March 11, 1996 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Shelby Spong, Episcopal bishop of Newark, New Jersey, is one of the chief blasphemers of this hour. Like all Modernists (regardless of what label they lay claim to) he is "deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13). Spong believes the Bible is merely a collection of myths and religious fables, yet he claims to love God's Word. He denies the virgin birth, deity, miracles, vicarious death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, yet he claims to honor and serve Him. He believes sexual relations can be holy outside of marriage and that homosexuals can live together in holy unions, yet he claims to believe in biblical morality.

Spong is as liberal as a man can possibly be in the theological sense, but he doesn't claim to be a liberal, and he rebukes liberals for--of all things--not taking the Bible seriously! Reading after many of today's theologians is an exercise in extreme confusion.

The reason I have titled this article "A Bold Blasphemer" is because Spong is more straightforward with his blasphemy than most Modernists and Apostates. Many theologians undermine biblical doctrine in an endless number of clever ways without plainly saying what they mean. Spong comes right out and tells you that he does not believe the Bible.

Consider excerpts from three of Spong's books: Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture (1991), Born of A Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Virgin Birth and the Treatment of Women by A Male-dominated Church (1992), and Living in Sin: A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality (1988).

"The ascension of Jesus was not about space travel or moon shots. It was not to be literalized in terms of a first-century cosmology. The Pentecost story did not mean that ignorant fishermen like Peter and Andrew suddenly were able to speak Chinese, German, or Swedish. To literalize the Lukan narrative would be to destroy it irrevocably" (Spong, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture, HarperSan Francisco, 1991, p. 184).

"Beneath Matthew's literal details, some of which are so gauche as to be embarrassing, the voice of God can still be heard calling us all to discover the One in whom Jew and Gentile can reside as one, then white and black, Asian and Caucasian, Protestant and Catholic, male and female, gay and straight, rich and poor, Moslem, Buddhist, and Hindu can also meet in the body of Christ. Then and only then will that body be 'one, holy, catholic and apostolic'" (Rescuing the Bible, p. 166).

"Matthew was also given to heightening the miraculous ... Matthew also had a strange fascination with hell, gnashing of teeth, weeping and wailing, burning pits, and eternal punishment. ... Hell is a favorite theme in the evangelistic preaching of the literalists, of course, where behavior control by means of reward and punishment is prominent" (Rescuing the Bible, p. 155).

"The literalization of the Scriptures is worse than no answer. It clothes God in ignorance, prejudice, and irrationality" (Rescuing the Bible, p. 143).

"With the softening of that homophobic stance we might consider the hypothesis that Paul may have been a gay male. ... I suggest the possibility that Paul was a homosexual ... nothing else accounts for this data as well as the possibility that Paul was a gay male" (Rescuing the Bible, pp. 116,117).

"Paul was not a universal scholar. He was not even a good biblical scholar. ... Paul treated Adam as if he were as literal and historic a figure as Jesus of Nazareth had been (Rom. 5:14,18). No biblical scholar will march today under that banner. ... To treat the words of Paul as if they are the inerrant Word of God, however, presents us with far more problems than it solves. ... Paul cannot be taken literally. He did not write the Word of God" (Rescuing the Bible, pp. 104,105). [Editor: Paul's scholarship and wisdom make Spong look like a kindergarten student.]

"Am I suggesting that these stories of the virgin birth are not literally true? The answer is a simple and direct 'Yes.' Of course these narratives are not literally true. Stars do not wander, angels do not sing, virgins do not give birth, magi do not travel to a distant land to present gifts to a baby, and shepherds do not go in search of a newborn savior. I know of no reputable biblical scholar in the world today who takes these birth narratives literally. Does that mean that the virgin birth story is not literally true? Let me answer this categorically. The virgin birth tradition of the New Testament is not literally true. It should not be literally believed" (Rescuing the Bible, p. 215).

"Luke's birth story ... Is it true? If that question is an inquiry into the literal historical truth of this narrative, the answer is, of course, no! ... There was no biologically literal virgin birth, no miraculous overcoming of barrenness in the birth of John the Baptist, no angel Gabriel who appeared to Zechariah or to Mary, no deaf muteness, no angelic chorus that peopled the heavens to announce Jesus' birth to hillside shepherds, no journey to Bethlehem, no presentation or purification in Jerusalem, and no childhood temple story. Indeed, in all probability Jesus was born in Nazareth in a very normal way either as the child of Mary and Joseph, or else he was an illegitimate child that Joseph validated by acknowledging him as Joseph's son. All that can be stated definitely is that the echoes of the status of illegitimacy appear to be far stronger in the text than the suggestion that Jesus was Mary's child by Joseph" (Born of A Woman, pp. 157,158).

"I, for one, am no longer willing to acknowledge the claim that morality has been frozen in an era that primarily served the dominant male. ... I dare, rather, to claim that a new morality is emerging that does manifest the fruits of the Spirit and that is built on the foundation of the mutuality of the sexes" (Living in Sin, p. 66).

"Contemporary research is today uncovering new facts that are producing a rising conviction that homosexuality, far from being a sickness, sin, perversion, or unnatural act, is a healthy, natural, and affirming form of human sexuality for some people" (Living in Sin, p. 71).

"Of course gay people should be considered without prejudice for the ordination process" (Living in Sin, p. 87).

"Yes, there can be holy sex in the life of a mature single adult. ... The church must abandon its irrelevant ethical judgments that arise from realities that no longer exist ... The prohibitions of the past have been abandoned, not because people are evil 'secular modernists' but because life has changed and those prohibitions are simply no longer appropriate" (Living in Sin, p. 217).

"Perhaps the most sexist institution left in Western civilization is the church. ... The election of women to the office of bishop will announce to the world that the Christian church has finally read the signs and that we rejoice to be part of a new day" (Living in Sin, p. 219,225).

THE DOWNFALL OF A BISHOP

I'm sure you are exclaiming with me, "What a blasphemer!" To entertain the possibility that Paul was a homosexual or that Christ was an illegitimate child--indeed, Spong is a blasphemer. He did not start out that way, though. John Spong's story is a sad one which has been repeated countless times, and one which reminds us to beware of what education we allow our children to pursue.

As a boy of twelve, he was given a King James Bible as a Christmas present by his mother, who "was a woman of a simple faith; no critical problems ever bothered her understanding of God" (Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, p. 14). Of the new Bible Spong said he placed it "prominently on my bedside table, where it could conveniently remind me of my vow to read it daily. And read it I did; and I still do. I was drawn powerfully to that book." Spong's father had died only four months prior to this.

In his junior and senior years of high school, Spong took two classes in the Bible in the public school system in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was the late 1940s. He says his teacher "believed that God had dictated every word of Holy Scripture, that it was in a literal sense `the Word of God.'" At that time he memorized large portions of Scripture, including "many salvation-oriented proof texts." He claims that at that point in his life, "there was for me no authority beyond the affirmation `the Bible says'" (Ibid., p. 14).

Spong traces the death of his belief in the Bible to his student years in a secular university. "My literalistic approach to the Bible died in late adolescence under the onslaught of a great secular state university" (Living in Sin, p. 95).

The final blow to his faith came through an apostate seminary. "While at theological seminary I yearned to get as deeply as possible into biblical studies. I was thrilled with the insights of higher criticism" (Living in Sin, p. 96). "When I became aware that neither the word virgin nor the concept of virginity appears in the Hebrew text of Isaiah that Matthew quoted to undergird his account of Jesus' virgin birth, I became newly aware of the fragile nature of biblical fundamentalism. ... `Almah' never means `virgin' in Hebrew. I had to face early on in my priestly career the startling possibility that the virgin tradition so deep in Christianity may well rest upon something as fragile as the weak reed of a mistranslation" (Rescuing the Bible, p. 16).

Spong swallowed the lies of his liberal professors. They told him that the Hebrew word for "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14, almah, never means virgin. That is incredible ignorance. The fact is that it always means virgin!

Almah is used nine times in the Bible (Ge. 24:43; Ex. 2:8; Ps. 68:25; Pr. 30:19; Song 1:3; 6:8; Is. 7:14). Almah is translated `maid' in Ex. 2:8 and `damsels' in Ps. 68:25. Though many commentators contend that the word can refer to a woman who is not strictly a virgin, it cannot be proven that it is ever so used in Scripture. Gen. 24:43 refers to Rebekah before she became Isaac's bride. She obviously was a virgin in the strictest sense of the word. Ex. 2:8 refers to Moses' sister when she was a girl living at home. Again this is a clear reference to a virgin. Ps. 68:25 and Song 1:3 and 6:8 are not as clear as to what kind of girls are in view, but there is absolutely no indication in the contexts that these are not virgins. To say that they are not is mere speculation. The reference in Isaiah 7:14 without question speaks of a virgin, because it was fulfilled in the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The New Testament plainly tells us that though she was espoused to Joseph, she conceived the Lord Jesus Christ "before they came together" (Matt. 1:18). The Holy Spirit quotes Isaiah and applies it directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Any "theologian" who questions the Authorized Version's translation of Isaiah 7:14 is denying the testimony of God.

We can thus trace the spiritual downfall of a young man, and it exposes the grave danger of unbelieving education. Secular, government-run school systems--regardless of what level, elementary, high school, or college--have robbed multitudes of faith in God's Word. Those who do not throw off the Bible altogether, often become distant to the things of Christ and halfhearted toward the house of God. Unbelieving seminaries have also destroyed the faith of multitudes. There is the rare individual who can attend an apostate school and come through with his faith intact, but he is rare indeed. The Bible warns that the words of false teachers and compromisers have the capacity to "deceive the heart" (Romans 16:16,17), to "eat as doth a canker," and to "overthrow the faith" (2 Timothy 2:16,17).

Ultimately, of course, no one can be blamed for John Spong's unbelief except John Spong. He was given a foundation in the Bible under at least two people who believed it. When faced with the challenges of Modernism, he could have believed God and rejected man's blasphemies. He chose to believe man. He admits that higher criticism delighted him. His heart is revealed in the following statement: "If a religious system requires that a literal Bible be embraced, I must walk away from that system" (Rescuing the Bible, p. 107). He simply refuses to believe that the Bible is the perfect Word of God.

Consider, too, the fault of the churches associated with Spong. False teachers carry on their pernicious work because churches refuse to deal with error. Why hasn't Spong been excommunicated? Why, rather, has he been honored and put forward as a Christian leader? The reason is the churches he is affiliated with don't care really about the truth. If they did, they would obey God. "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition REJECT; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself" (Titus 3:10-11).

Some say, "Who are we to condemn another?" The answer is that the churches don't condemn anyone. God says the heretic is "condemned of himself." He has chosen a false way. He is selfwilled and refuses to repent when admonished by God's men. Thus he must be rejected for the sake of the churches. If false teachers are not rejected, if Bible-believers do not separate from error, that error will be a leaven which will leaven the whole lump (Galatians 5:9).

Friends, beware of Modernism. Beware of secular education. Beware of being sympathetic toward those who are involved with error. These are life and death matters. "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners" (1 Corinthians 15:33).

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[The previous material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 4, 1995. David W. Cloud, Editor. All rights are reserved by the author. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, Bible Baptist Church, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. Send to Bethel Baptist Church, P.O. Box 9075, London, Ontario N6E 1V0.]

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David Cloud dcloud@wayoflife.org http://www.wayoflife.org/
1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277

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