Dear Cessationist, Open but Cautious, Continuationist, and Crazy Christian Leaders

On the other hand, when someone crosses a line on a national-border issue, they have abandoned the Christian faith. This is called apostasy, and the church is facing an apostasy that is well underway.

I have had a front-row seat for what I believe is the apostasy of this generation. At issue are gender identity and marriage. For my entire ministry career, I have had pastor friends continually shift on this issue. There are even former ministry leaders, including pastors and board members who worked with me in the past, now vocally defending things like transgenderism and same-sex marriage as acceptable Christian conduct. There are some who want to make these city-border issues, while others see them as national-border issues. The issues are so public that they cannot be ignored, and so central and essential to Scripture that they cannot be minimized.

The Bible is about repentance. Our culture is about tolerance. In repentance, when we disagree with God, we repent of our sinful thoughts, words, deeds, and motives to avoid His wrath. In tolerance, we wrongly feed our sinful desires and demand that God repent of His Word and both tolerate and celebrate our lifestyle or face our wrath. It is time to call a cease-fire on the war over secondary, city-border issues such as the supernatural spiritual gifts and focus on the primary, national-border issues. Distinctions among Christians should not create division between Christians.

The debate over such things as speaking in tongues is important, but not of the utmost importance. Jesus is the perfect example of living a Spirit-filled life. We do not, however, know if Jesus ever spoke in tongues. The Bible is simply silent. I take this to mean that whether you speak in tongues or not, you can live a Spirit-filled life like Jesus, marked by godly character and a love for the Word of God. Word people should also be Spirit people because the Spirit of God inspired the Bible to be written. With the Word and Spirit, God’s people can row together safely in the same boat toward God’s kingdom.

My goal in this book is to focus on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the more mundane and daily issues of life—forgiving people, being emotionally healthy, having healthy relationships, overcoming temptation, having a godly family, and living by God’s power in all of life—the very things that most people are struggling with every day while overlooking the person of Jesus and presence of His power to help. Lastly, my goal in focusing on the Spirit-filled person of Jesus is to point to Him so that all Bible-believing Christians can rally together and live in unity by His power in His presence, in a world where God’s Word is increasingly not welcome.