Killing Worship: The Experience (Part 1)

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“As I was trying to figure out what he meant by this, all of the sudden, the lights went out, and the pastor had an imaginary conversation with God. God’s voice came out of the speakers and the pastor, pretending to be Abraham, had a real life imaginary conversation with God.”

(Christopher Gordon – Abounding Grace)  Years ago I was challenged by a churchgoer that I have no right to critique another church’s worship unless I have personally attended and witnessed for myself what is happening. I took this challenge and visited the local evangelical church in which thousands from the community were attending. The church adopted the Saddleback model of worship that still is, to this day, the common practice of many churches in the United States. Continue reading →

14 Media Outlets Spread Hoax About Trump Calling for Violence During Breitbart News Interview

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“I don’t care how many times you read that, there is nothing there — not a word, not a peep, not anything that has anything to do with violence of any kind…”

(John Nolte – Breitbart)  The establishment media are deliberately spreading fake news about President Trump, saying he called for violence during his interview with Breitbart News.

Outside of the usual-usual fake news to damage Trump and to distract from their failing Russia Collusion Hoax, the media’s propaganda effort here is to make Trump pay a political price for daring to sit down with an alternative news outlet like Breitbart News and to warn other politicians not to violate the rules about who is “supposed” to be allowed to hold high-profile interviews. Continue reading →

Drag queen storytime reader once charged with child sex assault

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This drag queen calls himself “Annie Christ.”

“In our review of our process and of this participant, we discovered that we failed to complete a background check as required by our own guidelines.” 

(ABC13 News)  Houston Public Library is apologizing after a man charged for sexually assaulting a child was allowed to entertain children at Drag Queen storytime.

The library said Friday that a review revealed the volunteer never completed a background check before he was allowed to participate in the program. Continue reading →

Why We Shouldn’t Assume Catholics are Christians

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“Even if a Catholic is truly born again, if they refuse to leave their false church, we must treat them as though they are not. By their own profession, confession, and expression of faith, they continue in sin by practicing idolatry and rejecting Christ.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  Historically, Roman Catholicism has been considered by Protestants and Evangelicals to be an expression of faith that distorts the Biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. While Protestants hold to a soteriological belief of “grace alone through faith alone,” in contrast, Roman Catholics hold to a sacerdotal view of salvation by faith plus works whereby grace is dispensed through the Church by the intervention of a Sacerdote (priest). … Continue reading →

Preaching for Doctrinal Discernment

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I want to challenge the notion that our pursuit of clarity in preaching for the average hearer, absent rhetorical flourishes that emphasize our being well-learned, equates to emptying our teaching of doctrinal terminology and intellectual rigor. Rather, I want to argue that it is pastorally imperative that we encourage our hearers to think hard and well. We must teach them doctrinal and biblical terminology that is largely foreign to the average person’s vocabulary.

(Chad Vegas – Founders Ministry)  For nearly twenty years of ministry I have heard Mark Twain’s words ringing in my ear, “Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.” This has become like proverbial wisdom in preaching books, courses, and conferences. There is a certain admirable pastoral concern behind this phrase. … Continue reading →

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Invites Pastor Who ‘Loves the Darkness’ to Speak at Reformed Conference

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“In August 2017, Thorn appeared on a podcast that was later entitled “Joe Thorn Loves the Darkness” as he was asked about his various interests, which included horror films, cigars, bourbon and heavy metal music—including “melodic death metal,” noting that “95 percent” of his listening is heavy metal music.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News Network)  In a move that some would say is counter to its mission of “calling the church … to repent of its worldliness,” The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals has invited an unorthodox pastor and podcaster who espouses a love for all things dark—from horror movies to death metal to dark fiction—and whose “Pastors in Cars Smoking Cigars” series and other videos reflect his love and promotion of cigars, bourbon and tattoos, to speak on justification and the Christian life at its upcoming Reformed theology conference. Continue reading →

Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

4 Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world, is made an enemy of God. James 4:4 (translated from the NA28 Greek Text) 

The Seeker-Sensitive and Purpose-Driven paradigms are rooted in a form of Pelagianism. Of course, the theology I grew up with as a Southern Baptist in the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, et cetera was somewhere between semi-Pelagianism and Arminianism. The Social Justice paradigm that is causing so much division in the visible church in our time as “Woke Theology” is actually based in Cultural Marxism not the Word of God. In each of these forms of theology, man is at the center. God has done all he can do to create the possibility of salvation, but it is up to man to exercise his autonomous free will in order to be saved. …  View article →

Why God Hates The Occult…

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“The Occult is the breaking of the first two of the ten commandments of God, for we are to have “no other God’s before ” Him, and we are not to fashion out of our Imagination, how we choose to see who God is.”

(Bill Randles)  When God set up a theocracy, He very strictly warned and threatened against any who would ever touch the occult. There was a death penalty for those who participated in any form of the dark practices of the pagans.

The various occult practices were considered to be abominable to the LORD, and so also were the practitioners. Both the sin and the sinner were and are considered utterly detestable to the Holy God. … Continue reading →

Google Exec Finally Admits to Congress That They’re Tracking Us Even with ‘Location’ Turned Off

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“On Tuesday, Hawley and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation aimed at reining in tech companies that are tracking children online. The bill would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to prohibit companies from tracking the location of children under the age of 13 without parental consent and require that consent be obtained from users ages 13 to 15.”

(Paula Bolyard – PJ Media)  A Google executive admitted during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that Google tracks users’ phones  — even when their location history is turned off. Continue reading →

What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” John 6:28 (NASB)

Genuine Christians will be very interested in getting the answer to the question posed to Jesus from John 6:28. If a professing Christian is not interested in that answer then there’s a problem. On the other hand, there are many professing Christians who have answered that question without reading Jesus’ response to it. Instead, they have jumped head foremost into “religious” work that they believe pleases God and is earning them bonus points in eternity. Their “works” may look good to most people, but are they what Jesus tells us are the genuine works of God? Let’s look at this passage in context. View article →

The Rebirth of Socialism

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“Democratic Socialists” believe radical change can come from peaceful political action, like voting.  But the harder core Marxist socialists believe that radical change can only be implemented by violent revolution.  Can we expect Marxist terrorism, along the same lines as Islamist terrorism?  Let’s hope not, but it could happen.

(Gene Veith – Patheos)  With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, people were saying that socialism had been “consigned to the dust bin of history.”  Free market capitalism and liberal democracy were so ascendant that people were talking about the “end of history,” in the sense that the wars and ideological conflicts that make up so much of history were over with. Continue reading →

Cardinal George Pell sentenced to 6 years in prison for child sex abuse

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“There is no evidence of your remorse or contrition,” Chief Judge Peter Kidd said in court.

(Doha Madani – Associated Press)  The most senior Catholic cleric ever to be convicted of child sex abuse was sentenced to six years in prison in Australia on Wednesday morning.

Cardinal George Pell, 77, faced as many as 50 years in prison after being convicted in December for the molestation of two choir boys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s. Pell must serve a minimum of three years and eight months before he is eligible for parole. Continue reading →

Jesus was angry?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days. 13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” John 2:12-16 (NASB) 

Some today have made a caricature of our Lord Jesus Christ. This man-made image is far from the truth we see in Sacred Scripture. There have been some who have even portrayed the Bible as revealing two separate “Gods,” the mean, angry God of the Old Testament, and the kind, gentle Jesus of the New Testament. The former is an image contrived by those who resent God’s commands for holiness and righteousness while the latter is vastly incomplete and derived by those who are either ignorant of what the New Testament teaches about our Lord or they are deliberately ignoring what it says. View article →

Farewell Francis

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“I think it is time to say that Francis has shifted so far that he has embraced false teachers and has disqualified himself from the benefit of the doubt. That does not mean that he is a false teacher, nor that he is beyond repentance. But it does mean that, as for me and my house, we will not only not recommend Francis Chan as a trusted resource, but I also encourage you to stay away from him.”  

(Jordan Standridge – The Cripplegate)  I’ll never forget the first time I heard Francis Chan speak. 

I was at a big music conference in California feeling really discouraged. The music was man-centered, the teaching was problematic, to say the least; it just really seemed like no one was there to exalt the Savior. It seemed to all be about money and fame. And then something happened. In between bands, a preacher came forward. …  Continue reading →

Global warming a ‘fear campaign’ by scientists ‘hooked on government grants,’ Greenpeace founder says

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“[M]ost of what these so-called scientists are doing is simply producing more fear so that politicians can use it to control people’s minds and get their votes because some of the people are convinced, ‘Oh, this politician can save my kid from certain doom.’”

(Calvin Freiburger – LifeSiteNews)  Conservatives have long argued that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is a politically motivated distortion of climate science. Now that argument is being bolstered by an unexpected source: the co-founder of the leading environmental organization Greenpeace. Continue reading →

‘Pope Francis’ Meets With Mormon Leader Russell Nelson, Discusses ‘Mutual Concerns’ Over Societal Issues

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…last month, Bergoglio met with Islamic Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb in Abu Dhabi, where he jointly signed the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.”  The document “asserts that “the diversity of religions … are willed by God,” and that men should not be “forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News Network)  Jorge Bergoglio, the leader of Roman Catholicism, met on Saturday with Mormon leader Russell Nelson and Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The two discussed their “mutual concerns” about various societal issues, and exchanged gifts, which included Bergoglio’s writings on the Islamic religion. Some opine that the meeting is another example of the Vatican’s goal to forge a one world religion. Continue reading →

How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” 1 Corinthians 15:35 (NASB) 

Eternity is the true reality, not this physical life in the temporal. At the heart of our Christian faith is our blessed hope of a bodily resurrection. Many mistakenly believe that all Christians who die are given their eternal body right then, but the Bible is clear that our eternal bodies are resurrected by God from our physical bodies that we have now. There will be an interim between our death and the resurrection before we are given our resurrection bodies, but this post is about what will be after our Lord returns in victory and glory. View article →

The Crisis and Comfort of Romans 7

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“We must…become honest about our struggle with sin and cling to the work of Jesus Christ our Lord as our hope now and for all eternity.”

(Josh Buice – Delivered By Grace)  Yesterday, in our series through Romans, I had the privilege to preach the concluding verses (24-25) of Romans chapter seven. As you may know, the seventh chapter of Romans is one of the most difficult passages to interpret in all of Romans—indeed in all of the Bible. There are many questions to answer including identifying the “I” of the chapter and explaining the relevance of the law of God for new covenant Christians. Continue reading →

Former Harvest Employees Say James MacDonald Lived Large on Church’s Dime

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“These expenditures were in addition to MacDonald’s salary, which the church continues to keep private. However, Dave Corning, a founding elder who chaired the elder board for 21 years, told me that in 2009, MacDonald was making a combined $550,000 from both the church and Walk in the Word, MacDonald’s broadcast ministry.”

(Julie Roys)  In 2015, James MacDonald went on a worldwide missions trip that was so stressful, he needed a safari in South Africa to help him recover from it. At least, that’s what MacDonald, the recently-fired founder of Harvest Bible Chapel, claimed to justify the church paying for the safari for him and two others, according to his bodyguard at the time, Jacob Ross.

But that’s not all. Continue reading →

Even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness you are blessed

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12 (NASB)

What is Christian suffering? I doubt if most Christians in the United States have a clear understanding of real persecution for their faith that is going on daily in other parts of the world. There are dear saints dying for their faith daily in parts of the world and those of us in the U.S. believe we are being persecuted if someone passes a law or ordinance restricting their religious liberties. Well, one of the reasons Christianity is not persecuted to the extent is in other parts of the world is that the ‘visible church’ here has been compromised to a great extent. What does that mean? It means that leaders within it have made friends with the world and have invited it in. There is little separation. However, this writer contends that if anyone reading this, including myself, would actually become separate from the world and its values in their daily lives and withdraw from institutions that are ungodly and not participate in any activities that are blasphemous then that persecution that is talked about in 2 Timothy 3:12 would become a reality just as it has in China, North Korea, Pakistan, and all Muslim countries. View article →

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves

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22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. James 1:22 (NASB) 

The visible Church in our time has been compromised for the most part by human philosophy and has succumbed to the pressure from the world to not emphasize God’s truth as absolute. Professing Christians who discount the Word of God as absolute truth are actually placing their intellect, their beliefs, and the counsel of their own hearts above the Word of God as it relates to authority and truth. It is one thing for an atheist to denigrate Christians, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the God the Holy Spirit. That is almost expected and should not surprise us. However, when the majority of professing Christians demand the right to behave contrary to what the Word teaches about Christian behavior can God’s judgment be far behind? View article →

ICE now detaining 50,000 in all-time high, and yet Congress continues to oppose POTUS Trump’s emergency declaration

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“So the Northern Triangle governments have said to us – they will say to you – ‘please send us our children back. We want them reunited with our families and communities here.’”

(Jon Dougherty – The National Sentinel)  The number of people being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reached an all-time high of 50,000 as migrants from Central America and Mexico continue to stream towards the United States, deepening the humanitarian crisis. Continue reading →