PASTOR'S CORNER

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