WHEN MYSTICAL ALTARS REPLACE THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST (PART III)

“Salvation Is Not Christ Plus an Altar, a Crown, or a Supernatural Authorization System”

By Akin Ojumu

In the first two installments of this commentary, we subjected Joshua Selman’s extraordinary theological claims about priesthood, kingship, invisible crowns, mystical altars, and supernatural authorization systems to the scrutiny of Holy Scripture.

In Part I, we established that the royal priesthood of believers is a privilege secured through their union with Jesus Christ, the eternal High Priest and sovereign King. It is not a supernatural power arrangement in which priesthood generates spiritual electricity for kingship.

In Part II, we examined the equally bizarre notion that Christians must operate invisible altars powered by prayer, Bible study, consecration, and other religious activities. We established that the Bible teaches no such thing.

Prayer is commanded. Bible study is commanded. Holiness is commanded. Consecration is part of the Christian’s response to the grace of God.

But nowhere do the Lord Jesus Christ or His Apostles teach that these activities supply supernatural energy to imaginary altars that authorize invisible crowns.

Now, in this third installment, I want to address the most serious theological danger lurking beneath this elaborate mystical edifice.

THE DANGER OF OBSCURING THE SUFFICIENCY OF JESUS CHRIST AND REPLACING THE GOSPEL OF GRACE WITH RELIGIOUS PERFORMANCE.

Because beneath all the impressive vocabulary, the supposed heavenly protocols, the invisible spiritual machinery, and the extravagant claims of supernatural authorization lies a fundamental question.

IS JESUS CHRIST ENOUGH?

Or must His completed redemptive work be supplemented by religious activities that activate spiritual privileges supposedly unavailable without them?

That is the question Joshua Selman’s mystical theological universe compels us to confront. And the answer is not hidden in some mysterious spiritual dimension.

It is written plainly in Holy Scripture.

SALVATION IS BY GRACE. SANCTIFICATION IS BY GRACE. GLORIFICATION IS BY GRACE.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a spiritual self-improvement program. Neither is Christianity an elaborate collection of religious activities by which human beings accumulate supernatural power, manufacture divine authorization, or qualify themselves for the privileges of redemption.

Such concepts belong in pagan, idolatrous, occultic religions.

The Gospel is the Good News of what God has accomplished for sinners through the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of His Son. Our salvation is not the achievement of human religious ingenuity.

IT IS THE WORK OF GOD FROM BEGINNING TO END.

The Apostle Paul writes:

Ephesians 2:8–9

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Our salvation is by grace.

Titus 3:5

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

Our regeneration is by grace.

Philippians 2:12–13

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Our sanctification involves genuine obedience, but even that obedience is enabled and empowered by God’s gracious work within us.

The believer is not a passive spectator in sanctification. He is commanded to strive against sin, pursue holiness, obey God’s Word, and persevere in faith.

But these activities are not independent human contributions that supplement a deficient redemption. They are the fruits of God’s saving and sanctifying grace.

Paul makes the same point in 1 Corinthians 15:10 when he acknowledges that he labored abundantly, yet attributes even his labor to the grace of God working through him.

1 Corinthians 15:10

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

Likewise, 1 Corinthians 1:8–9 teaches that God is faithful and will sustain His people to the end.

Our preservation is by grace.

And Romans 8:29–30 establishes the unbreakable chain of God’s saving purpose, extending from foreknowledge and predestination through calling and justification to glorification.

Romans 8:29–30

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Our ultimate glorification is secured by God’s grace.

FROM REGENERATION TO GLORIFICATION, SALVATION IS THE WORK OF GOD.

The believer does not initiate salvation by grace and then complete it through the operation of a mystical altar.

Nor does the Christian receive justification by faith only to discover that his continued spiritual standing requires maintaining an invisible authorization system.

The Apostle Paul confronted precisely the underlying error of attempting to complete through human performance what God began by His Spirit.

Galatians 3:3

“Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

That question ought to reverberate through every congregation where believers are being taught that their spiritual security depends upon managing invented supernatural systems.

Having begun by the Spirit, are you now going to be perfected by your altar?

Having been redeemed by Christ, are you now going to be sustained by your imaginary crown?

Having received the Holy Spirit, are you now going to complete your salvation through a spiritual authorization mechanism that Jesus and His Apostles never mentioned?

What exactly is lacking in the finished work of Christ that these mystical contraptions are supposed to provide?

THE DANGER OF CHRIST-PLUS THEOLOGY

Let me be theologically precise.

Not every erroneous teaching about prayer, altars, spiritual authority, or consecration necessarily constitutes an explicit doctrine of salvation by works.

And Joshua Selman’s quoted statement does not expressly declare that sinners must earn justification through their religious activities.

Nevertheless, the spiritual framework he advances raises serious theological concerns.

Because when religious activities are presented as the basis of acceptance before God, or as necessary supplements to Christ’s completed redemptive work, such teaching has crossed into the territory of works-righteousness.

And when Christians are made dependent upon invented spiritual mechanisms for their security, identity, and access to divine favor, the sufficiency of Christ is being obscured.

Paul warns against this danger.

Colossians 2:9–10

“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”

Believers possess their fullness in Christ. They do not require an additional mystical system to make Him sufficient.

In Colossians 2:18–19, Paul warns against religious practices characterized by false humility, visionary pretensions, and a failure to hold fast to Christ, the Head.

Colossians 2:18–19

“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

Then, in Colossians 2:23, he exposes the futility of self-imposed religious regulations that possess an appearance of wisdom but lack genuine power to restrain sinful desires.

Colossians 2:23

“These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

And this is precisely what makes religious mysticism so dangerous.

It has the appearance of profound spirituality. It employs impressive vocabulary. It introduces mysterious systems, supernatural hierarchies, spiritual protocols, and invisible mechanisms. It makes ordinary biblical truths appear inadequate unless supplemented by the preacher’s supposedly deeper revelations.

And before long, the Christian is no longer occupied principally with the glorious person and finished work of Jesus Christ.

He is preoccupied with whether his altar is functioning, whether his crown is activated, whether his priesthood is adequately powered, and whether some mysterious heavenly department has approved his spiritual authorization.

This is what happens when the simplicity and sufficiency of Christ are buried beneath a mountain of religious imagination.

The preacher becomes indispensable because he claims to possess the knowledge required to operate a system that exists nowhere outside his own theological inventions.

THE GOSPEL BECOMES COMPLICATED BECAUSE THE INVENTED SYSTEM REQUIRES AN INTERPRETER.

And the interpreter conveniently happens to be the person who invented the system.

What a magnificent religious business model!

Invent an invisible spiritual problem. Construct an equally invisible supernatural solution. Convince your audience that the operation of the solution requires specialized knowledge. Then appoint yourself the authorized interpreter of the entire arrangement.

And because the system exists exclusively within the preacher’s religious imagination, nobody can independently examine its operations. The audience is simply expected to believe.

Questioning the system becomes evidence of spiritual ignorance. Demanding biblical proof becomes a sign that the questioner lacks revelation. And rejecting the invented machinery becomes proof that the skeptic does not understand the mysteries of the Kingdom.

Thus, religious imagination is enthroned above biblical revelation. And the authority of Scripture is quietly displaced by the authority of the religious personality.

THE PREACHER’S INVENTIONS BECOME THE DOCTRINE. HIS IMAGINATION BECOMES THE REVELATION. HIS PERSONALITY BECOMES THE AUTHORITY.

And Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man, is pushed into the background while the congregation becomes preoccupied with the operation of a spiritual system that the Bible never established.

This is the grave danger of Christ-plus theology.

It is not enough to use the name of Jesus while constructing a theological system that makes His finished work appear insufficient. It is not enough to sprinkle Scripture over human inventions and call the resulting concoction revelation.

The question is whether the system being taught is actually revealed in Scripture.

And if the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles taught no such system, on whose authority has Joshua Selman introduced it into the Church?

That question brings us to the final installment of this commentary.

PART IV: CHRIST IS ENOUGH — THE GOSPEL DOES NOT NEED MYSTICAL MACHINERY.