Saving faith is a gift from God

Posted by Mike Ratliff ∙ October 24, 2016 ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. (Luke 2:15-20 NASB)

Human faith is not the same thing as Genuine (saving) faith, which is a gift from God. The former is based in Human reason and intellect. The latter is supernatural. What passes for faith in many professing believer’s “Christianity” is a belief based in who preaches to or teaches them. This is not Genuine faith because it is not a belief in the Word or in God through the Word. These are “believers” who will eventually fall away. Some may last a lifetime, but as soon as the fires of tribulation come upon them they slide into apostasy because their faith is not of the substance that endures. View article →

Called Into Fellowship

Posted by Marsha West ∙ October 23, 2016 ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙ Stedman Ray

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9

This is the key verse of First Corinthians. The rest of the letter revolves around it. It is a statement that God had called them to a very important relationship, and that this is the reason for all of the problems in the church. They had not understood the implications of their calling, and the relationship they personally had with Jesus himself. Instead, beginning with the very next verse, the apostle has to deal with divisions, scandals, lawsuits, immorality, drunkenness and quarreling. It is very clear that, despite the fullness of provision which they had received, they were experiencing a great failure in the church. They had all this ability to do all these mighty things in the Spirit, but not much was happening out in the city. Instead of making an impact on Corinth, Corinth was making an impact on the church. All these ugly attitudes and actions that were going on every day out in the city were beginning to infiltrate into the church, and instead of the church changing the city, the city was changing the church.

This reminds me of Peter Marshall’s very vivid description of contemporary Christians. He says, Christians are like deep-sea divers encased in suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely forth to pull plugs out of bathtubs! What was wrong was the Corinthians lack of understanding of what it meant to have Jesus Christ living among them. The major struggle of most churches is right at this point. They have lost the sense that Jesus is among them, that they have an individual relationship to the Lord of glory himself. They no longer live their lives in the awareness and the excitement that they are partners with Christ in everything they do. When that begins to fade from the Christian consciousness, all these troubles that the Corinthians were experiencing begin to crowd in. This letter is written to call them back to an awareness of what it means to have fellowship with Christ. View article →

NAR Pioneer and Chief Theologian C. Peter Wagner Dies

Posted by Marsha West ∙ October 22, 2016 ∙ In News ∙ Dominionism, Heresy, New Apostolic Reformation, Wagner C. Peter

According to Spirit of Error, Arch-heretic C. Peter Wagner has died:

C. Peter Wagner, one of the most influential leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), died Friday at age 86. Many people who are part of the global NAR movement have been deeply influenced by Wagner without knowing it. In short, he did the heavy lifting theologically for the movement.

Wagner was a professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he taught for 30 years (1971 to 2001). He first coined the term “New Apostolic Reformation” to refer to the growing number of churches in the 1990s that started to accept the idea of present-day apostles. He wrote six books on the topic of apostles. He was the presiding leader over the International Coalition of Apostolic Leadersduring its formative years, from 2001 to 2010. View article →

Discover why C. Peter Wagner was considered a dangerous man in The Rotten Fruit of the NAR.

For more on the the New Apostolic Reformation/Dominionism, check out Berean Research’s White Paper here.

Risk of “Mass Exodus” of Doctors from Medicare

Posted by Marsha West ∙ October 22, 2016 ∙ In News ∙ Health

LifeZette reports:

In what may be the most significant modification to Medicare since the program began in 1966, on Oct. 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). It dramatically changes how Medicare pays doctors for their services.

Does it really matter how doctors get paid? Yes — the success or failure of the new payment system will profoundly influence the future of the U.S. health care system. And while the goals of MACRA are laudable, its implementation carries a number of unknowns and the potential for unintended consequences — for patients and doctors alike.