Theology

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Sermon of the week: “Protecting Church Purity” by Jeff Purswell.

jeff-purswell.jpg We continue our five-week series on Church discipline with week four’s sermon Protecting Church Purity by Jeff Purswell.

The doctrine of Church discipline is one that most American Christians are unaware even exists and which many others choose to ignore. However, not only is it a reality, it is a biblical mandate for the Church regardless if most pastors in America choose to ignore it (many times for fear it will hurt their church attendance numbers).

Jeff Purswell is pastor of Covenant Life Church.

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Why Runtu can’t be a Mormon anymore.

I wanted to share with you Runtu’s top ten list of reasons why he says he can no longer be a Mormon.

10. The Book of Abraham turns out to be a common Egyptian funeral text called the Breathing Permit of Horus.
9. Anachronisms and clear plagiarisms in the Book of Mormon.
8. Joseph Smith’s history of claiming to be able to find buried treasure by looking at a rock in a hat, the same method he would later use to “translate” the Book of Mormon.
7. The wholesale stealing of Masonic rites for Joseph’s inspired temple ceremony.
6. Joseph’s practice of sending men on missions and then “marrying” their wives as soon as they had left town; see, for example, the story of Marinda Johnson Hyde.
5. Joseph’s practice of “marrying” teenage girls behind his wife’s back and promising eternal life to parents of teenagers for their consent.
4. Widespread use of church funds to enrich church leaders, from the days of the Kirtland Safety Society to Brigham Young and beyond.
3. The Mountain Meadows Massacre.
2. Racism, sexism, and homophobia.
1. Most of all, the church’s pattern of hiding all of these things. If you grew up Mormon, you were never told any of these things.

They’re all true. And I won’t be a part of that anymore.

Thank you for sharing, Runtu.

Sincerely,

– The Pilgrim

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Quotes (397)

The Catholic religion has become corrupt the same way Judaism became corrupt—by following the traditions of men instead of the Word of God (Mark 7:13). The Pharisees taught much truth, but by mixing it with error, they “made the word of God of no effect.”

– Mike Gendron

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Yet another church, and yet another Beatles service.

Apparently Trish from Fish With Trish isn’t immune to these Laodicean mailings.

I think Keystone Church is running behind the “relevance caboose” as they’re a little behind the times. The whole Beatles thing was like so five minute ago.

I checked into Keystone and found the following “trailer” for their Beatles “sermon” series.

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Quotes (396)

ryle.jpg Sanctification, again, is a thing which does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict. By conflict I mean struggle within the heart between the old nature and the new, the flesh and the spirit, which are to be found together in every believer. . . . A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. He may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace.

– J. C. Ryle

1816 – 1900

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Quotes (394)

It is hard to improve on the pattern set by the very first church at Jerusalem. Acts 2:41-42 gives the details: “So then, those who had received His word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” We see from these verses the essential functions of the local assembly: evangelism, instruction in the Word, participation in the ordinances, prayer, and fellowship. Intertwined within these would be worship and edification. These activities defined the New Testament church, and distinguished it from a social club or political rally.

– Gary Gilley

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Zero church rethinks faith as they replace preaching for “a talk.”

Back in July I published a post entitled When the Church Stops Being the Church. In this post I  highlighted a trend in which churches claiming to be “Christian” are refusing to preach the Gospel (one of the church’s primary purposes for existence). In this previous post I exampled three particular churches and their (proud) refusal to preach the Gospel

Note: the assembling of the Body together is for our encouragement, building up, instruction, and edification, however, outside the walls of the building the “Church” should be evangelizing.

Now, sadly, I have to make another addition to this commentary: Welcome Zero Church to the repository of the new era of man-centered Christianity as they begin “rethinking faith together.” In their attempt to be edgy and relevant they throw out “preaching” for “a talk” and they have “a band” but “not much worship music.”

Does anyone else see a problem with this? Are we on the slippery slope or are we already face down in the bottom of the canyon?

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:14

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Sermon of the week: “How to Conduct Church Discipline” by Chuck Betters.

This week DefCon presents the final installment of Pastor Chuck Betters’ three part series on the lost art of Church discipline.

Chuck Betters’ final sermon on this matter is How to Conduct Church Discipline. I highly recommend this series on this much-neglected doctrine of the Church (you can listen to part one here and part two here).

Chuck Betters is pastor of Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church in Bear, Delaware.

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Has the Religious Right lost its voice in American politics?

When those who comprise the politically Religious Right awoke recently to the news that John McCain was the republican nominee, there must have been a collective sigh of disappointment heard across the nation from those who for the last few decades banked on their valiant efforts in the political arena to assist in ushering in God’s Kingdom on earth.

So now what does the Religious Right have to show for decades of compromising the Christian faith to “help God out?” And what has happened to the morality of this nation during the Religious Right’s years as change agents over their country’s behavior? Let’s take a quick look at the state of the nation after years of the politically-minded Religious Right having a voice in national politics:

– Teen pregnancy is still rampant.

– Drunkenness and drug use is still rampant.

– A staggering number of children are still being murdered in their mother’s womb every day and this abhorrent act is still protected by United States law.

– Almost every unnatural and perverse sexual lifestyle is not only accepted but celebrated.

– The adult entertainment industry continues to grow and pornography is now more easily available via the internet than ever before.

– Children are being pumped full of drugs to combat perceived “disorders.”

– Smut, filth, profanity, blasphemy, the glamorization of godless lifestyles, and the celebration of every sin imaginable continues to flow into our homes like a raging river that’s breached its banks via our televisions, movies, magazines, books, and internet.

– Churches have increasingly become lukewarm at best and full-blown apostate at worst as the cancer of pragmatism has swept over the nation like the creeping blackness of a solar eclipse.

– And now the Moral Majority has a candidate for president that is not a friend of the Religious Right (except during election time, of course) and is far from anyone that the Religious Right can rejoice over.

This and many other growing problems are what all that hard work has gotten the Religious Right while the true call of Christians (evangelism) has succumbed to the death of neglect.

While the Religious Right has spent enormous amounts of time, energy, and money to change the “minds” of the American populace, the “hearts” of Americans have grown colder, darker, and increasingly wicked.

So what do those who have put all their eggs in the basket of worldly politics—and who view the American political system as the answer to the decline of American morals—do now? What’s next for the Religious Right now that their exercise in the advancement of dominion theology has not only utterly failed to reverse the ills of America, but has also failed to elect a truly conservative “Christian” president?

For most, they will reluctantly support John McCain and convince themselves (through the frenzied hype of others) that John McCain is a friend of Christians. A man who Christians and the Religious Right would not have dreamed of supporting just a few short months ago, now grin and bear it–adorning their yards with McCain campaign signs and their cars with McCain campaign stickers.

Will some in the Religious Right finally sit back and take stock of the utter failure of all their combined efforts over the years as this nation’s flood of abominations continues to fill its cup of wrath to capacity? Will they finally concede defeat in man’s efforts to modify the behavior of their fellow man through legislation? Or will they go back to the drawing board to see what went wrong to try again?

May I make a suggestion to all those disciples of Robertson, Dobson, Haggard, Bauers, and Falwell? May I recommend something to all the Christians who are going to the polls to (yet again) vote for the lesser of the two evils and who still can’t seem to see that the more different the two parties are, the more they’re actually the same?

Take your sights off the world and put it back on Heaven! Get off the worldly system’s political train and get back to what Christians are supposed to be doing. Stop mingling with the world in the world’s game expecting to change hearts through legislation. Cease entangling yourselves in the affairs of the world. Quit trying to “Christianize” candidates like the Universalist George Bush when in the end the only one doing the compromising is you! Turn off the 24-hour news networks, put down the remote, and pick up the Bible.

The world has allowed you to play in its game for quite some time now but what has it really gotten you? How far have you drifted from God in the daily compromise of your faith to be able to battle in the political arena? Has Jesus Christ been lifted up and glorified and His Word honored among the nations by your political actions or has He been relegated to a “form” that you’ve created so that He fits neatly into your image of the widely accepted but Scripturaly incorrect American Jesus iconic image?

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I am not against your civic duty to cast your vote in an election, nor am I against being involved in politics. What I am stressing here is the problems that arise when Christians erroneously think that government is the answer to man’s problems when the truth is it’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ that’s the answer to man’s problems . . . and those problems all stem from sin!

There is no command, example, teaching, or precedent found in Scripture where Christians are supposed to get involved in their nation’s political system to enact change or to enforce Christian values upon the populace. The Apostle Paul never once tried to run for public office or finagle his way into the political system to change Rome’s poor moral condition.

We are called to evangelize the lost, not coerce the masses through legislation to be good moralists whose outside is washed white but whose insides are full of filth. We are called to proclaim to every creature salvation through Jesus Christ, not “God Bless America.”

If your desire is to “take this nation for God,” then stop trying to do it the world’s way and start doing it God’s way . . . preach Christ and Him crucified!

So in answer to the question, “Has the Religious Right lost its voice in American politics?” I can simply answer no . . . you can’t lose something you never had to begin with.

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Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:1-3

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Another special message: “Salt, Light, and Politics” by Phil Johnson.

For the second week in a row DefCon interrupts our regularly scheduled Saturday sermon series Studies in Ephesians to bring you a timely message regarding the role of Christians in politics with a sermon by Phil Johnson entitled Salt, Light, and Politics. If you didn’t catch Phil Johnson’s other sermon on this topic, “Politically Incorrect,” I encourage you to check it out here.