Welcome to the New (Contemplative) Christianity – Breath In . . . Breath Out

“If you are someone who is aware of the dangers and the true panentheistic, interspiritual nature of contemplative prayer, you have probably noticed that contemplative spirituality has moved from its infancy stage in the church to what appears to becoming the norm.” 

(Lighthouse Trails)  The acceptance of contemplative prayer has hit an all-time high in the church. And is it any wonder? Christian media, Christian publishers, pastors, mission societies, Bible societies, authors, radio hosts, youth leaders, women’s group leaders, and Christian ministry leaders are all promoting it more than ever. … Continue reading

Friendship with the world and its ways is hostility toward God

1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.  James 4:1-4 (NASB)  (Read verses 3-4 on the site)

The Church since its inception in the 1st Century AD has been plagued by quarrels, disagreements, feuds, splits, et cetera. According to God, the problem is not with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ or His doctrines, but with the fact that people in the Church are not submitted properly to Him or to each other. Pride is behind most disagreements just as it is behind those who break away from the truth to lead their followers with false doctrines and a focus that is on self rather than on God and His glory. Instead, those who cause these problems are in love with self and, therefore, in love with the world, its ways, and the things of the world. View article →

Kids Tutored in ‘Pleasure’ Despite STD Epidemic

According to Linda Harvey, there’s a new trend in “comprehensive sexuality education”: teaching youngsters about “pleasure.”

The group, promoting pleasure, is planning an October conference in San Diego. Harvey reports what’s on their agenda:

So let’s center pleasure in adolescent sex ed. Let’s assemble a new language for the field that fosters authentic conversations in classrooms—conversations centered not on plumbing and pathology, but on pleasure.”{Emphasis added}

This is just a small part of what progressive perverts have in store for America’s children. So naturally Harvey wants to know what kind of wicked adults do this to kids.  She reveals the answer in a recent blog post over at MissionAmerica. She also offers a solution. And then she asks “Can we do this?

Here’s Linda Harvey’s article. It’s sexually explicit, so brace yourself: Continue reading

LEAKED VIDEO: Google Leadership’s Dismayed Reaction to Trump Election

“Co-founder Sergey Brin can be heard comparing Trump supporters to fascists and extremists. Brin argues that like other extremists, Trump voters were motivated by “boredom,” which he says in the past led to fascism and communism.”

(Allum Kokhari – Breitbart) A video recorded by Google shortly after the 2016 presidential election reveals an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant’s leadership, coupled with a determination to thwart both the Trump agenda and the broader populist movement emerging around the globe. Continue reading

Rekindle the Gift of God

13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 1 Timothy 4:13-16 (NASB)  (Read verses 15 & 16 on the site)

The way the gospel is presented in our time is backward. It is focused incorrectly. Instead of focusing on what God has done for us who have nothing in and of ourselves to warrant it; the way the gospel is given ever since I can remember is to attempt to make it appealing as if people should decide to try Jesus for 30 or 60 days to see if He makes a difference. What a joke! What blasphemy! To be honest, the closer I get to the front lines in serving my Lord, the more our enemy attacks me. The more I suffer. The more problems I have. However, I do not serve my Lord to get away from that stuff. I serve Him for His glory and my Lord went to the Cross for me so how can I seek the easy way out here and now? View article →

Memo to K-12 students: Resist

“Consider for a few minutes what they’ve done with you so far. After all these years sitting in classrooms, what have you learned? Anything?? Do you know where Japan is on a map? Do you know what 8 times 9 is? Do you know why Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon are considered exceptionally fascinating people? Do you know what happened in 1776? Do you know how many ounces are in a pound?” 

(Bruce Deitrick Price – Renew America) Okay, kids, gather round the campfire. There is something you need to know. Something scary.

You are a participant in a vast psychological war. Believe it or not, you are the enemy in this war. You are the primary target. Continue reading

Kicking off more contempt for America

Is it any wonder that “everyday Americans” get the impression that the ruling elites who dictate culture don’t particularly care for them or America?

(Robert Knight – The Washington Times)  What is it with our ruling elites? How did they come to have so much disdain for America? Some recent events have yet again brought this unfortunate situation to the surface.

Let’s start with Nike, the Portland, Oregon-based sportswear megacompany. It did not become a Fortune 100 corporation by chance or careless management. Continue reading

Roman Catholics Blame Pedophile Scandal on Gay Conspiracy to Hurt Church

“The Roman Catholic Church has had three-quarters of a century of warnings about the pedophile problem and the Vatican has made promises to protect the public from their pedophile priests for three-quarters of a century. And yet, Roman Catholics have blamed the recent pedophilia scandal on a secret conspiracy of gays to invade the church and molest children, with the intention of hurting the church’s reputation.

(JD Hall – Pulpit & Pen) If you threw a rock into a crowd of Roman Catholic priests, you would hit a pedophile.” Continue reading

Are You a Child of God?

28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.  (1 John 2:28-29 NASB)

There are two types of people in the world. There are God’s children and everyone else. One of the reasons I love to read the Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation is that John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:7), wrote very profound words that have no gray areas. Of course he wrote as the Spirit breathed these words through him, but God used this man’s entire makeup in that process. John was very pastoral, but he was also a Christian apologist of the highest order. He was one the three Apostles who made up the inner circle closest to our Lord during His earthly ministry. …  View article →

Can Christian Women Flourish Without Liberation Theology?

Photo credit: Wikimedia

“The Women’s Liberation Movement was founded upon a Marxist foundation rather than the gospel. Therefore, it sought to elevate women to the highest levels of power and freedom across the culture as a whole. In the process this liberation movement took direct aim upon the sufficiency of Scripture and the complementarian doctrine established by God at the point of creation.” 

(Josh Buice – Delivered By Grace) Years ago, the Women’s Liberation Movement rolled through America and forced its way into conservative evangelical circles. In 1970, Germaine Greer wrote The Female Eunuch which not only suggested that motherhood was a handicap but it went on to claim pregnancy was an illness.  Germaine Greer taught women to be “deliberately promiscuous” and to do everything possible to avoid conceiving children. It was a common thing for the militant feminist to describe the role the mother in nurturing and caring for her children as a form of oppression and slavery. Continue reading

What Is Man?

Are human beings God in a physical body as New Agers believe? Author of the best selling book The Secret, Rhonda Byrne, declares that “You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You…. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection.” Humans are all powerful?  Wow. That’s quite a claim. But is what she says true? Are humans actually God in a physical body?  Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason answers the age old question, “What is man?” from a biblical perspective. He writes:

Three thousand years ago, an ancient sage gazed at the world and asked the most important question anyone could ask about our corporate humanity:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him…? (Ps. 8:3–4) Continue reading

The source of Christian joy

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ Matthew 7:21-25 (NASB) (Read verse 23 & 24 on the site)

One of my first posts, What is Joy?, which I wrote on January 10, 2006, is the 2nd most read post on this blog. As of a few minutes ago it has been read 48,485 times. This is obviously because it is returned in search engines to people seeking some truth about Biblical Joy, which is a constant theme throughout God’s Word. This tells us that most Christians are seeking joy and are, perhaps, perplexed because their circumstances are anything but joyful. Our Lord gave us the example through the way He walked throughout His earthly ministry in which we are given what true joy is and how we must live in order to obtain it. The following passage is right in the middle of that part of John’s Gospel dealing with the Samaritan woman at the well. View article →

CDC Reports: STD Rates Hit All-Time High For the Forth Straight Year

“Scientists have found a “superbug” strain of gonorrhea in Japan that is resistant to all recommended antibiotics and say it could transform a once easily treatable infection into a global public health threat.”

(Wintery Knight) I’ve been blogging about skyrocketing rates of sexually-transmitted-diseases for the last few years, and particularly how it impacts high risk groups, e.g. – men who have sex with men. The attitude that the culture is taking towards this is to not make any moral judgments, but someone is going to have to pay for all the health care that is required to “fix” this problem. Continue reading

Kris Vallotton’s pagan faith? “Why We Need to Stop Saying ‘All the Glory to God'”

“As we will see in the below Kris Vallotton article, the NAR replace Godly faith with a worldly faith. Because it is assumed they are righteous and no longer sinners, the NAR understanding of sanctification is worked out in fulfilling one’s destiny. This is where the lines between worldly faith and godly faith are blurred within the NAR.”

(Churchwatch Central) The Apostle Paul contrasts righteousness by faith with righteousness by works (Romans 3:23, 4:4-5), a righteousness from God Himself, obtained by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:9). When Paul speaks of the righteousness of God imputed to us, he refers to our right-standing with God, the fact that we are now in a new and right relationship with Him. Continue reading

We are called to be holy

45 For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.’” Leviticus 11:45 (NASB)

The resistance in today’s version of the Church of Jesus Christ to commands such as the one above is rooted in rebellion. Yes, I know that is a blunt statement. Yes, I know that there are huge segments of the church in America that believe that the Old Testament is not for them. However, the truth does not stop being the truth simply because people refuse to believe it. I run into this quite a bit. I teach something or write something that is a clear command of God that we must obey and someone will say or write something like, “well everyone knows that that can’t mean that because God isn’t like that.” Excuse me but since when does what people believe about God change what God is like or diminishes the veracity of His commands? View article →

Repentance, personal holiness and the big lie

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. Galatians 6:7-10 (NASB) 

Repentance is not a large part of the paradigm that is the 21st Century version of the visible Church. The current trend to build Mega-Churches has as one of its main tenets that the prevailing culture within which the church resides must determine the content of the Gospel. In order to attract the largest possible number of people to be part of these churches, absolutely no emphasis is placed on living a life of repentance by the professing Christian. Instead, the way “church is done” is to bring the world into it, to not be threatening in any way to those who have no desire to abandon their flesh oriented lifestyles. View article →

God Gave Them Over

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts, to sexual impurity, for the degrading of their bodies with one another. Romans 1:24

The wickedness at work among human beings follows a process which is identified in this passage by the thrice-repeated phrase, God gave them over. This phrase identifies what is going on in our culture. The first mark of wickedness in a godless society is widespread sexual immorality — the degrading, or the dishonoring, of the body. Many people think this account describes all the evil things men do, and then says that God washes his hands of evil people because they are so filthy and dirty. That is not what this says. But because men run after other gods and refuse the testimony of their own hearts and do not glorify or thank the true God, God removes his restraints from society so that what is done in secret is allowed to break out into openness and acceptability. That is the mark of the wrath of God at work. The first sign of wickedness in a civilization is that sexual immorality becomes widely accepted. View article →

Would the Son of God Contradict the Father? (Reprise)

Is it true that Jesus never mentioned anything about homosexuality?  That He never brought it up, even once?  Most of us have heard the argument that the Gospels have no record of Jesus condemning homosexuality.  There are individuals, especially from the militant homosexual rights movement, who utter this fabrication with all the raw hostility of liberals who think abortion is their God given right.

The “Jesus never mentioned homosexuality” argument is meant to bully people into believing that Jesus actually took a benign attitude towards same-sex acts.  Liberals reason that if Jesus disapproved of homosexuality, He would have said so. Moreover, He never mentioned gay sex, thus He didn’t condemn it.

Most people, including some Christians, don’t have a clue what Jesus did or did not say on any given subject, let alone what He thought about same-sex practices, so they fall for the “Jesus never mentioned homosexuality” lie, hook, line and sinker.

So, does Jesus approve of homosexual relationships?

At the very heart of the Christian view of God is the Holy Trinity.  (This is not an essay on Christian doctrine, so bear with me for a moment.)  Classical Christianity has believed that God exists in Holy Trinity, or tri-personality — the FatherSon, and Holy Spirit.  The Trinity is not three gods in one.  Each Person of the Trinity is fully God. They are one in essence with three separate and distinct personalities.  All are infinite and eternal.  Jesus Christ, the Son, is the Second person of the Trinity.  The Son is in perfect union with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  They are never, nor could they ever be out of union with one another.  Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). The deity of the Holy Spirit is also evident.  In Acts 5:3-4 Peter told Ananias that by lying to the Holy Spirit, he had lied to God.

The crux of the matter is this: Those who try to make their case by arguing, “Jesus never mentioned homosexuality” are either ignorant of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, or they ignore it for the purpose of supporting a hollow argument.

The late Lehman Strauss offered the following insight into the Apostle Paul’s clear teaching on homosexuality:

Bible Book of Romans“In Romans 1:26-31 twenty-three punishable sins are listed with homosexuality leading the list. Paul wrote, “For this cause God gave them up into vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:2627). These verses are telling us that homosexuals suffer in their body and personality the inevitable consequences of their wrong doing. Notice that the behaviour of the homosexual is described as a “vile affection” (1:26). The Greek word translated “vile” (atimia) means filthy, dirty, evil, dishonourable. The word “affection” in Greek is pathos, used by the Greeks of either a good or bad desire. Here in the context of Romans it is used in a bad sense. The “vile affection” is a degrading passion, a shameful lust. Both the desire…and the act of homosexuality are condemned in the Bible as sin.”

In Galatians 1:11-12 Paul provides his qualifications to speak for God: “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.  For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Later he tells how he went to Arabia to be trained “in the school of the Spirit in order that he might receive greater revelations concerning the mysteries of the Gospel of the glorified Christ.”

Paul’s ideas were more than his own speculations.  He says his thoughts came directly from the Second and Third members of the Trinity.

What does God the Father say about homosexuality?  “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22).  By their very nature the Son and the Holy Spirit agree with the Father that for a man to lie with a man is detestable.

“It is significant,” says Harold Janz, “that while virtually nothing is written in ancient literature about female homosexual activity, Paul in Romans 1 does. He treats both homosexuality and lesbianism the same and understands both to be wrong for the same reasons. It is important to note…that Paul echoes the words of the creation account in Romans. He speaks of those who substitute images of the creation for the Creator and go “against nature” in committing unnatural acts with one another. Those who do so, he says, are both females and males, using not the usual Greek words for women and men, but the words used in Genesis, “female” and “male.” Paul is saying that we must look back toward the order that God established in creation to recognize where we’ve gone wrong.”

Those who commit unnatural sexual acts with one another go against God’s moral order for humanity.  Sadly, men and women who indulge in moral anarchy don’t really give a hoot what God thinks.  Essentially they’re saying to Him, “Stay out of my life!”

Why would God hang around where He is not invited?

Jesus weeps

The Bible tells us that God weeps over our indiscretions.  He wept over Jerusalem because her people killed the prophets and would not turn to Him.  Our disobedience makes Him angry.  The God who wept over Jerusalem is the same God who destroyed Sodom because most of its citizens were moral degenerates.

In Romans 1:25-28 Paul blames moral depravity on men and women who “exchanged the truth about God for a lie,” and those who “did not see fit to acknowledge God.”  When you come right down to it, the immoral individuals Paul was talking about dethroned God and deified themselves! Consequently, He punished their sin by delivering them over to it.

Listen to Jude’s warning:

But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! (Jude 1:10-11)

It’s worth noting that the Bible speaks of no homosexual role models. When homosexuality is spoken of it’s always in the negative.  Because the Gospels have no record of Jesus mentioning homosexuality, gays and lesbians would have us believe that He must have approved of it.  From His silence they conclude that sodomy is “normal and healthy.”  First of all, sexual relations between a man and a woman exemplify normal behavior. Moreover, there is nothing healthy about engaging in sodomy.  The fact of the matter is that homosexual sex has serious health risks and illnesses.

Although sin shouldn’t be taken lightly, it is imperative for Christians to hate the sin but love the sinner.  Even if we disapprove of someone’s lifestyle and/or choices we are expected to treat them with kindness and respect.  Bear in mind, though, that withholding what the Bible teaches on homosexuality from someone who’s indulging in risky behavior isn’t loving it is cowardice, even hateful.

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. (1 John 4:8-9)

Research:

Homosexual Agenda

Copyright: Marsha West, 2012 – Revised 2015

The church at Ephesus – discerning, yet found wanting

In a piece over at Famine In The Land, Rick Becker reminds us that sound doctrine and discernment are no guarantee that we will be useful in the Lord’s service. Despite their positive aspects and uncompromising stance towards those who had perverted the gospel, in Revelation 2:4-5 the church at Ephesus gets a harsh rebuke by the Lord Jesus. Becker delves into the reasons the church was rebuked by our Lord and what was missing in the church.  What are the lessons we should learn from the church at Ephesus? Rick Becker offers his view. He writes:

Discernment is not optional, it is vital to the spiritual health of individuals and the church. Discernment preserves sound doctrine, and sound doctrine enables us to have the correct view of God, self, the church, the world, and Satan. Described as wolves in sheep’s clothing, false teachers come to steal, kill, and destroy, whereas the good shepherd comes to give life. Here’s the problem – It’s possible to know who the wolves are, yet neglect the good shepherd. Continue reading