Letter from the President September 2010

By -
Dear FGA Members and Friends,

Some feel that “the grace issue” is only a phenomenon of the American church as a result of strong Dortian Calvinism. But the truth be known, it seems that even as far as Africa the church has been infected by what me might call, “pseudo grace theology,” or perhaps “neo legalism.” The African church might not be as sophisticated in their theological articulation, but the error that has plagued the church of Jesus Christ from it very inception continues to infect both the church in America and Africa alike.

One of our FGA members, Pastor John Correia, has just returned from Africa where he was teaching pastors about hermeneutics. While there, he had an interesting encounter regarding a works oriented salvation and the answer of grace theology. I would encourage you to read the article about his trip, Free Grace Theology in Africa.

Many of you have received a brochure for the 2010 FGA National Conference October 4-6 in Irving, TX. As I see it, this is going to be the best conference in free grace history. We have a spectacular line-up of speakers and workshop leaders, including Doctors Jody Dillow, Dave Anderson, Larry Moyer, and Charlie Bing. We also have as a special guest, Dr. Michael Eaton who wrote the seminal book “No Condemnation a New theology of Assurance.” Additionally fifteen workshops are being offered, focusing on our theme, “Getting the Gospel Out.” Best of all, we have the privilege of having Dr. Charles Ryrie as our banquet speaker. All of this plus some great time to network and fellowship with others involved in ministry from around the international community, and book shopping opportunities of course! You can register right now by using the registration link on http://www.freegracealliance.com/.

Finally, if you are an FGA member, I hope you received your copy of the FGA Membership Directory. If you have not, simply email us and we will get it to you. Please make sure not to use it for solicitation purposes. It is meant to help you stay connected and encouraged with those who are involved with our alliance, and to help you network with free grace ministries.

Serving Him with you until He comes for us,

Fred Chay, Ph.D.
President, FGA           


Popular posts from this blog

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 b...
Read more

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 w...
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