According to the Christian News Network, the American Humanist Organization “is supporting an effort to erect a statue of Clarence Darrow on the grounds of the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee. The courthouse is where Darrow famously defended the teaching of evolution in the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925.
ISIS’ dark agenda: terror group’s tweets show more destruction of sacred Christian sites
Gay “marriage” approved by Carlisle Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA
Liberals from the Presbyterian Church USA (which is not to be confused with other Presbyterian denominations) have voted to approve same-sex “marriage”, thereby choosing to ignore the clear teaching of God’s Word on homosexuality. The Bible says that homosexuality is a sin against God and those involved in the lifestyle must repent. According to Pennlive.com:
The Rev. Mark Englund-Krieger, executive director of the Carlisle Presbytery, described the meeting of voting members as well-attended, cordial and effective.
“From a process perspective, it was excellent,” he said. “Obviously, there is a wide range of opinions and perspective on this and we continue to be very divided about this question. But this passed the presbytery pretty significantly almost by an 18 vote margin. That is pretty significant.”
Is Christianity a life based in experience, or is it a doctrine?
In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. 1 Timothy 4:6, NASB
From January 1986 until the late fall of 2005, I probably would have, if asked, responded to the question in the title that Christianity is a life – or at least a relationship – while doctrine, though unnecessary, helps us understand that. I didn’t really believe during that time that doctrine was of any real value. Why? My whole understanding of Christianity was that it was based on my experience. For some odd reason I didn’t think much past that in an attempt to understand why my experience would be so radically different than other Christians’ experience.
Liberal Christianity is not Christian
At the core of all of what we recognize as apostate christianity in our time is something really no different than the liberalism that was fought by the theologians in the late 19th Century, such as Charles Spurgeon, and those in the early 20th Century, such as J. Gresham Machen.
Over the last few days on Facebook, for instance, I have witnessed posts showing people holding up signs in front of them professing that they are Christians, but then thanking God for abortionists. In other cases, there are pretty much the same “so-called Christian” groups abandoning everything doctrinally that would line them up with Christian orthodoxy, including the inerrancy of the Bible and its authority. Since they have abandoned the authority of the Bible, they have also rejected all orthodox doctrines that are offensive to secularism.
Of course, ever since our Lord ascended into heaven, the Church has been under attack by wolves. There has never been a time in its history when it was perfect. There have always been false teachers teaching false doctrine to false professors.
In the early part of the 20th Century, J. Gresham Machen was embroiled in a very severe attack on orthodoxy by determined liberals attempting to take over the Presbyterian Church, USA. It seemed like he was contending alone but, of course, he was not alone – he had the Holy Spirit, and those whom God drew to listen, believe, and come from the darkness of compromise to follow Dr. Machen into continued obedient Christian orthodoxy.
Creflo Dollar’s plan seeks $65M jet for global missions
Word of Faith heretic Creflo Dollar preaches a false gospel, not the “gospel of grace” he claims to preach. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the prosperity preacher needs money to purchase a new private jet so that he can “safely spread the word of Jesus around the world,” as the multi-million dollar jet he now owns recently experienced engine failure.
‘If I hear one homophobic word, I will arrest you:’ street preacher on trial for biblical preaching
Christian News Network repots:
A street preacher in the UK who is charged with making “homophobic” and “Islamophobic” remarks has just completed a two-day trial and awaits a verdict on whether or not biblical speech about the issues is considered a crime in the country.
Mike Overd, a street preacher for five years, is accused of speaking against homosexuality and Islam last June and July on two separate occasions. He is now facing two charges of using threatening and abusive words and a charge of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress under the Public Order Act.
He who eats this bread will live forever
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:53–58, NASB
In January 1986 God intervened in my life with eternal results. He called me to Himself. He regenerated me. He justified me. He sanctified me. He adopted me. He changed me forever. However, I was a baby Christian. I had only a vague concept of what God had done on my behalf. I really did not have a clear understanding of this thing we call Christianity. All I knew was that before that wonderful day I did not care too much for church. My concept of the proper Christian life was one of being religious, but that religion had to meet certain criteria. However, after God saved me, my concept changed radically. I suddenly found that I loved God and His people. I loved hearing Bible centered sermons and being in Bible study classes. I had a deep desire to know God’s will that I may obey Him in all things. However, that earlier concept of the proper Christian life was still with me, that is, that one’s religiosity was what determined one’s right standing before God.
American Baptist College defends invite to lesbian speaker, says Christians make ‘idol’ of Bible
Christian News Network reports:
[The] American Baptist College is defending its invitation to an openly lesbian United Church of Christ minister, asserting that Christians are making an “idol” of the Bible.
“It’s sad that people use religion and idolatry of the Bible to demoralize same-gender-loving people,” American Baptist College President Forrest Harris told The Tennessean on Wednesday.
Franklin Graham: I love gay and lesbian people but they need to repent
According to Christian Headlines:
Outspoken Christian leader Franklin Graham wrote a Facebook post this week that referenced homosexual persecution and said the LGBT community needs to repent. Charisma News reports that Graham mentioned a recent act of ISIS brutality in which a gay man was thrown off a rooftop and then stoned to death.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed
Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.Isaiah 52:13–15, NASB
In his fine book Escape from Reason, Francis Schaeffer analyzed 20th Century philosophy, science, art, and popular culture to get to the “cause,” if you will, of the decline of reason, which was and is still shaping our society. Modern thought in our time, it seems, has been diverted from an eternal, heavenly focus to one that is entirely geared to the temporal. Part of his thesis is that the advent of humanistic philosophy and reason began with Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). He contends that, prior to Aquinas, the heavenly things were all-important, but since his teaching and discussion of “nature and grace,” the focus of human thought has made the temporal all–important, with the heavenly becoming only an abstract “unreality.”
Jesus is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. Matthew 28:1–4, NASB
Jesus is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! According to Paul in his first epistle to the church in Corinth, the doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the lynchpin of our faith.
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 1 Corinthians 15:13–14, NASB
If the resurrection of Christ is not true then Christianity is based on a myth and our faith is in vain. Therefore, we must hold tightly to the fact that our Lord is Risen. On the morning of our Lord’s resurrection there were several people who witnessed different aspects of it. Their responses to it varied drastically.
Holy, holy, holy
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings:with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”Isaiah 6:1–3, ESV
In the English translations of the Old Testament when we encounter the word “Lord” we are actually reading the Hebrew word Adhōnāy. On the other hand, when we read the word “LORD,” it is is completely different Hebrew word, Yehōwāh. Adhōnāy is actually a title for God meaning “sovereign one.” Yehōwāh is the sacred name of God. It was the name He used to reveal Himself to Moses at the burning bush. Yehōwāh is the unspeakable name, the holy name of God. The Hebrew scribes wrote it as YHWH. Therefore, it is referred to as the sacred tetragrammaton, the unspeakable four letters. Adhōnāy is the plural noun form of Ādhōn, which, when used in reference to God, means Lord. However, Adhōnāy is plural but singular in meaning. This speaks of the Holy Trinity, i.e. one God in three persons.
Photos of Baby Walter, miscarried at 19 weeks, help save children from abortion
Christian News Network shares this touching story:
Photographs of a baby boy that was born at 19 weeks have been making an impact around the world for life as they demonstrate to viewers the humanity and perfection of the unborn child.
“I shared these photos so my friends and family could see my perfect child,” Lexi Fretz of Greencastle, Pa. wrote in a blog post. “I never, ever could have imagined that it would spread across the world like this.”
No judging allowed: Planet Fitness drops member after gender identity complaint
Fox 8 reports:
It’s a business that sells itself on being non-judgmental but Planet Fitness has allegedly revoked the membership of a woman for complaining, according to WNEM.
Yvette Cormier, a member at the Midland location, says she had no idea what that meant until a few days ago.
“I was stunned and shocked. He looked like a man. He did not look like a woman,” says Cormier. Cormier is talking about a person who walked into the woman’s locker room while she was getting undressed. She says she couldn’t believe her eyes.
More than 300 Republicans call on Supreme Court to recognize gay ‘marriage’ nationally
Time reports:
More than 300 veteran Republican lawmakers, operatives and consultants have filed a friend of the court brief at the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage late Thursday.
The amicus brief, organized by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, was filed for the four same-sex marriage cases the Court will hear on April 28 that could legalize the unions nationwide. In 2013, Mehlman marshaled a similar effort for the case that overturned California’s Proposition 8, which had banned same-sex marriage in the state.
The high cost of discipleship and the superiority of Christ
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. Hebrews 1:1–4, NASB
The Church in the early part of the 21st century is very sick. This sickness has not happened all at once. Instead, it is the result of centuries of compromise after compromise on the part of Christian leaders and their followers to adapt the Gospel and Church doctrines to conform to what men want. As a result, the Church has lost its savor. It is no longer salty. The countries in Europe where the Reformers restored the Gospel at the cost of untold numbers of martyrs would not now be considered Christian at all.
In the United States, the visible Church still has some influence in politics and society, but is that what the Church is supposed to be about? The segment of the American Church that would consider itself evangelical has become so doctrinally shallow that most of the members as well as their leadership have no idea what they really believe. If they were confronted with the Arminianism/semi-Pelagianism vs. Calvinism debate, they would be clueless about what each side believes and does not believe. In fact, they are so spiritually shallow, they don’t understand why it is important to know what you believe and why you believe it.
Straining forward toward the goal
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
1 Corinthians 2:3–7, NASB
When we observe those “Christian leaders” espousing the social activism of new evangelicalism, which is rooted in semi-Pelagianism and Humanism, it should make us wonder at what motivates them. Why would these people seek to create a new version of Christianity? I suppose it is that they see that what they are seeking to replace has “failed” because so many young people want nothing to do with it. Therefore, they desire to create a new Christianity that uses the marketing techniques of the world and entertainment to entice people to be part of a church that is new and exciting. Gone is any call to repent of sins. Sin is hardly, if ever, mentioned. Instead of calling on God for mercy and seeking the Son for salvation from the Father’s coming judgment, they are told to come to Jesus and let Him into their lives so He can make their life better.
What are the leaders of this movement missing? What is wrong with what they are doing? It is not wrong to want to reach the lost with the Gospel. No, we should be doing that, but it is very wrong to make every Sunday morning into a show that only appeals to the flesh. Instead of worshipping our Lord God in reverential fear, they have a rock concert. The leaders of this movement may indeed create large churches and international ministries by doing what they do, but is it right?
The dreadful loneliness of life without Scripture
Dr. Peter Jones, who is Director of truthXchange and Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Westminster Seminary, examines former megachurch pastor and emergent guru Rob Bell’s misleading defense of same-sex marriage. For one thing, Bell picks and chooses between Bible texts that seemingly agree with him, and those that do not. Jones says “he dismisses Paul’s teaching as mere letters from 2000 years ago that no longer apply, and then chooses a 3500 years-old text with which he agrees, namely Genesis 2:18.” Jones goes on to say that, “In a sentimentalizing interpretation of this foundational text, Bell launches into an emotive appeal for companionship, perfectly suited to his Oprah-taught audience.”
Mormon church backs Utah LGBT anti-discrimination bill
According to News Max, Equality Utah executive director Troy Williams said at a news conference, “This is an historic day. People from diverse backgrounds have come together to craft what no one thought was possible.”
News Max writes:
State Sen. Stuart Adams, a Republican who led negotiations on the proposal, said at the news conference that they’ve found a way to respect the rights of some while not infringing on the rights of others.
“If Utah can do this, my opinion, it can be done anywhere else in the nation.”
ABC Family’s ‘The Fosters’ generates controversy over TV’s first-ever kiss between teen boys
Once again Hollywood is pushing the envelope. Christian News Network reports that “The Fosters” is generating controversy after two male teens kissed each other on screen. This was the first time same-sex teens kissed on American television. That this would happen is not surprising as the show’s creators are homosexuals and singer/actress Jennifer Lopez is the producer.
The Christian’s first love
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord,
“I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth,
The love of your betrothals,
Your following after Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.Jeremiah 2:1–2, NASB
As I think back on that startling, abrupt, life-changing time immediately following God graciously bringing me into knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, justifying me, and placing me on that narrow road of sanctification, I remember my deep devotion to all things related to my faith. Some of those things were obviously part of the trappings of religiosity but, primarily, I remember not being able to get enough of God’s Word, and that is still the case. He has since that time chiseled and burned away much of the dross and worthless stuff from me that hindered me in my pilgrimage. It should be no surprise though that much of what was taken away were things, ministries, and people that I clung to desperately thinking they were vital parts of what made up “my walk.” In my case, my “first love,” which at times had diminished as I served religious things and worked at my religion with much vigor, has actually grown much deeper as the focus has been removed from all that to simply loving and obeying my Lord.
Pro-abortion congressman to deliver commencement at Roman Catholic college
Campus Reform is reporting a puzzling story out of Chicopee, Mass. Evidently, pro-abortion congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) has been invited to speak at Elms College’s 84th annual commencement ceremony. What’s puzzling is that Elms is a Roman Catholic college. In a statement Elms announced their reason for inviting Lewis:
Lewis’ personal and political focus on civil rights fits perfectly with Elms’ commitment to social justice. As commencement speaker, he will deliver a humbling and inspiring message for the Class of 2015 to carry into the world.
Elms made no mention of the fact that during Lewis’ 29 years as a U.S. Congressman, he has been fiercely pro-abortion and has earned a 100 percent approval rating from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
Dr. Ben Carson apologizes for saying being gay is a choice
Over at Patheos, Warren Throckmorton has brought our attention to Dr. Ben Carson’s apology for saying that being gay is a choice. In his apology, which you will find on his Facebook page, Dr. Carson pointed out that:
I’m a doctor trained in multiple fields of medicine, who was blessed to work at perhaps the finest institution of medical knowledge in the world. Some of our brightest minds have looked at this debate, and up until this point there have been no definitive studies that people are born into a specific sexuality. We do know, however, that we are always born male and female. And I know that we are all made in God’s image, which means we are all deserving of respect and dignity.
Dr. Ben Carson says being gay is a choice
CNSNews.com writes:
Being gay is a choice, because “a lot of people” go to jail straight, but when they leave, they’re gay, Dr. Ben Carson said in an interview with CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday.
“A lot of people who go into prison, go into prison straight, and when they come out, they’re gay. So did something happen while they were in there?” Carson said, who has said marriage should be between a man and a woman.