Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
1. The Spirit awakens a person’s heart.
2. The Spirit leads to the Word.
3. The Spirit convinces of sin.
4. The Spirit makes a person love the brethren.
5. The Spirit teaches a person to pray. ~ J.C Ryle
“The trouble with all false evangelism is that it does not start with doctrine, it does not start by realising man’s condition… If you and I realised that every man who is yet a sinner is absolutely dominated by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, if we only understood that he is really a child of wrath and dead in trespasses and sins, we would realise that only one power can deal with such an individual, and that is the power of God, the power of the Holy Ghost. …Read More!
Mark Dever in his book, What Is a Healthy Church? writes, “When you peer into the life of a church, the growth of its members can show up in all sorts of ways.” Here are just a few good examples – though of course this is not an exhaustive list :
- Growing numbers being called to missions—“I’ve enjoyed sharing the gospel with my neighbors from South America. I wonder if God is calling me to …”
- Older members getting a fresh sense of their responsibility in evangelism and in discipling younger members—“Why don’t you come over for dinner?”
- Younger members attending the funerals of older members out of love—“As a single man in my twenties, it was so good to be taken in by Mr. and Mrs.…”
- Increased praying in the church and more prayers centered on evangelism and ministry opportunities—“I’m starting an evangelistic Bible study at work and I’m a little nervous. Would the church pray that …”
- More members sharing the gospel with outsiders. …Read More!
I found this excerpt quite interesting…
“Do you have any regrets? I have some regrets…I’m ashamed…all the junk I know…all the theme songs of all the TV shows, all the pop songs, all the garbage in my head…because of all the time I wasted. What if I had been studying the bible instead of watching TV, what if I would have been reading great theology instead of listening to all the rock stars of the day?”- RC Sproul on Believing God
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Death – O how cruel you are! I recently lost my sister (at 4.00am on 11th October 2013), Miss Winnie Amaguru, just a few days after her thirty ninth birthday and the last couple of days have been tough. The funeral service preparations and preparations for burial have had a physical and emotional drain on me. Yet in all this I am seeing the providential hand of God’s comfort.
In the next few days I will be travelling from London back to Uganda where I will present the body to the rest of the family. We intend to give my sister a decent burial and thank God for the short time He loaned her to us. …Read More!
A very interesting article on Christian parenting….
I got into a brief conversation with one my classmates the other day. He is a youth minister and was telling me that one of his greatest challenges is dealing with parents who want him to talk to their teens regarding unChristian behavior. The challenge is not so much talking to the teen but to the parent who insists that their child is a Christian and therefore should be exhibiting Christian behavior. In other words, there is denial that the child may not actually be a Christian.
Now as a parent, I certainly understand where this insistence comes from. You have established your home as a Christian home. Christ and his church have taken priority. You want your own commitment to Christ reflective in your household. No doubt, your children have been immersed in church from birth – Sunday school, VBS, Awana. Hopefully you have spent time with them at home training and exposing them to God’s word and to prayer. It seems reasonable then that they should turn out to be Christian. And let’s be honest, there is a level of personal pride to say that we have intact Christian homes. …Read More!
“A man says to me, “Can you explain the seven trumpets of the Revelation?” No, but I can blow one in your ear and warn you to escape from the wrath to come.” ~ CHARLES SPURGEON
This year the Grace Baptist Mission church planting group in Legionowo, Poland opened their new meeting place. They have had a number of breakthroughs in their work.
Poland is an ancient nation that was conceived near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century. After years of being a Soviet satellite state, labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union “Solidarity” that over time became a political force and by 1990 had swept parliamentary elections and the presidency. A “shock therapy” program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe, but Poland still faces the lingering challenges of high unemployment, underdeveloped and dilapidated infrastructure, and a poor rural underclass. Poland remains a strongly Roman Catholic country with more than 90% of the population claiming allegiance to that church.
…Watch Video Below
Ever watched a mime perform and wished that he would clearly articulate the message he is dying to bring across? The audience a mime has will interprete his gesticulations with a degree of error because most of it is shrouded. But if he speaks and articulates his message, then the listeners are illumined. They are then not in any doubt of the original intention of the message bearer. A good message bearer delivers what he is entrusted with, without subtracting or altering it and leaves his audience with the intended message so that they are without any excuse. This is probably why miming (though is truly entertaining) falls short in many ways in delivering the Gospel message (which requires the hearers to know the name and person of Jesus Christ). Speaking of incomplete messages there’s one other thing….(ha ha look what I just did there!)
There are many conferences going on around us that supposedly are ‘bringing hope’ to the world or ‘happiness’ to the community. These in themselves are not bad but if it comes in the name of ‘Jesus’ then it has got to be clear in it’s intended message. Hope – why does the world need hope? …Read More!
Martin Lloyd Jones once said:
The preaching and teaching of a false prophet does not emphasize repentance in any real sense. It has a very wide gate leading to salvation and a very broad way leading to heaven. You need not feel much of your own sinfulness; you need not be aware of the blackness of your own heart. You just “decide for Christ” and you rush in with the crowd, and your name is put down, and is one of the large number of ‘decisions’ reported by the press. It is entirely unlike the evangelism of the Puritans and of John Wesley, George Whitefield and others, which led men to be terrified of the judgment of God, and to have an agony of soul sometimes for days and weeks and months. John Bunyan tells us in his book Grace Abounding that he endured an agony of repentance for eighteen months. There does not seem to be much room for that today.
Conrad Mbewe a pastor of a little church in Kabwata in Africa has written an interesting post on the growth of Charismatic movement in Africa to the point that there is now a fringe mystic personality that has replaced the local witch doctor. This personality called ‘the man of God’ has become an ‘anointed guru’ who brings deliverance, breaks generational curses and dishes out break-throughs at a local center where you have to come ready to sow a seed. Oh let me not spoil the article for you…
Many explanations have been given for the explosion of the Charismatic movement in Africa. Many have seen this as a powerful visitation of the Holy Spirit. Whereas there is probably more than one reason, I want to add my own observation to this for what it is worth. In this blog post, I do not refer to the old conservative form of Pentecostalism once represented by the Assemblies of God churches. I have in mind the current extreme form that is mushrooming literally under every shrub and tree in Africa. How can one explain this phenomenon?
I think that one reason why the Charismatic movement in Africa has been like a wild bushfire is because it has not challenged the African religious worldview but has instead adopted it. It has simply baptised it with Bible verses and Christian words that previously meant something totally different.The African Spiritual WorldviewLet me explain what I mean. The African spiritual worldview consists of four tiers.1. God2. Angels and demons3. Ancestral spirits4. Human beingsIt is because of this reality that Africans do not question the existence of God, as is the case with many people in the Western world. To an African, God is there. He is the Creator and ultimate Governor and Benefactor of the whole universe.Rather, in our spiritual worldview, although God is there he is very far away. Between him and us as human beings lie two layers in the spirit world. One is that of angels and demons (i.e. bad angels) and the other—which is even closer to us—is that of the spirits of the departed.So, although God is a benevolent, loving, and caring Being, unless the beings that dwell in these two layers that lie between him and us are appeased, his blessings cannot reach us. It is, therefore, important to appease the ancestral spirits and defeat the demons. Only after that will God’s blessings come upon us.This is where in African traditional religions witchdoctors come in. …Read More!
My dear Lord, I can but tell Thee that Thou knowest I long for nothing but Thyself, nothing but holiness, nothing but union with Thy will. Thou hast given me these desires, and thou alone canst give me the thing desired. My soul longs for communion with Thee, for mortification of indwelling corruption, especially spiritual pride. How precious it is to have a tender sense and clear apprehension of the mystery of godliness, of true holiness! What a blessedness to be like Thee as much as it is possible for a creature to be like its creator! Lord, give me more of Thy likeness; enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness; engage me to live more for Thee. Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual experiences, and when I feel at ease after sweet communings, teach me it is far too little I know and do. Blessed Lord, let me climb up near to Thee, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with Thee, and pant for deliverance from the body of sin, for my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its beloved. Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and-suffering.~Puritan Prayers (Valley of Vision)
The longer version of the video is here: …Read More!
Looking at the trends in the West through the eyes of Christians in Africa it appears as though, says Conrad Mbewe, the Western Emperor is marauding with no clothes on. Yet no one dares say….
Even if you tried to bury your head in the sand, you can still hear the tremor in the ground of the Western carnival that is coming. The music and dancing are getting louder and louder. It is one of human-rights-with-no-holds-barred. It is coming with all the revelry that you would expect. It cannot be ignored.
However, one problem with this procession is that it long left its original route. There are no principles to guide it, except the whims of those who are hiding behind its masks and leading it in whichever direction they please. Even those of us who are in Africa are totally alarmed by its lack of principles.
The other problem is that the issues being fought for under the guise of human rights are so patently wrong that an African like me stands aghast as I look at the current campaigns, debates, and legal reforms in the West. I am asking myself, “But can’t everyone see that the emperor walking in front has no clothes on?”
A century or two ago, Christian missionaries came from the West and taught us the Bible. As a result of this, we did away with polygamy, cannibalism, tribal feuds, etc. We were taught to put on more clothing to hide our nakedness. We learned to desist from tattooing our bodies, which were now temples of the living God. We even stopped sacrificing our babies to ancestral spirits.
The perplexing turn-around
All this made sense. It was logical, once you realised that we were all created by God and in his image. But, alas, the very principles that we were taught from Scripture are now being abandoned wholesale by the countries where our missionaries came from! Sadly, the basic questions are not being answered in this turn-around. As a result, we are bewildered. A few examples should suffice:Abortion: Who in the West does not know that life begins at conception? It must be obvious to all, therefore, that abortion is murder. Surely, we all know that we are killing fellow human beings in their mothers’ wombs in the millions every year. How come, then, that this reckless killing of babies is not being stopped?
Indecency: It is shocking to see what some adults wear when they leave their homes in the West. They leave very little to the imagination! As if that is not enough, billboard adverts all over the cities are full of naked women, or men and women poised in sexually suggestive positions. As for television and movies, indecency seems to be the stock of the trade. Add to this, public erotic kissing at stations and airports, etc. When visiting the West, I often feel like shouting, “Hey, guys, am I the only one around here who knows that all this is indecent?”
“Living together”: It is commonplace now in the West to have a man and a woman living together who are not married. Their parents know it and they just shrug their shoulders. How? I mean, how? How can a man start living with your daughter without getting your permission, as if she just fell from the sky? Surely it must be wrong. But again, are we the only ones who are seeing the obvious?
Christianity in Africa is some times very mystical that it borders witchcraft. No, and I do not mean the video game. Ever since prosperity gospel and word of faith teaching drifted in to churches there has been fringe theology sprinkled with Charismatic mysticism. Not many people read their bibles or even see any relevance in doing so. What some pastors are doing in the name of Christianity makes Judas appear a choir boy. A recent report highlighted that...
“People are leaving churches. Some practice fellowship in their homes, but some leave the church and go back to their old lifestyles. Some leave to stay at home and do nothing,” Thuso writes in Where Are We Heading To? The book critiques the “obsession” of some pastors for material things and large congregations.
“This is because of the disappointments people experience with churches and church leadership. This is more prevalent with so-called spirit-filled or charismatic churches,” Kewana adds in his book. “The greed for worldly wealth, huge church membership numbers, and fame form the cornerstone of such dissatisfaction engulfing the congregants and encouraging them to leave the church of God. Pastors are involved in all sorts of ungodly behaviors.”
The prosperity gospel appears to most find its home in the “word of faith,” or name-it-and-claim-it movement, which positions some charismatic preachers as special carriers of God’s favor and power. These particular ministers are then often looked to by hopeful Christians as their key or source to divine healing and blessings.
A recent example unfolded in a deadly way in May, when a stampede broke out at Temitope Balogun (T.B.) Joshua’s Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ghana. At least four people were killed and 30 others injured when a throng of 1,000 people made a frantic rush to get a hold of free holy water, which usually costs $39.36 and was presumably blessed by Joshua, a popular self-declared Nigerian prophet who has churches around the globe. …Read More!
“We have no reason to be discouraged and cast down if the religion we profess is not popular and few agree with us. We must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in this passage: ‘The gate is narrow’. Repentance, and faith in Christ, and holiness of life, have never been fashionable. The true flock of Christ has always been small. It must not move us to find that we are reckoned singular, and peculiar, and bigoted, and narrow minded. This is the ‘narrow way’. Surely it is better to enter into eternal life with a few, than to go to ‘destruction’ with a great company” – J.C. Ryle
If Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) had it’s own way it would write it’s own bible. A bible written in pencil -so that you can erase the bits you don’t like. Speaking of which….
Recently, the wrath of God became a point of controversy in the decision of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song to exclude from its new hymnal the much-loved song “In Christ Alone” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. The Committee wanted to include this song because it is being sung in many churches, Presbyterian and otherwise, but they could not abide this line from the third stanza: “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied.” For this they wanted to substitute: “…as Jesus died/the love of God was magnified.” The authors of the hymn insisted on the original wording, and the Committee voted nine to six that “In Christ Alone” would not be among the eight hundred or so items in their new hymnal. …Read More!
Halling Baptist Church was actually established and built in 1898 by workers from the Halling Cement Works as an alternative place of worship for those who wished to attend a Nonconformist meeting place. It has witnessed great times of joy with many coming to the Lord in faith and repentance and being baptized. It is well remembered by many for it’s ever so well attended Sunday School meetings. It has also gone through times of difficulty and testing, enduring through 2 World Wars and the Great Depression. Recently the congregation has been going through a time of prayer as they didn’t have a pastor. Well, this summer their prayers were answered …
On the 27th July 2013, Kevin Felix-Hollington was inducted into the office of pastor. On this beautiful and warm Saturday afternoon this little Baptist church was the point of convergence of many people from Basildon (Essex), Watford, North London and several members of the Grace Baptist Partnership were in attendance too. Grace Baptist Partnership provides Biblical counsel, training, practical experience, research and assessment services and materials helpful in worship and witness for those involved in planting new Grace Baptist churches.
Here are the highlights of the induction:
Halling Baptist Church in Kent, England
I know of three tri-mesters during which a baby is in utero (the womb). I also know that the hearts of men and women is utterly wicked and duplicitous. Now follow this closely…
FAIRFAX – A new video posted by the Media Research Center (MRC) shows a number of university students in Virginia signing a petition to legalize 4th trimester abortion — that is, murdering the infant after birth.
The video was part of an experiment by MRC’s Dan Joseph to see if students at George Mason University would really support the cause, and how many. While most students did not seem to know what a “4th trimester abortion” was, they proceeded to sign the petition anyway–some without question.
“Currently, 4th trimester abortions are illegal in all 50 states,” Joseph begins his pitch.
“We believe that it’s a woman’s right to choose — that men in Washington [should not] get to make the rules about what a woman can do with her body and with her baby,” he tells one group of students in the video. “Are you down with that?”
“I’m down,” answer a couple of females in the group, while a male standing by inquires further about the matter.
“Cool” replies one girl later on in the video, and another student happily explains her affiliation with Planned Parenthood.
In one part of the footage, a female student asks Joseph, “Does it cause harm to the child?”
“Well, the child wouldn’t be there anymore,” he replies. “It’s abortion, you know. The child’s gone.”
The student then proceeds to sign the petition.
Man could be more wicked and depraved than he is if it were not for the grace of God restraining him. Each of us almost appears to have within himself a seed of corruption able to blossom enough to make Hitler appear a choir boy.
Just in [as per 20th July 2013], Every one in Great Britain is ecstatic about the Royal baby. But Ray Comfort has made us all pause for thought with a very good pro-life message:
London: The royal fetus is about to be born, much to the delight of frantic world media and the excitement of millions throughout the world. However, if the pregnancy had become tiresome in the past months, thankfully, Kate could have changed her mind and had it quietly removed. It’s her body, and so British law (as in the United States) affords her the right of choice.
Do they want bigger hot dogs? Flavored water or cushions for their ankles the customer is king. This is the approach to successful entrepreneurship. It is sometimes no different when it comes to modern day church marketing only that it is called being ‘purpose driven’. Long gone are the days of preaching the gospel and teaching sound doctrine. It’s not uncommon to hear pastors talk and ask questions like ‘what’s the vision for your church?’ or ‘how is your church going to grow?’ By ‘vision’ they usually mean ‘a purpose driven plan’ or pragmatic approach to church growth.
You see, the purpose driven church movement makes several assumptions but here we will look at 5 common errors and how they deviate from scripture.
1.A pragmatic church assumes that the primary purpose of Sunday morning church services is to reach out to unbelievers who are some times erroneously referred to as…
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“No one will be offended if we tell them that they are good people who could be a little better. The offense comes when we tell them that they – and we – are ungodly people who cannot impress God or escape his tribunal. Until our preaching of the law has exposed our hearts and God’s holiness at that profound level, our hearers will never flee to Christ alone for safety even if they come to us for advice.” -Michael Horton
Voddie Baucham answers the key questions surrounding youth ministry, its historical context, its failures, its industry, and its Biblical solutions.
Did the movie Invictus get it wrong? What legacy does Nelson Mandela leave? Why was he sent to prison? Well, one South African Christian, Peter Hammond, answers these questions and also tells of his face to face meeting with the ‘madiba’…
[The film Invictus] on South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup victory includes serious distortions of history. Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman as President Nelson Mandela, Invictus makes a major contribution towards the building up of the mythology of Nelson Mandela as a modern day idol.
Their Finest Hour
Invictus focuses on the New South Africa’s finest hour as the Springbok rugby team, led by Francois Pienaar, won the World Cup. It also focuses on President Nelson Mandela’s finest hour as he donned the Springbok rugby team’s green and gold jersey and cap and publicly associated with the Springbok’s triumph.(Watch Part 2 of video interview below)
Yes. Man has been exceedingly wicked since the fall. Since our first parents rebelled against God we have all taken after them. But in terms of unity in wickedness the Bible tells us something happened after the flood…
If we go back to the early chapters of the Bible (chaps. 1–6 of Gen.), we read about the creation of man and then about man’s fall into sin. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, profound changes occurred. God drove them out of the Garden of Eden. They became sinful in character. Sin multiplied in the world. There began to be crime and lawlessness.
The world became a dangerous place. And, in the end, whether from violence, disease, or old age, people all finally died. In other words, in just the first six chapters of the Bible, God tells us that we lost something like “heaven on earth” (in the Garden of Eden) and found our- selves in a world that began to resemble hell. We will never understand the truth about ourselves unless we take full account of what has happened. The world of today is better, in some ways, than the world was before the great Flood that finally came in Noah’s day. …Read More!
Tony Miano had an opportunity to do some street preaching in downtown Wimbledon (London). The passage of scripture he was preaching from was 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 in his Bible (a passage on sexual immorality). However he did not reach the benediction…. Here is his account of the events:
I asked the jail sergeant on Monday night [July 1st], as I was being released, if I could donate some Bibles to the police station jail. He said I could. Bobby McCreery and I went to the Metropolitan Tabernacle book store where I purchased ten Bibles. Bobby and I went to the police station and dropped them off. Today’s visit [July 4th] to the police station was far more enjoyable than our visit on Monday night. — in Wimbledon. -Tony Miano (via FB)
(There is a good discussion going on at Cranmer’s blog look at the comments section here)
I came across an interesting article in one of the papers today. This will surely start some new discussions on ethics and man playing ‘God’ as ‘pick and choose’ designer babies loom in the horizon…
The first baby with three parents could be born as early as 2015 after a landmark decision to move ahead on a controversial genetic treatment.
Britain could become the first country to sanction the creation of babies with three genetic parents, despite fears it might lead to ‘designer babies’…
The techniques involve replacing defective DNA in the mother’s egg with material from a donor egg.
The resulting healthy child would effectively have two mothers and a father.
For the first time the ‘germ line’ of inherited DNA from the mother would be altered which, critics say, marks a turning point in the ethics of test-tube babies.
What a brave…brave new world we are heading into! Without brakes or caution at all!
One good question when you read the account of Pharaoh and the Israelites is the question who hardened his heart? Did he harden his heart towards God or did God harden his heart?
Exodus 7:3-4 says, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my people the Israelites.” It seems unjust for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart and then to punish Pharaoh and Egypt for what Pharaoh decided when his heart was hardened. Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart just so He could judge Egypt more severely with additional plagues?
First, Pharaoh was not an innocent or godly man. He was a brutal dictator overseeing the terrible abuse and oppression of the Israelites, who likely numbered over 1.5 million people at that time. The Egyptian pharaohs had enslaved the Israelites for 400 years. A previous pharaoh—possibly even the pharaoh in question—ordered that male Israelite babies be killed at birth (Exodus 1:16). The pharaoh God hardened was an evil man, and the nation he ruled agreed with, or at least did not oppose, his evil actions.Second, before the first few plagues, Pharaoh hardened his own heart against letting the Israelites go.
A series of five messages by Tom Chantry on the definition of ‘Reformed’. The subjects are neither the Five Points nor the Five Solas. Rather, they define the word ‘Reformed’ in five distinct but complementary ways. We examine the Reformed Perspective on the Bible, on History, on Salvation, on the church, and on the Christian life.
1) Scripturally Reformed– A Reformed perspective of Scripture: Reformed Christians stand with other Evangelicals in affirming the inspiration, infallibility and inerancy of the Bible. We go further, though, in defending both the clarity and the sufficiency of Scripture. These convictions determine our approach to the Bible – the manner in which we study, interpret, and teach its truths. A church which believes in the sufficiency of Scripture will emphasize the ministry of preaching, and the Bible will be central to everything it does. [Download Here]
2) Confessionally Reformed – A Reformed perspective of History: Scripture teaches us certain things about the history of mankind which should impact the manner in which we look at all of history, including the history of the church. Being convinced that sinful men have not changed, we understand that the problems of each age are not really new.
A very candid interview here with retired Anglican Arch Bishop of Uganda Henry Luke Orombi. This was recorded in June 2013 by Lee de Young.
On the unchanging Word of God (2:30 through 5:03)
We in Africa and in Uganda in particular look to the West for the gospel because they brought the gospel to us. And when the gospel was opened to us, we looked at what God is saying to us through the Scriptures. We embraced it, we loved it, we proclaimed it. Eventually the West began to put aside the Bible. They picked up human wisdom and understanding…
Jim Bublitz (who went to be with the Lord last year) had a blog The Old Truth from which I learnt alot in my early days as I came to understand Calvinism/Reformed Theology. Here is an interesting snippet from 2007 of a Q&A post with a reader called Joshua from Malaysia.
Joshua: “Here is a common phrase…..Ask Jesus to come into your heart or life…..is that how calvinists do it? … From a calvinist point of view….. When a sinner is convicted by the Holy Spirit, is there any “sinner’s prayer” to recite? If not…what would be the normal reformed way of doing this? Does “accepting Jesus into our heart” in line with reformed teachings? If not…how would you explain the steps of salvation? I know that it is GOD who chose and justified the sinner…how do you explain to the sinner that he needs to accept Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior? At this point of conversion, from my old arminian school, I am confused that we ‘invite’ Jesus into our hearts….and later was told it was the Holy Spirit… Could you explain this part? As I am now leaning strongly to reformed doctrine, I do not know how to explain this part from the reformed view…“
Jim Bublitz: Joshua, as you may know, some of the most noteworthy soul winners in church history have been Calvinists, and you can look through the writings of many of them including George Whitefield and Charles Spurgeon to see the kinds of things they said. The emphasis is much the same as the Apostles as they preached that people should obey the Lord’s command to repent and believe. …Read More!
Hollywood marketers offered free screenings of “Man of Steel” to church leaders as well as sermon notes in an effort to highlight the film’s Christian themes.
Christian marketing firm Grace Hill Media sent out nine pages of sermon notes written by Pepperdine University professor and theologian Craig Detweiler to Christian pastors across the country, CNN reported Friday.
Grrr!!! Aren’t we simply an entertainment driven bunch of milk sops? Where are the great preachers of old like Charles Spurgeon and George Whitefield who spent more time in reading and studying Scripture as they prepared for the Lord’s day?
Do we have to pander to Hollywood? Yup, only if you are a seeker sensitive pastor who wants to appear relevant. Actually, one wise deacon [see link above] put it in better words than I ever could:
P.J. Wenzel, a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Dublin Baptist Church in Ohio, said using “material pumped out from Hollywood’s sewers” to entertain congregants will result in people’s souls being neglected.
“Any pastor who thinks using `Man of Steel Ministry Resources’ is a good Sunday morning strategy must have no concept of how high the stakes are, or very little confidence in the power of God’s word and God’s spirit,” he said.
Guess what….
With Father’s Day just around the corner, Reformation Trust is giving away the eBook edition of Richard Phillips’ The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men. This book issues a call to reformation in the evangelical church’s attitude toward the role of men in the family, the church, and society.
Free Kindle Here.
Free EPub Here.
(Offer is for a limited time)
Somebody isn’t laughing now…
Rodney Howard-Browne, self-styled “Holy Ghost Bartender,” has taken notice of the Strange Fire conference sponsored by Grace to You (October 16-18, 2013). He seems unnerved by the prospect that twenty-first-century charismatic phenomena are going to be examined in light of Scripture. …Read More!
Turn on the television or pick up a news paper there is somebody somewhere claiming to be the answer to all your problems if only you give them a check or send your details to them. False teachers too are increasing by the hour as deception is rampart in these last days. The nature of the deception is becoming worryingly blatant.
We have all heard the news of the Australian man, Alan John Miller claiming to be Jesus and a week or two later, two other South African men claimed the same, that they are Jesus Christ.
Our question, to these men should be, why do these men not read the Bible before making such false claims ?
Do they not know that the second coming of Jesus will be a glorious event for all the eyes to see ?
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
(Matthew 24:30 KJV)Do they not know that Jesus warns himself of false Christs, who will say they are Him?
Jesus said : Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:23-24 KJV)
I shouldn’t be giving these men any audience or platform from here on wards. They really love the attention don’t they?
Yup, you guessed it right -I am back from Uganda! I’m back from my short trip to Uganda. Surely how did I survive the tears of the kids at the airport on the last day as we left one of the most green, leafy and exquisitely beautiful and enchanting countries in Africa? No wonder every body I went with wanted to ‘lose’ their passports and stay some more (Ha!Ha! Shauna!).
I must say (of course I am biased) that Uganda is truly the ‘pearl of Africa’ as Sir Winston Churchill once said. My trip back to Kampala was rather short and nostalgic. The kind that lingers in the recesses of your mind long after your sobering departure. It has taken me weeks to sit down and write anything about the trip but I thought it would just be better to put up a few photos at time.
This short slideshow contains photos taken either in Kampala or Arua in Uganda.
Now you know why I think the ‘Garden of Eden’ was in Uganda 😉
[The] Belgic Confession underlines the deliberate and willful nature of Adam’s transgression. Sometimes the word “fall” gives us the wrong impression. A fall is something tragic, a dreadful accident. A man might fall down the stairs, out of a tree or even off a tall building. Some falls can be very serious; others less so. But a fall is usually not deliberate. We tend to pity a man who falls as we see him with a broken leg or other injury. But Adam did not merely fall. He jumped! The Belgic Confession explains it this way: “man had thrown himself into temporal and eternal death.” The idea is of fatal plunge. When a man deliberately destroys himself, he is no longer to be pitied. He is to be condemned. Adam was not a victim of the deception of the serpent. Adam walked wide-eyed into death. God had warned him in unmistakable words: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Adam chose death therefore. Not even the devil could have forced Adam to sin against his own will. …Read More!
I stumbled on some Geeky stuff and I am hyperventilating just by reflecting on my find 🙂 Check this out:
Alt + 0153….. ™… trademark symbol
Alt + 0169…. ©…. copyright symbol
Alt + 0174….. ®….registered trademark symbol
Alt + 0176 …°……degree symbol
Alt + 0177 …±….plus-or -minus sign
Alt + 0182 …¶…..paragraph mark
Alt + 0190 …¾….fraction, three-fourths
Alt + 0215 ….×…..multiplication sign
Alt + 0162…¢….the cent sign
Alt + 0161…..¡….. .upside down exclamation point
Alt + 0191…..¿….. upside down question mark
I found this quote rather very convicting:
“They wander in on a Sunday morning, sit down, get their hymn book, listen to the prayer without joining in it, hear the sermon, but might almost as well not have heard it, go home, get through the Sunday, go into business. With them there is never any secret prayer for the conversion of men, no trying to talk to children, or servants, or friends, about Christ, no zeal, no holy jealousy, no flaming love, no generosity, no consecrating of the substance to God’s cause! This is too faithful a picture of a vast number of professing Christians. Would it were not so.” C.H. Spurgeon
Many times we see and hear people say come to church and God will give you this or that. It is now so common to have people call themselves ‘Christians’ and yet they have never heard of sin and righteousness. So you ask, ‘Is there anything wrong with that?’ Well you see the knowledge of sin comes after you know what the law of God is – for sin is lawlessness toward God. A man who has come to see the weight of his lawlessness toward God knows his immeasurable debt to Christ. Furthermore …
The Gospel is only “Good News” to those who have heard, and believe, that there is a diagnosis of “Bad News” about themselves to start with. If we simply present the Gospel as a route to a better life, we are deceiving people about their true condition. More importantly, we are mis-representing God’s holiness and His serious view of their sin.
“The true ministers of Christ bring men to the law; now this condemns them, and shows them to be under the curse: He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all (James 2:10). As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them (Gal 3: 10). (William Tiptaft as recorded in “A Sermon preached on 25th December 1829 at the Great Church, Abingdon (St Helen’s)”)
The acknowledged “Prince of Preachers” Charles Spurgeon put it this way:”But more, there is war between you and God’s Law. The Ten Commandments are against you . . . . The First one comes forward and says, ‘Let him be cursed, for he denies me. He has another god besides me; his god is his belly, he yields homage to his lust.’ All the Ten Commandments, like ten great pieces of cannon, are pointed at you today, for you have broken all God’s statutes, and lived in the daily neglect of all His commands. Soul! You will find it a hard thing to go to war with the Law. When the Law came in peace, [Mount] Sinai was altogether on a smoke, and even Moses said, ‘I do exceedingly fear and quake.’ What will you do when the Law comes in terror, when the trumpet of the archangel shall tear you from your grave, when the eyes of God shall burn their way into your guilty soul, when the great books shall be opened, and all your sin and shame shall be published? Can you stand against an angry Law in that day?”
Charles Spurgeon states elsewhere “Lower the law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt; this is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain; for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ.”
Excerpt from What is the Gospel?
You’ve got to love the preachers of these days! They are more in tune with the pulse of pop culture than what their good old Bible says. It’s therefore not surprising that when it comes to being quizzed on moral issues they will stand with the drift of popular sentiment than say ‘ Thus sayeth the Lord’.
Enter Sean Hannity whose show featured a fascinating exchange with Terry Jeffrey, a news editor from CNS News Service, and Rev. Oliver White, a pro-same sex marriage pastor. Because Hannity is not constrained by the limitations of a TV news schedule and the need to change subjects every 5 minutes, as is so often the case on cable news, he was able to allow the on-air debate over the scriptural basis for marriage to naturally unfold to the point where the lack of scriptural foundation for same-sex marriage was laughingly evident.
This exchange in particular was the most glaringly infuriating as White, a proponent of same-sex marriage who angered his own congregation recently because of his adamant belief that Christianity supports such a practice, went so far as to agree that Jesus Christ was wrong about His position on marriage being defined as one man and one woman, and if Jesus were alive today he would, in fact, support gay marriage.
With many of the (for luck of a better word) ‘morally bankrupt’ agendas that most governments are sneaking into public school curriculum, it is understandable to see some people going to homeschooling as an alternative. However this is not to say that public education is evil in itself. No, I think it does have it’s strong points (I studied in public school but most important of all some one shared the gospel with me when I was in a public school) . One vital point should be that if parents (of both public and homeschooling children) neglect to instruct their children about the things of God and leave or assume that such vital lessons will be taught by others either public school teachers or Sunday school teachers alone, we may as well just cut off their hands and feet and watch them flip and flounder in the morally murky village pond. We will give account to God for the children he has lent to us for this short pilgrim journey through this earth -lets make the most of it by making them wise toward God by explaining to them the Law and the Gospel. In the words of one of my favorite puritan preachers:
“For you that are parents, or to whom the education of children is committed, I beseech you mind the duty which lies on you. … For to what purpose do we desire them before we have them, rejoice in them when we have them, value them so highly, sympathize with them so tenderly, grieve for their death so excessively, if in the meantime no care be taken what shall become of them to eternity? … If you neglect to instruct them in the way of holiness, will the devil neglect to instruct them in the way of wickedness? No, no, if you will not teach them to pray, he will teach them to curse, swear and lie. If ground be uncultivated, weeds will spring up.” ~ John Flavel
In some streams of Evangelicalism, Christian faith and practice are defined by popular prevailing notions or personal charisma and less by Scripture. J. Lee Grady (of Charisma magazine) seems to be fighting a losing moral battle when it comes to some his brothers within the Charismatic camp. In a scathing memo he appears to be decrying the materialistic trendy lifestyle that most Charismatic televangelists and pastors are adopting. Honestly, it is good to see some one from within the charismatic camp get loving enough to rock the boat this much:
Such “preachers” are a cancer in the Body of Christ–“….I’ve pulled a lot of my hair out watching our embarrassing charismatic sideshows over the last few years. I think it is time we draw a line in the sand and say: “NO MORE.”
NO MORE BODYGUARDS. We have evangelists who send a small squadron of muscular thugs to “scout” the lobby of a hotel before they arrive. This is extremely odd when you realize that most of the people in said lobby have never even heard of the guy! Sorry, but I really don’t trust a man of God who claims he needs a bodyguard in church. Get down on the people’s level if you want to minister to them.
NO MORE $10,000 PER NIGHT HOTEL ROOMS. We have traveling preachers who book 10,000-square-ft. hotel rooms with private pools so they can rest on their way home from international trips. Excuse me? We could build an orphanage with the money this man wasted. (P.S. I know a good Hampton Inn where you can get a nice bed for $89 a night—and it includes a hot breakfast.) …Read More!
If we define morality…no, if man re-defines morality then the boundaries become elastic and nebulous . Speaking of which the recent agenda in many countries to redefine marriage seems have gone off on a tangent….
The politician who masterminded the gay marriage campaign in Holland says that ‘group marriage’ is now being discussed in the country. Boris Dittrich, a former Dutch politician, gave a video interview about how he successfully introduced gay marriage.
He said, “there is now a discussion in the Netherlands that sometimes people want to marry with three people and maybe even more.
Beginning
“But that’s the beginning of something completely new and that will take a lot of years I guess.”
He was speaking to a French gay news agency, and he revealed that he softened public opinion to gay marriage by first introducing registered partnerships. He said, “we thought it might be psychologically better to first introduce registered partnerships”.
Logical
It was a good decision, he said, because people got used to legally recognised gay unions and called them gay marriages. The next logical step was to introduce full gay marriage by law, he said. Now he admits there are discussions about marriage for more than two people.
Three-way relationships have already been recognised in Holland, under a “cohabitation agreement”. …Read More!
Well I will be travelling to Uganda soon! It was apparently the best bird watching destination for twitchers in 2012 according to Lonely Planet. Uganda’s scenery and wildlife is amazing and draws in many visitors. The country is home to more than 1,000 bird species, which make up over half of the birds in Africa – so says one birding website! Not to mention this natural haven was once described by Sir Winston Churchill as “the Pearl of Africa”. Okay, enough of the plug…typing such long sentences in my pseudo feverish current condition makes me want to here and scream -“Ouuuch!” You see, I have just had a couple of vaccination jabs and my raw deltoids are a mixture of muscle fibre and punture wounds from yellow fever attenuated viral loads and typhoid antibodies.
The preparation process for travel to Uganda is almost going according to military precision as I haven’t been to Africa in a while. I have recently had nightmares of old foes called “Malaria terror squads” flying in the bellies of helicopter-like mosquito drones and they keep singing and buzzing “Welcome back! Welcome back!” My misery comes to an end as I awake in cold sweat in March. Looking outside it’s all snowed up outside in the English countryside and if it’s any consolation I am just happy that it wont be snowing in Uganda!
A couple of things I plan to be doing – I have a photography challenge that I managed to modify and adapt from an on line source that any one can download here. It is riddled with tasks and challenges of different photographs to take like 10 portraits of strangers, a shot of a dinner plate and a close up shot with detail and composure e.t.c While for the kids I have designed a Uganda Kids Challenge -this contains investigative activities that you can download and adapt for any travel trips.
“For you that are parents, or to whom the education of children is comitted, I beseech you mind the duty which lies on you. … For to what purpose do we desire them before we have them, rejoice in them when we have them, value them so highly, sympathize with them so tenderly, grieve for their death so excessively, if in the meantime no care be taken what shall become of them to eternity? … If you neglect to instruct them in the way of holiness, will the devil neglect to instruct them in the way of wickedness? No, no, if you will not teach them to pray, he will teach them to curse, swear and lie. If ground be uncultivated, weeds will spring up.” ~ John Flavel
It makes for disturbing reading what is going on among pre-teens and teenagers these days. The tainted fabric of culture has infused the minds of these innocent children with a lot of sexualised content and I fear with ‘the agenda’ to re-define marriage things will only get worse. A recent news paper article reported…
“Never before has girlhood been under such a sustained assault – from ads, alcohol marketing, girls’ magazines, sexually explicit TV programmes and the hard pornography that is regularly accessed in so many teenager’s bedrooms,” says the psychologist Steve Biddulph, currently touring the country to promote a book called Raising Girls.
It is a follow-up to his best-seller Raising Boys – and they are under pressure too, being led to believe that girls will look and behave like porn stars. Our children are becoming victims of pornification. …Read More!
If any one ever told you that false teachers are always nasty looking and carry placards – they are very wrong. No, you see false teachers are actually suave, have sleek smiles (with well packaged video promos) and they are very affirming. They always give you positive vibes and have programs that appeal to your emotions so that you can give them an inch. Speaking of some one inching closer, do you remember that smooth talking Universalist ‘pastor’ called Rob Bell (in whose church a bewildered muslim was invited to partake of the Communion table) and who said that there is no Hell and every one will go to Heaven? Well, Rob is back (big sigh) and this time he wants your teens…..
Author and speaker Rob Bell is set to release a teen version of his book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived nationwide next month.
In a promotional video created for Love Wins: For Teens, Bell explains that the book is designed to teach youth that God is the life of the party, rather than the one that spoils everyone’s fun.
“What do you believe about God?” he begins. “Is God somewhere on a cloud with a long beard, making a list of no’s?”
“For a lot of people, when you mention God, the first thing they think of is, ‘Oh yeah, God shuts the party down,’” Bell continues. “But when Jesus talked about faith, when Jesus talked about God, one of the dominant images He uses again and again is that of a party.” …Read More!
My generation has seen one of the highest number of people calling themselves Christians than ever before. On one hand this has been good -on the other hand it has been frankly nauseating. What with all that is going on in the name of Christianity on television? Christians especially where I hail from have become complacent. We hardly have any zeal for the things of God unless it comes wrapped around the wrist of a pastor jumping out of a helicopter with the flash and bang of a Hollywood special effects production team. There is no other fitting message for my generation than the letter to that ‘self sufficient’ lukewarm church that nauseated Christ -the Laodicean church in Revelations. I do hope this excerpt wakes up some….
In His letter to the church of Laodicea, Jesus warns us about the danger of self-sufficiency. Laodicea was a wealthy banking center and proud of her rich resources. In AD 60, the city was destroyed by an earthquake. Rather than accepting aid from the Roman Empire, the people of Laodicea refused any help and rebuilt the city themselves with their own resources. They did not need anyone’s charity.
Yet, while Laodicea appeared to have everything, it actually lacked the most basic of resources — water. Unlike the mountain towns that had cold water streams or nearby Hierapolis that had access to hot springs, Laodicea had no water supply of its own. Water had to be piped in through aqueducts. By the time it arrived, the water was lukewarm and full of sediment. Cold water is good for drinking, hot springs were reputed to have healing qualities, but lukewarm, sediment-filled water neither refreshes nor heals. It is disgusting. …Read More!
The three month itch is back and most fad driven churches are buzzing with the latest fad in town. The rumor is if you do this (enter name of which ever church marketing strategy you fancy Gangnam style, Harlem Shake e.t.c), people will like your church or if you do that you will be considered a ‘relevant’ church. So every three months or less you will find all these self styled church growth gurus keeping a hand on the pulse of culture so as to keep the church looking trendy. The fads just keep coming and today it’s the ‘Harlem shake’ (see video clip below)! With all this craziness going on in church (just like when Kundalini and Slaying in the Spirit was a fad) there’s hardly any time for Bible study and hey don’t even speak about having reverence for the Lord or his house. …Read More!
Interesting clip featuring Pastor Mark Dever answering questions on church growth and numbers: …Read More!
I must be growing old..and becoming a legend. I have seen several Popes come and go (and of recent wait for this) I have witnessed a Pope resign from service! It sure is an absolute rarity -and this has happened in my life time! Wasn’t it just the other day that the white smoke was puffed out of the Vatican chimneys to announce the installation of a new “man of God” with the zeal and enthusiasm of a spring chicken and the agility of a rabbit to absolve helpless sinners of their iniquities, venerate saints and springboard helpless souls from purgatory? Wasn’t it just a wink ago that Pope Benedict XVI made his first tour of the world to declare his commitment? And just before any one can say ‘Smith Wigglesworth’ guess what he has declared:
… Pope Benedict XVI made the shock decision to quit the papacy because of his deteriorating health. [gasp!]
In a decision that has surprised even his closest aides, the 85-year-old Pontiff said his strength was ‘no longer adequate to continue in office due to his advanced age’.
He announced his resignation in Latin to a meeting of Vatican cardinals this morning, saying he did not have the ‘strength of mind and body’ to continue leading more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide.
The decision is unprecedented. He is the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415 and no Pontiff in history has stepped down on health grounds. …Read More!
A couple of years ago (in 2009) the BBC featured an interesting documentary about a 13-year-old Christian girl. Deborah Drapper, who, unlike other British teens had never heard of and wasn’t interested in Britney Spears or Victoria Beckham (gasp!). She had been brought up in a deeply Christian home schooling family and her parents had tried to make sure she and her ten brothers and sisters grew up with a Biblical world view. For those who didn’t watch the original video here it is:
I was glad to read an update from Deborah the other day. She is still a servant of God by the grace of God. In her own words …Read More!
”Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise Physician prescribes, because we need them. He proportions the frequency and weight of them—to what our case requires. Let us trust in His skill—and thank Him for His prescription!” — John Newton
Christian Post has a cartoon animation depicting the moment controversial atheist, humanist and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins features on I amSecond.Com (a Christian website where different people testify of how they put God first). I have always agreed with the Bible that the biggest miracle in the whole universe is when a sinner comes to repentance and puts their trust in Christ. This is because such a change of heart if it is genuine can only be acomplished after the Spirit of God has quickened or awoken a sinner who was dead to God and lost in sin. Jesus said without this regeneration or second birth “no man can see the kingdom of God”. So, can Richard Dawkins become a Christian then?
Jesus Christ shows his immense mercy and grace by saving sinners. Yes, even the vilest of sinners. In the words of Apostle Paul the self confessed “Chief of sinners”:
When I turn to the map of the world I must say the same thing. It matters not what quarter I examine—I find men’s hearts are everywhere the same, and everywhere wicked. Sin is the family disease of all the children of Adam. Never has there been a corner of the earth discovered where sin and the devil do not reign. Wide as the difference is between the nations of the earth, they leave always been found to have one great mark in common. Europe and Asia, Africa and America, Iceland and India, Paris and Peking—all alike have the mark of sin. The eye of the Lord looks down on this globe of ours, as it rolls round the sun, and sees it covered with corruption and wickedness! What He sees in the moon and stars, in Jupiter and Saturn, I cannot tell—but on the earth I know He sees sin. (Psalm 14:2, 3.) ~ J.C. Ryle
John Bunyan: “If you have sinned, do not lie down without repentance; for the want of repentance after one has sinned makes the heart harder and harder.”
Lance Armstrong is coming to terms with a lot of things. He has decided to come clean on all seven of his Tour de France victories. He has confessed to using performance enhancing drugs, back dated medical certificates and blood transfusions in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey.
‘I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times,’ he said in an televised interview with Oprah Winfrey. This is not a sports blog and I have little interest in writing about Lance. What I am rather intrigued about is to what level and cost people will go to put themselves first. Isn’t that very selfish…but typical of human beings. We are flawed and easily drift to do that which comes as second nature – even if it means taking advantage of others’ naivety.
However once in a while you come across a truly selfless act and it just makes you appreciate the truth, honour and integrity it portrays. We know that all that is good and true comes from God.
Speaking of which here is a good story of another athlete and as always lIttle has been written about this but…
On [December 2, 2012], Basque athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre. He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai – bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. As they entered the finishing straight, he saw the Kenyan runner – the certain winner of the race – mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line.
Fernández Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai’s mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind and, using gestures, guided the Kenyan to the line and let him cross first.
I am currently reading Michael Horton’s Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church. I only wish I had read such a good book a couple of years earlier. It pulls no punches and zaps like that tonic that the doctor ordered with a wink – and twinkle in his eye. No, it’s not racy and nor does it tickle your ego.
Michael Horton tells of the time when he had an opportunity to interview Dr. Robert Schuller (a self help author and televangelist) who always favoured a ‘human needs approach’ to Christianity insisted that “classical theology has erred in its insistence that theology be ‘God centered,’ not ‘man centered’.” He defined sin as ‘any act or thought that robs,us or another human being of his or her self esteem…[infact says Schuller] a person is in hell when he has lost his self esteem.’
It is easy to see how Dr Schuller’s Christianized gospel lite became very popular and acceptable even among Muslims, Hindus and Atheists. After all who doesn’t like their ego tickled?
But what does the bible actually say? When asked to interpret the portion of scripture below, Dr Schuller’s response was a classic reply that many popular pastors give:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2 Tim 3:1-5
Schuller immediately responded by saying, ‘I hope you don’t preach that. It will hurt a lot of beautiful people.’
Well, oh yes, Robert! But isn’t that exactly what preaching of the truth should do?
This will be of interest to those who love expository sermons. Here is a treasure trove of sermons by Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones. Enjoy!!
A hundred to two hundred years ago (just like two thousand years ago) there were bold preachers who preached with Bibles laid wide open and read aloud the text for the people to hear the word of God. Most of these stood on street corners and market places and they reasoned and persuaded men to consider their ways in light of the holiness of God. In more recent times most ‘men of God’ prefer to be popular and few now preach on sin or even call people to repentance. It’s actually more lucrative to hold motivational lectures on personal self esteem and significance. These are topics that have fifty one shades of grey and are liked by the main stream audience.
Recently one popular conference speaker and pastor, Louie Giglio, was hand picked to offer his pastoral blessings and benediction at the soon coming presidential inauguration. An apparent invitation too big to turn down for the popular man of God. However what happened next can only be described as a comedy of errors. Sexual liberation groups picked on an old sermon preached over fifteen years ago on “repentance and sin” leading to Louie being dis invited (or did he dis invite himself?). Some pastors like John Piper were quick to tweet and call him “a hero” but was he really?
Pastor Louie later [as noted by Ken Silva Apprising Ministries and Chris Rosebrough of Fighting for the Faith radio in link and audio below] seemed to reluctantly admit that he no longer is keen on stressing some of the things he was passionate about: …Read More!
I will learn to play a musical instrument this year. I know my family have heard me say this every year. Truth is I always “mean it”. Sadly, and strange enough no one seems to have a clue what happened to the bass guitar I got or the electric piano or even the harmonica. Grrrr! Am really that bad?
Well, now I think I am pretty much really really really serious! Yes, and I am going to really reaaaaally prove every one (who thinks I am the world’s best procrastinator) wrong. Just wait till I have one more cup of tea and maybe tomorrow morning we will begin to tackle this one consuming passion.
Speaking of which I have dusted down my old Acoustic guitar, re-strung it, shone its fret board and ripped off a few chord lessons from music gurus ( thanks You-tube)! I know a few skeptics are stifling giggles in the next room (my five year old daughter sighs and walks out of the room at this point as she has seen me go through this routine many times) – but I think by the end of this year I can be as good as the kid in the photo. 🙂
Do you have any links or advice for a beginner with an Acoustic guitar? Please help me out A.S.A.P ( I have less than 365 days before I am made to take the sad chief procrastinator’s title for another year running).
Those whom God elects, He redeems, and those He redeems, He regenerates and sanctifies. All that believers have they owe to the Triune God. The ELECTION of God the Father, the REDEMPTION of God the Son, and the REGENERATING work of God the Spirit, ought never to be separated. They arise from one and the same Will. The Trinity works in harmony to bring about our salvation. So any theology which disconnects unconditional election from particular redemption is not only inconsistent within their own theology, but makes the Trinity out to have a confused, disharmonious will in the purposes of redemption.
So-called four-point Calvinism fails the test of biblical Calvinism because this view tends to see the TULIP as an abstraction rather than seeing it Christocentrically. The TULIP only works when we see Christ at its center. Consider the TULIP as a chiasm with the “L” at the top of the pyramid. It is Jesus Christ which makes sense of all the doctrines of grace. Four-point Calvinists who reject Limited Atonement but embrace irresistible grace must consider this: Irresistible grace is not some abstract doctrine but must be seen in relation to Jesus Christ, specially in relation to the grace purchased by Christ upon the cross. The Spirit of Christ illuminates, regenerates and effectually brings to faith his elect. And this enabling, effectual grace is, from first to last, Christ-centered. It does not come out of a void, nor from some hidden source of grace in God the Father. Therefore Christ must have died for the elect so as to purchase that grace in a way – a redemptive way – that he did not die for the non-elect. That is why we often call it particular redemption. Irresistible grace is one of the redemptive benefits purchased by Jesus Christ … and it was never granted to the non-elect nor intended for them. …Read More!
The true mark by which to discern the Church of Jesus Christ [is] to be where his holy Gospel is purely and faithfully preached, declared, listened to and heeded; where the Sacraments are rightly administered, even though there continue to be some imperfections and flaws, as they will always be among men. On the contrary, where the Gospel is not declared, heard and received, there we recognize by no means the Church. – John Calvin
HT Jim West.
In the modern times in which we live where every body has got the attention span of a gnat it is not surprising to see that many times some pastors opt to dress too casually in t-shirts and jeans to try and emulate popular stand up comedians. Well it actually works…these churches surely get filled up very soon. Most of the churches actually have high turn overs with new faces literally fighting for empty front row seats every week (and an even higher numbers leaving through the back door in search of funnier and more entertaining routines).
Church growth gurus now advocate for “hip and relevant” programmes that are geared to effect maximum entertainment and comedic fun at the expense of discipleship and Bible study. The youth groups are actually not far behind. (Oops! I guess that is the understatement of the generation seeing that its in church youth groups and clubs that the bar is usually lowered to be as permissive as possible to allow as much folly as can be crammed in a short time away from the adults). Aren’t we then surprised when we have Bible illiterate congregations? So are we yet aware where these “comedy wars” will take us?
Alan Redpath had some interesting things to say on this topic:
“God is trying to tell us that our current popular version of Christianity – comfortable, humorous, superficial, entertaining, worldly-wise – is exposed for the irreverent presentation of the Gospel of Christ that it really is. A preacher is commissioned to give people – not what they want – but what they need. No man has any business walking into the pulpit to entertain. He is there to present Calvary in all it’s fullness of hope and glory.”
We do not sin simply because of Satan or because of social deprivation, stressful situations, bad influences, or any other external cause. Those things may tempt us to sin and make sinning easier, but when we commit sin – or even intend to commit sin – it is because we decide to sin. Sin is an act of the will. – John MacArthur
The year 2012 was interesting and frustrating. This year I will not feature the 10 most popular posts like I did in 2011. However I will give you a running commentary and “warm your little Calvinist hearts” with some grace and hope you won’t end up swimming back to Rome in the end.
The year started with high expectations and has ended on a high note – well unless you are a Mayan apocalypse enthusiast then you might be just a tard deflated. But hey cheer up we have extra time now, don’t we?
In 2012 it was interesting to see that many people were interested in reading how Veggie Tales ended up being a failed experiment. Well to be honest it was a fad that went too far into teaching kids how to be “Christian” without knowing Christ. Ironic but frankly I have come to expect this from most Evangelical fads that it doesn’t surprise me any more. Speaking of fads the year kicked off with a fad…oops thud when Steven Furtick (yup the celebrity pastor who spontaneously baptised 2,000 people in two weeks) invited Matt Chandler into a room full of orange flood lights, orange walls and orange carpets. When Matt began to preach about celebrities and supposed pastors using church as a platform for personal ambition, you could hear a pin drop. The barn burning sermon was a good fire starter for the year it and it ended with a clear gospel presentation too. But nothing prepared us for pastor Jim Murphy’s stance when he decided to root out religious junk from his lukewarm church bookstore. Murphy lamented the disintegration of Christianity and its falling away from the truth of the gospel and into more and more error – he traced the roots of today’s error to the subtle attacks on the authority of Scripture. When he finally asked “How did we get where we are?” Many expected him to point the finger else where but the wise old pastor pointed to him self and said said he was responsible for allowing his church to become lukewarm and hence forth there would be changes. Talk about the perspicuity of scripture.
Don’t blink yet, that was just the beginning!
Many keep saying that the Bible is not clear and therefore we can all dive in and interprete it whichever way we want to and draw forth whatever we can make of it. Well regarding the Clarity of Scripture….
“The Scriptures are clear and perspicuous in all things necessary to salvation. We allow that there are doctrines revealed in the Scriptures which surpass the comprehension of created beings, such as the doctrine of the Trinity, the eternal generation and the incarnation of the Son of God. These are mysteries which we cannot comprehend, but the doctrines themselves are plainly taught in the Scriptures, and we must receive them on the divine testimony.”
We also admit that in the Scriptures there are some things obscure and ‘hard to be understood.’ But this obscurity is chiefly in history and prophecies, which do not so nearly concern our salvation. As in nature everything necessary for the support of life occurs almost everywhere, and may be found on the most easy search, while other things less necessary, such as its gems and gold, lie concealed in certain places, and can only be discovered and obtained by great exertions and unwearied industry; so there are things in the Scriptures, ignorance of which will not endanger the salvation of the soul, that are abstruse and difficult to be understood, even by those who possess acute minds and great learning.” …Read More!
Do we “do church” or are we called to be the church? Are we ‘missional’ or do we have a commission? These are some of the questions you will be asking your self soon if you haven’t come across the latest craze sweeping through Evangelicalism. To pre empt some thought here is some interesting bit of information:
We hear others talk about what they are “doing” at their church. And we tell people what we are “doing” at our church. But what Christians in all denominations are asking themselves and others is, are “doing” and “being” a Christian the same thing?
Something new is being discussed and embraced by Christians around the world. Many Christian writers are saying that the rise of the missional church is the single biggest development in Christianity since the Reformation.
Just as the medieval church was different from the church we see in the Book of Acts, the church after the Reformation looks totally different from its medieval predecessor. And the emerging missional church will just as dramatically distinguish itself from what we now call “church.” …Read More!
There are both do’s and don’ts when it comes to witnessing to cultists. Here are a few tips you will find helpful:
The first do is, do identify with the cultist. Convince him (or her) that you consider him to be a person in his own right — worthwhile, basically honest, and not trying to put something over on you. Cultists are people before they’re cultists. They have families, they have children, they have needs, they have frustrations and fears, and they are brothers and sisters in Adam, though not in Christ. In Acts 17 we are told that all people are God’s offspring. This means that in Adam, all of us share a common heritage. So let’s talk to cultists from the family-of-Adam perspective, prayerfully hoping to bring them to the family-of-God perspective. …Read More!
Walter Martin defending the faith, circa 1985, on TBN with host Doug Clark. Neither the host nor the guest were ever invited back and the program was not re-aired the following Monday as it was scheduled.
It gets more interesting (you should watch all the segments) but below is the fourth segment
It’s a while now since we last saw Todd Bentley warn a bewildered chap that he was just about to leg drop him so that he could earn a “revival” in his church. Another time he supposedly gave another man a two minute head start before he broke his teeth and sternum. Bentley’s erratic behavorisms were outlandish but they drew crowds. People came to see and be subjected to mesmerising antics. No one seemed to question the biblical basis of his practices.
People actually will crown any one as king if he can create an illusion or pretend to conjure up one. A couple of years before Mr Bentley graced the Evangelical scene, there was a like minded charismatic man called Smith Wigglesworth. No, he didn’t knock people around with his coat like some famous televangelists do on television or huff and puff a glory cloud to make people drowsy “in the holy ghost”. Mr. Wigglesworth is said to have punched a man so hard during one of his “revivals” that the man died. He then went on and raised him back to life, or so the legend goes. Today we will look at the teachings of Mr. Smith Wigglesworth. So, to begin with – who was Wigglesworth? Was he orthodox or a heretic? I am glad you asked….
SMITH WIGGLESWORTH (1859-1947) was a famous Pentecostal evangelist and faith healer. Many books have been written about his unusual life. He was converted in a Methodist church, confirmed as an Anglican, and as a young man was associated with the Salvation Army and Plymouth Brethren. In 1907 he claimed that he was “baptised in the Holy Spirit” after hands were laid on him by Mary Boddy, who alleged to have had a Pentecostal experience only a month prior to that. Mrs. Boddy believed in the doctrine of healing in the atonement, but she spent the last sixteen years of her life as an invalid. Wigglesworth, too, believed that physical healing is guaranteed in the atonement of Christ. He taught against the use of all medicine. He believed that signs and wonders should always follow the preaching of the Gospel. He taught that a Christian can be justified and sanctified but still not have everything necessary from God. “People are never safe until they are baptized with the Holy Ghost” (Wigglesworth, “The Place of Power,” June 1916, reprinted in The Anointing of His Spirit, p. 151). He taught that handkerchiefs which are prayed over will bring life if carried in faith to the sick (The Anointing of His Spirit, p. 231).
From the country that gave us great preachers like George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon and John Owen a new breed of people are now coming up. No, they are still religious if want to put it that way. Actually that is the most worrying thing…they are too religious that anything goes these days…
Today’s Census figures show that 176,632 people in England and Wales identify themselves as Jedi Knights, making it the most popular faith in the “Other Religions” category on the Census and the seventh most popular faith overall.
The new figures reveal that the lightsabre-wielding disciples are only behind Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in the popularity stakes, excluding non-religious people and people who did not answer.
Following a nationwide campaign, Jedi made it onto the 2001 census, with 390,127 people identifying themselves a decade ago as followers of the fictional Star Wars creed.
Long gone are the days when people lived within a stone throw from a church bell. Gone are the days when the First Commandment was recited by little children on the dusty streets of Oxford and Cambridge. Fiction has become the bed rock of reality and God has become whatever alternative you want Him to be.
It’s that time of the year. Everybody seems to be carrying home a new “something”. Kept under wraps till that moment when they let it out. Brilliantly adorned decorations grace the lounges of homes and foyers of hotels and shopping parlours. In the midst of all the apparent hustle and bustle and glamorous festive mood it is an undeniable fact that we still live in a difficult and miserable world. However much we attempt to drown our sorrows with materialism we still lie naked and in need of the comfort and merciful kindness of God our our father. In the words of Martyn’s Lloyd Jones…
God’s Loving Kindness – We are living in a difficult and trying world, and we all, sooner or later, find ourselves in some kind of wilderness where nothing matters but this. When we are bereft of all things that we normally have and enjoy – health, strength, wealth, friends, entertainment – when we are suddenly laid down by some serious illness, those things are of no help or value to us. We are left alone, and nothing matters except our knowledge of God’s loving-kindness. So the most important thing is to know always that He is with us, that we have access to Him, and that we can enjoy His presence in the most humbling, the most difficult, the most trying circumstances. This is the essence of wisdom even from the standpoint of personal experience.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Seeking Certainty)
God be with you all during this Christmas season as we remember the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
“The Bible is the grand repository … It is the complete system of divine truth, to which nothing can be added, and from which nothing can be taken, with impunity. Every attempt to disguise or soften any branch of this truth, in order to accommodate it to the prevailing taste around us, either to avoid the displeasure, or to court the favour, of our fellow mortals, must be an affront to the majesty of God, and an act of treachery to men.” — John Newton
HT Sacred Sandwich via FB
Traveling to Central London is always a main event for me. Traveling to London with a camera is Epic! It is by far the most beautiful city in the world (okay, after Zurich and Constance in Switzerland!). I tried to spend my spare time snapping away at a few items of historical interest. Time was against me and the sun was racing down over the horizon. This is what I came up with:
You can look for West Minster Houses of Parliament, Statues of Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, King George IV, Nelson Mandela, Nelson’s Column (in Trafalgar Square), Entrance to The Mall, Queen’s guards, The London Eye, a spiral water fountain at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Back to usual blogging soon.
Chris Rosebrough has an interesting article on Bible reading and misinterpretation of the text. I must confess I used to apply this technique to twist Scripture and I see many pastors resort to using it with motivational speaking, Prosperity “gospel” and Word of Faith teachings. It is very faulty and man centred and I am glad to condemn it today. You see…
There is an epidemic of Narcissistic Eisegesis a.k.a. Narcigesis, infecting the churches in America today. Pastors and Bible teachers have mastered the art of allegorizing all of the characters and details of every Bible story in order to make the stories about YOU. Therefore, I’ve decided to give a little ‘how to’ advice regarding this Bible twisting technique in the hopes that by doing so you’ll see the obvious problems with this way of approaching the Biblical texts. So here we go.
How to Narcigete Any Bible Story In 4 Easy Steps
Primary Assumption: Every Bible story is about YOU. And, since YOU struggle with setbacks, problems and challenges that keep YOU from achieving YOUR maximal greatness that means that the Bible is really all about giving YOU a road map that YOU can follow to achieve YOUR dreams and god-given destiny.Step 1
Read a Bible Story.Step 2
Identify the hero and the villain(s) in the story.Step 3
Identify yourself with the hero (who also happens to be on a journey toward greatness and achieving his god-given destiny, just like you).
Quoting J.C Ryle on Matt 1:2-4
…it is not always those who have most religious privileges, who give Christ most honor. We might have thought that the Scribes and Pharisees would have been the first to hasten to Bethlehem, on the lightest rumor that the Savior was born. But it was not so. A few unknown strangers from a distant land were the first, except the shepherds mentioned by Luke, to rejoice at His birth. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” What a mournful picture this is of human nature! How often the same kind of thing may be seen among ourselves! How often the very people who live nearest to the means of grace are those who neglect them most!
HT Reformed Quotes.
When pastors keep a finger on the pulse of pop culture so as to set the pace for the church then do not be surprised when there becomes no difference between the sacred and the profane. If you look to “America’s pastor” to decide your purpose then he sure is doing a good purpose driven job…
Rick Warren is a megachurch pastor, international speaker, and best-selling author of the bestselling hardback non-fiction book in history, The Purpose Driven Life. Outside of coordinating global peace efforts and Bible study curriculum for his 20,000+ member non-denominational Christian congregation in Southern California, he’s tracking popular trends and publicly declaring his affinity for South Korean artist Psy’s K-pop song “Gangnam Style.” According to Twitter, “Gangnam Style” has been his ringtone since July 20.
[Apparently] “Gangnam Style,” a song by South Korean artist Psy, recently became the most-viewed YouTube video EVER, with over 826 million views as of this month (overtaking my man, J Biebs’, “Baby” video). The “Gangnam Style” dance is now a global phenomenon, with thousands buying, playing, and dancing to it on a weekly basis.
The world seems to be having a lot more influence on the American church these days. Reminds me of when one man in anguish lamented, “If God withdrew the Holy Spirit tomorrow, my church would function just the same; we wouldn’t even know He was gone.”
Oh my anguish!
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 
The Unhappy ‘successful’ but Petulant Evangelist.
On the Book of Jonah:
Excerpt from The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Old Testament.
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