Faith

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Quotes (569)

The practice of leading someone in a sinner’s prayer for their salvation has produced many tares or false converts in churches over the last 100 years (Matt. 13:25-40). This “evangelical tradition” cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. Those who desire to evangelize God’s way will follow the instructions given by the Lord of the Harvest. He commissioned us to go and make disciples, not decisions (Matt. 28:18).

– Mike Gendron

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What happens when you ask a Roman Catholic priest a tough question?

How much more do you think he would have squirmed in his chair and changed the topic if this had been the question:

How can you continue to represent the Roman Catholic religion in light of Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews (just to name three books of the Bible) that all contradict Roman Catholicism and prove it’s nothing more than falsehoods and traditions of men?

HT: Pastor Aaron

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Redeeming a vampire?

Vampire Not satisfied with the drivel that is known as the majority of what passes as Christian literature today, (obviously a reflection of what’s oozing from most pulpits), the Christian publishing world has long abandoned classic Christian literature like that found in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s.

Today, the Christian book publishing world is moving in directions that begs the question how they can still use the name “Christian.”

According to this news article, meet the new face of “Christian” literature:

Other Christian fiction shows growing sophistication. No longer must characters follow a predictable path to salvation, for instance. The heroine of Nicole Baart’s “The Moment Between,” published by Tyndale, is not a conventional believer but a spiritual seeker; the novel is set in a vineyard and deals with a suicide.

And as if it couldn’t get worse . . . it does:

Even as Christian publishing suffers during the recession — one study found net sales for Christian retailers were down almost 11 percent in 2008 — several publishing houses are adding or expanding their fiction lines with both the tame (Amish heroines) and boundary-pushing (Christian vampire lit).

You heard right: “Christian vampire lit.” I never dreamed I’d ever in my life use those words in the same sentence.

More on “Christian vampire lit”:

On Sept. 15, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group will release its take on vampires in “Thirsty,” by Christian chick-lit author Tracey Bateman. Not surprisingly, the marketing material mentions “Twilight,” the hit vampire book series and movie whose abstinence message resonated with many evangelicals.

Bateman’s vampire, Markus, is a character but also a metaphor for demons anyone must overcome, said Shannon Marchese, an editor at WaterBrook Multnomah who sought out Bateman for the project. The object of his obsession, Nina, is a divorced alcoholic dealing with addiction.

“These are themes that work in the Christian life,” Marchese said. “You have to fight to say, ‘Am I going to choose unconditional love and redemption or a life of following obsessions, a life with holes in it?”

Still, challenges exist beyond what to do with dripping fangs (they were edited out). On the theological front, questions lurk about whether a creature both alive and dead has a soul that can be saved.

“I think we can redeem a vampire,” said Bateman, adding that she won’t be a spoiler and disclose her character’s fate. “I don’t think this is a despair too dark to pull out of.”

The problem in the world of Christian publishing and bookstores can be summed up with the last line in this quote:

“If you look at ‘Left Behind,’ the moon turns to blood and one-third of the people die,” said Karen Watson, associate publisher, fiction, for Tyndale House, which published the series. “Or you have people with bonnets on drawing water from the well. It just tells me there are a wide range of things you can talk about, and Christian books can be a lot of things.”

It seems “Christian books” are a lot of things, but Christian.

If you enjoy good Christian fiction (without vampires) but cannot stand the garbage that passes as today’s Christian literature, I cannot recommend enough the book Basket of Flowers by Christoph von Schmid. And needless to say, you probably won’t find it in your local Christian bookstore!

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Sermon of the week: “The Glory of Sovereign Love” by Phil Johnson.

Phil Johnson exposits 1 John 4:19 in your sermon of the week, The Glory of Sovereign Love.

“We love, because He first loved us.”

Johnson provides five points from this passage, all of which attest to the doctrines of grace:

1. The perverseness of our fallen state.

2. The priority of God’s electing choice.

3. The Particularity of God’s saving work.

4. The power of God’s loving deliverance.

5. The perfection of God’s redemption plan.

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Quotes (562)

ryle.jpg Our Lord’s strong language about the false teachers of the Jews ends here. Those who think that unsound ministers ought never to be exposed and held up to notice, and men ought never to be warned against them, would do well to study this passage. No class of character throughout our Lord’s ministry seems to call forth such severe denunciation as that of false pastors. The reason is obvious. Other men ruin themselves alone: false pastors ruin their flocks as well as themselves. To flatter all ordained men, and say they never should be called unsound and dangerous guides, is the surest way to injure the Church and offend Christ.

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

HT: Apprising Ministries

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“Ten reasons NOT to ask Jesus into your heart” by Todd Friel.

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Ten reasons NOT to ask Jesus into your heart.

By Todd Friel

The music weeps, the preacher pleads, “Give your heart to Jesus. You have a God shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it.” Dozens, hundreds or thousands of people who want to get their spiritual life on track make their way to the altar. They ask Jesus into their heart.
Cut to three months later. Nobody has seen our new convert in church. The follow up committee calls him and encourages him to attend a Bible study, but to no avail. We label him a backslider and get ready for the next outreach event.

Our beloved child lies in her snuggly warm bed and says, “Yes, Daddy. I want to ask Jesus into my heart.” You lead her in “the prayer” and hope that it sticks. You spend the next ten years questioning if she really, really meant it. Puberty hits and the answer reveals itself. She backslides. We spend the next ten years praying that she will come to her senses.

Telling someone to ask Jesus into their hearts has a very typical result, backsliding. the Bible says that a person who is soundly saved puts his hand to the plow and does not look back because he is fit for service. In other words, a true convert cannot backslide. If a person backslides, he never slid forward in the first place. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (II Cor.5) No backsliding there.

Brace yourself for this one: with very few if any exceptions, anyone who asked Jesus into their hearts to be saved…is not. If you asked Jesus into your heart because you were told that is what you have to do to become a Christian, you were mis-informed.

If you have ever told someone to ask Jesus into their heart (like I have), you produced a false convert. Here is why.

Continue reading →

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Quotes (561)

awpink.jpg How vain is the presumptuous hope of the wicked, who, notwithstanding their continued defiance of God, nevertheless count upon His being merciful to them. How many there are who say, I do not believe that God will ever cast me into Hell; He is too merciful. Such a hope is a viper, which if cherished in their bosoms will sting them to death. God is a God of justice as well as mercy, and He has expressly declared that He will “by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7).

– A.W. Pink

1886 – 1952

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Quotes (559)

Gary Gilley Today, virtually every heresy found in the Christian ranks can be traced back to some form of rejection of the Bible as God’s final authority. It may be pragmatism (which adds success to the Bible); mysticism (which adds experience); tradition (which adds the past): legalism (which adds man’s rules); or philosophy such as psychology (which adds man’s wisdom). The end result is all the same: the Word of God takes a back seat to the inventions and imaginations of men.

– Gary Gilley

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Seriously, but not literally.

If you wanted  a great example of the genesis for all the errors that we have presently slithering around under the umbrella of Christianity claiming to be truth, look no further than this video from a Bible society. This is heresy at it’s finest: Did God really say . . . ?

You can almost hear the hiss as this woman speaks.

HT: Apprising Ministries

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Quotes (556)

firm-foundations-creation-to-christ In our preparation of people for the Gospel, we must bring them to the point where they realize they can do nothing. But even when people do understand their inability to do anything, many evangelists, missionaries, and preachers tell enquirers things such as, “Now, you must give your heart to Jesus.” Having told them they are unable to do anything, they then tell them what they must do. The result? Confusion about the Gospel.

– Trevor Mcllwain

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Islamic tolerance: Christian murdered over purchase of tea.

Tea

The “religion of peace” has struck again in Pakistan.

Witnesses claim the owner and 14 of his employees beat Ishtiaq with stones, iron rods and clubs, and stabbed him multiple times with kitchen knives as Ishtiaq pleaded for mercy.

Ishtiaq had not noticed the warning sign before ordering his tea, as he ordered with a group of his fellow passengers.

When Ishtiaq went to pay for his tea, the owner noticed that he was wearing a necklace with a cross and grabbed him, calling for his employees to bring anything available to beat him for violating a sign posted on the stall warning non-Muslims to declare their religion before being served.

Read more from Asian News and  from Worthy News.

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10 questions for the “seeker.”

Blind Leading the BlindThe following is a good article from Life Way asking ten simple questions of the so-called “seeker.”

10 Questions for the Seeker

Written by Scott Pruett

There is much talk about the proverbial “spiritual seeker,” which many religions zealously court and who is alleged to be on a journey toward truth. But who are these seekers? What are they looking for and what are they willing to accept as truth? And what roadmap are they willing to use to guide their paths? Here are some questions designed to stir the mind of the seeker, and to give touchstones for dialog to Christians seeking to reach them.

  1. What is it that you are searching for? Are you looking for Truth with a capital “T” – an objective truth – or are you just looking for something that “works” for you? Will any old path do so long as it suits your taste? Are you just enjoying the “journey” or are you looking to a destination?
  2. Are you prepared to accept a truth that causes you inconvenience, or that asserts that you are in the wrong on some of your ideas and behaviors? Do you think that it is possible to enjoy doing things that are actually wrong?
  3. Is the truth something that can be contradicted? Do you think that other seekers who have settled on different and conflicting truths could be wrong, or that you may be wrong and they right? What role do you think reason, logic, and evidence play in determining truth? Do feelings trump these? If so, what do you do with people who believe contradictory things but “feel” the same as you about their beliefs?
  4. If there is a true religion, do you think that it would be possible for any of its followers to be pretenders and hypocrites? Must truth be perfectly practiced in order to qualify as truth? Do we judge a religion by those who most consistently follow it or by those who violate its principles?
  5. Do you see problems in this world? Do you think people do bad things and have bad motives? Is it possible that many people are not really looking to surrender to a higher truth?
  6. How do you think morality and your conscience fits into this? Do your moral intuitions tell you anything about truth and the maker of this cosmos? Do you think you’ve ever committed any moral crimes? What is to be done with these and what do you do with your guilt?
  7. Do you just prefer to be “spiritual” and not “religious?” Do you dislike “organized religion?” If there really is an objective truth, and others can come to know it too, is it sensible that common followers of that truth would seek out each other’s company, deliberately organize, and even have spiritual elders and administrative leaders where the numbers warranted?
  8. Have you considered that this truth could have intruded upon history? Do you think that if Truth is personal that it might have spoken and you can look for evidence of that revelation? Do you think that such a revelation would be authoritative and trustworthy, or do you suppose that it could be hopelessly muddled by human involvement?
  9. The Judeo-Christian tradition is one of the most well-documented, historical, and ancient. Have you considered that this could be the actual point at which God has intervened in this world – is it not a prime candidate? Have you actually read the Bible (perhaps the New Testament, or just the Gospels), or even just heard an exposition of the core beliefs of historic Christianity (rather than having a narrow church experience or taking the secular stereotypes at face-value)? Have you honestly sought to have your questions or objections addressed by Christians who are best equipped to do so, such as theologians and apologists? Have you read anything near the number of books on Christianity that you have on other beliefs that you are entertaining? Did you know that there is a whole historical body of literature devoted to explaining Christianity and answering the tough questions?
  10. Are you serious about your search or is it more of a hobby? Would you be willing to pray to this divine entity that you are seeking to help you come to the truth, whatever the cost?

© 2008 LifeWay Christian Resources