Faith Leader Joins Fight Against Teen Vogue’s Disgraceful Articles

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

“Operation Pull Teen Vogue” is underway reports Leah Jessen of LifeZette:

Christian parents have been expressing their outrage that a magazine aimed at today’s tweens and teenagers is giving young people explicit directions about controversial sexual acts — information that is wholly inappropriate for children in general.

“How disgusting,” evangelical leader Franklin Graham said of the material in a Facebook post. “As parents and grandparents, regardless of one’s faith, we shouldn’t stand by and let this kind of trash be pawned off on our children.”

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What are the roots of bitterness and cynicism? 

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:29-32 (NASB) 

Steel is made through the smelting of iron ore. Iron becomes steel as carbon is added while the iron is very hot. What makes steel much harder than iron was not really understood by the ancients who created it. All they knew was that at a certain point in the shaping of a sword they would lay the red hot blade into the coals for a few minutes then resume the process of hammering, cooling in water, re-heating, hammering, cooling in water, et cetera. The finished product was a sword that would not bend in battle and could be sharpened over and over. The blade was actually made up of many pieces of iron rods that were heated, flattened, and folded upon itself over and over. It was hard work, but that was what it took to create a fine, usable steel sword.

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB)   View article →

Christianity, Inc.

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , ,

We’ll start with a quote from Erick Erickson’s piece:

The most faithful pastors in this country are not the cowards trying to figure out how to lead their churches to accept gay marriage, but the ones who are willing to stand against the world, and even the President, in favor of Christian orthodoxy.Too many Christian pastors in America, both on the left and right, have become fixated on running businesses and growing profits instead of saving souls. They will all one day be held to account.

Read Erickson’s column over at The Resurgent:

Eugene Peterson is not a name familiar to most Americans, but within evangelical circles, Peterson is well-known. He wrote a translation of the Bible called “The Message,” which is a preferred text for churches trying to lure in new members who might be put off by the “thou shalls” and “thou shall nots” of the King James Version and the more accurate scriptural translations like the English Standard Version.

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DNC Vice Chair Refuses to Denounce Party Embrace of Extreme Leftist

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

According to Megan Barth of LifeZette a high level Democrat party representative has refused to renounce Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour who praised a cop killer and called for ‘jihad’ on President Trump. She writes:

As one who believes in the spirit of debate, I had the opportunity to interview Michael Blake, vice chair of the DNC, as I filled in for Kevin Wall on KBET, AM790, out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The premise of our discussion was the DNC reaction and response to President Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity and the overall integrity of our election system. Blake cited a “leading” partisan study to proclaim there isn’t enough voter fraud evidence to justify an investigation. Yet there was enough evidence, which I had assembled from candidates and whistleblowers, to warrant a FBI investigation, still ongoing in Nevada, related to voter fraud.

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Trump Announces Reinstatement of Ban on Transgenders Serving in U.S. Military

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Christian News reports:

President Trump announced on Wednesday that the U.S. government has decided to reinstate the country’s ban on open transgenders serving in the military, advising that the issue is a distraction and would place a burden on the finances of the Armed Forces.

“After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” he tweeted this morning. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail. Thank you.”

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The Pilgrim’s Heart Part 14 – Conclusion

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

37 For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. 38 But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Hebrews 10:37-39 (NASB) 

As we end this study of the Pilgrim’s Heart, let us take notice of the vast difference between the self-focused Christian, the Flesh-bound, and the God-focused Christian, the Spirit-led. The former is fleshly. He or she may very well be a genuine Christian, but they struggle mightily with besetting sins and are still focused on self-gratification as a means of fulfillment. His or her heart is relatively hard or callous towards God. The latter is not nearly as fleshly. He or she is a genuine Christian, and besetting sins are actively fought via mortification. The Spirit-led believer seeks to obey God and deny self. He or she has learned to take every thought captive so that sin does not have a chance to take root. His or her heart is relatively tender towards God. The Spirit-led believer, in his or her obedience, is Spirit-filled. That means he or she walks and obeys God by His grace. These fundamentals are the basis for all aspects of the victorious pilgrimage. View article →

Bad Doctrine in the Hands of an Angry Minister: A Review of Brian Zahnd’s ‘Sinners In the Hands of a Loving God’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Reviews ∙ , ,

Pastor Gabriel Hughes has written a book report on Sinners In the Hands of a Loving God. He writes:

Brian Zahnd has a bone to pick. By the title of his upcoming book, slated to release on August 15, you might think his bone is with puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards. The title of the book is Sinners In the Hands of a Loving God, a play on words against Edwards’ famous sermon Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God, perhaps the most famous sermon ever preached on American soil. But Zahnd’s bone isn’t with Edwards. It’s with the Bible.

Zahnd hates the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement. He has made no secret of this. I believe that if he and I were sitting next to one another, he would go, “Yup, I hate it.” He agrees that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but he has a rather vague way of explaining that. Zahnd says, “We violently sinned our sins into Jesus.” Okay, what does that mean? Where is that in the Bible?

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This Pop Singer and American Witches Want to Hex the President

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

Last October a group called “Feminists Against Trump” organized a “witch-in” to “cast magical spells of love and feminism to destroy the Great Orange One and his alleged racism, xenophobia and sexism. Now there’s a new spell caster in town who plans to do a mass spell binding against the president. LifeZette has the story:

President Trump can count on many plagues in the six months he’s been in the office, such as the leaks, endless obstructionism, and a mainstream media determined to cast him from the White House. But pop artist Lana Del Rey would like to add to his troubles and has already begun to do so—by casting a spell on him.

“Yeah, I did it, why not?” Del Rey told NME.  “Look, I do a lot of [stuff].”

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California Imam Prays for Allah to ‘Annihilate’ Jews in Public Sermon

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Breitbart reports:

 

Imam Ammar Shahin of the Islamic Center of Davis in California delivered a sermon on Friday in which he quoted an antisemitic hadith and prayed for Allah to “annihilate” Jews “down to the very last one.”

The video of Shahin’s sermon was posted to the Islamic Center of Davis’s YouTube channel on Friday (Update: the video has since been removed), and translated and excerpted by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), though portions of the sermon were delivered in English.

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The Pilgrim’s Heart Part 13 – The Discerning Heart

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 (NASB)

A couple of decades ago, I was sent to training by the bank I was working for. It was a Microsoft NT Networking class. The teacher was great. I learned many new skills and honed old ones. I became part of the network rollout team after I came back from training. One of the things the teacher taught us was how to get under the covers of the operating system. He called it looking under the hood. He made it clear it was impossible to do proper diagnostics without digging into what was happening under the covers. View article →

Hillsong, Bethel Music and The Great Seduction

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Satan and his minions are shrewd, deceptive, relentless and exceedingly powerful creatures!  So with this in mind, here’s a reminder from Emergent Watch:

Many have apparently forgotten that the Holy Spirit will not magnify Himself or some alleged experience, but will magnify Jesus! “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me…” – John 16:13-14

Many in the visible church seem to have forgotten that the Holy Spirit always points us to the Lord Jesus Christ, while Satan’s goal is to turn us away from Christ. One of the ways he accomplishes this goal is through “Christian” music, as you will see in the following piece:

 

For the first time, Hillsong United is uniting with Bethel (Redding’s) Music for a “Night of Worship” on July 21 @ the Redding Civic Auditorium. Note that by their participation, Hillsong is effectively declaring their affinity with Bethel Redding, it’s music, and by default, it’s doctrines.

That these two groups should join together is hardly surprising, as both have been at the forefront of the transformation of church music – from the worship of God, to effectively worshiping “worship” music – From music that exalts God, into music that exalts an experiential “encounter” with “the presence”, and which magnifies feelings and emotions.

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Female Pastors- False Teachers or Just Sinning?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley responds to the following email:

Pastrix Paula White is one example of a woman who holds the position of pastor which goes against the clear teaching in Scripture that a woman is not to exercise authority over a man.  1 Tim 2:11-12

Is a woman who is in the position of pastor to be considered a false teacher or merely disobedient to The Word of God? Some churches in my area place pastors’ wives in the position of “co-pastor.” Would she have to be teaching some false doctrine to be considered a false teacher or does the fact that she is in the position in the first place make her a false teacher?

I love it when I hear from women – like the reader who sent in this question – who are thinking deeply and seriously about the things of God. It brings me so much joy to see God working in the hearts and minds of Christian women.

Before we start parsing these ideas out, let’s bottom line this thing. Scripture is both explicitly and implicitly clear that women are not to serve as pastors. Regardless of whether we call what she’s doing sin or false teaching, it is definitely unbiblical for a church to install a woman in the position of pastor, and for the woman to accept the position. So the bottom line is, it’s wrong and nobody should be attending such a church.

Now, onward and upward with the parsing…

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New blood test can check for 13 types of cancers

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

Among the 13 types are breast, ovarian, lung, stomach, colorectal, pancreatic and liver. Japan News has the story:

A research team led by the Tokyo-based National Cancer Center Japan has developed a new test to diagnose 13 kinds of cancers from a single drop of blood, with a clinical study set to start from next month.

The center’s research and ethics screening committee gave the green light to the study in mid-July. The research team will apply to the central government to put the new test into practical use within three years, at the earliest.

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Trump Taps New Communications Director Who Advocated for ‘Gay Rights Movement,’ ‘Pro-Choice’ Cause

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Christian News reports:

President Donald Trump has appointed Anthony Scaramucci to be the new White House Communications Director—a man who has publicly stated his support for same-sex “marriage” and abortion rights.

“Republicans should support gay marriage,” he tweeted in 2012, again writing later that year in response to a follower, “I am not a partisan. For gay marriage, against the death penalty, and pro-choice. I am for social inclusion, fiscal responsibility.”

Just in November, Scaramucci wrote, “I support the gay rights movement and I am an active proponent of equality.”

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The Pilgrim’s Heart Part 12 – The Disciple’s Heart

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. 34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 14:25-35 (NASB)

During all my Flesh-bound years as a born again believer, I read the passage above (Luke 14:25-35) innumerable times. I had an understanding of it, but I have found since I became Spirit-led that I was wrong all along. I had assumed someday I would learn to enjoy church enough and develop a deeper love and devotion to the Lord through that. Boy was that stupid! View article →

The Pilgrim’s Heart Part 11 – The Assured Heart

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

 

36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36 (NASB) 

24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24 (NASB)

When I was a teenager in the Youth Group at the Baptist church our family attended in Oklahoma, I remember hearing several of the leaders say things like, “You can know for certain you’re saved if you know that you know that you know…” I guess they went on to infinity with it. I never really grasped what they were saying at that time. However after God had mercy on me in 1986, I had a sense of assurance that I have never doubted. Until recently, I did not understand where that was residing or how it worked. Let’s take a close look at our common salvation and on what we are basing our assurance. View article →

Pro-Life Leaders Meet with Pence to Urge Planned Parenthood Defunding

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According to Breitbart:

National pro-life activists were among the conservative leaders who met with Vice President Mike Pence on Friday to emphasize the importance of debating an Obamacare repeal bill and the elimination of Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding. The pro-life leaders have an ardent advocate in Pence, who became the first sitting vice president to address the annual March for Life in January:

Vice President Pence 

 ✔@VP

WATCH LIVE! I’m meeting w/ grassroots orgs calling on the Senate to act to rescue the American people from Obamacare https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/vice-president-pence-hosts-roudtable-discussion … pic.twitter.com/HvIjqwqkUe

Vice President Pence 

✔@VP

As @POTUS Trump said, inaction is not an option. Obamacare is collapsing all across the country. It’s time for Congress to act. pic.twitter.com/fnEkJcsBwo

The leaders gathered with Pence Friday as Republicans’ proposals to repeal Obamacare have failed thus far, largely because of a desire on the part of liberal GOP members to keep much of the onerous healthcare reform intact.

GOD TV, Bethel, Lifestyle Christianity & IAHM endorsing demonic ‘grave-sucking’

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

From Churchwatch Central:

The demonic realm should be avoided at all cost. Unfortunately, so-called ‘Christian’ institutions, ministries and churches are not afraid to partner or associate themselves with people who engage in unbiblical activity, particularly the practice of ‘grave-sucking’.

In this article, we highlight the practices of necromancy of Ben Fitzgerald and those who endorse him, (such as Bill Johnson of Bethel, Reinhard Bonnke and Daniel Kolenda of Christ for All Nations, International Association of Healing Ministries, Lifestyle Christianity, GOD TV and so on).

Last year, (NAR Apostle) Dr Michael Brown invited (NAR Apostle) Bill Johnson onto his Line of Fire program to promote his book:

When liars defend liars: Dr Michael Brown whitewashes the heresies of Bill Johnson.

Seventeen minutes into the ‘Line of Fire’ program linked below, this dialogue occurs between Michael Brown and Bill Johnson:

Brown: Do you endorse, preach, teach, encourage the practice of going to the graves of deceased men and women of God to try to suck the anointing out of the earth?

Johnson: No. Absolutely not.

Once again we find, under Bill Johnson’s leadership, this is simply NOT true.

Do you remember the Bethel leader speaking in this video?

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Has the Bible Changed What You Watch?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Being a Berean means studying the Bible so that you’ll gain knowledge and be able to rightly handle the word of truth. (2 Tim 2:15)  Believers who study God’s Word in context know His heart. They understand who He is and His ways. They know what His will is for their lives. Moreover, they know what pleases Him — and what displeases Him. One of the ways we please God is by striving to become holy as He is holy. Not perfect, mind you. God does not expect perfection from His people. What He does expect is for us to guard our minds and hearts against unholy evil influences.

That said, we want to share a guest post we came across on Michelle Lesley’s blog, penned by Leslie of Growing 4 Life.  Leslie takes on Christians who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior, proclaim their undying love for Him, and say that they believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God — and yet….these lovers of Jesus will sit through profanity laced, sexually explicit, exceedingly violent TV programs and movies.  Leslie has a word of warning for Christians such as these. She writes:

As a young married couple, my husband and I got in the habit of watching a particular TV show. Almost every week we tuned in to laugh at the antics of its characters for a half hour. We watched it without any conviction or qualms. At that time, it was simply a funny show.

Fast forward about fifteen years when this same show started to air again in re-runs. But now we were a little wiser. We were more grounded in Scripture. And we were more discerning. And so when we tuned in a few times for old times’ sake, we were most uncomfortable. We finally realized that the fornication and other sin that we were subjecting ourselves to for a few laughs was most definitely an offense to our Holy God. We turned it off and haven’t watched it since.

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Active And Passive

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me (John 15:4).

Notice that our Lord divides this passage into two sections. There is an activity that is to be done, and a passivity that is to be acknowledged. We are to remain in Him (that is active, something we do), and we are to let Him remain in us (that is passive, something we allow Him to do). Both these relationships are essential, not one as opposed to the other, but both together.

When our Lord says Remain in me, He is talking about the will, and the decisions we make. We must decide to do things that keep ourselves in contact with Him. The Holy Spirit has placed us into Christ. Now we must maintain that relationship by the decisions we make, such as exposing ourselves to His Word and having a prayer relationship with Him. We remain in Him when we bear one another’s burdens and confess our faults and share in fellowship with one another. All of this is designed to relate to Him: Remain in me. If we do that, we are fulfilling this active, necessary decision of the will to obey His Word.  View article →

Civilized life is coming a part at the seams

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

There is no question that society is smack dab in the middle of a tug of war between conservatives and liberals — the sacred vs. the secular. In this provocative piece over at truthXchange titled “Sacred Canopy” Peter Jones makes the case that sexual freedom is utterly destroying human freedom, and it all started back in the sixties with the sexual revolution…that ultimately led to the disintegration of biblical morality. Dr. Jones writes:

The ripping away of the “sacred canopy” is what has happened to Western culture during my lifetime. “Canopy” is an image used by the sociologist Peter Berger to describe a culture’s “state of predictable order,” an order assumed by all, that makes human culture work. Thus we all get along. [Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Garden City: Doubleday, 1967]. This “ordered structure” is what we have called for a long time Western Civilization or Christendom. Today civilized life is coming apart at the seams.

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Millennials’ Scary Faith in Harry Potter

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According to LifeZette, one fan of the new “Harry Potter and the Sacred Test” podcast declared “I feel like I’m born again.”

Works of fiction can never replace sacred scripture, but a group of avid fans is apparently finding deep meaning in the spellbinding series.

It seems silly — yet a Harry Potter podcast is aimed at readers and listeners who view the popular book series as sacred text, a recent Washington Post story noted. Clearly, fantasy books about wizards, witches and magic should never serve as a replacement for faith in God or be compared to religion, but that hasn’t prevented it from happening.

The “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text” podcast for Potter fanatics has become a faith substitute for many millennials who fall into a religious “nones” category. As exhibit one, hundreds of people in Washington, D.C., this week attended a live taping of the podcast.

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Military General: Delay of ‘Transgender’ Enlistment ‘Largely Based’ on Disagreement Over Science of Solving Medical Issues

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Christian News reports:

A top military general says that one of the main reasons that the U.S. Department of Defense has decided to delay implementation of the Obama-era policy allowing “transgenders” to serve in the military is disagreement over the science of how the medical treatments for those struggling with gender dysphoria alleviate the problem.

Air Force Gen. Paul Selva was asked about the matter by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, on Tuesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“I am concerned that the recent six-month delay the Department has approved before letting transgender people enlist in the services will have some unintended consequences,” Gillibrand stated. “What have you learned so far in your review of this issue, and how is the implementation going so far?”

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The Pilgrim’s Heart Part 10 – The Enduring Heart

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

 

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4 (NASB)

My natural inclination is to resent uncomfortable circumstances. I want them to end and end now! Believers are spiritual, but their natural man, their flesh, is still within. My natural man does not understand how anything constructive can come out of sorrow and suffering. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit we are all uncomfortable with things not working out the way we want them to. Our problem is we want good things to be the norm in our lives because we love the Lord and are living for Him. When bad things happen or things do not work out the way we want, we hunker down in our self-pity. We ask God and others, “Why is this happening to me?” That is not the response of the Enduring heart. That is the response of the self-focused heart. View article →