here's my (edited) letter which i submitted with a note to the editor:

December 17, 2012

 Editor, the Petal News

             I’ve been a somewhat faithful reader of Ronnie McBrayer’s column, “Keeping the Faith,” for some time now and basically enjoy it, but his column in the December 13^th  edition compels me to write.

            He wrote:  “Paul continued, ‘And through Christ, God reconciled everything to himself.  He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth.’ . . . (God) is at peace with us.  He has reconciled all things.  There is no anger to placate and no blood to shed, only his love to receive, explore and share.”

            I’m not sure what Ronnie does with John 3:36 (“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” [ESV]), but I’m afraid that he, like most Christians, rationalize it away.  Especially the obedience part. 

            The average commentator advocates, I maintain, what has been called the “assumed gospel” rather than the “explicit gospel.”  The assumed gospel calls to mind (and let’s talk also about “whoever [truly] believes in the Son has eternal life”) Jesus saying in Matthew 15 that “’  This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;   in vain do [the believers] worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” and people assuming that this could not possibly be prophetic of our time and our Christian churches.    

            I believe Psalm 55:19, which goes “God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, because they do not change and do not fear God.”, is also prophetic of this day and age.   

            Yes, I believe the fear of the Lord is a key to the mystery.  Consider Revelation 19:15:  “From (Jesus’) mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.  He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of Almighty God.”

            And from Revelation 2:  “And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give unto each of you as your works deserve.”  Obedience to Jesus’ commands is where good works come from.

            And notice here what matters:  our hearts, our minds, and our works.  And given that “many are called, but few are chosen,” (another hard saying), it seems your average person, and your average Christian, have lots of good reasons to fear the wrath of God.

            “God wants to take up the hurt and injured into his arms to love and mend, not destroy,” Ronnie added.  Yes indeed, but the Bible explicitly states, to me anyway, that in order to accept God’s gift of grace we have to not just repent, not just turn away from our sinful ways, but we must be obedient to Jesus’ commands to prove our repentance.

joel parker

(info deleted)

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here's the letter as originally submitted; i sent a carbon copy to Ronnie:

December 14, 2012

Editor, the Petal News

            I’ve been a somewhat faithful reader of Ronnie McBrayer’s column, “Keeping the Faith,” for some time now and basically enjoy it, but his column in the December 13^th  edition compels me to write.

            He wrote:  “Paul continued, ‘And through Christ, God reconciled everything to himself.  He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth.’ . . . (God) is at peace with us.  He has reconciled all things.  There is no anger to placate and no blood to shed, only his love to receive, explore and share.”

            I’m not sure what Ronnie does with John 3:36 (“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” [ESV]), but I’m afraid that he, like most Christians, rationalize it away.  Especially the obedience part. 

            The average commentator advocates, I maintain, what has been called the “assumed gospel” rather than the “explicit gospel.”  The assumed gospel calls to mind (and let’s talk also about “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life”) Jesus saying in Matthew 15 that “  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.    But in vain [the believers] do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (KJV)” and people assuming that this could not possibly be prophetic of our time and our Christian churches.    

            I believe Psalm 55:19, which goes “God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, because they do not change and do not fear God.” (ESV), is also prophetic of this day and age.   

            Yeah, I believe the fear of the Lord is a key to the mystery.  Consider Revelation 19:15-16 (KJV):  “And out of his mouth goest a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

            And from Revelation 2 (KJV):  “All the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the [minds] and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.”  Obedience to Jesus’ commands is where good works come from.

            And notice that here “every one” of us will be judged by our hearts, our minds, and our works.  And given that “many are called, but few are chosen,” (another hard saying), it seems your average person, and your average Christian, have lots of good reasons to fear the wrath of God.

            “God wants to take up the hurt and injured into his arms to love and mend, not destroy,” Ronnie added.  Yes indeed, but the Bible explicitly states, to me anyway, that to be accepted by God we have to not just repent, not just turn away from our sinful ways, but we must be obedient to Jesus’ commands to prove our repentance.

joel parker

(info deleted)