AN OUTREACH OF IOM AMERICA | INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF EXCHANGED LIFE
May 13, 2015 - In This Issue:
INFORMATION ON JIM FOWLER

Jim Fowler has been a pastor at the Neighborhood Church in Fallbrook, California for the last twenty-three years. His wife, Gracie, and their five children (Philip, Charis, Kirsten, Sarah and Sandi) have been very supportive in Jim's teaching, preaching, and writing ministries.

Jim's educational background includes Manhattan Christian College, Friends University, New College-University of Edinburgh, Bethel Theological Seminary, Palomar College, and Jubilee Theological Institute.

In recent years, Jim has spent much of his time writing, as can be viewed within the resources of his website. He is currently researching and writing several other articles and books.

 Feel free to contact him at jimfowler@christinyou.net 

 
Practical Studies
"The purpose of Jesus' incarnational advent and His ministry here on earth as a man was not to establish a new religion, nor to inculcate a new teaching, nor to lay down a new morality system. Jesus came to bring Himself, the presence and dynamic of His own divine being, expressed in the humanity of one perfect man, so that He might be expressed as divine, eternal life in the humanity of all men. The gospel that Jesus brought was entirely Christocentric. There is no message of "good news" apart from the ontological reality of the very Being of God in Jesus Christ who is the essence of Christianity. Christianity is Christ!" - Jim

 Learn More About Jim's Studies:
"This book details the primary discussion of this year's World Grace Summit. I considered the discussion of "Dialectic Formatting" to be of the highest priority of dispelling Universalism in its attack on the true Church of Christ."  
"When Christians say the Christ-life is in them, they do not mean simply something mental or moral. When they speak of being "in Christ" or of Christ being "in them," this is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them..." ("Mere Christianity" Macmillan Publishing. 1978. pp.64-65). -C.S. Lewis

HISTORICAL CHRISTIAN BIBLES 
For over a decade now, Jim Fowler has been collecting Bibles for an exhibit that shows "The History of the Christian Scriptures." A new website has been developed to show featured items in this collection. View at www.fowlerbiblecollection.com.   
The Cross of Christ (part 6)
By Jim Fowler

Rejection of the Mystical Cross

 

In summation, it might be useful to enumerate the reasons why the theories of the mystical application of the cross and its continued crucifying activity should be rejected:

 

Un-Scriptural   

Numerous contrasts have been made in the previous paragraphs between what the Scripture records and what the mystic writers assert. Every reference to "cross" and "crucifixion" in the entirety of the New Testament is applicable to one of the five categories with which we commenced this study: (1) the material object of the cross (2) the historical event of Christ's crucifixion on the cross (3) the theological significance of Christ's crucifixion on the cross (4) the Christ's spiritual identification with Christ's crucifixion (5) the figurative usage of "taking up a cross." There are no Scriptures whatsoever to justify the mystical application of the cross of Jesus in an ongoing crucifixion experience. The continued crucifying activity advocated by these predominantly Protestant authors is little different than the continued crucifying activity which Roman Catholicism postulates as transpiring in their eucharistic mass.

 

"Works" Theology

Christian theology is based on the grace activity of God, not upon the "works" and effort of man. Within the Christian life, God's continuing activity is not contingent on our activity. We do not effect Christian living by engaging in any particular activity, specifically self-crucifixion.    

 

The Christian life is not a matter of "doing our best so God can do the rest," doing our part so God can do His part.   

  

Repetitive demands that the Christian should "die to self," "apply the cross," surrender and "be broken," all reveal a techniquism approach to a formulized Christian life, which is a theology of "works" sanctification. Particularly rampant is the admonition to "reckon" oneself dead, so God can work.

 

When Paul advised the Roman Christians to "reckon your- selves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11, NKJV), he did not imply that reckoning creates the reality. He used a Greek verb that was an accounting term. It means that by reckoning, we count as a fact, a reality that already exists.

 

The focus of these crucifixionism teachers is misdirected. They are preoccupied with "self," instead of God; preoccupied with sin, instead of the Saviour; preoccupied with death, instead of life; preoccupied with the cross, instead of Christ. As a result, they are involved in a works-oriented "suppres-sionism" of self, the failure of which leads to inordinate "confessionism" of sin. They do not understand the "finished work" of Jesus Christ and the grace provision of God.

 

Gnosticism

The gnostics and the mystery religions always claimed that they had found the secret... Read Full Article

Jim Fowler
P.O. Box 1822
Fallbrook, CA 92088-1822

e-mail address:

jimfowler@christinyou.net 



The work of IOM America is viewed by readers 
worldwide - a growing list of 39,000+.