As the evangelical fad of practicing semi-ascetic practices of apostate Roman Catholic mystics (hello) spreads Apprising Ministries reminds you of what’s being forgotten: God’s Protestant Reformers rejcted them in favor of the proper Christian spirituality of sola Scriptura.
Here in this piece you’ll see how one Reformers, a former monk himself, felt about these so-called spiritual disciplines.
Apprising Ministries shows you that the evidence is clear concerning the uber-popular SBC Bible teacher as you’ll see in this new article.
Apprising Ministries brings to your attention more SBC foolishness in this piece.
by Mike Ratliff
7 οὗ ἐγενήθην διάκονος κατὰ τὴν δωρεὰν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς δοθείσης μοι κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ. 8 Ἐμοὶ τῷ ἐλαχιστοτέρῳ πάντων ἁγίων ἐδόθη ἡ χάρις αὕτη, τοῖς ἔθνεσιν εὐαγγελίσασθαι τὸ ἀνεξιχνίαστον πλοῦτος τοῦ Χριστοῦ 9 καὶ φωτίσαι [πάντας] τίς ἡ οἰκονομία τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου ἀπὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐν τῷ θεῷ τῷ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι, 10 ἵνα γνωρισθῇ νῦν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἐξουσίαις ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις διὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ, 11 κατὰ πρόθεσιν τῶν αἰώνων ἣν ἐποίησεν ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, 12 ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ προσαγωγὴν ἐν πεποιθήσει διὰ τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ. 13 διὸ αἰτοῦμαι μὴ ἐγκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσίν μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν δόξα ὑμῶν. (Ephesians 3:7-13 NA27)
7 Of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God having been given to me according to the working of his power. 8 To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given to the gentiles to preach the unsearchable wealth of Christ 9 and to enlighten all men as to what is the stewardship of the mystery hidden from the ages in God, the one who created all things 10 that it might be made known now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies through the Church the many faceted wisdom of God 11 according to the plan of the ages, which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord 12 in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through faith in him. 13 Therefore, I ask you not to despair concerning my afflictions for you, which is for your glory. (Ephesians 3:7-13 Possessing the Treasure New Testament V1)
If we are honest, we must all agree that that there is a growing disrespect of God in today’s various teaching on prayer let alone worship. While boldness does mean that those who are truly in Christ need not have any inhibitions as they come before God, they must still never forget that God is God. To treat God as if he is a “buddy,” to bring him down to our level in any way, is truly blasphemous. It is insolence in action to do any other than respect and worship God as he deserves. He is not our “buddy” or “pal,” but our heavenly Father and our God. What does it mean to come before him in boldness while not being insolent?
Apprising Ministries points out that with things like Passion 2012 we’re seeing a rebirth of Pietism. So, here’s a key question in this piece.
Colin Gunn, a feisty Scottish filmmaker, and Joaquin Fernandez, an American cinematographer, have produced a powerful and highly provocative film called IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America. (See trailer, below.) Having become aware of the horrors that go on in our pagan government schools, these two film makers, who also happen to be Christian homeschooling Dads, decided to make a hard-hitting documentary film that would wake up the Christian parents of America and show them what is happening to their children in the public schools. Ninety percent of Christian parents send their children to these pagan schools, and after twelve years of indoctrination in the philosophy of secular humanism, 88 percent of those Christian children come out no longer believing in the religion of their parents.
Apprising Ministries brings you a new word that you’ll need to know as doctrinal lines continue to disappear.
The Examiner has posted four videos of the Oprah-Osteen interview. Watch them here
Apprising Ministries brings you a summary of this spiritual stupidity with a fine piece from AM correspondent Erin Benziger.
Well, the Code Orange Revival is set to erupt in just two days. Since Code Orange visionary Steven Furtick needs no introduction, this post will conclude our examination of each of the speakers. Here we will look at Pastor James MacDonald, senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicagoland area. There has been much discussion surrounding James MacDonald in recent months. This post will serve, then, as a bird’s eye view of some of the concerns that already have been widely discussed, as well as some that have been largely overlooked.
Apprising Ministries brings you a look in this article of a continued downgrade in evangelicalism.
The Christian Post reports this sad state of affairs:
Ed and Lisa Young, founders of Texas-based Fellowship Church, will spend 24 hours in bed on the church roof next week and stream themselves live on the Internet to encourage married couples to see firsthand the power of a healthy sex life as prescribed in their new book, Sexperiment.
Two days after their book, Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse, is released Tuesday, the Youngs will take part in a 24-hour “bed-in,” which will be streamed on the book’s website as they engage the audience on issues related to intimacy in marriage. Read more
Apprising Ministries brings you the irrefutable documentation in this piece.
Apprising Ministries asserts that only to the most naive does the video evidence that you’ll see in this well-documented article not show them encouraging people at this conference to seek direct revelation from God outside of Scripture.
Apprising Ministries with some reductio ad absurdum as absurd as God considering the Roman Catholic Church a Christian denomination.
Some predictions are rather safe to make. 2012 is almost certain to be a determinative year on the issue of same-sex marriage. Multiple courts appear poised to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] and, even more urgently, the appeal on California’s Proposition 8 at the Ninth Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals will set up a certain appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. Given the facts of this case and the significance of the nation’s most populous state, the Supreme Court is almost certain to take the case. This sets the stage for the courts to make some determinative statement on same-sex marriage within the next several months — a decision that will go a long way toward setting the direction of the larger culture.
At the same time, the same-sex marriage issue will play a part in the 2012 presidential campaign. The reason for this is quite simple. The issue of same-sex marriage is about far more than marriage as a legal institution and about more than sexuality and personal autonomy. It is the great inescapable issue, and we will know in fairly short order what all the candidates believe about the issue.
Then again, maybe not. Read more
by Mike Ratliff
3 ἀναλογίσασθε γὰρ τὸν τοιαύτην ὑπομεμενηκότα ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀντιλογίαν, ἵνα μὴ κάμητε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν ἐκλυόμενοι. (Hebrews 12:3 NA27)
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such opposition against himself that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:3 Possessing the Treasure New Testament V1)
I invite you to look back on the last Presidential election in the U.S. in which Barak Obama was elected and how so many of us were devastated by that. When I was born the President of the United States was Harry Truman. Yes, that’s right, I’m getting old, but it also means that I remember what its like to be both a non-Christian living in a Christian home under a Government that is not liberal enough for me, but too liberal for my parents and at other times having a Government that my was too liberal even for me causing social change in such unbalanced and inequitable ways that could only be explained by our leaders being bent on changing us into a Communist state. Remember, I grew up during The Cold War and had the Draft and Vietnam waiting for me as I went through High School. All through that, I was convinced that it really did not matter who was in The White House or who was in Congress or the Senate. They were all inept with an agenda that made sense to no one but them.
Apprising Ministries reminds you that if the Church of Rome is simply another Christian denomination, then the Reformation wasn’t of God. So, we cut through postmodernism and get to the heart of the difference in this well-documented article.
Apprising Ministries has point out before that the Christian community is awash right now with whining women in men’s pants passing as pastors. Take a look at the difference when a real man of God teaches in this piece.
Apprising Ministries is pleased to bring you this must-see video clip concerning such a critical subject. How refreshing to see Dr. John Gerstner, who’s now with the Jesus he so passionately preaches, really bring it.
Apprising Ministries special correspondent Erin Benziger shows you in this post.
CNS News reports:
According to its latest annual report, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) received $487.4 million in tax dollars over a twelve-month period and performed 329,455 abortions.
In addition, the number of adoption referrals made by the organization continued to decline.
The latest annual report covers the period from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, the PPFA’s fiscal year. The report states that the organization received “government health services grants and reimbursements” totaling $487.4 million. Read more
Apprising Ministries has the exclusive photo here.
The following article is taken from the January 2012 issue of Tabletalk Magazine and is from the “For the Church” column. The author, Phil Johnson, is executive director of Grace to You in Panorama City, California, and he edits most of John MacArthur’s major books and has contributed to numerous books himself. He is also the owner of the Pyromanics blog and other very useful websites.
“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matt. 5:13–16
That text is often cited as if it were a mandate for the church to engage in political activism — lobbying, rallying voters, organizing protests, and harnessing the evangelical movement for political clout. I recently heard a well-known evangelical leader say, “We need to make our voices heard in the voting booth, or we’re not being salt and light the way Jesus commanded.”
That view is pervasive. Say the phrase “salt and light,” and the typical evangelical starts talking politics as if by Pavlovian reflex.