But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.
– 2 Corinthians 11:3-4
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“If the ark and the tabernacle had to be built exactly according to God’s plan, should not the Church also be built according to His plan? Surely the Bride of Christ is of even greater importance than the ark or the tabernacle.”
– Trevor Mcllwain
In the construction of any building, the foundations are the first part of the structure to be prepared. The majority of Gospel preaching, however, is usually done with very little foundational preparation. This lack has contributed to a multitude of false professions and the uncertainty of many new Christians about the foundations of their faith.
– Trevor Mcllwain
Is it me, or is something missing from the message of these new evangelicals?
See the following related posts:
Priorities Completely Out of Whack
Distractions, Distractions, Distractions
How could He who is infinitely holy disregard sin and refuse to manifest His “severity” (Romans 11:22) toward it? How could He who delights only in that which is pure and lovely, not loathe and hate that which is impure and vile? The very nature of God makes Hell as real a necessity, as imperatively and eternally requisite, as Heaven is.
– A.W. Pink
1886 – 1952
I am happy to announce that Pastor Brian Culver of Time 2 Change Churches, Open the Bible, and Feed Your Spirit Ministries has joined the DefCon team in the Truth War. Please welcome him in the battle to defend truth and contend for the faith as the DefCon 6 now becomes the DefCon 7.
While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves—blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.
– A. W. Tozer
1897 – 1963
So really, what’s the difference?
The most formidable, relentless, and deceptive enemy has been Roman Catholicism. It is an apostate, corrupt, heretical, false Christianity. It is a front for the kingdom of Satan. The true church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always understood this.
– John MacArthur
After congratulating comrade Barack Hussein Obama on his win, emergent heretic Doug Pagitt has now announced his intention to run for political office (see his announcement here).
To find out more about who Doug Pagitt is, check out an interview here and here on Youtube from Way of the Master Radio in which Doug Pagitt denies the existence of Hell. You can download the audio from this WOTMR episode by right clicking here.
You can also learn more about who Dog Pagitt is by viewing the video on this link of John MacArthur challenging Doug Pagitt on the issue of “Christian” Yoga. I also recommend an inside look at Pagitt’s “church” Solomon’s Porch in the video found on this link.
Many, it may be feared, appear moved and touched and roused under the preaching of the gospel, while in reality their hearts are not changed at all. A kind of animal excitement from the contagion of seeing others weeping, rejoicing, or affected is the true account of their case. . . . Reaction, after false religious excitement, is a most deadly disease of [the] soul.
– J.C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
Your sermon of the week is The Centrality of the Home by Voddie Baucham. This is a must-hear for all church pastors, youth pastors, parents, expecting parents, kids, teens, and you! But be warned, Voddie steps on toes. You can download this message from Sermon Index by right clicking here, or from Go Therefore by right clicking here.
Today DefCon celebrates its 200,000th hit since its inception on April 15, 2008. Thank you all for your faithful readership and a special thank-you to the DefCon contributors for your faithful defense of the faith. To mark this milestone I’ve unveiled a new look at the request of The Desert Pastor, so if you don’t like it you can blame him. :o)
– The Pilgrim
I couldn’t find a more appropriate quote for today than what I recently saw on a cup of Starbucks coffee. This apropos quote is by author Stephen Elliot:
“Politics is about getting outside of yourself and your own problems for a little while and fully immersing yourself in the lies and deceit of others.”
I wanted to share with you a fantastic open letter written by Ingrid Schuleter that I encourage you all to read. I can think of a few churches that should receive this letter.
Wanted: An Old Fashioned Church
To Whom it May Concern:
I’m looking for a good Christian church. I don’t want to sing songs off a wall, the same five notes, over and over and over and over again while I am lightheaded from standing so long. There’s a record of the hymns of God’s people that spans 2000 years. Why are we so arrogant as to think we don’t need those wonderful songs any longer? Have we gone through more suffering, more affliction, more pain for Jesus than those who wrote these enduring hymns? Does a semi-secular song writer in Nashville with a multi-million dollar music contract have more to say to us about God and the Christian life than the 17th-century hymn writer who lost four children and his wife during the 30 years War?
I don’t want to have my eardrums bashed in by the three kids in the “worship band” who can’t be bothered to bathe, shave, dress or comb their hair on Sunday morning. If it’s really all about the God that Scripture describes as ineffably holy, shouldn’t that be reflected in attitude and dress for those who serve in church music?
I don’t want a vampy “praise and worship” leader who is flaunting her wares at every male within view as she does her worship moves on “stage”. If we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, as Scripture tells us, than what’s all the flesh about? Can we no longer discern the difference?
I don’t want to see people in beach attire with their backsides peeping out of their shorts because they think that God isn’t worth their best efforts at dressing. “God doesn’t care about clothes, only man”, they say. But the real reason is that it’s just plain easier to cruise into church in jeans or whatever is still lying on the floor from the night before. Dressing up for worship of the Lord would cost them something, however little, and they don’t want to pay it.
I also don’t want to see all the variations on lovers’ back rubs where Chuck and Sue take turns massaging each other’s neck and shoulders during the sermon so everyone behind them is completely distracted. Behavior affects other people. Are Christians so self-absorbed that they never think about the people behind them trying to hear the message?
I don’t want to hear announcements during “worship” about the youth group pizza blast and laser tag event next Tuesday night, the need for grills for the upcoming church fun fest or jokes about how Bill burned the wieners last summer at the church picnic. Why can this not be put at the end after our “worship” is completed?
Continue reading here.
Knowing the wiles of the devil, the apostle Paul exhorts us to be purely devoted to Jesus Christ. He wrote: “I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). In Roman Catholicism, there are many diversions that lead Catholics away from Christ, but none so prevalent as their perversion of the biblical Mary.
– Mike Gendron
Check out the following piece from Apprising Ministries on the pope throwing a monkey wrench into Rick Warren’s ecumenical machine:
Ok, here’s the latest scoop on the religious scene from Apprising Ministries. Well, it turns out that Rick Warren Is Saying Protestant Reformers Luther and Calvin Were Wrong because in opposition to what these Reformers taught Purpose Driven Pope Warren has now pontificated that the Roman Catholic Church is no longer apostate and is, in very fact, once again a part of the Body of Christ.
O but wait, it gets even better because meanwhile, back at the ol’ Vatican ranch Benedict XVI, the papal pretender to being the Vicar of Christ, has said instead that Rick Warren is the one who is actually wrong. I know, I could hardly believe it myself when I heard it! Just imagine the nerve; someone dares to criticize America’s favorite social worker and Megapastor. Zowie; good thing he’s a god on earth, huh.
So now here’s the deal; you see, Rick Warren is not a Roman Catholic but is instead a decidedly—er, non-protesting *ahem* “Protestant” in the SBC—which might actually stand for Slowly Becoming Catholic. Ok, because of that fact, according to the RCC Pope it now seems that the PD Pope can’t even be “America’s pastor” anymore because he doesn’t actually pastor a real church:
Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday [July 10, 2007] that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches…
It restates key sections of a 2000 document the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, “Dominus Iesus,” which set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the “means of salvation.”
In the new document and an accompanying commentary, which were released as the pope vacations here in Italy’s Dolomite mountains, the Vatican repeated that position. (Online source)
If only this was as silly as a Hollywood gossip column. But with people’s eternal souls in the balance I’m afraid there’s nothing funny about men such as these, who for now, are peas in a very corrupt spiritual pod and speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them (1 John 4:5).
Thanks to Pastor Ken Silva for this piece. I’d like to add that I find it ironic when the very apostate Roman Catholic Church that the very apostate Saddleback Church is trying so hard to merge with refuses to consider them a legitimate Church at best and anathema at worst. What Rick Warren fails to realize is that if the world’s religions are going to merge into one anti-Chirst led conglomerate, it’s going to be under the RCC and it’s going to be on their terms, not his.
See also: All roads may not lead to Rome, but according to the pope, only Rome leads to Heaven.
By 1800 the American church was in a dismal state and ripe for anything that would offer some kind of spiritual sustenance. The Second Great Awakening, which began in 1801 in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, would fill that void and forever change Christianity in America. Sermons of substance were rapidly replaced with emotional appeals. Doctrine was steadily replaced by “conversion” stories, and the preacher’s performance became more important than what was taught. Music took on a central role as emotionalism became the order of the day. Ministers began to study “what worked” in order to draw a crowd. . . . In other words, church services became a form of entertainment.
– Gary Gilley
I just finished reading Gary Gilley’s excellent book This Little Church Went to Market. I wish I could get this quick and easy read into the hands of every Christian (especially those in the Laodicean churches).
Gilley covers such topics as the market-driven’s philosophy, music, and false gospel. He’s also not afriad to name names. I highly recommend this enlightening examination and scathing indictment of Western Christendom; it’s a book that needs to be read.
Christ Alone Wyoming 