Themes (or Challenges) for Reformed Christians in 2018

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Blogger, author and book reviewer Tim Challies asks: What themes do you think will be prominent among Reformed people in 2018?

In the following blog post, Challies offers his own ideas and addresses his top three, beginning with “Further Defining Complementarianism,” the view that God calls men, not women, to be the leaders in the home and the church. (1 Tim. 2:12). Those who hold this view insist that women cannot be pastors. Not surprisingly, women having authority over men has become a highly contentious issue in the Church; thus it’s #1 on the list.

So now to what Tim Challies believes are going to be the top three challenges for the Reformed Church in 2018: Continue reading →

Why genuine Christians persevere

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:37-40 (NKJV) 

28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father’s hand.John 10:28-29 (NKJV) 

The Doctrines of Grace are all tremendous blessings to the believer since they teach us that our salvation is God’s Work from beginning to end, top to bottom, and side to side.  View article →

Heresy Hunters Guide (Part 1): Why God has called Christians to be ‘Heresy Hunters’.

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(Churchwatch Central) Christians are called to love Jesus the way he asked us to:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15

Sadly, not only do many Christians neglect this command in the church today, the results of ignoring Jesus’ Words regarding false teachers has spiritual consequences:

  1. Unloving towards both God and neighbour;
  2. Exposing the church to more apostacy;
  3. Representing a bad witness to a lost and dying world;
  4. Spiritually harming many people in the church and in the community;
  5. Watering down and complicating the simplicity of the gospel and the Christian confession of faith;
  6. Making evangelism harder regarding new converts finding safe churches where the gospel is not tainted by false teaching or associated with false teachers.

Continue reading →

Paula White Urges Followers to Give ‘First Fruits’ Offering of a Day, Week or Month’s Wages

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(Christian News Network) Prosperity preacher Paula White, who also serves as the chair of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, is urging her followers to give a “first fruits” financial offering with the start of 2018, stating that there are “consequences” for those who don’t do so out of “ignorance or direct disobedience.”

“As you remember the Lord your God, according to Deuteronomy 8:18, through your first fruits offering, He gives you the power to acquire wealth to establish His covenant,” she wrote in a post on her website, accompanied by a YouTube video. View article →

The Gatekeepers of False Teachers Calling Out Renowned Christian Apologist

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The blog, Bible Thumping Wingnut (BTWN) has shown Christian apologist James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries to be in “sinful error,” according to Pulpit & Pen:

He has gone from doing some merely unwise things to clearly sinful things, and he is digging in as hard and fast as he can go while beginning to disqualify himself from Christian ministry right before our eyes. White has resorted to ad hominem attacks, sadly against some of the very leaders who have defended him in the past. He seems unwilling to listen to those who are well aware of Michael Brown’s errors and the dangers of the New Apostolic Reformation. Most are beginning to see it. Continue reading →

Manna and faith

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. Exodus 16:4 (NKJV) 

Most Christians I know do not walk by faith. They may claim that they do, but when their circumstances evolve so as to put them in a corner with a clear black and white choice to trust God or play it safe, they rarely step out on faith trusting God. Instead, they choose the easy way out which is always the wrong choice because it does not lead to the blessings of God or the peace of God or into His light. View article →

Hollywood and Media Have Already Chosen Their Candidate for 2020

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(LifeZette) President Donald Trump has been in the White House for one year, but some of his opponents have already decided on the person they want to run against him in 2020.

Oprah Winfrey gave a fiery speech Sunday night after winning the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe award. Her speech seemed intended as a rallying cry for inclusion — but it turned political at times. And it was almost solely geared toward women.  View article →

Why You Should Stay Married? And How? Part 1

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(Matt Recker – Proclaim & Defend) Many believers who have been married for years and who may even know intellectually all that the Bible says on this matter, still often end up divorcing their spouse. Others reading this may want to know this about their marriage: is there any hope? There is a tremendous spiritual battle for our homes today and sadly, many divorces split Christian homes every year.

For many men, the command to love their wife sounds like an invitation to step on a nail. For many women, the command to submit to their husband may sound like an invitation to jump off a cliff. For others, remaining in their marriage sounds like banging their head against the wall when they already have a migraine headache. While this blog is not an attempt to give a comprehensive view of marriage and divorce, I hope this will give fresh hope for those struggling in marriage and help to all in seeing the permanency of the marriage covenant. Continue reading →

The hidden pitfall of Bill Johnson’s ‘Red Letter Revival’

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Holly Pivec summarizes the three ways NAR “Super Apostle” Bill Johnson, senior pastor of the notorious Bethel Church in Redding CA, seeks to discover WIFD — what the Father is doing. Not surprisingly there’s a danger in what Johnson is doing as you will see in Pivec’s piece over at Spirit of Error. She writes:

Yesterday I read chapter 8 of Bill Johnson’s book Hosting the Presence: Unveiling Heaven’s Agenda. In this chapter, titled “Red-Letter Revival,” Johnson teaches that Jesus is the standard for people to follow — his words, his life, and his ministry. And Jesus’ primary mission, writes Johnson, was to reveal God the Father by doing only what he saw the Father doing. Continue reading →

A new generation of L.A. Satanists finds community in blasphemous times

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In these times, a lot of people want to not feel helpless. And Lucifer was the original rebel angel.— Zachary James

(August Brown – Los Angeles Times) In November, in the candlelit basement of a house just above the Silver Lake Reservoir, Alexandra James walked over to an altar where her husband, Zachary, waited near a bleached human skull, teeth locked in eternal rictus. From the altar, she lifted a sword and drew points across his chest while a circle of onlookers watched solemnly (well, a few giggled too). An organist played eerie minor key chords and Alexandra turned to face the group.

“On this altar we consecrate swords to direct the fire of our unholy will,” she said. “A human skull, symbol of death. The great mother Lilith created us all, and will destroy us all.” View article →

Bearing your cross with patience

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NKJV) 

The natural man in each of us wants to paint God as a combination of a spiritual Santa Claus and the Genie from Aladdin’s Lamp. We tie our good works into how well our lives go. If we do good things then God will surely see to it that we don’t lose our jobs or we get a great raise each year or our health is good. Equity or fairness is our cry. Just look at our society. Even though it isn’t a reality everyone seems to demand that no one be offended or that everyone be treated fairly. This has bled over into the Church in the 21st Century.  View article →

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 12:18-32 (NKJV) 

Cleansing the heart of man-made religiosity is not fun and games. In fact, it hurts. Many resist God’s truth even to the point of bitterly expressing their anger over what is taught or preached. God’s ways are not man’s ways. The way that seems right unto man is not God’s way. Even the regenerate can cling to a paradigm they have constructed in their hearts that represents God in a way that pleases them, but in fact, can be idolatrous. … View article →

Day After Elephant Room 3, Michael Brown Whitewashes Christian Tarot Cards

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One day after being Whitewashed by James White at Elephant Room 3, Michael Brown went on his program and Whitewashed ‘Christian tarot cards.’ As explained at Polemics Report, to “Whitewash” something means “to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data.”

As we have demonstrated tirelessly, Michael Brown never has enough time to discern whether something is false or true (James White, similarly, said at Elephant Room 3 that he couldn’t confirm or deny the heresies of Heidi Baker, Lou Engle, Rick Joyner or other NAR apostles because he wasn’t familiar with them). Michael Brown – even four years after appearing on Benny Hinn’s program – has still not found enough time to make a judgment call on him. The latest charismatic scheme for which Brown says, “Nothing to see here, move along, Christian” is the Christian tarot card scheme. Continue reading →

Doing Housework Adds 3 Years to Women’s Lives

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(Wintery Knight) The UK Daily Mail reports on a study sure to confound feminists.

Excerpt:

It’s probably not the most popular piece of health advice ever dished out – but researchers say that doing the housework can add years to your life.

They found that women who clean, hoover and do the laundry are likely to live almost three years longer.

Hoovering is what British people call vacuuming. View article →

Bethel’s Creative Arts pastor denounces Christalignment’s Destiny Card tarot practice and confesses to creating Destiny Cards

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , ,

(Churchwatch Central) While Bethel pastor Kris Vallotton retracted his denouncement of Christalignment’s Destiny Card tarot practices, Theresa Dedmon (who at first endorsed the use of Destiny Cards) has now clarified on her blog that although she came up with the idea of ‘Destiny Cards’, they were originally created for a different use.

It is true Dedmon is playing semantics claiming that her Destiny Cards were to be like Hallmark cards. (Hallmark cards don’t ‘call out the gold in others, and prophesy life and encouragement to them’.) Continue reading →

God’s Questions

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, Look, the Lamb of God! When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, What do you want? (John 1:35-38a)

Two of John’s disciples heard him point to Jesus, and they followed Jesus. One of those disciples was Andrew, the brother of Peter. Everyone asks, Who was the other one? We are not told; his name is not given. Yet this is almost a certain clue as to who this other one was, for we discover in the Gospel of John that John never mentions his own name. He always refers to himself in an indirect, oblique way, such as, the disciple whom Jesus loved(John 21:20), or similar words. …  View article →

Rick Warren is the wrong choice for spokesman of the Museum of the Bible

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙

Apprising Ministries photo

Sandy Simpson of Deception In The Church has written a commentary on the 430,000-square-foot Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. Simpson has some serious concerns about some the museum’s board members, including false teacher Rick Warren. And he presents plenty of evidence to back up his concerns. He writes:

Let me start out by stating that I am all in favor of a museum that shows the historicity of the Bible.  If it weren’t for some of the people involved this would be a valuable resource.  But I don’t support giving credibility to Rick Warren and his friends in support of the Museum of the Bible.  Warren has become the de facto spokesman for this effort.  It is great they are featuring texts and archeological information about the Bible.  But I believe Warren is doing this to set himself up as an authority on the Bible when he is actually guilty, on many counts, of not only disobeying it but of twisting it out of all recognition. … Continue reading →

Apple: All iPhones, Macs, and iPads Are Affected by Meltdown and Spectre CPU Bugs

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(Breitbart) In a recent statement, Apple has revealed that nearly all Apple computers, tablets, and phones have been affected by the recently discovered Meltdown and Spectre CPU bugs. Following the publishing of a report on the CPU bugs by Google, hardware manufacturers and software developers scrambled to detect and fix system vulnerabilities. Many tech firms have now released patches to bolster system security and mitigate the CPU bugs. For many years it was believed that Apple’s computer systems were much less vulnerable to hacking in comparison to Windows and Android systems, but it seems that Meltdown and Spectre have left every device running a modern computer processor vulnerable. View article →

Brown muddies the waters – damaging James White’s reputation?

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(Churchwatch Central) Dr James White is in serious damage control after his recent program featuring NAR Apostle Michael Brown. At the bottom of this article, you can see further evidence of this on his Facebook page.

James White has refused to factually address the evidence presented to him about Michael Brown’s involvement in the NAR (as a NAR Apostle) and Brown’s NAR theological heresies. Here is the documented evidence of Michael Brown lying about his involvement in the NAR. We encourage you to compare these links to the accusations of James White and Michael Brown. The evidence speaks for itself: Continue reading →

Preaching the Gospel vs being Missional

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Galatians 3:2-7 (NKJV) 

When we study and teach on Justification by God of His people, shouldn’t the clutter be removed and the rubbish swept away? All aspects of our salvation should be clarified and those things that are only meant to cause confusion or misdirection (showing those with discernment their true source) should be shown for what they really are and cast aside. Then, with a sharp focus, we must look at the truth, which means we go to the source; i.e. The Word of God not some emergent or missional guru. … View article →

What Worldview Does the Maker of Star Wars Movies Want You to Accept?

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(Wintery Knight) I heard that there was a new Star Wars movie out, and that many of my Christian friends were going to see it. I passed on it, because there is something about that whole series that is creepy to me.

It looks like my concerns have some justification. I noticed a couple of reviews of the movie from Come Reason Ministries and Bnonn Tennant.

Here are 3 points that Lenny makes at Come Reason: (H/T Brian)

  1. Faith and tradition are disposable
  2. You don’t really need to put in years of work to be competent
  3. Men are inconsequential

All three points he makes seem to me to be exactly what the movie communicates, but I want to focus on point #3: Continue reading →

‘Fixer Upper’ Stars Reveal Pregnancy in ‘Little Heartbeat’ Ultrasound

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(Katie Yoder – NewsBusters) Many in the media have long idolized “childfree” relationships. But that isn’t stopping one well-known couple from welcoming their fifth.

Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines recently announced that they’re expecting their fifth child. On Wednesday, Joanna shared an ultrasound video showing the baby’s “little heartbeat” on Twitter and Instagram.

(Watch the ultrasound)

“What!” Chip reacted in the video. “A beating heart.”   View article →

Michael Brown to Take Part in Upcoming Toronto Blessing NAR Conference

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(Pulpit & Pen News) Michael Brown, the charismaniac apologist who is affirmed as an orthodox Christian believer – to be promoted to the church – by Dr. James White, is appearing at the “Light the Fire Again 2018” Conference. It is associated with the Toronto Blessing. In fact, it’s the first thing you see on the website.

It advertises itself – as you can see above – as the “site of the Toronto Blessing.” The advertisement encourages people to come and be “a part of a historic gathering of leaders from the great global moves of God at the close of the last century,” referencing the Toronto Blessing and the development of the New Apostolic Reformation. Continue reading →

Having a zeal for God but not according to perception

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10:1-4 (NKJV) 

When I went off to Oklahoma State University in the Fall of 1969 after graduating from High School just three months earlier things were philosophically very different in the world than what we have now. That is, on the surface they are different. … View article →