Apprising Ministries brings you a sermon from Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843) on this critical topic. Regardless of our personal eschatological views, this much is clear: We are in the last days.
In fact, the Bible teaches that we have been for some 2,000 years now. Therefore, time is short for a number of areas of our lives, which ought to be of great concern to each of us.
I continue my coverage of this sad situation where, in an email to his Saddleback staff, Southern Baptist megapastor Rick Warren decided to single out fellow Southern Baptist John Downey as an example of the wrong kind of person for his staff to follow.
Included in Warren’s orders was a reference to not casting Saddleback pearls before swine. As an SBC pastor myself I contacted John and he gave me permission to publish his reasoned response to Rick Warren at Apprising Ministries.
Apprising Ministries alerts you that this idea of reclaiming America will very likely become more and more of a hot topic this year. Take for example, the popularity of The Harbinger.
Along this line, I bring you this exclusive audio clip from the 20 June 2012 Worldview Weekend program with Brannon Howse who asks MacArthur about hooking up with heretics towards this cause.
Apprising Ministries shows you in this well-researched piece just why it is that Paula White’s doctrine directly reflects back upon T.D. Jakes.
Using exclusive video clips you’ll also be able to watch each of them in action. You’ll see for yourself that she’s every bit a WF prosperity snake oil salesman just the same as she was taught by her “spiritual father” T.D. Jakes.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. James 1:22–24, NASB
How important is obeying the words of Christ? This is, of course, the essence of Lordship. Jesus Christ is Lord. That is not just a title nor is it something we say to revere him. No, He is Lord over all. He is one in essence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the Hypostatic Union of the Holy Trinity. God is Sovereign and because of his role in the Hypostatic Union, his submission in humbling himself to become a man, the Messiah, his obedience to the Father’s will in all of this as well as keeping the Law perfectly, he also, at the perfect time ordained by the Father, laid down his life as the propititiation for those he came to save.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22–25, NASB
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James 2:26, NASB
Back in the early days of my walk as a Christian, after I became a Bible teacher and later a Deacon, I read my Bible through every year just as I do now, but there were large areas of it that I would consider as “something deeper that I would learn later.” Most of those passages were those we now deal with here that are specifically about doctrine. There was a concept that I had back then that those who took doctrine seriously were “legalistic” while the rest of us were actually walking closer to Jesus because we were “experiencing him” through our relationships with him. This included our religiosity. What is that? That is a form of piety that spurns doctrinal precision. Many of the leaders of those who believe and teach this sort of thing view “works” as something Christians do in order to be found worthy for salvation. I can remember walking through the parking lot one cold December morning with my snow shovel in hand to clear the sleet from the sidewalk from the entrance to our Church building so people could enter without slipping and falling. In my mind I wondered if God would consider this a “worthy work” and that perhaps my righteousness would indeed exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees in the end if I continued to read my Bible enough, to pray enough, to give enough, to serve enough, et cetera I would not hear Jesus say to me what he said in Matthew 7:23.
Apprising Ministries gives you the chance via exclusive video clips to watch both Paula White and her mentor and spiritual father T.D. Jakes in action.
White’s said Jakes is her Paul as she is his Timothy. Here you’ll see the master and his student teaching the mythology of Word Faith positive confession.
Apprising Ministries has been pointing out that one of the fruits of the Seeker Driven movement gaining a stranglehold upon contemporary evangelicalism is the growing influence of Word Faith prosperity preachers so many attractional megachurch pastors so fancy.
Yet another reason this sad story should not be allowed to be swept under the rug.
4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matt. 24:4–14, NASB
When I encounter those whose theology and eschatology has been colored by presuppositions, philosophies, and the teachings of some theologians that the Church’s main function is to establish and prepare God’s Kingdom here on this Earth so the Lord will return and claim it, I wonder how seriously these people take Scripture passages such as Matthew 24:4–14 (above). These same people are all about making secular culture conform to Christianity. I find it very difficult to line that up with what our Lord said in Matthew 24 about what things would be like before he actually did return. What is the reality? Will the Church totally take over the world in this age? From what I have studied in the New Testament, the Church is a called out “congregation” of people that are despised, persecuted, and put to death for their faith as they live for the glory of their Lord in this life. The point of that is to attain a greater resurrection in the next age. Let’s see what our Lord said about the reality of what we have to deal with in this age as the Church.
“Rev.” Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton, who’s even “worked closely with Bishop Jack Spong,” decided to take a swipe at my work at Apprising Ministries.
It provides a good teaching moment concerning the counterfeit spirituality of her postmodern liberalism, the cult within the Emerging Church, and its spiritually bankrupt non-gospel.
CRN research articles give a concise overview of a specific topic and provide links to resources for further study. The most recently published research article examines contemplative prayer, discussing some of the dangers of this practice and contrasting it with what the Bible teaches about prayer.