Redeemed Sinner

A Gospel Plea for Rosie O'Donnell

2012-03-08T21:11:00.000-06:00

Recently, Rosie O'Donnell was accosted with Ad Hominem attacks outside of the Super Bowl by a man purporting himself to be a Christian open-air preacher. I do not know the man's true condition, but he is certainly NOT acting like one who is born again and he is NOT delivering the true Gospel in love to Rosie O'Donnell....

As someone who does open-air preach from time to time I get really torqued to see people out there doing it wrong and giving the rest of us a bad name... So I decided to compose a video response to the video and direct it to Rosie in hopes she will see it and hear the true Gospel.

If you watch and agree with this video would you please consider posting this on Rosie's facebook and twitter? I'm not out to spam or harass her at all, but I do hope this does find her eyes and ears and more importantly I pray that God will pierce her heart with the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastor's Bookshelf: The World Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips

2012-01-25T22:25:00.000-06:00

In an age of Gospel confusion and uncertainty it is becoming more and more important for preachers of the Gospel to not only declare the Gospel, but to define the terms we use in doing so. What I mean is that as we go about unpacking the Gospel, we need to take time to explain what we mean by "repent", "faith", and these days we must ever be very clear on whom we are referring to when we speak of "Jesus Christ"!

Dan Phillip's book, The World Tilting Gospel, is that clear presentation. Quite frankly this may become one of the most important books written on the Gospel in our generation. Dan exposits every aspect of the Gospel. From man's dire need for salvation and his state as a dead sinner in need of regeneration to the results of the Gospel of Grace and the ditches we can often fall into on one side or the other.

Start to finish, I loved this book. I give it 5 out of 5 stars for sure and highly recommend this for any new believer who is beginning their walk with Christ to every Pastor seeking a helpful tool to aid you in discipling people.

What makes Dan's book so amazing is that it is a no holds barred look at what the Bible says about man and the Gospel. Not Dan's opinions, not Dan's musings, but Biblical facts laid out and explained. If Dan is able to produce a study guide for this it will make a great small group resource!

Dan is an author and frequent blogger at Pyromaniacs.

Pick it up today from Amazon.com.

Guest Blogger: Brian Thornton - Legalism, Discipline, & Grace

2012-01-13T13:00:00.000-06:00

I am honored to have my friend Brian guest author this post for me. I was edified by it, hope you will be too. Comments welcome.

I have been asked by my friend, Jason, to discuss the differences between discipline and legalism in the church and how/where grace might apply in the midst of the two. Some describe a true church as a three-legged stool consisting of the right proclamation of the word, the right administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and church discipline. Some would argue that church discipline falls under the second leg of a right administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but really, who has ever heard of a two-legged stool? Sadly, many churches fail to properly exercise church discipline by not doing it at all. Probably (hopefully) a smaller minority fail at proper church discipline by being overbearing in their practice of it (lording it over the people). Both extreme swings of the pendulum are dangerous and unhealthy for the local body that makes up a church. I think it is also quite possible that what some consider to be church discipline is really legalism, while what others think is legalism in a church is actually nothing more than the practices of a biblical church. In both areas of confusion, misunderstanding and error, grace (and the implications of the gospel) is often sorely lacking. Let’s see if we can flesh this out a little bit.

Let’s start by defining our terms. Within the context of a local church body, what is known as church discipline can be defined as actions taken by the congregation toward a person(s) within that congregation which results in that person(s) being removed from fellowship, with the intent of bringing about repentance by the offending party and a restoration back into fellowship with the congregation. The goal of discipline within the church is always repentance and restoration. It is never punishment or retribution or control. Church discipline is, according to Scripture, the responsibility of the congregation, not the leadership. Matthew 18 makes it very clear that the final decision of removing a person from fellowship falls on the shoulders of the congregation. When church discipline is done badly or not according to Scripture, the results can be disastrous.

Legalism, quite simply, is going beyond the bounds of Scripture, or going beyond what is written, as Paul put it (1 Cor.4:6). It is requiring something that God does not require. An example would be the church leadership telling a person in the church they are not saved and going to hell because of the types of clothes they wear (no joke, this truly happened to a friend of mine). This church added a dress code to the work of Jesus for salvation. That’s going beyond what is written. That’s legalism. Another (and possibly more volatile) example would be a church teaching that there is only one true and correct day to gather as a church to worship together. This may bring to mind groups like the Seventh-Day Adventists who require worship on Saturday and condemn anyone who doesn’t do likewise, but there are scores of churches and denominations that believe the same thing about Sunday being the only proper and true day for gathering together. Legalism can take many forms. It can be quite obvious or very subtle.

The paradox is that what some consider to be church discipline is really nothing more than legalism, and what others think is legalism is actually just the church being the church. For instance, we were involved at a church a few years back where the elders decided they wanted to begin having an intentional, systematic reading of Scripture in the weekly service. This would usually involve a considerable passage from both the Old and New Testaments, as well as the sermon text for that morning. The response from some was really pretty shocking, as several charged the elders with being legalistic with this new practice. While a practice like this certainly could become legalistic if it began to be somehow required or practiced in an unbiblical manner, what the elders here were trying to do was nothing more than adhere to one of the clear commands in Scripture given by Paul to the church: “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim.4:13). This was not legalism in any way, shape or form. This church was not going beyond what is written. It was simply the church trying to be the church.

Sometimes, though, what a church considers to be the practice of discipline is actually just plain old ugly legalism and heavy-handed, overbearing leadership. In another church, a young couple had missed the Easter service and had instead gone to visit the wife’s mother that weekend. The following week, the husband went to answer the door one evening and, upon opening it, came face to face with the elders of the church who were there unannounced to “discuss” the couple’s lack of devotion to the church. In another instance these same elders met with another church member to decide the fate of his membership in the church. These leaders, however well-meaning, and regardless of how much they thought they were engaging in church discipline and shepherding, were actually “lording it over” their congregation and were steeped heavily in unhealthy legalism and even spiritual abuse.

In all of these examples I have given here, I would say the one thing that was lacking was grace. The congregants complaining about the “legalistic” Scripture reading did not impart grace to their shepherds. All they knew is that this was a change in the way things had been done and they didn’t like it. And the elders of the overbearing church were not giving their sheep grace and the benefit of the doubt with respect to what they saw as actionable sin in their lives. Some of these may sound over the top to you, but think about your own interaction with other believers. Are you prone to making quick judgments that may be void of grace? Do you tend to fail to give someone else the benefit of the doubt before making a rush to judgment? I know I do. And the times I make those types of judgments are the times I believe that I have either forgotten the gospel or am failing to apply it to the other areas of my life other than my salvation.

You see, we talk about the grace and mercy of the gospel a lot as Christians when it comes to salvation, but how much do we apply that to the rest of our lives? We have been shown much mercy and patience and longsuffering by our Creator. How much do we, in turn, exhibit grace and mercy and longsuffering to others? Because of the gospel, we have not received what we deserved. But how willing are we to impart undeserved favor and mercy to others. Everyone to whom much has been given, of him much will be required, (Luke 12:48). How much have you been given? Are you giving to others in the way you have been given? I believe that if we would take the implications of the gospel and let them filter out into every area of our lives, then legalism would diminish, church discipline would be used only when truly needed and with much wisdom, and grace would permeate the church of Jesus Christ. To him be the glory in the church. And may we glorify him as the church by applying the grace of the gospel to every area of our life, not just to our salvation.

Tim Tebow 316

2012-01-09T11:05:00.001-06:00

I've been watching Tim Tebow over the past months as the Christian world has flocked to him (i.e "Tebowing" which the Bible just calls praying...) and the, largely, unregenerate world has attempted to socially crucify him for being an unashamed believer in Jesus Christ. Let me begin by saying that I have been and continue to be impressed by Mr. Tebow and do not feel he has desired the increased attention he's receiving. Thus far he has demonstrated an immense amount of Christian integrity. Not to mention that in the face of his critics, even the most harsh critics, when most of us would have possibly given in to lash back, he has maintained a level of humility which I can only assume has been done because of him being a born again Christian.

Tim displays fruit with his life, thus far, that reinforces his profession of faith and for this I am truly grateful because there are far too many icons out there whose lives are completely opposite of that.

Now, that said, I am increasingly disappointed with the over-reaction of Christendom towards Mr. Tebow. In his interviews he continually gives glory to Christ, points people to Christ, yet Christians seem more than excited and not at all shy about setting him up as the next best thing to Jesus Christ.

Let me also state that I am not saying we shouldn't support, encourage, pray for, or be a fan of Tim Tebow. I just think that many are taking it to an idolatrous extreme. If your first reaction to that is anger towards me, perhaps you should first do a check to be sure you aren't one of those bowing to a Tebow idol in your heart...

It seems to be the nature of our flesh to want to supplement Jesus Christ with an idol. The thinking goes like this. We love Jesus. Tebow loves Jesus. So everyone should love Jesus. Make sense? It shouldn't... Christ doesn't need me, Tebow, or even a Spurgeon, MacArthur, Piper, and so on to be effective in this world.

I am so thankful first and foremost that Jesus Christ has saved Tim Tebow. I would be thankful for that regardless of his fame. Secondly, I am thankful that not only has Christ saved Tim Tebow but He has also seen fit to give him a National, and most likely global play, platform with which to represent Christ and take the Gospel! Tim Tebow is a witness for Christ, but he is just that. A witness.

I do not believe that Tim is at all ok, or at least I would hope he isn't ok, with all this idol worship of him. He really doesn't seem like a person who wants the glory over Christ. I believe him to be humble and genuine because he has not demonstrated otherwise.

So let's do him a favor and spur him on as his brethren in Christ and not idolize him. In the end our idolatry will only pressure him to the point of falling even more so than the pressure we all deal with as Christians. The unregenerate world is rooting for him to fail, let's be sure that we aren't aiding them by making him out to be something more than human... let's pray for him and encourage him to "fight the good fight" (1 Tim 6:12-14) and to "keep the faith" (2 Tim 4:7). To defend the Gospel (Jude 3) and continue seeking first the glory of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33; 1 Cor 10:31).

Which brings me to a perfect example of how we've gone overboard. After Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Stealers it was released that Mr. Tebow threw for 316 yards. Immediately a large portion of Christendom responded by saying that God was obviously sending a message through Tebow; equating the number 316 to John 3:16.

I can't begin to unpack the silliness of that assertion in the first place. To look to things like this is to look to things like signs, which is highly superstitious... But let's suppose that God was sending a message through the number 316 (which He wasn't, but let's suppose for fun). How do we know that it was JOHN 3:16? I realize that people gather that it was John 3:16 because of what was being worn under Tim's eyes.

But what if it wasn't John 3:16? What if it was Genesis 3:16? After all, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this Tim Tebow's first playoff appearance? And since it was the "beginning" of his playoff appearances, and Genesis is about the "beginning" of the world, could that be God's message? (You're thinking that I am absurd to make a leap to tie those two things together, and you are right... that's absurd... makes about as much sense as thinking that it means John 3:16).

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”(Genesis 3:16 ESV)

I don't see anyone rushing to claim this verse for Tim's passing yard numbers...

How about Judges 3:16 that describes how Ehud made a concealable sword which he used to slay the evil King Eglon. After all, just before slaying Eglon, Ehud did say that it was a message from God (Judges 3:20). If that was a message from God and 316 was a message from God... hmmm intriguing.

So maybe the message was that we should all wield swords of similar fashion and head out to slay evil Kings?

Maybe it was Ecclesiastes 3:16? Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. (Ecclesiastes 3:16 ESV)

Maybe it was a call for repentance? Of course we could go on and on and on and the endless speculation would leave us all with no definite conclusion.

Instead, let's heed a word that we actually DO know is a message from God. [7] Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; [8] for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. [9] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. [10] For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. [11] Command and teach these things. (1 Timothy 4:7-11 ESV)

I know the reaction some of you will have, it will be "Oh here he goes again, complaining about everything." But before you offer me up on an altar of your self-righteousness or what you perceive to be mine, examine what I've said and see if it is true or not...

If we want to support our brother in Christ Tim Tebow, let's exhort him on and not set him up for a great fall.

Overview of Jehovah's Witnesses

2011-12-13T09:44:00.000-06:00

We come now to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Confused for Christianity as well, and well-known for knocking on the door of any home on any given day.

In fact, Jehovah’s Witnesses are estimated to have over 6 million members who make home visits each year. Followed in at least 235 countries, with 1 million members in the United States it is reported that in 2010 the Jehovah’s Witnesses spent 1.3 billion hours spreading their message of law and deception. Why do they do this? Where do they come from? Is their version of the Gospel the same as ours?

I.) History

Well, by their own definition, they are “servants of Jehovah, the Almighty God, and active witnesses of his sovereign supremacy”. They reject being associated with Christianity as we define it, but rather they insist that their gospel is the true one, they are they true Christians.

They were founded in 1872, at age 20, by a man named Charles Taze Russell. For 2 years or so prior Charles had been having a very hard time believing the doctrine of eternal hell fire and eternal punishment. Unable to reconcile them, he left his church.

At age 18 he started a Bible study class in Pittsburgh, PA which served as his way to spread his errant views and accumulate followers. By 1879 he had co-published “The Herald of the Morning” magazine with its founder NH Barbour. The magazine was really the spring board platform for Russell to teach his heretical views on the Bible.

In 1884 Russell had taken control of the magazine and renamed it to be “The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom”. At the same time he founded the “Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society”. Today it is known as the “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society”.

The 1st edition of the Watchtower magazine only produced 6,000 copies per month. Today they publish out of Brooklyn, NY and they produce 100,000 books and 800,000 copies of its 2 magazines respectively, DAILY.

Russell believed that God had opened his eyes to the truth and that the Bible could only truly be understood according to HIS interpretations. Initially, those who followed Russell were simply known as “Russellites”, but after his death in October of 1916 his successor, a Missouri lawyer named Joseph Franklin Rutherford, took control and quickly changed the name of the Russell’s organization known the “International Bible Students Association” to simply, “Jehovah’s Witnesses”.

He did so based on Isaiah 43:10 which reads,”You are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen.” Even to now they retain the belief that the only true Bible interpretation is theirs.

Their false doctrine is easily refuted from Scripture and so in 1961 they published their own version of the Bible known as the “New World Translation”. It just blatantly alters verses that Russell denied, so that they fit their own views.

They have 2 sources primarily that they use for their teachings…

1.) Their translation of the Bible (NWT)
2.) The Watchtower Magazine

Their Bible must be read through the lens of the Magazine’s interpretation, which ironically is open to change depending on the “revelation received”.

“The Bible is an organizational book and belongs to Christian congregations and organizations, not to the individuals regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason, the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.” – The Watchtower,10-1-67 p.587

II.) Beliefs

What do they believe? Well, Russell denied the doctrine of hell. He believed that when man dies, he simply ceases to exist. He further denied the Trinity and the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh to just scratch the surface!

They believe that God’s Sovereignty was impugned when Adam and Eve rebelled. So the main purpose of what God is doing in not redeeming sinners as such as it is vindicating himself from what Adam and Eve did to Him. Vindicating Himself, they say, is more important than salvation or anything else.

They deny that God is a Trinitarian God. “There is One God in One Person” – Make Sure of All Things p.188

They believe that since God created man in His image and “no one has ever seen a three headed human creature (Let God Be True, 2nd ed, p101-102). They say it would be “difficult to love and worship a complicated, freakish-looking, three headed God” (ibid)

Although they do believe God to be eternal and omnipotent, they deny that He is omnipresent. They most commonly and almost exclusively refer to God as Jehovah.

A.) Who is Jehovah? He is not a Triune God, that they say is false doctrine, (Make Sure of All Things p.188). They teach Him to be one person whose principle attributes are love, wisdom, justice, and power. Incidentally, Scriptures teaches that God’s principle attribute is His Holiness and everything else that He is is informed by that.

Jehovah was alone in universal space, but never lonely, which is why He created the word and man… so that He wouldn’t be alone?

B.) Who is Jesus?

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jehovah is Christ’s God, Christ is inferior to Jehovah God. Jesus, they teach, is not God incarnate, He is a created being. He is called God’s “only begotten Son” because He was the 1st and only being created directly by God. As firstborn, Jesus was used to create all things.

Before Jesus came to the earth He existed in Heaven as Michael the Archangel. In the virgin birth He was re-created on earth as the perfect man.

He wasn’t the Messiah from all eternity as Scripture teaches, He rather became the Messiah at His baptism and at that time He was anointed to become the King of the coming Kingdom.

Further, they deny that Christ was bodily resurrected. They believe Jesus was buried, God disposed of His physical body, Jesus was raised as a “spirit creature” and temporarily materialized in different physical bodies in order to appear to His disciples. (Awake, 7-22-73, p. 4)

He is now back in Heaven as Michael the Archangel. Since there was no physical resurrection, they say, there will be no 2nd Coming either.

C.) Heaven and Hell

They deny the existence of Hell, period. “The doctrine of a burning hell where the wicked are tortured eternally after death cannot be true mainly for four reasons: 1.) It is wholly unscriptural; 2.) it is unreasonable; 3.) it is contrary to God’s love and 4.) it is repugnant to justice” (Let God Be True, p. 9, 59-60, 67)

They believe as the 7th Day Adventists do that the soul sleeps. Humans don’t have immortal souls, so when the body dies there is no longer any conscious existence. Hell, is simply the common grace of mankind. From there, those who are righteous will be resurrected, those who are condemned by God will be annihilated and cease to exist. The reason for this is because of what, they teach, a soul is. Man consists of a “body together with the life principle or life force activating it.” (Make Sure of All Things p. 349)

Immortality (Heaven) is given as a reward for faithfulness. Smelling works righteousness there yet? You should be, it’s thick. Do this… get this… all cults have this in place. All cults believe that man isn’t so sinful that he can’t same himself through acts of his own goodness.

Their view of Heaven is that Heaven is only actually reserved for the 144,000 spoken of in the Book of Revelation. Only these special few will get in. Everyone else who was righteous will get eternal life for their soul, but it will be on earth. Their soul will roam the earth for all eternity.

D.) Sin and Salvation

In the fall, man was not made spiritually dead by sin… rather we inherited “imperfection”. Being only imperfect we can merit salvation for ourselves so there is no need for a Savior. Jesus didn’t die to pay for your sin and merit salvation for you, He just died to make it possible for you to merit salvation.

III.) How do you obtain salvation as a Jehovah’s Witness?

It is a complicated system of belief and good works. “Belief involves taking in accurate knowledge of God’s purposes and His way of salvation. Then faith has to be exercised in Jesus Christ as the Chief Agent of salvation… this places the Christian in a saved condition, but he must now persevere in doing God’s will and continue to adhere to all of God’s requirements for the rest of his life. Only then will he be saved to eternal life.” (Watchtower, 12-15-89, p.30)

In addition to faith in Jesus’ sacrifice you must also be baptized, repent, have association with the Watchtower Society, have righteous conduct, and absolute loyalty to Jehovah. Even then there is no assurance of salvation, only hope for a resurrection. Those who fail to meet the requirements are shunned from the fellowship of the Watchtower Society and have no hope for salvation.

The reason they knock on so many doors is because they are trying to earn salvation. They are expected to spend 5-hours a week going door to door to conduct a monthly “Bible Study” in the homes of their converts. Each week they are to report their status to the Watchtower Society and their performance will be evaluated and affect their status in the local “Kingdom Hall”.

IV.) Odd and/or legalistic things

I call this section, odd and legalistic things… They teach Christ was executed on a stake, not a cross, so you’ll never find a cross on them or in their churches. You are not allowed to smoke, give blood transfusions, box, or purchase a raffle ticket. You also cannot salute the flag, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, stand for the National Anthem, vote, or serve in the military.

Further, you can’t celebrate your birthday, Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and any other holiday they deem as pagan. Lastly, you aren’t allowed to associate with any non-Jehovah’s Witness. Even if they are in your own family. The only exception is in that family member lives in your household.

V.) How do we reach them with the Gospel?

Well, first things first, we need to be very very careful. They use nearly all the same terms that we do but they do not mean the same things. They must see chiefly that man is not just spiritually imperfect, we are by nature, spiritually dead.

Works are insufficient to save… BUT while Jehovah’s Witness offers them no hope for salvation, hope exists. His Name is Jesus Christ! He IS God, He DID come as God in the flesh, God incarnate, He died a real physical death, then 3 days later He did have a real physical resurrection. He now sits in His glorified body in Heaven at the right Hand of the Father. If they will repent of their sin He will forgive them and grant eternal life.

To boycott or not to boycott, that is the question!

2011-12-09T15:00:00.009-06:00

Last year I posted an article in the form of an Open Letter to First Baptist Dallas and their "Grinch Alert" website. The site called for Christians to post names and locations of businesses that displayed "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas".

The purpose of the list was to inform Christians of what businesses to avoid and which ones not to. This of course drew the critique of many both in the evangelical Christendom world and the secular world alike. Now, the site is no longer online and the effort hasn't resurfaced from them this year, which I personally think is a tremendously wise decision on their part.

But I digress, as I said, I posted an article about the whole thing and since I've heard much discussion in general over "boycotting" said businesses again I thought it might be helpful to think through this once more only this time I've re-toolled this post to address the question in the general sense. Should we boycott businesses for not saying "Merry Christmas"? My position, is no. No we shouldn't. Here is my 10 point defense as to why we shouldn't.

1.) Let's say that your efforts to boycott does in fact encourage a business to begin using Merry Christmas as opposed to Happy Holidays... Have you considered that you have then pressured obvious unregenerate people to blaspheme the name of Christ by using it in a false way? Namely, by using it when they do not believe in it. (Exodus 20:7) I am grieved when I hear someone blaspheme. Be it through an overt blaspheming of the Lord's Name or when someone says "God Bless America" who, by their fruit, demonstrates they have no reverence for God. (Psalm 74:10)

2.) We, as Christians, are to discern and judge between true and false teachings within the church and within those claiming to be Christian. We are not to go about making unrighteous, and in this case unnecessary, judgments on the unbelievers short of warning them of the wrath of God to come to them due their sin through our sharing the Gospel with them. Wise as serpents, innocent as doves. (Romans 16:17-20)

3.) Have you gone about cleaning up the doctrine and shoring up the theology in every aspect of your own ministries at your church or even what you hold to personally? What about the local "Family Friendly" Christian Radio Stations such as KLTY that consider it acceptable to play secular Christmas songs and commercials for the WB and the like. Granted, those commercial spots are paid for by those outside companies, but those radio stations have the duty to discern between what should and shouldn't be aired on their station and the are considered within the body. Have you considered confronting them in an Ephesians 4:15 way? Speaking truth in love to them first.

4.) What about these business we are proposing to boycott... has anyone personally contacted any of them and arranged a time to sit down with them and share the true meaning behind Christmas (Matthew 1:21) which would easily lead into sharing the Gospel (Mark 1:15) with them and perhaps lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

5.) It doesn't seem doing this has been thought through too wisely. Granted we ought to feel something when God's Name is omitted like that or blasphemed, but our reaction ought to be to proclaim the Gospel all the more! Not condemn the world. All things are permissible... but not all things are profitable. (1 Corinthians 10:23) This seems to be a profitless and fruitless endeavor.

6.) Do I use Merry Christmas personally? Absolutely. Should businesses? It would be nice, but I don't expect much from the "darkness" of this world. They hate God by default and so I'm not shocked when they display behavior in keeping with that, such were all of us before Christ saved us. (Ephesians 2:1-10)... Are we really surprised that the world doesn't understand? (1 Corinthians 2:14)

7.) How does this accomplish ANYTHING for the Gospel or the glory of God? Even if they begin using the "proper" phrases... did you really accomplish anything? (Luke 11:39)

8.) The end result of this is that those business who give to your bullying and change their signage (if any do) you've not changed their hearts, you've soothed your conscience so that you can continue indulging in worldly items and coveting everything you see... (as we all do from time to time because we are all sinful) (1 John 1:8-9)

9.) Shouldn't we be consistent? If you are going to call out businesses using Happy Holidays vs Merry Christmas then let's also go and call out businesses that support abortion, that promote promiscuity or drunkenness, or that put out sinful media products (movies and music and such). Are you sure that the businesses that DO wish you a Merry Christmas aren't selling products of companies who don't? Have fun figuring that one out! Where does it end? The commission of the church is not to chiefly attack the peripheral issues of this sin broken world, but rather to attack the heart of all issues with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That though they are sinners bound for God's wrath, their is forgiveness and pardon in Jesus Christ alone! (John 3:16; Mark 1:15; Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:16-20)

10.) Preach the WORD in and out of season... PREACH THE WORD. (2 Timothy 4:1-4) Just because you are willing to give these businesses a pat on the back for saying Merry Christmas does not equal success or wisdom.

All that said, it IS called Christmas for a REASON and I will NOT be prevented from saying "Merry Christmas" or displaying a manger, or speaking of Christ or any other thing!

Your comments and thoughts on this are appreciated and could be helpful in thinking through this more fully, please feel free to post them!

Serpents and Doves

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

As Paul is closing out his letter to the Romans he injects a sharp warning. It really gives us the sense of the intense amount of love and concern that the Apostle had for the church. He loved them enough to warn them of dangers that face not only that church but all churches. He loved them enough to tell them how to protect the church from false doctrine. He is very well acquainted with the challenges that churches face with regards to Satan’s schemes of false doctrine combined with man’s weakness of the flesh pertaining to sin, so he offers up a stern warning.

Romans 16:17-20 - I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 19 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

- Romans 16:17 -

There is a real danger that Satan poses to the purity of a church and it comes when he recruits and deceives someone into acting as a spy and dissident among the believers. Someone who has given their mind over to or is flirting with false doctrines… the intention of Satan there is vicious.

It is to get that person to spread the heresy and false doctrine so that people are deceived further and either begin believing false things about God or Christ or the Holy Spirit… or Salvation… all things that are crucial to Christianity.

Paul is not concerned with secondary issues, he’s dealt with how we handle those already (See Romans 14). Here he is dealing with how we deal with heresy and apostasy. It is a very loving thing for him to warn about and it is a very loving thing for a church to practice. Godly love is what Paul is showing and Godly love doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, it confronts it out of love. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6; Ephesians 4:15)

His warning is two fold: Watch out for those who 1.) Cause divisions & 2.) Create obstacles contrary to the doctrine you’ve been taught.

You see, this happens all too often I’m afraid. And the longer error is permitted to exist and be taught in a church, the more unhealthy that church becomes…As I said, this isn’t dealing with secondary matters or matters of opinion and preference… This is dealing with things that are blatantly offensive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul’s warning is warranted because the danger posed to the church by someone holding to or teaching a false doctrine is not some rare occurrence. It is a danger every day. Satan is always after the minds of those within the church because he wants to destroy what he can. That’s why the Apostle already exhorted them to be renewed daily by God’s Word. (Romans 12:1-2)

With the introduction of a false doctrine you also get divisions amongst the church because inevitably that deceiver will be able to find someone to follow them. What are those false doctrines? Paul identifies them as “obstacles” that are contrary to the sound doctrine that they’ve been taught. (2 Timothy 1:13-14) Hold fast to sound doctrine. Hold fast to the pure Gospel!

Now, the push back from the liberal mind is that this mentality is narrow-minded. They say ‘We need to have more of an open-mind and let people interpret the Bible in whatever manner suits them.’

But what that really invites is not unity but chaos! You can’t make the statement that there is no standard of truth without invalidating your own statement. If we can’t know absolute truth, and truth becomes subjective to my interpretation, then even the statement that “truth is subjective” is an absolute statement… and so you can’t make it… That is, IF truth is subjective.

But Jesus Christ declared Himself to be THE truth (John 14:6). And with that claim and many others like it He eliminates the myth that truth is subjective or relative... rather its absolute, sure, & found in Christ alone.

Hold fast to sound doctrine! To not heed this word, Paul equates with being ashamed of the gospel. Truly that’s what it is. Those who have been ‘taught sound doctrine’ who then teach false doctrine or believe false doctrine are not only woefully misguided and deceived, they are ashamed of the true Gospel.

They must be ashamed of Jesus because why else would they feel the need to altar His word? Look earlier in 2 Timothy 1.

2 Timothy 1:8-12 - Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

Preaching false doctrine and a false gospel is cowardice of the worst form. We are not to tolerate those who teach false doctrine. No, Paul says here in our text this morning that we are to mark out those who cause division and create obstacles. To name them and avoid them for the benefit of the church of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 7:15-20 - “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Jesus taught, beware of the wolves. The wolves will come looking like sheep. Looking like born again children of God. We recognize them by their fruit. Bad fruit like wicked doctrine and wicked works. They create obstacles for people by adding works to salvation as the Gnostics did in the Apostle John’s day. Or they reduce the Gospel to a simple prayer and never mention sin or the need for repentance.

- Romans 16:18 -

Those individuals are looking to please themselves… to fulfill and serve their own appetites and not Christ… if they refuse to repent of their error, then they are not born again Christians… They hate the Gospel… they are enemies of God.

Philippians 3:19 says that their end is destruction, not eternal life in Heaven with the Savior. They have set their minds on earthly things. (Jude 12-13) Many false teachers will know a great deal of Scripture. They may have devoted their life to the study of theology… however, because they are not truly born again they do not apply scripture to their life… they bend it to fit themselves rather than being transformed by it. Because they claim to know God and they know some about God they seem legitimate… but because they deny truth the Scriptures say it would be better for them to have never been born.

Now, the true picture of false teachers is a frightful one to us. We see their heresies as ugly and disastrous things and rightly so, for so they are. And we would think that picking out this type of person would be easy… That maybe they’d have a deformity or a hunch back of some sort!

However, Paul says that in their deceiving they use smooth talk and flattery and they aim to deceive those who are not well grounded in the faith… to those who are naïve, as our text says. They are beautiful to the ears with their lies. It sounds good to some. They are very good at doing what they do because they are following and serving Satan who is the great deceiver… the father of lies.

So it is something we must carefully consider. As the Bereans did (Acts 17:11), we are to test everything we hear against the Scriptures to be sure it is truth. These false teachers deceive the “naïve”. The spiritually immature… Now, that’s a humbling thought isn’t it? Many often over estimate their lever of maturity thinking that they will easily be able to pick out falsehoods… but it is at those times when we let our guards down that we open ourselves up to deception. (2 Timothy 4:3-5)

We must be discerning. We must discern between true and false teachers and true and false teachings. We must! We must because the time is coming, and I would submit that time is here already, when people will not endure sound teaching! They won’t! They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. They will turn away from listening to the truth and the result will be that they give their minds over to myths.

Thinking themselves wise, they become fools… It is for this reason that Peter exhorted the Christians in 1 Peter 5:

1 Peter 5:6-11 - Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Now, Paul goes on to commend them for already having this discerning practice in place, but also then he explains how we go about detecting error and shunning it and also how we find the truths that we embrace.

Now, this is crucial because all too often we stop short at just the command to be discerning and we go out on witch hunts exploring the errors so that we can stop them. And while we must stop them, as we’ve established, God has a prescribed way about which we do it so that error is marked and the body of Christ is edified at the same time.

- Romans 16:19 -

What is the best and really only way to be able to mark out those false doctrines? Those false teachers? Paul makes it very clear with two imperatives. 1.) Be wise as to what is good 2.) Be innocent as to what is evil.

Is he suggesting that we shouldn’t be knowledgeable of the false doctrine that exists out there? Absolutely not! On the contrary, he is encouraging us to be so knowledgeable about truth and good that evil and false things stand out clearly to be avoided!

If we don’t study well and seek to be, as Paul says, “wise” in that which is good, we will have a very hard time distinguishing truth from error on this and many other issues.

So how do we know true Doctrine about God from false? By studying the truth about God even more! It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian, you should never stop studying the Bible… never stop sharpening your discerning skills. To not do so would be like expecting a knife to maintain its sharp blade without sharpening it ever… The relationship that our studying Scripture has to discernment is that we can best know error by knowing truth.

By dwelling on what is true… by dwelling on the beauty of the Gospel… we will learn discernment. Not because it will teach us to go on mean spirited witch hunts, but because the truth will be ever so more and more clear that when error surfaces it can be quickly done away with. Further we will love the truth more and will decry error quickly to preserve truth!

It is shocking to see how easily deception enters into our midst undetected these days. If you go to your local Christian bookstore you will find such a mix of books teaching sound doctrine and false doctrine. You cannot make the error of assuming that simply because it is sold at a Christian retailer that it is Christian!

Don’t let someone else be discerning for you, it is your duty. How does it happen that people are deceived? They stop searching out the Scriptures for themselves and give themselves over to whatever sounds good to their ear. Tim Challies – “A discerning person will know that he must focus his heart upon what is true and pure and lovely, having confidence that in doing this God will bless him with the ability to expose darkness.”

We find that these words from Tim are not a new thought from him, but rather a clear understanding of the call placed on all Christians. (1 Corinthians 14:20) Jesus warned Christians of the importance of being alert to the false teachings that will be spouted from the wolves…

Matthew 10:16 - Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Wise like a serpent. Not the deceptive image of the serpent that we commonly associate with Satan, but wise like a serpent knowing when to run away from danger or when to attack the thing posing that danger… but as innocent as a dove. In other words, Jesus calls for Christians to be ever-growing disciples… Disciples who are maturing and becoming more and more proficient in their study of God’s Word.

That’s how we are to be when it comes to what is good… to what is true! However, when it comes to evil we are to be innocent as doves. Have nothing to do with evil and falsehoods. Don’t “try” falsehoods out to see if you like them. Don’t tolerate falsehood just because you like the way it makes you feel.

Some people say, 'Well it sounds good to me and is encouraging and positive so I’m going to experiment with it. It can't hurt.' Emphatically we must say, NO! We must be innocent… blameless in those things! Having nothing to do with them.

We are not to make even a beginning of evil! Our discerning efforts shouldn’t be found in truing out the false, rather, they should be found in knowing truth more clearly and deeply so that by contrast we don’t fall for the smooth talking deceiver instead we see them for the vile, dangerous thing that it is!

However, the duty of discernment and the duty of defending the truth of the Gospel is not with out a price! The more love you have for the Savior, the more you will be hated by this world. (John 15:18-20) Be prepared brethren, should you decide to take up this mantle and begin marking out the false teachings and their teachers… be prepared, you will quickly make enemies. Know that it is not ultimately YOU they hate, but rather the truth and the One whom you serve. They hated first Christ, they will also hate you. If the world loves you, it is probably because you love the darkness of evil and false and not the truth of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 5:11-12)

In being persecuted for Christ’s sake, rejoice! You are among great company! In defending the purity of the truth of Jesus Christ you are glorifying God and storing up for yourselves treasures in Heaven! Paul goes on in verse 20 to encourage Christians to pursue that which he has just laid out in the preceding verses.

- Romans 16:20 -

He reassures them that though the world does in fact hate them for their love of truth and marking out of evil… even though it will make existence in this life more difficult… take heart! Be encouraged, because God will soon crush Satan under your feet!

Those who are despising you, those who are creating divisions and obstacles… they are believing the deceptions of Satan, but you take heart and continue to be wise in what is good even though that is unpopular. Gazing upon the Savior all the more. Why? Because HE is your peace! He is what we hope in! (1 Peter 1:3-7)

Jesus Christ is your focus! God will soon bring to justice all those who blaspheme His Name and persecute His children. Because He will crush Satan! Christian, one day… one day our struggle will be over! Spiritual warfare against Satan and his deceptions will end one day for we will stand in Heaven, before our God… where no evil will be permitted to enter! So we continue persevering in Christ! (1 Timothy 6:12-19)

God has ensured the ultimate victory over Satan! So our toil in Him is not ever in vain! Then this verse ends by reminding them that they will be able to do these things… to stand up under trial and persevere, because the sufficient grace of the Lord Jesus Christ will be with them! (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) We need the grace of Christ to strengthen us, we need it to give us wisdom, we need it daily to sustain and guide us!

Christian brethren, are you doing the work of the Bereans? Are you studying to show yourself approved; a worker who is not ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth? (2 Timothy 2:15-19) Are you making it your duty to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil?

If so, take heart! For it is Christ’s grace working in you to do these things! Continue holding fast to the truth of Jesus Christ! That which is good and pure and right!

If not, repent! Gaze intently on the beauty of the Savior who has been crucified and risen to save you from your sin… even the sin of being ashamed of His Name. Let the awe filled wonder of what He did for your sake on that cross humble you and lead you to cry out to Him for forgiveness and strength to obey His call. Are you following a known and marked false teacher because it makes you feel good? Repent! False doctrine, no matter how sweet the taste, is vile poison!

Overview of Scientology

2011-11-27T19:12:00.008-06:00

Scientology, a religion that we clearly know is not a Christian one. It is not fast growing religion, but it is a popular one, especially amongst the VIPs of Hollywood. The reality of Scientology is that it is really just a 20th century remake of the pagans of India in days gone by.

They boast around 15 million members and their meeting places are opulent. So where did it come from?

A.) History/ Origin

It was founded by a man named L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard had been a leader of several anthropological expeditions among primitive people groups. He was in the US Navy during WWII and was an imaginative science fiction novelist.

During his travels and studies he began exploring a theory that he called Dianetics. Dianetics means “discursive reasoning” or in other words, “pertaining to reason”. It is a type of reasoning that is built on the reason of man to fix his own past and man’s reasoning to determine his own future.

He wrote expounded on his theory and put it together in his book “Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health” in 1948. This book was and is used as a founding source in the Church of Scientology. Dianetics is the method of pulling out engrams from the Reactive Mind.

Hubbard was born in 1911 in Manhattan. Primarily raised by his mother and grandfather, he also had friendships with the Blackfoot medicine men and was eventually accepted into their tribe as a blood brother.

In 1920, he traveled to China to begin investigating the meaning of life and purpose. Very adventurous and very involved in high risk expeditions as he visited these various cultures he would adapt some their beliefs into his own claiming that no one group could hold the only possible true answers.

He believed in reincarnation and so as we will see, much of his views in Scientology centered around that. The first Church of Scientology was opened in June of 1955 in Washington D.C of all places. Prior to that the practice was simply known as Dianetics and its adherents were not organized into an actual religion. Originally, those who followed Dianetics were not part of a religion, but as money was given and donate, the eyes of the IRS were raised… so it becomes the Church of Scientology and uses religious language so as to escape taxation from the government.

It brings in around $70million per year! And these are not gifts primarily, they are fees. We’ll look at those in a bit.

B.) What does Scientology teach?

Well, the goal of Scientology is for its adherents to uncover and eradicate prenatal problems, compulsions, and inhibitions that have accumulated in the soul during past lives. Hubbard’s theory was that all humans have ‘engrams’ received by the embryo in the womb.

An ‘engram’ is a lasting trace left in an organism by psychic experience. In other words, you are born with the psychic experiences that are left over from your past lives. Remember I told you that Hubbard’s belief in reincarnation was going to be an important part of this.

You see, Scientology teaches that “man is basically good” and that “his spiritual salvation depends on himself, his fellows, and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe”. (scientology.org)

In it not a “dogmatic religion” where you “believe by faith”. It is a religion in which “one discovers for oneself that the principles of Scientology are true by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results.” (scientology.org)

“The ultimate goal of the Scientologist is to attain true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for all.” (scientology.org)

The reason that the goal is to eradicate the “engrams” you are born with is because they believe those engrams to be self-defeating behaviors that are inappropriate. In other words, the sins (although they wouldn’t call it sin) in your life is not because you are a wretched vile sinner who needs saving by a perfect Savior, no you are basically good, according to Scientology, and your “self-defeating, inappropriate behaviors” are just leftover traces of a former life.

So it isn’t YOUR fault, it’s your ‘you’ in a past life’s fault. Further, you don’t need a Savior to atone for your sins in Scientology, you just need to search out the ‘engrams’ you have and on your own, figure out how to get rid of them so that with each engrams removal you become closer and closer to perfection.

In the end, hopefully, you will release the essential, spiritual self or soul called the ‘thetan’. The ‘thetan’ comes from the Greek word “theta”. The thetan is the immortal spirit, which can have existed for up to 74 million years. It combines the Gnostic idea of aeons (eternal beings) and the Hindu doctrine of reincarnation.

The difference in the teachings of Hindu teachings of karma verses Scientology is that karma and reincarnation teach that you progressively seek to be better in each life so that eventually you reach perfection. Scientology, on the other hand, teaches that you can go back and get the “engrams” of past lives so that you reach perfection, potentially, in this life.

This is Hinduism modified and re-packaged for the American, consumer driven culture. By dealing with the left over wrongs the soul becomes “clear”, free to go on to better things, with no harmful restraints.

Scientology is very tightly organized. It has “ministers” who perform rites and administer sacraments, but their main function is counseling.

There is a tight-knit inner circle and many highly committed adherents. Some celebrity names that you might recognize who are Scientologists.

- Tom Cruise
- John Travolta
- Katie Holmes
- Kirstie Alley
- Jason Lee
- Greta Van Sustern

- Sonny Bono

So you say, ‘Where does God come into play?’. Well, you remember I said that the goal was to release the “essential spiritual self” called the thetan? Well, Scientology considers the belief in a God or gods as something personal and therefore is subject to each individual’s belief.

The nature of the “Supreme Being”, as they call it, is “revealed personally through each individual as he/she becomes more conscious and spiritually aware. The life force of the theta exists in us all and beyond us all.”

Life, existence, is a manifestation of the universal spirit of “theta” which exists in us all. So who becomes god? You do. You are your own god.

Scientology operates on 3 basic tenets.

- Man is an immortal being.
- His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime
- His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized.

The goal of Scientology is to maximize man’s estimation of himself.

C.) Practicing Scientology

Let’s see then how their beliefs flesh out in practice. It is ironic to me that the overall goal of Scientology is self-realization and determining truth on your own so that you release the eternal spirit in you… however, in order to realize this “thetan” spirit yourself you have to be counseled by an ordained counselor from the Church of Scientology.

If I do it on my own, why the counselors? You’ll see that this was a BRILLIANT money making scheme on the part of L. Ron Hubbard.

How do I get into Scientology? Well, there are 8 dynamics (stages) of Dianetics and you, as a “seeker” must work your way up on your journey to find freedom.

Those stages are:

1.) Self-dynamic
2.) Sexual
3.) Group
4.) Mankind
5.) Animal
6.) Universe
7.) Spiritual
8.) Infinity (god)

If you were to begin venturing into Scientology you would be considered a “seeker” and you would start your counseling sessions as what is known as a “Pre-Clear”.

The Pre-Clear is a beginning Scientologist. According to their procedures, the Pre-Clear meets with an approved Auditor from the Church in a private session.

They sit with a device called an E-Meter between them. The E-Meter is used to determine how many engrams that person has and a reading is taken each session to get an idea of how the person is progressing on their journey.

They call it a “religious artifact” and say that it helps measure readouts of the “spirit and soul”. The Pre-Clear holds the two can-like cylinders while the Auditor asks personal and probing questions and the Auditor will make notes on the readings and adjust as needed.

An example question: Have you ever done anything your mother would be ashamed of? The reality is that the E-Meter is really just a crude lie detector. But what they say is that through these questions they are really probing back through your past lives to determine the greatest areas of need so that you can remove these engrams yourself.

It may take as much as 20 hours for the Pre-Clear to begin moving upward through the 8 stages hoping to reach the status of Clear. A “Clear” is one who has cleared themselves of problems, difficulties, and engrams.

When, in the counseling sessions, the engrams are revealed by the E-Meter, and they are confessed, they are automatically erased. They no longer harass your inner thetan.

Only 1/50th of 1% who have attempted this process have ever made it through all 8 stages to level “Clear”. The cost of all this is very expensive. Your counseling sessions begin at $15 and can be up to $35 with total fees for all 8 stages of progression costing between $7,000-$20,000.

Where did L. Ron Hubbard spend most of his time after reaching “Clear” status? Well, because he received 10% of all fees collected by the Scientology centers, he spent most of his time in international waters, sailing in his 3,000 ton, 320’ yacht complete with blue-uniformed crew of 200 sailors and students.

Scientology teaches in their “Code of Honor”, that you should

- Never fear to hurt anyone in a just cause
- Punish to the fullest extent of (your) power anyone misusing or degrading Scientology to harmful ends.
- Set your own values and counsel your own decisions.

Hubbard said “Man is caught in a high and complex Labyrinth. To get out of it requires that he follow the closely taped path of Scientology.”

That is of course if you can afford it!

D.) How do we witness to a Scientologist?

Folks, man is not caught in a “labyrinth”. They are dead in sin and trespasses. Scientology teaches that man is not sinful and that man has no need for God… in fact they teach that man is god of himself.

Your sins aren’t your fault, they are someone else’s… a you from a past life and you, on your own effort, can eliminate those until you perfect youself.

How we approach them with the Gospel is that they must be shown that Scripture is clear. God is the only God, man is not God (Isaiah 45:5; Genesis 1:1) and He has been God from all eternity (Psalm 90:2). He knit them together in their mother’s womb! (Psalm 139:13-14).

But they have sinned against the very God who gave them life. (Romans 5:12-14; Ephesians 2:1-3; Exodus 20:1-17; James 2:10) They must see that because of their sin they have a grave need for forgiveness. A forgiveness that they cannot obtain on their own (Ephesians 2:8-9).

There sin is their own fault, and not a trace of a past life. God has appointed a day in which He will end their physical life and He will judge their sin (Hebrews 9:27). But God, being rich in mercy and great in love, sent His Son Jesus Christ to die in their place. To take God’s wrath in their place. So that they can be forgiven! (Ephesians 2:4-7; Romans 3:25; 1 John 4:10) God punished Christ, and Christ willingly took it, for their sin! (2 Corinthians 5:21)

If they refuse to repent they will perish and suffer God’s wrath for their sin for all eternity. (Romans 6:23; John 3:36). Jesus who is God in the flesh (John 1:1; 14) is the only Savior and only hope for salvation for any one (John 14:6). If they will turn from their works and “self absolution” and look to Christ (Isaiah 45:22), He will forgive them and grant them eternal life. (John 3:16)

Giving an offering in the Old Testament

2011-11-21T22:49:00.000-06:00

After my last series of posts on tithing I received a number of comments on facebook and emails complaining that I didn't handle the subject fairly. "Tithing didn't go away just because of Jesus." "Jesus tithed." "You are teaching a demonic thing that will rob God of what is properly His"

So I decided to revisit the issue. As I pointed out before, in Christ, we don't give a tithe to the church. Now I realize that most churches call it tithing. Most Christians call it tithing. But even though that is what they call it, that isn't what they are doing. I also know that many Christians who could give more, don't, because they feel that 10% is what God has prescribed. By the same token, some Christians struggle to get by with their most basic needs because their "pastors" have yoked and shamed them into giving 10% which for some may be really difficult.

Did tithing go away with the new covenant of Christ? I would submit yes, see previous posts for explanation. So is there a Biblical precedent for something that would equate to the type of giving we do today when we give an offering to our church? Yes, yes there is.

Bibles open to Exodus 25:1-9.

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, 5 tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

God instructs Moses to deliver a message from Him to Israel. The word was to: Take a contribution (an offering) up from Israel to be given to the Lord. The guidelines:
- The contribution given should be "from every man whose heart moves him"
- It could be gold, silver, bronze, blue and purple scarlet yarns, fine twined linen, goat's hair, tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps of the Tabernacle, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, or stones for setting the ephod and breastplate.

So what each man purposed in his heart to give he could do so and it could be any of the following. Now, let's set this passage up so that we know the context. God is instructing Israel on how He wants the Temple constructed. The reason that He gives such specific detail as to WHAT can be given was because God had a very intentional design and reason in all that He used to make the Tabernacle. That's a whole other blog post.

But what was the contribution being given to? The tabernacle, the temple, the place of worship. What would we call such a place today? Perhaps, the church. That being the church in the physical building sense of course.

Where as the tithe that God did require from Israel was used for the running of a Nation that was under a theocracy, here we see God calling for a contribution to come from the heart. Whatever anyone wants to give, however they want to give, and only if they want to give.

Sounds a lot like the principle that Paul gave for lays out for giving in 2 Corinthians 9:7 doesn't it?

God encourages, and some commentators even have said that here God commands, that the people give, but what does He not do? He does not set a specific amount.

So what happens? Exodus 35:1-36:7

Moses relays this message from the Lord to the people. He tells them that God has said for everyone who is of a "generous heart" (Exodus 35:5), let them bring the Lord's contribution. No yoke of a percentage fixed to be given. Now, what did the people do with this information?

Scripture says, that the people "left the presence of Moses" (Exodus 35:20) and "everyone whose heart stirred him" whose "spirit moved him" brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments (Exodus 35:21). Exodus 35:22 says that every one who came brought an "offering" of gold to the Lord (Exodus 35:22). Verse 30 calls what they were bringing a "freewill offering" (Exodus 35:30). Everyone who "could" bring a contribution, did so (Exodus 35:24).

Are we noticing a trend here? We should be! In recording this account Moses goes to great length to record that all the contributions were to be given as a free will offering.

Exodus 35:5, 21-29 - Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; 21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or goatskins brought them. 24 Everyone who couldwhose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

God called for an offering, not a tithe. The people, in kind, responded by giving freely of their own desire. The money and other items they gave was given, not to the running of the Nation of Israel, but to the construction of the sanctuary. The place of worship.

They gave because they wanted to.

Immediately you may be thinking, but what if they don't want to give at all. Well, to that I would say there is probably a deeper heart problem at play than simply an unwillingness to give.

I was once told by a Pastor that he knows that the 10% tithe was an Old Covenant practice but he teaches it as a New Covenant one so that people will give and keep the church running and his salary coming in. Shameful. Shameful. Sinful. Pastors, please here me. There is no reason to not trust God to provide!

So the people gave freely, and what happened? Well, the Bible says that they were giving so much that God had to tell Moses to ask them to STOP! (Exodus 36:3-7) What a great problem to have! Can you imagine your Pastor standing before you and saying, "Folks, we appreciate your faithful giving around here as it obviously helps us accomplish our God-given mission as a church, but for the time we have far more than we need so please stop giving for a time and redirect your funds elsewhere." I don't think I can even picture that happening!

Now, I don't want to make something where there is nothing here so let me be clear that I am not saying that teaching rightly about giving will bring about the same exact results... Nope, we should teach rightly because it honors the Lord to do so (2 Timothy 2:15).

Folks, as a member of your church you should be giving and giving faithfully. But you should not think that the Bible says to you that you MUST give 10% or else your money is cursed. Nor should you entertain the superstitious notion that giving makes your money "more blessed". What you should do is trust that God knows your needs. He knows and He cares for you (Psalm 55:22, Luke 12:4-7, 1 Peter 5:7). He will provide. Follow after Christ and trust Him (Luke 9:23-27). Seek first GOD and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS and trust all else to His sure and strong Right Hand (Matthew 6:25-34)

Regardless of what He ordains for your life, wealth or poverty, etc... trust in Him.

The following are examples of how NOT to teach on giving in the church!

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We are to give: 1) Generously - (2 Cor 9:6) But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. We need to walk the way Jesus walked (1 John 2:6) and that would be giving generously as He did (John 3:16). All our money belongs to God anyway and our giving shows the level of trust we have in God to supply all our needs. But what about if you don’t have much to give? The Bible teaches that we are to give according to our ability (Acts 11:29) but it also models sacrificial giving such as the widow who gave her last two mites (Mark 12:41-43; 2 Sam. 24:24; 2 Cor. 8:1-3). God gave sacrificially through Christ and true love is always displayed in it’s sacrificial nature.

2) Cheerfully - (2 Cor 9:7) So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. Did you know the word for “cheerful” in this verse is from the Greek word “hilaros” from where we get our English word “hilarious”? That means when we drop that check in the plate or send that special offering to that missionary, we are to do it not grudgingly or by compulsion but with joy in the Lord!

I pray this has been helpful to you and that these principles guide you as you seek the grace of God to be good stewards of what He's provided you with (money, talents, etc) (1 Cor. 4:1-2).

Why All-American Muslim is NOT a helpful show...

2011-11-14T09:53:00.002-06:00

Recently TLC decided to start a new reality show, one that is supposed to "push the envelope" further than ever. The show? All-American Muslim. It is a show about one of America's largest Muslim communities located in Dearborn, Michigan.

The show seeks to show all the similarities between Muslims and everyone else. I would suspect that the idea has been birthed in a post 9/11 world that looks very suspiciously at anyone that even remotely looks like what we think a Muslim looks like...

Now, let me state from the beginning that there is never any excuse for hate towards anyone. Period.

That said, let's look at this show. Should we trust what they portray the American Muslim as?

Well, to begin with, they've not chosen the most devout Muslims in the area. In reality, the show (at least in this first episode) had less to do with Muslim/ American differences and more to do with Arab & American differences. I have no problems with a person of Arab ethnicity. Not every Arab is a Muslim. Muslims, however, are not a ethnic group, they are a religious/political group. Further, TLC has chosen the more liberal Muslims who are like many of America's backslidden Christians... they follow Islam in name and a few traditional practices. But they, by their own statements on episode 1 of the show, "don't follow everything in the Qur'an".

And that's really the issue, they don't follow everything in the Qur'an. (See this previous post for Muslim beliefs). Now, not every Muslim is a terrorist, that is true. BUT every good Muslim IS. Why? Because every good Muslim is following the teachings of Muhammad who taught terrorism but called it Jihad. Justified by calling it a "holy war".

A good Muslim is a terrorist (or at least supports it) just like a good Christian is an evangelist who seeks to share the Gospel with everyone they can.

I can see the direction they are headed with this. They are going to show our similarities and talk about the belief differences that won't raise any eyebrows. Oh, it might get the NOW gals in a twist over "women's rights" but other than that... no one will say much about most of the cultural differences that will be revealed.

Let me give you an example. There was a very famous person who loved lamb and rice. In fact, lamb and rice was one of his favorite meals and he had it at least two times a week. Now, if you like lamb and rice then this would be a commonality between you and this guy. Maybe that is enough to say that you are just alike!

Well, this person's name was...... Joseph Stalin. Still think you have a lot in common with him? Not so much I would imagine.

The point is not to compare these Muslims to Joseph Stalin, the point is that just because we have some common interests it doesn't mean we share the same belief systems.

I'm sure I like many things that these folks do. We probably have similar food tastes, movie tastes, music tastes... etc... but that doesn't address the issue of what Islam teaches.

And furthermore, I must ask, how can we even know if we can believe what they are saying? One of the integral doctrines of Islam is the doctrine of al-Taqiyya. Which literally means to conceal one's beliefs. Not to abandon the beliefs, but to conceal them for the purpose of advancing Islam.

What better way to practice al-Taqiyya than by having a reality show that depicts all Muslims as your average American? The Muslims who are terrorists are not extremists... they are good Muslims because they are following their holy book. The ones who aren't supporting terrorism or practicing it themselves are merely backslidden Muslims.

For your consideration, here's a side of Dearborn, Michigan you won't like see on TLC this season.

Here's the reality folks, Islam is NOT a religion of peace. There are peaceful Muslims it's true, but they aren't peaceful because Islam teaches them to be peaceful, they are peaceful because they aren't devout Muslims. If a Muslim does not want to be associated with a hate filled religion, they should leave it. If Islam as a whole wants to be seen as just another world religion and not a terror-bent organization then it should repudiate the Qur'an. All this show will do is deceive some about what Islam teaches and increase the hate and violence towards Christians and others who try to spread the truth about the deception and hate of Islam.

Regardless, Muslims need Jesus Christ. Not "Isa", but the Biblical Jesus Christ. Because, though they've turned their back on Him and worshiped a false God, He offers forgiveness for EVEN the sin of unbelief!

If you are a Muslim and you are reading this page, then please go to http://www.needgod.com/

p.s. - this article was posted to the TLC Fan Page for the show, it was on their wall approximately 3 minutes before it was promptly deleted. So much for being open-minded to all views eh?

Abortion

2011-11-12T22:13:00.002-06:00

I have been greatly encouraged to see how wide-spread the 180 Movie has become so quickly! At the time of writing this blog, the online version of the film on YouTube had just over 1.5 million views! Incredible!

I am thankful for all those who have viewed the film in its entirety. Even those who have rejected the messages contained within it. Abortion is an epidemic in this country. It is an epidemic in this world. For some reason we turn a blind eye to the intentional genocide of the human race through the practice of abortion.

Of course it is likely that most ignore it because they just don't want to think about the horrors of it. It's the same reason we turn away from the television commercials about starving and homeless children. We just don't want to admit to the reality of the horror we allow to go on in our own backyard known as abortion. Maybe we figure if it is out of sight it is out of mind.

It is no secret how I feel about it. There have been several posts prior to this one about this issue.

You may feel that you can't do anything on your own to chance things. But that's not entirely true. God often works through those the world considers nobodies to accomplish His purpose. That fact is evidenced by the 1.5 million views and the thousands more than have viewed it as a result of having been handed a DVD copy or shown the movie at a church.

Abortion is murder. Let me say that again clearly. Abortion is murder. It is a vile practice and it is a sad indictment against any community who places such a low value on the sanctity of human life.

Please, my Christian brethren, I'm calling on you to give a voice to the thousands of humans murdered every day in this country in the name of "choice". Speak out about abortion. The 180 Movie is a fantastic resource. Compelling, honest, and easy to spread to others. Ray and his team don't seek to force anyone to change their mind about abortion, but they do set out to accomplish two things. 1.) Educate people on the reality of abortion by factual evidence and a sobering comparison 2.) to spread the eternal life giving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both purposes are overwhelmingly accomplished in this film.

Please, spread the word... please view this important documentary. And do it now!

Previous posts:
Modern Day Molech Worship
God's grace in saving a life
Showing 180 to our church

Overview of Roman Catholicism

2011-11-10T09:57:00.000-06:00

Few religions are more confused with true Christianity than Roman Catholicism. The reason for that? Well originally, the word Catholic referred to the Christian church in general. The word Catholic actually just means “universal”. It was derived from the Greek word, katholikos, and the meaning of it was to identify the true church. The universal body of Christ.

In other words, the 1st century Christians would have been Catholic simply because the term was meant to identify all those who were truly born again.

The Nicene Creed, written in the 4th century to lay out essential doctrines of the church uses the phrase “one holy catholic church”. What the authors means was that there is only one God, one saving faith, one Christ, and those who are joined truly to the Biblical Jesus are a part of the true church.

Now, at this time Catholicism in part was still a fairly sound religion. It wasn’t until the 3rd century or so that it began to drift away into legalism and tradition. By the 4th century the Roman Emperor Constantine began to succumb to the desires of pagan influences and attempted to force the unification and acceptance of all religions into Christianity.

He declared himself to be the Vicar of Christ. These newly accepted pagans were given positions of authority… they brought their pagan practices in with them and in time as they would ordain church councils to settle matters of doctrine and practice these councils began to elevate traditions over the plain truth of Scripture.

They would condemn anyone who opposed them and deem them heretics and in that day they usually had them burned at the stake. Many devout men were persecuted and even martyred for defending Scripture.

By the 12th century the Roman Catholic Church had become the world’s most powerful groups, using its power to control governments. By this time it had effectively added works to salvation and elevated tradition over Scriptural truth. In addition, they had adopted a myriad of heresies which disqualified them as Christianity.

Throughout the history of the true church, many men spoke out against the heresies of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church and they left the Roman Catholic church in protest over what they determined were essential differences.

Those who left the Roman Catholic Church were commonly called Protestants. A Protestant was someone who protested against not just Roman Catholicism, but against anyone who asserted their interpretation and beliefs over the authority of Scripture.

In that respect, we ought to consider ourselves Protestants as well. In the early 1500’s, through the study of Scripture God began to work in a young German Monk named… Martin Luther.

You see, Martin became disturbed at the Roman Catholic teachings of justification by grace + works. And so he wrote a list, now known as the ’95 Theses’ and nailed them to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.

It was his public challenge to the Roman Catholic church for a debate about these things. A challenge against the papacy. Ultimately it caused him to be excommunicated from the church BUT what he suffered birthed what we call, the Protestant Reformation.

In fact, October 31 is known as Reformation Day because it was on that day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his theses to that door which ushered in a time of revival for the true church as more and more believers pulled out of the deceptive Roman Catholic Church.
One of these days we’ll get around to studying the effects of the Reformation and what not, but that’s not the main focus tonight… incidentally though, Reformation Day is a nationally observed holiday still in Germany.

The Roman Catholic Church claims it was birthed in the 1st century and that Peter was the 1st Pope. Where do they get that? Well, they get it from a gross misunderstanding of Matthew 16.

Matthew16:13-20 - Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Now, they say that what Christ meant was that Peter was the rock that Jesus would build His church on. However, that doesn’t fit when we look at the context. Christ has just asked them to declare who He was. Peter declares emphatically that Jesus is the Christ, in other words, Peter declares the Divinity and Authenticity of Jesus as fully God and the promised Messiah.

Christ responds to Peter by saying “you are Peter”. In Greek, the word for Peter is petras. It means stone, we get the word petrified from there. Jesus affirms Peter’s statement saying ‘you are correct! And your doctrine is sound, it is like stone.

So, “on this rock” on this truth… rather on Himself Christ, will the church of Christ be built. Peter never saw himself as some sort of Pope. In fact, he affirmed that he fully understood Christ’s words in his 1st epistle.

1 Peter 2:6-8 - For it stands in Scripture:   “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,   and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,   “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and   “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”

Who is the cornerstone upon whom those who believe won’t be put to shame? Well, it is Jesus Christ! Not Peter! He was just a man!

A.) The Bible

Roman Catholics use the same Bible we do with the addition of what is known as the Apocrypha. Their Bible is based on a translation known as the Greek-Septuagint, which included the Apocryphal books.

The Apocrypha is a group of 15 late-Jewish writings composed between 400 BC and the time of Christ. They are:
- 1 & 2 Esdras
- Tobit
- Judith
- the Rest of Esther
- The Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach (aka Ecclesiasticus)
- Baruch
- The Letter of Jeremiah
- Song of the Three Young Men
- Susanna
- Bel and the Dragon
- Additions to Daniel
- The Prayer of Manasseh
- 1 & 2 Maccabees

Though most of these books are Jewish writings, they are written in Greek, except for Ecclesiasticus. They do contain factual historical data at times, but they are not Scripture. The Apocryphal books were always known about, they weren’t “new” information, Jesus would have had knowledge of these writing, as would the Disciples yet they NEVER quote them whatsoever.

In fact, no where in all of Scripture are any of these books referred to.

1.) Protestants and Jews both reject all these books as inspired Scripture, however, in 1546 the Roman Catholic Church officially declared 7 of those books to be a part of the Canon of Scripture. The Apocrypha was declared Scripture by the Roman Catholics at the Council of Trent.

Up until that time they had knowledge of those extra books but they were never considered to be of the same weight and authority as Scripture. They were only introduced into the canon of Scripture by the Papacy as a response to the Protestant Reformation which was taking off very quickly.

You see, one of the things that the Reformers protested was against the notion that Scripture should not be taught in the language of the people. Rome taught that Scripture should only be read and taught by the Pope and the Monks and the Priests… While men like Martin Luther and many many others held that people should have access to the scriptures in their own language.

So as the Reformers are teaching right doctrine and the Bible begins to be translated to other languages, Rome’s response was to add the Apocryphal books in as Scripture to try and reclaim their dominance over the people.

To that time, Apocryphal books were used for devotional purposes at times, but they were not considered to be inspired Scripture. Here we are 400 years later and yet the Pope still upholds this decision. They still hold that these extra books are scripture. Therefore they are adding to the Bible by embracing these uninspired books as Scripture.

Why is that such a problem? How do we know these books aren’t inspired? WELL, to begin with, The Apocrypha contains false teachings that contradict the accepted canon of Scripture.

It:

- Condones the use of Magic

Tobit 6:5-7 - 5 The angel said to him, “Cut open the fish and remove its gallbladder, heart, and liver and keep them with you, and throw away the guts. Its gallbladder, heart, and liver are useful medicines.” 6 So Tobias cut open the fish and gathered up the gallbladder, heart, and liver. He cooked the fish and ate it; and the remaining part of it, which he salted, he put aside. Then they both journeyed together until they approached Media. 7 Tobias asked the angel, “Brother Azariah, what medicine is there in the fish’s heart, liver, and gallbladder?” 8 And the angel, answering, said to him: If thou put a little piece of its heart upon coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of devils, either from man or from woman, so that they come no more to them."

Is it true that smoke from a burning fish’s heart drives away evil spirits? Of course not! This is superstitious divination folks, what does the Bible say about divination?

It says that it is an abomination, Deuteronomy 18:10-12 - There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Further, it says that it is connected with idolatry. Idolatry because it sets that thing up, in this case the fish’s heart, as being worthy of a form of trust against something that is evil.

2 Chronicles 33:5-6 - And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

Acts 19 records that the pagan converts who were involved in this practice were quick to burn all the sorcery and divination books upon conversion.

Acts 19:19 - And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

In addition, it contains some historical inaccuracies.

Judith 1:5 states that Nebuchadnezzar was King of the Assyrians, when the Bible makes it clear that he was the King of the Babylonians. And possibly the most damning error that it contains is the teaching that…

- Forgiveness of sins is by human effort

Otherwise known as salvation by works. Among other things they teach that the book of James supports their works based faith system. The Apocrypha then teaches

Tobit 12:9 - Giving to the poor saves from death, and it washes away every sin.

We know that Scripture refutes this, in fact, the Bible teaches that only the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin!

1 John 1:7 - But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

The Apocrypha teaches that money is an offering for the sins of the dead.

2 Maccabees 12:43-46 - 43 After taking a collection from each man, he sent the sum of two thousand silver drachmen to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. He was acting honorably and appropriately, thinking about the resurrection. 44 If he hadn’t been looking forward to the resurrection of the dead, then it would have been unnecessary and frivolous to pray for them. 45 He was looking, however, to that best reward laid up for those who die in godliness, and so this was a pious and holy thought. Thus he made an offering of reconciliation so that the dead would be forgiven of their sin.

That is just flat out unbiblical! Hebrews 9:27 says that after death comes judgment… but according to the Roman Catholic Church you can be judged and then later forgiven if someone pays enough money to purchase your forgiveness. That isn’t a JUST God, but one who is fickle and prone to go against His Word by accepting a bribe.

Lastly, the Apocrypha contains no prophetic characteristics.

There are no shared characteristics between the Apocryphal writings and the accepted Canon of Scripture. No predictive prophecy as we find fulfilled in the Bible. In the Bible we find prophecies in the Old Testament that come to pass mostly in the New Testament and sometimes later on in Old Testament history. The Apocrypha contains no such prophecies. Further there is NO supernatural confirmation of the authors of these books.
In addition to the Apocrypha, the Roman Catholic Church uses a document that is released by the Pope known as the Roman Catholic Catechism. The RC Catechism is a series of documents that are written by the Papacy and taught by the Priests as though they hold equal authority with Scripture.

In their Catechism they do not affirm all 10 commandments as written in Scripture. In fact, they omit commandment number 2 altogether from their catechism.

Someone, tell me what the 2nd commandment is in the Bible? Well according to the Catholic Catechism it isn’t that we should have no idols.

From the current Vatican Website:
1.) No strange Gods before me
2.) Don’t take the Lord’s Name in Vain
3.) Keep the Sabbath Holy
4.) Honor your Father and Mother
5.) Do not kill
6.) Do not commit adultery
7.) Do not steal
8.) Do not bear false witness
9.) Do not covet your neighbor’s wife
10.) Do not covet your neighbor’s goods.

That omission is not in their Bible, but rather in their church traditions and writings that gets taught as Scripture. You see a Roman Catholic views the Apocrypha and Church Tradition as all having equal authority. Scripture, for them, is A source but not THE source of the knowledge of God necessary for faith and practice.

Catechism of the Catholic church, paragraph 82 states:

"Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit." "And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching." 82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”

You’ll find the 2nd Commandment in their Bible, but NOT in their Catechistic teachings. The catechistic teachings are what is used to train their adherents. In fact, the commandment against idolatry is repeated 7 times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the New Testament, yet the Pope refuses to recognize the error.

Now that omission is important as we will see next week as we move into some of the traditions that they hold to.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that you must follow the Bishops the same way… that you follow Jesus.

Catholic Catechism –
p.862 - "Just as the office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops." Hence the Church teaches that "the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ."

p.883 - "The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, as its head." As such, this college has "supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff."

p.896 - The Good Shepherd ought to be the model and "form" of the bishop's pastoral office. Conscious of his own weaknesses, "the bishop . . . can have compassion for those who are ignorant and erring. He should not refuse to listen to his subjects whose welfare he promotes as of his very own children. . . . The faithful . . . should be closely attached to the bishop as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father":

    Let all follow the bishop, as Jesus Christ follows his Father, and the college of presbyters as the apostles; respect the deacons as you do God's law. Let no one do anything concerning the Church in separation from the bishop.

p.939 - Helped by the priests, their co-workers, and by the deacons, the bishops have the duty of authentically teaching the faith, celebrating divine worship, above all the Eucharist, and guiding their Churches as true pastors. Their responsibility also includes concern for all the Churches, with and under the Pope.

Furthermore, the Council of Trent declared that no one can interpret Scripture in a way that is contrary to that of the Roman Catholic Church. (Council of Trent, Session 4, “Decree Concerning the Edition and the Use of the Sacred Books.)

In Catholicism, you are not allowed to hold a view that differs from the Pope on anything, period. That places MAN in the driver’s seat. The Bible teaches the authority of Scripture. That we look to Scripture, not man’s interpretation of Scripture.

As I said, the Bible says what it says. One interpretation. It may have several applications, but it has one interpretation only.

Acts 17:11 indicates that ALL believers, not just the Pope and his priests, are to search out the truth of Scripture.

The salvation by works that they wrongly take from the book of James, is reinforced in their Catechism.

p.2010 - Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.

p.2068 - The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: "The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments."

However, here is just a small refutation of that from the New Testament. Romans 3:28-30 - For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Romans 4:3 - For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Romans 5:1 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 11:6 - But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Galatians 2:16 - yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Ephesians 2:8-10 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

C.) God and Jesus Christ

So what to they teach about God the Father and Jesus Christ? Both Christianity and Roman Catholicism agree on who they are. The main difference here lies in the result of Christ’s work.

Catholicism teaches that Jesus died, for our sin and upon salvation was are infused with His righteousness. You get a portion of His righteousness BUT then, you must observe the commandments and be good, in order to supplement that righteousness with your works if you want to get to Heaven.

Christianity:
Justification is a divine act where God declares the sinner to be innocent of his sins. The because of Christ, God clears the sinner of His legal obligation to pay for his sins.

Isaiah 64:6 - We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.   We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Even our best efforts are like filthy rags… how then would they merit ANY grace from God? They can’t.

Council of Trent
- CANON 9: "If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema."

CANON 14: "If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema."

Moreover, you must do works to get saved BUT you must also do works to maintain your salvation. Catholic Catechism – p.1446 - Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace."

Did you catch that? You can lose your salvation if you sin too much, but if you do something, you can re-cover your sin. Folks, who does that make you dependent upon for the salvation of your soul? YOU.

But Jesus said in John 19:30 that “It is finished.” Paid in full!

John 10:27-29 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Romans 8:28-30 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 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. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

My repentance is not a work that recovers me with grace nor does it uphold my justification. Repentance is the vessel by which God works in His children to continually convict them of sin, assure them of forgiveness, and sanctify them more unto Himself.

To perform these acts of penance in the Catholic Church you may be told to do various things. These acts are supposedly empowered to re-cover you with the needed amount of grace so that you don’t lose your salvation forever.

Some examples…
- praying (to certain Patron Saints)
    Now they would say that they don’t pray to the Saints, but rather that they ask the Saints to pray with them and for them. In other words, they are asking the Patron Saints who have gone before (Mary, Peter, so on) to pray to God for them. Do we have any indication in Scripture that the saints in Heaven pray for us? Nope, absolutely none. And if I am kneeling to ask a dead Saint a question, I’m not praying with them, but to them. And there is a myriad of saints that you might pray to for different reasons… most common though is praying to Mary for intercession and forgiveness of sins.

- saying a set amount of Hail Mary’s. The Catholic Church added the word Hail to Luke 1:28 to give Mary a significant position in the work of redemption and dispensing of grace.

- you might be told to read the Scripture

- do a set amount of good works

- fast

Where they are confused is in the difference between relationship and ritual. We are joined in a relationship to God by His free grace. We are upheld by that same free grace. But God desires fellowship with His people which is why we pray, read the Bibles, live a life of repentance, serve, and so on.
1 Corinthians 1:9 - God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We do those things… works and prayer and Scripture reading… to KNOW the God who has saved us, not so that He continues to save us.

D.) Idols abounding!

Remember I told you that the omission of the 2nd Commandment from their Catechism was important. Well, that commandment deals with idols. The Roman Catholic Church would have a hard time teaching against idols considering they hold a NUMBER of idols in their religion.

1.) Indulgences – An indulgence, according to the Catholic Church, is a means of remission of the temporal punishment for sins which have already been forgiven but are due to the Christian in this life and or purgatory.

An indulgence removes time needed to be spent in purgatory. So there are 2 types of indulgences: Partial and Plenary. A partial indulgence removes part of the punishment of sins. A plenary indulgence removes all the punishments of sins.

Granting an indulgence is done in measurement of days, weeks, years, etc. It removes the amount of time you must spend in purgatory.

In 1969, a prayer was published by the RCC that said in the foreword that it was worth 5 years. In other words, if you said that prayer every day for a month, you removed five years time in purgatory.

The same document taught that if you studied or taught the Catholic Catechism for 20 minutes, twice a month, then you could remove an additional three years of time in purgatory.

CCC p.1476 & 1477

We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church's treasury, which is "not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the contrary the 'treasury of the Church' is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exist and find their efficacy."

"This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission in the unity of the Mystical Body."

You see what this is? It is their means by which they keep their people bound by a yoke of sacraments and legalism… idolatry.

You can also get indulgences on behalf of deceased loved ones. In 1517, a monk named Johan Tetzel wanted to raise more funds so that the re-construction of St. Peter’s Basilica could be completed and so he went about selling indulgences. He coined a phrase, (anyone know it?), “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.”

Preying on the fear of people and purgatory. What does the Bible teach about the need for indulgences? It doesn’t.

Isaiah 53:4-6 - Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;   yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;   upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;   and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

2.) Mary

They consider Mary the Mother of God, they offer prayers to Mary, they believe she was sinless and proclaim her the mother of the church… they also teach that she remained a virgin even after Christ’s birth, so Jesus had no siblings by her…

Mary’s prayers for us
CCC p.966 - "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death." The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:

    In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.

Vatican Council II p.420 – Mary’s prayers “draw the faithful to her Son when she is preached about.

Handbook for Today’s Catholics – She is preparing your eternal home for you.

Now, Mary was definitely a unique and blessed figure. But NOT because of all that they attribute to her, most of which are untrue by the way.

Luke 1:47 indicated that Mary DID need a Savior and so she wasn’t sinless. Matthew 1:25 says that she was a virgin until Christ’s birth but it does not say that she was after.

In the book of James, James identifies himself as the brother of Jesus. Which would mean Mary and Joseph had children after Christ’s both.

Mark 3:31035 implies that Jesus had multiple half brothers in fact. Pertaining to Mary’s role after death. She is not divine. She does not pray for us and we should not pray to her. When she died, she died the same way as we do.

The Bible says that there is ONE GOD and ONE MEDIATOR. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 - For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

What draws a person’s soul to Jesus Christ? Is it Mary? John 12:32 - And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

Romans 2:4 - Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

And what does the Scripture say about who is preparing your eternal home? John 14:1-3 - “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Mary, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an idol. We’ve already shown how the Papacy and Church traditions is an idol.

E.) Heaven and Hell

According to Roman Catholicism, after death every person will begin eternal life. After being judged by Christ each individual will gain “entrance into the happiness of Heaven, immediately after an appropriate purification, of they will enter into the damnation of Hell.

Heaven, to them, is the place of “supreme happiness” where those there will have no need for purification” and are “gathered around Jesus and Mary, the angels and the saints.”

Those who die in mortal sin go to Hell.

Purgatory is taught and it is a holding place where Catholics go before entering Heaven to be purified for entry to Heaven.

CCC 1030 - All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

You can’t go to Heaven until sins that you didn’t pay for on earth are dealt with. The length of time is unknown and varies so you’d better do all the works you can to hopefully reduce your time there now.

Nowhere is this taught in Scripture. It implies that the righteousness of Christ was not sufficient to atone for all our sin. It implies that there is something we must do to earn justification.

But Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that when we are absent from the body (Christians that is) that we are present with the Lord immediately… no purgatory.

Again, Jesus’ own words, John 19:30 “It is finished.”. Telestai, paid in full. The debt has been paid in full, the work needed to atone for sins has been done by Christ! Purgatory is unbiblical and unnecessary.

Things like Purgatory are threats to keep people scared into service. Yoked into obedience. Purgatory makes the cross insufficient by requiring you to undergo suffering in order to be made worthy.

But the Bible teaches that Christ became sin who knew no sin, so that I could become His righteousness! We need to take the Gospel to the Roman Catholics. We need to use the Law to bring knowledge of sin, but also to show them the futility of trying to live a life where our good deeds outweigh our sin. It isn’t an offsetting scale.

It would take even more posts to delve into confessing to a priest fully or their beliefs on the Eucharist and transubstantiation... but again this is meant as a good overview, not an indepth handling. It should, however, be enough to show that Roman Catholicism is NOT a Christian religion. I don't say that to be cruel, I say that because it should concern us for the salvation of our Roman Catholic friends...

Either Catholicism is true and the Bible is false, or the Bible is true and Catholicism is false… but they aren’t both correct because they believe differently and therefore they are not the same.

They need to know that Christ died to free them from the curse of the law, not just to bring obedience and make it possible.

They need to see that Jesus fully paid for ALL their sin, not just some… they need only to turn from sin and self and trust in the finished and sufficient righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Overview of Islam

2011-11-01T14:28:00.003-05:00

Much has been said by this President pertaining to Islam… Muslims… and so on. With over 1.5 billion followers, Islam is the 2nd largest religion in the world and one of the fastest growing religions in the world.

Some so-called Christian Pastors have even blurred the lines by praying to the Christian Jesus and Muslim Jesus in the same prayer as if they were the same person (I'll show in this post that they are not). In 2008, Rick Warren made this damning error in his inaugural prayer for the incoming President Barak Obama. To skip to the place in question, you can skip forward to time index 3:58. He prays in the name of ISA! That's the Muslim designation for Jesus and that is NOT the Jesus we learn of in Scripture.

What I want to do with this post is 2 fold. I want to (A) show you the reality of their beliefs so that we see just how they differ from the teachings of Christianity… (B) show you how we need to engage them with the Gospel.

I. The origin of the Name:

Starting with its very name. Some Muslims contend that Islam is Arabic for “peace”. The reality is that the Arabic word for Islam is “al-Silm”, which means ‘submission’ or ‘surrender’.

Peace and submission are not the same concepts. Islam teaches that the devastation and acts of Jihad, which we call terrorism, is in fact NOT inhumane, but rather its violence and bloodshed is necessary because its ultimate goal is to bring peace that is protected by the rule of law.

What law you might ask? Shar’ia Law, which we will get into a little later on.

The truth is that the Quran not only calls Muslims to submit to Allah, it also commands them to subdue people of other religions until they are in a full state of submission to Islamic rule.

This taken straight from the Quran. Surah 9:5 – And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists where you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush.

Polytheists… that’s us because we believe in a Triune God and they don’t understand that He is one God in three persons.

It goes on to say that if they will convert, then let them go, but then in Surah 9:14 says that if a convert to Islam breaks their oath to Allah, “Fight them: Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the breasts of a believing people.”

Surah 9:29 – Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given scripture, - fight until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.

The jizyah is a tax levied against unbelievers who convert as a signifier of their acceptance of the Islamic rule over them.

Surah 9:30 – The Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the son of Allah.” That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before them. May Allah destroy them.

II. Where did this religion come from?

Well, approximately 1,500 years ago in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a man name Muhammad was sitting inside a cave and he was contemplating and meditating on life… so on and so forth. During his time of contemplation he claims that an angel named Gabriel visited him.

The angel delivered certain messages to him there and continued to visit him and reveal things to him across the next 23 years.

He used these angelic revelations to form the basis of what is known today as Islam. Although Muhammad really began the religion, he claimed that Abraham was also a Muslim and he that he wasn’t creating a religion but rather he was just calling people back to the truth.

The Abraham that we know about from the Bible book of Genesis is actually mentioned in the Koran although the details of his life and beliefs are obviously distorted. Surah 33:67 – Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah]. And he was not of the polytheists.

They actually go so far as to teach that Adam was a Muslim and he was the 1st prophet of Allah. In addition to that, according to Islam, Noah, Moses, David, John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ were all prophets of Allah and Muhammad is the last and greatest of all the prophets.

After Muhammad died, his followers disagreed on who should be his successor, and so they divided into 2 main groups: The Sunnis and the Shi’ites. About 85% of the Muslims in the world are Sunni Muslims and the other 15% Shi’ite.

Their aren’t just loads of differences… both hold to the teachings of the Koran and believe Islam should rule the world by any means necessary. The major difference in views comes to their belief about a person named Mahdi (which means ‘the rightly guided one) who will appear in the end times with Jesus and Jesus will follow him.

The Shi’ites believe him to be the son of an Imam named Hasan al-Ashair and so he has come already but is hiding. The Sunnis believe that he has not yet come because he is someone else.

The Shi’tes believe he is here not but hidden and is waiting for the proper time to spear. Because of their differeing beliefs on who is the rightful ruler of Islam and which family lineage of Muhammad should be in rule, they sometimes have inner turmoil over recognizing and submitting to certain rulers.

The Sunnis lost controlling power at the end of WWII and saw this loss as devastating! They were disgusted by the influence of Europe and the West (which includes America) after this loss because it began to have sway over some of their people.

The Sunni Muslims have been angered by this ever since the removal of their “dominion” style government and have been at war with the West and Europe ever since… Osama bin Laden was a Sunni Muslim. To him, the end of “dominion” reign in the 1920’s was so devastating that in a post 9/11 video he said… “What America is tasting now is only a copy of what we have endured…”

Shi’ites are no more peaceful… they have allied with the Sunnis against the West for more than 80 years now.

III.) Who was Muhammad

So, who was Muhammad? Is Muhammad a great peace-loving humanitarian like many try to portray him today? Well, let’s see…

Muhammad lost both of his parents in childhood. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was around 3 years old. He was raised, primarily, by his grandfather. He was married at age 25 to his then boss, Khadija, who was a wealthy widow and who was 15 years older than he was. She died at age 65, well after the conception of Islam having used her money to help finance the begninnign of Islam and converting to Islam herself.

Around 35 Muhammad started going outside of Mecca to Mt. Hira for meditation and contemplation. The first time he was “visited” he was scared because he believed it to be an evil Jinn which is an evil being created by fire and that are invisible but dwell on the earth.

After that he later said that the first visit was from the angel Gabriel and not a Jinn. That happened around 610 AD. Sometimes he saw Gabriel and other angels, sometimes he only heard him and other times he only heart the sound of bells that he could understand as a divine language.

Muhammad was illiterate and so he was told to memorize these things told to him. The things told to him began in 610 and lasted 23 years until his death in 632AD.

The Jews in Medina disagreed with Muhammad’s teachings and Muhammad said that the Jews and Christians had misread the Scriptures. One day, while praying with the Jews facing Jerusalem he turned towards Mecca saying that Mecca was the true place of worship because it was built by Abraham.

After about 2 years in Medina the Muslims were not growing very quickly and financially they were strapped. Well wasn’t it convenient for them then that Muhammad soon after had a “revelation” which directed Muslims to attack and raid passing caravans.

After that Muhammad was relatively unchallenged in any quests having up to as many as 10,000 men at one point early on.

IV.) What did Muhammad believe:

Well, we’ve already seen how he feels about other religions… so they are not the tolerant religion of peace that they claim to be…

Incidentally, the issue of the Muslim Mosques… anyone know the reason they should NOT be built in America? Well, it is because they are more than a place of worship!    Islam is more than a religion, it is a religion and a political ideology. They believe their religion should reign the world. Their mosques are erected after they feel they’ve infiltrated or conquered a nation.

They worship their and they exact Shar’ia Law from there as well. They enforce Islamic law from there… Muslims in America are already pushing to have court cases involving Muslims tried in a court of Shar’ia Law rather than in the courts of this Nation. ***SHOW SLIDE***

V.) What else does Islam teach?

1.) Pertaining to Women:

   Women are war prizes and objects used to fulfill the sexual desire of men. Muhammad wrote that    women are to “lower their gaze around men”. (Surah 24:31) and that you “should marry the    women of your choice, two or three or four” (Surah 4:3)

   Surah 4:24 & 33:50 teach that a man can take women who are not his wife as their sex slave and    this is encouraged for the wives in nations that they have conquered to disgrace their husbands.

   1/5 of all the spoils of war (which included women) were to be given to Muhammad. The same    applies today only it is given to his descendants.

Among his 12 total wives, Muhammad had a bride who was 6 years old at the time that he married her named Ayesha. Now he may have married her at 6 but he waited till she was older to have relations with her… she was the ripe old age of 9 when he consummated the marriage relationship…

12 wives plus all his slave women who were mostly Jewish women captured during his military conquests. Muhammad said that a girl can be taken in marriage at ant age, by any age man, and that women could be married for religion (meaning to advance the spread of Islam to a foreign nation), wealth, or beauty.

There are fives basic tenets that inform the practice of Islam and these 5 tenets are to be practiced by all Muslims… they are known as the 5 Pillars of Islam.

Pillar #1 – Shahada

You must confess that there is no true god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Incidentally, all other

Pillar #2 – Salat

This is a prayer ritual that involves purification of the body and soul. Prayer must be done 5 times a day. The first is at dawn, the last at sunset.

Pillar #3 – Saum

Saum is the time of fasting that is observed during the month of Ramadan, which they are currently in right now. It begins with a large feast where they eat their fill and then it is followed by a fast from all good and drink (except water), and absolutely no sexual activity.

Pillar #4 – Zakat

A charity given to the poor. It benefits the poor and it helps the giver by moving him towards holiness and submission to Allah, further helping him earn Paradise.

Pillar #5 – Hajj

Hajj means ‘pilgrimage’. All Muslims must make a pilgrimage to Mecca, if they are able, sometime in their lifetime.

Of course in the media you hear lots about how only some Muslims are terrorists… that only the “radical” Muslims who have “hijacked” the religion are the killers… and I will be the first to tell you that obviously not every Muslim is a terrorist… however, it isn’t “radical” Muslims who are committing terror acts, it is obedient ones.

Obedient Muslims that are blowing things up and killing people are obedient Muslims. The “peaceful” Muslims are really just backslidden Muslims because they aren’t following with their own lives, the teachings they claim to believe.

On top of that, there is one more aspect to Islam that is very scary indeed. The practice of Taqiyya. The word "al-Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing or disguising one's beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of imminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury."

Taqiyya teaches Muslims that at any time they may lie and it is not sinful. They can lie if it protects their lives or if it helps to deceive the non-believers and advance the rule and power of Islam. So the danger is, how do we know which Muslims are backslidden Muslims who aren’t being obedient by killing people, and which ones ARE terrorists who are practicing Taqiyya?

Finally, VI.) Salvation - For the Muslim to be saved they must depend on their own works to please Allah. When they die and are judged by Allah, if they have done enough good deeds to outweigh their bad deeds and sins then they have hope that Allah MIGHT let them into paradise. But there is no way for them to be sure. Even if they pray for forgiveness they may or may not be forgiven.

If we are going to reach Muslims with the Gospel, we must remember to define our terms. Jesus to them (Isa) is not the Jesus of the Bible. We need to explain who Jesus is. We need to use the Law to reveal their sin and show them that the Bible says that salvation is NOT of works lest no man should boast… and that the Bible says that if we confess our sin to God He is faithful to forgive us!

Raising awareness or Coarse Jesting?

2011-10-31T00:29:00.001-05:00

Recently it seems that there are more and more people are signing on and joining in the effort to alert, educate, and raise funds to help support Breast Cancer Research. That is 100% fantastic! Breast Cancer is a serious problem and it does take the life of many many many women each year. A little known fact, it actually does affect men as well. Each year a small percentage of those who are diagnosed with and or die from Breast Cancer are men. Women still make up the largest group of those affected by this awful cancer.

So it is good to give money to support the finding of a cure and it is good to raise awareness by informing others and educating people on how to keep watch over their bodies to watch for early signs of any problems. In many cases, early detection is treatable.

That all being said, is it acceptable to use perverse double entendre and labeling it as 'raising awareness'? I think that for Christians the answer must be emphatically NO!

However, no one seems to have a problem with the frequent and growing number of slogans and such that use such perverse language in order to tell people about Breast Cancer. From bracelets that have "I ❤ (insert slang word for breasts here), to shirts that say "Save the (another slang word)." and the most recent one I've seen, "Save Second Base"; because "2nd Base" is slang for Breasts as well.

These slogans are recognized culturally as coarse slang words. They are considered by most to be a bit filthy. The intention of such slogans seems to be to illicit a smug laugh or some such reaction. Are those types of things raising awareness? I suppose you could make the argument that even someone complaining about it means that it has raised awareness and achieved there purpose. Point well taken, but is it possible that the only thing that such perverse things are raising awareness of is pointing the minds of those bearing these slogans towards lustful thoughts? Perhaps.

To continue using such perverse language simply because it is achieving the purpose of spreading awareness or to stop its use because some are using it as an opportunity to have lustful thoughts would be pragmatic at best in both cases.

So let us look to Scripture and find out what it has to say about perverse and coarse language such as the aforementioned slogans.

In Ephesians 5 we find Paul making a contrast while instructing Christians on how it is we are to walk. He begins by instructing Christians to be "imitators of God" (Ephesians 5:1). He next says that we are to "walk in love" (Ephesians 5:2) and to illustrate that truth he points to the example of Christ (Ephesians 5:2) and that such imitation and manner of walking is a "fragrant offering and sacrifice to God". In other words, it is this type of behavior that God expects and is pleased with from His children whom He's called to so conform to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-30).

Paul's contrast comes in verse 3-4. We are, in contrast to proper walking, told that those in Christ are to abstain completely from "sexual immorality" and "impurity" and "covetousness" that such behaviors as a lifestyle should not even be named among us. Because abstaining from such is proper conduct for the saints (Ephesians 5:3).

Verse 4 then lists more things that typify the behavior of the unconverted. The Apostle says, "let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking" instead our speech should be "thanksgiving". Filthy talk, foolish talk, crude joking. Paul says that those are all "out of place" (Ephesians 5:4).

Then, in verse 5, there is a warning... not a warning of retribution for those practicing the crude behaviors, but rather an alert that those who are practicing those behaviors are not born again. "For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." (Ephesians 5:5-6)

So left to itself, this is legalism. It is law. Do this... abstain from that... But it isn't left to itself. Why is it important for Christians to follow God's Word verses the world's way of being coarse and crude?

In verses 7-8, Paul gives the indication that this isn't just a list of shalls and shall nots that we follow, they are the Gospel indicatives. They are those things which typify those who have been born again by Christ! Those who are now walking in the light. The contrast is key in this passage. We were "once darkness", past tense. But now we are in the light and must, by result of regeneration, "walk in the light" (Ephesians 5:8).

Verse 9 says that the "fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true" (Ephesians 5:9). In other words, the proof that you are born again is seen in bearing these characteristics that are not common to the natural man, but only common to one who is still dead in sin.

This should be a word of caution, for a person who finds themselves practicing and applauding and approving of such coarse jesting and crude language to examine their own hearts to see whether or not they are truly in the faith. Whether or not they are truly born again (2 Corinthians 13:5). Examine yourself. Go through 1 John and see whether or not your life is bearing fruit in keeping with repentance (Luke 3:8). Have you repented of your sin and trusted in Christ? I'm not asking if you go to church or if you call yourself a Christian. Many people do both those things and are no more saved than the Devil (James 2:19).

Perhaps you've just never considered it. Perhaps you just went along with wearing those crude slogans because you didn't give thought to how it might affect others. Has it crossed your mind that it could possibly cause others to stumble?

Walk in the light, as Jesus is the Light (1 John 1:7). If you find that you are offended by the command to pursue first the righteousness of God (Matthew 6:33), then could it be that your unwillingness to conform to Christ comes because you, in fact, don't know Christ? I can't answer that question for you, all I can do is as I've done... which is to point you to Scripture concerning the matter...

So, support Breast Cancer, raise awareness for it, raise funds for it, find an appropriate way to give donations towards the furtherance of the research for a cure. In addition, pray for those with Breast Cancer and pray for those who are seeking cures.

But put away the crude slogans. The pink ribbon is well known enough and sufficient to help us to raise visual awareness and it doesn't have to be crude to accomplish this. As for intellectual awareness, here is a site with facts on the subject. Go there, educate yourself, and then get busy helping make others aware of the very real danger and importance of regular exams. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast

As for the condition of your soul... check out http://www.whatifImpretending.com

Q&A: Why a bronze serpent & how is that a shadow of the Messiah?

2011-10-27T17:00:00.005-05:00

Question: Why did Moses use a serpent image and how was that a type of Jesus?

So after church last Sunday I was asked a question that I only was able to answer in part. It intrigued me so I went home and sought the rest of the answer and decided to give it tonight since there may be others who have wondered the same thing… The question came from Numbers 21.

Numbers 21:4-9 - From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The question was, why did Moses make the image that would save the people to look like a serpent and how was this, a shadow of Jesus Christ?

And it is sort of curious considering that the serpent in Genesis is Satan… why a serpent here? Well, firstly, the serpent in Genesis and the image of the serpent here are not representative of the same thing. How do we know that? Well, in verse 9 of Numbers 21 it tells us that those who looked on the image of the bronze serpent were saved from the venom of the bite and they lived.

To give you a context for what’s happening here, the Israelites have been led out of Egypt by God’s hand and now they are making their way towards the land of Canaan. Edom blocked their way and so after a successful battle they journey south to the Red Sea and then back North to Canaan thereby completely by passing the land of Edom altogether.

Along their journey, as Israel often did, the people began to complain. Aaron has just died, and Miriam had died a while before him, and they are mourning and their mourning is moving to groaning over their situation. Apparently having quickly allowed their trials to over power the memory of having experienced God’s power in saving them and providing for them at every turn.

So they complain against God and Moses and ask ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?’ So God allows for their punishment at the hands of or rather at the venom of a deadly snake.

As a result the people realize their sinful ways. v7a - And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.”

They realize that they have sinned and go to Moses to make intercession with the Lord on their behalf. Now, Moses does go and do just that. He prays for them. In the last half of verse 7 it says, v7b- So Moses prayed for the people.

And God responds to Moses request, but not in the way that the people had requested. Not in the way that Moses had likely requested either to be honest. God responds, v8 - And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”

God answers by providing a remedy for the bites. He does not remove the snakes. The snakes stay among them for a certain period of time to be a reminder to them. Every time they would be bitten by or just see one of those snakes they would remember what had brought that consequence upon them to begin with.

v9 - So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

So God provides for the Israelites, not by removing the snakes, but by removing the ability for the snakes to kill the people if bitten. He did it by instructing Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and raise it up on a pole high above the people for the whole camp to see. I would surmise that it was likely centrally located in the camp so that everyone passed by it and saw it frequently.

And the implication is more an issue of when the serpents bit someone and not if they did. If they bit anyone, that person wasn’t to try and suck out the venom, they weren’t to see the local physician for an anti-venom medication or attempt to treat it in any way on their own whatsoever. They were to simply look to the image of the bronze serpent on the pole and they would live.

Now, how in the world was this supposed to teach the Israelites about the coming Messiah in whom they should place their trust and hope for salvation?

To get a better understanding we need to look over to John 3.

John 3:1-15 - Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

So Jesus is trying to wrap Nicodemus mind around the idea of the new birth. Jesus tells him that to see Heaven one day a person MUST be born again. Nicodemus couldn’t grasp it because his mind was legalistic and prone to think of salvation in terms of what he could accomplish… works he could do to EARN God’s forgiveness.

You see Jesus’ statement has an implied point that someone of Nicodemus’ well educated intellect would have grasped very quickly. What confounded him was obvious. It was as if Jesus asked Nicodemus, ‘Nicodemus, how much did you have to do with your physical birth? Your first birth?’ Nicodemus responds, how can a man be born again? How can HE re-enter the womb for a second time…

Nicodemus said, there is no work I can do to be born again, which was the whole point. It wasn’t up to him to be born again, it was up to God to perform this work, that was what Jesus was driving home to him.

To further explain using something that Nicodemus would be well acquainted with, v14 - as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Jesus compares Himself to the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness. He said, just as the serpent was lifted up, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

So we know that the serpent was a type of Jesus... a shadow of the coming Messiah... let's look at the similarities

- both the serpent and Jesus were lifted up, the serpent on a pole and Jesus on a cross.

- both were lifted high above the people (Golgotha could be seen for MILES to some degree)

- both were cures... the serpent cured the bite from a living serpent so that the people wouldn't die, Jesus cures our most serious venom of which we’ve all been bitten by, namely sin

- if the people looked to any cure besides the serpent image... medicine.. anything... they died, if we look to anything but Christ to save us (works, etc) we die... there is no work we can perform that will save us… our good works and efforts to be good don’t amount to squat. We must be born again, forgiven and justified by the Savior who hung on a wicked cross for our sin

- God ordained that looking upon the serpent image to be a cure... God ordained Christ to be the only Savior

- both were a very unlikely method of cure that no one would naturally think would work (the serpent because looking on a pole would do no good under any other circumstances, Christ was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks... they'd both rather seek "cures" to their sin on their own.

In John 3:13-14 Jesus makes reference to the serpent when talking to Nicodemus... as a Jew, Nicodemus couldn't wrap his brain around having to trust Christ's grace and not his own works to atone for sin... it was mind blowing to him... and Jesus said, just as Moses lifted up the serpent, so much HE be lifted up...

- and now I think it is THIS one that explains the most about why a snake was used... ok, so what was a snake? A vile, grotesque thing... especially knowing the history of the serpent in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve compiled with the danger of a snake’s venom, no one wanted to have anything to do with a snake... it was gross, its symbol offensive, YET to be cured of the deadly snake bite, they had to look on this thing that they despised so much... what about Christ? Beautiful to us because we are born again and have been saved but what was He to the Jews? For that matter, what is He to any unbeliever... a vile thing, grotesque... He was beaten and bloody...

Isaiah 52:14 – As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

Isaiah 53:2-3 - For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

- that which would provide a cure from a snake bite was the image of a snake... that which saves us from our sin, had to become the very thing that killed us spiritually... Romans 8:3-4 - For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

There were no magical powers in that bronze serpent. They merely needed to look upon Him because that was the stipulation that God had in place in order for Him to heal them. No other man could have taken Christ’s place. Because no other man qualified. The healing from our sin comes from the sacrifice of Christ because He is the Son of God, God in the flesh, not simply because He was a man. He had to be a man in order for His sacrifice to qualify as a representative for humanity. He had to be fully God so that He would be able to live a life as human that was unstained by sin and was thereby qualified to be the sin sacrifice for all who would ever be saved.

- The serpent image didn't wound anyone, even though it looked like the thing that caused the wound... again, Christ did not cause our sin, nor did He sin, yet He became the very thing that had caused our sin... as if HE had committed our sins...

2 Corinthians 5:21 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You see, the bronze serpent was a very reddish bronze in color. In fact, archaeologists have found bronze and copper in that region and it has a very deep red tone to its color. The event with the Israelites illustrates both the sacrifice of Christ and the faith of His people.

Just as the bonze serpent was lifted up, so Christ, as one born “in the likeness of sinful flesh” was lifted up. The afflicted Israelites had no other way of rescue than to look at the bronze serpent, just as sinners have no hope for salvation, for being spared from God’s wrath, except faith in the crucified and risen Son of God.

Isaiah 45:22 - Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

Jesus Christ, in order to rescue us from our sin and from certain eternal death, put on human flesh, not subject to sin because He was fully God. The God-man. Second person of the Trinity, clothed in humanity but retaining full Deity. Doing this He became our representative before God. Since the world, under its own reasoning, cannot understand the wisdom of God, Christ was offered up in the foolishness of the cross.

1 Corinthians 1:21 - For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

That we would look on Him who became our sin. Just as the Israelites detested looking on the serpent, so too we should detest looking on what Christ had to become in order to save us. When I look at the cross I see the innocent Savior covered in and paying the fine for my lies, my lusts, my idols… every sin that I should have been made to pay for, Christ willingly stepped in and paid my fine, taking my place on the cross.

Pastor's Bookshelf: Pillars of Grace by Steve Lawson

2011-10-16T22:34:00.000-05:00

Curious about how God spread the Gospel after the close of Scripture? Interested in learning how God has used courageous men throughout the history of Christianity to preserve and defend His Word? Then you absolutely MUST read this important book by Steve Lawson.

Now, this is not an exhaustive history but it is a fantastic overview and a great introduction to church history. What sets this book apart from several others is that Dr. Lawson summarizes the theological beliefs of the early church fathers and also those who were responsible for helping to spread the Gospel over the last 800 years based on their own writings. So many other so-called history sources try to slant the beliefs of the early Christians or omit them altogether... Dr. Lawson is transparent with beliefs that they seemed, from their writings, to have been still developing some parts of their theology but that they were dead on with other aspects.

If you have no interest in church history, you should... it is very encouraging to read of the saints who have gone on before, being obedient to the point of death in most cases, so that we can have a sound expositions of Scripture and such great encouragement by their witness.

To be fair, while Dr. Lawson is an excellent writer, the book seemed to drag just a bit. It never lost my interest, and I would give it 9 out of 10 marks, but it may bog you down around the middle as well.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Reformation Trust Publishing through their Blog for a Free Book Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Showing the 180 Movie to our church - Part 1

2011-10-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

Last night I showed the 180 Movie to our church. I will be posting some video responses below of people who volunteered to share their reaction after viewing. There were times when jaws were wide open watching the film, there were tears as the pictures of the Holocaust were shown. Nearly all of them admitted that they had never correlated the two events together.

Our prayer is that this will serve to help our church be more vocal about the Gospel primarily so that those who are in favor of abortion will come to know Christ (if they are in fact not born again) and see abortion as the vile sin that it is.

What strikes me about the two atrocities, that being the Holocaust of the Jews and Abortion, is that it was people who were already born who were being murdered in Germany. So they had a voice, you could see pictures of them emaciated and starving. With abortion, the children can't make a sound, no one cares to watch the sonogram in 3D that shows their face grimace with pain as the process begins.

I once wrote that abortion is nothing more than modern day Molech worship. How true... how true... the only difference is that we don't worship the false god of Molech when we murder a child, we are worshiping the god of self.

Next week we will be showing this video to our students and praying for their reaction. Many of them who will view it are unconverted. My pastoral prayer is that God use this video next week to finally break their hearts over their sin and draw them unto Himself. At the same time, I pray that as the future voters of this country this would help them to discern between a good political candidate and a bad one.

Sometimes the liberal left accuses evangelicals of being "single issue voters" because we discount a candidate who is pro-choice. That is a bit of a straw man argument because most of us certainly consider more than simply their abortion stance, however, life and the protection of it is more important to me than tax structure or foreign and domestic policy for sure. How can you expect ANY candidate to make wise decisions that affect the protection of the American people when they have already showed a lack of concern for the sanctity of human life to begin with? If they see an unborn child as disposable, imagine how they view other life... just a thought...

Now, having said all that, I want to be clear. If you are reading this and you have had an abortion. I am not condemning you. There is forgiveness available to you from God even for that sin. If you are feeling guilt over having had an abortion, I know that you likely feel like you can't be forgiven for something so awful. But you can. God will forgive you. If you will ask Him to forgive you He will. Here's the thing though, you (and everyone else in this world) need forgiveness for more than just the singular sin of abortion. Oh no, we need forgiveness from God for ALL our sin.

I do not want to isolate the sin of abortion as if it is unforgivable and everything else is forgivable. That's not true. There is forgiveness for you not just for abortion, but for the lies you've told, the things you've stolen, the hate in your heart towards others, the lust in your heart that you've acted on... He is a good and kind God and even now He bids you come to Christ that you might be saved!

Without forgiveness of sins you will spend eternity in Hell, not because you failed to trust in Christ, but because you died in your sins and therefore are accountable to pay for your own sin. God so loved this world that He sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, to live a perfect life free from sin even though He was tempted, then He died on a cruel Roman cross where He endured the physical pain and scorn of the cross and death but He also took the full wrath of God for the sins of all those who would repent and trust in His Name.

So that you do not have to spend eternity in Hell. So that you CAN have eternal life! Christ paid the fine! Turn from your sin (repent) and trust in Jesus Christ today and God will forgive you and grant you eternal life!

7 Step formula for making a cult

2011-10-12T14:08:00.001-05:00

If you study world religions and their founding it won't be hard to figure out which ones are cults and which ones aren't. If you look closely, most all of them follow this basic 7 step formula.

Step 1.) Call into question the authority and/or infallibility of the Bible.

Step 2.) Claim to have received a "revelation" or "vision" that corrects the errors of Scripture.

Step 3.) Re-write Scripture to raise the status of man (or even deify man) and reduce the Holiness and Righteousness and Sovereignty of God. Be sure your "new words" are thought of as NECESSARY to understand the Bible or deny the Bible altogether with a complete separate work.

Step 4.) Remove the need for a Divine Savior in Jesus Christ by making Him a mere example OR remove Him altogether.

Step 5.) Teach that man can do something to save themselves with or without God's help OR that they don't need saving at all.

Step 6.) Tailor your message to tickle the ears of your target audience.

Step 7.) Sit back and watch it grow.

Congratulations, you've got yourself a cult.

Contra Mundum: A response to the question, "Why are Christians Unoriginal?"

2011-09-21T11:25:00.001-05:00

This is a response to the article by Kurt Willems, who first published his article entitled “Why are Christians Unoriginal?” on the Relevant Magazine website.

It is no secret that Christians flood the market with “bleached” and “family friendly” alternatives to almost every secular product out there! It seems the only thing that Christians feel no need to mimic is food products… perhaps we’ll see a Christian line of cereal one day? I sincerely hope not.

In any case, Kurt brings out some great points that I want to commend but his view (at least as espoused in the article) falls short of a MAJOR key.

“In popular culture, alternatives can be either a hip rebellion against the institution or simply what we call generic. Instead of Dr. Pepper, you can drink Dr. Thunder. Problem: the alternatives never measure up to the original. Yet Christians love to propagate alternatives.”

So very true, so very true indeed. The alternatives simply do not measure up to the original. The original is popular because it is appealing. Let’s be honest, many people love Guitar Hero but how many people are flocking to their local Christian retailer to purchase “Guitar Praise”.

If you’ll permit me I would like to quote a lengthy portion of Kurt’s article. I agree with his list of what the church should be known for, but I think the problem is that he has left out the REASON behind EVERYTHING on the list.

That, by and large, is the real problem. What’s missing from his list is what is missing from the majority of churches today. Here’s the quote:

“In theory, the Christian subculture isn’t a terrible idea. Unfortunately, Christianity often expresses the wrong kind of alternative. This isn’t to say that all of the things listed above are bad in and of themselves, but that we sell ourselves short if that is the only kind of alternative the Church is known for.
In the New Testament, we’re given a picture of the Kingdom people of God who organize themselves around an alternative king, namely Jesus. The greatest alternative isn’t a second-rate imitation of things from the popular culture, but rather a community (many communities in local contexts) who together live in a radically different way – the way of Jesus. In a world where the popular thing was to proclaim, “Caesar is Lord,” the earliest followers of The Way declared, “Jesus is Lord.” This wasn’t just a war of words, but a change in allegiance, one that often meant social marginalization and for some, death. Yet, this movement flourished. Why? Because the Kingdom of God unleashes a beautiful alternative that is so different and creative, that it’s attractive and has the potential to enhance the rest of the world.
The Kingdom of God ought to be known as an enhanced society, not an “almost as good as the popular culture” or “safe from the evils of all things secular” bubble. Scot McKnight says it well: “The kingdom of God, in short compass, is the society in which the will of God is established to transform all of life.” N.T. Wright offers another glimpse into the Kingdom, noting that currently, “heaven is the control room for earth” because “the one who is in heaven is the one who is ruling on earth.” Taken together we can understand the Kingdom of God as: God’s ruling activity embodied within a transformative community for the sake of the world. God’s invitation to us is to become known as a kingdom kind of alternative culture.
Some signs of a Kingdom alternative include:

Love of God
Love of neighbors within and outside of the covenant community
Seeking the welfare of all people
Defying hatred and greed
Feeding the hungry
Clothing the naked
Bearing each others’ burdens
Choosing self-sacrifice over the sword
Redistribution of resources for the purposes of social uplift
Wonderful marriages
Love of enemies
Sexual purity
Healthy conflict / resolution in the midst of quarrels
Learning more about the Scriptures as an open-minded community of disciples
Healings, signs, wonders and the unleashing of all forms of creativity
Justice for the marginalized
Imagine if these were the things that the Church was actually known for. The reputation of the Church wouldn’t merely be as a manufacturer of generic imitations, but rather the kind of alternative that the New Testament envisions.”
I should point out that I take issue with the “open-minded community” remark. That has the whiff of squishy-ness in my opinion. We do need to be a community of disciples who are modeling the church in Acts 2 by learning more and more about the Scriptures, but
”open-minded” thinking is dangerous at best, otherwise this is a good list.
Jesus is Lord! That is so very true. If that’s the case, and it is, then WHAT might be missing from this list? A LOVE FOR CHRIST and a PASSION FOR THE GOSPEL!
We need to feed the hungry, seek the welfare of all, protect the sanctity of life and defend the innocent. In short, as Christians, we are to seek justice.
When you leave out Christ from the equation of what the church should be known for you are left with little more than a hyper-moral activist organization.
If you were to ask the question “Why?” after each one of the items on the list above, the answer would be emphatically FOR THE GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST.
Am I being unfair to Kurt? Might he agree with this and it was simply left out of the article for the sake of length? Perhaps, but the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ should take center stage and so room for that should be automatic at the expense of other things.
What is Kurt’s conclusion to this problem of a misguided Christian sub-culture?
“How do we change our rep? This seems to be happening already as a new generation of Christ-followers begins to take up the mantle of Kingdom creativity. Many young adult followers of the way of Jesus continue to reclaim the radical revolutionary nature of the Gospel. The recovery of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) as central to Christian community in the present and the simultaneous vision of God’s future redemption of all created reality, motivates us to broker a message of hope to the outside culture (Romans 8.18-28, Revelation 21-22, Ephesians 1.10). If Jesus invites us into a counter-cultural discipleship community, and if God’s new creation reality draws us toward the kind of world where all things will be restored, then our alternative has the potential to become the most relevant gift that anyone could ever offer our culture.
In a culture plagued with disease, we can offer healing. In a culture of a lost sexual identity, we can offer a path toward discovering the One who makes us fully human. In a culture of violence, we can offer peacemaking. In a culture of economic injustice, we can offer generosity. In a culture of hatred and division, we can offer love and acceptance. In a culture of death, we can offer the sanctity of all forms of life. In a culture of conformity, we can offer a prophetic alternative.”

There’s the miss. Did you catch it? How do we change our reputation as Christians? By taking up the “mantle of Kingdom creativity”. What does that even mean? That is the Christian-ese jargon that plagues much of Christianity today.

What we need to do is be a people known for their singular love for and devotion to Jesus Christ. Who help others and serve and meet needs because it gives us the opportunity to display the love of Christ so that we get the opportunity to SPEAK and PROCLAIM the truth of Christ.

If you are serving others in Christ’s Name and you are leaving out the spoken message of the Gospel then you are no more than a compassionate moralist. What sets the church apart, as was eluded to in the beginning of Kurt’s article, is our allegiance to Jesus Christ.

We are HIS people. We are not our own, for we were bought with a price so that we be conformed to His image to the glory of God!

We do not, absolutely DO NOT, need “Kingdom creativity”. We need a renewed passion for the Word of God. A renewed passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“In a culture plagued with disease, we can offer healing. In a culture of a lost sexual identity, we can offer a path toward discovering the One who makes us fully human. In a culture of violence, we can offer peacemaking. In a culture of economic injustice, we can offer generosity. In a culture of hatred and division, we can offer love and acceptance. In a culture of death, we can offer the sanctity of all forms of life. In a culture of conformity, we can offer a prophetic alternative.”

NO, in a culture LOST and DEAD in their sins, we have the message of hope! That though they have sinned an innumerable amount of times against the God who made them and though they feel all hope is lost… God has done the most unimaginable thing ever! In no way obligated, God provided the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His only Son, so that we (sinful, lost, spiritually-dead, wretched sinners) could receive that which we need so desperately… namely… the forgiveness of our sins.

We owed a debt to God for our sin (Romans 3:23), God was in no way obligated to provide forgiveness. In fact, if God gave each of us what we deserve at this very moment we would all take our next breath in the torments of Hell. But God, because of His great love and because of His grace and mercy, sent Christ. Christ came and willingly took God’s wrath for YOUR sin so that if you will turn away from your sin and trust in the atoning work of Christ, God will forgive you and grant you eternal life! (Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:16)

You see the answer to the needs of the world (poverty, hunger, etc) is not found in creating more social programs in our churches to address these things… it is to preach the Gospel so that sinners are saved, their hearts are regenerated, and they become a new creation with new desires. New desires that will be driven by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the saving truth of the Gospel AND to love their neighbor as themselves… seeking the well-being of others over self. We have been saved with the purpose of conforming to Christ! (Romans 8:28-30)

If we want to see a change in the church culture, then we must concern ourselves with making disciples through the plain teaching of the Gospel and NOT through creating more unnecessary Christian alternatives…

Consider this, what if we took the time and money wasted on Christian alternatives and diverted all of that towards finding ways to share the Gospel with the lost world we are trying to mimic… rather than closing ourselves off from the world with a sub-culture, let’s engage the culture with the Gospel. Do we not realize that by making all these catchy Christian t-shirts with a modified “Coke” logo or products like “Guitar Praise” that we are turning the world away before they even listen to our message?

Christ must be central to everything we do. How foolish do we look when we go out proclaiming that Jesus is the best thing in the world and then we try to prove that by imitating the world that we are calling others to turn away from? Seriously? Let’s tell that about Christ and then let’s show them that He is better than the world by the fact that we live contra mundum.

The Imperative of our calling from Acts 4:12

2011-09-15T10:21:00.000-05:00

Acts 4:12 - And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

I absolutely love that verse. It becomes even more beautiful when you open it up to its broader context and read the first 3 chapters of the book of Acts. As you see Peter's boldness before the one group whom we would have expected to have intimidated him. He proclaims to the Sanhedrin there that it is Jesus who is the truth and the life and the way. In Him and Him alone is salvation.

With verse 12 (among others) Peter slams the door to the universalist thought that all paths lead to God. There is no other Name under heaven by which anyone is ever saved. Only through Christ! And Christ is defined as the Stone that the builders rejected, that God has made Him the cornerstone.

In other words, God has built His true church upon the Cornerstone of Jesus Christ. The Biblical Christ is the only Christ in whom lies salvation. We do not get to define who Christ is to us, He is who He is and who He is is revealed in Scripture.

However, because this is such an amazing Scripture that declares the Sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation... I think we may overlook the imperative that is contained there as well. There is an imperative in verse 12 as well. Jesus isn’t just the Name by which we can be saved… He isn’t just the Name by which we should be saved… He is FAR more than that…

No, Jesus is the Name by which we MUST be saved. People MUST be saved and that salvation only comes through Jesus Christ! Solus Christus! Through Christ alone!

We need, desperately, to see the urgency and imperative nature of the need for salvation that Peter makes clear in our text.

People must be saved. It is the basic need of all mankind that they be reconciled to the God whom they've sinned against. It is as necessary as oxygen is to the lungs, but sadly many many are dying every day without even so much as having heard of the Jesus who has died to save filthy rotten wretched sinful people. No one is too sinful to be saved by the blood of Christ. We are called to go and preach the Gospel. God has ordained that through the foolishness of preaching (1 Corinthians 1:18) He makes His Word known to the lost and dying world, dead in their trespasses.

Let us see the necessity of salvation and be diligent to preach the Gospel in boldness no matter what persecution may come. Further, let us seek to make persecution a means by which our trust in Christ grows stronger and the message of the Gospel is spread to every corner of the world.

God's grace in saving a life...

2011-09-01T10:59:00.001-05:00

I post a great deal of videos and other links and such to pro-life materials. Trying to educate people and get the word out to them that God creates life and that abortion is most definitely murder. As a result of course I receive, as many of you do who've taken up this mantle as well, many angry criticisms to my inbox complaining that I have no right to say such and that I am anti-women's rights and a bunch of other non-sense.

Well, as many of you know, there are times when you just feel like you absolutely want to just give up. You feel like nothing you are doing is accomplishing anything and you are just spinning your wheels.

I've been there, then one day about 2 years ago I received an email from a young lady I had known several years prior but had since lost contact. To give you some background, she was a teenager when I had last been around her, some of her friends attended youth group at the church where I was youth pastor and she didn't come there regularly (she had a different church home) but she had come to a few of the discipleship events we had done. So I knew her as an acquaintance.

Here is the email.

"I wanted to share something with you that really touched me. I recently found out i was pregnant and am only 19. I was not planning on having a baby or even making that a part of my life. I had college and to much fun on my hands or so i thought to be bringing a baby into the world. My parents have raised me in church and I know abortion is wrong but i also knew it was my choice. I thought very hard and actually considered abortion and cried many nights over what to do. Ive been noticing you publishing things on facebook about abortion here lately and watched the video you published today, i really believe that was meant for me from God..to show me what i need to do and follow him. God works wonders and i wanted to share what you and God have helped me with without you even knowing."

I haven't heard much from her in the last year or so, but I do know that she DID give birth to a happy, healthy baby boy and they are doing very well.

So the encouragement to you brethren is to keep fighting the good fight. Keep proclaiming truth, keep proclaiming the Gospel, and keep doing so in love.

Every time I think about that child I can't help but be humbled at how God used what I thought was not accomplishing anything at all to save a life. By God's grace, that child is alive and that mother avoided that sin and I am humbled and honored that God would use me and allow me to have any part of that at all.

If you are feeling that what you are doing is pointless... don't give up... press deeper into the grace of Christ and lean more upon His understanding. His grace is sufficient. His Word, His truth, will NOT return void without accomplishing what He sends it to do.

If you have a similar story, I'd love to hear it. Feel free to post it in the comments section below!

Soli Deo Gloria,
j

Favorite Gospel Tract

2011-08-17T23:43:00.001-05:00

I'm putting together this list to be of assistance to those who are just getting their feet wet in actively going out and sharing the Gospel.

If you would assist me by doing the following:

Post your favorite tract and a link to where it can be ordered from. Please do not just put the source you prefer to get your tract supply from but specifically the tracts that you feel are most likely to be taken by the recipients.

I will send a copy of Mike Sarkissian's book "Before God: The Biblical Doctrine of Prayer" to the person whose favorite tract I purchase for an upcoming evangelism outreach.

Pastor's Bookshelf: Slave by John MacArthur

2011-08-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

We exist to glorify and serve the Risen King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not here to serve our needs. What has been lost from the true rendering of the Greek word 'doulos' as 'slave' instead of what we commonly see it rendered as 'servant'?

John MacArthur delivers yet another powerful literary work to help Christians understand exactly what is expected of them and why Christ used the imagery of a slave/master relationship at the same time the language of Christians being His adopted children. It would seem that much has been lost, by and large, by forgetting this important relational understanding.

I understand that "slave" carries a horrid meaning in America because of the atrocities committed here in the last 3+ centuries, but the early church seemed to have a right understanding of the Christians call to be a slave of Christ and we need to re-embrace that same meaning and try to get beyond the stigma with the word.

"Like slaves we are to be fully devoted to our Master alone."(P.48) To deny Christ's Lordship is to declare mutiny against Jesus Himself. Those who are offended at the designation of themselves, as Christians, as slaves to Christ, should examine themselves to see whether it is the American connotation of the word 'slave' that troubles them or the fact that being Christ's slave demands death to self and a forfeiture of seeking my desires first.

"Those unwilling to give up everything to follow [Christ] are not worthy of Him."(P.80) If we don't want to submit to Christ, we've never submitted to Him to begin with.

Further, we see the wroth of Christ to be our Master and His trustworthy kindness as such when held against the back drop of our former master that we has from birth. The most "devastating and degenerating power ever to afflict the human race..." (P.120) sin.

Our slavery to sin was one of a cruel master and our broken will readily submitted to him in complete and intentional opposition to God. And yet God reached out in grace and sent Christ to save us... rebellious wretches... anyway. But our blessed relationship to our Redeemer doesn't end with slavery alonie. Christ has not only purchased us, but through His atonement God has adopted us and made us His child!

Amazing Grace! Gladly then will I therefore bear the title of "slave" for and to Christ my Lord!

Can there be Apostles today?

2011-07-21T18:40:00.000-05:00

Acts 1:21-26 - “Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— 22 beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” 23 So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Judas is gone. Christ has ascended and the Disciples are still waiting obediently for the Holy Spirit to come. The next thing that needed to be taken care of was the selection of a replacement for Judas.

A 12th Apostle needed to be appointed.

v21-22 - “Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— 22 beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

Following the guidelines of Scripture, Peter stands and sets out the requirements to be an Apostle. He lays out 3 basic criteria:

1.) They had to have been “of the men” who had accompanied them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them.

The first stipulation was that the person had to be a person who had seen what the other Apostles had seen. So from the baptism of Jesus by John, Peter says, and forward, the person had to have been in that group of Jesus’ followers for the three years of His public ministry.

Now, the reason for that was of course because of what they were charged with doing. They were charged with starting churches and founding them on the truths of the Gospel and so they had to have seen it firsthand to best do that.

Second, they had to have been an eye-witness of the resurrection.
Verse 22 says that one of those men must now join them, replacing Judas to be the witness of the resurrection.

You see they were to be first hand witnesses of the resurrection which makes sense because the resurrection is the central theme of our faith! I mean, Paul said if there is no resurrection then we have no hope and all our worship is in vain!

1 Corinthians 15:13-19 - But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

All of them were to be personal witnesses to Christ’s ministry, death, and resurrection. Now, these two criteria are why, without question or subjectivity, no one can be an Apostle today. Once more, there are NO MORE Apostles today. Anyone claiming to be one is a liar.

Because no one is living who witnesses those things. So the Apostolic office is closed. But we need to note that there is one final way that someone can be an Apostle and it was the way the other 11 became Apostles and Paul himself for that matter. That was by Divine appointment to the office by Jesus Christ Himself and later I’ll tell you why no one can make the Divine appointment claim stick today.

Well, out of all those gathered, 2 men apparently met those requirements.

v23 - So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias

Nothing is known about these two men really. They aren’t mentioned elsewhere in Scripture beyond here.

What they’ve done is narrow the options and eliminated those who didn’t qualify and so now they engage in their normal pattern of prayer to seek the will of the Lord pertaining to whom should be chosen.

v24a - And they prayed – They prayed. What they were doing was being obedient to the Will of God by seeking Him in prayer.

That’s what they desired as believers, and so what they did was seek out God’s Word for instruction and then they prayed. Make note of the humility in their prayer…

[And they prayed] v24b-25 –and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

Lord, show us the one that everyone likes or whose teaching style suits us? No

Lord, show us the one that will tickle the people’s ears? No

Lord, you know our hearts. Such a truth. Jeremiah 17:9 says that our hearts are deceitful and try to deceive us constantly. So how appropriate that they lay that confession before the Lord first. Lord, you know how prone to self my heart is. So work above that.

Studying the scriptures they knew that and also they know what God said just one verse later in Jeremiah 17:10 - I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

They were aware of God’s word to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 - But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Their prayer is for God to pick because they know that their hearts will taint the decision and what they want to be is obedient and true to God!

So they pray, God, you know our hearts, choose the one YOU want.

v26 - And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Now some would suggest that this was a pagan practice, but in reality this underscores all the more how carefully they wanted to be in their selection of the replacement Apostle. They wanted to select God’s man free from their influence.

Anyone know why that is the case? Why I say that?

Well, what had they been doing? Studying God’s Word right? In Leviticus 16:8 - Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.

God tells Aaron that he is to “cast lots” to determine between the two goats offered for the sin sacrifice. One would be sacrificed and the other would be the scapegoat. Nehemiah 10, we see another example of casting lots and then in Proverbs.

Proverbs 16:33 - “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.

The lot is cast, but its every decision is FROM THE LORD. Casting lots was an acceptable Old Testament practice for determining God’s Will, now we don’t need it today. Why? Because we HAVE the Holy Spirit that enables us to best discern the will of God. We also have the complete canon of Scripture so we have the completed written Word of God.

Casting lots was most likely putting their names on stones, placing them in a jar and shaking it around until one fell out, the one that came out would be the one that was chosen.

So the lot is cast and it falls to Matthias. Which is gives us even more assurance that casting lots here wasn’t sinful. God no where rebukes them for what they’ve done.

A choice is made by the providence of God. It doesn’t fall to Matthias by change because there is no such thing as chance. There is merely God’s sovereign rule and His providential and permissive will.

Now as a side note, you may have wondered about Paul? Paul wasn’t an eye witness, yet Scripture identifies him as an Apostle. Well, remember our third criteria, which is by Divine appointment.

Paul is divinely appointed, But what were the specifics of his appointing? Acts 9 he is converted and then goes to see Annais… why? To BE confirmed.

He had to go to the eye-witness Apostles to be confirmed by them in his calling. He, nor anyone else, can just say. ‘Well God called me to be an Apostle.’ and then go on with it without being confirmed by an existing Apostle.

After the Apostles all died there were still preachers and teachers and such, but no more Apostles.

Secondly, the eye-witness Apostles were called to minister specifically to whom? The Jews right? Paul’s chief focus was the Gentiles.

The Gospel was a stumbling block to the Jews because they denied Christ. So eye-witness testimony would go a LONG way towards credibility for their claims to a society that was massively steeped in legalism.

To the Gentiles, the Gospel was foolishness, so no proof really would help… for them they needed to be brought first to an understanding that God was Creator, not chance or evolution, and they were in need of HIS forgiveness to be reconciled.

So no one today can be an Apostle because no eye-witnesses are living to be Apostles, nor are there any eye-witnesses alive to confirm the Divine appointment of an Apostle. Anyone who comes to you claiming to be an "Apostle" is likely preaching a different Gospel, and a different Gospel doesn't save (Galatians 1:6-10). Mark those and continue preaching the one true Gospel. That Jesus COMMANDS all men to repent and trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:15)

The Elephant Room Conference

2011-07-20T10:53:00.001-05:00

I recently finished watching the Elephant Room conference DVDs. If you are unfamiliar with it let me give you a brief synopsis. The Elephant Room Conference was a one day event recently held by Dr. James MacDonald of Walk in the Word Ministries where he gathered several well-known pastors with differing beliefs. The goal was to get together with these men who don't always agree on some of the issues of the church and discuss them in a very generous fashion.

I am 100% fine with generous, grace filled discussion. In fact, I believe that we need less snarky straw-men attacks and more of these genuine grace filled conversations. I know that I have personally fell into the trap of a snarky argument from time to time and I pray God will continue to grow me in grace and wisdom so that I choose my battles wisely and fight well when the time comes.

That said, I also think there is room for Biblical admonishment. It is fine to discuss these things as long as the goal isn't just to better understand someone's position but rather to try and come to a common understanding of the issue.

I don't want to spend this blog post on taking a position for each of the things they discussed... maybe in a later post... what I want to do is offer some thoughts on each person who was there. Since the goal was to better understand them... here's what I now understand better about them.

On the panel were the following Pastors:

James MacDonald

Matt Chandler

Perry Noble

David Platt

Steven Furtick

Greg Laurie

Mark Driscoll

So here we go.

James MacDonald did I think a fair job in moderating the whole thing. There were a few times when, in the context of a discussion, some things came up that maybe needed a bit stronger of a Biblical rebuke and exhortation to turn from that behavior and he seemed to shy away from it. That was a little disappointing to me coming from a man who has a brilliant reputation for defending the Gospel. I don't feel that he compromised the truth, I just personally felt he could have been a little stronger in some areas and it would have had the potential to be very helpful to those to whom he was speaking.

Matt Chandler was no surprise to me whatsoever. Matt is ferocious about the Gospel, he loves God, he loves people. He articulated well the Gospel, he articulated well his positions, I know that it helped me because I tend to hold many of the same views as Pastor Matt and so it really helped me think through how to articulate some of these specific convictions.

Perry Noble was also surprising. Ok, I am going to say this and I know my reformed brothers are going to get a bit torqued at me about this but I actually found myself liking some of what he said. I said some! This is by no means an endorsement of Perry Noble or his practices, he does many many things that distorts and waters down the gospel and I think that is a serious issue... However, on some of the topics... I agreed with some of what he said. Now the issue of his church band playing secular music came up, he defended it with Scripture... unfortunately for him he defended it with scripture that was ripped out of context and so it didn't make the case. I think the issue with Perry is that he is a man who loves the Lord but perhaps he is just terribly misguided? I won't say that he is a wolf necessarily, but he is flirting with apostasy pretty heavily.

David Platt was by far my favorite. David has a way of articulating truth so well and in his tone you can hear that his motive is not arrogance but love for the Gospel. He sincerely wants to see God glorified and it comes across in his approach. I know that he has been critiqued for the Radical book, that it will lead to an extreme poverty theology, however, when you hear him defend some of his views espoused in Radical you understand more of what his aim was in writing it. I think the reason that some people are so up in arms over his book has less to do with them feeling that he is pushing a bad poverty type theology and more with a love for stuff in their own lives and a heart that doesn't want to get rid of idols... just a thought.

Steven Furtick surprised me but not because I agreed with him more than I thought... Furtick surprised me because I was astounded to find someone who can find a way to boast on himself and what HE has done in almost every subject. I may not be being as generous with Steven as I ought, I'll confess, but I was shocked at how often his defense for his positions wasn't 'Well, the Bible says...' but rather, 'I just did this', 'I led our church this...' so on and so on. We heard about everything from how he shouldn't be called a wolf or false teacher because he sold everything to start his church and how he does to teach his church to love the Bible because he just led them through a fast and through the New Testament in 30 days (New through 30 he called it). When Matt Chandler confronted Steven on his methodology, instead of making a defense of it Steven just countered back by taking a shot at something Chandler had said. Now, whether or not Matt was in error on the comment that Steven brought up is not what I'm addressing. I'm merely saying that boasting in self and side-stepping arguments doesn't exactly do much to help people understand you better if being misunderstood is what you feel you are by the general public.

Greg Laurie was a new name for me. Prior to this conference I had never heard of him although upon hearing him speak and doing a little research on him online I am becoming more of a fan. He articulated himself well, he was clearly passionate for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he seems to hold to very sound biblical doctrine. Though he wouldn't call himself a Calvinist, he certainly holds to those views. He just prefers to avoid those labels and I am fine with that... truthfully the word Calvinist has such a stigma attached to it, because most people don't really understand it, I would just as soon leave that little title off of me as well... even though I am a "five pointer" as they say. haha

Mark Driscoll did what Mark does. He defended the Gospel well and he made me laugh. I like Mark. I think because of my conservative upbringing he may be a bit too close to the contemporary style for me personally... but I don't think he is in sin or error with any of what he's doing (that I'm aware of). He made a very good point that really convicted me as well and that is that sometimes people confuse their love for the Gospel with a fear of God (fear in a negative way). What he went on to explain was that if we take the Gospel and hide it away, never sharing it. Treat it like the wicked servant of Matthew 25. Then we really don't love the Gospel. If we loved the Gospel, we'd share it. Further, he pointed out that it is those who are like that who are most likely to take cheap shots at those who don't share the Gospel at all or share a watered down version of it. Convicting for me because I don't want to ever drift towards the behavior of the wicked slave. I want to be faithful with what God has entrusted to me and take the Gospel to the Nations as the Lord has commanded.

Final thoughts:

I was helped by this conference. I think that I may have had a bit of bloodlust interest in it to begin with because I wanted to see some of those guys get a Gospel beating... which was a sinful desire in my heart. Thankful God revealed that to me through this. I deserve a beat down just as much as anyone for my sin as well. I do wish that some error had been labeled as error a bit more clearly BUT I wasn't there behind the scenes so I'll pray that maybe some more useful exhorting and admonishing went on backstage.

You can pick this up from the Elephant Room Conference website and it is a bit costly at $50 but I feel it is worth the price.

Pastor's Bookshelf: It Is Well by Mark Dever & Michael Lawrence

2011-06-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

Have you ever struggled to find the significance and beauty of the sacrifices in the Old Testament? Most of us have at some point or another. Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence set out to exegete crucial Old Testament texts that shadow what was accomplished by Christ on the cross.

The truth that man MUST have a substitute for our sins in order to be spared from God's just wrath is at the very heart of the Gospel. Dever and Lawrence bring this out in a totality from the Old Testament all the way to looking at the actual words and work of Christ in the New Testament. From there they look at the depiction of Christ and His suffering from Isaiah 52 & 53. Bringing it home by then looking at what God has revealed about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. They highlights the comprehensive and permanent nature of the salvation that God has provided by His grace. Climaxing in the understanding that the beauty in the life of a Christian comes from understanding the Gospel more, so that we learn to enjoy God fully as our all-sufficient Savior and see the benefits of our having been redeemed as being far more precious than any mass of worldly treasures and pleasures. In light of so great a salvation, how could we not trust Him more daily? One last note, I definitely appreciated there thorough use of Scripture to make their points as well as their constant encouragement to unbelievers, who might be reading the book, to repent and for the believer to guard their heart against legalism and self-righteousness.

Five out of five stars! Highly recommended! Great for individual study or small group.

Pick it up from 9Marks Ministries or from Amazon.com

Video: The Gospel by Eric Ludy

2011-06-21T10:33:00.000-05:00

Pastor's Bookshelf: Before God: The Biblical Doctrine of Prayer by Mike Sarkissian

2011-05-27T08:19:00.000-05:00

I realized that I never posted a review on this book after I had written the review of Paul Miller's work on prayer. I actually completed this book months ago and most recently our church just completed a 17 week Bible study on prayer using this book to guide us through what Scripture teaches on the matter.

Let me be on record and state that I feel that Mike's book is possibly one of the most important books written on prayer within our generation. This book is very theological, very sound, and drives the reader back to the Bible to better understand what Jesus taught in the aptly called "Lord's Prayer".

Mike does a very thorough job of exegeting the Lord's Prayer and unpacking the implications of each petition contained in it. He also takes on the issues of how we pray, why we pray, and the reason why we should pray 'In Jesus Name'. If you have not yet read this book, please put it on your list. I would go into detail about how extensively God has used this book to shape up my own feeble prayer life, but I do not want to drift into an area of boasting as I still have much room for improvement though, by God's grace, my prayer life has improved significantly.

You can pick this up from Mike's Website or Amazon.com.

I am actually such a fan of Mike's work that I would like to get a copy of this book into someone's hands. I am giving away a copy of this book. To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question: What is your largest struggle in maintaining a healthy prayer life and why do you feel that deficiency exists?

To increase your chances of winning you can:
- Re-post this review by posting it to your facebook or creating a link to this blog using the feature below.
- Follow this blog either using Google or Networked Blogs.
- Tweet this link and mention @brojasonh

Drawing will be held on July 1, 2011. Please be sure that I have a way to contact you and that I know you've posted this to facebook or your blog.

Pastor's Bookshelf: A Taste of Heaven by R.C Sproul

2011-05-24T17:30:00.000-05:00

What is God's intention for worship in the New Testament church? We know of course that we are under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ and we no longer are required to practice the sacrifices and rituals as the Jews living under the Old Covenant would have. However, does that mean that God's design for the reverence and meaning of worship have changed too? Sproul argues that, while we obviously want to be very careful to consider the context and usage of anything from the Old Covenant before bringing it into the Church today, we can glean much deeper insight to how serious God takes the worship of His Name and how specific He was about the way we approach Him.

Though we don't go to the temple or burn incense on the altar, or take a lamb to the priest once a year to be slaughtered... the importance of those symbols (and others) hasn't simply gone away. They serve to teach us that God expects us to approach Him with reverence and not flippantly. That He desires sincere worship and that self-righteousness or works-boasting has no place in His courts.

This is important to consider because we live in a church culture that says pretty much anything goes. We see so much irreverence in so many so-called churches these days. Everything from using carnal means to get people through the doors to dumbing down the Gospel so much so that it becomes no Gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-10).

But we must exercise careful prudence in planning how worship is structured in our church. I'm not calling us back to a strict liturgy that would resemble the old-traditional Roman Catholic, rather saying that we need to approach everything we sing, do, and say in worship by asking the question. Does this glorify God and point sinful man towards the Savior OR does this point sinful man towards a carnal world and excuse his sinful behavior?

Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that we should do all things to the glory of God. This does not mean that we take a carnal thing (such as a secular song) and Christianize it for use in the church or on our local family friendly radio stations. On the contrary it means that we need to consider all we do and filter it through whether or not this thing brings glory to God. How we intend it isn't what determines what brings glory to God, whether or not it glorifies God is what determines whether or not it glorifies God. We don't assign that meaning. To get a better understanding of this, we look to Christ's words in Matthew 6:33, He said to seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS Righteousness...

So that's the focus, seeking first that which glorifies God and that which strives after HIS righteousness... and not that which pleases us and to clear our consciences we tag God's name to it...

Lastly, He brings up the importance of the sacraments that have been ordained for the church today. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Sproul presents the popular views on each and makes his case for which he ascribes to. He and I fall pretty well in line with our belief on the Lord's Supper and it being only for a believer. On the issue of Baptism we depart in view because, as a Presbyterian, Sproul teaches the practice of infant baptism. Let me be clear that he absolutely rejects the idea that paedo-baptism (infant baptism) saves. He believes infant baptism to merely be a sign of the New Covenant and not salvific. On that we agree, it is a sign of the covenant. But I would make the case that the New Testament teaches that Baptism, just like the observance of the Lord's Supper, is for the Believer only.

This is a great read, I give it 5 out of 5 stars for sure. You can pick it up from Ligonier.org.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Reformation Trust <http://Ligonier.org > book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Pastor's Bookshelf: A Praying Life by Paul E Miller

2011-05-22T18:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I must admit I did not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped. The book started very strongly, Miller does a great job of just being real and admitting to struggles that we all feel with prayer. After all, we are a broken and sinful people and for Christians we hate the sin that dwells within us that constantly gets at us to sin, even in the neglect of prayer.

Then he moved into the way in which we ought to pray. It was here that I would have to, at least partially, disagree with him. He makes a point about how we are to pray humbly, and how we are to have faith like that of a child. I completely agree with that 100%. However, he then continues driving that point on to infer that there is no real structure that is necessarily important in our prayers.

Now, let me say that in principle I agree with this. In principle, there are no exact words or special phrases that we can pray that bring a miracle. Rather it is the heart behind the prayer that God is most concerned with. After all, Paul does say that we don't know how to pray as we ought but that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27). Further we know that what God desires is not empty sacrifice or empty words (Isaiah 1:10-15) but rather a broken heart and contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18; Psalm 51:17). So in that respect I completely agree with Paul. Please hear me, we don't have to have big fancy words or methods in our prayers.

However, I reject the idea that there is no guidelines or prescriptions for prayer offered in Scripture. Case in point would of course be the aptly named, Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:6-14. Now, in fairness, Miller doesn't outright suggest that there is no guideline, however, in my opinion (whatever that is worth) he pushes the issue of a childlike prayer too far and in doing so implies what I've suggested as the problem with this part of the book.

For a more thorough handling of the subject of prayer, there are several books I would sooner recommend to you (and would be glad too if you wish to email me and request those titles). Having said that, it is a good read and probably worth your time, just be discerning about it.

Pastor's Bookshelf: The Grace of Repentance by Sinclair Ferguson

2011-05-20T18:00:00.000-05:00

I first became tuned in to Sinclair Ferguson's work through a children's bible study book that we have been using with our kids during family devotion times. I amazon searched his name and found many other titles. After reading (and reviewing) By Grace Alone, another of Ferguson's titles, I became a fan.

I recently read "The Grace of Repentance" by Ferguson and it did not disappoint. I definitely give it 5 out of 5 stars. This book is an easy read and very convicting. We take God's grace for granted in so many ways. We fail to realize that it is only by God's grace that we are even able to repent and turn to God.

Sinclair does a great job of bringing that out and bringing to light the scriptural truth behind our sin, God's mercy in offering Christ, and God's grace in forbearing our sin and granting the grace of repentance to the Christian so that they continue to bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8).

It seems to have been lost in the last generations, but this book is a fresh Biblical reminder that repentance is not just a one time thing we do when God saves us, it is a lifestyle. Well said by Ferguson, "A life of repentance is ongoing, dogged, persistent refusal to compromise with sin." (p.25). Praise God for His grace and mercy in granting us repentance and allowing us the empowering of His Holy Spirit to continually turn from sin.

Available from Ligonier Ministries.

Pastor's Bookshelf: What's So Great About the Doctrines of Grace by Richard Phillips

2011-05-17T18:00:00.000-05:00

What's so great about the Doctrines of Grace? That's the question that Richard Phillips asks in his book, which also bears the title. So many misconceptions exist concerning what the true Doctrines of Grace teach. Strawman arguments from those who have encountered Hyper-Calvinists have fueled much of the problem. (as an aside, Hyper-Calvinism= false doctrine).

Richard Phillips sets out to answer this question by examining the claims of each Doctrine against scripture to see if it is truly founded there. I believe he does this very well. Note, this is not an overly scholarly book. What I mean by that is that Phillips seems to go to great lengths to bring the arguments into understandable terms. If you are unclear on exactly what is meant by Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement (I prefer Particular Redemption or Definite Atonement to be more accurate), Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints this is a great book for you to check out. It offers a thorough but concise and easy to understand approach to the Doctrines of Grace.

Available from Ligonier Ministries.

Thoughts on Harold Camping

2011-05-16T23:02:00.000-05:00

So I was asked my thoughts on Harold Camping. Typically I just give the quick answer on something like this. That answer being that the views of Harold Camping or any of his counterparts who have gone years before or who will come in the future are not worth the effort to comment on. ((Just to be clear, I am not saying that they themselves aren't worth anything, just that their views aren't.)) That said, here are my thoughts. I pray they are helpful to you.

First, we want to avoid saying things like 'those guys are wackos!'. While they may or may not be of a sound mind, that really doesn't play into the discussion of their "end of the world" claims. Harold Camping and his followers are either correct or incorrect in their assertion. Being "wacko" wouldn't automatically mean they are incorrect. Plus, we want to speak the truth, in all situations, in love. (Ephesians 4:15).

Our goal in discerning the validity of any claim should always be three fold.

1.) To defend the glorious truth of the Gospel. (Jude 3)

2.) To protect our minds from false doctrine. (Romans 12:1-3; 2 Timothy 1:14)

3.) To warn others with the intent to (a.) spare them from deception (b.) pull the erring one from harm. (James 5:19-20)

In other words, we sound the warning because we want to see God glorified and to love people and NOT just to be "right" in an argument.

So, Harold Camping claims that he knows that God is going to end the world on May 21, 2011... He believes this because he has supposedly "developed a system" that uses mathematics to interpret prophecies hidden in it. By the way, our first red flag should be that HE developed this system. Camping says the world will end on May 21, 2011 because that will be 722,500 days since, what he believes was, the crucifixion on April 1, AD33. He gets the figure 722,500 by multiplying three hold numbers (5, 10, and 17) together, twice.

That's the claim, let's do the work of a Berean here (Acts 17:11) and examine this claim by Scripture.

Mark 13:32 - But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Not even the Son (Jesus) knows the day nor the hour. Only God the Father knows when He will end the world. We know a fair amount about how it will end (2 Peter 3:10). So it stands to reason that if God Himself only knows the day and the hour, then Harold Camping does not.

It's really that simple folks. Now, we have to understand that the canon of Scripture is closed. No new revelation is being added to the Bible. Further, if anyone comes speaking something contradictory or altering to Scripture then the Bible wins the argument and the person making the claim is wrong. (2 Timothy 3:16)

Camping's claims deny Biblical inerrancy because he is claiming to have received an extra-biblical revelation/divine knowledge. He asserts that since Noah knew about the flood, we can know about the end of the world too. But that doesn't fly because God's purpose is not the same. God's goal with Noah wasn't to end the world, just man. God's purpose in the flood, among other things, was judgment on man for their sin and restoration of the covenant that God had made with man now to be kept through Noah and his descendants. The "end" will be permanent restoration through the glorification of all who have believed on Christ and final judgment on the wicked who have rejected Him in unrighteousness.

So what should Christians think about the end of the world, be it Harold Camping's claims or just the fact that it one day will end. Well, let's look at three texts.

2 Peter 3:11-18 - Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish at peace. Take care that you are not carried away like the ignorant and unstable lawless people. (emphasis mine) Growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

The Angels said, basically, don't just sit around thinking on things too much that you aren't meant to know, rather, GO fulfill what you've been told! Which is to be His witnesses, to spread the Gospel, to the world. (Acts 1:7-8)

Ezekiel 33:1-9 - And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. 6 ‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’ 7 “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. 8 “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. 9 “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

Sound the warning! Not about the end of the world so much, but rather about God's pending judgment on them for their sin and need for forgiveness. And how God has provided that means in Jesus Christ the only Savior! The reason to repent and trust Christ isn't because you are afraid of the end of the world or even of going to Hell. That CERTAINLY is a part of the whole equation for sure, but that's not the reason that we should try and convince others to repent and trust in Christ. The real reason that anyone should trust in Christ is because they have sinned and God's judgment resides on them... BUT GOD (Ephesians 2:1-9), in His kindness and goodness chose to show mercy on mankind through the willing substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, His Only Son!

Christ, who stood in our place and took God's wrath for our sin so that we who are guilty could be justified before God. (Romans 2:3-5)

Let me, in keeping with good conscience to the truth of God's Word, avoid Harold Camping and his cult of lies. With his deceptions he proves himself to be, in fact, NOT a brother in Christ but rather one of the antichrists that John spoke of. (1 John 4:1-6) I would submit that in claiming to have this supposed knowledge of the end, Harold Camping is in fact NOT confessing the Biblical Christ.

In the literal sense of the word he is an anti-christ (anti=against) Christ. He and his followers are enemies of the Gospel. they are enemies of God and this should cause us not to be arrogant or haughty... but rather to weep for them and charge such a one by the mercies of the Living God, to repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:15) that they might be saved!

Hey Ladies and Gentlemen!

2011-05-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

Ladies, you cannot control the lustful thoughts of a man, BUT you can do your part to help protect him from stumbling. When dressing, please consider the following things:

1.) Are you dressing to frame your face or your body? An important question... one shows you respect yourself and care about the purity of others... the other could be sending some very wrong signals...

2.) Does your attire draw attention to you and your body or does it fit with the fact that you are a Christian young lady who is concerned chiefly with glorifying Christ and not self?

3.) Think forward to the day when you have children of your own... do want the young women who are around your son to be stumbling blocks to him by the way they dress? The thoughts you are enticing from young men, would you want your son thinking them about young ladies? Just a thought...

Men, you obviously cannot control what the ladies around you are wearing. But please consider these questions for self-examination:

1.) Are you, for your part, engaging in all out war against the sin of lust? Are you pleading with God in prayer to lead you in paths of righteousness and not in the ways of the wicked?

2.) Are you guarding your heart and seeking to honor God with your every action and taking every thought captive, or are you allowing Satan a foothold over you with lusts of the flesh? Don't buy the lie, straight from Satan himself, that just because "all guys do it" that it's ok... it's not.

3.) Are you preparing yourself for the day you will marry and begin leading your family by loving and demonstrating for them Christ?

4.) Would you want a young man thinking the same lustful thoughts about your daughter that you are catching yourself thinking?

5.) Would you feel comfortable one day explaining to your wife, one day, about the things you thought about others without delay OR would it be better if you were able to be honest that it was a struggle but you loved her enough to fight against it even though you didn't know her at that time?

At the end of the day, both Christian men and Christian women must keep in mind that Christ died to pay for that sin as well as all the others we struggle with. Purity rings, "Silver Ring Things", abstinence til marriage vows and all the like are no good if they aren't motivated a love for the Savior and a desire to live your life in a Christ-exalting way. A list of rules and such about it aren't going to fix it, but focusing more and more on understanding that Christ stood in your place and took God's wrath for even that sin will most definitely move a Christian to pursue the mortification of any sin!

Faces in the Crowd

2011-05-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

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Fight the Good Fight! - Tribute to Rev. Gary McCaleb

2011-05-01T00:57:00.000-05:00

Today I had the privilege to attend the retirement reception for a man who has been a mentor to me and who will always be a great friend. Rev. Gary McCaleb retires this May after 20+ years of ministry at the same church. Through three years serving under Rev. McCaleb as Youth Pastor and 5 years of friendship I have watched (and learned from) him what it means to be a faithful Shepherd.

If I had to single out just one thing, amongst many, that he taught me it was what the heart of a Pastor who loves his flock looks like. He didn't have to sit me down and explain it, he demonstrated it with the way he lead the church and loved the people there.

Today as I was speaking with him at the reception, I asked him what came next for him. I expected to hear of plans to travel or a hobby or project that he might want to take up. None of that was even mentioned, instead he spoke very deeply of a new ministry that he will now have the opportunity to be a part of. He will now be a part of a ministry that encourages and lifts up Pastors and teaches them how not to neglect the watch-care of their own soul while striving to Shepherd their people.

Once again I am encouraged by the work that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done in Bro. Gary's heart. I pray that his example will always be a reminder to me, I pray that God bless him and his wife in this new ministry venture as he seeks to remain faithful to the call to ministry, and I pray that God would continue to work mightily through him to bring the Good News of the Gospel to a lost and dying world.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NASB) - I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Well... I should think they won't be calling again soon...

2011-04-21T11:11:00.000-05:00

I receive phone calls and fliers in the mail each and every week that want me to purchase their wares. Each one promises bigger and better results in training leaders, growing the church, reviving my community, etc. Anything you can think of and slap a Christian label on, and it's probably already being sold by the case load online somewhere.

This week was no different. Yesterday I received a phone call from a polite young man who was trying feverishly to convince me to purchase a DVD set recorded at a recent leadership conference. He said that they realized that travel expenses were too great a cost for many pastors and so they were packaging the entire conference on a DVD set plus study guides.

It was nothing fresh, it was your typical "leadership" conference. Just from the description and what I'd already read on this conference online, it is not a Gospel centered conference, it is a church growth conference.

All that aside, he began to list off the "teachers" featured on their DVD set and I noticed 3 names that I already know that I have very serious theological differences with. These are not small differences in thinking or even quibbles over methodology but serious concerns over what some of those men teach and hold to. Among their false doctrines were things like "Carnal Christianity", "Seeker Driven Mentalities", "Emergent Philosophies".

He asked if I were interested and I told him that I simply wasn't interested because I knew that I would not agree with everything those men held to theologically. So this sales person informed me that what they are teaching ISN'T THEOLOGICAL. What? A Bible conference that isn't theological? Well, that's just not possible. Matt Chandler said it well when he said that, "Those who say they aren't a theological type person really do have a theology. It's just a theology that would have gotten them killed 500 years ago."

So I questioned him and asked if it wasn't theological, what was it? His response. "Well, in this DVD set we are trying to teach you to lead your people to be missional." Well let's not even address how worn out the fad buzz word "missional" is. That's a whole separate post altogether, but suffice to say that being "missional" isn't a separate category of ministry. All activity should be "missional" in the true sense. And being "missional" is to be Gospel driven. Just saying...

Anyway, I pushed back and asked him how they taught missional principles divorced from theology. I pointed out that it was impossible for them to come and make any presentation on any subject that would be divorced from their individual theological views. He disagreed with me, but the reality is... he is wrong.

Whatever your views are on any theological topic, it will influence how you speak on those and any other topics. The young man told me that they avoided theology and just stuck to the topic assigned.

So I asked him to consider this, could a Evangelical Christian, a Muslim, and a Buddhist get together and teach a conference on a general topic and be agreeable? No. Why? Because what a Muslim means by "missional" will be RADICALLY different than what I know the Bible teaches and it will be worlds different than what a Buddhist means.

The fact remains, you simply cannot divorce theology from leadership, missional teaching, or any other subject and when you attempt to separate the two, you open yourself up to all sorts of error and false teaching which sadly is typically just a hop skip and a jump from heresy.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Be very cautious around any who would tell you that theology doesn't matter. Theology is very important. Now, granted, theology is only useful if it draws you closer to God and spurs you on to obedience to His Word. Theology is important. Moreover, SOUND theology is important. I tried to explain that to this young man, it wasn't in his script and so he then retracted his earlier remarks and said that I could be assured that all of these men were very very Biblical. *buzzer sound here* WRONG. These particular individuals were not, as mentioned above.

2 Timothy 1:13-14 (NASB) - Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

Pastor's Bookshelf: A Call to Prayer by J.C. Ryle

2011-04-20T09:08:00.000-05:00

Bishop of Liverpool, J.C. Ryle (1816-1900), had a way of putting things and a way of teaching the Scriptures that really just made them snap home. He held nothing back in his preaching but always laid out plain Scriptural truth with deep application.

That same boldness and passion for the Lord Jesus Christ comes across plain and clear in his tract, "A Call to Prayer".

At only 33 pages in length, this is one of the most powerful works on prayer that I've ever read. He opens it up simply with one question that drives the rest of his thoughts. "Do you pray?"

A simple question, yet is there anything that is more intimate in the life of a believer than their prayer life? You can pick this up from Amazon.com and it is inexpensive as well! At the time of this post, the book only costs $2.99!

Pastor's Bookshelf: Radical by David Platt

2011-04-15T18:00:00.000-05:00

Radical is an insightful look at what Christianity is, as defined by Scripture, verses what Christianity has become, particularly in America. Platt uses several texts to show that what God has called us to as believers is not always in line with the American version of Christianity. For example, in America we tend to judge a church at face value... a big church with lots of people, programs, and buildings = strong and healthy and Biblical verses a small church with few people, little money, small building = weaker church with no hope

Now, let me say from the top. None of the above conditions of either church have any bearing on its health or soundness of its doctrine. There are large churches (though few in number) that are sound doctrinally and pursuing a life of obedience to Jesus Christ. Likewise, there are small churches that are sound doctrinally and pursuing a life of obedience to Jesus Christ. Size doesn't automatically indicate a particular feature, neither do lack or abundance of programs, funds and buildings indicate a particular feature.

Platt seeks to point out that the goal of the church is to take the Gospel to the world and also to serve others. Using the resources (financial or otherwise) that God has given them for the purpose of the furtherance of the Gospel, NOT to acquire more and more wealth. The goal of God blessing us with money for instance is not so that we can store it up and be mega-wealthy consumer driven people, but so that we are people who live according to what we need and find a way to use the rest to give Bibles, or tracts, or food, or clothing, or shelter, etc... to all who need it.

To say the least, I was heavily challenged by the Scripture that David brought to light in this book and it has brought about some very deep examination and convictions in my own life. To avoid boasting in myself, I'll just leave it at that.

Lastly, there were a few things I didn't particularly like about the book. David does a fantastic job of exegeting the Scriptures he uses to make his point, that is good! Intermingled with that, however, he uses illustrations from real life. People he knows, has encountered, or that are in his church, who have abandoned worldly things for the glory of Christ. To hear of those people is encouraging and a great example set. And that was his purpose in putting them in their too... however, I could have done with fewer of them and still gotten the point.

I believe he was going to the extreme to show the diversity that exists amongst the callings God places on our lives. How one person's call may look a bit differently than another. He made a point to say that very thing. That this person's "thing" may not be another's "thing". But the book would have made the point just as well with a more brief story on each of them or just fewer in general. That's a preference of mine personally that when I read any book that is going to convey Scriptural truths, I'd rather hear more about the Scripture and less about a personal experience, but that's just me.

Read it, Bible open as always, pray about it... and see if God doesn't use this book to challenge you as well to evaluate what you do with what He's given you. Are you using it to His glory, or your own?

Never lose hope!

2011-03-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

I want to write to all those who have prayed for your unbelieving family members, friends, and acquaintances and yet it seems to have been to no avail because that person has still not repented and trusted in Christ. I want to share with you a story of a mother in our church. Her name is Jannette. Jannette was raised Jewish and had been a practicing Jew until 20 years ago when God graciously saved her and her husband Ray.

Since coming to Christ, Jannette and Ray have prayed for Jannette's daughter Gaye, (Ray's step-daughter), that God would save her as well. After God saved Jannette, Gaye had become somewhat disillusioned and confused. Her mother had now abandoned the Jewish practices that she had once held dear and Gaye did not understand how such a change could happen so quickly. It would be fair to say that she even held a certain amount of anger about the whole situation. In any case, she remained a Jew in belief and stopped practicing.

For 20 years Jannette has prayed and pleaded with God to save Gaye. She has shared the Gospel innumerable times with her in hopes that she would be broken over her sin and cling to Christ. Twenty years of trying, twenty years with no results.

Two months ago, Gaye came to see me in my office. She was asking questions about Christ. Coming from a Jewish background, whom she had been taught Christ was is not who the Bible teaches Him to be. So I answered them as best I could and after we'd finished talking she left and I gave her a couple of materials to look over.

I heard nothing for 2 months. She called me yesterday and told me that the previous night (Tuesday), as she sat in her apartment thinking about what I'd shared with her. Considering the Law and how that is God's standard and how we've broken it. And then also the good news of the Gospel.

She said that God finally brought her to the end of herself and that she had confessed her sin to Him and begged God to forgive her! She had trusted in Jesus Christ and as she shared with me about it through the tears she spoke of a joy unexplainable that she now had and how she could tell that a burden had been lifted from her.

I'm choking back tears myself even recounting the story. A couple of things I want to share with you, brethren, to encourage you in your witnessing be it to family, friends, or strangers.

1.) Don't be discouraged! God is still God! He does things in His own time according to His own will and in His own way! Your job is NOT to convert someone, it's to share the Gospel. The power of God converts sinful souls. Your job is to faithfully proclaim it.

2.) The lack of response from the person you witness to does not necessarily mean that you've failed or that you are unsuccessful. Gaye had been prayed for by many many people for many many years before God broke her heart and saved her.

3.) No matter how hard someone's heart may appear to be to us, no one can sin so far that they are outside the saving reach of God's grace. Ours is not to determine who we think 'might' or 'might not' be saved one day, ours is to simply trust the One who gave us the message that we proclaim.

Keep praying for the lost, keep seeking them out, and keep sharing the whole Gospel with them! And trust that God will do what is good and right. You may never know the impact you have on others. Then again, God may grant you the unique blessing of being used by Him to bring someone to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Family Bookshelf: The Priest with Dirty Clothes by R.C Sproul

2011-03-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

Just finished reading this one with my children. I found it absolutely fantastic! It is a great explanation of the transaction that takes place at salvation where we receive Christ's imputed righteousness and He takes our sin. It puts it in terms that children can understand. At the end of the book it has several study questions for parents to discuss the book with the kids to help them see the truths of the Gospel and what Christ has done for us. I read it to my 5 & 4 year old. It was just a little too long to maintain my four year old's attention the entire time but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

Read as always with your Bible open. In fact, the great thing about this book. In the study section it outlines how to transition from talking to your children about the story to moving on the more important facts of the Gospel so that you raise your children in the truths of the Lord. You can pick this book up from Ligonier.org.

** Please note that I received a review copy of this book from Reformation Trust but was in no way obligated to give a favorable review, just a fair one.

Pastor's Bookshelf: By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me by Sinclair Ferguson

2011-03-14T23:02:00.000-05:00

We sing about it. We recite it. We are saved by it alone. We know it. But how often do we take it for granted? I'm speaking of course about God's Grace. A foundational and wonderful truth about the One True God of this world is that He has elected to make known His grace to us... us... unworthy sinful fallen people. God owes us no mercy, no grace... no salvation; nothing but wrath and justice. Yet by His grace we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, God's Son.

Sinclair Ferguson takes you to the Bible to bring out what Scripture reveals about God's grace. How amazing God's grace is in salvation and every day life. How God's grace upholds the salvation of all believers and how God's grace is truly all sufficient.

From beginning to end I loved this book. It seemed to begin a bit slow, but by chapter two I was enthralled. I know personally that I tend to take God's Grace for granted in my life. Lord forgive me for ever presuming upon or forgetting the power of your grace extended to me through your Son, Jesus Christ. If you don't own this, order it now. You can pick it up at Ligonier.org or from Amazon.com.

Two of my favorite quotes from the book: "No therapist, no psychiatrist can relieve you of guilt. He or she may help you to resolve feelings of false guilt that can arise for a variety of reasons. Prescription drugs may provide certain kinds of ease. But no therapy, no course of drugs, can deliver you from real guilt. Why? Because being guilty is not a medical condition or a chemical disorder. It is a spiritual reality. It concerns your standing before God. The psychiatrist cannot forgive you; the therapist cannot absolve you; the counselor cannot pardon you. But the message of the Gospel is this: God can forgive you, and He is willing to do so." (pg. 57)

" Until we acknowledge our sin and guilt, we will never come to discover that it can be forgiven. But when we do, actual forgiveness begins to give rise to an awareness of forgiveness psychologically, spiritually, mentally, inwardly. With that comes an increasing sense that the bondage of guilt has been broken. At last, we are set free. Wonder of wonders, we discover that at the very heart of the Gospel is this fact: God has taken our guilt upon Himself in His Son Jesus Christ." (pg. 58)

**I received a free copy of this book from Reformation Trust Publishing for review; but was in no way obligated to give a positive review.

Rob Bell's new book & Voddie's a bigot?

2011-03-01T09:11:00.000-06:00

Well this week has had no shortage of interesting news in the realm of Christendom. Rob Bell, the emergent Pastor from Grand Rapids, Michigan, released a video promoting his book. Voddie Baucham spoke at the 2011 National Religious Broadcasters on Saturday and apparently came out as a bigot... Let's begin with Rob Bell.

For starters, I'm really not sure why the conservative circles of evangelical Christianity are so shocked about Rob's book. The title of the book is "Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived". The main message of the book, according to reports, is that a loving God would never truly send anyone to Hell. So in essence, if reports are accurate, Rob is placing himself into the category of a universalist. A universalist is someone who believes that no matter who you are or what you believe, ultimately you are going to Heaven. Whether you call on God through the Biblical Christ or not. Eyebrows raised? They should be, that folks is another gospel (Gal 1:6-10). That folks, is heresy.

As I said, I'm not certain at all why people are shocked, nor do I feel that we have to wait for this book's release to begin warning Christians about the dangers of Rob Bell's teachings. This teaching of universalism is nothing new. Rob has long taught this exact same thing at his church and eluded to it through many other writings and the infamous Nooma Videos.

Here is just a small example from Rob's past false teachings.

From the book Velvet Elvis:

"Heaven is full of forgiven people." // Good statement!
"Hell is full of forgiven people." // WHAT?

"Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for." //Biblical Truth
"Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for." //WHAT?

"The difference is how we choose to live, which story we choose to live in, which version of reality we trust. Ours or God’s."

So there you have it, everyone is forgiven! All you have to do to go to heaven is live in God’s story (whatever that means). This is a gross misrepresentation of the gospel, and must not go unrecognized. Rob Bell’s theology doesn’t merely come short of the whole gospel. Rather, it twists and distorts the biblical gospel into a strange universalism in which everyone is forgiven, yet not all realize this forgiveness, and therefore spend eternity in hell. Rob Bell is preaching a gospel which is contrary to that of the Bible. If you’re curious as to what the Bible says about such false teaching, check out Galatians 1:6-9.

Paul’s anathema to those who would distort the Gospel was a serious statement. In plain terms, he said, let them be damned to hell for it. In other words, there may be areas inside of Christendom in which we can agree to disagree. Now ultimately there is only one truth on every subject, that’s just logical. But there are things we cannot come to an absolute conclusion about and that’s ok. The Gospel message isn’t one of those areas. Bell is a Universalist, meaning everyone, to him, is going to heaven…

He has recently invited fellow heretics like Phyllis Tickle to come speak at his church and by allowing her to speak and then not refuting the heresy she spewed, he offered her an endorsement..

In one of his latest videos Rob states that “you are the gospel”. Not God is the Gospel, Jesus is the Gospel, but “you” as in you and me are the gospel… that’s just heresy served in a big stinking dish piping hot. That alone is enough to make me tune him out and listen to nothing else he says because anything else he says will be ultimately stained with his view on salvation. **that would be Nooma 15 – You

In reality, the Bible says the Gospel message is that we are sinners, condemned and unclean, and we must repent of those sins and place our trust in Jesus Christ! (Mark 1:15; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23)

I am not shocked that Rob Bell's newest book is only more of the same dribble we've come to expect from him. I am shocked by two things.

1.) I am shocked that we have not yet labeled Bell a heretic. It is merited folks. He has crossed the line from erring teacher to apostate teacher to flat out wolf in sheep's clothing. Of course his mild demeanor and "love love" type of persona will get a discerning Christian who calls him out labeled as mean and cruel or my favorite label "brother basher". My heart breaks for Rob Bell. I do not hate the man. I would rejoice if I heard that today he repented and trusted in Christ. If he can teach universalism and other bad teachings, then he is obviously not saved. Call me names if you like, but let's just be honest here. This is not a small matter, this is a matter over the purity of the Gospel that we are to defend. (Jude 3).

2.) I am shocked (and at the same time not so shocked) that there is more outcry against those speaking out against Bell rather than supporting a call for him to repent. (2 Timothy 4:3)

In other news, Pastor Voddie Baucham spoke at the 2011 National Religious Broadcasters on Saturday where he charged Christian Radio broadcasters to be bold in their stance for the truth. To not be ashamed to speak the truth and stand on the authority of the Word of God. One matter, amongst others, in which he spoke of was the homosexual marriage issue. Many family friendly radio stations, so-called, Christian stations, have tip toed around this issue and took an ambiguous stance rather than a firm one...

The quote that is being passed around by the LGBT propaganda machine is as follows:

“The reason is the homosexuals have effectively co-opted blackness…to where now, we actually believe gay is the new black and we actually believe homosexual marriage is a civil rights issue,” he explained. “I’m insulted that people equate not just a sinful behavior but a behavior that’s a special category of sin called abomination with the level of melanin in my skin,” he said.

The straw man argument being used against Pastor Bauchum is that he wants Christian radio broadcasters to "bash" homosexuals. Which is highly false and completely untrue. He never called the broadcasters to bash on anyone but merely to proclaim the truth, but we do live in a pluralistic society where "Tolerance*" is printed in bold letters on the banner. Check the bottom and notice the small print on the banner: "*We expect you to tolerate our views and we will tolerate yours, but only if you agree with us. If you disagree we will not tolerate it but rather label you and slander you in the media with all sorts of strawmen arguments."

First, making a comparison that "gay is the new black" is insulting and ridiculous to the black ethnicity... Another interesting point to me also is that in the other arena of discussion, over abortion being ...murder and such, the ~~pro-choice~~ pro-murder crowd rather, gets offended when the conservative circles talk about the staggering facts that more "black" babies are killed every year than any other ethnicity. But when that is talked about, they say 'don't bring race into that argument' which 1.) there is only one race and 2.) it isn't bringing up ethnicity, just stating facts.. but now that playing a 'race card' serves their purpose, they can... the old adage 'do as I say and not as I do' seems to be their hidden motto.

That said, I cannot fathom how an issue over marriage rights for homosexuals, which is NOT a civil rights issue but rather a Biblical one, can be anywhere remotely compared to the atrocities of bigotry committed against Black Americans over the years.

Some have criticized Bauchum, from within Christendom, over his comments.

" My only thought is does any of this rhetoric and discussion about things like this help people find God for the first time? Nope.. The more hate Christians show the more people don't want to be a part of us."

To that I will simply say that one of the first things Jesus did in His ministry was issue the command from God for people to repent and believe. (Mark 1:15). I am a bit confused at your comment so maybe you can help me truly get where you are coming from. How ar...e we supposed to bring a spiritually dead person closer to God? I can't say anything to them to bring them closer to God or prepare their heart for His truth... Only God can do that. I can do what the Bible says however and that is use the Law of God as that schoolmaster to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Paul said he would have known sin but by the Law (Romans 7:7). So if a lost person is dead in their sin and an enemy of God through wicked works then the only way to bring them to God is by showing them their need for God and what God has done for them in Christ...

I think the basic message is "Tolerate me, but don't expect me to tolerate you one bit". The real message isn't of tolerance but rather agree with me or else. *Deep sigh* Pray for Rob Bell, he needs Christ. Pray for the practicing homosexual...(Romans 9:1-3) they need Jesus too and your sins are no less grievous to God than theirs Christian so don't think yourself more highly than you ought (Romans 12:1-3).

Family Bookshelf: The Prince's Poison Cup by R.C Sproul

2011-02-26T17:00:00.000-06:00

As I said in my last post, recently a friend of mine had recommended a couple of great books to me that have aided my wife and I in teaching our children the Gospel in ways they can understand and at the same time don't water down deep truth. That second book is "The Prince's Poison Cup" by Dr. R.C Sproul. The Prince in the story represents Christ and the story centers around explaining to children that the work of Christ was to take the cup of God's wrath for our sin.

It paints a beautiful picture of Christ's death and resurrection for the ungodly against the staggering backdrop of our sin. You can pick this up from Ligonier Ministries or Amazon. Our children loved it and it really helped them understand and hopefully this will continue to lead them to a deeper love for Jesus. Of course our hope, as is the hope of every parent, is that one day God will redeem our children and cover them in Christ's blood.

Hope this is helpful to you!

BookSneeze Review: Voices of the Faithful Book 2 - by Beth Moore

2011-02-24T17:00:00.000-06:00

I realize that before I write this I will be assaulting a "golden calf" that is near and dear to many Baptists, namely author/teacher Beth Moore. That notwithstanding, let me offer up my thoughts on the book "Voices of the Faithful - Book 2".

The book is a collection of stories from missionaries serving, or having served, around the globe. It is laid out in a one-year devotional style. For the sake of reviewing this book I didn't read one per day but rather read them all across a few weeks span.

What I liked about the book: Encouraging stories of how God has provided for missionaries in the field. It is always humbling and encouraging to hear those testimonies coming from the foreign mission field.

What troubled me about this book: Well, the worst part of this book was really that Beth Moore has a hand in it. Beth tends to misinterpret Scripture on a constant basis when dealing with Old Testament passages and promises (but that's another post all-together). There were multiple translations used for the book. I realize that the translation used on a given day's reading may have been tied to the person who submitted the story, even still consistency is best. Not to mention, some of the translations used were not as reliable as others in their handling of the Hebrew and Greek.

The absolute WORST thing about this book that would incline me to not only not recommend it but also to not buy this as a gift for someone is the presentation of the Gospel found in the back of the book on page 433.

The page is titled: "Have you heard God's Voice?". Moore states plainly that once a person "accepts" God's offer of salvation we begin to experience peace and abundant life. This phrase needs better explaining. The peace we enjoy as Christians is not a peaceful or enjoyable life necessarily, but one of soul peace knowing that we have been set free from our sin and born again to a Living Hope in Christ. Nor are we anywhere guaranteed an "abundant life" in the material sense of the word.

Next, we do not "invite Christ into our hearts". Ephesians 2 makes it clear we are dead in our sin until God regenerates our hearts. He initiates salvation and we receive Him gladly. He doesn't need our acceptance folks, we need His.

She fails to take her readers through the Law to help them see their sin in light of God's truth. Paul said he would not have known sin had it not been for the Law (Romans 7:7). Instead she casually says we need to admit we are sinners. She does not then call for the reader to repent, as Christ would have (Mark 1:15), but rather says we should "Commit to turn from our sins".

The most troubling part of this whole presentation was the last paragraph when she encouraged anyone who had prayed a sinner's prayer but was still not sure they were saved to get involved in church. Listen, getting involved in church is important, but if someone isn't sure they are saved. Why not encourage them to do what Scripture has directed and examine themselves (2 Corinthians 13:5) to make their calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

No presentation of the Gospel, no matter how well explained, should be without explicit reference to Scripture. To leave this out is to invite error and misunderstanding.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Family Bookshelf: The Church History ABC's

2011-02-22T17:00:00.000-06:00

In addition to Scripture, which should always be first and foremost in our family discipleship, it can also be helpful and valuable to teach your children about "heroes" and "heroines" of the faith. Teach them about those who have come before them and have given their lives (even unto death in some cases) for the glory of God and the defense of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One such book aid for our family has been "The Church History ABC's". It has been helpful in a three fold way for us. It has helped us teach both our children some key facts about Christians gone before, it is written simply enough that my 5 year old daughter, who is learning to read, is easily able to read most words, and the alphabet structure has been helpful for my 4 year old son in helping him learn his alphabet.

You can pick this up from Amazon fairly reasonably.

The Bottom Line: Lame Attempts At Relevance (Part 1)

2011-02-19T13:06:00.000-06:00

This is a wonderful article written by my friend and brother in Christ, Cameron Buettel, addressing the foolishness that goes on in most "churches" these days in the name of relevance.

Enjoy!

Soli Deo Gloria,

The Bottom Line: Lame Attempts At Relevance (Part 1)

Family Bookshelf: Sammy and His Shepherd by Susan Hunt

2011-02-17T17:00:00.000-06:00

If you are a parent who is trying to raise their child to love Jesus then you've no doubt faced the obstacles of communicating deep theological truths to your child in a way that will not only be understandable to them, but in a way that will be meaningful to them as they grow and have an impact on their choices in life.

Meg and I are ALWAYS on the lookout for tools and helps to assist us in communicating the truths of the Gospel to our children. Recently my friend Brian recommended a couple of books to me that I would like to also recommend to you. One of those books is "Sammy and His Shepherd" by Susan Hunt. You can pick it up from Amazon.com or Ligonier.org. This is a fantastic book to help your children understand how God cares for His children. It is the story of Sammy, a sheep with a good Shepherd. He meets a friend and throughout the story he is explaining to his friend how Christ redeems and loves us even though we do nothing to merit that love.

The whole story is an exposition of truths found in Psalm 23 and written in a way that young children can understand. At the end of every chapter there is a discussion section that will help you lead your children in a discussion over the symbols in the book as they relate to Biblical truth. Absolutely fantastic and absolutely something that every family should have on their bookshelf!

The difference between justice and mercy...

2011-02-16T14:30:00.000-06:00

I am so amazed at how, in nearly EVERY realm of life, people mistake mercy and justice. Justice is what is deserved for a particular act. That can be positive and negative obviously... Mercy is what is not required to be shown in any given situation. God is required to show justice. His own inherent Holiness requires it. He is never ever obligated to show mercy. Even in our own human legal system. We demand that courts bring justice, and we know that they are not obligated to show mercy. Yet when it is on us that justice is being served, we cry out "That's not fair!" and demand mercy. But mercy is never ours to demand in any situation. Justice is what is due for a particular act.

I am thankful that God showed me mercy for my infinite transgressions against Him, rather than showing me the justice that I so rightly deserved.

Is Forgiveness Possible? ER

2011-02-15T19:48:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine posted this video to his blog as a challenge to a couple commenters on his blog to watch this video and post how they would respond in this or any similar situation...

So I thought on it and decided I would like to put this on my blog as a question/ challenge not to anyone specifically but to anyone who would like to rise to the challenge. We live in a day where, sadly, the Gospel in many situations is reduced to something trite. "Get saved and God will make your life wonderful." Phrases like that. Phrases that just fail to give the full Gospel (as depicted in Scripture) in all its wonder and beauty.

But a message like "God has a wonderful plan for your life!", would hardly connect and do anything meaningful for a person in a terminal situation... so the challenge.

1.) Watch the video
2.) Put yourself in the woman's shoes and give your response to this man who is more or less asking what he must do to be saved. What would you say? Please be thorough as possible and please back up all points with Scripture.

Please don't shy away from this challenge. Scripture emphatically commands us to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15)... to preach the Word in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2). If you aren't sure how to go about sharing the Gospel Biblically then please email me and I would be more than happy to point you to what Scripture says about it.

Christo-centric Marriage - Part 3

2011-02-13T17:00:00.001-06:00

Lastly, let’s look at God’s model for the roles in the marriage.

Ephesians 5:1-2 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Ephesians 5:22-33 - Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

Wives, you are to submit to your husband. This doesn’t mean he is a slave driver to you. It means that you submit to his leadership of the family so long as he isn’t leading your family to do anything that goes against the word of the Lord. I understand that in our feminist society this is not an altogether popular idea, but it is the Godly model nonetheless. Your submission to your husband is to model your submission to the Lordship of Christ in your life. Think on that and read Matthew 6:33.

Husbands, love your wives. Love them… how? Just as Christ loved the church and GAVE Himself up for her. That’s a lofty commitment that is called for from men. Love the wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. He died for the salvation of the church, not just a local body of believers obviously but all those who are truly born again, they constitute the true church of God. The word 'love' there in Ephesians 5:25 there, in Greek, ‘agapao’ (ag-ap-ah-o). It doesn’t imply perfect love as only God can show, rather it implies a higher love than merely a romantic infatuation type of love. This is not a casual love that we are called to. This is an intense love that compared to the world is radical and crazy and absolutely unheard of. It is a love that is committed regardless of any other factor. Practically speaking, our love for our spouse should be such that we seek to model that type of devotion towards the brethren. Men, we are to commit to love our wives period. Scripture gives no allowance for withholding or reducing that love because they don't do something the way we want.

Then Paul goes on to say that He [Jesus] gave Himself so that He might present the church in all her glory… spotless… blameless… holy… We are to love them above ourselves. Do whatever it takes to lead her towards Godliness (Matthew 6:33) and away from sin and temptation. So that we keep her (in as much as it depends on us) spotless, blameless, holy… before the Lord. That’s a tall order of love. It involves sacrificing our desires and comforts to love them with all we are. And again we do so because it is a living illustration of the Gospel. And God who saved us did not withhold any good thing from us but loved us, adopted us as His children, redeemed and forgave us, sanctified us, and will one day bring us into His presence in Heaven and glorify our sin marred bodies so that they are perfect and we are perfect.

Again we go back to the principle for both the husband and the wife, if God so loved us that He gave Christ, how can we who are not innocent fail to ‘so love’ our spouses knowing that we too are every bit in as much need of God’s grace every moment of every day.

Again, none of this is to be taken in an accusatory way. I don’t have all the details for your specific situation. I can’t (nor would I try to) force you to do anything. You have to decide for yourselves. I am also not claiming that I am the expert with a perfect marriage. Marriage (as you well know) is work. It is a continual journey. If not for our sin natures that still creep in and tempt us with selfishness, we’d all be able to love one another perfectly. Then again, if we could do anything perfectly we wouldn’t need Christ. Since we do need Him, we must also trust Him in all things. I am absolutely 100% in love with my wife and it probably takes much more forgiveness on her part to love me than it does me to her because I know that I do not always love her as Christ loved the church. I am selfish and I put myself first far too often.

As I said, I’m not perfect, nor do I claim to be the expert. I can only relate what Scripture says and tell you that as I've seen these principles for marriage in His Word it has been a convicting time where He has revealed that I don’t always love my wife as I ought to either.

Prayerfully, as Christians, we all can walk together in this and hold one another up and help one another so that we, together, can edify one another in the Lord. Spurring one another on to healthy marriages and healthy lives that all point back to the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His saving Grace that was displayed on the cross! The life that is not lived in a Christocentric fashion is the life that is wasted and that applies to all areas of life. Keep that in mind as you move forward. Pray and seek the Lord’s strength and wisdom in all things. Know that I am here for you if needed and will do whatever I can to help.