Jonathan Leonardo’s Love Reality tour is a series of sermons that he gives in various places. His detractors such as GC President Ted Wilson say it is based on some type of “once saved always saved idea”or as the writer on the website Fulcrum7 said it is “hyper grace”. Neither is helpful as they assume that the reader has a thorough understanding of what each term means. Ted Wilson’s once saved always saved is actually eternal security which is played against the Arminianism theology that one can lose their salvation.
Gerry Wagoner writes at Fulcrum7
as follows: “Hyper-grace is an exaggerated new wave of teaching that emphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin. Hyper-grace teachers maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven, so there is no need for a believer to ever confess it.
Hyper-grace teaching says that, when God looks at us, He sees only a holy and righteous people —or children, to use the language of Love Reality. (This is true for a surrendered, repentant believer walking in an intimate relationship with the Lord. It is not true of an individual walking in presumption, using grace as a license for sin). The conclusion of hyper-grace teaching is that we are not bound by Jesus’ teaching, even as we are not under the Law; that believers are not responsible for their sin; and that anyone who disagrees is a pharisaical legalist. “
This is how Wikipedia defines hyper grace
: “Hyper-Grace is characterized by holding to eternal security with a high emphasis on divine grace. Hyper-Grace advocates hold that the believer is not under the Mosaic law in any sense, that one's sinful actions cannot hurt fellowship with God, denies the necessity of regular confession of sin in the life of a believer and holds to the belief that every Christian will have an equal possession in heaven.[3][10][11][12][13] However, Hyper-Grace advocates reject viewing grace as a "license" to live in disobedience, viewing it as the only way to stay away from sin and emphasizing the natural consequences sin may have.[9][14] Thus, advocates of the view have argued that grace is the most powerful motivator of obedience.[15][16] Hyper-Grace rejects the idea of "Lordship Salvation", arguing that it leads to self examination and doubt. Advocates of Hyper-Grace deny that salvific repentance should be viewed as contrition and hatred for sin, instead being a change of mind, thus a synonym for belief in Christ.”
Gerry Wagoner is more correct in using the term
hyper grace but completely wrong when he says what it means.
A good example of how hyper grace works is discussed by Paul Ellis
: “ Since hyper-grace opponents don’t like to be called legalists, I’ll swap the word law for the word works to acknowledge their view that there are things you must do to be saved or sanctified. From this we can identify three gospels:
1. Graceless gospel: You are saved by works and sanctified by works
2. Mixed-grace gospel: You are saved by grace but sanctified by works
3. Hyper-grace gospel: You are saved by grace and sanctified by grace
So now let’s determine if Leonardo is as Ted
Wilson claims basing his teachings on once saved always saved. First I need to
point out that Jonathan Leonardo has a large video presence on YouTube but
practically no written material for me to quote. At one point he did have a
book which he put out through Renown publishing
in 2022 which appears to simply be a
self publishing book firm and while it is listed on Amazon and several other
places it is not available anywhere and not available even as an e-book. So I
have taken the transcripts from the Love
Reality PVC series in 2019 I will publish these
transcripts on this blog as well so that people can find them all together.
This is suboptimal as really anyone serious about their theology should take
the time to have written down their ideas, research and reasoning.
In Leonardo’s first sermon at the PVC
church he says the following:
49:09 “…we hear those words all right cuz let me ask you a quick question how many times y'all in this room expect to get saved once, once right pastor Greg how many times you expect to get saved once, once you get saved how long you expect to be saved oh oh man see you like once saved always saved you see how that works yeah so we say things but we don't really mean that thing when we say once saved always saved we're really meanings like Oh Jonathan can you just abuse grace and live however you want and call it like oh well God forgives me why would I get why would I get free from death and then willingly go back to it now that I've tasted freedom I got holiness and holiness is an awesome gift why would I now be out there acting a fool with lust and addiction and talking 50:00 all crazy because I think that's Liberty that's not Liberty I got delivered from that why would I turn back to that but that deliverance is not what qualifies me you know what qualifies me the fact that he created me and calls me son and he calls every last one of y'all sons and daughters…”
In tour number 11 Leonardo says: In
51:43"...don't you let it be said that this Grace We're preaching that empowers you to live according to the darkness you've been delivered from Grace without transformation is a perversion we live in beauty of Holiness we stored these bodies well we don't objectify others we never live at the expense of one another we don't lie we don't steal we don't cheat we're not sexually immoral we're not given the orgies or drunkenness because we are children of the light we Reign and if ever you find yourself in any of those activities you bring the truth of God to bear in that darkness and you call Sin for what it is but then you name yourself according to what he's spoken about you and don't you ever let thatactivity identify you as anything less than what the blood speaks…"
Now I don’t say that I agree with
Jonathan Leonardo, I doubt he would want to associate my beliefs with his. But
we have to understand what he is saying and people should not denigrate it
without even really knowing what he believes and says. Granted to a large
extent he brings it on himself by not stating clearly in writing what he
believes and his reasons. The problem with sermons is that the speaker leads
you through a process to try and reach his or her desired conclusion. If any
part of the foundation that is laid is wrong then more than likely the
conclusion will be wrong. In a sermon, you are, if the speaker is good,
emotionally charged to accept their leading. In written material, it is far
harder to do that. Leonardo is a good speaker, entertaining, and with some very
good thoughts. It may be that this is the new way to reach the younger
generation. He has some good short videos that are certainly of high quality and
then he has some more problematic videos such as this one Why did Christ need to die
for us to be saved? - Jonathan Leonardo
I will note it is an edited video and it was not posted by Leonardo but what is there shows how mixing his metaphors leads to a confusing mishmash of statements.
He begins:
God does not forgive your sin God doesn't forgive your sin God condemns sin but since he gave us Jesus… “
Of course, God forgives our sins, God
can condemn sin and forgive our sins. The Bible a number of places says that.
The idea that I often sense in Leonardo is a misunderstanding of sin. There is
no sin apart from the thoughts and or actions of some intelligent being. 1 John 1:8-10: If
we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word
is not in us.
Leonard then continues the confusion:
0:14 “but since he gave us Jesus to go through the waters of death first we can come behind Jesus and die in his death so that we can live in his life so that whenever judgment is when it goes we can't be the ones who are judged because how do you judge those who have already died to sin does that make sense”
That is
true, but it does not make sense because dying with Christ is a metaphor it does not
mean we literally died and rose again with Christ. First, because that was
nearly 2000 years before any of us were even born. So it is either a metaphor
for something which should be explained or it is a mystical experience similar
to the Recapitulation
theory of the Atonement which holds that we were mystically seminally somehow
present with Christ during His life, death and resurrection.
There is
an article entitled Concerns
about Love Reality It tries to compare Jonathan Leonardo’s statements to
what someone thinks Ellen White believes on the same subjects. Sadly it is not
a well done article for example here are the statements from one line of the
chart the article supplies.
Problem: I’m not free from sin yet, but I still follow Christ.
Solution by Love Reality: We must believe we are free from sin in order to escape the punishment for sin.xx
Is LR Solution T or F Based on Bible/SOP?: We must believe God’s promises: when we ask for forgiveness, we are indeed forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness. But God’s people never claim to be free from sin. See #8.
In simple terms, the answers against
Love Reality presentation ignore the nuances of what is actually said and
really the nuances of what the Bible and SOP say. It is an article to reinforce
those who already oppose what Leonardo is saying. I will note that in the
footnote for the Love Reality reference, it is just to the video, in the
footnote it says the video is number 9 and gives the link. However, looking at
the transcripts I don’t find that statement made in video 9. I do find a
similar idea in this video, however.
A Conversation with
Jonathan Leonardo
10:37 “ [reading from Romans] we know that our old self was crucified with him and order that our body of sin might be brought to nothing and was this so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin that that the body of sin comes to nothing at baptism when I participate in baptism with Christ Jesus he tells me that by faith the body of sin comes to nothing I look at this mind shifting altering complete like reality turning verse of chapter of verse 7 for one who has died has been set free from has been set free from sin yes that even me does that tell them is that it we participated in the death of Christ Jesus through baptism not that we're gonna be free from sin one day but that we are free from sin right and without going too far because we only have a little bit of time with that then ends up meaning is that we're free from sin and three very distinct ways
One that we’re free from the power of sin why because the power of thing is via the law and the accusation that we've come under because we're condemned under the law right this is verse 15 the power thing is the law Romans six seven and eight clearly teaches us that since were 12:07 not under the law were not under condemnation so since I'm not under the law anymore I'm not under condemnation this is where people start getting worried that what are you saying is the lot done away with no no no no I'm not under the law because through the spirit the righteousness of the law is now inside of me right that's not one under the Spirit the righteousness of the law is now inside of me this is the New Covenant Hebrews 8 right so I'm no longer under the power of the law why be animated by the power of the Spirit right
second I'm not under the penalty of sin because what is the penalty of sin the penalty of sin is death don't you sin because my Savior has liberated me from the penalty of sin by becoming a curse for me so that I might be his righteousness so I don't fear 13:06 death because I have victory that overcomes death and that's the faith that I have in Christ Jesus because of his faithfulness towards me so free from the power of sin free from the penalty of sin and the third one really important I'm free from the prison of sin and the mentally is the mental prisoner the mental prison of thing is always conscious of its own sin because I'm conscious of my own sin I'm always coming under condemnation this is Romans…
14:05
no longer in the flesh but we're in the spirit Romans 8:9 you don't have to live with a consciousness that's first and foremost concerned with sin I get to live with the consciousness that's first and foremost concerned with the gift of righteousness that is mine through Christ Jesus then I'll live with the double mindedness that's constantly looking at myself to see if I'm failing I get to look at him first to see him my victory so that then I see myself in light of how he sees me and I see myself in light 14:44 of how he sees me that puts integrity into me to walk according to the freedom that he says is mine it’s not about getting victory over sin moment-by-moment it's about me living from a freedom that's already mine and being the heart of his love for me15:02 so that in the longer way I slip and stumble into patterns of my former ignorance I have an advocate before the father Jesus Christ the righteous who is my very propitiation right knee isn't that where first John 2 tells us he says my little children I write this to you so that you may not sin but if you do you have an advocate before the father Jesus Christ the righteous why because I am not established first and foremost in my sinfulness anymore I'm established as a son because that's what was intended for me that's where the good news of my life began that was hidden in him that he could create in Christ Jesus to manifest His image…”
I appreciate many of the things Jonathan Leonardo has said. He is entertaining and far too verbose and not correct to my understanding on many areas of theology. That certainly does not mean we have nothing to learn from him. The most important part of his message being that we should stop this navel gazing about our own sinful condition. It disrupts our Christian lives it focuses on ourselves rather than the gift God has given us. We are either a new creation that has moved from death to life or not, it is not a merry-go-round from saved to unsaved dependent on how we feel about our relationship with God. As the verse says “Restore to me the joy of your salvation Psalms 51:12" Is he overstating some things? Yes I think so. But that is easily corrected with one Bible verse, my favorite verse: 1 John 3:1-3 NIV “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
