[bearbear]

Originally Posted by Raptor

2) The prodigal son REPENTED. The main concept behind being disqualified from ruling and reigning with Christ in the Millenial is that of sinful believers who DO NOT REPENT. That´s one of the main points concerning the Lord´s calling in Rev. 2 and 3, ...a calling for sinful believers to repent.

I assumed the millennial exclusion position would classify the prodigal son the same as the unprofitable 1 talent servant who was thrown into outer darkness since neither had produced any works but are considered saved within millennial exclusion. I'm sorry if I misrepresented it.

Originally Posted by Raptor

Mike Bickle:
According to Bearbear, Bickle will be rewarded, and rule and reign in the Kingdom....the same as Paul.

Raptor this also reveals that you do not understand my position even after our history of long debate over this subject. I would never come to this conclusion and neither would George Zeller of Middletown Bible Church. Mike Bickle if he doesn't repent before dying, would be evidence that he is a false believer, a bad tree (Matt 7:19) and a tare (Matt 13:24-30). However since he's still alive and may repent and only God would know whether Mike Bickle is saved per 2 Tim 2:19 -- let's refer to this person as a hypothetical "Jim" instead. This hypothetical Jim would be cast into outer darkness after dying awaiting final judgment and eventually be cast into the lake of fire. Remember, we don't think everyone who professes the faith is saved. In the words of Howard Pittman who you're also familiar with, to be saved you have to be a heart possessor and not a mouth professor (which is also the central theme behind his book "Placebo').

Jim would actually fit very well with the workers of lawlessness in Matt 7:21-23. All the works and ministry he did would be in vain because he was a false believer who lawlessly sexually abused women and did not repent of it. He would be disowned by Jesus via the words "I never knew you, depart from me". Unlike millennial exclusion, we do not believe the workers of lawlessness like Jim are saved.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

So this hypothetical Jim would burn in hell forever and not be even close to approaching the Apostle Paul who himself was afraid of being damned (1 Corinthians 9:27, Phil 3:11-12) and perhaps falling into the same snare.

1 Corinthians 9:27 (ESV)
"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified [adokimos, also used to refer to the damned in Hebrews 6:8]."

Also I think the prodigal son may receive little to no rewards. While the father did throw him a party and welcomed him back to his home, the son sold his inheritance after all and that cannot be changed.

If you have time I would recommend you read this position paper on free grace to understand the traditional dispensational view on grace which many of the Brethren also held prior to Govett:

https://www.middletownbiblechurch.or...e/freegrKS.pdf

Here's a snippet:

The Bible reveals that it is repentance which prepares an unsaved person to receive God’s saving grace (Acts 11:18; Rom. 2:4) and transformation of living is the result of God’s sanctifying work of grace occurring in the believer’s life (Rom. 6:1-15; Titus 2:11-12), none of which involves legalism. When grace is at work legalism cannot be at work (Rom. 11:6). The free grace that saves also produces freedom from the bondage of sin. It does not keep a person in the pigpen of his old way of life, permanently bound to sin, unbelief, and committed to apostasy (2 Pet. 2:22).

Here is where some of the Free Grace Theology goes off the rails. If a person can deny the truth of the Gospel, live as an apostate, live like the devil and be labeled a child of the devil (1 John 3:10), and still be saved, as some Free Grace Theology assumes, then this is actually a distortion of free grace. This is because grace is not only freely received (without works) for salvation (Eph. 2:8-9) but the work of sanctifying grace occurring in a person’s life also frees or liberates an individual from his former living and belief systems which run contrary to Biblical truth. Free grace not only saves but sanctifies (Rom. 6:14-15) in its outworking within the believer’s life. Its freedom is experienced in both salvation and sanctification.

Free gracers shoot themselves in the foot many times by pushing “free grace” to the outer limits and creating a radical disconnect from the teaching of Biblical repentance in relation to salvation and sanctification. This is because they do not see repentance as necessary for salvation and transformation as necessary in confirming a person’s salvation. But the message of the Gospel and grace reminds us that we can be free from sin’s penalty and power through Christ alone (Rom. 3:24; Gal. 1:4; Titus 2:11-12; Heb. 2:15). However, if a person does not repent and rejects this message of grace and freedom by choosing darkness over light (John 3:19), rejecting the claims of Jesus Christ (John 5:40), not recognizing he is a sinner and needs a Savior (Rom. 3:10-12, 23), that salvation is by faith without works (Rom. 3:20), and if he wants to live in open rebellion against God, deny the faith like an apostate (2 Peter 2), then he cannot experience grace and freedom. He has mocked the precious pearl of grace (Matt. 7:6) and missed the freedom that grace is designed to bring in the life of a true Gospel believer.