We would expect all members of New Life to be unified in the preceding core beliefs. Below, we present additional beliefs that some in our church family may understand differently. However, the pastors of New Life are unified in our conviction of these additional beliefs and will teach, encourage, and practice these in our church.
Our reason for not requiring them for membership is that we recognize many good and godly Christians teach and believe differently on these issues, and we wish to avoid any unnecessary offense. Our reason for communicating the pastor’s convictions is to honor those who would disagree strongly enough about these topics that it would affect a decision to join New Life as a member.
Miraculous Spiritual Gifts
We teach that the purpose of spiritual gifts such as Apostles, Prophets, healing, and tongues was for the reception and authentication of the divine revelation recorded in Scripture, and that such ministries ceased with the completion of the New Testament revelation (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Ephesians 2:19-20).
Every God-sent messenger of divine revelation was always given supernatural abilities to authenticate themselves (cf. Hebrews 2:2-3). Therefore, God required any Prophet to foretell the future perfectly (cf. Deuteronomy 18:17-22; Acts 11:27-28; 21:10-33). Anyone else giving new divine revelation apart from Scripture was given the ability to work miracles on demand (cf. Exodus 4:5; 1 Kings 17:24; John 10:37-38; 14:10-11; Acts 2:22; 14:3; 2 Corinthians 12:12). This is why every God-sent miracle worker recorded in the Bible was also a God-sent messenger of direct divine revelation that God’s people were obligated to obey. While there are no exceptions to this in Scripture, there are, unfortunately, many in churches today. We fear that claims to these prophetic and apostolic gifts serve to undermine the authority of Scripture.
Not only do modern day versions of these gifts fail to fulfill their original biblical purpose, they do not reflect their biblical attributes either. While biblical Prophets predicted the future with perfection (cf. Deuteronomy 18:17-22; Acts 11:27-28; 21:10-33), today’s so- called prophets, at best, may tell you about your past, something that a demonically-inspired false prophet can do (cf. Matthew 7:15-23). While biblical gifts of healing worked instantly and completely no matter what the illness or state of the person (including death), so-called divine healers today blame their constant failures on the lack of faith being exercised by their victims.
While the biblical gift of tongues was the miraculous ability to speak in a known human language unknown to the speaker (cf. Acts 2:1-12) as an authenticating miraculous sign to unbelievers (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:22), tongues-speakers today suggest it is an incoherent, private prayer language granting only them a more intimate relationship with God. This is in spite of the fact that ancient and third-world religions of all types have practiced this very thing for centuries. The Christian church denounced the practice for centuries, giving universal testimony that the biblical gift of tongues had ceased. Jesus Himself prayed coherently even in His most intimate prayers (cf. Matthew 26:36-44; John 17:1-26). When Christ was asked how we should pray He taught His disciples to pray coherently and naturally instead of mindlessly “babbling like the pagans” (Matthew 6:7-14), which was precisely what was happening in the pagan mystery religions of the time.
At the least, the Bible prohibits any other kind of tongues speech except that which is interpreted for public communication (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:6-38), a biblical command constantly ignored by many today. Tongues speaking is certainly not to be thought of as a sign of salvation, nor as a special endowment or “baptism of the Spirit,” for the Apostle Paul taught that while all Christians have been “baptized by one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13), not all Christians spoke in tongues even when this gift was operating (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:29-31).
Additional resources: Pastor Kurt’s blog at http://trainingteachers.wordpress.com/category/iii4-gift-of-tongues
The “End Times”
The primary debate in the modern Church regarding the Bible’s teaching on the substance and sequence of end time events concerns the timing of the “rapture,” or Christ’s gathering of His Church upon His return and prior to His judgment of the Earth. We teach that Christ will literally return for His Church prior to judging the Earth with His wrath (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10). This will not happen, however, until after the revelation and reign of antichrist, which initiates the time of “great distress” and persecution of “the elect” or the Church (cf. Matthew 24:15-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).
While this “Post-trib rapture” view was universally taught in the Christian Church for the first 1800 years of its existence, it differs significantly from the “Pre-trib rapture” view popularized more recently by the Scofield Reference Bible and Tim Lahaye’s “Left Behind” novels.
Evidence for the “Post-trib rapture” view includes the following.
First, the phrase “the elect” (Greek eklektos) as used in Christ’s description of end time persecution (cf. Matthew 24:22, 24, 31), always includes the Church in the New Testament (cf. Romans 11:7; 2 Timothy 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1). Christ Himself uses the word this way in the two other times He is recorded saying it (cf. Matthew 22:14; Luke 18:7) This makes it very unlikely that Matthew 24 only applies to Jews as is popularly taught.
Secondly, the “rapture,” or gathering of the Church by Christ at His return, is described in Matthew 24:29-31, placing it “immediately after the distress [persecution] of those days” (v. 29). The similarities between 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and Matthew 24:30-31 indicate they are describing the same event (i.e. the presence of a “trumpet call,” “angels,” and “clouds”), and this event is the “rapture” or gathering of the Church. It should be noticed as well that the Apostle Paul introduces his description of the “rapture” with, “According to the Lord’s own word . . .” (v. 15), indicating Christ had taught on the rapture. Where else would this be except in the “Olivet Discourse” of Matthew 24?
Thirdly, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 is further biblical evidence that, “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him . . . will not come until . . . the man of lawlessness [antichrist] is revealed.” In other words, Jesus will not be “coming” and the Church will not be “gathered” “until” the antichrist has been “revealed.” This is in perfect harmony with the sequence of events that Christ teaches in Matthew 24:1-31.
These Scriptures would seem to correct the popular idea that the “rapture” could occur at any time, without the occurrence of the events described in these passages. We believe the biblical warnings of Christ’s return surprising people apply to non-Christians (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4). One reason for this is that Christ taught if you are surprised by the timing of Christ’s return (which would be true of you if He returned right now while you are reading this), you are damned, something that cannot be said of a true Christian (cf. Matthew 24:48-51).
We do not believe that the period of End Time persecution (the “Great Tribulation”) for “the elect” is the same as the outpouring of God’s wrath to judge non-Christians (“the Day of the Lord”). The “Great Tribulation” is the time of Satan’s wrath against God’s elect (cf. Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation 6:12:6,14; 13:5-7). The use of “saints” in these passages again includes the Church just as it does throughout the New Testament. The “Great Tribulation” cannot be a time of God’s wrath as God’s people are being persecuted, which is not the wrath of God but the wrath of Satan. While God has promised His people persecution on this Earth (cf. 2 Timothy 3:12; John 15:18-21; 16:33), He has promised that they will not experience His wrath.
Finally, we do not believe that the issue of the biblical substance and sequence of end time events is merely an academic one to be debated by scholars, but rather, it may have very practical ramifications on the Christian life, which explains the great deal of Scripture addressing the topic. Understanding what the Scriptures teach on this topic will obviously be especially important to the generation of Christians who experience the end time events.
More specifically, if Christians believe the popular teaching that the real Christ comes before the antichrist and that they are to be rescued from the end time persecution, they will be in great danger of being devastated and disillusioned when the antichrist and the persecution comes before the real Christ and the rapture. This is precisely what happened with the persecuted Thessalonians who were “unsettled” and “alarmed” (2 Thessalonians 2:2) because they were thinking “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him . . . [had] already come” and they had been “left behind.” The Apostle corrected their thinking and comforted them by telling them, “The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him . . . will not come until . . . the man of lawlessness [antichrist] is revealed. . . Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-5). If both the Apostle and the King felt the true substance and sequence of end time events were important for people to know, we should as well.
Additional resource: The Rapture Question Answered: Plain and Simple by Robert D. Van Kampen.
