Christianity

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Walter Martin debates Wiccans on the Phil Donahue Show.

Here’s a blast from the past. On this episode of the Phil Donahue show Walter Martin debates two Wiccans. Some of the most interesting comments come from audience members and callers who should know better (like the Baptist and the Catholic).

Although I don’t necessarily agree with Dr. Martin’s affirming remark about Charismatics, I must give him a break because the Charismatics of thirty years ago paled in comparison to the circus we have today.

Unfortunately these two video clips only contain parts of this talk show. If anyone knows where to view the entire episode, please let me know.

Part One:

Part Two:

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Sermon of the Week: “The Gospel of Justifying Grace” by Brian Borgman (Part 1 of 3).

We begin a three part series by Reformed Pastor Brian Borgman with The Gospel of Justifying Grace (Part 1). This is a great series on justifying grace and is a source of encouragement for believers in the assurance of salvation and the doctrine of justification.


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Where’s the sermon?

As you watch these two video clips you have to ask yourself, “Where is the preaching of the Word?” These people are entertained (and manipulated) so easily that it’s frightening.

I had to endure this foolishness back in the 1990’s and I see that fifteen years later this wickedness is still popular among the “experience chasers.” I pity these people because I was once in their shoes. I however, never succumbed to the possession / emotionalism / manipulation that they experience. When the “holy laughter” movement came to my church, I summarily left (with ridicule by those who stayed) only to watch the church crumble within a few months with sex scandals starting with the pastor. Oh, how I wasted so much of my life under these false teachers.

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Quotes (459)

voddie-baucham One day you visit a church, your teen goes off to the youth service, your little one goes off to children’s church, the baby goes to the nursery, and you and your spouse get a great seat in a plush auditorium with first-class music, professional drama, a relevant, encouraging, application-oriented, non-threatening talk, and you get it all in just under an hour. Moreover, you look at the brochures, and it’s right there in black and white: “Our youth ministry exists to do the job that you’ve neglected all these years.” What a deal! We don’t have to keep the little one quiet, we get our needs met, and to top it off, the youth guy is going to disciple my teenager (whom I don’t even like right now). Who cares if the youth guy has only been married a few months and has never even attempted to discipline a child of his own. “Count me in!” I realize that this is an exaggeration, but the fact is, it wouldn’t matter if the youth pastor were a forty-year-old Ph.D. with five children of his own whom he had raised successfully. That still would not justify the abdication of parental responsibility.

– Voddie Baucham

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Cappuccino machines, light bulbs, and toilet paper.

esspresso-machineAs an elementary public school in Detroit, Michigan is lacking funds for even light bulbs and toilet paper, public schools in Chicago, Illinois just spent $67,000 on cappuccino machines of which most are “. . . going unused because the schools they were ordered for had not asked for them . . .”.

Yet another shining moment for government schools.

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Guitar Praise: Another attempt at mimicking the fleeting fads of the world.

Only in an environment of prolonged comfort, safety, security, and prosperity could this be possible. I wonder if our Christian brothers and sisters being tortured in prisons around the world are secretly coveting this latest installment from the Den of Robbers. I also wonder if this is being marketed to the underground Church in Communist countries.

Warning: At just under 1 minute into the three minute video, they advertise the nomanclature of the product using a well endowed woman wearing a tight V-neck shirt. I’m sure it was not intentional; no one selling a cheap toy exploiting Christianity would ever use worldly marketing tactics . . . no, never.

Those viewers who seek modesty and purity may want to SKIP past that part.

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Sola Scriptura (59)

bible-page.jpg And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have  delivered his life. ‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’ “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he  does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

Ezekiel 33:1-9

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Book review: “Family Driven Faith” by Voddie Baucham.

family-driven-faithI just completed the book Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. Don’t let the name fool you; it has absolutely nothing to do with the purpose driven garbage being peddled by the seeker-friendly mega-churches. In fact, I doubt that this book would be well received at such social club churches.

In the book, subtitled Doing What It Takes To Raise Sons And Daughters Who Walk With God, Voddie sounds the call for parents to take back their biblical responsibilities as the primary spiritual mentors and shepherds of their children. He also calls for the church to not only stop interfering and usurping parents’ authority, but to quit dividing and segregating the family: Baby goes in nursery, toddler in Sunday school class, teen in youth group, parents in main sanctuary. If we are to have a multi-generational family, it starts with the family, not the youth pastor.

I highly recommend this book to parents, expecting parents, pastors, youth pastors, Sunday school teachers, church nursery staff, and even teens and children.

You can purchase this book here.

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Quotes (456)

firm-foundations-creation-to-christ After many years of listening to non-sequential, topical, doctrinal sermons, most of which are based on isolated texts, many church members still do not know the Bible as one book. Often repeated verses and some doctrines may be known; but the Scriptures, according to their divinely-given historical structure, are seldom understood. This is equally true in most Sunday schools. Children are usually taught stories from the Bible out of chronological order, and large portions of God’s Word are never taught to them at all. Even a faithful Sunday school pupil is unlikely to graduate with an overall knowledge of the Bible.

– Trevor Mcllwain

From: Firm Foundations: Creation to Christ

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One Reason Why We’re In This Economic Mess

fox1I had the television on in the background while doing other things last Saturday. I was watching Bulls and Bears on Fox News, and the panel had a short discussion on how divorce affects the economy. I was shocked that everyone had the same opinion. Here’s a transcript of the conversation from the Bulls and Bears website:

Divorce Rates Drop During These Tough Financial Times: Is It Better to Stay Miserably Married With Money or Get Divorced, Be Broke and Happy?

Tracy Byrnes: If you want to stick it out and try counseling to make it work, I am all for it. But you have other things. Unhappy couples, and then we have domestic violence. You can make it work. Go to mediators. You don’t necessarily need attorneys. Attorneys are going to be e-mailing me now. But you can get it done economically. It is much more costly to be divorced, absolutely. But at the end of the day it has everything to do with your heart and happiness. Who cares about the wallet?

Wayne Rogers: You have to divide it. One is an emotional decision. The other one is a practical one. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. You can’t mix the two. If you can’t afford it, you have to stay together. If it’s going to kill you otherwise then split up.

John Bradshaw Layfield: My wife is rich, so it is great for me to stay married. She is watching right now. So it’s better for me to stay married. But if you’re miserable, get out. One of the best things you can do as far as home ownership is stay married that help the economy. People buy more things when they own a home. But if you’re miserable, get out!

Jonas Max Ferris: That is the irony. The American dream keeps people together when it is declining in value. They separate because they want the money from the home. Divorce can be good for the housing money. Right now if people got divorced, it would be excellent for the housing market. We need that demand. There are other things you benefit from being together. You have shared cost and more disposable income. If you are in an unhappy marriage with a lot of disposable income, you might buy things to try and make it better.

Jonathan Hoenig: For me, there is no difference between a relationship and a stock. If it is not working out, dump it. If it is not working out, cut your losses. It is going to be much cheaper in the long run.

God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). For these people to unanimously say that it’s OK to get divorced with barely a moment’s thought given to what God might think reveals the predicament of this country. Righteousness exalts a nation (Proverbs 14:34), and these people don’t even give righteousness lip service.

When we get married, we make a promise, and to pursue a divorce is breaking our promise. If it’s so easy to break a promise that we make, oftentimes, before all of our friends and family, how can it be a big deal to break our word with people with whom we’re doing business? Capitalism must break down; it’s not designed for a completely unrighteous people. As America slips into paganism, our economy will become the economy of a pagan nation.

So how should these people have answered the question? The answer is that the purpose of marriage isn’t to make us happy, but to make us holy, and to make us more Christ-like. We keep our word, and stick things out.

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“Self-righteous judgmental ____________.”

The title of this post is an actual quote I found that was referring to Christians. Obviously I’ve removed the inflammatory noun that was clearly an expletive before publishing the quote in this post.

So let’s take a little quiz, shall we? Where do you think I found this quote?

A). An Atheist message board.

B). A Wiccan website.

C). Scrawled on a bathroom wall.

D). A Satanist’s memoir.

E). A professing Christian Church’s website.

For the Answers click here.

attitude

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Quotes (455)

awpink.jpg Repentance is taking sides with God against ourselves. It is the unsparing judgment of ourselves because of our high-handed rebellion. It is a ceasing to love and tolerate sin, and to excuse ourselves for committing it. It is a mourning before God because of our transgressions of His holy Law. Therefore, Christ taught, “Except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish” (Luke 13:3), for He would not condone evil. He came to save His people from their sins, and not in them.

– A.W. Pink

1886 – 1952

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Book review: “All of Grace” by Charles Spurgeon.

all-of-grace I just completed this work by Spurgeon (the audio book version) and found it to be a wealth of encouragement for those who wrestle with their assurance of salvation. It was also a deep source of doctrinal truths regarding God’s grace and provision for salvation; helping me to better understand that salvation is all of God. I recommend it to those who are looking for a great exposition on the truths of the doctrines of grace.

This whole book is available to read online here.