Christianity

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Half-Price Million-Dollar Bills

Livingwaters.com has cut the price of its million-dollar bill gospel tracts from $6 for 100 tracts to $3 through the end of May. These may be the easiest tracts to pass out en masse or to start conversations. Here are a couple of lines you can use when passing them out:

  • Can you make change for this?
  • Thanks a million! (This is ideal for cashiers or people you tip.)
  • It’s great when you get the change.
  • Or the old standby: Did you get one of these?

Take advantage of the parades and festivals in the summer to hand these to people; you may be surprised how many you can give away very easily. Most people smile or laugh when they see the tract, and then become curious as to its purpose. Consider saying, “There’s a message on the back I’d love you to read.”

If an individual appears ready to have a conversation, hand him or her the tract and say, “The million dollar question is on the back.” Usually the person will read the million dollar question, but if he or she doesn’t, you might say, “You’re supposed to ask me what the million dollar question is.” The question—“Will you go to heaven when you die?”—can lead to a great gospel conversation.

You might wonder if tracts really are effective. Take a look at the video below. It’s an amazing story.

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New Jewish prayer book to be gender neutral.

According to this news article from the United Kingdom, the new Jewish Sabbath prayer book is removing references to God as King, Father, and Lord in favor of more gender neutral titles. This same book, “. . . also provides prayers for 21st century problems such as environmental and natural disasters and prayers for depression, miscarriage and the death of a child.“

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Download your free cult flyer here.

It was the spring of 2006 and I kept seeing Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses going door to door throughout the neighborhoods of my community. It got me thinking: What are the local Christian Churches doing to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to combat the spread of false doctrine in our community? Additionally I pondered about what I could personally do.

I then came across the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry website (www.CARM.org). They had a downloadable cult warning flyer. Eureka! This was exactly what I didn’t know I was looking for and exactly what we needed here in my town. I quickly went to work on my own version of a flyer and several months later, the new flyer was birthed.

Now, in the spring of 2008, I have updated and produced the second version of the cult flyer and am now offering it for you to download for free to distribute in your neighborhood.

Flyer: Who’s Really Knocking at Your Door?

For those who prefer a more professional look, a brother in the Lord from Australia produced a professional version of the flyer for me to make available to all of you. You can download it here.

I also encourage you to download my free tracts to insert in each of the flyers. There are three different tracts (front and back) on one sheet of paper.
Tract: 3 Things You Won’t Find in the Bible  /  Are You Self-Righteous?  /  Priceless
Simply print the cult flyer on 11 x 14 paper (front and back). Then print the tract (also front and back on 11 x 14 paper). Cut the tract into three, fold the cult flyer and insert one tract into each flyer. Then put a hole in the top with a hole punch, put a rubber band through it and it’s ready to be hung on doors.
I am currently working on six new tracts to download and insert in the cult flyer and will make them available in the near future.

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Hope in San Mateo and encouragement for pastors.

Loretta Heiden posted this encouraging piece on her blog. Her brief story shows that there are still some youth pastors out there (albeit very few) who know that their job is to feed the sheep and not entertain the goats.

I also wanted to take this time to thank and encourage all pastors who are faithful to the Word and to the flock and haven’t sold-out. I know that at times it may seem that you’re alone as you face the daunting task of preaching the whole counsel of God (unaltered and undiluted) to a mass of people who would rather just be entertained, but don’t give up. There are some of us out here that are grateful for your commitment and hard work and we salute your faithfulness in the Lord. Never give up, never give in, never compromise and never forget, your reward will be great!

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The Billy Graham tapes.

The Watergate tapes weren’t the only recordings to come out of the Nixon presidency that shed light on otherwise secret conversations, hidden agendas, and dark hearts. Another recording that is just as damaging but has been all but forgotten occurred between President Richard Nixon and well-known evangelist universalist Billy Graham.

On the tapes Billy Graham calls the Jewish influence on the media a “stronghold” that “has to be broken or this country’s going down the drain.“

The conversation continues:

Nixon: “You believe that?”

Graham: “Yes, sir.”

Nixon: “Oh boy. So do I. I can’t ever say that but I believe it.”

Graham: “If you get elected a second time, then we might be able to do something.”

Here’s one more exchange:

Graham: “A lot of Jews are great friends of mine. They swarm around me and are friendly to me, because they know that I am friendly to Israel and so forth, but they don’t know how I really feel about what they’re doing to this country, and I have no power and no way to handle them.”

Nixon: “You must not let them know.”

For more on the conversation between Billy Graham and U.S. president Richard Nixon, check out the BBC News article.

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Quotes (258)

ryle.jpg It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a vast quantity of so-called Christianity nowadays which you cannot declare positively unsound, but which, nevertheless, is not full measure, good weight, and sixteen ounces to the pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably “something about Christ, and something about grace, and something about faith, and something about repentance and something about holiness”; but it is not the real “thing as it is” in the Bible. Things are out of place and out of proportion. . . . It neither exercises influence on daily conduct, nor comforts in life, nor gives peace in death; and those who hold it, often awake too late to find that they have got nothing solid under their feet. Now I believe the likeliest way to cure and mend this defective kind of religion is to bring forward more prominently the old scriptural truth about the sinfulness of sin. People will never set their faces decidedly towards Heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of Hell.

– J. C. Ryle

1816 – 1900


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What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.

The body of a newborn baby boy was found discarded in a trash can in a Las Vegas casino on Mother’s Day. What is shocking to me is that people are shocked. Why? If she chose to go to the local Planned Parenthood they would have dismembered her child for just a few Benjamins and the child she murdered would have simply been forgotten like the other 4,000 children murdered in this country every day.

I honestly don’t see what all the fuss is about. Didn’t she just make use of the “rights” that others have fought so hard for? Didn’t she merely exercise her “freedom to choose?” Isn’t what she did protected as her “constitutional right to privacy?”

The lesson to learn here is this:

Kill your baby in a clinic = legal and acceptable.

Kill your baby on your own = heinous and unspeakable act.

You can read the news article and watch the video here.

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Are Christian bookstore owners responsible for what they sell?

Back in February I asked the question do you support your local Christian bookstore?

I now have a follow-up question:

Are the owners of Christian bookstores responsible to their fellow-Christians, the Church, and ultimately God, for the products they sell?

This past week I entered another one of these Christian book and paraphernalia bazaars. The first faces I saw staring back at me as soon as I entered were the prominently displayed faces of Joel Osteen, Juanita Bynum, TD Jakes, and Joyce Meyer (just to name a few) along with all the “Jesus junk” and trinkets that adorned the shelves and displays from wall to wall. A few more steps and I was struck with Rob Bell’s book Sex God and his Nooma videos

Another disturbing book I unexpectedly came across was a children’s book on the virgin Mary and praying the Rosary. In this book were Romanism’s false teaching of Mary being crowned Queen of Heaven and Queen of the universe. This was in a “Christian” bookstore!

I recall a brief conversation I had with the owner of one of these bookstore a few months back in which he provided me two excuses reasons why he sold the merchandise of such heretical teachers as Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Brian McLaren and Rob Bell. He said he 1). cannot possibly read every book that he sells; and that he 2). does not want to promote censorship.

This was such a sad example of wiggling around his deeper responsibility to not lead people astray. First of all he can’t be accused of censorship for not carrying certain books anymore than he an be accused of censorship for not allowing these types of books into his home. He owns his home, he owns the bookstore. He–as a retailer–has the right to sell whatever he does or does not want on his shelves, which explains the absence of such material as the Book of Mormon, the Satanic Bible or pornography. Is the absence of these books considered “censorship?” Furthermore, in order for his refusal to carry certain books to qualify as “censorship” he would have to be a representative of the government.

Secondly, the “I can’t possibly read every book I sell” excuse is a cop-out. You don’t have to read every book by Brian McLaren, Rob Bell or Robert Schuller to know that they’re spreading heresy . . . it’s common knowledge! And if you’re not that aware of what’s going on or you lack discernment regarding the wolves among us, a quick internet search will tell you all you need to know.

Do you need to read every issue of the Awake! that the Watchtower organization produces to be able to confidently say that they are a cult and thus not carry their material? Of course not. So why do certain big name heretics and false teachers under the umbrella of evangelicalism get a pass by the guise of willful ignorance?

These bookstore owners are knowingly or unknowingly selling doctrines of demons; material that an impressionable undiscerning person could buy which would lead them on the primrose path to Hell. This leads me to ask, will these bookstore owners be held responsible before God for selling these heretical, apostate, and often times blasphemous doctrines of wolves in sheep’s clothing?

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Quotes (253)

yahannan.jpg Christian magazines, TV shows and church services often put the spotlight on famous athletes, beauty queens, businessmen and politicians who “make it in the world and have Jesus too!” . . . The typical media testimony goes something like this:

“I was sick and broke, a total failure. Then I met Jesus. Now everything is fine; my business is booming, and I am a great success.”

It sounds wonderful. Be a Christian and get that bigger house and a boat and vacation in the Holy Land. But if that were really God’s way, it would put some Christians living in communist countries and in the Two-Thirds World in a pretty bad light. Their testimonies often go like this:

“I was happy. I had everything–prestige, recognition, a good job, and a happy wife and children. Then I gave my life to Jesus Christ . Now I am in prison, having lost my family, wealth, reputation, job and health. Here I live, lonely, deserted by friends. I cannot see the face of my wife and dear children. My crime is that I love Jesus.”

– K. P. Yohannan

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Does Allah Think Mary is God?

According to Muslims, The Koran was spoken to the angel Gabriel, who gave it to Muhammad to write down. While I wouldn’t expect Allah to say the Trinity exists, I would certainly think he would be familiar with the doctrine. But, according to the Koran, apparently Allah believed the Trinity was the Father, the Son, and Mary.

Surah 5.116 says, “And behold! Allah will say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah’?” He will say: “Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say)…”

I realize the Trinity can be difficult to understand, but how could the almighty creator of the universe be confused by it?

Muhammad was illiterate; even if he was not, he didn’t have a Bible in his native language. Maybe if he had a Bible in Arabic, and someone to read it to him, he could have been a little more accurate about what Christians believe when he composed the Koran out of whole cloth.

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Faith vs Works (Part 1): The introduction.

Faith vs Works (Part 1): The introduction.

I’m in a rather unique position with this blog. I get hit from both sides of the Faith vs Works debate. On the one side are the Catholics, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses who claim that faith itself is insufficient without man working for his salvation (funny how these three groups tend to have so much in common). On the other side are the cheap-grace, easy-believism, lukewarm crowd who love to label me judgmental and a legalist when I say that there is not only a Biblical mandate for the law, holiness, and good works, but that these will be evident in the life of a true Believer.

Scripture is crystal clear on this issue, that we are indeed saved by faith apart from works and the law. This is commonly known as “alone.” To deny Scripture’s clear teaching on Sola Fide takes an unwillingness to part from former presuppositions and religious indoctrination.

With that said, I thought I’d cite numerous texts that deal directly with our salvation being through faith alone (Part 2); what the Bible says about those who rely on the law and their good works for salvation (Part 3); what place the Law and “good works” play in our faith (Part 4); and my conclusion (Part 5).

I am not posting this five-part series in an attempt to win any arguments or even to create more (although some will be inclined to do so). I will let the Scriptures speak for themselves with minimal commentary on my part. If you have reservations about their context, I encourage you to research each one for yourselves.

If I can win 1,000 arguments but not change one mind, heart, and soul, I have done nothing. I am hoping that with the following posts I can put to rest the issue some may be struggling with when it comes to Faith vs Works. Thank you for your faithful readership and as always, your comments are welcome.

(All scriptures are quoted from the New American Standard Bible).

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE