Woman Who Identifies as Man Sues Catholic Hospital for Disallowing Uterus Removal at Facility

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Christian News reports:

A California woman who identifies as a man has filed a lawsuit against a Catholic hospital and its parent company for prohibiting her surgeon from performing a sex change-related hysterectomy at the facility because of the organization’s religious convictions.

The 35-year-old woman, who goes by the name Evan Minton, had been scheduled to undergo a complete hysterectomy at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael last August. She believed the procedure was necessary to comport with her preferred identity.

However, the day before her appointment, after she noted to a nurse that she identifies as “transgender,” the surgery was canceled.

“In general, it is our practice not to provide sterilization services at Dignity Health’s Catholic facilities,” said spokeswoman Melissa Jue in a statement at the time.

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Those who truly have fellowship with Christ

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 (NASB) 

Contrary to what most believe about Christianity, what one’s own framework is of their conception of salvation and having fellowship with Jesus Christ is irrelevant. Unless this ‘understanding’ is totally submitted to the Word of God and the authority of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit then it will be according to the counsel of the individual’s own conscience. This counsel is according to the value system of the individual not according to what God has revealed. It creates its own image of God and holds that image accountable to the individual’s value system. View article →

Liberty University Gets A Digital Detox Through Center For Digital Wellness

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According to the University Herald:

The rapid growth of technology has transformed many aspects of day-to-day life, including social behavior. Liberty University launched the nation’s first Center for Digital Wellness to promote a healthy use and biblical view of technology.

Dr. Sylvia Hart Frejd, founder of the Center for Digital Wellness, housed in a Wi-Fi-proof room at Liberty University. It is part of her mission to help students balance tech time and face time, to train their eye on fellow humans instead of smart screens.

Dr. Frejd promotes 24-hour digital fasting and counseling for students and how to thrive in real life, not just in their digital lives. She said students would first need to overcome the fear of a real conversation.

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Sufficiency of Scripture

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ ,

Does the Christian need additional revelations, visions, words of prophecy, or insights from modern psychology?  Some people think so.  No, says Berean Research. Scripture is sufficient.  Here’s why:

Did you know that the Bible is all we need to equip us for a life of faith and service? It’s true! And in fact the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith. Sadly, it’s a tenet that has long been under viscous attack from within our own visible, modern churches.

But be assured that no other writings are needed for the Gospel to be understood, nor are any other writings required to equip us for a life of faith. Everything else – entertainment, extra-biblical revelations, mysticism, spiritual deliverance ministries and some forms of psychological counseling all declare that the Bible and its precepts are not enough. But Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27). His voice is found in every word of the Word; the Scriptures are His voice, completely and utterly sufficient.

Consider 2 Timothy 3:15–17:

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Official Harvard Guide: Gender Can ‘Change From Day to Day’

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The bastion of liberalism, Harvard University, wants students to believe that a person’s gender is “fluid.”  Fox News Insider has the story:

The office of BGLTQ Student Life at Harvard University has released a guide that says for some people, gender identity can “change from day to day.”

The school-sponsored flier, which was distributed to students on the elite Ivy League campus, said for some “gender is fluid and changing,” and it “can be affirmed and/or expressed in many ways.”

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It is Jesus who saves not doctrine

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

What R.C. Sproul discusses in the following video has been heavy on my heart over that last several months. I have Facebook friends who really need to grasp what he says here. For the rest of us, rejoice!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Created

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

10 For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for Good works, which God prepared previously that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

For those who believe they are in Christ because of their own efforts or their own actions or their own worth, I’m sorry. That concept does not stand up to what the Word of God tells us.  In the passage above we are told two things. The first is that we are His masterpiece (ποίημα).  That means that as new creations in Christ it was God’s work entirely.  In this post we will look at the second word that speaks about this in this passage, κτισθέντες, which, literally could be translated as, “having been created.” My brethren, if you are truly in Christ you have been created in Him. View article →

7 Reasons Church is Not Optional and Non-Negotiable for Christians

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ ,

According to author, speaker and Bible teacher Michelle Lesley, for Christians, being joined to a local church is not optional — it’s a must! Why? “Well, Jesus founded the church,” says Michelle. Moreover, “Jesus is the head of the church. Jesus loves the church. Jesus died for the church. Jesus is the Savior of the church. Jesus nourishes, cherishes, and sanctifies the church.” So she wonders how any Bible believing Christian could claim to love and follow Jesus “and yet cavalierly toss aside something He values so much that He laid His life down for it?” Ever considered that, brethren?

Michelle concludes: “If you really love Jesus, you’ll value the things He values, and, clearly, He values the church.”

Now listen as Michelle Lesley offers 7 reasons Christians must not forsake the assembly:

It’s a disturbing trend that’s spreading like the plague, especially among women who claim to be believers:

“I’m a Christian but I refuse to attend church.”

These aren’t women who can’t attend church due to health reasons, caring for an ill or disabled loved one, who have no other choice but to work on Sundays, or who live in an area with no reasonably doctrinally sound church to attend. They’re women who could get plugged in to a decent local church, but intentionally shun the body of Christ.

Usually, the decision to opt out of church boils down to one of two scenarios: a) a believer who was hurt by a previous church and yet isn’t ready to risk being hurt again or b) someone (often a false convert) who doesn’t grasp the concept that being joyfully joined to a local body of believers is part of what defines someone as a Christian.

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LGBT movement’s other goal: Lower age of consent to 10 years old for psychiatric therapy – without parents’ knowledge or consent!

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MassResistance reports:

Fresh from the recent victory stopping the LGBT movement’s “anti-therapy” bill in the Colorado Legislature, pro-family people are up against an equally frightening bill that has been filed and just passed its first hurdle toward becoming law. It’s the latest among similar laws that are being quietly passed across the country.

The LGBT lobby is quietly but forcefully pushing for laws to allow children as young as 10 years old to “decide” they need psychiatric therapy – without their parents’ knowledge or consent. LGBT-allied “therapists” could push vulnerable children to affirm and accept homosexual and transgender “identity” and behaviors as “normal.”

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Christian Marching Orders

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth; go, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:18)

While I was meditating in private upon this text I felt myself carried away by its power. I was quite unable to consider its terms calmly, or to investigate its argument. The command with which the text concludes repeated itself again, and again, and again in my ears, until I found it impossible to study, for my thoughts were running here and there, asking a thousand questions, all of them intended to help me in answering for myself the solemn enquiry, “How am I to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?”

The practical lesson seemed to me to overwhelm in my mind the argument of which that lesson is only a conclusion, “Go and teach all nations.” My ears seemed to hear it as if Christ were then speaking it to me. I could realise his presence by my side. I thought I could see him lift his pierced hand, and hear him speak, as he was accustomed to speak, with authority, blended with meekness, “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the all glorious God.”   View article →

Calls Grow to Use National Guard to Protect Coulter, Free Speech at Berkeley

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According to Breitbart:

A growing number of conservative commentators are calling on President Donald Trump to use the California National Guard to escort author Ann Coulter onto the University of California, Berkeley campus when she speaks next week.

Though California Governor Jerry Brown commands the California National Guard, President Trump has the power to federalize it — just as President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard in 1957 to integrate public schools. (The same Arkansas troops who had once blocked black students then escorted the students to school.)

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UK Teachers: Children As Young As 2 Should Be Taught About Gay And Transgender Issues

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Evening Telegraph reports:

Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) have demanded that toddlers receive “age-appropriate” content on LGBT+ matters.

Ministers have announced that all children from the age of four be taught about relationships, while sex education will become compulsory for all secondary pupils.

But teachers at the NUT conference in Cardiff want the new measures, which will be introduced into schools from September 2019, to go further and urged ministers to introduce a curriculum that was inclusive of LGBT+ issues.

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Kong Hee apologises for ‘unwise decisions’, to begin jail term on Apr 21

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , ,

Kong Hee is on his way to jail for his “unwise decision” to line his pockets with money that belonged to City Harvest Church (CHC). So Pastor Hee released an apology. Channel News Asia reports:

City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee has issued an apology to his church and the public for “unwise decisions” he had made in the past.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday night (Apr 19), Kong said: “I am truly sorry … I am filled with grief and regret over my mistakes and I sincerely ask for your forgiveness.”

For the rest of the story and to read Hee’s apology, visit CNA.

Now this from Churchwatch Central (CWC), a group of “churchwatchers” who have done some excellent reporting on Kong Hee and his leadership’s pilfering of church funds; likewise the church’s ties to the New Apostolic Reformation. CWC and Chris Rosebrough of Fighting for the Faith have exposed Kong Hee’s church (here) as “a dangerous cult that threatens the Christian faith and the well-being of citizens of Singapore.”

CHC Management Board reacts to Kong Hee’s sentence

“We pronounce deliverance in Jesus name. Not one night will this fair head spend behind bars.” Prophet Phil Pringle, CHC Advisory Pastor – Photo credit Churchwatch Central

From CHC Management Board, we read Aries Zulkarnain’s media release in which he states:

“We put our trust in God that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

This statement is a paraphrase of Romans 8:28

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Sadly this scripture barely resembles the lives of Kong Hee, or his leadership. However it does reflect the lives of those who have left CHC after clearly questioning CHC’s teachings and practices.

What Zulkarnain quoted is exactly what CHC has not done.

If CHC put their faith in God, why is their founder, and his senior leaders, going to jail?

This is why things have NOT worked out for the good of CHC and why it has NOT worked for the six accused. If “God works for the good of those who love Him,” why are six leaders from CHC  going to jail?

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Abide in Christ

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

 

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. John 15:4-6 (NASB) 

As I sat down to put this post together I became convinced that I should write about the number one marker that reveals the authenticity of Christians. That is that genuine believers in our Lord Jesus Christ abide in Him and do not fall away. Carefully read the passage I placed at the top of this post. The word “abide” is translated from the Greek word μενη. It and its forms such as μεινατε and μενητε are used in the Bible to refer to the subject of the sentence remaining or staying in the emphasized condition it is in. The “Abide” in v4 is a command. It is in aorist tense, imperative mood, and active voice. This command tells us that we are to abide in Christ as He abides in us. Will Christ abide in an unbeliever? Will He abide in a professing Christian who is not regenerate? No! He abides only in His children and they, in turn, abide in Him. They remain. They do not fall away. Those who abide in Christ are analogous to branches abiding in the vine. Those who abide in the vine live and produce fruit while those who do not abide in it, but look like they actually do, do not fool the vinedresser. He gathers those who wither, because they are not abiding in the vine, and throws them into the fire to be burned.  Those who do not abide in Christ, that is, they fall away, are unbelievers. They do not have a personal faith in Christ. View article →

We Are Now Offering Mentoring to Lifeway Executives

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that high-profile Christian business men would “leverage their ‘success’ as executives to project themselves as expert advice-givers to pastors,” as Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer are doing. What is surprising, though, is that pastors would be interested in receiving advice on pastoring from business executives. According to Gideon Knox, both Stetzer and Reiner are into career coaching.  The term for this is “life coach.” For those who don’t know, life coaching has its roots in the “Human Potential” movement which blends secularism and religion to help people achieve their goals. The aim is to cultivate “extraordinary potential that its advocates believe to lie largely untapped in all people.” This movement is New Age at its core.

Gideon Knox of Pulpit & Pen shares why he thinks Christian leaders have adopted secular humanistic philosophy and are promoting what is clearly an anti-God philosophy to the Body of Christ. He writes:

Thom Rainer, President of Lifeway ‘Christian’ Resources, believes so much in the principle of Biblical mentorship that he has offered to indiscriminately mentor people for the low low price of only $249.47 per month. To be fair, that price is for the Platinum Mentorship Program, in which you’ll actually be entitled to having a video conference call with Rainer (not one-on-one, obviously). But if you would settle for being put on his email list (there’s a disclaimer that he doesn’t guarantee he’ll respond to an email), you can enroll in the Premium Package for only 49.97 per month.

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Fox Bets on Humor and Conflict as It Enters a New Era

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙

According to Eddie Zipperer of LifeZette, with Bill O’Reilly’s exit, Fox News will focus on a new generation of viewers — and will deploy a lot more humor.  Zipperer writes:

He was there when Fox News was born 21 years ago. For 15 years, he dominated the 8 p.m. time slot. Now, in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal that scared away advertisers, Fox News is Killing Bill O’Reilly, so to speak — or his show, anyway. The move is the crescendo to what has already been a year of musical anchor chairs at the cable network. Just a few months ago, it was Greta Van Susteren at 7 p.m., Bill O’Reilly at 8 p.m., and Megyn Kelly at 9 p.m. Roger Ailes was still the head honcho, and Tucker Carlson was an irregular contributor to the Fox & Friends weekend jayvee team.

Harken back to those old days in your mind. To set the scene, it was a time when progressives couldn’t decide if they would call Bill Clinton something classy like “first gentleman” or something fun like “first dude.” Back then people still thought Nate Silver could use math to see the future, and the term Brexit made progressives laugh instead of cry.

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Jimmy Carter Says He Can’t ‘Judge’ Whether or Not Man Is Christian Despite Doubts About Resurrection

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Christian News reports:

Former President Jimmy Carter, a professing Christian who teaches Sunday School at a Baptist Church in Georgia, told liberal op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof that he can’t judge whether or not someone is a Christian despite their doubts about Christ’s virgin birth and resurrection.

In his April 15th piece in the New York Times entitled “President Carter, Am I a Christian?” Kristoff inquired of Carter whether he could be considered a Christian despite his skepticism over some of the biblical account of Christ’s life, including that Jesus physically rose from the grave.

“What about someone like me whose faith is in the Sermon on the Mount, who aspires to follow Jesus’ teachings, but is skeptical that he was born of a virgin, walked on water, multiplied loaves and fishes or had a physical resurrection? Am I a Christian, President Carter?” Kristof asked.

“I do not judge whether someone else is a Christian. Jesus said, ‘Judge not,’” Carter replied. “I try to apply the teachings of Jesus in my own life, often without success.”

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Christian suffering

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

35 James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, *came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” 36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 37 They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 40 But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” Mark 10:35-40 (NASB) 

The truth, Biblical truth that is, cuts like a sword or the sharpest dagger ever seen. God’s ways are not Man’s ways or the ways of the world. No, God’s ways are antithetical to the ways of fallen Men. Many reading this can testify to losing close friends and having conflict within family groups because God has quickened them by His grace. Their faith is alive. They are regenerate. They now can see the truth and are able to obey God. This new life in Christ belongs to those who have found the narrow gate, which is Christ. They have passed through it in belief and now are on the narrow way which leads to the Celestial City.   View article →

Visiting Hank Hanegraaff’s New Greek Orthodox Church

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

After attending a service at St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church, Jeff Maples of Pulpit & Pen made this observation: A lost person could not walk into this church and walk out a changed man. It was literally a Pagan practice. Like a seance. Pure witchcraft was going on in this place.

Now read about Maples experience during a recent St. Nektarios church service:

One of the biggest complaints against Pulpit & Pen we get consistently is that we somehow don’t “have all our facts,” or are “misrepresenting” someone or something. I received countless emails claiming that I “misrepresented” Greek Orthodoxy in my recent posts regarding Hank Hanegraaff and that I should do more research. Well, what better way to research than to go straight to the source in person? Saturday, April 15, known as Holy Saturday in the Orthodox tradition, I along with a couple of friends went to visit St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, NC–the church that Hanegraaff was recently chrismated in. The service began at 11:30 pm, and was still going strong showing no signs of slowing down when we decided to leave at around 2:00 am. While we hoped to have the opportunity to confront Hanegraaff in person, being that we all had to get up early the next morning to worship the living God on Easter morning, we decided to call it a night early. However, there are quite a few things that we can take away from this experience in this church.

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Almost as Many Americans Died of Drug Overdoses in 2015 as in ’12 Years in Vietnam’

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Breitbart reports:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly has largely blamed Latin American drug cartels for the unprecedented 52,000-plus drug overdose deaths in America during 2015 alone, the latest year for which data is available.

During a discussion that George Washington University (GWU) hosted about the threats facing the United States, retired Gen. Kelly noted in his prepared remarks:

It’s the highest number of drug-related deaths our country has ever seen. It’s more deaths than the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1995. In a single year, we’ve lost nearly as many Americans to drug overdose as we lost in battle in World War I. Almost as many as was lost in 12 years in Vietnam.

And that’s just overdose deaths. That number—as high as it is—says nothing about the long-term health damage to our citizens who survive, to say nothing about the human misery, the families ripped apart, and the extremes of crime and violence inherent in the illegal-drug enterprise.

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‘Bible Answer Man’ Booted From Bott Radio Network After Hank Hanegraaff Joins Orthodox Church

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According to Christian Post (a site we do not recommend), Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, will replace the “Bible Answer Man”:

The “Bible Answer Man” radio show program with Hank Hanegraaff has been booted from Bott Radio Network over concerns regarding biblical accuracy, following Hanegraaff’s conversion into the Eastern Orthodox Church.

“We want to make sure that our listeners know that the programming that we have on Bott Radio Network is thoroughly biblical,” said BRN President Richard P. Bott II, a member of Lenexa Baptist Church in Lenexa, Kansas, according to Baptist Press.

BRN had reportedly been broadcasting the “Bible Answer Man” since the 1980s, even before Hanegraaff joined the show in 1989.

“We live in strategic times,” Bott told BP.

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If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15 (NASB) 

There is a certain type of love that God hates. We find that in John 15:18-20)

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. John 15:18-20 (NASB) 

God has no love for “love of the world system that is opposed to God.” Jesus made it clear in the passage from John 15:18-20 that those who are “of the world” are not of God nor are those whom He has selected from out of the world part of the world. This is why those who are still “of the world” hates them. I want to reinitiate here that there are plenty of apostate, “so-called christians” in our time who exhibit that very same hatred toward those of us who refuse to back away from Orthodox Christianity and God’s Word and being infallible and complete. In any case, John is telling us in 1 John 2:15-17 two important truths about genuine Christianity. First, the Christian loves God and fellow Christians and an absence of love of the world must habitually characterize the love life of those to be considered genuinely born again.  View article →

North Carolina Lawmakers Present Bill Declaring Supreme Court ‘Gay Marriage’ Ruling ‘Null and Void’

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Christian News reports:

Four Republican lawmakers in North Carolina recently presented a bill that would declare the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling on “gay marriage” to be “null and void,” but the House speaker has considered it dead and won’t bring it up for a hearing.

Reps. Larry Pittman of Concord, Michael Speciale of New Bern, Carl Ford of Rowan County and Mike Clampitt of Bryson City filed House Bill 780, also known as the “Uphold Historical Marriage Act,” on April 11th.

It notes that the U.S. Constitution does not give power to the federal government to create laws surrounding the institution of marriage, and that the issue is rather reserved to the states. The bill also outlines that the courts have no right to overrule the laws of God.

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Does God Condemn Debate?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , ,

Jeremiah Johnson of Grace to You asks: Should we or shouldn’t we debate our doctrinal differences?

Many believers argue that our focus should be on what we agree on, and that we must set aside anything we disagree on. So does that mean we should ignore our differences with those who teach universalism?  What about those who teach the word-faith prosperity gospel…NAR/dominionist theology…Eastern mysticism…ignore these folks, too? Should we let slide sins such as fornication, adultery, homosexuality and abortion for the sake of unity?

Johnson argues that we must do as Paul instructs us in 2 Timothy 2:14 and hold fast to sound doctrine.  He includes the following quote from Dr. John MacArthur:

Paul’s purpose was to motivate and encourage Timothy to keep a firm grasp on that truth himself and to pass it on to others who would do likewise … It is only with a thorough knowledge of God’s truth that falsehood and deceit can be recognized, resisted, and opposed. . . .

So back to the question at hand: Does God condemn debate? Let’s find out…

Almost twenty years ago, during Moody Bible Institute’s Founder’s Week conference, I heard Jim Cymbala make the following plea for unity:

Think of the division right now in the Body of Christ. We have all these names that don’t exist to God: Baptist, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Charismatic. God doesn’t have any idea what any of them mean, because He only has one Body. . . . He has one Body—the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Evangelical—evangelical doesn’t even exist to God. We’re using words that aren’t in the Bible. We’re thumping the Bible and being unbiblical while we’re thumping it. He only has—there’s one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Body. And He doesn’t like us dividing up His Body. 

In the moment, it struck me as nonsense. Of course God knows what our denominational titles mean; of course He understands where the doctrinal lines have been drawn in the sand.

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