PASTOR'S CORNER

Paris Reidhead said “If I had my way, I would declare a moratorium on public preaching of ‘the plan of salvation’ in America for one to two years. Then I would call on everyone who has use of the airways and the pulpits to preach the holiness of God, the righteousness of God and the law of God, until sinners would cry out, ‘What must we do to be saved?’ Then I would take them off in a corner and whisper the gospel to them. Such drastic action is needed because we have gospel-hardened a generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before they have any understanding why they need to be saved.”

John MacArthur says "If church history teaches us anything, it teaches us that the most devastating assaults on the faith have always begun as subtle errors arising from inside the body itself. Living in an unstable age, the church cannot afford to be vacillating. We minister to people desperate for answers, and we cannot soft-pedal the truth or extenuate the gospel. If we make friends with the world, we set ourselves at enmity with God. If we trust worldly devices, we automatically relinquish the power of the Holy Spirit ".

I found this from Christian Research. Net Joel Osteen Closes Out 2007 Published December 31st, 2007 by Editor in Word Faith , Mormonism , Joel Osteen A reminder from FIDE-O, a fine work in the Lord, that Joel Osteen has given his blessing to the non-Christian cult of the Mormon Church by saying that they are indeed Christians. This in spite of their blasphemous view of Jesus Christ which says He was the first born spirit child of God through His polygamous sex with one of His goddess wives and that Christ Jesus is the literal brother of the Devil. See also: Mormon Church: Mike Huckabee Not Alone In Ignorance Joel Osteen Helping Mormons Become A Better You -->

Why Did God Decide to Save Us Through Faith? Published December 24th, 2007 by Editor in General , Gospel , God's Grace From christianreasearchnetwork.com For this reason Christ was born and in the video clip below John Piper tells us salvation is easy to receive if we just let God be God: one reason that faith is the way God saves us is that faith gives glory to God. That is, faith calls attention to and magnifies the glory of God. Faith puts us in the position of weak and dependent and puts God in the position of strong and independent and merciful. So faith is essential to displaying the glory of God. -->

What does the virgin birth mean to you this Christmas Season? By Mike Andrews Think about for a moment When we read in scripture about the coming Messiah. That He will come in the form of a man through a virgin woman (young lady), by the holy Spirit What comes to mind! We look at these passages in our casual reading But do we really sit down and ponder what is about to happen We really need to stop and understand the significance About this blessed event in History This event is so vital and important that its mentioned Throughout scripture Moses said the Lord “.....will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Gen 3:15) Isaiah said “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isa 7:14) Jeremiah said “How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the...

Twas The Night Before Jesus Came Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the houseNot a creature was praying, not one in the house.Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without careIn hopes that Jesus would not come there. The children were dressing to crawl into bed,Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lapWas watching the Late Show while I took a nap. When out of the East there arose such a clatter,I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.Away to the window I flew like a flashTore open the shutters and threw up the sash! When what to my wondering eyes should appearBut angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.With a light like the sun sending forth a bright rayI knew in a moment this must be THE DAY! The light of His face made me cover my headIt was Jesus returning just like He saidAnd though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself. In the Book of Life which He held in his hand,Was written the...

December 19, 2007 Rick Warren Councils Jewish Leaders On How to Recruit Congregants This story from the Christian Post is just mind boggling. It says: "Megachurch pastor Rick Warren attended a large Reform Jewish gathering last week to share tips on how to build a community.... The “Purpose-Driven” pastor spoke to thousands of Jewish leaders Thursday night at the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial convention in San Diego. With the holiday season in mind, Warren urged clergy to take advantage of crowded events to publicize other programs so people can get involved in the community through smaller groups. “There are some principles that apply regardless of our faith, if it’s Jewish or Christian,” he said at the convention.... After Warren spoke a few minutes at the podium, he sat alongside two popular Southern California rabbis for a casual talk about strengthening congregational life." Are we missing something here? We've been working from the notion that Jesus Christ is...

I found this from "christianresearchnetwork.net" PBS Look at the Emergent Heresy Published December 16th, 2007 by Editor in Emerging Church

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1142693066

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1142067774

One of the most impressive blessings in America is religious liberty. Not only do Christians have access to radio and television, unheard of in most nations of Asia, but they are also free to hold meetings, evangelize, and print literature. How different this is from many Asian nations in which government persecution of Christians is common and often legal. . . . Coming from India, where I was beaten and stoned for my faith, I know what it is to be a persecuted minority in my own country. When I set foot on Western soil, I could sense a spirit of religious liberty. Americans have never known the fear of persecution. . . . From India, I always looked to the United States as a fortress of Christianity. With the abundance of both spiritual and material things, affluence unsurpassed by any nation on earth, and a totally unfettered church, I expected to see a bold witness. God’s grace obviously has been poured out on this nation and Church in a way no other people ever have experienced. Ins...

Do You Care About the Lost? By Mike Andrews Every time I think about the events that took place when Noah was commanded to build the ark, this event really grieves my spirit. Why? Because God poured His wrath on the whole world due to their wickedness, and ignorance of His holiness and grace. The Bible says " And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth..." (Gen 6:6). Sorry! What a sad statement by a holy and perfect God to say that He was sorry for creating human life. How tragic to have to make the statement "The world is so wicked and terrible I must destroy it". Imagine the screaming of voices and the clawing of the people as they tried to get in to the ark. That must have been an unimaginably horrible event in history. Sadly, He is going to do that again. There is going to come a day when God is going to pour His wrath on sinful man once again, but in the meantime He sent His Son to fulfill His wrath by putting Him on the cross to please Yahweh (Isa...

Rob Bell and the “Bullwhip Guy” Published November 30th, 2007 by Editor in Emerging Church , Rob Bell , Seeker Sensitive , New Evangelicalism This post over at Pyromaniacs features Todd Friel’s video clip responses to Rob Bell’s "Bulhorn" and also includes this dead on target parody below: -->

Rob Bell: The gods Should Be Angry Published November 23rd, 2007 by Ken Silva in Emerging Church , False Teachers , Rob Bell , Apostasy , Liberalism Over at GalatiansC4V16 , concerning Rob Bell , Christian Research Net contributor Tony Rose writes: One of the contributors of pulpit.com (Pulpit Magazine), attended Rob Bell’s The Gods are Not Angry tour stop in Hollywood. His review is pretty interesting. Here are some excerpts: "I am convinced that the emerging church is largely early 20th century liberalism, with cooler hair…The entire night was an illustration of style-over substance… But Bell went from there into what can only be described as careful and planned ambiguity. It was obvious that he is a smart person…" "So when he ended the night without explaining why the sacrifice of Christ appeased God’s anger, without explaining atonement, without even touching substitution, I can’t help but note the effort that took. He spoke for over 90 minutes on the sacrifice of C...

**Rick Warren, Evangelicals, Invite Muslims to Love God Together** Published November 23rd, 2007 by Editor in Rick Warren , Emerging Church , General News , Ecumenism , A Slice of Laodicea , New Evangelicalism Ingrid Schlueter writes at Slice of Laodicea : A Slice alert today as the Christian Post reports this morning that Rick Warren, Leith Anderson, the head of the National Association of Evangelicals, Bill Hybels and other evangelicals have signed a document urging Muslims to “love God” together with them and to find peace between the two religions. This is where it has all been heading, folks. You’ve been warned for a long time now that this new spirituality is coming. -->

Rick Warren’s Denial of Sola Fide Published November 14th, 2007 by Editor in Rick Warren , Bible Study Pay close attention. This video shows Rick Warren denying the doctrines of Sola Fide, Solo Christo & Sola Deo Gloria. If you’re not sure what that all means, here is a link to a lecture given by Chris Rosebrough of Extreme Theology that Biblically refutes Warren’s teaching. Click Here to Listen You can view the powerpoint slides for this lecture by clicking here .

The Gay & Lesbian Bible? Published November 15th, 2007 by Editor in Abominations A Little Leaven is reporting on a new Bible written for gays and lesbians that completely removes all references to homosexuality as being a sin. We’re taking bets that this new translation will become the Bible of choice for Brian McLaren and the Emergent Church.

Colleges, Contemplative and Campolo Published November 14th, 2007 by Editor in Emerging Church , General News , Catholicism , Ecumenism , New Age , Buddhism , New Evangelicalism Watcher’s Lamp takes a look at the growing contemplative movement on college campuses such as Emory (Methodist) and Georgetown (Catholic). The movement grows with the help of advocates such as the Dalai Lama and Tony Campolo. In the video below, Tony Campolo ( of Eastern University) explains how St. Ignatius coined the term "centering prayer". Campolo describes how he practices centering prayer…" push everything out of your mind …allow Christ to invade you". Campolo gets "full of the Holy Spirit that way"… Listen to Campolo describe how the Holy Spirit "is in you before you became a Christian" (unlike being dead in your trespasses) and "Christ indwells all, saved and unsaved." -->

China Bans Bibles for Olympic Athletes 10 comments Permalink The New York Sun reports that "The organizers of the 2008 Olympic Games in China have put the Bible on the list of items that athletes are banned from bringing with them to Beijing. . . ."(HT: STR )Update: Tim Ellsworth writes:"Apparently there are some conflicting reports out there. The information I found indicates that Bibles are not banned entirely, but that visitors to Beijing are being told to bring only one Bible. Here's a story I wrote for Baptist Press about it. Here's a link to the official policy ."

Each of Us have a Different Job to Do By Mike Andrews When it comes to leadership and responsibility in Christianity, many think of how ‘strong’ a person is: how much money you have, your level of education, your speaking abilities, or even your marketing knowledge. These may seem to be good qualities for leadership but these are not true biblical qualities for leadership. Ezra and Nehemiah were men chosen by God to do a certain task by getting Jerusalem restored to their former days. They were men who had love and compassion for those around them. John Stott says "Indignation and compassion form a powerful combination. They are indispensable to vision, and therefore to leadership." Ezra was a preacher who had a concern for the people of Israel. He was a man who prepared his heart by studying, practising and teaching God’s Word (Ezra 7:6-10) to the nation of Israel. He was a man who committed his life to do what the Lord called him to do. Because of their immoral behaviour, G...

Explaining the Gospel to a Child November 6th, 2007 How can parents explain the gospel to their children without toning down the commands of Scripture? Certainly children are limited in their ability to understand spiritual truth, but so are adults. Very few people intellectually understand all the gospel truth at the moment of salvation. Fortunately, the essential truths are basic enough that even a child can understand. Jesus Himself characterized saving faith as childlikeness (Mark 10:15). True belief is not a function of advanced intellect, sophisticated theological understanding, or complex doctrinal knowledge. Children old enough to be saved can grasp the concept of coming to Christ with an obedient heart, and letting Him be the Lord of their lives. When sharing the gospel with a child, keep these points in mind: 1. Remember that repetition and restatement are especially helpful. Give the gospel simply and briefly, but don’t assume the first positive response means they got all t...

Paul Washer on Osteen, the Purpose Driven Movement The Blood Tipped Ears blog has posted video of Paul Washer on Joel Osteen’s prosperity gospel and the Purpose Driven movement. I am delighted to tell you that Paul Washer is scheduled to speak at the February 9th, VCY America Rally at the Waukesha Exposition Center. The emphasis will be youth and purity, and the message will underscore the importance of truly knowing Christ. Posted on November 2007 by Ingrid

Focus on Family Yokes with Heretic Schuller Published October 26th, 2007 by Editor in A Slice of Laodicea From Slice of Laodicea : Way of Life’s Church News Notes reports that Focus on the Family is scheduled to join the apostasy party at the Crystal Cathedral in January. “H. B. London of Focus on the Family is scheduled to join hands with heretic Robert Schuller in a “Rethink” conference at the Crystal Cathedral in January 2008. The conference will bring together “30 influential thinkers” to “deliver cutting edge ideas about the ever-changing world.” --> Bush Believes in Universalism? New Article Quoting Bush from Berit Kjos Published October 26th, 2007 by Dwayna in General News , Excellent Articles , Islam , Knowledge of God , Synergism Excerpts:"I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That’s what I believe." "Americans of many faiths and traditions share a common belief that God hears the prayer...

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 Todd Friel Interviews Doug Pagitt of the Emergent Church Not sure what the Emergent Church is all about? Take a moment and listen to this interview with one of its leading pastors, Doug Pagitt of Solomon's Porch in Minnesota. The audio of this interview has been circulating in blogs recently and I spliced out the interview and put it on youtube. The interview originally aired on The Way of the Master Radio on 10/22/07.

Total Abandon? October 1st, 2007 Last evening we sat on the edge of our seats as OM’s Gary Witherall told the story of his wife’s martyrdom. Bonnie Witherall was working as a nurse in Sidon, Lebanon, when an extremist shot and killed her (you may remember the news reports ). You could hear a pin drop as Gary described his rush to the scene on that dark morning to learn of Bonnie’s sacrifice. Following her death, Greg Kernaghan paid the following tribute. It also serves as a challenge to our ‘cushioned-Christianity’ in the West: Some people talk about being on the cutting edge; some actually live there. Fewer choose to dwell on the bleeding edge of humanity, where nothing is humanly certain except great need, where risk defies other definitions, where light shines the brighter for the enveloping darkness. Sidon in Lebanon is such a place, and Bonnie and Gary Witherall were some of those few. I was privileged to stay with them just four days before Bonnie was murdered. They lived close t...

John MacArthur:Baptizing the Masses with a Watered-Down Gospel 11:03pm Wednesday, Oct 3 From Christian Research Net - Published October 2nd, 2007 When a sinner wanders into the church and sits through skits, mimes, interpretive dances, and the like, and yet never hears a clear, convicting message about his dangerous and tenuous spiritual situation– that he is a depraved sinner headed for an eternal fire because he is a daily offense to a holy God– how can that be called successful? You could achieve the same level of success by sending a cancer patient to receive treatment from a group of children playing doctor.A sinner must understand the imminent danger he is in if he is ever to look to the Savior. What’s worse is when seeker-focused churches baptize the masses with their watered-down gospel, assuring them that positive decisions, feelings, or affirmations about Christ equal genuine conversion. There are now multitudes who are not authentic Christians identifying with the church. As...

(Matt 14:30) But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." What do we notice from this verse in Peter's life. 1. It was by faith in the power of Christ he was upheld 2. When that faith failed, he began to sink. When Peter began to sink his faith sunk with him. Ask yourself 1) If you were in the same situation as Peter, Would this have happened to you? "Lord, save me." 2) Could you keep walking to the Lord with boldness and not look down? (Eph 3:12 ) in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him. 3) Is your faith unchangeable today? As (1Cor 16:13) says "Watch, standfast in the faith, be brave, be strong". 4) Do you have faith? (Heb 11:6) And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. 5) Are you walking by sight and not faith? (John 12:37 ) Though he had done so many sign...

Jeremiah the Weeping Prophet By Mike Andrews The churches today are full of people who don’t care or don’t want to listen to men preaching God’s Word. 2Tim 4:3 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions". The church today is not much different than the times of the prophets who were preaching repentance and pleading for the nation of Israel to return back to God. Jeremiah, also known as the "weeping prophet", was the writer of the two Old Testament books Jeremiah and Lamentations. He was an ambassador sent by God to the house of Israel. Jer 7:3 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place." Jeremiah didn’t volunteer to become a preacher of the Word. The office for this (being a prophet) was reserved for those who were divinely called. Jeremiah was one of those pri...

Biblical Propositions, Yoga Positions, and Contextualizing the Christian Message for People Who Work at CNN Published September 21st, 2007 by Editor in Emerging Church Over at Pyromaniacs Phil Johnson comments on "Doug Pagitt’s recent performance on CNN [which] was documented last week by several bloggers, including Nathan Busenitz, Fred Butler, Shawn Anthony and Doug Groothuis." We post this here at CRN because there are so many of those in the blogging world who struggle with their comprehension skills and were saying Dr. John MacArthur, one of the best Bible teachers God has given this generation, said Yoga can be practiced by the Christian. In this piece Johnson goes on to clear up that his pastor: John MacArthur, of course, believes in the authority of Scripture and the exclusivity of Christ. He said yoga as a spiritual discipline is fundamentally in conflict with authentic Christianity; and that Christians ought to seek spiritual wholeness through the truth of the Bibl...

Prosperity Praise Posted at 04:44 AM in Satire Permalink TrackBack TrackBack URL for this entry:http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/89957/21529799

DR. JOHN MACARTHUR SPEAKS ON BRIAN MCLAREN AND THE EMERGING CHURCH This piece below is from an interview on The Way of the Master Radio featuring Dr. John MacArthur reacting to sound clips from Guru Brian McLaren . Dr. MacArthur covers how the actual Gospel is terribly twisted into a repainted and reimagined social gospel by leaders in the neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church like Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt and Erwin McManus . At its rotten root this serpentine movement of the Emergent Church is an attack on the Word of God and the doctrines of grace. And the bottom line here, and someone needs to say this publicly, is either the aforementioned men are Christians or men like myself and Dr. John MacArthur are. Here this clearly: Our messages are diametrically opposed. What Dr. MacArthur covers here is also contained in an excellent 10 CD set called “Spiritual Terrorism”: Everywhere in the world, biblical truth is under attack. What may surprise you is that the most devastating ass...

John Piper - A Problem with the Infomercial Gospel in New Evangelicalism Published September 5th, 2007 by Editor in Rick Warren , Megachurches , Purpose Driven , Seeker Sensitive , New Evangelicalism In this short video clip John Piper uncovers the faulty reasoning behind today’s infomercial gospel preached by new breed pastors like Rick Warren, his disciple Perry Noble and then his disciple Steven Furtick. Piper says this kind of centered on the perceived needs and wants of the unchurched has resulted in false converts who "don’t seem to understand what receiving Christ even means”: -->

Rethinking Veggie Tales by Cathy Mickels My good friend and author Cathy Mickels wrote this piece back in 2002 about the Veggie Tales videos and their message regarding Scripture. She articulates my concerns far better than I have done today with my brief post. Cathy’s book on youth ministry was endorsed by John MacArthur for good reason. She sees Veggie Tales not as an isolated thing, as many of my critics on this issue do. She and I both see these things as part of the larger context of the evangelical meltdown. And contrary to some of those who have defended the sacred vegetables, for many children this is all they ever do get of Bible teaching in their homes. At Elmbrook Church here in the Milwaukee area, they even had the dancing vegetables on “stage”. I only wish we could get Christians as riled up defending the Scriptures as they do defending dancing cartoon veggies. Comments(17) Posted on August 30, 2007 by Ingrid

Mother Theresa; We Hardly Knew Ye Published August 24th, 2007 by Editor in General News , Catholicism , Deception We know that anytime Mother Thersa gets critiqued there is an outcry, as it is commonly viewed, by some, as the equivilent of killing a baby seal. However we are sorry to say that this is what happens when we "idolize" any person. The RCC practice of living vicariously through the "super-spiritual" is not biblical, which is why it is accepted so readily by the rest of the world. This from Time/CNN

A Call for Unfaithful Pastors to Repent! Published August 20th, 2007 by Editor in General Enough is enough! There is an plague of pastors in the church who refuse to do their Biblical duty and preach God’s word, preach sound doctrine and make disciples who are grounded in God’s word. These pastors would rather be relevant, popular, purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, hip, kewl, or emergent than do their Biblical duty. It is time to call these men out and call them to repentance. Here is a link to a web-page written by Chris Rosebrough of Extreme Theology that you can send to those pastors who refuse to do their Biblical duty. Please take the time to pass it on to those pastors who need to repent and get back to preaching God’s Word and Christ Crucified for sinners. -->

Why do I Believe the Bible is the word of God? This is a question that every believer never thought he or she would have to answer. Not only has this topic brought such controversy among non-believers of all generations but it’s also happening today among evangelicals. We can understand the position of the nonbelievers because the truth of the word of God has been blinded to them and the only way to ‘see’ is to come into the light of Jesus Christ (Eph 4:18), but it is particularly saddening to see this doubt among born again Christians. This fact shouldn’t need defending, or better yet, even be brought up among fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. But, the question remains: Is the Bible the complete living, breathing, word of God? The obvious answer to this question is YES! With the word of God as the base, it will be demonstrated that there are no contradictions or errors in the Bible because Heb 4:12 tells us "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any tw...

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c3e67286080500df36a9 I have two words "simply amazing

A Prayerful Hymn Regarding False Teachers O Lord, look down from Heaven, beholdAnd let Thy pity waken:How few are we within Thy fold,Thy saints by men forsaken!True faith seems quenched on every hand,Men suffer not Thy Word to stand;Dark times have us o’ertaken. With fraud which they themselves inventThy truth they have confounded;Their hearts are not with one consentOn Thy pure doctrine grounded.While they parade with outward show,They lead the people to and fro,In error’s maze astounded. May God root out all heresyAnd of false teachers rid usWho proudly say: “Now, where is heThat shall our speech forbid us?By right or might we shall prevail;What we determine cannot fail;We own no lord and master.” Therefore saith God, “I must arise,The poor My help are needing;To Me ascend My people’s cries,And I have heard their pleading.For them My saving Word shall fightAnd fearlessly and sharply smite,The poor with might defending.” As silver tried by fire is pureFrom all adulteration,So through ...

John MacArthur says . . . " There seems almost no limit to what modern church leaders will do to entice people who aren't interested in worship and preaching. Too many have bought the notion that the church must win people by offering an alternative form of entertainment. Just how far will the church go in competing with Hollywood? A large church in the southwestern United States has installed a half-million dollar special-effects system that can produce smoke, fire, sparks, and laser lights in the auditorium. The church sent staff members to study live special effects at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas. The pastor ended one service by ascending to "heaven" via invisible wires that drew him up out of sight while the choir and orchestra added a musical accompaniment to the smoke, fire, and light show. It was just a typical Sunday show for that pastor: "He packs his church with such special effects as ... cranking up a chain saw and toppling a tree to make a point...

Hello, My Father Just Died By Pastor John Piper The big hospital clock in room 4326 of Greenville Memorial Hospital said, with both hands straight up, midnight. Daddy had just taken his last breath. My watch said 12:01, March 6, 2007. I had slept a little since his last morphine shot at ten. One ear sleeping, one on the breathing. At 11:45, I awoke. The breaths were coming more frequently and were very shallow. I will not sleep again, I thought. For ten minutes, I prayed aloud into his left ear with Bible texts and pleadings to Jesus to come and take him. I had made this case before, and this time felt an unusual sense of partnership with Daddy as I pressed on the Lord to relieve this warrior of his burden. I finished and lay down. Good. Thank you, Lord. It will not be long. And, grace upon grace, hundreds of prayers are being answered: He is not choking. The gurgling that threatened to spill over and drown him in the afternoon had sunk deep, and now there was simple clear air, short...

Jeremiah the Weeping Prophet By Mike Andrews The churches today are full of people who don’t care or don’t want to listen to men preaching God’s Word. 2Tim 4:3 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions". The church today is not much different than the times of the prophets who were preaching repentance and pleading for the nation of Israel to return back to God. Jeremiah, also known as the "weeping prophet", was the writer of the two Old Testament books Jeremiah and Lamentations. He was an ambassador sent by God to the house of Israel. Jer 7:3 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place." Jeremiah didn’t volunteer to become a preacher of the Word. The office for this (being a prophet) was reserved for those who were divinely called. Jeremiah was one of those pri...

New Pilgrim’s Progress Movie Published August 9th, 2007 by Mike Ratliff in Pilgrim's Progress There is a new movie based on John Bunyan’s great allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, that is nearing the end of post production. It is called "Pilgrim’s Progress - The Journey to Heaven." Here is a link to the movie website . Watch the trailer. I don’t know how well it will portray our spiritual journey, but I intend to see it when it is released and will post a review. -->

Brian McLaren of the Emerging Church is an Apostate and a Liar Published August 9th, 2007 by Ken Silva in Emerging Church , Brian McLaren , Apostasy …guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge" – which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith… (1 Timothy 6:20-21) From a "May/June 2007" interview with Brian McLaren at The Wittenburg Door : DOOR: Could you elaborate on the spiritual breakdown you had in the early ’90s, which led to the A New Kind of Christian trilogy? MCLAREN: In the early and mid-’90s, I starting doubting the systematic theologies I’d inherited. I didn’t know you were allowed to believe in God outside of a prescribed systematic theology. So, I had to go through kind of a deconstruction and reconstruction. The process was really scary, because I had no guarantees. I remember reaching a very low point and thinking, "I’m either going to have...

It All Began with Men Who Fought for the Truth! When we think of the Reformation today, we think of the separation between born again evangelicals and the Roman Catholic church. We think of saved by grace through faith and the Catholic's view of saved by works and the church of Rome. But there was so much more to it. We had Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses of Contention to the church of Rome which began a major turn for the church of Jesus Christ. People started reading the Bible for themselves. The people began to turn to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ instead of the Pope. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin were great men who took a stand for the truth, even if it meant losing their lives for that truth. However, if we look back, even before Luther, we get a glimpse of a man who we would call a 'lesser known' proponent of the Reformation because he wasn't there to see the separation of the Catholics and the beginning of the Protestant church; his name is John Hu...

6 main ingredients to having spiritual joy 1. Joy is a gift from God (Ps 16:11) You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 2. God grants Joy to those who believe the Gospel (John 15:11) These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 3. Joy is produced by God the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 4. Joy is experienced most fully as believers receive and obey God's Word (Jer 15:16) Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by Your name, O LORD, God of hosts. 5. Joy is deepened through trials (1 Thess 1:6) And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,6. Believer's joy is made complete when...

Persecution Among Christians By Mike Andrews We live in a world that is so full of sin and unrighteousness that they have become blinded to what is going on around them because of their selfishness. We are a world of people who accept all types of religions but hate Christianity and anything that deals with Christ Jesus. If you say to someone who is lost in sin or who is a worshipper of a false god, that the Jesus is the only way to attain eternal life (John 14:6), those people would look at you with hate and resentment and say "you are so narrow-minded".If today's world could only see past their blindness and see the lives of people who stand for the Gospel of Christ. They need to know about those who die and are persecuted in so many ways each year for their faith in China and around the world in areas that are heavily populated with Muslims or other false faiths.Its one thing to say you are a Christian, but it is a serious matter when you are willing to die or take the...