Commentary, analysis and opinion.

Assertions and Assumptions are NOT the Foundation of the Church

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Steven Kozar of Messed Up Church, a blog over at Pirate Christian, believes that much of the bad teaching in churches happens because people who teach often make unbiblical assertions.  And the gullible folks in the pews just assume what they’re being taught is the gospel truth.  After all, pastors/teachers/church leaders would never stray from the truth, right?

Some pastors/teachers/church leaders get away with using assertions by claiming that what they’re teaching came directly from the Almighty, even when what they’re teaching is patently absurd. In other words, they use the “God told me” card to get gullible folks to accept what they’re saying.

So – now to Steve’s piece. He writes: Continue reading →

Pedophiles Believe They Should Be A Part of the LGBT Community

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Many blogs exist on Tumblr showing support for MAPs, claiming that they should be a part of the LGBT community and attempting to create “safe spaces” for these “minor attracted persons”.

(Jessica Jenkins – Daily Caller)  Pedophiles are rebranding themselves as “MAPs” or “Minor Attracted Persons” in an effort to gain acceptance and be included into the LGBT community.

According to Urban Dictionary, the blanket term MAP includes infantophiles (infants), pedophiles (pre-pubescent children), hebephiles (pubescent children), and ephebophiles (post-pubescent children). Some MAPs also refer to themselves as NOMAPs or “Non-Offending Minor Attracted Persons”.   View article →

Related:

Homosexual Agenda

The Rise of Woker-Than-Thou Evangelicalism

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“Those of us who don’t believe that kind of “wokeness” reflects biblical integrity have been scolded, shamed, and called racists by key leaders from both organizations.”

(Phil Johnson – Pyromaniacs)  Unless you have been living in seclusion somewhere, you will have noticed that a radical putsch is currently underway to get evangelicals on board with doctrines borrowed from Black Liberation Theology, Critical Race Theory, Intersectional Feminism, and other ideologies that are currently stylish in the left-leaning secular academy. … Continue reading →

Reciprocity Is the Method to Trump’s Madness

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“During the lifetime of NAFTA, Mexico has encouraged millions of its citizens to enter the U.S. illegally. Mexico’s selfish immigration policy is designed to avoid internal reform, to earn some $30 billion in annual expatriate remittances, and to influence U.S. politics.”

(Victor Davis Hanson – National Review)  Critics of Donald Trump claim that there’s no rhyme or reason to his foreign policy. But if there is a consistency, it might be called reciprocity.

Trump tries to force other countries to treat the U.S. as the U.S. treats them. In “don’t tread on me” style, he also warns enemies that any aggressive act will be replied to in kind. Continue reading →

Fifteen Ways to Know you are Growing in Holiness

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“We should be constantly fighting against sin, and going to war with particular sins in our lives. These fifteen examples will prove helpful in our ability to notice growth when going to war against our flesh.”

(Jordan Standridge – The Cripplegate) Over the past few weeks I have been reading Edward Welch’s new book A small book about a big problem. Although I wouldn’t have described myself as someone who struggled with anger this book has revealed how much and how often I do fall short in this area. Continue reading →

Are You Living Worthy of the Gospel?

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“God expects us to live in ways appropriate for citizens of this heavenly nation. We need to live in such a way that we enhance the reputation of the gospel and the Christ of the gospel.”

(Tim Challies)  The Bible tells us that we are to live lives that are worthy of the gospel. Specifically, in Philippians 1 Paul tells the church, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” I recently found myself reflecting on that word worthy. How can we actually live in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ? Is that even a possibility? Continue reading →

When Abortion Becomes A Sacrament

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Gloria Steinem once remarked, “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” But modern-day feminists have determined that abortion is a sacrament specifically because women can get pregnant…

(Ben Shapiro – Daily Wire)  This week, amid widespread Democratic tumult regarding the selection of a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, alleged comedian Michelle Wolf paid tribute to the most important facet of American life: abortion. On her Netflix show on Sunday, Wolf dressed up in red, white and blue, and shrieked into the camera, “God bless abortions, and God bless America!” She explained: “Women, if you need an abortion, get one! If you want an abortion, get one! … And women, don’t forget: You have the power to give life and men will try to control that. Don’t let them!” Continue reading →

‘Lifeway Women’ Promote Hillsong Prophetess, Christine Caine

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“Caine considers Joyce Meyer one of her best friends, chief mentor, and “spiritual mother.” Together, they hold to the “little god theology” and Word-Faith heresies, that – like God – you can create destinies and demand temporal blessings simply by decreeing and declaring them into existence.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Lifeway Christian Resources is the retail and publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, known easily as the world’s largest retailer of heresy in the United States, if not the world. As we have thoroughly documented on this news site, Lifeway sells books by Anti-Trinitarians, Word-Faith and Prosperity teachers, New Age gurus, gay activists, mystics, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics. In fact, the vast majority of what the Southern Baptist retailer sells is contrary to the denomination’s statement of faith, the Southern Baptist Faith and Message, and much of their selection contains troubling theology that Southern Baptist pastors have to regularly teach against. Lifeway has a blog and podcast for women, from their Lifeway Women division, called (accurately), “Marked.” Yesterday, they promoted the wildly unorthodox and charismatic Hillsong prophetess, Christine Caine. Continue reading →

Hillsong United, Lyrics, and Evolution

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Joel Houston, lead musician in Hillsong United

Joel Houston, eldest son of Hillsong founder Brian Houston and lead musician in the worship band Hillsong United, recently tweeted that “evolution is undeniable.” (Here) So naturally Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, a parachurch organization that provides answers to key issues in the Bible such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth, took issue with Houston’s “old earth” view of creation which he announced in a tweet: “I have no ability to believe that there was a flood that covered all the highest mountains of the world only 4,000 years ago and that all of the animal species that exist today are here because they were carried on an ark and then somehow walked or flew all around the world from a mountain in the Middle East after the water dried up.”

Following is AIG’s analysis of Houston’s tweets: Continue reading →

Gay ‘Christian’ Journalist, Jonathan Merritt, Leaves RNS Amidst Contract Dispute

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“Merritt, who still holds a nebulous and constantly evolving position on homosexual behavior, is one of the many evangelical leaders desiring to normalize Same Sex Attraction (SSA), a condition with which Merritt himself struggles. Interestingly, Merritt is dropping clues that he may be involved in creating a new, competing news network.”

(Pulpit & Pen) Jonathan Merritt, who has had one foot in the closet since at least 2012 when a homosexual man outed Merritt as his one-night-stand lover, is a press ally of the left-wing of evangelicalism that has been slowly but surely taking over the Southern Baptist Convention and other evangelical institutions. The son of a one-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention, James Merritt, has thrust himself to the center of most of the controversies that have plagued the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. … Continue reading →

Imagine There’s No [Christian] Religion

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How many Americans are aware that our Canadian neighbor has pretty much shut Christians out of any significant cultural role? Recently, Dr. Peter Jones visited Ontario and it soon became clear to him that something has happened to Western civilization that makes Christianity a dangerous threat in that country. So in Canada, Christianity must be criminalized and eliminated altogether. According to Dr. Jones, Eastern Buddhism’s practice of mindfulness meditation is everywhere in Canadian culture. He informs us that mindfulness even receives the favor of the courts while Christianity is now perceived as unfavorable. In this informative piece, Dr. Jones reveals the dangers of mindfulness meditation. Under the heading Cultural Effects, he includes a quote from a book by Christine Chandler, who practiced mindfulness meditation for nearly thirty years: Continue reading →

If Paul Experienced Ministry Pressure–So Does Your Pastor

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“While we see a list of hardships, there is one statement that sticks out to me in 2 Corinthians 11:28 where Paul makes a statement about his anxiety regarding the churches. While we can be sure that Paul was promised to suffer for Jesus (Acts 9:16) and after being imprisoned in Rome he was beheaded for his faith…”

(Josh Buice – Delivered By Grace)  It is well documented that the apostle Paul had a hard ministry. He didn’t exactly have an ivory palace gig where he studied the ancient writings of Moses and churned out volumes of commentaries. … Continue reading →

Pope Francis Embraces ‘LGBT’

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“That the Vatican would embrace language invented by homosexual activists to promote the homosexual agenda does not bode well for the Papists. Sadly, and to our shame, our evangelical leaders – from Russell Moore at the ERLC to Albert Mohler at SBTS – have already adopted the LGBT language long ago.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  The New York Times recently printed an op-ed from John Gehring, a Roman Catholic commentator and author, wondering aloud if the church would ever fully embrace the LGBT movement. After many years of providing expert commentary on the Vatican and its various policies, Gehring’s professional assessment is that yes, the Vatican will come to a full embrace of queer people. The reason, for Gehring, is that Pope Francis has given subtle clues to his evolution on the topic of sodomy, the most astonishing of which is his embrace of the ‘LGBT’ term. Continue reading →

Should Followers of Christ Observe the Torah?

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“Paul says he is being persecuted because he’s not requiring obedience to the Torah. This was the source of his persecution. He calls the idea that we are under the cross rather than the Torah “the stumbling block of the cross.” Then he says that those who say we need to be circumcised should go all the way and cut it all off! Serious words, indeed.”

(Amy K. Hall – Stand To Reason) A great deal of the New Testament is devoted to the question of the Christian’s relationship to the Mosaic Law in the Torah, but if the questions I receive from people are any indication, there’s an increasing amount of confusion among Christians on this topic. (I explain my theory as to why this is happening here.) Continue reading →

Pro-Life Roe v. Wade Movie Sets Off a Panic in Hollywood

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“The film has been enveloped in controversy since its announcement last summer. Facebook blocked all crowdfunding for the film on its platform by restricting its ability to share posts or run ads.”

(Kyle Becker – LifeZette) The abortion debate has been rigged in popular American culture for decades.

Now, one filmmaker is looking to change that.

Nick Loeb secretively has begun filming a pro-life Roe v. Wade feature film that is enlisting the star power of Robert Davi, Jon Voight, and Stacey Dash, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Continue reading →

Happy Fourth!

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“Here in America today people will gather in sidewalks to see parades or in backyards to eat hot dogs or in parks to hear music…whatever you’re doing I hope it’s with family, a structure the Lord ordained as a foundational building block of the nation. And I hope it affords you means to behave in Gospel ways and to speak of the Savior to others. Because we live in America, we can still do that. We can assemble freely and practice our religion freely.”

(Elizabeth Prata – The End Time)  The Fourth of July is so fun for a kid. It’s a day when the grownups stay home and we all get to play. For some, that means swimming in the lake or at the beach. For others it means parades and cookouts. For just about everybody it means fireworks.

Our family did lots of different things on the holiday. We spent summers at the Cape. We went to the Park and listened to the Boston Pops. We had pool parties with BBQs. But mainly what I remember is our grandparents’ beach house on the Bay, cousins, and all the uncles leaving to go buy fireworks and returning laughing carrying a huge box. Cherry Bombs and rockets and roman candles, and most delightfully, sparklers.

I loved the sparklers. I’d run up and down the beach waving them as I passed all my other cousins who were doing the same thing.

Is there anything more fun or beautiful than colorful fireworks streaking overhead? Jimmy Buffett has a song called,  “The night I painted the sky”.

Independence Day

And all I remember

Was a midnight rainbow

That fell from the sky

As I stand on the beach

I slowly surrender

To the child in me

That can’t say goodbye

The rockets in the air

And the people everywhere

Put away their differences for a while

Oh I am still a child

When it comes to something wild

Oh that was the night

I painted the sky

The prominent memory is the family- nuclear and extended, gathered together on the 4th. Fun, family, eating, family, laughter, family.

There’s some negative reactions these days from Christian conservatives when a person even tiptoes over to the rah-rah America side of things. I unashamedly love my country. Though I love America, I know my ultimate citizenship is in heaven. But the Lord birthed me in 1960 in America and kept me alive throughout these 50 odd years and I can’t complain about His ordination of his time and place for my life. It wasn’t China in 645 BC or Iceland in 1828 or Germany in 1944. It was America, 1960.   View article →

Concerns Raised Over Video Featuring 10-Year-Old ‘Desmond the Drag Kid’: ‘I Wanted to Do Drag … When I Was Two’

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“A lot of you have to realize that your minds are stuck in the norms of our era. 500 years from now gender fluidity will be the norm. You are not able to transport your mind to the future and see it all. You’re basic [expletive]…,”

(Heather Clark – Christian News)  A viral video of a 10-year-old boy who identifies as a “LGBTQ activist and advocate” and a “drag kid” is raising concern as some state that children being taught about drag and homosexuality is inappropriate and a reflection of ungodly parenting. Continue reading →

Carried About by Every Wind of Doctrine

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In his latest blog post, Rick Becker reveals some of the heretical teaching that’s currently being passed off as biblical Christianity when it clearly is not — it’s satanic!

Becker not only examines the teaching that’s being sold to the Christian “consumer” as “truth”; he discloses who’s doing the selling.  A few examples (there are many) are John Bevere, Shawn Bolz, Kris Vallotton and Roma Downey.

Bethel Church in Redding CA is one of the largest producers of “every wind of doctrine” on the planet; thus, that “church” is to be avoided at all costs.  (More on Bethel Redding here) According to Becker, the people who purchase conference tickets, books, merchandise, etc., of the people mentioned in his post are contributing to the billion dollar industry known as the “evangelical industrial complex.”  Sadly, it’s all about money….and greed.

So – here’s Rick Becker’s piece over at Famine In The Land: Continue reading →

Contemporary Christian artists see ‘Third Great Awakening’ coming

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This piece appeared in “fair & balanced” Fox News. But it isn’t fair or balanced, as Caleb Parke, who penned it, mentions nary a word about all the controversy over Bethel Church in Redding CA and its head pastor and NAR “apostle” Bill Johnson. Johnson is presented in a good light even though his teaching is provably heretical.

Highly influential contemporary “Christian” band Jesus Culture, a “petri dish for growing young new heretics,” was birthed at Bethel.  Parke interviewed a few band members for his piece and included some of their songs. Take a moment to listen to the nonsensical lyrics. Clearly the message doesn’t come close to lining up with Scripture, which means that the band is spreading false teaching around the globe through their music. Church leaders who choose to use Jesus Culture’s “worship” music, and there are many, have unwittingly introduced heresy into their churches.   Continue reading →

HERE WE GO: Millennial Democrats EMBRACE Socialism

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“Talk of popular control of the means of production is anathema to many older Democrats, even very liberal ones. It plays a lot better with the young; one recent survey shows that 61 percent of Democrats between 18 and 34 view socialism positively…”

(Ben Shapiro – Daily Wire)  A few months ago, Hillary Clinton was asked about whether her self-identification as a capitalist had hurt her among members of her own core constituency. She said it had. She was right. And the Democratic Party is now moving openly in the direction of embracing socialism. Continue reading →