Random Selections

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A convicting insight from a Mennonite gospel tract.

Mennonite Children

An honest evaluation reveals that not all is well today with twenty-first century Christianity. There are trends that should alarm us, even among the so-called fundamentalists. One of these trends needing urgent attention is the loss of holiness—the absence of a Bible-based, God honoring expression in the daily lives of many professing believers in Christ. True Christianity is not just a talk but also a walk, a way of life. . . . But today, mainstream Christianity has exchanged piety for pleasure, conscience for convenience, and modesty for moral looseness. People have taken God’s holy Son and reduced Him to a “popular” Jesus. He is now supposedly the Jesus of the professional athlete, of the country rock singer, and of the seminude beauty contestant. This Jesus supposedly smiles and forgives as unisex, divorce and remarriage, immodest dress (undress), fashion, sports, and the pleasure craze, along with the health-and-wealth gospel, settle into comfortable acceptance in many church circles. Dear friends, this is not the Jesus I know, and this is not the Jesus of the Bible!

– From the Mennonite gospel tract What Happened to Holiness?

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Perry Noble’s message from AC/DC Sunday

perry-noble

Well, I went and did it. I took the plunge and listened to Perry Noble’s message from this past AC/DC Resurrection Sunday. Nah, I wasn’t surprised. Just the kind of ear-ticklingly good pop-psychology pep-talk I expected. With a little bit about Jesus thrown in. Here’s the summary:

  • 1st 4 minutes–Talked about American Idol. Not a word about how Satanic music relates to what he is going to talk about.
  • Talked about how salvation is “Not a program, or a process, but a person.”
  • Tells us how Jesus can make our life exciting and fun this side of eternity…and after we die, too.
  • Funny story about Sunday School teacher at NewSpring, and how his kid had to pee at the mall. I kid you not.
  • Reads Matthew 7:14-15. Still no mention of how joining the temple of God with idols is relevant to his message.
  • Tells funny story about driving around Buckhead (Atlanta) and a traffic cop telling him to get out of the intersection–and how he wanted to “run him over.” I kid you not.
  • Displays firm grasp on the obvious by spending about 3 minutes talking about how we’re all going to die.
  • Spends about a minute and a half talking about how Hell is real and it’s hot. Misses chance to use Scripture that talks about fire never being quenched and worms never dying, or even the purpose of Hell.
  • Mentions how God doesn’t compare us to other people but to Christ. OK, maybe things are looking up.
  • Or not. Goes into discussion about popular movies (A Time To Kill, Ransom), and that we’re all bad guys. Includes funny story about his daughter running in to his study and counting to 10. I kid you not.
  • Mentions Romans 3:10, 3:23. Misses chance to talk about how we are God’s enemy, about sin, or repentance.
  • Talked about how salvation is “Not a program, or a process, but a person.”
  • Tells funny story about dead chickens in Kenya. I kid you not.
  • Tells us that Jesus left Heaven to come here, asking us “Can you imagine leaving that kind of comfort?” Yeah, comfort. Nothing about Jesus’ perfect communion with God. Nothing about the glory He shared with the Father. It’s all about comfort. I kid you not.
  • Tells us that “Jesus came to rescue us and set us free.” Free from what? Hell. O………K. Still no mention of sin. Still no mention of repentance. Still no mention of how rehearsing and performing Hell-glorifying music is supposed to glorify the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
  • Talked about how salvation is “Not a program, or a process, but a person.”
  • Spends 7 minutes describing the physical aspect of the Passion Week and the crucifixion. No mention of WHY JESUS HAD TO DIE.
  • 30:00 until the end (about 20 minutes in all)–invitation, slow music, guilt-laden manipulation, and 300 people “met Jesus.” Still no mention of how rehearsing and performing Hell-glorifying music is supposed to glorify the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In all, the Lord Jesus Christ merits about 10 minutes out of 50. Hell gets about 90 seconds. The rest of the time is filled with fluff about movies, little girls counting to ten, and kids peeing at the mall–with a couple Bible verses sprinkled here and there. No mention of how our sins grieve the heart of God. No mention of WHY Jesus had to die to rescue us from Hell (Because, you know, it’s all about us). No mention of what is required on our part after we “Know Jesus” (You know, all that repentance and sanctification and holiness stuff we Pharisees are so worried about). No mention of whether they told people, “Yeah, we know we played Satanic music in our service. But that was just to get you in the door. Now that you’re here, don’t listen to it, OK? Yes, that’s right. Do as we say, not as we do. Sin? Ah, don’t worry about it. You know Jesus, you don’t have to worry about all that stuff.”

He had a platform to present the Law, to warn people about WHY we need to be rescued from Hell, to provide chapter and verse from the LIVING WORD OF GOD, and to let the Holy Spirit speak from the word He spoke to the holy men of old. And instead he filled people’s time with a happy little pep talk about movies, kids, and cops.

And Satanic music.

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Barack O’Telepromter: So Christian, he can’t stand to see Christ’s name

teleprompterhelmet1

Not sure which is more telling. The fact that Barack O’Telepromter is ashamed to have people see the name of Christ. Or that the Roman Catholic goatherders at Georgetown University acquiesced to his wishes. From FOXNews:

Georgetown University hid a religious inscription representing the name of Jesus during President Obama’s address there Tuesday, FOXNews.com has confirmed, because White House staff asked the school to cover up all religious symbols and signs while the president was on stage.
The monogram IHS, whose letters spell out the name of Jesus, and which normally perches above the stage in Gaston Hall where the president spoke, was covered over with what appeared to be black wood during the address.

“In coordinating the logistical arrangements for the event, Georgetown honored the White House staff’s request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind the Gaston Hall stage,” university spokesman Andy Pino told FOXNews.com.

One correction to this story: The letters “IHS” do not spell out the name of Christ. They stand for the Latin phrase, “In hoc signum vinces” which means “In this sign–conquer” and was coined by Emperor Constantine.

So here is the Telepromter of the United States, a man who is angered by ANYONE who DARES question the fact he is a Christian, showing the world that he is indeed ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Didn’t he trot out George Snuffalupagus to be his little lap dog to do a softball interview in which O’Telepromter sternly defended his Muslim faith his Christian faith? Didn’t all the news outlets that anointed him our Messiah go to great lengths to show us a man who loved Jesus? Who attended church regularly?

Oh, and here’s another little nugget. During this speech, O’Teleprompter had this to say:

Now, there’s a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men. The first built his house on a pile of sand, and it was soon destroyed when a storm hit. But the second is known as the wise man, for when “the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”

It was founded upon a rock. We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity — a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest; where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad.

 

Uh, Barry. Ya might want to dust off your Bible before you start quoting it. Number one, this passage IS NOT ABOUT MONEY! It’s actually about something you have not shown you can do: hear the words of Christ and LIVE BY THEM. That includes that little command about “Whoever obeys my commands loves Me.” The first command: Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And since you are ashamed of the name of Christ, you have shown that you cannot obey that command, so you have just shown yourself to be the man who builds his house on sand. And how great your fall shall be!

Second, Barry, you got the order of the houses backward. The FIRST man built his house upon rock, the SECOND built his house upon sand. Yeah, dig that Bible out from under your Qu’ran and crack it open once in a while and you might actually know what you’re talking about.

And there stands the Whore of Babylon the Harlot on 7 Hills the Roman Catholic church bowing down and kissing his feet and showing the world that they are indeed apostate and desire the praise of men more than the praise of God. Although this shouldn’t be surprising, seeing as how they consider Muslims to be their brothers. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day” (Paragraph 841 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).

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Another attempted murder of a baby by abandonment in the trash.

cartoon-abortionYet another story of a baby abandoned in a trash can. A couple differences in this story from the others out there: This happened in an airplane and the mother and the child she attempted to kill have been “reunited.” Huh?

Gates-Bowey said late Thursday the woman had undergone surgery at Auckland‘s Middlemore Hospital and was later reunited with her baby. Its gender has not been disclosed.

“We are relieved to have been informed that both mother and child are reunited, are well and are now being looked after in hospital,” Pacific Blue said in a statement Thursday.

Read the story here.

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Update on the post: “Proof That There’s a Hell and a Loving God Will Send The Wicked There.”

belkis-gonzalesThis is the face of a cold-blooded murderer of innocent, defenseless children.

DefCon first reported on this horrendous story here. Now, not only do we have a picture of this evil monster who has the blood of the innocent on her hands, but we also have an update on the story.

Belkis Gonzalez was finally arrested in relation to the murder of a child in 2006 after the baby–intended to be murdered in the womb legally–was born alive and was then murdered outside the womb illegally (if that makes any sense).

The mother of the child was 23 weeks pregnant.

Unfortunately, Belkis Gonzalez is not being charged with murder, infanticide, child abuse, child neglect, or even battery. She’s only being charged with practicing medicine without a license and tampering with evidence. Why? Because:

Authorities were unable to definitively determine the cause of death — and Gonzalez’s role in it — preventing the State Attorney’s Office from charging her with murder or manslaughter, Griffith said.

I think there’s enough reasonable suspicion to charge her with murder based on this quote:

The teenage mother, Sycloria Williams, has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gonzalez knocked the infant off the chair where she had given birth, and then scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag, and threw it out.

Read more of the update here.

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Dr. Steven J. Lawson–“Only One Way” (Galatians 1:6-1:10)

 Continuing in the series entitled “Paul’s Most Explosive Letter,” Dr. Lawson preaches through the section aimed specifically at the Judaizers in the Galatian church. But this admonition is also aimed at those who would add one iota to the gospel–whether they be Catholics with their Magesterium, Jehovah’s Witnesses with their “Watchtower,” Mormons with their Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine &Covenants, teachings of the living prophet (which they change more than they change their underwear), etc.

In fact, at one point, Dr. Lawson uses some frank terminology, and lets it be known that anyone who preaches a false gospel should, quote, “go to Hell.” He does not use this term to cuss, or for shock value. In fact, you will never hear Dr. Lawson say anything to “shock and awe” anybody. He is stating that anyone who adds anything to the work of Christ should be sent to the lowest, hottest depths of Hell.

In fact, those who add to the gospel will be in a part of Hell deeper and hotter than even Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. Because those men only killed the body, whereas the teachings of men like Charles Taze Russell, Joseph Smith, Muhammed, Buddha, etc have led many to spend their eternity in Hell.

Here is the third of this series going verse-by-verse through what Dr. Lawson calls “Paul’s Most Explosive Letter.” You can listen by left-clicking this link.

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Lessons from Coach.

voddie-baucham The following is a heart-wrenching excerpt from Voddie Baucham’s book Family Driven Faith:

Over the years Coach and I have kept in contact. Every once in a while I pick up the phone and catch up with Coach. Recently I discovered that he had fallen on hard times. He had finally retired and didn’t know what to do with himself. What’s worse, his marriage of over twenty-five years had recently ended. At first I wondered what could possibly have gone wrong. Then it dawned on me. We saw a committed coach who arrived early every morning; his wife saw a man who was never home when she got up in the morning. We saw him as committed; she saw him as overextended. We saw him as a confidant who was always there for us; his children saw a man who was more of a father to strangers than he was to them. Now he spends his nights alone missing the woman who spent a quarter of a century missing him. He sits at home reminiscing about the house he was so committed to that he drove an hour to work every day rather than moving. He yearns for time with his kids, but that time is scarce because they are busy doing what he didn’t—spending time with their families. His days are spent with his elderly father, and occasionally he has a chance to watch his grandkids play ballgames, something I’m sure he wishes he had done more with his children. Every once in a while someone from the past calls and asks, “How’s it going, Coach?” A few minutes later the reminiscing is over, the voice from the past is gone, and Coach is alone with his memories. And all he has to show for it are a few trophies, a couple of pictures, and some patches on an old, faded jacket. I cried when I got off the phone that night. . . . All of the pictures came together, and I finally saw the truth that had been there all along. This man who had meant the world to me had sacrificed his family on the alter of his career, and I was oblivious to it. I considered it normal, even admirable. Suddenly, all these years later, I went from admiring Coach to feeling sorry for him. I saw the trade-off, and it wasn’t worth it. The occasional thanks of strangers will never dull the pain of years missed with your family. Needless to say, when I got off the phone with Coach, I spent some time with my kids. It turns out Coach still had lessons to teach.

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Dr. Steven J. Lawson: Paul Gets to the Point (Galatians 1:1-5)

Today continues a series of sermons from Dr. Steven J. Lawson, pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, AL. In today’s message, Paul spells it out, in no uncertain terms, to his detractors that he is indeed an apostle of the risen Christ.

Here is the second of this series that goes verse-by-verse through what Dr. Lawson calls “Paul’s Most Explosive Letter.” You can listen by left-clicking this link, or you can download it by right-clicking and choosing “Save Target As” in Internet Explorer (”Save Link As” in Mozilla Firefox).

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Proof that there’s a Hell and a loving God will send the wicked there.

garbage-bag This shocking story out of Florida of the murder of a child under the pretense of “choice” is proof enough for me that there’s a Hell. For if there was no punishment for this wickedness God would fail to be just.

And on a side note, had the murderous blood-shedding “doctor” arrived on time and the baby girl was executed the “normal” way, this would have never made the news. So what’s the difference?

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When preachers waste their pulpit

Excellent post by Dan Phillips at Pyromaniacs. A welcome warning for all the mealy-mouthed preachers whose sole aim is to make everyone within earshot confident that they are good and wonderful people who deserve to live a happy life, and that God accepts them just the way they are and has a wonderful plan for their lives–until, that is, they stand before Him and He tells them “Depart!”

This one guy — he tells jokes. Now, anyone who’s heard me preach knows I’ve no problem with humor in the service of a Biblical message. The Bible does it, Spurgeon did it, I do it.

But that isn’t the aim here. That isn’t the purpose. No, these are jokes with the sole purpose of making the joker look cute and clever and witty. “Oh, please — like me,” these jokes wail. “Love me. Think I’m cool!” The audience chuckles, and has a good time. Some of them go off to Hell chuckling. Others become a reproach to their professed Lord as they do what sheep characteristically do, without a shepherd.

Then there’s this other guy, who gets up and chats. He shares, he randomly free-associates. Word flow, unfiltered, from imagination to mouth. He poses questions to which he offers no answer. Then he shrugs and wanders on. People leave with never a “Thus says the Lord” to challenge their thinking and point them to Christ.

Yet a third fellow tells stories, as if Garrison Keillor were his model for preaching rather than Isaiah or Paul, Wesley, Whitfield, Spurgeon, or Ryle. They are stories of which the only point is the story itself, or the cleverness of the storyteller. They serve the end of entertaining the audience, or provoking its admiration, or filling time inoffensively. They’ll go off to Hell, or to shame Christ, with a nice story in their ears.

[…]

You can bet I’m sitting there fuming, and internally shouting these words: “You had that pulpit, these people, this opportunity — and you did that with it? What, in the name of all that’s holy, were you thinking? You may never see these people again! Nobody may ever see them again! That may have been your one opportunity — and you do that with it? Why did you even get up there? Why are you even a pastor?“

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Sermon of the week: “Sola Fide – The Supremacy of God in Salvation” by Brian Borgman.

Brian Borgman Your sermon of the week is part seven of a fantastic thirteen-part series on the doctrines of grace. Sola Fide – The Supremacy of God in Salvation by Brian Borgman is from his series Introduction to the Reformed Faith.

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Super Bowl Sunday – Worshipping the god of Football!

This video shows what is really important to some people. At least, this so-called “church” was willing to be honest enough to admit to their friends, family, and neighbors that the god of football is MORE important than the worship of the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe! NewSpring Church Social Clubs have decided that the American god of football is worth putting aside collective worship at the feet of the Saviour. Once again, a shining example of “spiritual leadership” in action with Perry and his groupies!

From an eternal perspective, here is the question — What does the Holy God of heaven say about having no other gods before Him? Oh, I forgot, that is the Old Testament and no longer applicable, right??? WRONG ANSWER!

Super Bowl Promo 2009 Video from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

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Quiz for 1/26/2009

OK, here is another quiz for you.

The question this time is, what kind of worship is the following quote describing? And, as usual, no fair Googling.

“The emphasis [is on] psychophysical relatedness and subjective experience…The transcendence of the deity is overcome in the ecstasy of feeling. Sensory participation  is featured. Images are necessary-the bolder, the more colorful, the more sensational, the better. Music and dance become the means for drawing persons out of their private diversities and merging them into a mass response…worship [is] reduced to the spiritual stature of the worshipper. Its canons are that it should be interesting, relevant, and exciting.”

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Ch-ch-ch-changes.

Three men.

Three quotes.

Who said it?

number-1 “I am opposed to abortion and to government funding of abortions. We should not spend state funds on abortions because so many people believe abortion is wrong.”

number-2 “There are those who argue that the right to privacy is of [a] higher order than the right to life … that was the premise of slavery. You could not protest the existence or treatment of slaves on the plantation because that was private and therefore outside your right to be concerned.

What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person and what kind of a society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question, the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mind-set with regard to the nature and worth of life itself that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth.”

number-3“While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized — the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grown old.

I share the confidence of those who feel that America is working to care for its unwanted as well as wanted children, protecting particularly those who cannot protect themselves. I also share the opinions of those who do not accept abortion as a response to our society’s problems — an inadequate welfare system, unsatisfactory job training programs, and insufficient financial support for all its citizens.

When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.”

Click on “Continue Reading” below for the answers:


Continue reading →

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God ONLY Saves Bad People!

In this brief video from Truth Crossing, Art Azurdia shares the truth of God’s Word.  All men are created equal, but that equality is found in man’s total depravity!  Man is NOT just depraved, but because of our inherited sin nature, he is also totally unable to come to the foot of the cross OR do anything to please the Most High God of Heaven!

Are YOU a bad person??