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When the State is the final authority in whether or not you believe in God.

Ginger Taylor has published an intriguing post entitled New York Gets to Decide if You Believe In God or Not.

Debating theology between a lawyer and a Catholic is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall, but this should serve as a warning of things to come for Christians as well.

Here the state of New York badgers a Catholic mother over her desired exemption from vaccination for her child on religious grounds. The state’s obnoxious and condescending lawyer attempts to determine whether or not she truly believes in God and if she does, what her level of sincerity is.


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Quotes (474)

“To justify” means “to declare righteous”; it does not mean “to make righteous.” . . . Christian, when God justifies you, He does not “let you of the hook” with your sins still hanging in midair. He does not pretend that your sins have been paid for. Rather, He sees that your sins really have been paid for by Christ, and He makes a declaration based on that fact. . . . Beloved Christian, you may have some terrible memories in your sinful past, but you can be certain of this: those sins are not still hanging in midair. They’ve come down . . . on the Lord Jesus Christ! And He actually paid for them! He bore your sins in His own body on the cross.

– Charles Leiter

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Who they were then, and who they are now.

Thanks to The Desert Pastor for e-mailing this video to me. Who would have thought a sharpie marker and a piece of cardboard could be such an encouragement?

For those contemplating missionary work in West Africa, (or anywhere else for that matter), you will be greatly encouraged and deeply touched by this video.

The video on YouTube does not contain audio; if you prefer the audio version (recommended) then watch it on this link.

From the website:

Missionaries aren’t superheroes. That’s for sure.

Those of us who work in West Africa were once school teachers, retirees, engineers and coffee baristas. We’ve struggled with sin, physical handicaps, broken families and the stagnant Christian life. We had fears of moving overseas, learning new languages, catching strange diseases and raising our families in a foreign country.

We are transformed.

We all have a story of how God has renewed our lives and brought us to His service, sharing the Gospel with West Africans who have never heard.

We want to share our stories with you — on cardboard — and show you that in Him, anyone is worthy of The Call.

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Quotes (473)

John MacArthur The reason behind postmodernism’s contempt for propositional truth is not difficult to understand. A proposition is an idea framed as a logical statement that affirms or denies something, and it is expressed in such a way that it must be either true or false. There is no third option between true and false. (This is the “excluded middle” in logic.) The whole point of a proposition is to boil a truth-statement down to such a pristine clarity that it must either be affirmed or denied. In other words, propositions are the simplest expressions of truth value used to express the substance of what we believe. Postmodernism, frankly, cannot endure that kind of stark clarity.

– John MacArthur

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Have you heard this joke?

Two “dudes” die and go to “Heaven.” They don’t really recognize where they’re at and they even seem surprised to be there. Then one of the “dudes” tries to “pick up” a female angel by asking her if she’s single, only to be scolded by the other “dude” for being inappropriate. Then they (appropriately?) mock the Heaven they find themselves in.

Now here’s the punchline: This was done by a professing “Christian Church.”

Oh, how they make the mockery of God seem so hip, cool, and relevant!

HT: Slice of Laodicea

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Quotes (472)

thomas-watsonWhat is the popish religion, but a bundle of ridiculous ceremonies! Their candles, beads, crucifixes; what are these but Satan’s policy, to dress up a carnal worship, fitted to carnal minds! Oh! what cause have we to bless God for delivering us from popery!

– Thomas Watson

1620 – 1686

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Seventh-day Adventism: Satan will bear your sins.

ellen-g-whiteThe founding false prophetess of Seventh-day Adventism offered the following doosey of a heresy on page 422 of the book The Great Controversy:

It was seen, also, that while the sin offering pointed to Christ as a sacrifice, and the high priest represented Christ as a mediator, the scapegoat typified Satan, the author of sin, upon whom the sins of the truly penitent will finally be placed. When the high priest, by virtue of the blood of the sin offering, removed the sins from the sanctuary, he placed them upon the scapegoat. When Christ, by virtue of His own blood, removes the sins of His people from the heavenly sanctuary at the close of his ministration, he will place them upon Satan, who, in the execution of the judgment, must bear the final penalty. The scapegoat was sent away into a land not inhabited, never to come again into the congregation of Israel. So will Satan be forever banished from the presence of God and His people, and he will be blotted from existence in the final destruction of sin and sinners.

Rank heresy! Utter blasphemy!

Jesus alone had our iniquity placed upon Him (Isaiah 53:6); He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21); and it was Jesus Christ–God in the flesh–who bore our sins in his body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24).

HT: Evangelical Outreach

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A business?

dollar-sign From Thoughts on the Way:

American Christendom a Business

A Bible teacher gave a summary of Christian history’s movement in a class to beginning students:

“Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it then came to America and became an enterprise; an enterprise–that’s a business.”

After a few moments a young lady, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand, asking a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?”

When the teacher said, “Yes,” the girl continued, “But when a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”

The answer is yes; American professing Christendom is a prostitute, and any professing Christian, church, or organization that uses the message or the body for financial gain is guilty and will prove to be false.

But not the true church of Jesus Christ, who is continually becoming a holy bride, preparing for her Bridegroom. Don’t confuse the two- the true body of Jesus Christ is not Christendom.

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Quotes (471)

firm-foundations-creation-to-christ Yet another reason why some people in evangelical churches remain unsaved is the way in which the Gospel is presented. Many dedicated Christians present the Gospel in such a way that unsaved, unprepared people do not understand that they deserve only God’s judgment, that salvation is completely God’s work, and that sinners are unable to contribute anything towards their own salvation.

– Trevor Mcllwain

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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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Sermon of the week: “Whatever Happened to Christian Unity?” by Phil Johnson.

Your sermon of the week is Whatever Happened to Christian Unity? by Phil Johnson. This is a fantastic message on what Jesus really prayed for when He prayed for the unity of Believers. Not only does Phil Johnson do a fantastic job of explaining what true Christian unity is, he also does an equally good job explaining what it isn’t!

This sermon should be required listening to all those who feel the urge to leave the “can’t we all get along” or “we’re all God’s children,” or “quit tearing each other apart” comments on DefCon. The Scriptures are very clear about what true unity is, and it’s not what most people (including professing Christians) are proposing today.

Phil Johnson also examines in this message the unbiblical push for unity between Evangelicals and Catholics. I highly recommend this sermon to the readers of DefCon, especially those who see very little difference between Christianity and Roman Catholicism.

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“If we find any evidence you are a Christian, we will kill you.”

guillotine This death threat was uttered from an Iranian judge spoken to an underground Believer in Iran as quoted in the latest Voice of the Martyrs publication (2009 Special Issue page 8).

It got me thinking about the difference between those who become Christians in nations where it means a death sentence, and those who become Christians in the West. It raised the following questions for me:

– What if we were faced with the same proclamation that this judge gave to this man?

– How would we react in this same situation?

– Are we prepared to face this possible life or death situation?

– If Christianity was made illegal tomorrow and we were brought before a court for the crime of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence in the average life of an American Believer to convict them?

Tough questions, but questions we may one day have to face no matter what comfortable, prosperous, and secure nation we live in today.


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Quotes (469)

voddie-baucham Most Christians in our culture live like everyone else. There is little distinction between our lives and the lives of the pagans down the street. We wear the same clothes, watch the same movies, read the same books, send our children to the same schools, and sign the same divorce decrees as everyone else. Furthermore, there ought to be a sign posted in every Christian bookstore that reads, “The views expressed in these books do not necessarily express the views of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I’m not saying, don’t read Christian books. I’m just saying, read them with discernment.

– Voddie Baucham

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Book Review: “The Lamb” by John R. Cross.

the-lambI recently completed this wonderful book and was quite impressed with the strong yet simple explanation of the Gospel. Although it’s written for children, it is also good for those who have no clue what the Gospel is because it explains it in very easy terms accompanied with beautiful illustrations and questions at the end of each chapter to reinforce what you’ve learned. My wife absolutely loves this book and we recommend it to anyone who will listen. Instead of raving on and on about it, I’ve posted a few reviews from other readers below.

And if you want to get your own copy of this book you can purchase it here at Family Faith Books.  

the-lamb-illustration-2the-lamb-illustration-1


54321 That really communicates to kids!
By: step October 31, 2008

I have been reading “The Lamb” with my children at night for the past week and they absolutely LOVE it! They love the lifelike pictures, especially the grandpa rescuing the kid out of the river. That really communicates to kids! I just want to commend you for working on those resources.

54321 Can I give it 10 out of 5 stars?
By: eiluj03 August 17, 2008

This is the clearest gospel teaching book I have seen for kids. Ever. Its tone (both in graphics and text) is serious but beautiful and simple to understand. I have been buying books for my church library and I have yet to find one that is as clear on the gospel without being really drawn out (The Lamb has ten short chapters). It has cleared up adults’ understanding of the gospel as they understand with clarity the old testament lamb sacrifice and how that was foreshadowing Christ: our lamb. Ultimately, our focus should be the greatness of the message of the gospel. But this book is an excellent for getting that message across—I am so happy to have been introduced to it.

54321 The gospel in simple language without leaving out key truths
By: gracefaithway June 27, 2008

This book draws out the truths of the scriptures in a simple story format while avoiding difficult language or clich�s that can confuse a child’s understanding of salvation. I bought this book to read in Sunday school as well as to my 4 year old and 8 year old daughters at home. The full color illustrations are vibrant and hold their attention. The story is a slow progression with excellent questions at the end of each chapter to ensure comprehension. The story clearly shows who God is in His Holy character and perfect nature. The fall of mankind is made evident resulting in man’s just deserved punishment of Hell. This book doesn’t shelter children from the truths of scripture like the shedding of the innocent lamb’s blood in sinful man’s place, but makes these truths evident in a respectful and Christ-honoring manner. It is essential that even children understand that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Sin requires death and that innocent lamb died in the place of the guilty sinner. I have found that this book is a springboard for conversations with my girls about God’s character and nature during normal daily activities (i.e., dinner, a car ride, shopping, etc.). Our world is so filled with entertainment that Christ is almost squeezed out of our mindset. We also have the lamb DVD that we watch as a family and it entertains us all while teaching us timeless truths. I highly recommend this book for your children or as a gift. I can envision the very real possibility of an unsaved adult being saved while reading this book to their children or grand-children (that is my prayer for my own mother).

Check out more reader reviews here.

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Quotes (468)

At our best we shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation, and discover that we are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour. The more light we have, the more we shall see our own imperfection. Sinners we were when we began, sinners we shall find ourselves as we go on; renewed, pardoned, justified—yet sinners to the very last.

 

 

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900