National Right to Life Committee Boots Affiliate for Standing Against Homosexual ‘Marriage’

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Christian News Network reports:

The National Right to Life Committee has cut ties with an affiliate chapter of the organization over its desire to expand its mission efforts to defend both life and the family.

This past June, the Cleveland, Ohio chapter of the National Right to Life Committee announced that it was enlarging its borders to fight for the institution of marriage, as well as the lives of unborn children.

“So as to foster a culture of life, we promote and defend the right to life of all innocent human beings and reject such practices as abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, and same-sex marriage that are contrary to ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,’” the group’s updated mission statement reads.

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Christian Air Force Veteran Relieved of Duties for Refusing to Affirm Homosexual ‘Marriage’

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Christian News Network reports:

A Christian Air Force Veteran has been relieved of his duties after declining to affirm homosexual marriage.

Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk has served in the Air Force for 19 years, and has been stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. When he recently returned from deployment, he found that he had a new commander, who was a lesbian.

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Oklahoma’s Ban on Sharia Law Declared Unconstitutional

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Christian News Network reports:

A federal judge in Oklahoma City has thrown out the state’s ban on the use of Sharia law in government, opining that the restriction violates the United States Constitution.

The ban had been approved at the polls in 2010, and passed with the support of more than 70% of voters. However, just two days after the ban was approved as a state constitutional amendment, Muneer Awad, the then-director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed suit in federal court through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), claiming that the law violated the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment.

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The Greatest Story Ever Told

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Mike Riccardi of The Cripplegate blog believes that “God’s goal in all of His creative and redemptive work is to bring glory to Himself.” In this piece Mike shares what he learned when he taught a class on basic principles of Bible interpretation, or what is termed hermeneutics. “One of the things we mentioned was the importance of interpreting the parts in light of the whole—of keeping the big picture in mind as we seek to understand the scenes frame by frame.” View article →

Our Faith Comes Before Our Good Works

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8 Τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον· 9 οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται. 10 αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα, κτισθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς οἷς προητοίμασεν ὁ θεός, ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν. Eph 2:8–10, NA28

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this not of yourselves, it is God’s gift;  9 not by works lest any should boast. 10 For we are his masterpiece having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God previously prepared that we should walk in them.  Eph 2:8–10, translated from the NA28 Greek text

We spend a great deal of time here at Possessing the Treasure examining what makes up “Christian Authenticity.” The genuine Christian is a new creation. He or she will not be the same after regeneration as they were before. Before regeneration they were children of wrath and conformed to this world. After regeneration they were adopted children of God who, from an eternal perspective, are Holy, justified, sanctified, and glorified in Christ. However, from a temporal perspective they are in the process of sanctification that God uses to conform His children unto the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The unregenerate may suffer. They may have a large number of problems. However the suffering of Christians is different. God uses suffering, tests, and trials in the lives of His children to build humility and uproot pride in their hearts. View article →

What Happens When the Authority of Sacred Scripture Is Ignored?

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12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.  2 Tim 3:12–17, NASB

The Great Down Grade Controversy in the latter part of the 19th Century was between Charles Spurgeon and a few orthodox ministers who stood against the trend towards modernism that was sweeping through England. This also coincided with the last years of Spurgeon’s ministry. That conflict had many similarities with the battle we are in the midst of right now with the movement into “relevance” and “the new evangelism.” Just as in Spurgeon’s day, there seems to be only a remnant that is standing against this onslaught against the truth for the sake of being man pleasers. View article →

God’s Gospel Was For Christ To Sacrifice Himself For Sinners

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By Ken Silva

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:13-23)

 God’s Word In The Bible Makes The Gospel Quite Clear 

Let’s do something which is largely unheard in today’s highly subjective postmodern/postevangelical world; we’ll turn to the inerrant and infallible record of Holy Scripture as we examine the critical issue of the vicarious penal substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.

In our text from the Gospel of Matthew, which remember, is his eyewitness deposition we read in verse 21:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.  (Matthew 16:21)

If we approach this verse without postmodern presupposition it’s pretty obvious that the Master is prophesying the sacrifice of His life. The following from J.C. Ryle proves helpful here:

We find our Lord revealing to His disciples a great and startling truth. That truth was His approaching death upon the cross. For the first time He places before their minds the astonishing announcement, that “He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer—and be killed.”

He had not come on earth to take a kingdom, but to die. He had not come to reign, and be ministered to, but to shed His blood as a sacrifice and to give His life as a ransom for many. ((J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007], 198.))

However, we still see that the ever ebullient and impetuous disciple:

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” (Matthew 16:22)

But how could God not allow what He Himself had decreed some 700+ years before:

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:4-10)

Yet even within the evangelical community itself we have people denying outright  Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement. This part of liberal theology would slither into the mainstream of Christendom when it made the ill-fated decision to embrace e.g. the likes of  Living Spiritual Teacher and Emerging Church guru Brian McLaren.

For the sake of this discussion I’ll simply point you to McLaren’s ringing endorsement of The Lost Message Of Jesus (TLMoJ) by Steve Chalke with Alan Mann. Leaving aside the cult-like idea of some “lost message,” you need to remember that we were told this seminal book is supposedly really good stuff by none other than “The Rt Revd N.T. Wright.”

Wright says of TLMoJ that:

“Steve Chalke’s new book is rooted in good scholarship,… Its message is stark and exciting.” ((Steve Chalke, Alan Mann, The Lost Message of Jesus [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004,], 1.))

So here following is what McLaren himself says concerning this “good scholarship,” which is so “exciting” to N.T. Wright:

Steve Chalke’s new book could help save Jesus from Christianity. That’s a strange way of putting it, I know. Not that the real Jesus needs saving. But when one contrasts the vital portrait of Jesus painted by Steve with the tense caricature drawn so often by modern Christianity, one can’t help but feeling the “Jesus” of modern Christianity is in trouble. The Jesus introduced by Steve in these pages sounds like someone who can truly save us from our trouble. Brian McLaren, author of The Church on the Other Side  ((Ibid. 1, emphasis mine.))

Note that 1) EC leader Brian McLaren actually does admit this is another Jesus, and 2) he says that Chalke paints “the vital portrait of Jesus”. High praise indeed; and not only that, but McLaren also tells us that Steve Chalke, “could help save Jesus from Christianity.” Has helped introduce the liberal Jesus into the very heart of Christianity is more like it.

Well, to refresh your memory, below is what Chalke writes concerning God’s Gospel of Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for sinners in TLMoJ:

The fact is that the cross isn’t a form of cosmic child abuse — a vengeful Father, punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed. Understandably, both people inside and outside of the Church have found this twisted version of events morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith. Deeper than that, however, is that such a construct stands in total contradiction to the statement “God is love.”

If the cross is a personal act of violence perpetrated by God towards humankind but borne by his Son, then it makes a mockery of Jesus’ own teaching to love your enemies and refuse to repay evil with evil. The truth is the cross is a symbol of love. It is a demonstration of just how far God as Father and Jesus as his Son are prepared to go to prove that love. The cross is a vivid statement of the powerlessness of love. ((Ibid., 182, 183.))

However, returning to the passage of Isaiah 53, which I cited above, the great Hebrew scholar Dr. Edward Young brings out the truth in his classic three volume commentary on Isaiah:

Despite the innocence of the servant, the Lord took pleasure in bruising him. His death was not in the hands of wicked men but in the Lord’s hands. This does not absolve from responsibility those who put him to death, but they were not in control of the situation. They were doing only what the Lord permitted them to do.

Emphasis falls upon the Lord, for inasmuch as the end to be attained, peace, is founded upon the divine nature, the means by which it was to be attained must also be in accordance with the divine character and of divine appointment. The pleasure of the Lord had in view the accomplishing of the divine will. Hence, all attempts of sinful man to produce a Utopia upon this earth are not only wicked, they are foolish. ((Edward Young, The Book of Isaiah [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965], Vol. 3, 353, 354, emphasis his.))

Satan Speaks In Order To Try And Thwart The Will And Plan Of God

How sad that Brian McLaren et al weren’t paying attention to a real scholar of the Bible. The truth is, by denying Christ’s substitutionary atonement, men like McLaren are actually speaking for Satan. For you see, this is exactly what Peter himself was doing in our text when he rebuked His Creator by telling Him that He was not to go through with this vicarious sacrifice on the Cross — “Lord! This shall never happen to you.”

And now look at who Jesus tells us was actually speaking in this denial of the penal substitutionary atonement:

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23)

As Dr. John MacArthur has written, “Christ came with the express purpose of dying as an atonement for sin (John 12:27). And those who thwart His mission are doing Satan’s work.” ((John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005], 1155)) Then during his own insightful commentary on Matthew Robert Mounce hits the target dead on when he says, “those who oppose the will and plan of God are emissaries of Satan.” ((F.F. Bruce, New International Biblical Commentary [Grand Rapids:Zondervan, 1979], 164))

The truth remains that the Holy Spirit has told us with crystalline clarity that the “mission,” as well as “the will and plan of God,” for Jesus was for Him to give His life on the Cross as a sacrifice for sinners. The fact is, as they attack and deny Christ’s mission of the substitutionary atonement on the Cross, duplicitous deceivers like Steve Chalke and Brian McLaren are attempting to thwart our Lord’s work and opposing the will and plan of God.

Therefore, while doing the devil’s work as his emissaries they are absolutely not laboring for God at all. Rather, such as these are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing who truly do speak for Satan himself. So don’t let yourself be taken in by them. The vicarious penal substitutionary atonement is not merely some minor area of Christian theology in which we are free to disagree.

It’s a matter of the gravest importance.

Apprising Ministries

Air Force Says Drag Acts Symbolize Gay Pride

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Fox News radio talk show host Todd Starnes informs us that:

The U.S. Air Force said that a well-known drag queen group was invited to perform on base during a “Diversity Day” celebration because drag is a “symbol of gay pride and unity.” But the performance sparked outrage among some airmen who called the drag show “totally offensive and inappropriate.”

Jewels and the Brunchettes performed to a small crowd at the Los Angeles Air Force Base on Aug. 8, the military confirmed.

The Air Force said in a statement to Fox News that “Diversity Day” featured eight cultural groups and was meant to “foster equality and diversity in the workplace.”

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Let the Little Ones Come to Me — Social Justice Gone Awry

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Dr. Peter Jones of Truth X-Change weighs in on what liberals refer to as “Social Justice Christianity.” One example Dr. Jones offers is World Vision’s gradual move away from sharing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost as they instead encourage people to embrace a works-based social justice gospel. Jones writes:

The evangelical church is increasingly aware of the need to witness to Christ in acts of mercy, especially since some evangelicals in the past spoke almost exclusively of individualistic and future salvation. In reaction, some today are adopting “orthopraxy” (right action) as their main emphasis, downplaying or even abandoning “orthodoxy” (right belief). But good works and sound belief cannot be separated. Alas, instead of a biblical balance, we face the serious danger of a new form of the old “social gospel,” which turns the Christian faith into a system of salvation by works, Jesus into a mere example, like the Buddha, Socrates or Lao Tzu, and Christianity into one variant of interfaith good will. But orthopraxy alone cannot preach the gospel. We as redeemed sinners must “confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.”

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California Considers Punishing Youth Groups Against Homosexuality as ‘Bathroom Bill’ Becomes Law

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Christian News Network reports:

On the same day that the governor of California signed a bill into law mandating that boys who identify as girls be allowed to use girls’ bathrooms and vice versa, a California committee approved legislation which would cause any non-profit organizations that do not embrace homosexuals to lose tax-exempt status.

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The Authority of Sacred Scripture

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There is a waywhich seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12, NASB

I have yet to encounter a person who has a problem with the genuine, biblical gospel, or the sovereignty of God, or election, or the exclusivity of genuine discipleship, et cetera who does not also force a man-centered perspective on God’s Word in one form or another. These same people lean towards a form of Christianity that is almost all experiential. Since their view of how the gospel works and how God works with Man is wrongly focused and the Word of God contains clear teachings about the sovereignty of God, these people conceive of their entire “Christian” paradigm from a philosophical and existential base rather than on the authority of Sacred Scripture. View article →

Private Interpretation Leading to Subjectivism

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13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.  John 16:13–14, NASB

Even though it is discounted by many today, the Protestant Reformation was a wonderful work by God in that the Gospel was freed from the captivity of the apostate Roman Catholic Church. Over the centuries the Gospel had become obscured as the Bishop of Rome was declared perfect with authority over Scripture. Any resistance to his authority was dealt with through excommunication followed by being burned at the stake. The Reformation not only recovered the Gospel and Justification by Faith, the Bible became available to the common people whereas before this, no one was allowed to read it by the edicts of the Pope.

At Martin Luther’s trial at the Diet of Worms when pressed to recant of His teachings he proclaimed, “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason–I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other–my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” View article →

Comparing the Unregenerate Mindset with the Transformed Mindset

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17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.  2 Cor 3:17–18, NASB

George Whitefield and his ministry and the history of the Great Awakening of which he was a major part has always fascinated me. Wouldn’t another Great Awakening in our time based upon the same Law and Gospel preaching at core of his preaching be something to see! A study of George Whitefield will reveal that he had a close relationship with both John Wesley and Charles Wesley. At the beginning of their ministries none of them were well educated in doctrine, but they were devout believers and had a heart for the lost. However, their understanding of doctrine was no deeper than any other new believer’s. Over time Whitefield’s doctrine became more conformed to that of Jonathan Edwards’ after spending time with him in the Colonies. This changed his preaching drastically. However John Wesley stayed with his understanding of doctrine that he held from the day he was born again and that was Arminian. The reason Wesley was such a powerful revivalist, however, was not that he was an Arminian, but that he was a preacher of righteousness. He did preach that all men are dead in their trespasses and sins and would go to Hell if they did not repent and accept Jesus and Lord and Saviour. Whitefield was the Lightening Rod of the Great Awakening. He was also a preacher of righteousness, but his doctrine was centered in the doctrines of grace. As believers surrender more and more to the Lordship of Christ in every area of their lives they are also surrendering to the Sovereignty of God. This is a huge part of the process God uses to transform us unto the image of the Son. What is our part? View article →

California Governor Signs Transgender Student Bill

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According to Fox News:

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a controversial bill into law Monday afternoon allowing the state’s transgender public school students to choose which bathrooms they use and whether they participate in boy or girl sports.

The law would cover the state’s 6.2 million elementary and high school kids in public schools.

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DC Mayor Disinvites Famed Gospel Singer From Civil Rights Concert Over Stance on Homosexuality

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Christian News Network reports:

The mayor of Washington, D.C. disinvited a famed Gospel singer last week from headlining a civil rights concert in the nation’s capital, according to reports.

Multiple Grammy and Stellar Award winner Donnie McClurkin, who says that he turned to homosexuality for a time after being sexually abused by men as a child, posted a video statement on SocialCam on Saturday stating that he was “asked not to attend” the event that day. “Reflections on Peace: From Gandhi to King” was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights movement in America.

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Not Legalism but Law and Gospel

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5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  Rom 6:5–9, NASB

As one who has been accused of being a Pharisee bound to legalism more times than I could ever recount, I was very pleased recently when I discovered a more biblical definition for “legalism” which states that the “legalist” is one who attempts to make legal and binding that which is never addressed to be so by God. For instance, I was taught growing up by my well meaning parents that even to take a sip of an alcoholic drink was a sin. I have read the Bible cover to cover many times and I know for certain that there is no such command in scripture that is even close to that admonition. However, I did find several references to not becoming drunk with wine or strong drink. Our Lord turned water into wine at Cana. He drank wine at the Last Supper. Paul counseled Timothy to take a little wine with his food to help his stomach, et cetera. View article →

He Will Abundantly Pardon

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4 “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, A leader and commander for the peoples. 5 “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which knows you not will run to you, Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.” 6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.  Isaiah 55:4–8, NASB

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is not editable. It is not open to change. No matter how much anyone  wants it to be otherwise, it is unchangeable. It is God’s Good News to be proclaimed to all fallen man. This good news is the proclamation that there is a way, only one way, for sinful people to be reconciled to God. It is good news because all people suffer from the same condition. They are born dead in trespasses and sins and are not morally able to do anything about it. This separates all of us from God because He is Holy and must judge all sin. The Gospel declares that Jesus Christ went to the cross and became sin on our behalf, our propitiation. God judged our sin in Him. This “atoned” for our sins. Now let us look at the pardon available to all who believe. View article →