F4F | Caleb J Lines Teaches Greasy Pelagian Heresy

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Rosebro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ and this is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the

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Word of God. Now, have you ever heard of something called the

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Pelagian heresy? You can Google it. It's a bona fide heresy and you're gonna note within the history of the church,

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Pelagius's doctrines were not considered mere errors. In fact, when you look at the history of the church and fighting against the doctrines of Pelagius, they they came down in the hardest way possible and declared anathemas against anyone who believed and taught the teachings of Pelagius.

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You're thinking, well, that sounds like a terrible guy. What did Pelagius teach? Pelagius taught that human beings were good and that they did not have a sinful fallen nature as a result of the fall.

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And as a result of it, Pelagius, well, the best way I can put it is that he got the diagnosis wrong and if you get the diagnosis wrong, you're gonna get the solution wrong as well.

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And so we'll take a look at the Pelagian heresy. We're gonna look at a salient example of the

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Pelagian heresy from Dr. Caleb, the Reverend Dr.

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Caleb J. Lines of University Christian Church in San Diego.

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And they, back a while ago, they did a play at their church.

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The play was Grease and I'm not going to torture you with the songs that they sung in their rendition of Grease.

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I think the Geneva Convention actually prevents me from sharing any sound bites from their production.

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Yeah, I think I could be brought up as a war criminal if I played any of those songs for you. So let's see what we could do here.

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We're gonna whirl up the desktop and yeah, I took that last summer and Disney's California Adventure, like the leading lines on there.

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You know, good place to practice photography, by the way, street photography. But let me whirl up the web browser and there's

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Dr. Caleb J. Lines in his best 1950s black leather jacket to show how cool he is.

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And this is from University Christian Church in San Diego, California. And he, well, he got up to give a very short, short homily on the theology of Grease and we're going to review it.

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So all I can say is buckle up. This is just gonna be awful and we'll look at some biblical texts along the way to debunk this and see where we can go from there.

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So here is the Reverend Dr. Caleb J. Lines and the theology, the greasy theology of Pelagianism is the best way

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I can describe it. And just so you know for context, he's gonna be talking about how in the the movie production of Grease that the character played by the primary female role, she gave up her identity in order to get the guy.

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And so he's going to bemoan that idea but listen in. I think Grease at its heart is making a commentary on identity.

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I think this is what it's about. I think it's about identity and how identity is formed and reinforced.

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How we behave is influenced by the people we are around and that's true, isn't it?

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I think that society tells us a lot about how we're supposed to behave. I think our friend groups tell us a lot about how we are to behave.

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I think our families tell us a whole lot about how we are to behave. And so as I was thinking about that,

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I thought when we selected Grease, hmm isn't that the show where the woman changes everything about herself to fit into a guy's version of who he thinks she ought to be?

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Down with the patriarchy! Oh man, this guy's a liberal and a feminist all at the same time.

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And yeah, I think that is what happens. In part it's because it's making a commentary on 1950s pop culture where there are plays and movies where this woman falls in love with a bad boy and then she kind of tones his actions down quite a bit and makes him a more likable character.

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In Grease, the opposite happens and the woman becomes more like the male fantasy.

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All right, so that's for context because he's talking about the theology of Grease and we're gonna anchor this in Pelagianism very shortly here and a huge twisting of Scripture.

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I'll have to explain that along the way too, but let's continue. So I think we should acknowledge that that's super problematic, right?

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Right? I mean you should never have to adjust who you are to be accepted or loved by other people.

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That we ought to be able to be who we are. All right, so there it is.

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You can kind of tell the direction he's heading. We need to be who we are. Who are you is my question and I would note who

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I am and as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God and because I have a sinful nature and have been corrupted by sin, if I were to appeal to who

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I am and just say, oh God wants to just bless me and affirm me as I am, no.

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That's gonna lead to no place good and I would note if we were listening to a philosopher, you know, we'd all sit there and say, well this is how philosophers talk, but we're talking to a fellow who's speaking at a

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Christian Church. Do you notice that thing back there? That's called a pulpit and although they have the bleachers up for their rendition of and their performance of Greece, this is still taking place in a place that's supposed to be a

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Christian Church. So we got a problem there because it says University Christian Church.

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Shouldn't we be getting Christian theology here? But wait till you see the Bible twist and where he goes with that Bible twist and then we'll do a lot of biblical study to unpack and show what he's doing here is deceitful.

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And if we're in any kind of relationship, a romantic relationship, a friend relationship, a familial relationship where someone wants us to adjust who we are to conform to their expectations of who we ought to be, that's bad.

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That is bad theology. That is troubling behavior, right? And so that's why I love this verse from Romans that we...

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That's a big, kind of elastic, painting with a broad brush kind of statement with no nuance.

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I got a problem with it already, but let me back this up just a little. Troubling behavior, right? And so that's why I love this verse from Romans that we heard just a moment ago.

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All right, so he's gonna quote a verse from Romans. By the way, the verse is Romans 15 verse 7 from the

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NIV, and we'll see what we can do with this. I like reading from Romans because it's different than Paul's other letters, and that's for a couple of reasons.

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The main reason is that Paul did not found the church in Rome. Paul founded the church in Corinth.

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He founded the church in Thessalonica. He founded the church in Galatia, and so he wrote to them like he knew them.

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He doesn't write to the Romans like that because he didn't know them, and so he uses nicer language.

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There's nothing like you find in Galatians where he says, I told you not to get circumcised, and if you do, I hope the knife slips and you castrate yourself.

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There's nothing like that in the book of Romans. Yeah, Galatians was written against a bona fide heresy known as the

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Judaizing heresy, and the people who were upsetting the people in the churches in Galatia were teaching them heresy, that you were saved by your works, and you were required as a

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Christian to be circumcised according to the Mosaic Covenant. Uh -huh. Thank God. Yes, Paul.

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Get control of yourself, buddy. The other reason is because Paul is writing to the Romans to get money.

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He wants money for his mission. Now, I got to admit, I have never heard that, that the reason why

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Paul was writing to the Romans was to get money. Um, does anyone have a theological, you know, commentary or a biblical scholar that can back that claim up?

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Because I wasn't able to track it down. That's the first I've ever heard of it, and already I'm sitting there going,

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I've never heard that, and I don't, in fact, it, having gone back through the book of Romans, I can't think of any justification for the claim.

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So if you, if you know of any evidence that Paul was writing for the purpose of getting money from the

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Church of Rome, leave a comment. I'd like to actually see that. So if you can cite a biblical scholar, a commentary, or something that, that, that makes the claim,

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I, I, I've just never run into that argument before, ever. It was first I've ever heard of it.

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And so he writes with more flowery language, I suppose, but I think this is good because it allows him to articulate his theology in a way that he doesn't do in some of his other letters, and I think we get a clear article.

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Oh, I see, because Paul was asking for money, he needed to be nice. He's not nice in the other letters, so he had to be nice here because he wanted money.

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Okay. Of what he really thinks. And in Romans 15, Paul says this.

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Okay, this is Romans 15, verse 7, out of context, from the NIV. There's a lot going on in the outside world.

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Christians are being persecuted, and they were, right? Christians are being persecuted, the rest of the world is gonna revile us for who we are, for our beliefs, for the things that we hold sacred, because we're not gonna conform.

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But the way we get through it is by building community together.

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The way we get... He's not quoting that text yet. Through it is by supporting one another, this is what he says.

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And he says it like this, he says, let us accept each other as Christ has first accepted us.

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Well, there it is! We need to accept each other just the way we are. Yeah, okay, let's do a little debunking work to begin with.

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So, we're gonna go to Romans, Romans chapter 15. Now, what I'm gonna do is

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I'm gonna look at the NIV 1984, okay? That will help us out a little bit.

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So, let's take a look at it in context. And here's what it says, starting at verse 1.

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So, remember the three rules for sound biblical exegesis. Context, context, and context.

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So, he writes, Paul writes, So, that with one heart and mouth, you may glorify the

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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, talking about Christians, people who've been brought to penitent faith in Christ.

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Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the

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Jews, on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs, so that the

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Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, therefore, I will praise you among the

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Gentiles. I will sing hymns to your name. Again, it says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.

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And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples. And again,

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Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will spring up, one who will rise to rule over the nations, the

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Gentiles will hope in him. So, what Dr., Reverend Dr.

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Caleb J Lyons is doing here, is taking this text out of context, accept one another, and pouring into the phrase, accept one another, the meaning that you need to accept somebody just the way they are.

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Do they self -identify as a bowl of Froot Loops? Well, you need to accept them as somebody who self - identifies as a bowl of Froot Loops.

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And you have no right to tell them that they shouldn't be a bowl of Froot Loops, but they should be what

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God made them to be. You just need to accept one another. This is where he's going with this, and you'll see it as this develops.

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So, let's change it up just a little bit. Let's use this, then, in the ESV, which is,

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I think, a better translation, and watch how, then, this comports, then, with the

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Greek, okay? Because I think the NIV is a little offish here, okay?

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So, let me back up. For whatever was written in former days, this is verse 4, was written for our instruction, verse 5, may the

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God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one voice, glorify the

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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And here's verse 7, now, from the ESV, and I'll show you it in the

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Greek here in a second. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

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It has a different sound altogether, and the question here is which of the two translations is handling this verb properly, okay?

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So, proslambano is our Greek verb here, and the

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ESV translated as welcome, the NIV translated as accept.

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Well, let's take a look. To take something that meets a personal need, to take to partake of food that doesn't quite fit, you'll note you have, sometimes when you're given a verb and it has multiple meanings, you have to find the one that fits in the context.

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To promote one's ends, to exploit or to take advantage of. No, I'm pretty sure

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Paul's telling us, not telling us, to take advantage of people, okay? To take or lead off of, to one's self, to take aside.

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Nope. Here we go. Number four, to extend a welcome, to receive into one's home or circle of acquaintances.

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That is the meaning here. So, the ESV gets the proper definition of proslambano, whereas the

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NIV, that's just not a good translation. So, the point that Paul is making, as Christians, we need to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us.

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So, but watch where Caleb Lyons is going now with this, because where he goes is horrible.

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He's taking a verse out of context, not paying attention to the Greek. By the way, if you err in grammar and you err in translation, you are going to necessarily err in theology, and I think he's doing this on purpose.

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I don't think he's, he's like a victim of misinformation. I think he full -on embraces the misinformation and is participating in the deception that he is engaging in here.

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So, let me back this up so you can hear him again quote the text, and from the

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NIV, and it's not correct, and then you can see where he goes from there. It's by building community together.

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The way we get through it is by supporting one another. This is what he says, and he says it like this, he says, let us accept each other as Christ has first accepted us.

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Accept, the verb there, proslambano, means to welcome. The Christian community, when it is doing what it ought to do, is about us accepting one another, and as I said just a few moments ago, churches tend to be really bad at that.

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We just don't accept one another. Churches want you to pretend to be something you're not. Churches want you to come and be nice on Sunday mornings, to sing nice hymns with nice people, but then to go out and live the rest of your life, you know, however you want.

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What faithful congregation tells people to come and be nice on Sunday, but then the rest of the week just go out and do whatever you want?

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I don't know that church. I've never heard of that church. Hear this today. You are fundamentally good.

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You are a reflection of God's divine image. Okay, that right there is the

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Pelagian heresy, that you are fundamentally good, and for him to invoke the image of God from Genesis prior to the fall rather than after the fall is part and parcel of the

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Pelagian heresy, so I want you to hear it again so you can see what we're gonna need to do as far as debunking it.

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You are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good.

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Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good. You are a reflection of God's divine image.

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You are who God created you to be. Look, I'm not saying that we're all perfect, because we're not.

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None of us is perfect. We all have ways that we can grow, ways that we can change, but what I'm saying is...

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So in the ways we're imperfect, is that sinful, Caleb? That those things that are innate qualities about us, our race, our ethnicity, our sexual orientation, our gender identity, our physical or mental ability, those things that are...

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No, nobody's slipping in here. ...innate about us that we cannot change. Those are reflections of God.

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Really? Really? Okay, so we're gonna challenge that.

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That, by the way, is the Pelagian heresy. Now, I'm gonna show you a resource. Okay, in my copy of Lagos, I have the entire writings of the church fathers, and I have

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Philip Schaaf's edition, which is not expensive. You can get all of it, you know, all of the volumes for fairly cheap in Lagos.

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They're not expensive at all, but the book I'm going to give you as homework, if you want to read further on this, is

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Nicene and Post -Nicene Fathers Volume 5 by Philip Schaaf, and it's focusing on Augustine's anti -Pelagian works, and I'm going to show you that the introduction to this is just brilliant, by the way.

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I have to scroll down. Here we go. The introduction, introductory essay on Augustine and the

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Pelagian heresy is written by the late Calvinist scholar Benjamin Warfield, and this article, this introduction, this what do

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I want to call this? This journal article that he wrote? It's brilliant. If you wanted, you know, a succinct summary of what the

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Pelagian heresy is, and how dangerous it is, this is just brilliant.

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And then from there, it just gets even better when you get into Augustine's writings and his arguments against Pelagius.

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And again, the Pelagian heresy denies the doctrine of original sin. Denies total depravity.

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Denies that in the fall that somehow we have become sinful, and it's the belief that every child is born kind of a blank slate, and that we are good by nature, and things like this.

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That's not true after the fall. So what we'll do in the description below is we will,

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I have a PDF version of this, because all of Schaaf's works, all of these editions of the

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Church Fathers, they're in the public domain. So I'm going to put a link to the PDF version of this particular volume down in the description, give it to you for free, so that you can do your own fact -checking in your own homework.

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You need to do that, okay? I'm not telling you what to think, I'm trying to teach you how to think.

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So that being the case, this is a great resource, but let's spend some time in the biblical text, shall we?

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And kind of challenge what it is that the Reverend Dr. Caleb J Lyons is saying biblically, because you'll note that it is absolutely true that prior to the fall that God created us tov me 'od, very good.

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So like for instance, if we go into Genesis chapter 1, which clearly says that humanity is made in the image of God, here's what it says, then let us,

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God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

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So God created man in his own image, the text says. In the image of God he created, and male and female he created them.

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So there! So doesn't that prove that we're all made in the image of God, that we're good by nature?

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No, because the story continues. In Genesis chapter 3, we have the account of Adam and Eve being tempted by the serpent in the garden, and they disobeyed

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God, and it had dire consequences. So much so that, that, listen to this word, this wording in Genesis 5, this is the book of the generations of Adam.

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When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them, and named them man, when they were created.

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When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him

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Seth. You see, the issue is that after Genesis 3, and Adam and Eve's rebellion against God, and their disobedience, the image of God has been broken.

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We are corrupted by sin. Each of us have inherited Adam's sin, and as a result of it, we're not made, we're not made in the image of God now, we're made in the image of Adam.

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That's what Genesis 5 says. But it gets a little bit even worse than that.

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So in Genesis chapter 6, listen to what this says. Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

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Yeah, this is the sentences that lead up to God deciding to flood the world. So note, because we are now conceived in the image of Adam, rather than the image of God, this has had an impact on us.

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Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that the intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

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And Yahweh regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So Yahweh said,

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I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens, for I'm sorry that I've made them.

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But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh. And we find out from Hebrews chapter 11 that, what is it, how did

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Noah find favor in God's sight? By faith. Okay, Genesis 8, as Adam and Eve are coming off the ark, and not

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Adam and Eve, Noah and his family are coming off the ark, Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took some of every clean animal, and some of every clean bird, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

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And when Yahweh smelled the pleasing aroma, Yahweh said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.

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Okay, in fact, how far into our youth does our evil intentions and thoughts and stuff like that go?

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Psalm 51 5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, David said, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

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Now David is not here saying that his mother was, you know, had conceived him in an act of adultery.

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That's not what's going on here. In fact, there is no biblical text that even hints at something like that.

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What he's talking about is something that's true for all of us, and that is that we are brought forth in iniquity, and this is talking about the fact that we are all born by nature, well, a corrupted nature.

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We are all born with a corrupted, sinful nature in the image of Adam, not in the image of God.

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In fact, Ephesians 2 says it this way, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is not work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires in the body of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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I don't think that gets any clear, so you'll note that Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, paints a picture of all of humanity, and this is going to include

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Christians prior to their conversion. We are by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind, it says.

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Romans 3 puts it this way, Paul says, are we Jews any better off?

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He says, no, not at all, for we've already charged that all. That's both Jews and Greeks, they're under sin.

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As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God.

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And when you look at the cross references on this, because he says, as it is written, Paul is referencing two

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Psalms, Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. Listen to Psalm 14, the fool says in his heart there is no

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God, they are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good, the

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Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God, they have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt, there is none who does good, not even one.

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So the one thing we can say about every one of us human beings, conceived and born in the natural way, as descendants of Adam, we are not good.

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I'm not good, you're not good, we are by nature objects of God's wrath because our natures have been corrupted by sin.

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And so Christians then, well, they have a little bit something different going on with them because God has raised them from the dead.

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In fact, let me continue in Ephesians here. So note, this starts off with the bad news, and then in the middle tells us how

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God rectifies this horrible news. And so we once all lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ.

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By grace you have been saved. And he's raised us up with him and seated us up with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

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For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. It's not the result of work, so that no one may boast.

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We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

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So you can see then here that Christians, having been raised to life by God, this is called regeneration, you know, that we now have a new nature.

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Unfortunately that new nature still has to battle with our old sinful nature. This is, see Romans 7 for how that fight lays out.

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But let me come back then to Romans 3. Listen to these texts. So Paul says, none is righteous.

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No, not one. Dr. Caleb J. Lyons, oh you're good. No, you're not. None is righteous.

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No, not one. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless.

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No one does good. Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive.

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The venom of asps is under their lips. But their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.

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In their paths are ruin and misery and in the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

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Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. So that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

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So the purpose of this condemnation is to basically silence you so that you can hear the final word, because the final word comes from the cross for all who believe in Christ.

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And the final word is you're forgiven. So watch what he says. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in God's sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

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But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets they bear witness to it.

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The righteousness of God that is through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction.

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All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified.

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Dikaiao here in the Greek means to be declared not guilty. They are declared not guilty by God's grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

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God put forward as a propitiation or you can say atoning sacrifice by his blood to be received by faith.

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This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the former sins.

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It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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So Christians are sinners forgiven by Christ who've confessed that they are by nature sinful and unclean, that they've sinned against God and their thoughts, their words, their deeds, by the things they've done, by the things they've left undone.

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So a Christian then recognizes that they're not good but Christ has been good for them.

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Christ has bled and died on the cross for the forgiveness of their sins and Christians then are penitent sinners.

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Caleb J Lyons is preaching something different. Now let me just kind of dogpile a little bit here while I can.

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In the Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 31, John the

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Baptist is speaking here. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.

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He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.

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Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom

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God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the

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Son and has given all things into his hand. Listen to what he says. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

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Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

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If we were good people, then it would be unjust for God to give his wrath towards people.

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Why do they remain under God's wrath? Because they're not good.

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This is the reason why the church has historically rejected the

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Pelagian heresy. What Reverend Dr. Caleb J Lyons here is promoting is a denial of Scripture and a misuse of Romans 15 7.

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Accept one another. He's pouring into it. You need to accept people based upon all the things that they choose about themselves.

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You just need to be you, because we're all good, he says, but the biblical text says otherwise.

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And so you've seen then how he twisted Romans 15 7 and also ignored all the clear passages, while taking swipes at those churches that faithfully teach what the

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Scripture says. There's more swipes coming, but let me back this up just a little bit and listen again to what he's saying.

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Our gender identity, our physical or mental ability, those things that are innate about us that we cannot change, those are reflections of God.

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And whenever we accept those things about ourselves and accept those things about other people, we are living into who

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God created us to be. And church, when it's at its best, encourages us to do that because we realize both that those things about ourselves are gifts from God, and those things about other people are gifts from God.

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So don't tell anyone they're a sinner. Everyone's good, and whatever they choose for themselves, whatever their reality is, you just need to accept it.

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The Bible doesn't teach this. In fact, the text that he quoted definitely doesn't teach it.

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The reason why he went to the NIV is because it agrees with his theology in a sense where he can twist the meaning of it to basically pour this nonsense into it.

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Well, I'm not quite sure that Greece hits the mark on this, but I think that University Christian Church tries to hit the mark on this as often as we can because we recognize that whenever we are together as a community, whenever we recognize that we belong together, that we go together, right?

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That that strengthens who we are as people. It strengthens who we can be out in the world, and it strengthens the message that this world desperately needs to hear, which is that you are all good and that you are all loved by God.

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So the message the world desperately needs to hear is that you are all good and you are all loved by God.

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Now, it is true that God loves us, but I want you to hear about God's love in context.

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So here's what it says in John chapter 3, starting in verse 13,

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Christ is speaking, No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the

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Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

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If you were good, why do you need to believe in Jesus?

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The text goes on, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten

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Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And he gave

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Jesus for the purpose of him bleeding and dying on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and the sins of the world.

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For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, the text says, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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Whoever believes in him is not condemned, whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he is not believed in the name of the only

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Son of God. And this is the judgment, light has come into the world, and the people love darkness rather than the light, which means they're not good, because their works were evil.

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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be shown and exposed.

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But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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So the world doesn't desperately need to hear that they are good, the world desperately needs to hear that they are sinners in need of a

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Savior, and that God does love them so much that he sent his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

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So what Caleb J Lyons is preaching here? It's bovine scatology, it's heresy, it's the

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Pelagian heresy, if you want to be specific. Listen again to his claim that the thing the world desperately needs to hear.

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It strengthens who we can be out in the world, and it strengthens the message that this world desperately needs to hear, which is that you are all good, and that you are all loved by God.

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If we're all good, why does so many biblical texts clearly contradict that? Why did the ancient church put the

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Pelagian heresy down as a heresy? I don't want to hear any more from churches that say that you're bad, that you're fundamentally sinful.

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No. God has looked upon you... He doesn't want to hear anything from churches that say you're bad or fundamentally sinful.

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You know, those churches that teach what the Word of God says, all the passages I showed you.

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I mean, I can't think of a clearer example of this man's rebellion. This man hates the

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Word of God, flat -out hates it, so much so he has to twist it. And I would note he's not being a true child of God, he's behaving like Satan, who is the father of lies.

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In fact, Christ had a thing or two to say about Satan and his children. Talking to those who didn't believe in him,

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Jesus says, If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God. This is John 8, and I am here.

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I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It's because you cannot bear to hear my word.

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You are of your father the devil. Your will is to do your father's desires. I would note Jesus didn't have a very high anthropology here, did he?

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He didn't turn around tell everyone how good they were. He said they were of their father the devil, and their will is to do their father's desires.

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And then describing Satan, he was a murderer from the beginning, and he doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

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When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar, and he is the father of lies.

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But because I tell the truth, you do not believe. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me?

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Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you don't hear them is that you are not of God.

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The reason why Caleb J Lines says, I don't want to hear any more about churches who are telling you that you're evil by nature.

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The reason why he's saying that is because he's revealing to you who he's really from.

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He isn't sent from God. He is sent from the devil. He is teaching the doctrines of the devil, and Christ says whoever is of God hears the

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Word of God. But he won't hear those words, so listen to his condemnation of those churches again.

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Listen. He desperately needs to hear, which is that you are all good, and that you are all loved by God.

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I don't want to hear any more from churches that say that you're bad, that you're fundamentally sinful.

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No. Yet the biblical texts say all of those things, and you refuse to believe it.

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In fact, Jesus taught those things, and you refuse to believe it.

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So I hate to say this, Reverend Dr. Caleb J Lines, but when people contradict

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Jesus and they contradict the Word of God, I don't listen to them. I dismiss them, and I warn people about them, and tell people to mark and avoid such people.

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Your fight isn't with those churches, sir. Your fight is with Christ, who is the

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God who inspired all of those words to be written in the scriptures, and because you hate

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God's Word, it shows that you weren't sent by God. I think

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I made my point. So hopefully you found this helpful. If so, all the information on how you can share the video is down below in the description, and don't forget there is a link there as well to that copy of Augustine's works against the

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Pelagians for follow -up homework if you want to go deeper on the subject. And let me give a quick shout -out and a thank you for all of you who support

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And until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.

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