, "Messianic-whatever" implies that observing Jewish practices ensures that one will be closer to God-and it often becomes an excuse for imposing the law and Jewish observances upon Gentile Christians. This is unbiblical and something Paul combated in his epistle to the Galatians.

The gospel is all about Christ, who died for the sins of the world. Everyone, Jew or Gentile, must believe on Christ in order to be saved. All who believe on our Lord Jesus Christ in response to the gospel have embraced the Messiah-but not in the exclusively Jewish sense of the Anointed One who will rescue Israel at Armageddon and reign on the throne of David forever.

The term "Messianic Christian" makes an unbiblical distinction between two classes of Christians: "Messianic" and "Non-Messianic." Yet Jews and Gentiles who believe the gospel have been made one in Christ. If one is a Christian, whether Jew or Gentile, he has believed on Christ the Messiah as Lord and Savior. There is no other basis of salvation. What more could the "Messianic Movement" offer? Obviously, nothing.
The gospel that the apostles preached and that we are to preach doesn't even have the word "Messiah" in it. The gospel is that "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Cor 15:1-8 [2]). It would not be more biblical to preach, "Believe on the Messiah, who died for our sins." The early church was all Jews, but it is never called "Messianic."

Scripture refers to "Jews...Gentiles...the church of God" (1 Cor 10:32 [3]). "Messianic" describes none of these three. Both Jews and Gentiles who believe on Jesus before He comes visibly at Armageddon are in the church; Jews and Gentiles who do not receive Christ as Savior and Lord until He appears at the Second Coming will inhabit the earth for eternity-Jews in the special relationship to their Messiah promised to Israel, Gentiles as part of the nations that remain on earth (Rv 21:24; 22:2) along with Israel but distinct from her.

Again, it is presently impossible for anyone to be "Messianic" because all who believe on Christ (Jew or Gentile) are in the church, with Christ ruling as Lord in their hearts. They are part of the bride that will rule and reign with Him eternally. They will not be among the Jewish subjects in the Kingdom over whom the Messiah will reign on the throne of David. To call some Christians "Messianic" is not biblical but confusing.

QUESTION:

I am a regular listener to your "Barian Call" radio program. Recently...Dave said that for someone to practice speaking in tongues would be as foolish as to practice raising the dead. This argument is so puerile...I am kind of disappointed in you.
Surely, just as we might give different kinds of gifts to one another, so in the Spirit realm, gifts are not the same. We receive the gift of speaking in tongues by faith and unless we hold on to our faith and practice...in no time the gift is gone....Your comments that day actually went to attack the roots of my faith. I thank God my faith in Him can never be shaken....You should always consider very carefully what you are dishing out to your hearers. Some of them are babes in the Kingdom, and comments like that can destroy them and their faith.

RESPONSE:

Just so you'll know, we are not "the Barian Call" but the Berean Call. We call ourselves and others to be like "the Bereans" living in the town of Berea (now known as Verria) in Macedonia who "searched the scriptures daily" to make sure that Paul's teaching was biblical (Acts 17:10-12 [4]). We encourage readers, listeners, and viewers to Search the Scriptures Daily (the name of our radio program) to see whether our teachings and those of others are according to God's Word. In the remarks on the radio to which you objected, I was following the Bible, not someone's interpretation of it. First Corinthians 12:4-31 [5] makes clear:

1. While there are "diversities of gifts," it is the "same Spirit...same Lord...[and] the same God which worketh all in all" (vv. 4-6). To "practice" any gift God imparts is neither taught nor is it reasonable. From Genesis to Revelation, no man of God ever "practiced" what God empowered him to do nor was ever instructed to do so.
2. The words "practice," "practices," and "practiced" are found only seven times in the Bible, always associated with evil. You were taught to "practice" speaking in tongues by men, not by God in His Word. Now that you know that the idea of "practicing" a gift of God (including tongues) is unbiblical, will you follow men or God?
3. "Tongues" is one of nine "gifts" described by Paul as "manifestations of the Spirit"(v. 7). Quite clearly, none of these gifts is for every believer: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret (vv. 29, 30)?" Each of these questions demands a negative response. Tongues is no more a gift that all are expected to manifest than is the gift of prophecy, healing, or miracles. Yet many teach that tongues is the one gift that is for all. Some say that one is not filled with the Holy Spirit without speaking in tongues; others believe that only those who speak in tongues are saved. The Bible never says so. Again, you must decide whether to believe God or men.
4. It is equally clear that each of these gifts, being "the manifestation of the Spirit...given to every man...severally as He will" (vv. 7, 11) is not under any man's control but under the control of the Holy Spirit. This clearly taught biblical fact means that the individual can no more speak in tongues any time he desires than he could heal the sick or raise the dead any time he desired. That fact also prohibits "practicing."

QUESTION

[Representative of several]:Recently, in answering a question about the gifts of the Holy Spirit you said that speaking in tongues has led many, including charismatic pastors and evangelists, into immorality. I take exception to that harsh statement. Why did you say it?

RESPONSE:

You are misquoting me. This is from the March 2007 Q&A:

One might as well practice walking on water or raising the dead as "practice speaking in tongues." We do not get any gift from God by practicing. That false teaching has led multitudes astray and is a large part of the reason why "tongues speakers" so often fall into immorality, whether televangelists, pastors, healers, or ordinary Christians.

I did not say that "speaking in tongues" is the problem (which it could not be if genuinely from God) but that the false teaching that one can do it any time one pleases and that it is gotten by "practicing" it leads many astray and into immorality. This has to be true because the refusal to obey the clear teaching of Scripture is rebellion against God and His Word. In that attitude one is almost guaranteed to yield to temptation.

Biblically, those who imagine that they can "speak in tongues" any time they please are in a state of self-delusion. They are either imagining they are speaking in tongues or are faking it to their own self-deception or are demonically inspired. Such a state of self-delusion is the perfect set-up for Satan to work further wiles.
If what I state here is not biblical, then show me from the Bible itself.

QUESTION:

During the year and months before "Y2K," many Christian leaders wrote books warning believers to "prepare" for the disasters that were to come on January 1, 2000. In your book, Y2K: A Reasoned Response to Mass Hysteria, you were one of the very few that were correct. Why were so many mistaken?

RESPONSE:

The facts were clear that the gloom and doom prophecies were wrong. Nor did that scenario fit Bible prophecy. Some may have been tempted to be on "the cutting edge," and that hope blinded them to the facts. Others may have been deceived by the cries of alarm that were being sounded by business and computer experts worldwide. Some were tempted by the money they could make out of this disaster-and they made a lot!

The Ministerial Association in our small town of Bend, Oregon was convinced by the "experts" that their stockpiled provisions and generators shared with unsaved neighbors would help to lead them to Christ. I can't explain why so many leaders in the church were deceived and deceived others. That experience should be a warning to us all.

It took little research to know that nothing was going to happen. Many IT managers went along with the propaganda in order to get their Board of Directors to update computer equipment.

Nor did it take any expertise to recognize that Y2K didn't fit biblical prophecy. Prophecy teachers promoting Y2K hinted that a computer crash would usher in the Antichrist and a cashless society. But Antichrist would need computers to control the world-and a cashless society would surely require computers. Why so many Christian leaders promoted this delusion is a question that even they may not be able to answer and that God alone knows.