We conclude our five-part series by Phil Johnson entitled A Survey of Heresies with The Socinians.
If you’ve missed any of our past installments from this series, you can download the entire series here.
Reformation
Sermon of the week: “The Pelagians” by Phil Johnson.
We continue our series A Survey of Heresies by Phil Johnson. In this series Johnson has examined the major heresies that have plagued Christianity throughout the years. This installment is The Pelagians.
Our final installment comes in two weeks.
Sermon of the week: “The Arians” by Phil Johnson.
We continue our series of the five major heresies that the Church has had to deal with–and still does–since the first century.
This week Phil Johnson delivers a two-part message on The Arians from his series, A Survey of Heresies:
Johnson does a fantastic job explaining the history of Arianism in addition to detailing what happened at the Council of Nicea, and shows that the Arians of the early church are the Jehovah’s Witnesses of today.
See the previous heresies covered by Phil Johnson: The Judiazers (here) and The Gnostics (here).
Sermon of the week: “The Gnostics” by Phil Johnson.
Your sermon of the week is the second installment of Phil Johnson’s series, A Survey of Heresies. These are the five major heresies that have plagued the Church and that are still around today. Two weeks ago Phil Johnson taught on the heresy of the Judiazers (found here), and this week his message is on The Gnostics. Join us in two more weeks when Phil Johnson lectures on the next major heresy, The Arians.
Sermon of the week: “Predestination and Infants” by Brian Borgman.
Brian Borgman delves into the controversial subject of what happens when infants die, in your sermon of the week entitled Predestination and Infants.
Quotes (819)
It is impossible to measure the harm done to the Protestant cause through the retention of paedobaptism. The Reformed churches profess to be governed solely by Scripture, but so long as they continue baptizing babies, so long will they be taunted by Roman Catholics (and others) for their manifest inconsistency. . . . . Baby baptism is ruinous to the souls of thousands. Strictly speaking, it is not baby baptism but mistaken views regarding its efficacy and significance which leads multitudes down the broad way to destruction.
– T.E. Watson
Sermon of the week: “The Judiazers” by Phil Johnson.
Your sermon of the week is the first in a five-part series entitled A Survey of Heresies. Every two weeks DefCon will be bringing you the next installment in this series from Phil Johnson on the top five major heresies that have plagued the church since its inception, and continues to rear its ugly head in the form of the cults and false Christian religions of today.
We begin this series with The Judiazers.
Quotes (815)
Modern Roman Catholicism is the monstrous tree that sprang from the acorn of the Judiazers.
– Phil Johnson
Sermon of the week: “The Doctrine of Salvation – Justification” by Brian Borgman.
Your sermon of the week is a great message on justification by Brian Borgman. This sermon also contains the Are You a Roman Catholic or Christian quiz that was featured on DefCon two days ago.
I recommend that before you download/stream this two-part sermon, that you take the quiz first. For those who took the quiz and had some questions about it, this sermon should help answer them.
Additionally, this sermon should bring clarity to the differences between the falsehoods of Roman Catholicism’s view of justification versus the truths of justification contained in holy Scripture.
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 . . .
Praying for Rose Marie.
I first met Rose Marie a few years ago. She is a 20-something nun who works a booth at the local fair. Since she travels around selling Rome’s idolatrous wares and trinkets, I hadn’t seen her since that first meeting. However, she was back in town and I saw her yesterday at this year’s fair. When I approached her she immediately recognized me.
Rose Marie, or as I’m sure she prefers to be called, Sister Rose Marie, is still relying on her own efforts to save her from the coming wrath of God.
I only had a chance to chat with her for about a minute or two this time, but I am researching a way to correspond with her like a pen-pal. If this does not materialize, then I’ll have to wait another year to have an opportunity to speak with her.
I ask that the readers of DefCon please keep this precious young lady (who has devoted her life to a dead religion of works in hopes to find favor with God) in your prayers. To read a brief post on my first encounter with Rose Marie from 2007, check out: A conversation with a nun in the most unlikeliest of places.
Goodbye grandpa.
On August 03, 2010, while lying in bed nursing a 102 degree fever, I received a call that my grandfather (who was in the hospital recovering from a minor operation) had stopped breathing on two separate occasions but they were able to resuscitate him both times.
When I arrived at the hospital he was on a ventilator (tube down his throat feeding him oxygen) in addition to a myriad of other tubes and wires, and loaded with a plethora of medications—all of which were keeping him alive.
The following day tests confirmed that his condition was only growing worse and that his organs were beginning to shut down. It was unanimous: his wife and family decided that there was no need to artificially prolong the inevitable.
The day I’ve always dreaded arrived on the evening of August 04, 2010. With his family by his side, my grandfather slipped into a Christless eternity, ending his life of eighty-three years on earth.
Quotes (787)
The thick pollutions of thine abominable [Roman Catholic] church forbid the idea of descent from any apostle but the traitor Judas.
– Charles Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
Sermon of the week: Semper Reformanda – “Children in Worship” by 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.
A DefCon milestone: Our one millionth visitor.
It was two years ago that DefCon entered the blogoshphere and today we’re celebrating our one millionth visitor. We’re marking the occasion with a whole new look, and I’ll be tweaking it over the week to come till it’s perfect.
We’ve seen a lot, been through a lot, learned a lot, and grown a lot. What keeps us going is the myriad of comments and e-mails from those whose lives have been changed, strengthened, and encouraged by this blog. We truly appreciate our readers and would not be where we’re at today if it weren’t for you.
We also know that this will not last forever. Like many things in life, there is a season for everything, and seasons come and go. The handwriting is already on the wall, and sites like this will be labeled “illegal” and “subversive” in the near future as attacks and persecution continue to increase worldwide against Christians who preach and hold to the exclusivity of Christ.
We appreciate your continued support as we work while there’s still light, for the darkness is fast approaching when we will no longer be able to labor for the Kingdom. Again, thank you all for your readership and encouragement.
Quotes (735)
I honestly, for the life of me, do not understand how somebody who professes to be in Christ can still continue to take God’s name in vain. And I will tell you I hear it all the time. Not in the profane ways of the world but in using the word God as an expletive. If you’re in Christ and Christ dwells in your heart then what comes out of your mouth should be words of praise and thanksgiving to God, not using God’s name in vain. The same filth that used to come out of your mouth is now cleaned up; why? because Christ lives in you. . . . I was an alter boy, and I went to Holy Family Catholic School, and I was surrounded by all this religious atmosphere, but you know what, I was excellent at was cussing. Most alter boys do cuss by the way. . . . I was a prolific swearer at twelve years old. When God saved me there was an immediate sense that those words no longer fit inside of this mouth. To be in union with Christ affects the way that you think, it affects the way that you speak, it affects the way that you use your body.
– Brian Borgman
Quotes (725)
Surely that man must be in an unhealthy state of soul who can think of all that Jesus suffered, and yet cling to those sins for which that suffering was undergone. It was sin that wove the crown of thorns; it was sin that pierced our Lord’s hands, and feet, and side; it was sin that brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross, and to the grave. Cold must our hearts be if we do not hate sin and labor to get rid of it, though we may have to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye in doing it.
– J. C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
Sermon of the week: “The Grace of God’s Law – God’s Law in the Life of the Saints” by Brian Borgman.
We have finally reached the end of Brian Borgman’s thirteen-part series entitled Introduction to the Reformed Faith. The Grace of God’s Law – God’s Law in the Life of the Saints is the concluding installment of this great series on the Doctrines of Grace that we began in October 2009.
I hope it has been a blessing to you all. For those who want to download the entire series, you can find it here.
Sermon of the week: “The Assurance of Grace – Assurance in the Life of the Saints” by Brian Borgman.
Another fantastic sermon! Your sermon of the week is The Assurance of Grace – Assurance in the Life of the Saints by Brian Borgman. This is one that will not sit well with Roman Catholics and anyone else who rejects the idea of assurance.
This is part twelve of a thirteen-part series on the Doctrines of Grace entitled Introduction to the Reformed Faith by Pastor Brian Borgman. Be sure to check out the final installment next week.
10 Things.
The following top ten list (plus one, which really makes it eleven) comes from a piece entitled 10 Things That Make a Lay Person Want To Spit which can be found on this post from the Bororean.
Enjoy.
After seeing the Hoodlum Pastors short list of things that make a pastor want to cuss, I thought I would make a list of my own that truly makes me want to spit!
10 Things that make a lay person want to spit!
01. Preachers who insist on exalting themselves instead of magnifying Christ, they draw men’s attention to them or their church instead of pointing to Christ and His cross.
02. Preachers who fail to rightly divide the Word of Truth and attempt to pass off some self-esteem psycho-babble as biblical preaching.
03. Preachers who talk about being a biblical man but have very little warmth in their speech or actions! They are not sensitive nor tender to the flock of God and are callous in their dealings with growing saints and say hateful things on their blog or facebook for the shock effect.
04. Preachers who think they actually need to promote sex within the church.
05. Preachers who are preoccupied with their image and physical appearance and make a point to boast about their Harley Davidson, you know; the cool dude.
06. Preachers who have a disdain for the word “DOCTRINE”.
07. Preachers who start every sentence with “I believe”, vs “thus saith the Lord” and always makes a point to use the buzz words. (un-churched, Christ-follower you know the words that don’t offend lost sinners)
08. Preachers who proudly flaunt how different their church is from what has gone before and treat Christians from the past (and their hymns) with scorn.
09. Preachers who’s hero is Rick Warren or Joel Osteen.
10. Preachers who are always promoting some new thing or novelty that will change my life forever.
Puhleeeezzzzeeee!!!
I guess I got one more in me! Oh feel free to add your own list in the comments.
11. Preachers who want to cuss because of weak and shallow Christians who sit under weak and shallow preaching, now that really makes me want to spit!!!
Christ Alone Wyoming 