"Code Orange" Speaker James MacDonald

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Well, the Code Orange Revival is set to erupt in just two days. Since Code Orange visionary Steven Furtick needs no introduction, this post will conclude our examination of each of the speakers. Here we will look at Pastor James MacDonald, senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicagoland area. There has been much discussion surrounding James MacDonald in recent months. This post will serve, then, as a bird’s eye view of some of the concerns that already have been widely discussed, as well as some that have been largely overlooked.

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'Sexperiment:' Pastor, Wife to Spend 24 Hours in Bed on Church Roof

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The Christian Post reports this sad state of affairs:

Ed and Lisa Young, founders of Texas-based Fellowship Church, will spend 24 hours in bed on the church roof next week and stream themselves live on the Internet to encourage married couples to see firsthand the power of a healthy sex life as prescribed in their new book, Sexperiment.

Two days after their book, Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse, is released Tuesday, the Youngs will take part in a 24-hour “bed-in,” which will be streamed on the book’s website as they engage the audience on issues related to intimacy in marriage. Read more

President Obama and Same-Sex Marriage — The Dance Continues, by Albert Mohler

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Some predictions are rather safe to make. 2012 is almost certain to be a determinative year on the issue of same-sex marriage. Multiple courts appear poised to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] and, even more urgently, the appeal on California’s Proposition 8 at the Ninth Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals will set up a certain appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. Given the facts of this case and the significance of the nation’s most populous state, the Supreme Court is almost certain to take the case. This sets the stage for the courts to make some determinative statement on same-sex marriage within the next several months — a decision that will go a long way toward setting the direction of the larger culture.

At the same time, the same-sex marriage issue will play a part in the 2012 presidential campaign. The reason for this is quite simple. The issue of same-sex marriage is about far more than marriage as a legal institution and about more than sexuality and personal autonomy. It is the great inescapable issue, and we will know in fairly short order what all the candidates believe about the issue.

Then again, maybe not. Read more

The Discipline of God

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by Mike Ratliff

3 ἀναλογίσασθε γὰρ τὸν τοιαύτην ὑπομεμενηκότα ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀντιλογίαν, ἵνα μὴ κάμητε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν ἐκλυόμενοι. (Hebrews 12:3 NA27)

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such opposition against himself that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:3 Possessing the Treasure New Testament V1)

I invite you to look back on the last Presidential election in the U.S. in which Barak Obama was elected and how so many of us were devastated by that. When I was born the President of the United States was Harry Truman. Yes, that’s right, I’m getting old, but it also means that I remember what its like to be both a non-Christian living in a Christian home under a Government that is not liberal enough for me, but too liberal for my parents and at other times having a Government that my was too liberal even for me causing social change in such unbalanced and inequitable ways that could only be explained by our leaders being bent on changing us into a Communist state. Remember, I grew up during The Cold War and had the Draft and Vietnam waiting for me as I went through High School. All through that, I was convinced that it really did not matter who was in The White House or who was in Congress or the Senate. They were all inept with an agenda that made sense to no one but them.

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Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report: Got $487.4M in Tax Money, Did 329,445 Abortions

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CNS News reports:

According to its latest annual report, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) received $487.4 million in tax dollars over a twelve-month period and performed 329,455 abortions.

In addition, the number of adoption referrals made by the organization continued to decline.

The latest annual report covers the period from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, the PPFA’s fiscal year. The report states that the organization received “government health services grants and reimbursements” totaling $487.4 million.  Read more

Those Who Bury The Gospel With Trash

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Apprising Ministries brings you a sermon excerpt from Charles Spurgeon in this post. Though he’s addressing the original cult of liberalism, the Lord has him also speaking down the corridor of time about the postmodern liberalism obscuring the Gospel in the attractional and emerging camps of today.

Response to "An Evangelical Statement on the Trinity"

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Recently, an “Evangelical” theologian William David Spencer has come up with a supposed “Evangelical Statement on the Trinity”, which can be found here. When the Statement is analyzed however, it can be seen that the Statement actually compromises the historic Christian doctrine of the Trinity as codified in the Athanasian Creed.

Historically, the two extremes in thinking about God has been either to collapse the three into one, or to deny the one in favor of three. The former is seen in Modalism or Sabellianism, the error of the heretic T.D. Jakes. The latter is seen in the error of Arianism and Subordinationism, where the distinction between the persons of the Trinity are so accentuated that they the three persons are not considered as three coequal and coeternal persons. The Athanasius Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Definition of Chalcedon forge a path through these twin peaks of error, and so they give the Church a firm foundation of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

As we shall see however, this supposed “Evangelical Statement on the Trinity” in its promotion of egalitarianism compromises the historic orthodoxy doctrine of God. Without further to do, here is the full response. An excerpt:

Recently, William David Spencer, in consultation with many theologians, has drafted a document which he has called “An Evangelical Statement on the Trinity.” Is this document however what it proclaims to be? Is this statement truly Evangelical, in the historic sense of the term? More importantly, is it biblical?

In this article, I would like to analyze this statement as it is made available online. Is this a statement that Christians and especially Evangelicals should embrace, or should it be rejected?

The theological commentary of the Statement is arranged according to a few themes, and we will therefore in part one first address these themes in the order they are written, then give an apologetic for a more biblical view of the Trinity in part two.

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Are Spiritual Disciplines the same as Spiritual Formation?

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by Mike Ratliff

[4] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [5] You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ESV)

The very last thing I want for my own Christian walk is to get off the narrow way and fall into some form of deception following after some sort of false teacher that promises a way to get closer to God if we only follow him (or her) only to find out that we are like the blind following after blind guides. Any who is truly born of God is in Christ. They are new creations. They were once dead in their trespasses and sins and now they have been made alive by God himself (Ephesians 2:1-9). All through the Bible we are commanded to draw close to God, to repent, to be holy even as our Heavenly Father is Holy, et cetera. This is for the mature in Christ, not the immature. How do we grow from new Christians into those who are those living sacrifices Paul spoke of in Romans 12:1?

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