Gospel

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Quotes (804)

A W PinkSin! That “abominable thing,” which the Lord hates (Jeremiah 44:4), is regarded so lightly by those who commit it. Sin! It caused our first parents to be banished from Eden and is responsible for all the woe in the world. Sin! It produces strife and bloodshed and has turned this “land of the living” into a mammoth cemetery. Sin! A hideous monster we so much dislike hearing about and which we are so ready to excuse. Sin! Satan employs all his subtle arts to render it attractive and sets it forth in the most appealing colors.

– A.W. Pink

1886 – 1952

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Old Mormon vs New Mormon: The Missouri Prophecies

Another DefCon exclusive:

What happens when a 19th century Mormon meets a 21st century Mormon? Find out in the first installment of the new series: “Old Mormon vs New Mormon.”

And when we get into Jackson county to walk in the courts of that house, we can say we built this temple; for as the Lord lives we will build up Jackson county in this generation.

Brigham Young

Times & Seasons

Volume 6 Page 956

April 06, 1845

To be in readiness to move into Jackson county in two years from the eleventh of September next, which is the appointed time for the redemption of Zion.

Joseph Smith

History of the Church

Volume 2 Page 145

August 16, 1834

The day is near when a Temple shall be reared in the Center Stake of Zion, and the Lord has said his glory shall rest on that House in this generation, that is in the generation in which the revelation was given, which is upwards of thirty years ago.

George Q. Cannon

Journal of Discourses

Volume 10 Page 344

October 23, 1864

Continue reading →

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Quotes (803)

“Should not every Christian be expected by his ninth or tenth year to know all the holy Gospels, containing as they do his very name and life? A spinner or a seamstress teaches her daughter her trade while she is young, but now even the most learned prelates and bishops do not know the Gospel.

Oh, how badly we treat all these poor young people that are entrusted to us for discipline and instruction! and a heavy reckoning shall we have to give for it that we keep them from the word of God; their fate is that described by Jeremiah: “Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom” (Lam. ii. 11, 12).

We do not perceive all this misery, how the young folk are being pitifully corrupted in the midst of Christendom, all for want of the Gospel, which we should always read and study with them.”

Martin Luther
1483–1546

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At what point would you walk out of this church, or would you?

In this snippet, at what point would you walk out?

During the rock concert “worship,” the Christless, it’s–all-about-you pep talk, or the offering of a free week gym membership?

Or would you sit through it all believing that this is somehow the same Christianity that 2,000 years of martyrs have shed their blood for?

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Are you a Roman Catholic or a Christian?

Are you a Roman Catholic or a Christian?

Grab pen and paper and take the following ten-question quiz (formulated by Dr. J. Ronald Blue of Dallas Theological Seminary). How you do will determine whether you’re a Roman Catholic or a Christian.

Choose the position which is most true:

1:

A). God gives a man right standing with Himself by mercifully accounting him righteous.

B). God gives a man right standing with Himself by actually making him into a righteous person.

2:

A). God gives a man right standing with Himself by placing Christ’s goodness and virtue to his credit.

B). God gives a man right standing with Himself by putting Christ’s goodness and virtue into his heart.

3:

A). God accepts the believer because of the moral excellence found in Christ.

B). God makes a believer acceptable by infusing Christ’s moral excellence into his life.

4:

A). If a man becomes born again, he will achieve right standing with God.

B). If a sinner receives right standing with God, he will then experience a transformation of character and life.

5:

A). We receive right standing with God through faith alone.

B). We receive right standing with God by faith and love.

6:

A). We achieve right standing with God by having Christ live out His life of obedience in us.

B). We achieve right standing with God by receiving the truth that he obeyed the Law of God perfectly for us.

7:

A). We achieve right standing with God by following Christ’s example by the help of enabling grace.

B). We follow Christ’s example because His life has given us right standing with God.

8:

A). God first declares us good, and then His Spirit begins making us good.

B). God sends His Spirit to make us good, and then He will declare that we are good.

9:

A). Christ’s finished work on the cross and intercession at God’s right hand gives us favor in God’s sight.

B). It is the indwelling Christ that gives us favor in God’s sight.

10:

A). Only by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness can we fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.

B). By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us we can fully satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.

Bonus Question 1:

You get to Heaven by works: True or False

Bonus Question 2:

Our faith is the ground of our salvation: True or False

Answers . . .

Continue reading →

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Quotes (801)

Gary Gilley We live in a society that increasingly drifts toward the form rather than the substance, which embraces the superficial, lives to play, will pay almost any amount of money to be amused, and prizes fun as the highest pursuit of life. Conviction has been replaced by thrill and few seem to notice. . . . One would hope that things would be different among Evangelical Christians, but such does not seem to be the case. It appears that the church is in lockstep with the world.

– Gary Gilley

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Why does everything have to be dumbed down for kids?

While Jewish kids are memorizing the Torah and Muslim kids are memorizing the Koran, these kids are being entertained to death by singing hot dogs and hamburgers, and their parents, youth leaders, and church think all is well.

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A family of families.

Here’s an excellent article from Voddie Baucham in response to those who inaccurately and unfairly misrepresent Family Integrated Churches.

Is the Church a Family of Families?

Part One:

Any church that does not look like the ‘norm’ is always trying to explain itself.   This is a fact we know all too well at Grace Family Baptist Church.  We explain ourselves to those who visit us, those who call us trying to determine if it is a good idea to visit, those who are interested in finding or starting a church like ours, and those who are sure that we are some kind of “Patriarchy” cult.  Sometimes we explain ourselves in painstaking detail.  At other times we use shorthand.  One example of that ‘shorthand’ is our ubiquitous and somewhat enigmatic statement, “The church is a family of families.”

For some people, this captures the essence of the distinction between the FIC, and the neo-traditional church.1  For others, their presuppositions, and/or misconceptions about the FIC (along with the lack of clarity inherent in the phrase) get in the way.  This last group ranges from people who simply wish we were clearer in our statement, to those who find in the ‘family of families’ terminology the theological ‘smoking gun’ for which they have searched in an effort to discredit this “extreme overreaction” to the current crisis in contemporary youth ministry.2

We recognize that this may be an unnecessary stumbling block for those with a genuine interest in the Family Integrated Church concept, as well as those attempting to explain it to others.  Therefore, allow me to offer a bit of clarity as to what we mean when we use the term ‘family of families’ to describe the church.

Continue reading →

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Public school field trip to a mosque.

Shocking video. As if we needed one more reason to home educate our children.

HT: Revival & Reformation

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Quotes (800)

Let us beware of the beginnings of backsliding, however small. We never know what we may come to, if we once leave the king’s highway. The professing Christian who begins to say of any sin or evil habit, “it is but a little one,” is in imminent danger. He is sowing seeds in his heart, which will one day spring up and bear bitter fruit. It is a homely saying, that “if men take care of the pence the pounds will take care of themselves.” We may borrow a good spiritual lesson from the saying. The Christian who keeps his heart diligently in little things shall be kept from great falls.

– J.C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

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Is God green?

As a follow-up to yesterday’s sermon of the week by John MacArthur on creation (which touched on environmentalism), here’s a twenty minute radio interview with Phil Johnson on Christians and the distraction of environmentalism simply entitled, Is God Green?

For more on this subject I encourage you to check out these previous DefCon posts:

Priorities Completely Out of Whack

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions

The New Evangelicals


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Sermon of the week: “A Theology of Creation” by John MacArthur.

John MacArthur Two weeks ago we concluded our evolution / creation series by John MacArthur entitled The Battle for the Beginning. As a follow-up to that series I present this week’s sermon of the week by John MacArthur entitled A Theology of Creation.

This is a great message that covers the subject of creation, evangelicals who reject the first two chapters of Genesis for other theories about creation, and concludes with examining evangelicals who have bought the lie of radical environmentalism (who are “working for the Lord” by trying to preserve the very earth God cursed back in Genesis).

This will surely step on the worldview toes of many emergents, liberals, and post-moderns.


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While this nation slumbers (video).

While many in this country with a left-leaning political slant bemoan the security threats to this nation–placing unwarranted suspicion at the feet of Evangelical Christians, home educators, talk radio, gun owners, war vets, etc.–they remain strangely (and suspiciously) silent regarding the only real threat–the same threat that keeps spewing its venomous hate speech day after day, week after week, year after year: Islam.

While this nation slumbers, those who seek it’s demise are wide awake and ever planning . . . planning on murdering you, your children, your family, and friends. Yet half of our nation will continue to see threats where they don’t exist while ignoring the real threat breathing down our necks, and the other half of our nation is simply too busy to care–continuing to entertain themselves into a coma.

Everyone needs to watch this video clip to understand what’s coming from the “Religion of Peace.” This is especially enlightening when you consider that this video was made long before the Quran-burning controversy arose.

While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. – 1 Thessalonians 5:3

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America’s first 9/11.

(Journal of Discourses, volume 3, page 247)

For more reading on the subject, check out the online book Mountain Meadows Massacre.

For more on the Mormon doctrine of Blood Atonement see:

The Mormon doctrine of Blood Atonement as taught by Brigham Young.

The doctrine of Blood Atonement as taught by the Mormon organization.

Also check out additional LDS quotes and information on Blood Atonement here, here, and here.

______________________________________

See also What do Mormons think about Islam?

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The height of hypocrisy.

With all the drama over the Quran-burning controversy, I thought the following news article from 2007 was a little ironic:

Christians in Gaza Fear For Their Lives as Muslims Burn Bibles and Destroy Crosses

Although the religious group in this article is erroneously identified as “Christian,” the example of the hypocrisy is still very telling.

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Sermon of the week: “The Implications of Evolution” by John MacArthur.

John MacArthur Your sermon of the week is the final installment from John MacArthur’s series The Battle for the Beginning, entitled The Implications of Evolution. We’ve been featuring this series every other week since May and you can find the whole series on MacArthur’s website here.

We will be featuring one more sermon from MacArthur on the subject of creation (unrelated to this particular series) in two weeks.

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Quotes (793)

Our primary mission field today is within the church. The latest survey reveals that 86% of Americans say they believe in Jesus. Yet, a much smaller percentage of people say they are born-again Christians. How can so many people be deceived or deluded? Many of them have been told by misguided pastors or evangelists that repeating a prayer, signing a card, being baptized, joining a church or coming forward in an alter call has made them a Christian. Others have been asked to “accept” a Jesus they don’t even know. It is no wonder the Apostle Paul exhorted his readers to “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). We are to test ourselves and encourage others to do the same. The test: have we believed the true Jesus as he is revealed in the Scriptures or a “Jesus” who has been created by the imagination of men?

– Mike Gendron

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Glenn Beck: “Laying the goundwork for a false gospel.”

The following quote comes from a great article by Randy Lovegreen regarding a recent episode of Glenn Beck’s T.V. program in which Beck brazenly advanced a Mormon fallacy:

Beck is using his show to break the ice for Mormon theology, and promoting a worldview that supports the beliefs of his church. His hour long infomercial for Mormon history only makes it easier for those well groomed young men on bicycles to strike up a conversation, and lead folks astray. . . . As Christians, we must constantly be on guard against anything which may seek to corrupt our faith. This includes charming conservative talk show hosts, even if they are on Fox News.

Read the whole article, Glenn Beck’s Mormon Infomercial, here.

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How Mormons “attain salvation.”

A Mormon named Chris left the following comment, on a previous DefCon post:

Regardless of how it is interpreted, I have NEVER in 40 years of being a Mormon, met another Mormon who believes we can “earn” our way into Heaven. For you and others to continue to portray us in that light is dishonest. Dishonesty is NOT a Christian attribute.

Apparently Chris never met this Mormon:

This young girl has a better grasp of Mormon theology in regards to their view of justification and salvation than most Mormons I speak with.

I guess, according to Chris, this Mormon girl is just being “dishonest,” but I think she’s been reading her 1997 edition of the LDS published Gospel Principles (pages 303-304). It’s so refreshing to find a Mormon willing to be honest about what Mormonism teaches.