By -

                                                            


                                                                                                                          June 1, 2012

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus,

 One of my functions as President of the Free Grace Alliance is to respond to the mail.  Each month I receive a variety of letters and e-mails containing comments, and requests regarding the Free Grace Alliance.

The queries usually involve one of two types of questions. Many have ministry questions and are interested in ministry opportunities, looking to network and align themselves with like-minded people from their ministry perspective. This is always a delight to be able to connect people and encourage them to maximize their ministry.

The second topic of interest that comes to my desk usually includes theological questions and often involves questions concerning topics like - dispensationalism. “Does one need to be a dispensationalist to be a member of the Free Grace Alliance?”  Others ask, “Can a person be a member of the Free Grace Alliance if they are not a strict sensationalist?”  Some even ask questions regarding the topics of “Millennial Exclusion Theory,”  “The Nature of Gehenna,” and the belief in “The Partial Rapture Theory.”   And of course everyone’s favorite - “Can I be a Calvinist and be a member of the FGA?”  These types of questions are of great importance theologically and biblically.  And as such, each of us needs to determine what we sense is the teaching of the scriptures.

In terms of the FGA, I tell them to look to our Covenant statement on our website to see what “we believe.”  It is certainly not all of what we believe, but it is what all FGA members do believe. FGA is not a denomination or a congregation. It is somewhat of an association, and is actually more of a conglomeration - an alliance of like-minded people working toward a common purpose.  I sense that FGA has a theological unity without uniformity. We serve as a ministry within diversity, maintaining our unity, as expressed in the FGA Covenant. There is a time to be dogmatic. There is even a time to be “bull-dog-matic,” but there is also a time to allow for difference of opinion.   All that being said - - I welcome your letters.

Please mark your calendar for the FGA National Conference in Dallas/Irving, Texas - October 8-10.  It will be a great opportunity to fellowship with like-minded believers and hear from some excellent speakers.



Serving Him with you
Until He comes for us,

Fred Chay, Ph.D.
President, FGA


Popular posts from this blog

Antinomianism and Free Grace Theology

By -
By Dr. Roger Fankhauser, FGA Executive Council member and the pastor of Burleson Bible Church in Burleson, Texas.  Dr. Fankhauser can be reached at rsfankhauser at bellsouth dot net.   Antinomianism.   A fancy word meaning “lawless”.   Many who don’t get the free grace message accuse us of practicing and teaching antinomianism. They think – wrongly – that the free grace message is light on sin and light on obedience. The author of a recent best-selling book describes the message that he alleges some present this way: “We have been told all that is required is a one-time decision, maybe even mere intellectual assent to Jesus, but after that we need not worry about his commands, his standards, or his glory. We have a ticket to heaven, and we can live however we want on earth. Our sin will be tolerated along the way….” Another well-known author put it this way: “What is no-Lordship theology (the author’s name for free grace theology) but the teaching that those who died to sin can
Read more

Understanding Hebrews 10:26: Is Christ’s Sacrifice Sufficient for Me?

By -
Image
(Originally posted at thegracelings.org) Bible wasn’t given to us as a bunch of unconnected verses that all make perfect sense on their own. Sometimes, without the context, verses can sound like they mean the opposite of what the authors meant by what they wrote. It’s a terrible thing, but many times people take advantage of this fact and use isolated verses in a way that hurts people and devastates their walk with Christ. (Sometimes it’s out of ignorance. Sometimes it’s malicious. It’s always tragic.) It’s especially common for people to cite Scripture out of context in order to cause believers to doubt Christ’s love for them or the security of their salvation. This article is about one verse that is often used this way. It’s Hebrews 10:26, which reads, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (NKJV, same throughout the article). Often, people throw this verse out there on social media like a grenade wi
Read more

A Change of Mind about Repentance: Do you Dare?

By -
By Dr. Fred Lybrand   Repentance has been a sticky issue and has been around as a major conversation piece since the Reformation. I know, because ‘my view’ (which I found out I share with Dr. Elliot Johnson of Dallas Theological Seminary) has been labeled an error by those involved in the Marrow of Divinity Controversy way back in the 1600s! Of course, no need to get excited, every view on the planet and throughout history is an error to someone or some group.   So, the issue of concern here --- is repentance necessary to get saved (as in from-hell-to-heaven)? If it is necessary, then is it a part of saving faith? These are the essential questions. There are many views, often being represented as repentance meaning the necessary turning from all known sin (and interest in future sin, usually) to ‘believe’ in Christ. In this regard, some purveyors of salvation make repentance as much of a part of faith as they do works (see http://www.backtofaith.com ).   I have a bit of an uncom
Read more