Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


  • Join Us!
  • Scripture
  • Theology
  • My Books
  • About
  • Discipleship
  • Courses
    • What is Hell?
    • Skeleton Church
    • The Gospel According to Scripture
    • The Gospel Dictionary
    • The Re-Justification of God
    • What is Prayer?
    • Adventures in Fishing for Men
    • What are the Spiritual Gifts?
    • How to Study the Bible
    • Courses FAQ
  • Forum
    • Introduce Yourself
    • Old Testament
    • New Testament
    • Theology Questions
    • Life & Ministry

If you think I am a lying heretic, let me help you out…

By Jeremy Myers
20 Comments

If you think I am a lying heretic, let me help you out…

One downside to having the “Ask a Bible and Theology” question section on my sidebar is that some people feel it is an invitation to send me hate mail.

Ever since I put it up, I get a few nasty messages every week from people who think I am a lying heretic leading poor lost souls to the pit of hell through false teaching and heretical ideas.

Usually, they want to engage me in a back-and-forth email debate. Often, I get the feeling that if we lived in a different century, they would want to put me on the rack or give me up to the flames to burn the error from my soul.

lying heretic

Here is one such email I got last week:

Jeremy I am a very well educated theologian and I am personally challenging you to Scripturally support the LIE in which you propagate upon immature Believers.

Scriptural proof is one thing but personal IMO’s are of little theological value.

Once again – I am here should you want to defend you LIES.

I have neither the time nor the desire to engage in fruitless email debates with people like this (or to point out his grammar mistakes).

However, people are entitled to their opinion, and I fully admit that there are areas of my theology which need correction.

So, if you think I am a lying heretic leading immature believers astray, let me help you point out my error. Take these two steps.

  1. Start a blog of your own
  2. Writes posts on your blog in which you refute my ideas, point by point

If you include a link in your blog post to my blog post you are refuting, I will get a notification in my blog that you have written this blog post, and I can come over and read your post to learn about my many errors. If you make good points, I may even comment, or notify my blog readers that I am changing my views because of your compelling Scriptural and theological arguments.

I am so serious about this, I am willing to help you start your blog for FREE. Learn more here about starting your own blog.

I just checked, and these domains are currently available:

  • jeremymyersisalyingheretic.com
  • jeremymyersisthemouthpieceofsatan.com
  • alltheheresiesofjeremymyers.com
  • iamsmarterthanjeremymyers.com
  • jeremymyerssucks.com
  • thebadtheologyofjeremymyers.com

Jump on these domains quick, though, because once they’re gone, they’re gone!

God is z Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, heretic, lies, Theology - General

Advertisement

The Heretic in Me

By Jeremy Myers
103 Comments

The Heretic in Me

The Heretic in MeI’m beginning to scare myself.

Why?

Long-held doctrines that I’ve held unswervingly to for years are beginning to teeter in my mind.

I can’t decide if this is good or bad, but one thing is for sure…it’s making me more humble. (You know you’re humble when you can brag about it.)

The Subtle Shift in My Theology

I’ve been noticing this shift for a while, but I was bowled over by it this morning on my walk to work. I was listening to a message by Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and I found myself agreeing with nearly everything he said (He is a fantastic speaker, by the way).

I remembered the first time I was introduced to this book. It was about 5 years ago. I was the Senior Pastor of a church, and someone gave it to me and told me I must read it.

I got through twenty or thirty pages before I tossed it in the garbage can. Literally. I think his book is the only book I have ever thrown out. I have books on my shelves written by Muslims and Mormons, none of which I have thrown out. Miller’s book got thrown across the room as hard as I could and into the garbage can (True story!).

Now, I find myself laughing and agreeing with what he is saying.

What Happened to Me?

So I asked myself this morning, “What has happened to me in 5 years?!?”

Some would answer “You went to seminary.”

That might be true. Seminaries (sometimes) have a way of making heretics out of us all. But just as one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure, so also, one person’s heresy is another person’s cardinal doctrine.

It is just that I seem to have fewer and fewer cardinal doctrines. Several of my “Doctrines to die for” are no longer so important.

Fewer Doctrinal Hills to Die On

Hills to Die On“What doctrines?” you ask?

Not the “core fundamentals” like the Trinity, the inerrancy of Scripture, the deity of Jesus, and justification by faith alone in Christ alone. If I ever start to have misgivings these, please, somebody come kick me in the head…hard. I will defend these to my grave.

No, I am raising questions about various doctrines within ecclesiology, eschatology, angelology, and a few others.

How is this happening?

Some of these beliefs of mine are being undermined by the weight of exegesis. In other words, Bible study is making me doubt some of the theology I have been taught.

Below are a few areas I feel toppling.

Note that they haven’t toppled yet; they may right themselves, or like the Tower of Pisa, just lean over a bit. But I do not hold to these things as firmly as I once did.

I still believe these things to be true and biblical, but I am now aware of different ways of approaching these doctrines which require further study on my part.

My Current Leaning Towers of Pisa (why some might call me a heretic)

Leaning tower of PisaHere is my current list of doctrines which I am questioning, and which might cause some to label me as a heretic:

  • A literal, six-day-24-hour creation 6000 years ago. (Was Moses really writing a scientific treatise on how the universe began?)
  • “Messianic” prophecy in the Old Testament. (It’s not all about Jesus. But see #3 below).
  • Biblical Hermeneutics. (It’s all about Jesus, even the entire Old Testament.)
  • A future seven-year Tribulation. (Some of the passages which seem to teach this may not do so after all.)
  • Church. (The way we “do church” today is at best ineffective, and at worst, sinful.)
  • Eternal, conscious torment in hell. (I am NOT a universalist or an annihilationist. I’m just not sure hell=torture.)
  • The fall of Satan and his angels. (The Bible doesn’t seem to clearly talk about this.)

These are just a few of my own personal heresies. 

Now you see why I have to go into church planting. There are not many churches in the country that would hire a pastor who has misgivings about this list of doctrines. (Are there any?)

The simple act of raising questions about these doctrines will probably cause some to brand me as a heretic.

In fact, in some churches and ministries, if I started to investigate alternative understandings for these doctrines, I’d probably get fired or cause a split.

…Maybe I should just sell cars or clean carpets…

2012 Update

As it turned out, I did get branded as a heretic. This post was written in December of 2007. Two months later, after some blog readers informed my boss I had written this post, I was fired from my job at a Christian publishing company.

And guess what? After months of searching for a job, I ended up cleaning carpets! I may be a heretic, but I am also prophetic! Kind of scary. 

Here are some of the posts that explain more:

  • From Crisis to Christless
  • When Facing a Crisis
  • My…Yawn…Crisis
  • I Got a Job!
  • Job Update
  • One Year Later
  • From Senior Pastor to Church Dropout

Eventually, I will write a book with chapters on each of the seven doctrinal areas above. Make sure you subscribe to the free email newsletter to get news, information, and a free copy of this book when it comes out.

Until then, what are your thoughts on any of the seven doctrines above which I had questions about? What do you think of branding people as heretics? Do you think a church or ministry should fire pastors and employees who begin to question their personal beliefs? Join the conversation below!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: creation, demons, hell, heresy, heretic, hermeneutics, prophesy, satan, Theology - General, tribulation

Advertisement

How I Evangelize

By Jeremy Myers
49 Comments

How I Evangelize

cat.jpgOK, the cat is out of the bag (I guess it was never in the bag)…The article I referred to in the previous post about the Crossless Gospel is indeed the one by Tom Stegall. But I am also now including Rokser’s “Two Clarifications” from the most recent issue of the “Grace Family Journal.”

It appears from Comments to my previous post that although Stegall is accusing various Free Grace writers and speakers of having a “Crossless Gospel,” what he really means is that we have “Crossless evangelism.” I see these two things as distinctly different since nobody ever shares the entire New Testament gospel when they evangelize. So the issue isn’t whether the cross is part of the gospel or not. Of course the cross is part of the gospel.

Instead, the issue seems to be, “Does a person need to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to receive eternal life?”

So to help clarify the debate, I thought it might help to share what I try to do when I evangelize…after all, this is what it is all about, right? Please note that I don’t exactly know what the evangelistic method is of Zane Hodges, Antonio DaRosa, or any of the other Free Grace people accused of teaching a “crossless gospel.” I do, however, know that the evangelistic practice I describe below closely resembles what Bob Wilkin does. I know this, becuase I work with him, and we have talked a lot about it. Even still, I am not speaking for him, but for myself alone.

Stegall’s Gospel Checklist

Tom StegallBut before I get to my practice, it is probably best to begin with what Stegall says a person must believe to receive eternal life. If I remember correctly, Stegall has five things he says must be believed if a person is to be born again. These five things were not listed in his article, but I think I heard him list them in a talk he gave at the Annual Fall Conference at Duluth Bible Church. (So my memory may be wrong on these five…).

He says that for a person to be born again, they have to believe in:

  1. The death, resurrection, and substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.
  2. The full humanity of Christ.
  3. The full deity of Christ.
  4. The sinfulness of man.
  5. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Technically, this is more than five, but I’m not going to quibble over that.

My question for Stegall is: “Why these five?”

What if a person believes all these five, but doesn’t believe in the virgin birth and believes that Jesus sinned? What if a person doesn’t believe in the Trinity, and instead is a modalist? What if they believe these five things, but believe that Jesus is “a god” just like the rest of us? What if they believe these five things, but don’t believe in life after death, and “salvation” is only a good life here and now?

Personally, I believe that the virgin birth, the sinlessness of Jesus, and the Trinity are all essential to the gospel, as well as numerous other truths. But do I expect a person to know and believe all of this in order to become a Christian? No. So I don’t have a “crossless gospel.” I have a gospel that includes all five elements Stegall includes, plus a bunch of other Scriptural truths that Stegall does not.

So the real issue is, “What do I share when I evangelize?” Right? Though not directly stated, it seems this is what people want to know. Here is how I evangelize.

How to Evangelize
No, this is NOT how I evangelize…

How I Evangelize

I share any truth of the gospel I think is necessary to get a person to believe in Jesus for everlasting life. All of the truths of the gospel either prepare a person to believe in Jesus for everlasting life, or prove that He can make good on His promise.

So, when I evangelize, I always begin with the gospel invitation and tell them that if they believe in Jesus, He guarantees them eternal life.

Then, I allow the convicting and drawing work of the Holy Spirit upon that person and their natural, logical questions to lead me into what other information about the gospel I might share. Most people, I find, already know and believe that Jesus was God, that He died on the cross for their sins, and that He rose again from the dead. Even most unbelievers believe this.

So generally, the conversation centers around how Jesus can guarantee eternal life to those who believe or how it can be only faith without works, or why a good person cannot get into heaven. This is when we get to Stegall’s five truths plus any of the other gospel truths that will convince the person to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

One time, I actually talked to a person in the United States who didn’t know who Jesus was. I was pretty amazed that they had never heard of Jesus, but went on to explain to them that He was God, who came to earth 2000 years ago, and lived a sinless life, yet died a painful death on a cross for the sins of the whole world. His resurrection three days later proved that His death was acceptable to God as the payment for our sin. We were able to have a long and lively discussion about the gospel and the offer of eternal life. The conversation naturally led to all of Stegall’s five points, plus several others. But even if the conversation is short, I have still expressed the bottom line gospel invitation.

Natural Conversational Evangelism

This, it seems, is the most natural and biblical way to evangelize. It’s what Jesus did. It’s what Paul and Peter did. I’m not trying to run through a checklist of ideas, which have no basis anywhere in Scripture, or in actual practice. I can’t find any place in Scripture where a person shares all five of Stegall’s points when evangelizing or defining the basics of the gospel. Even 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 10 don’t include all five of these truths. And when compared, those two passages don’t even include the same gospel truths. The truth is, I can’t find one Scriptural passage that includes all five of Stegall’s truths. He has to pick and choose from various passages to get his essential gospel truths, and these five seem pretty arbitrary.

He may accuse me of having a crossless gospel (which I don’t), but I can accuse him of having a cherry-picked gospel.

So what do I share?

When I evangelize, I share anything and everything I can in the time I have that I think will get the person to the point where they become persuaded that simply by faith alone in Jesus they have everlasting life.

Once, when I was a pastor in Montana, I was outside by my woodpile (we use wood to heat our houses in Montana) talking with a man about all of this, and he wasn’t persuaded. He said, “I just don’t know if all of this is true. If it is true, I wish God would just hit me over the head with a 2×4. Then I would believe it.”

I almost reached out and grabbed a 2×4 and whacked him on the head with it! If he said “Why did you do that?” I could have responded, “God told me to, and He wants to know if you’ll believe in Jesus for everlasting life now.” If I had done that, I would have called it the “2×4 gospel,” because not only did I share with him about his sin, the deity, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I also got a 2×4 in there…all in an effort to get him to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Christian, crossless gospel, eternal life, evangelism, forgiveness, gospel, grace, heretic, Jesus, resurrection, scripture, sins, Theology - General, Theology of Salvation

Advertisement

The Crossless Gospel – a Pejorative Misnomer

By Jeremy Myers
58 Comments

The Crossless Gospel – a Pejorative Misnomer

In light of my previous post on Luther, and my opening post for this blog about being called a heretic, I thought I might comment on some recent articles and books which condemn me (and other speakers and writers) as someone who teaches a crossless gospel.

These books and articles, by pastors, bloggers, and writers who will go unnamed in this post, basically accuse me (and several others) of removing the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the biblical gospel. They accuses us of teaching a “crossless gospel.”

Here is my brief response:

I Don’t Hold to the Crossless Gospel

Frankly, when I read these books and articles, I was shocked to read what I (supposedly) believed. It was reported that I believed the cross was not central to the gospel.

Yet I have always believed and taught that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are central to the gospel. Without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no biblical gospel. There is no such thing as a crossless gospel. I believe the cross is central to the gospel.

Without the cross of Jesus, there is no gospel!

The Authors Quote me Out of Context

The authors quote a few writings of mine as proof that I have ripped the cross out of the gospel, and all I can say is that they should have read the entire article from which they quote, and some of my other writings as well. Anybody can be quoted out of context to get them to say the exact opposite of what they are actually saying. This tactic began in the garden when Satan misquoted God to Eve, and continued when he misquoted Scripture to Jesus. (Not that I am God or Scripture and my opponent is Satan, but the point is that people must be quoted in context.)

If these authors had read the entirety of the article they quote, they would see that I do not believe in a crossless gospel, but believe in the centrality of the cross for the gospel!

The Authors Quote Others Out of Context

And I did some researching into the other writers and scholars these authors quote, and discovered that the same tactic was used against them. In each instance I looked up, the quote was ripped from a context which says the exact opposite of what was quote appeared to be saying. Each of these men the author attacks believes the cross is central to the gospel.

The Crossless Gospel Doesn’t Exist!

Crossless GospelAnd so now, sadly, the unnamed authors of the accusatory books and articles make themselves look foolish because, for everybody who knows better, the view they are trying to refute doesn’t exist!

Initially, when I read some of these books and articles, I laughed at the way I had been so misrepresented. But now, I just feel bad for those who need to defend their own views and consolidate their own power by misrepresenting the views of others.

I wish that these unnamed authors would have checked with me and a few others that were quoted out of context to see if our views were properly presented. As the books and articles now stand, the only thing they do is reveal a lack of scholarship based on misquotes and straw-man fallacies. They have set up a false gospel of their own making, called it a “crossless gospel,” assigned this so-called “false-gospel” to some innocent bystanders (such as me), and then accused us of holding this gospel of their own making, which of course, we do not.

The worst part about this is that those who read the books and articles of these various teachers might not do their own homework by checking out the baseless claims that they read and hear, and as a result, may be led astray into confusion and the false maligning of godly men.

The bottom line is that whatever these books and articles claim I believe, I think I know better. I’ve said it in my writings and sermons: The cross of Jesus Christ is central to the gospel. Without the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there would be no biblical gospel, no offer of eternal life, no hope of heaven, and no forgiveness of sins.

So away with this “Tragedy of the Crossless Gospel” travesty. I don’t believe in a crossless gospel, and don’t know anybody who does.

There is no such thing as a crossless gospel, and those who purportedly teach such a gospel do not actually believe there is any such thing. The term “crossless gospel” is a pejorative misnomer.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: crossless gospel, eternal life, forgiveness, free grace, gospel, grace, heretic, Jesus, resurrection, scripture, sins, Theology - General, Theology of Salvation

Advertisement

9 Tips on Preaching from Martin Luther. The 9th is key.

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

9 Tips on Preaching from Martin Luther. The 9th is key.

Martin Luther on PreachingI came across this today, and thought it was a good reminder for all of us who devote our lives to studying and teaching the Word of God.

Martin Luther, in his lifetime, was not very popular. In fact, he was condemned as a heretic by the Catholic church. But here is what Martin Luther said about speaking for God.

Martin Luther said there are nine things every teacher of the Word and every pastor should seek to do:

  1. To teach the Word systematically.
  2. To have a ready wit.
  3. To be eloquent.
  4. To have a good voice.
  5. To have good memory.
  6. To know when to make an end.
  7. To be sure of his doctrine.
  8. To engage body, blood, wealth and honor in the Word.

And 9th (this one is the key to it all) he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered by everyone.

God is Redeeming Church Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, heretic, Martin Luther, pastor, Preaching, Theology of the Church, word of god

Advertisement

Join the discipleship group
Learn about the gospel and how to share it

Take my new course:

The Gospel According to Scripture
Best Books Every Christian Should Read
Study Scripture with me
Subscribe to my Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to my Podcast on Amazon

Do you like my blog?
Try one of my books:

Click the image below to see what books are available.

Books by Jeremy Myers

Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
  • Theology of God
  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
  • Theology of Jesus
  • Theology of Salvation
  • Theology of the Holy Spirit
  • Theology of the Church
  • Theology of Angels
  • Theology of the End Times
  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
  • Bible Studies on Esther
  • Bible Studies on Psalms
  • Bible Studies on Jonah
  • Bible Studies on Matthew
  • Bible Studies on Luke
  • Bible Studies on Romans
  • Bible Studies on Ephesians
  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

Advertise or Donate

  • Advertise on RedeemingGod.com
  • Donate to Jeremy Myers

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

© 2025 Redeeming God · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Knownhost and the Genesis Framework