Bible

by

The first vision.

Two brief videos on Joseph Smith’s varied first vision accounts by LDSvideo.org.

See also:

The various first visions of Joseph Smith

and

Dear Mormon: Which version of the first vision do you believe?

by

Conrad Mbewe: “Africa’s rural areas are in desperate need of the true gospel.”

An excerpt from Conrad Mbewe’s article, Africa’s rural areas are in desperate need of the true gospel.

“What struck me the most, however, was that while in Lusaka we are falling over each other to plant more and more Reformed Baptist churches, our trip in rural Zambia showed an almost complete absence of any evangelical witness, let alone any Reformed Baptist witness. Apart from one Pentecostal Assemblies of God church, the only “churches” we found in the whole area were Roman Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist, and New Apostolic churches. Inevitably, therefore, in all our conversations with the people in the villages the universal answer to the question of salvation was law and works. This was a very sad state of affairs. How could we be so negligent of the souls of our brothers and sisters in rural areas like this? Whole regions believe in a salvation by works. . . . I have said before that the price tag we place on a cause can best be seen by the price we are willing to pay for it. Missionaries sailed bloody seas in order to bring the gospel to Africa at a time when there were no modern conveniences at all on the continent. Many of them died soon after arriving due to the malaria parasite. That is how convinced they were of the value of our souls and the value of the gospel. Even today, missionaries such as the Reeces, are still willing to leave the comforts of the West to spend and be spent for the cause of the gospel in the villages of Western Province. What about us? Is the gospel not precious enough for us to relinquish the comforts of our towns and cities to take the gospel into rural Zambia and rural Africa?”

by

Here I Stand…

I want to make something clear. I am a born again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. This means I believe I was born a sinner and that my actions put me at war with God. Because of that, God will judge me for my sins and condemn me to Hell. Yet, in His mercy, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life I could not live and to die the death I deserve. Jesus rose from the grave three days later, giving me a promise of eternal life. By turning from my sin and trusting in Jesus, He takes on my sins and I receive His perfect righteousness. I have been granted eternal life and will one day be with Him forever in Heaven.

As a Christian, I believe that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God. That means it is the direct revelation of God to man. This means I believe everything it says. Everything. When it says something is a sin, it’s a sin. What culture says about it today is irrelevant. No matter how we try re-work or re-word what God has already said, His truth remains. I will not bend, I will not yield, I will stand. I will proclaim God’s word, all of it. I may be called arrogant. I may be called ignorant. I may even be called a hateful bigot. But no matter what the world thinks of me, I care more of how I am viewed by my Savior than by anyone else. Jesus paid my fine with His life’s blood. I owe Him nothing less than my total love and obedience.

Because I trust in Christ for my salvation, and because I believe God’s word is true, I will proclaim to the world that it is in sin against God. I will proclaim that through Christ and Christ alone is their salvation. I will do this because I love people far too much to leave them in the delusion that they are “OK” with God. I love them enough to warn them of the judgment that is coming. I love them enough to risk being hated by them, and even have them turn against me. If I am willing to risk my life to save a drowning man, or a child trapped in a fire, how much more must I be willing to risk my standing in people’s minds to try and rescue them from the fires of Hell. It matters not if a blind man does not believe in the cliff he is walking toward. Thus, I cannot and will not stop my warnings because people do not believe as I do. I love them too much to stop.

I make this declaration today because I believe the world is beginning to openly war against Jesus Christ and those who follow Him. I make this stand today to make it known I will stand for Him no matter how tough the opposition may be, and no matter what it may cost me personally. I declare this to let you all know that I believe the greatest love I can possibly show is to point to the way of salvation, not to allow people to remain comfortable in their sins.

In the words of the Reformation preacher Martin Luther, “Here I stand. I can do no more.”

by

It’s NOT official!

Too true . . . too funny. A classic.

by

Book recommendation: “How Do You Kill 11 Million People?” by Andy Andrews.

So exactly how did the Nazis get so many people to cooperate with them in marching toward their deaths without resistance?

This book tells you.

This was an eye-opening read and my only criticism is that its extremely short in length. I felt the author could have gone on and provided more examples and more insight, but even for its short length (you can read it in less than an hour), I was still hit by the truths presented in it. 

Watching current events unfold, this book may not only be about history, but it may very well be a warning for what’s about to come to America; and the author does not hold back from suggesting that grave possibility.

by

Sermon of the week: “The Sin of Sodom on Display in America” by Voddie Baucham.

We deviate from our current sermon series on missions (which will resume next week) to bring you Voddie Baucham’s sermon The Sin of Sodom on Display in America, from Genesis 19. (It can also be downloaded from Sermon Index here.)

Baucham completely obliterates the outlandish claims by the Bible-doesn’t-say-anything-about-homosexuality crowd who spin the lie that God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing to do with sexual immorality, and specifically, the sin of homosexuality.

Here is the description of this message from Sermon Audio:

“Genesis 19:1-11 is a clear statement on the sin of sodomy. Unfortunately, there are many in the “Christian” community who have come to doubt, or even refute this fact. The homo-sexual movement has succeeded at clouding the issue through creative exegesis, ad hominem attacks, and genetic fallacies. Nevertheless, the Bible is clear. As our church worked through The Life of Abraham, we eventually came to this seminal passage. In God’s providential timing, we reached this passage the day before the inauguration of President Barack Obama. On the morning of this message, Bishop Gene Robinson (first openly homosexual bishop in the Episcopal church) opened the festivities with his celebrated invocation.”

by

An open letter to Rosie O’Donnell.

Dear Rosie:

After watching the exchange between you and the street preacher in the brief video clip below, I felt compelled to respond.

I am not privy to the conversation between you and the men before the video began rolling so I do not know what was said, but honestly, what took place beforehand is irrelevant and does not justify what was said to you by the one with the microphone. How you were treated was appalling, despicable, and reprehensible.

It is obvious that the man insulting you and calling you names was speaking from a position of prideful arrogance and as one who does not fully understand the pit from which God saved him from (although his behavior would lead me to seriously question if he truly has been saved from anything).

On behalf of Christians, I want to publicly apologize for how you were treated. This man does not speak for, nor did his actions represent genuine, biblical Christianity. Instead, he displayed a sinfully self-righteous attitude reminiscent of that of the Pharisees.

I see very little difference between his behavior and that of the clan from the Westboro “Baptist Church.” Both come from a position of I’m superior to you because you’re a sinner, instead of coming from a position of I am a sinner saved by God’s undeserved grace and was facing God’s justly deserved wrath until He saved me for His glory.

God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). The man insulting you showed absolutely no humbleness nor concern for your soul, but instead displayed an abundantly self-righteous attitude revealing that the impetus behind his behavior was nothing but sheer pride. His harsh and demeaning words to you exposed not only his utter lack of understanding of  God’s grace and God’s mercy, but it also revealed what was in his heart (Luke 6:45) as well as his astounding ignorance of the very gospel of Jesus Christ that he claims to represent.

I seriously have to question the salvation of any professing Christian who revels and delights in the prospect of someone facing Hell–ridiculing and insulting them–instead of grieving for that perishing soul. For not even God takes pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefers for the sinner to turn from their ways (Ezekiel 18:23).

Continue reading →

by

Your podcast is not your pastor.

DefCon has been pleased to provide our readers with our sermon of the week for several years now (over 300 available in our sermons category). But we know that this comes with a caution. 

With the advent of the internet, there’s a propensity for some to withdraw from fellowship with other believers and to rely on internet sermons as their sole source of preaching.

The following article from Trevin Wax serves as a healthy reminder to not let our blessing of the availability of internet sermons become a hindrance or a curse.

“There’s been a lot of talk in the blogosphere this year about the rise of ‘celebrity pastors’ with ‘rock-star status’ and the larger-than-life influence of popular conference speakers whose sermons are downloaded by the thousands. Some have openly decried this development; others are glad that at least pastors are being celebrated. Most of us are somewhere in the middle.”

Continue reading here.

by

Book recommendation: “When a Nation Forgets God: 7 Lessons We Must Learn from Nazi Germany” by Erwin W. Lutzer

This is a fantastic book on the parallels between today’s society in America and that of Nazi Germany.

The author takes a chilling look into the similarities between the life, culture, politics, and mindset of the populace in Nazi Germany and how we are seeing history begin to repeat itself (as it often does) today. 

Here’s the book’s description:

“According to Dr. Lutzer, the German people’s progression from civility to barbarity was not extraordinary yet the Nazi regime will forever serve as an example of brutality and extreme racism run amok. More than a few benchmarks from their transition can be observed in present day American society. This book does not suggest the United States is definitely marching toward authoritarian oblivion, but that we — especially we believers — must take note of these lessons from history and be vigilant in our stand for truth, justice, and righteousness.”

This book serves as not only a history lesson, but as a warning for where we’re headed. Here is a quote from the book:

. . . [L]aws making education in public schools compulsory have historically been found in the most totalitarian of governments where state-sponsored indoctrination was a major goal of the educational system. Although it is still legal to homeschool children in America, we can’t assume that freedom will continue. . . . The children in [Nazi] Germany were subjected to films that presented the Nazis’ view that the Jews were subhuman and that they were an unnecessary burden on society. Darwin’s evolutionary notions were also presented in the classroom to extol the virtues of the Aryan race (the Germans) and that the evolutionary idea of survival of the fittest could be hurried along by the extermination of the weak. Since only the fittest survive it makes good sense that “might makes right.” Hitler asked, “Why can’t we be as cruel as nature?”

And here is another quote from the book:

When Hitler starved children, he called it putting them on a “low-calorie diet.” And the extermination of Jews was called “cleansing the land.” Euthanasia was referred to as “the best of modern therapy.” Children were put to death in “Children’s Specialty Centers.”

Hitler’s cronies seldom said they were going to kill people; even when plans were made to exterminate millions, the leaders spoke only in abstract slogans such as “the final solution.” Sanitized terms were used to camouflage unspeakable crimes. Planned massacres were spoken of in clinical terms to mislead the naïve and to assuage the conscience of the perpetrators.

We do the same, of course. No one speaks of killing preborn infants. Rather, pregnant women are only removing “a product of conception” or a woman is simply “terminating a pregnancy.” Politicians speak of being in favor of “a woman’s right to choose . . .” but they seldom complete the sentence. Somehow to say they are in favor of a woman’s right to choose to kill her preborn infant, is too honest, too clear—we might add, and too chilling.

Homosexual behavior turns out to be nothing more than “an alternate lifestyle.” And adultery is reduced to the more innocuous word: affair. Schools that demean religion and promote immorality are said to be “value free” and laws which deny religious speech are promoted as “the fairness doctrine” or simply promoting “localism.” Historically, horrendous crimes have been committed in the name of liberty.

After reading this book (and previously posting a quote from it), I was informed that the author holds to the idea of easy believeism. I did not see this presented in the book as the author dealt mostly with how history is repeating itself in politics and culture, so the book is safe for consumption in that regard.

by

The Great Exchange.

Life is filled with unanswered questions. The most troubling of which are questions surrounding the afterlife. For example: What happens to us after we die? Who will find themselves in Hell? How does someone get to Heaven?

We hear many opinions about these mysteries from family, friends, co-workers, churches, religious leaders, psychics, and even television talk show hosts. But the one issue that needs to be dealt with before we die is the one problem that people rarely—if ever—mention. It’s the dilemma they cannot account for, remedy or fix, yet it is the one thing that will determine where each and every one of us will spend eternity. This problem that I am speaking of is sin.

We all do it.

Every person who has ever lived or is living now has sinned (Romans 3:9, 3:23), and as long as we live we continue to indulge in sin (Genesis 6:5). None of us are free of sin (1 John 1:8), and God will judge us for every one of our sins, including the secret ones we thought were hidden (1 Samuel 16:7, Ecclesiastes 12:14, Romans 2:16, Romans 8:27).

Sin results in two deaths.

The sin that we inherited from Adam and the sin we willingly commit every day will result in our physical death (Romans 5:12-17, 6:23), but of greater peril than our physical death is that our sin will result in what’s called the “second death” (Revelation 21:8). This “second death” is better known as Hell, a very real and horrifying place consisting of eternal punishment, darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth, and an unquenchable fire (Matthew 8:12, Luke 3:17, Jude 7).

Our common denial.

We are all guilty before God, condemned by a lifetime of accumulated sin, but some people aren’t convinced that they’re sinners until they face these four questions:

– 1) Have you ever told a lie, even a little white lie? (Proverbs 6:16-17, Revelation 21:8)

– 2) Have you ever taken something that did not belong to you? (Leviticus 19:11)

– 3) Have you ever lusted after someone? (Matthew 5:27-28)

– 4) Have you ever used God’s name in vain? (Exodus 20:7)

If you answered “Yes” to these four questions then you’ve admitted to being a lying, thieving, adulterous blasphemer. On the great and dreadful day of God’s final judgment, will you be found guilty or innocent? Based on God’s standards (not ours), the answer is obvious: you, like the rest of mankind, will stand condemned.

We’re already under God’s judgment.

Contrary to popular opinion, we do not have to wait until the day of God’s judgment to find out whether or not we’re in right standing with God. It’s not a question of if upon your death you’ll be condemned to God’s eternal, fierce, and terrifying judgment; it’s already your current condition. Because we’ve all sinned, we are already under His judgment and consigned to His wrath (John 3:18, 3:36).

Our obedience and good works are useless.

If you try to pay your sin-debt to God and earn His favor by being a good person and following the Law, then you must follow all of God’s Laws perfectly your entire life without ever failing in one area or you’ll be charged with breaking all of His Laws (Galatians 3:10, James 2:10). If you’ve already sinned in your life—even once—then perfect obedience to the Law for salvation is not even an option for you.

Not only are you under a curse if you sin in just one area of the Law, but you’re incapable of completely obeying the Law even if you wanted to (Romans 8:6-8). And—as if it couldn’t get any worse—the Bible tells us that those who try to earn their salvation by following the Law have fallen from grace and are cut off from Christ (Galatians 5:4).

God expects absolute moral perfection.

Not only does God require us to be holy (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16), but Jesus said that our righteousness must surpasses that of the Pharisees (Matthew 5:20) and we must be perfect just as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

God cannot forgive you and still remain holy.

God cannot simply forgive us of our sin without becoming an abomination unto Himself (Proverbs 17:15, 18:5, 24:24). It would be unjust and corrupt of Him to merely overlook our sin-debt just as it would be for an earthly judge to overlook the transgressions of a criminal in his courtroom. We shouldn’t expect God to forgive our offense to Him any more than we should expect an earthly judge to simply forgive the man who was guilty of murder. If the court judge let the criminal go free because he’s a tolerant, forgiving, and loving judge, then that judge would be as wicked as the murderer who committed the crime. Such a pardon would be the epitome of corruption and injustice, yet this is exactly what most people expect God will do for them when they stand before Him on Judgment Day.

God cannot simply ignore your sin and still remain a righteous and just Judge because justice demands that punishment be carried out. Based on the moral standard required of our holy, perfect, and righteous final Judge, you and I must be eternally punished under God’s relentless, unmitigated wrath because we have sinned against an eternal and infinitely holy God.

What hope is there?

So, what hope is there? How can we be forgiven for our multitude of sins that require punishment? How can God justify the sinner and still remain just (Romans 3:26)?

But God . . .

But God, our Judge, being merciful and because of His great love toward us (even while we were still sinners and dead in our transgressions), provided the means of salvation by brutally sacrificing His own Son so that we may be forgiven and reconciled to Him (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4).

Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). The only way for us to be forgiven of our transgressions is for someone to die in our place (a propitiatory substitute) in order to bear the wrath of God that our sins justly deserve. Only a sinless sacrifice could redeem us and bridge the gap between a holy and righteous God and a depraved and sinful people. The sacrifice had to be fully human and fully God in order to qualify to be an adequate mediator to reconcile us to God.

God crushed His own Son (Isaiah 53:10) as He placed our sins upon Him (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus bore our sins on the cross (Psalm 22:16, Isaiah 53:12, 1 Peter 2:24), and He redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).The Father placed the wretched, filthy, and vile sins of His people upon His beloved, sinless Son so that Jesus would become sin on our behalf (our substitute) while simultaneously giving (imputing) Christ’s righteousness to us (Romans 4:22-24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 3:9). Jesus Christ not only paid our insurmountable debt of sin with His own life (a debt we could never pay), but He also credited His own perfect righteousness to our account—the very righteousness that God requires of us but that we could never obtain on our own. This judicial transfer or great exchange meets the requirements of God’s Law and satisfies the demands of God’s justice.

Jesus Christ is the one and only means God provided to reconcile us to Himself. The Son is the only way to the Father (John 14:6), and salvation is found in no one but Jesus (Acts 4:12). No matter how “good” we think we are or how hard we strive to follow God’s Laws, no one (not even you or me) is justified by the Law (Galatians 2:16, 3:11) but by faith in Christ alone because, if righteousness could be obtained by following the Law, then Jesus Christ died needlessly (Galatians 2:21).

Once upon a cross . . .

Either Jesus paid for your sins and absorbed God’s wrath for you by His substitutionary death on the cross, and conversely His righteousness has been merited to you, or you will pay for your own sins and endure God’s unrelenting wrath for eternity in Hell. God declares that we should repent because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world (Acts 17:30-31). It will be a terrifying­­­­ day for you (Proverbs 21:15, Hebrews 10:31) if you haven’t repented (Luke 13:3) and believed/trusted (Mark 1:15) in Christ alone as your perfect sacrificial substitute, Savior, and Lord.

by

Quotes (931)

Mormons do not take criticism of their faith lightly; sadly, many [of them] have followed the path of our culture in assuming that disagreement is akin to bigotry.

– Bill McKeever

by

Oh anathema, my anathema.

How many anathemas are you under?

Mark, from Here I Blog, decided to count his:

“I decided to count the number of anathemas that I am under from the 33 canons on justification. My count is 23 anathemas as I understand the canons. I tried to consider any nuances. Keep in mind that this is only 1 of 25 sessions of Trent.”

Read his post and see how many anathemas Romanism has you under here.


by

What does the Bible say about OMG?

The following is from Growing 4 Life:

“I was sitting at a sporting event, when the lovely, Christian lady beside me shouted, “Oh, my God!” as her child made a mistake.  I cringed inside.  And then I wondered, “does she know?”  Does she know that the Bible tells us not to use God’s name in vain? And honestly, this is not unusual.  I hear Christians do this all of the time.  Many are wonderful people who obviously love the Lord.  Is it because we just don’t hear this called sin anymore?  Are we so hardened to the use of His name due to the company we keep and the entertainment that we fill our minds with, that we just didn’t notice when we started doing it, too?”

You can read the whole piece here.

by

The noose tightens a little more.

While we’re all wrapped up in so many distractions, the noose around our necks has just tightened again.

Whether it’s the government raiding an Amish farm for selling raw milk, or the government inspecting lunches brought from the home of public school children to determine if the food is nutritional enough (and again), the government is slowly but consistently encroaching on how we live our lives.

But what about those who don’t drink raw milk or send their kids to government schools? Well, if you think the government’s desire to completely control its subjects (for our best interest of course) is limited to monitoring milk distribution and ensuring your children are eating nutritional lunches, then you are grossly ignorant of not only history, but what’s happening right now.

In Canada, the government is attempting to step inside the homes of its citizens who wish to educate their own children:

“Under Alberta’s new Education Act, homeschoolers and faith-based schools will not be permitted to teach that homosexual acts are sinful as part of their academic program, says the spokesperson for Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk.”

Read the sobering news article here.

One of the many reasons people choose to homeschool their children is to avoid the indoctrination of the Godless, socialist, behavioral engineering centers run by the government, but now the government has decided to take their forced indoctrination to the homeschoolers!

Little by little, step by step, the ominous dark clouds are forming. Anyone with even a cursory understanding of history recognizes where we’re headed. Are you prepared for the coming storm?

HT: Saved by Grace

by

Planned Parenthood’s propaganda machine would make Goebbels jealous.

This very disturbing cartoon churned out by Planned Parenthood of San Francisco is the type of propaganda that’s reminiscent of Nazi Germany (not counting their similar goals of the mass killing of innocent, defenseless human beings).

Hitler would be so proud of what Planned Parenthood has accomplished, after all, they’ve picked up where he left off and they’ve exterminated more human beings (specifically minorities) than he ever could have ever dreamed of doing.


by

Daddies and daughters.

Ingrid Schlueter has hit the nail on the head with her article Daddies and Daughters.

Her piece should serve as a reminder to all fathers that even success in something as important as ministry should not come at the expense of your children. What endeavor, career, or goal in life could be more important than capturing your daughter’s heart?

Here’s an excerpt from Ingrid’s article:

“Buried under the eye-liner, body-piercings, provocative clothing and exhibitionist behavior of so many girls today are sad hearts and souls, weeping for a daddy who never cared.”

You can read the entire article (which I highly encourage you to do) here.