How the Apostates Take Over, Part 1

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Pastor Michael Youssef sheds light on how the Church has surrendered her birthright for a morsel of peace and acceptability. He writes:

The evangelical church is under constant threat to compromise its reliance on biblical truth. The human desire to be accepted, to not be seen as “outside the mainstream,” can be overwhelming. But that desire is our weakness, our downfall. It does not always immediately destroy the dam we build to protect the waters of truth, but instead it leads to tiny fissures that grow until destruction is inevitable.

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Evangelicals’ Collapsing Cultural Influence

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David French of the National Review Online writes:

On a day when many evangelicals are perhaps flexing their political muscles in the aftermath of their decisive votes in Alabama and Mississippi, it’s worth pondering whether evangelicals’ actual cultural (rather than political) influence is waxing or waning. While reading Charles Murray’s new book, I came across insightful and disturbing discussions by Yuval Levin and Ross Douthat. Surveying the devastating decline in marriage and other critical social markers in the working class, Levin notes the failure of social conservatism outside the political sphere.

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Banks Offering Wine Tastings, Trivia Contests and Yoga Classes?

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The bank branch is dead. Long live the bank branch?

…forget the teller windows and solid-wood desks of days gone by. Say hello to everything from banks that feature community rooms for free yoga classes to ones that feature video-conferencing stations. It’s all a matter of giving customers something more than a checking account with free checks – such pieces of paper are hardly necessary these days, anyhow — or a CD with a marginally higher rate.

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Lying

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With the ongoing circus that has devolved with the release of an ongoing program within Saddleback Valley Baptist Church in Orange County, California, fully under the control of its pastor Rick Warren, of an attempt at multi-faith interaction with the Muslim community, those of us who care deeply about the Church, the glory of God, and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is disturbing on many levels. However, what should really concern us about the actions of Rick Warren and his people both at Saddleback Valley and his public relations folks is their attempt at obfuscation in order to confuse and cover up the truth. In other words, this is simply another form of lying and that is sin. View article →

Faith-based films made more money in 2011 than their left-leaning counterparts

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What’s a good recipe for box office and DVD sales success? It seems in 2011, pro-America sentiment mixed with conservative values and faith-centered themes equaled a hit.

This according to an annual study conducted by the Christian-focused entertainment advocacy group Movieguide, which found that in 2011, American audiences preferred movies with strong conservative content and values over movies with liberal or left-leaning values by an almost six-to-one margin.

The 760-page report claims that films with a conservative or pro-American edge, such as “Captain America,” “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Soul Surfer,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “Battle: Los Angeles” raked in significantly more box office green than more liberal films like “Red State,” “Super 8,” “J. Edgar,” “Glee” and “Ides of March.” View article →

 

Keeping The Unity Of The Spirit

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A good friend sent me a link to an article about an analysis of true Christian Unity that used Dr. Martyn-Lloyd Jones 1962 speech on that topic given to British Christian leaders and how it was received to show first how Dr. Jones got it right and second, how the emergent, Purpose Driven, Elephant Room 2 folks of our day are no different than the man-centered liberals of Dr. Jones day in their rejection of the clear teaching from God’s Word that genuine Christian Unity is found not in organizations or groups or people just getting along, but in the work of God himself. The sermon below is by Geoff Thomas, a Welsh Reformed Baptist who is in full agreement with Dr. Martyn-Lloyd Jones on this issue. View article →

The Christian’s Victory in Christ

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What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39, ESV

We are preparing to work our way through Romans 8:18-39. I listened to John MacArthur preach through these verses at the Shepherd’s Conference last week and from that I learned two things. It is vital for each Christian to grasp the truths therein in order to stand firm in the midst of every conceivable attack our enemy can use against them. The second thing I learned is how these truths in this passage are like a dividing line. Those who come down on the side of God’s Sovereignty and the security of the believer within it have it right, while there are many who call themselves Christians who ignore these truths and teach the opposite leaving those who follow them in the bondage of fear and doubt and even believing in the sovereignty of Satan and his demons. There is another group of course, that would be all in the liberal camp who take the name of Christian for whatever reason, but believe in no historical Christian doctrines. No, they only believe in their own man-made “god” and “jesus” made in their own image. These magnificent truths are meant only for genuine believers not those who have never bowed the knee to the Lordship of Christ and are now walking in repentance having been saved by grace through faith as a gift from God himself.  View article →

Christians Have no Right to Wear Cross at Work, Says British Government

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Persecution of Christians in the United Kingdom seems to be intensifying. The Telegraph reports:

In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European   Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.

It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.

A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.

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Believers are Heirs with Christ

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16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. Romans 8:16–17, NASB

Even through as Christians we are justified and are under no condemnation (Romans 8:1) it is also clearly taught in God’s Word that Christians are to live lives of repentance from the works of the flesh. There are some, such as those who call themselves “New Calvinists” who take the Doctrines of Grace and separate them from the great teachings of the Puritans such as John Owen, John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, Jonathan Edwards, et cetera that made it clear that in this life Christians are required to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). No, these “New Calvinists” such as Mark Driscoll and those who emulate him are antinomians in that they teach those who follow them that if they are in Christ, what they do in the flesh is merely for their enjoyment and has no eternal consequences. Really? Is that what God’s Word says? View article →

Rick Warren Says No King's Way Document and No Saddleback “Staff” Involved

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Apprising Ministries would have you know that in his letter to Saddleback Church concerning the King’s Way controversy Rick Warren chose, yet again, to attack veteran freelance reporter Jim Hinch.

However, this time Warren also made the dubious decision to try and impugn my character as well via an ad hominem. So, I encourage you to take a close look at the actual evidence within this new aritcle.

In my opinion, it simply does not add up with what Rick Warren is saying. View article →

Christian Assurance

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Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1, NASB

On 29 February, I posted The Conflict of Two Natures, which was based on Romans 7. In this post, after looking at some of the major points of the Doctrines of Grace and who we really are in Christ over the last few weeks, we now return to Romans 8 and pick up Paul’s reasoning. Romans 8:1 from the Greek text reads, “Οὐδὲν ἄρα νῦν κατάκριμα τοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.” Or, “Therefore there is no condemnation to the ones in Christ Jesus.” The “therefore” translates ἄρα (ara), “as a result, then, so, therefore, possible.” Normally a “therefore” marks the conclusion of the verses immediately preceding it, but here it introduces the staggering results of the Apostle’s teaching in the first seven chapters, which states that justification is by faith alone on the basis of God’s overwhelming grace. For those in Christ, there is “no condemnation.” What does that mean? View article →

David Barton: Historian or Revisionist?

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Christian J. Pinto, independent filmmaker and host of Noise of Thunder Radio, questions Christian historian David Barton’s handling of history. He writes:

Without question, David Barton is the leading history teacher among those who long to hear stories about the Christian founding of America, and as we know, for the past year, he has operated as Glenn Beck’s historian on Fox News. As believers, we all rejoice to hear about those who stood strong in the faith, especially in the face of difficult trials. But does this apply to the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution? Were they Bible believing Christian men fighting to establish a Christian nation? According to teachers like David Barton, the answer is yes. But as we show in the film, The Hidden Faith of the Founding Fathers, much of Barton’s historical information is quoted out of its full context. He gives the false impression that the revolutionaries supported Christianity, when in truth they rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and were even hostile to its precepts.

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Original Sin and Total Depravity

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8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10, NASB

Sacred Scripture’s diagnosis of sin is as a universal deformity of human nature found at every point in every person (1 Kings 8:46; Romans 3:9-23; 7:18; 1 John 1:8-10 see above). Both the Old Testament and the New Testament describe sin as rebellion against God’s rule, missing the mark God set for us to aim at, transgressing God’s law, offending God’s purity by defiling oneself, and incurring guilt before God the Judge. The moral deformity is dynamic: sin is an energy of irrational, negative, and rebellious reaction to God. It is a spirit of fighting God in order to play God. The root of sin is pride and enmity against God, the spirit seen in Adam’s first transgression, and sinful acts always have behind them thoughts and desires that one way or another express the willful opposition of the fallen heart to God’s claims on our lives.  View article →

John MacArthur Debunks Vision Casting

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Apprising Ministries reminds you that occultic vision casting is the rage within contemporary evangelicalism. A practice of divination where a prophet-pastor, e.g. Steven Furtick, receives an extra biblical revelation allegedly from God.

Well, in this video clip you’ll see what real pastor sent by Christ has to say in the subject on  this critical subject.  View article →

Election and Reprobation

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13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:13–14, NASB

We have come to the Doctrine of Unconditional Election in our exposition of the Doctrines of Grace. A few years ago before I began working from home fulltime and was still working from an office outside of our data center, a fellow from another department who I was working with on an issue made a comment about some of my devotional stuff and my small ESV Bible that I carried in my computer bag, which were laying on my desk. I knew that he had at one time been a Methodist pastor, but had left the ministry. I have no idea what the history of that was. The comment he made was an incredulous statement in which he questioned how I would ever find the time to spend “doing that” as busy as I was. I told him that I did that when I first got to work in the morning before anyone else was there after I had done all my server checkups. At that time I was working my way through R. C. Sproul’s book Chosen By God and it was lying there as well. He asked when I read that. I told him I did that as I ate lunch. He picked it up and read the back cover and then put it down quickly like it burned his hand then made another incredulous statement, “You’re a Calvinist!” View article →

Why Impostors Love the Church

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Russell D. Moore, the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes:

Recently I read a book that kept me awake a couple of nights. It was about “Clark Rockefeller,” and the scare quotes are important. The man was neither “Clark” nor “Rockefeller.” He was a German immigrant who crafted an identity as an heir of one of America’s wealthiest dynasties. He married, fathered a child, and was involved in fraud, theft, and maybe even murder. And no one ever knew, until the very end.

What made me squirm was that fact that the fake Rockefeller’s inroad to all his deception were churches and relationships, particularly with women. He would make the connections he needed in local congregations, and he would charm the women there. At the same time, he would parasitically imitate the men, watching and mirroring back to them their convictions and opinions, even the inflections of their voices. But, behind all of that, there was nothing real but a predatory appetite.

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Word-Faith: A Fast-Growing Movement with Disastrous Implications

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The gospel’s most dangerous earthly adversaries are not raving atheists who stand outside the door shouting threats and insults. They are church leaders who cultivate a gentle, friendly, pious demeanor but hack away at the foundations of faith under the guise of keeping in step with a changing world. Phil Johnson

Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead even expose them. Ephesians 5:11

There is a spiritual battle of epic proportions going on in churches all over the globe that should drive serious Christians to their knees. A whole host of aberrant to downright heretical movements have slithered into contemporary evangelicalism and more are being added to the mix virtually every day.

Unbiblical teaching is rampant in mainline Protestant denominations as well as in non-denominational churches. Inside our churches you will find men and women teaching rank heresy. Sunday after Sunday people flock to churches and become a captive audience to those who preach outlandish lies and half-truths. Televangelists are the worst offenders. Many of them are money grubbing charlatans. As a result of false teachers and cult leaders gaining worldwide access to churches and Christian ministries over these past few decades to spread their false doctrines, evangelical Christianity is experiencing a downward spiral. View article →

Effectual Calling and Conversion

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3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

John 10:3–4, NASB

All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter X: Of Effectual Calling

As many of you know, I was born in 1951 and grew up as a Southern Baptist in Oklahoma. I never heard of the Westminster Confession of Faith until 2006 or so. That article above is entirely biblical and I had read those passages from where they were drawn, but I had never heard Christian Conversion described that way. No, what I heard continually in church services, Sunday School, Youth Groups, and Revival Services was all about us making a decision. It was all about what we did, not what God did. View article →