You must equip your children to function in a culture that has abandoned the knowledge of God. If you teach them to use their abilities, aptitudes, talents, and intelligence to make their lives better, without reference to God, you turn them away from God. If your objectives are anything other than “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever,” you teach your children to function in the culture on its terms.
– Tedd Tripp
We continue our series of sermons on manhood (leading up to Father’s Day) with a two-part sermon by Paul Washer entitled The Desire To Be A Godly Man.
In the ordinance of singing, we must not make noise, but music; and the heart must make melody to the Lord. Augustine complained of some in his time, that “they minded more the tune than the truth; more the manner than the matter; more the governing of the voice than the uplifting of the mind;” and this was a great offense to him. Singing of Psalms should be joyous breathing of an elevated soul; and here the cleanness of the heart is more important than the clearness of the voice. In this service we must study more to act the Christian than the musician. Many in their singing of Psalms are like organs, whose pipes are filled only with wind.
– John Wells
In spite of this documentary attempting to paint Atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair in a favorable light, you can’t help but see the irony of her life in the oddity surrounding her death.
In this documentary the true O’Hair is revealed including a domestic incident which resulted in her battery on police officers which led to her running from the law. Also included is O’Hair’s desire to defect to Russia during the height of the Cold War, but even the Godless Soviet Union wouldn’t take her so she did the next best thing . . . she helped bring Communism to America.
However, in spite of her life being devoted to mocking God and hating Christians, it was her death that was the events surrounding her death that I found most interesting. Scoffers are a dime a dozen, but O’Hair’s demise was anything but normal.
As with any documentary dealing with God-mockers, viewer discretion is advised.
Part One:
Part Two:
Language Warning: Uncensored profanity at 9:47
Part Three:
Part Four:
Part Five:
Also check out the famous Walter Martin vs Madalyn Murray O’Hair debate on this post.
WorldNet Daily in this post is reporting about government persecution of a home Bible study in San Diego, California. Here’s one quote from the article:
“The Western Center for Law and Policy is troubled by this draconian move to suppress home Bible studies,” said the law center in a statement. “If the current trends in our nation continue, churches may be forced underground. If that happens, believers will once again be forced to meet in homes. If homes are already closed by the government to assembly and worship, where then will Christians meet?”
There’s something in the air. You can’t see it, you can’t smell it, but you can feel it. It’s not necessarily tangible but you can sense its impending approach.
It is persecution. And not just “they-laughed-at-me-because-I-go-to-church” persecution that we’ve all come to consider as persecution here in America, but an intense, relentless, horrifying persecution. A persecution of the likes of which we have never seen.
I’ve pondered posting the following thoughts earlier but I did not want to sound like an alarmist, a conspiracy theorist or jump to any conclusions. However, I just viewed the short video at the bottom of this post and realized that I am not the only one who can see the thunder clouds on the horizon. The video encouraged me to pen my thoughts on this matter to share with those who also hear the clapping of the distant thunder.
The tide is changing, the pendulum is swinging, and the winds are shifting. Although the American government, legal system, churches, and mindset of the masses have been changing for quite some time now, it seems like lately those changes have been increasing in speed.
Intolerance, antagonism, opposition, and hostility against Christians are growing not only from outside the Church, but even more so from within.
This coming persecution will not affect those merely professing Christianity (like the average Emergent or mega-church attendee for example). Instead this persecution will be waged against those who tenaciously hold to the exclusivity of the Gospel; that salvation is found only in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
I once believed that the coming inevitable persecution would be against all who claim Jesus as their Savior, but I’ve come to realize that this is not true. Those who are merely professing Christians who just go to church need not fear. The persecution will be directed at those whose lives and doctrine actually reflect and bear the mark that God has called them out of this world because all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12).
We are warned of the great Falling Away from the Faith (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and that the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12) and that Christians will betray one another (Matthew 24:10). Those who are secreted within the true Shepherd’s flock that are currently among us but have never been of us (1 John 2:19) are the ones that will give us over to whatever persecuting body comes down the pike. It’s those who we once counted as brethren–those whose books we purchased, those whose sermons we listened to, and those sitting next to us in the pew–that will eventually deliver us up with a Judas kiss.
* We’ve seen many who claim the name of Christ—who fully believe they are bound for Heaven—fall under the charming spell of a political leader who is responsible for the bloodshed of countless children. These professing Christians cast their ballots for this king to rule over them and they justified it!
* We’re seeing laws being proposed to squelch any speech the government deems as “intolerant” or “hateful.”
* We’re seeing sinful lifestyles being given a protective status while anyone who disagrees is deemed an enemy and their right to free speech is being revoked.
* We’re seeing false teachers rise up from the floorboards like cockroaches at such an alarming rate that they’ve deluged our churches with their diseased false doctrines and have sickened the Body of Christ.
* We’re seeing those who’ve stood along side us (nodding their heads in agreement when we take on cults like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses), only to turn on us with a savage bloodlust when we hold their favorite “evangelical” leaders to the same Biblical standards and doctrinal integrity we hold the cults to.
* We’re seeing once respected men in the Faith begin holding hands with the enemy and push for a religious ecumenicalism that will eventually try to stamp out all those who believe Jesus meant what He said when He said He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6).
These and many other signs are coming together to create the perfect storm. When things begin heating up and moving forward, expect to see sites like DefCon taken down for violating some fairness or tolerance law. Expect to see pastors (who take a stand for the purity and exclusivity of the Gospel) removed from the pulpit and jailed as is already happening. And as things get worse, expect to lose your job, your home, your family, your friends, and even your very life as those who call themselves Christians pick up stones to kill you, thinking they’re doing God a service (John 16:2).
Those who have come to cherish the fellowship and encouragement of fellow believers on blogs such as this (because they’re outcasts at their local church), and those who rely on sound Biblical teaching from sermons on the internet (because their pastors are doing yet another “sermon” series on sex) will suffer as this once thriving venue dries up under hate crime laws.
It won’t be long before the true believers of Jesus Christ will be forced to go underground, not because of a lack of churches, but because of persecution and the fact that leaven has infected almost every church in America and those who resist will not be permitted to exist.
The blood of the martyr is the seed of the Church. It was in times of prosperity that Israel turned her back on God and it is with us as well. It wasn’t until Israel suffered greatly that they returned to their Creator. Whatever is soon to happen–no matter how terrifying it may be–we must remember that God has ordained it to accomplish His purposes.
History testifies this is going to take place, current trends indicate this is about to take place, and Scripture reveals this will take place.
We must be ready and prepared. We must do everything possible to make our families ready and prepared. We must remain steadfast and we must trust that God is sovereign in the storm as much as he is in the calm.
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It seems to me that persecution never hurts the Church and prosperity always does.
-Paul Washer
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See also: John MacArthur’s sermon A Nation Abandoned by God.
An honest evaluation reveals that not all is well today with twenty-first century Christianity. There are trends that should alarm us, even among the so-called fundamentalists. One of these trends needing urgent attention is the loss of holiness—the absence of a Bible-based, God honoring expression in the daily lives of many professing believers in Christ. True Christianity is not just a talk but also a walk, a way of life. . . . But today, mainstream Christianity has exchanged piety for pleasure, conscience for convenience, and modesty for moral looseness. People have taken God’s holy Son and reduced Him to a “popular” Jesus. He is now supposedly the Jesus of the professional athlete, of the country rock singer, and of the seminude beauty contestant. This Jesus supposedly smiles and forgives as unisex, divorce and remarriage, immodest dress (undress), fashion, sports, and the pleasure craze, along with the health-and-wealth gospel, settle into comfortable acceptance in many church circles. Dear friends, this is not the Jesus I know, and this is not the Jesus of the Bible!
– From the Mennonite gospel tract What Happened to Holiness?
There is very little understanding or desire for biblical truth and theology even among Christians. The Bible is not being expounded in many pulpits today. Christian radio saturates the airwaves with talk shows and psychology experts. Christian magazines aimed at the laymen are full of testimonies but devoid of solid spiritual food, and so few believers study the Word for themselves. As a result, we are a spiritually starved people who are no longer able to discern truth from error.
– Gary Gilley
Have a blessed Lord’s Day.
The church of Christ can as little bear continual prosperity, as long adversity: a calm is sometimes as dangerous as a storm. Many are the temptations and snares of a prosperous condition: it breeds hypocrites; errors and heresies spring up like weeds in rank ground; professors are apt to grow remiss and careless, wanton and secure; to be too fond of the present and to hanker after more temporal happiness than God judges good for them.
– Samuel Annesley
1620 – 1696
The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day “evangelist.” He announces a Savior from Hell, rather than a Savior from sin. So many are fatally deceived who wish to escape the lake of fire but have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness. The great Physician saves those who are sick of sin, who long to be delivered from its God-dishonoring works, and its soul-defiling pollutions.
– A.W. Pink
1886 – 1952
***** UPDATE *****
Review of Driscoll’s sermon at the Crystal Cathedral can be found here.
Lighthouse Trails, Church Solutions, Thinking Out Loud, Slice of Laodicea, and even Mark Driscoll’s calendar on his website are announcing the upcoming June 14th event.
Apparently this isn’t the first time he’s been featured there. He spoke at Schuller’s 2004 conference and his messages are still available for purchase from the Crystal Cathedral online bookstore.
It shall be interesting to see how this plays out.
On a side note, while not too shocked to see Driscoll appear at this rank heretic’s church, I was disappointed to see Joni Eareckson Tada there. They’re even selling her book. Is there no longer any discernment in the body of Christ?
For stronger reasons than simple modesty, certain acts involving fornication, autoeroticism, and other things people commonly “do in secret” are shameful to talk about in any public context (Ephesians 5:12), much less a church service. They may be suitable subjects for a private counseling session, or the doctor’s office, or a college biology lecture, but they are not fitting topics for a worship service where God should be glorified, Christ should be uplifted, women should be shown respect, children’s innocence should be guarded, and single people’s prurient curiosities should not unnecessarily be enflamed.
When a speaker deliberately arouses lusts that cannot possibly be righteously fulfilled in unmarried college students, or when his personal illustrations fail to guard the privacy and honor of his own wife, that is far worse than merely inappropriate. When done repeatedly and with the demeanor of an immature bad-boy, such a practice reflects a major character defect that is spiritually disqualifying. Any man who makes such things the main trademark of his style is quite simply not above reproach.
– John MacArthur
Who said the following?
If you would please, turn with me to the Song of Solomon. One of the great books of the Bible. Some have allegorized this book, and in so doing, they have destroyed it. They have destroyed it. They will say that it is an allegory between Jesus and his bride the church. Which if true, is weird. Because Jesus is having sex with me and puts his hand up my shirt. And that feels weird. I love Jesus, but not in that way.
A). Paul Crouch
B). Marilyn Manson
C). Rob Bell
D). Joel Osteen
E). Rick Warren
F). John MacArthur
G). Robert Schuller
H). Benjamin Dunn
I). John Piper
J). Mark Driscoll
K). Tammy Faye Bakker
L). Jay Bakker
M). Doug Pagitt
N). Richard Dawkins
For the answer, click below:
Your sermon of the week is a fantastic discourse on Jesus’ warning to beware of the wolves among the flock entitled How to Recognize False Teachers. This is a great message from Don Green as he sounds a warning to the flock by alerting us on the recognition of false teachers.
If you think he only deals with the obvious false teachers like Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, Jim Jones, and Benny Hinn, think again! Don Green includes the lukewarm pastors who week after week stand behind their pulpit and tell jokes and quaint little stories at the expense of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. A collective “ouch” is heard across America.
This is a must-hear sermon for every Christian who is serious about their faith and concerned about false teachers.
I’d like to pose the following question: What are the two most influential books–one for good, one for evil–from the last 500 years?
There is no right or wrong answer necessarily, but I wish to hear the opinions of DefCon readers on this query.
– What book written in the last 500 years was most influential for good, and why?
– What book written in the last 500 years was most influential for evil, and why?
I look forward to your answers.
I have often thought that the best Christians are found in the worst of times.
– John Bunyan
1628 – 1688
Atheist Matthew Parris wrote an interesting piece entitled As an Atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God. Here’s one quote from his article:
Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
HT Grace Blog
Richard Dawkins is dumbfounded after being asked to “give an example of a genetic mutation or an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome” – quite a reasonable question that one would expect Oxford University’s Professor for the Public Understanding of Science – so adamant in his belief in evolution – could and would provide an answer for. He then responds but DOES NOT answer the question that was asked of him. Why? Because he has no idea when it comes to processes that add information to the genome – the very premise of what he proclaims!! His writings claiming that he was not stumped are a desperate endeavour to cover his cowardly tracks (and on a further note, his writings don’t cover any of these “information adding” processes either).
Christ Alone Wyoming 