Sermon of the week: Semper Reformanda – “Children in Worship” by Brian Borgman.

Brian Borgman Your sermon of the week is Semper Reformanda: Children in Worship by Brian Borgman. This message is from a 1996 church service when the church decided that they would no longer dismiss the children and separate them from their parents during the main worship service. This is a very enlightening sermon as Borgman makes the case for why children and their parents should worship together in church. I highly recommend this message; it will challenge you to change the way you’ve always done things.

Film review: The Bible vs. Joseph Smith.

Joel Kramer and Sourceflix have hit another home run with their latest release, The Bible vs. Joseph Smith.

DefCon has been pleased to feature Joel Kramer’s past documentaries DNA vs. the Book of Mormon, The Bible vs. the Book of Mormon, and Lifting the Veil on Polygamy, and now The Bible vs. Joseph Smith continues in the excellence of quality, production, and product.

Joel Kramer sits down with a lifelong Mormon and puts Bible prophets and Mormon prophets to the Deuteronomy 18 test “to see which prophets are truly speaking for God.”

This video not only deals with such problems as the Book of Mormon error of stating that Jesus was born in Jerusalem, but it also deals with Joseph Smith’s problems of false prophecy, so clearly in fact, that I suggest to you that this video conclusively proves that Joseph Smith was a false prophet.

“In a conversation between a Christian and a Mormon, the prophets of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are put head to head in a test to see which prophets are truly speaking for God. If even one prophecy fails to come true, that prophet is a false prophet, and must be put to death.”

Quotes (748)

Gary Gilley While we do not affirm that everything modern is evil or that everything ancient was excellent, there is no doubt that the greater part of the boasted “progress” in Christendom of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was a progress downward and not upward—away from God and not toward Him, into the darkness and not the light.

– Gary Gilley

Quotes (747)

A W PinkIf we are daily concerned in seeking to please God in all the details, great and small, of our lives, He will not leave us in ignorance of His will concerning us. But if we are accustomed to gratify self and only turn up to God for help in times of difficulty and emergency, then we must not be surprised if he mocks us and allows us to reap the fruits of our folly.

– A.W. Pink

1886 – 1952

Sermon of the week: “God – Creator and Redeemer” by John MacArthur.

John MacArthur This is the next installment on the subject of creation vs evolution by John MacArthur from his series The Battle For the Beginning. It is entitled God: Creator and Redeemer. Look for the next installment in two weeks.

Quotes (746)

Scripture declares clearly, and without a doubt, that there is only one cleansing agent for the sin of believers. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Yet, Rome diverts its people from the Savior’s blood and instead offers a place called purgatory as a dreadfully contrived hoax.

– Mike Gendron

Bruce McConkie’s “Mormon Doctrine” out of print due to low sales.

For those dealing in counter-cult apologetics, if you do not have Bruce R. McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine you better get your hands on it soon, as it’s about to get harder to find and possibly more expensive to purchase. Anyone dealing with Mormons knows the value of this book, and now it will no longer be in print due to a decreased demand. I procured my copy a few years back and I won’t be selling it anytime soon.

Part of me wonders if the decision to stop printing it has anything to do with how much of the real Mormonism it reveals: God was once a man; you can become a God; the black race is cursed; Christ couldn’t atone for all sins and you yourself must atone for some of your own sins by your own shed blood just to name a few.

None of these teachings, I might add, were of McConkie’s own imagination; he merely expounded on already established LDS teachings and doctrines, even though the mainstream LDS organization has been back-peddling from many of these core Mormon doctrines in recent years as they’ve done a phenomenal job at PR in their attempt to look just like Christians. This, of course, is perplexing when you consider that the genesis of their very existence was precipitated on the idea that Christians are apostate.

Oftentimes when a non-Mormon quotes from Mormon Doctrine he is met with the typical Mormon responses that it is not authoritative, it is not scripture, it is not part of LDS canon, and it was only McConkie’s opinions. Ironically these excuses are never appealed to whenever they quote from the Mormon apostle’s work.

This selective use of LDS teachings by Mormons makes the following article from the Salt Lake Tribune even more revealing as they admit:

Although McConkie, an LDS apostle who died in 1985, took sole responsibility from the start for Mormon Doctrine ‘s content, it often was quoted over the pulpit and treated by members as quasi-official. The book, with its presumptive title, seemed to provide an answer to every question and left little room for ambiguity.

Mormon Doctrine served two generations of the Mormon rank and file as the main authoritative source of LDS teachings,” said LDS sociologist Armand Mauss. “With its authoritative tone and constant promotion from high places, it came to be regularly cited in the church curriculum, especially in [Church Educational System] materials, and soon took on almost a scriptural stature.

You can read the entire article of the demise of McConkie’s tome on the Salt lake Tribune website by clicking here or below by clicking the following link:

Continue reading

Quotes (744)

It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free-will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that He gives both; that He is “Alpha and Omega” in the salvation of men.

– C.H. Spurgeon

1834 – 1892

Sermon of the week: “You Must Be Born From Above” by Randall Easter.

Your sermon of the week is another must-hear powerhouse sermon by Randall Easter entitled You Must Be Born From Above.

If you haven’t heard Randall Easter’s previous sermon on Jonah (and I highly recommend that you do), you can find it on this post.

HT: The Bororean

When the world gets it but the “church” doesn’t.

I just saw this news piece in which a softball coach required eight of her players to drink soda out of a shoe. The matter is being called a mistake and the coach has apologized. Yet, when “Christian” youth groups in American churches participate in drinking foot bath water and licking peanut butter out of armpits and off toes, for some reason they view this as ministry.

Quotes (742)

We believe that much that is called evangelism today is little more than psychology and salesmanship; we are appalled by the superficial work which goes on under the name of evangelism; we are appalled by the pressures, gimmicks, and schemes all calculated to produce “decisions” and impressive statistics but which work havoc in the souls of men. No! Because we believe in evangelism does not mean that we are going to cooperate with every scheme which bears that name. We believe that in evangelism as in everything else . . . we must be governed by the Word of God. The message of evangelism must be according to the Scriptures, and the method of evangelism must be governed by the Word of God!

– William Payne

1938 – 1997

Smoke, mirrors, and some very bad hermeneutics.

This is a classic! The man in this satirical video uses some ingenious methods in an attempt to prove that Jesus is not God. Although the video is in jest, it illustrates the absurdity of how some go to great lengths to make the Bible say what they want it to say, including denying Jesus’ deity (like Jehovah’s Witnesses).

Although the video is funny, the ramifications of those who deny Jesus’ deity certainly isn’t.

Quotes (740)

A false faith can only float in smooth water, but true faith, like a life-boat, is at home in storms. If our religion does not bear us up in time of trial, what is the use of it? If we cannot believe God when our circumstances appear to be against us, we do not believe Him at all. We trust a thief as far as we can see him, shall we dare to treat our God in that fashion?

– Charles Spurgeon

1834 – 1892

Sermon of the week: “Creation – Believe it or Not” by John MacArthur.

John MacArthur We’re beginning a new series here on DefCon by John MacArthur on the subject of God’s  creation (versus man’s theory of evolution) from his series The Battle for the Beginning. We begin with the following two-part message entitled Creation – Believe it or Not.

Creation: Believe it or Not (Part One)

Creation: Believe it or Not (Part Two)

Look for the next installment in two weeks.



Quotes (739)

Let me ask you, where in Scripture do you find the teaching that we are to treat false teachers with charity and the apostles of apostasy with Christian love? That is exactly the opposite of the teaching of 2 John . . . . Scripture terms the purveyors of false doctrine as “grievous wolves.” The faithful shepherds of history have not dialogued with grievous wolves.

– John Ashbrook

Quotes (738)

Gary Gilley The gospel is not about helping [un-churched] ‘Harry’ feel better about himself and his circumstances; it is about his rebelliousness against a holy God who will ultimately condemn him to Hell if he does not repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of his sins. The distinction between the market-driven approach and the biblical approach lies largely in understanding this fundamental difference.

– Gary Gilley

Sermon of the week: “Preaching the Gospel in the Age of Apostasy” by Josh Williamson.

I had another sermon scheduled for this week, but then I heard this one and didn’t want to wait to share it with the readers of DefCon. It’s a bold message entitled Preaching the Gospel in the Age of Apostasy by twenty-four year-old Josh Williamson. It’s also very apropos for the persecution that some of us are currently enduring for the sake of Christ.

Josh Williamson is pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Australia, and I think I’ll be listening to more from this guy.