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The cross. One word, one moment, one event, one idea. And yet, such a word and event shook the world.
The entire cosmos pivots on this occasion. History celebrates as the crushing weight of fulfillment falls from its shoulders.
Such imagery; such passion. The apostle Paul declared this to be his one consuming identifier.
To know nothing, but Christ crucified. Torn Veil exists to bring the individual into the very presence and provision of God.
Its singular intent is for everyone to taste and see just how good God is. May you come thirsty and leave quenched.
May the hunger you know be satiated by the overflowing grace of God exhibited in the life, death, burial, resurrection,
and ascension of God's appointed Son, Jesus. Join us as we explore The Unsearchable Riches of Christ (Eph. 2:9).
AN INTRODUCTION
The Bible tells us that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
What is the significance of this? During the lifetime of Jesus, the temple was the place where the Jewish religion required
the people to make animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins. Hebrews 9:1-9 tells us that in the temple a veil
separated the Holy of Holies, the place where God dwelt, from the rest of the temple. Only the high priest was allowed to
enter beyond the veil, and only once a year (Exodus 30:10), to make atonement for the sins of Israel (Leviticus 16).
When Jesus died on the cross and the veil was rent from top to bottom, access to God was now available to the common man.
Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice fulfilling the required sacrifices once and for all. The fact that the veil was ripped
from top to bottom signifies that God did it (Matt. 27:51). The work was done solely and completely by Jesus Christ.
Jesus is enough in this life and in the life to come. He is not only enough for our justification, but also for our
sanctification (the Christian life [Eph. 2:5, 6]). Those who trust in His completed work, enjoy the forgiveness of sin,
unrestraint access to God, and the freedom that can only be found in Him.
TORNVEIL.ORG seeks to celebrate this truth and to spread this message to others through the written and spoken word.
All the teaching and writings on this site are from Pastor Patrick Griffiths of
Waukesha Bible Church, unless otherwise indicated.
Four ideas color our approach:
- First, because of who Jesus is and what Jesus did, we can have confidence that we have been and are being accepted by the Father.
- Second, because of who Jesus is and what Jesus did, we can have confidence that we have access to the Father.
- Third, because of who Jesus is and what Jesus did, we can have confidence that we have an unconditional advocate before the Father.
- And finally, because of who Jesus is and what Jesus did, we can have confidence that we have an unconditional assurance with the Father. When Jesus is our great high priest, we need not wonder or worry about our relationship with the Father. That relationship is something to be celebrated and enjoyed.
TORNVEIL.ORG is under the oversight of Waukesha Bible Church and as such the following are held in common.
OUR VISION
"They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the
waters cover the sea." (Isa. 11:9)
OUR MISSION
To preach the Gospel to the Church and through the Church to the World.
OUR THEOLOGICAL DNA [Our Unique Personality within Evangelical Christianity]
- OUR GOSPEL DNA
Our "Theological DNA" (otherwise known as our "Grace Message") may be described in the following manner:
The centrality of the Gospel and the implications of the gospel both vertically and horizontally;
and the application of the same in our handling of Scripture and people.
Because of how glorious and complete Jesus' work is:
- Nothing anyone does can earn God's blessing or merit God's favor in any way. This includes Christians. Because of our position in Christ, because of how thorough His work was, and how powerful and gracious He is - no "performance" can earn us additional blessings, nor "failures" lose us the blessings purchased by His blood.
- The Father never deals with a believer's sin in a "punishing" way - God never "chastens" us in His wrath, because Jesus took that for us. God is never angry with a Christian - God is always, only, pleased with them. Though sin affects our human relationships, it no longer (ever and forever) affects our relationship with God.
- Therefore, nothing Christians do earn additional favor(s) from God or absolves them of fresh sins. Believers do not need to continue to ask for forgiveness. They never need to "get right" or "get back into fellowship" with God. They cannot "pray" or "obey" their way into extra blessings, since they can never reverse or add to what Christ has already done.
- Therefore, traditional Christian "disciplines" are given to us as grace - for our joy, not as a vehicle to "higher living" or "greater success." They must never be used as means of causing guilt against our own selves or others, but as celebrations of grace.
Reducing it down to our specific, unique, peculiarities of our theology -
- OUR HERMENEUTICAL DNA
- The Bible tells a single Story and JESUS is at the center of it.
- The Bible is not about the reader, but about God.
- The Bible is not an instruction manual for life, but a revelation of God.
- All passages of Scripture will be examined and understood in context.
- All application of a text will be bound by the context from which it came.
- The Hermeneutical principles employed by those who teach at WBC will follow the guidelines provided by the SIMEON TRUST.
- OUR ECCLESIASTICAL DNA
- We believe local alignment is part of gospel consequence.
- We believe the Christian life is lived in and through the local church.
- We believe the Christian life identifies with a local church that has a biblical structure (i.e. Elders and Deacons), biblical pattern (i.e. Water Baptism and the Lord's Table), and biblical mission (i.e. Church Planting).
- OUR MORAL DNA
- We believe the JESUS SEED always and inevitably produces GOSPEL FRUIT.
- We believe the greatest commandment and summation of the entire Law is to love God and as a result, to love one's neighbor.
- We believe the New Testament teaches the inseparable relationship between one's justification and one's sanctification.
- We believe faith and works must always go together and must always sequentially follow that order. Faith is causal and work is consequential. Paul and James agree.
- We believe it is impossible to actually know God and yet to deny him by one's work.
- We believe it is impossible to have the genuine form of godliness and yet to deny its power.
- We believe although sanctification/fruit is inevitable, it is not measurable.
- We believe the NT imperative is descriptive of the Christian and not prescriptive for the Christian.
- We believe the imputed righteousness of Christ to the Christian; the Holy Spirit works in and through the Christian to those around the Christian. Thus, Christians live righteous lives.
- OUR ALLIANCES
- All of the Historical Creeds of the first five centuries
- The 2nd London Baptist Confession [An Overall Alliance with The Core of Reformed Confessions]
- The Heidelberg Disputations
- Theocast [The Grace Network]
- Waukesha Bible Church of Waukesha, WI
- Merrill Bible Church of Merrill, WI
- Fellowship Bible Church of Palmyra, WI
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