Author: Pilgrim

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Philip Yancey: Keynote speaker at a 2011 homosexual Christian conference.

Christian author and editor-at-large for Christianity Today, Philip Yancey, will be the keynote speaker at the Gay Christian Network’s upcoming 2011 conference.

Here’s a link to a Q&A with Philip Yancey from 2009 on the topic of homosexuality.

There’s nothing more I can add to Ingrid Schlueter’s remarks (summing up what we are beholding) when she said the following in response to this news:

“Evangelicals once prided themselves that they were not like those small-minded fundamentalists who erected walls around their beliefs and stuck to the Bible. Evangelicals were different, they claimed, because they believed in lowering the drawbridge into the culture so that the church could intermingle. Well, all these years later, evangelicalism is indistinguishable from the culture around it, this story being a case in point. That’s because the lowered drawbridge of evangelicalism wasn’t sending out soldiers of Christ intent on evangelizing the lost. It was sending traffic from the world’s culture straight into the heart of the church. Traffic goes both ways on a drawbridge, and nobody bothered to stand watch at evangelicalism’s gate.”

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Old Mormon vs New Mormon: Celestial Marriage.

DefCon presents another installment of Old Mormon vs New Mormon.

See our previous installment Old Mormon vs New Mormon: The Missouri Prophecies here.

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Quotes (831)

The Apostle Paul commended the Berean Church for using Scriptures to verify the truthfulness of his teaching. It is clear that since an apostle, who penned over half the New Testament was tested by the Bible, all religious teachers must come under the same scrutiny. Have you checked the teachings of your religious leaders with the Bible?

–          Mike Gendron

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Sermon of the week: “The Sanctifying Shepherd” by John MacArthur.

John MacArthur Another great message for your sermon of the week, The Sanctifying Shepherd, was delivered at the 2009 Resolved Conference

John MacArthur has a bold proclamation for pastors: Quit trying to be funny and entertaining; be a sanctifying shepherd to your congregation. And if you’re not a pastor, MacArthur’s plea to you is: find a sanctifying shepherd to be your pastor.

A candid message that I wish most pastors I know would listen to.

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Quotes (830)

A W PinkIf we enjoy the favor of the Lord, it is certain that we will be out of favor with those who hate Him. He has plainly warned, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:19). It is useless to suppose that, by acting prudently and circumspectly, we can avoid this. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). It is only by unfaithfulness, by hiding our light under a bushel, by compromising the Truth, by attempting to serve two masters, that we can escape “the reproach of Christ” (Hebrews 11:26).

– A. W. Pink

1886 – 1952

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Quotes (829)

I remember when I was preparing to take my first trip to Sudan in 2004. . . . A couple months before we left, I received a Christian news publication in the mail. . . . On the left one headline read, “First Baptist Church Celebrates New $23 Million Building.” A lengthy article followed, celebrating the church’s expensive new sanctuary. The exquisite marble, intricate design, and beautiful stained glass were all described in vivid detail.

On the right was a much smaller article. The headline for it read, “Baptist Relief Helps Sudanese Refugees.” Knowing I was about to go to Sudan, my attention was drawn. The article described how 350,000 refugees in western Sudan were dying of malnutrition and might not live to the end of the year. It briefly explained their plight and sufferings. The last sentence said that Baptists had sent money to help relieve the suffering of the Sudanese. I was excited until I got to the amount. . . . “Baptists have raised $5,000 to send to refugees in western Sudan.”

Five thousand dollars. That is not enough to get a plane into Sudan, much less one drop of water to people who need it. Twenty-three million dollars for an elaborate sanctuary and five thousand dollars for hundreds of starving men, women, and children, most of whom were dying apart from faith in Christ.

Where have we gone wrong? How did we get to the place where this is actually tolerable?

– David Platt

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The CRC sign truck ministry needs your help.

Below are some of the details about the Christian Research & Counsel sign truck ministry and how you can help out.

We (Gery Cuprisin and Tom Jones) are going to take the CRC SignTruck on the first of three mission trips in response to the current Mormon TV commercials running in 9 test markets around the country. From Dec 7 thru Dec 14, we will cover three of the test markets by driving the SignTruck around those cities for a full day each, sending people to the web site for eternal life-saving information. We’ll also spend some time driving around each Temple city (see map below) along the way.

You can help to make this trip successful!

We need your help in the following ways:

•  Driver Volunteer to pick up WhatMormonsDontTell.com Jackets from the Logofactory in Palmyra and take them to Rochester this Friday, Saturday or Monday (drop off location to be determined). Call me (Tom) at 727-667-4112 to sign up.
•  Host the SignTruck missionaries for one night during our week-long trip to Florida (between Wednesday night, Dec 8 and Tuesday night Dec 14. See “Trip 1” on map below). Our only requirements will be a place for two men to sleep and shower. I’ll attach a map of the three mission trips. For now, we are concerned only with Trip 1 — but if you can look ahead to May or June, 2011, please volunteer now to host the SignTruck missionaries for one of those trips. Of course, the hosts will have to be within a reasonable driving distance of the interstate highway system along our planned route (the routes indicated on the map are simplified and do not reflect the actual highways). Call me (Tom) at 727-667-4112 to sign up.
•  Set up a Drive-by seminar to educate your Sunday School class, Youth Group (target group, must see!),small group, or church about the dangers of Mormonism and how to help Mormons see the spiritual trouble they are in without quarreling. If your group can meet within a reasonable distance from our basic route (see map above) we’d like to stop and conduct a two-part seminar to equip the body of Christ to warn others about Mormonism and witness effectively to Mormons. No fees charged. Donations accepted but not expected. Note the tentative dates on the map above and sign up now for Trip 1, 2, or 3 ! Call me (Tom) at 727-667-4112 for details and promo materials (poster and audio teaser announcement).
• Help with a donation. Thanks to our generous supporters, we are now debt-free but have not yet raised enough funds for all three trips. Please help with a generous year-end, tax deductible gift to CRC so that we can continue planning for all three trips. Time is of the essence as this is a currently running advertising test market by the Mormon Church and, to be the most effective, we must act while the topic is still fresh on the mind of the public.
• NEWS MEDIA. If you know someone with any of your local news media, or national news media for that matter, please call them and let them know what we are doing. Ask me to forward them our “Press Release”. 727-667-4112
• PRAYER REQUEST. I am scheduled for hernia surgery on Dec 17 and, yet, my surgeon has consented to my going on this mission trip. Please pray that Lord will fix it for me. But, in case He decides that’s a bit too dramatic for me, pray that I can get through the week without any emergencies which would spoil my surgery plans (especially my choice of surgeons) or hamper the mission trip. Pray for Gery, too, as he will be doing all the heavy lifting during the trip. Finally, lift up all those who need to hear our message and ask for many divine appointments along the way. Pray that we will be able to focus on preaching Christ and not merely exposing Mormonism’s deceit.
Thanks for whatever you can do to help!
Blessings,
Tom     ><>
Christian Research & Counsel
3500 12th Ave N
St Petersburg FL 33713
727-667-4112 (Cell)
“Belief without proof is faith. Belief in spite of proof is folly.”


 

http://www.WhatMormonsDontTell.com

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Quotes (828)

The duty of the true Christian is clear and plain. Whatever others do, he must give all diligence to make his own calling and election sure. While others are occupied in national conflicts and political speculations, he must steadily seek first the kingdom of God. In so doing, he shall feel his feet upon a rock when the foundations of the earth are out of course, and the kingdoms of this earth are going to ruin. He shall be like Noah, safe within the ark.

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

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Sermon of the week: “The Pelagians” by Phil Johnson.

We continue our series A Survey of Heresies by Phil Johnson. In this series Johnson has examined the major heresies that have plagued Christianity throughout the years. This installment is The Pelagians.

Our final installment comes in two weeks.

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Sermon builder: Preparing a sermon.

The following is the complete Sermon Builder found here on the Shepherd’s Conference website:

Welcome to the Sermon Builder – a step-by-step guide for expository sermon preparation. While the Sermon Builder will not write someone’s sermon for them, it is intended to lead pastors and Bible teachers through the basic steps of exegesis and exposition. It is our desire that even the experienced expositor, as he works his way through the Sermon Builder, will be refreshed and reminded of helpful principles and truths.

The Sermon Builder has divided the sermon building process into four main stages: 1) Preparation, 2) Precision, 3) Production, and 4) Presentation. Later stages can be accessed immediately by clicking on the corresponding link at the top of the page. Each stage is divided into specific steps. By clicking “next” or “back” users can navigate from one step to the next.

With each step, users can also click on the online links listed to the right of the text. These links are designed to give the user immediate access to helpful resources and sermon building tools.

Continue reading →

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A little bit of Heaven in a mall food court.

This video moved me to tears. It is an encouragement for those who belong to the Lord to see Him glorified so beautifully in song in the unlikeliest of places. I liken this video to things yet to come in two ways:

1). The beautiful worship of the Lamb that was slain by His redeemed one’s that will take place in Heaven.

2). This performance was done in spite of most in the mall where the glory of God was the furthest thing from their minds, much like those on the Day of Judgment will bow their knee and proclaim Jesus as Lord in spite of living their lives where the glory of God was the furthest thing from their minds. Those on Judgment Day will have no way to stop their compulsion to proclaim Jesus as Lord, much like those in the food court had no way to stop those who were singing praises of the risen Savior .


HT: Standing for Truth

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Quotes (826)

martyn-lloyd-jones1 I believe that Christian parents and children, Christian families, have a unique opportunity of witnessing to the world at this present time by just being different. We can be true evangelists by showing this discipline, this law and order, this true relationship between parents and children.

– David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

1899 – 1981

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Sermon of the week: “The Arians” by Phil Johnson.

We continue our series of the five major heresies that the Church has had to deal with–and still does–since the first century.

This week Phil Johnson delivers a two-part message on The Arians from his series, A Survey of Heresies:

The Arians (Part 1)

The Arians (Part 2)

Johnson does a fantastic job explaining the history of Arianism in addition to detailing what happened at the Council of Nicea, and shows that the Arians of the early church are the Jehovah’s Witnesses of today.

See the previous heresies covered by Phil Johnson: The Judiazers (here) and The Gnostics (here).

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A story about a Presbyterian church, the Boyscouts, and Mormonism.

Back in September we reported on a sad co-mingling with Mormonism by a Presbyterian church (see Compromising with a cult), but today we are pleased to report of another Presbyterian church not willing to compromise with LDS, much to the chagrin of some Mormons.

Hats off to Christ Covenant Church for being one of the few churches left in America who stills sees a difference between truth and error, right and wrong, and light and darkness.

This story was first reported here in the Charlotte Observer and contained the typical appeals from Mormons for us to accept them as true Christians (citing such evidences as the name of their church and a picture of “Jesus” in their living room as proof of their Christianity). The story also has a bit of irony to it when it reports:

“Mormon Bishop Rowlan, who heads the Stokes’ Weddington church, would not say whether he would be open to naming a non-Mormon as a Scouting leader.

‘I’d have to take each one on an individual basis,’ he said, adding that that is the policy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

The folks over at Mormon Coffee did a great job answering some of the remarks made in the article found on their site here, and they even went so far as to answer inevitably predictable questions here.

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American Christianity: “Cheerful platitudes and advice for successful living.”

The United Kingdom’s The Guardian has published a scathing indictment of the American mainstream church that Ingrid Schlueter described as:

Imagine finding the most incisive, succinct description of empty evangelicalism you’ve ever seen, and finding it in the UK’s left-wing Guardian newspaper.

The entire article, Crystal Cathedral Had It’s Day, can be read here. It’s certainly an article worth the read, but if you’re still reluctant I’ve provided the following quote to whet your whistle.

But there is nothing new under the sun. Saddleback and the Crystal Cathedral, Willow Creek and all the other evangelical megachurches that have had their time in the sun sell the same product: mind-power through talk-magic, which in secular packaging is just what all the innumerable therapies and self-help programmes on the market promise. In the US, where school psychologists are almost as common as school nurses, we are obsessed with talk therapies because they are in fact ecumenical and secularised versions of evangelical Christianity, our old time religion.

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Of temples and bookstores.

I wouldn’t have bothered posting this video but I found the second half of it very interesting. They take a video camera into a Mormon bookstore (Deseret Books) and show us some of the items being sold. You may be surprised at what you see.

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Quotes (825)

Let us carefully remember that our blessed Lord suffered and died of His own free will. He did not die because He could not help it; He did not suffer because He could not escape. All the soldiers of Pilate’s army could not have taken Him, if He had not been willing to be taken. They could not have hurt a hair of His head, if He had not given them permission. But here, as in all His earthly ministry, Jesus was a willing sufferer. He had set His heart on accomplishing our redemption. He loved us, and gave Himself for us, cheerfully, willingly, gladly, in order to make atonement for our sins. It was “the joy set before Him” which made Him endure the cross, and despise the shame, and yield Himself up without reluctance into the bands of His enemies. Let this thought abide in our hearts, and refresh our souls. We have a Savior who was far more willing to save us than we are willing to be saved. If we are not saved, the fault is all our own. Christ is just as willing to receive and pardon, as He was willing to be taken prisoner, to bleed, and to die.

– J. C. Ryle

1816 – 1900