Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
By Charles Spurgeon
An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. Read More
[First posted in 2011] Is it true that the green shoots of recovery are sprouting and there is a gradually surging under current of hunger for Scripturally sound preaching with relentless intensity, indepth theological conviction and astute hermeneutic discipline? A couple of years ago Christianity Today noted that there was a growing resurgence towards Reformed Theology. Reformed theology or Calvinism stresses that the initiative, sovereignty, and power of God is the only sure hope for the sinfulness, fickleness, and moral weakness of human beings—and the glory of God is the ultimate theme of preaching and focus of worship. But how proportional has this interest panned out among different ethnic communities? This in its self is just a glancing over view of the paradigm shift in the Black communities.
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An increasing number of Nigeria’s 70 million Christians according to BBC are following so called “prosperity teachings”. According to the report, most of the Nigeria’s “prosperity churches” are led by multi-millionaire pastors who present their personal material success as models of the benefits of “following Christ.”
The following is a short message about the so-called “prosperity (g)ospel” by Nigerian scholar, Femi Adeleye, at the Lausanne Conference 2010, in Cape Town, South Africa. (sorry it has taken me this long to get this clip)
Hi s words seem to echo over and over and prick deep in to the conscience of a nation (nigeria) that seems to have had it’s conscience apparently seared as with a hot iron.
The most popular prosperity mega-churches in Nigeria is the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), led by the Pastor Enoch Adeboye, allegedly known to this followers as “Daddy G.O” (Daddy General Overseer).
RCCG in Nigeria recently completed a worship auditorium one mile long and half a mile wide and can take up to one million people at once. …Read More!
I used to believe in Word of faith and prosperity gospel. I feel quite relieved that I have come a long way and now understand some things a lot better like God’s sovereign control of events and circumstances around me and the world. I am also grateful for His providence and looking back I am more rested now knowing that He is in complete control of everything. How puny my thoughts were when I thought that if I sowed a bigger seed or made a positive confession or regularly said prayers breaking generational curses then these would keep me from ‘afflictions of the devil’. John Berrige has an interesting letter to a Christian friend under severe affliction. I hope it helps some one struggling to understand afflictions:
Dear Madam,
I grant that your circumstances are very severe and difficult—but let me beg of you not to construe your afflictions as a token of God’s displeasure, or a sign of your not belonging to Him. This is an old temptation of Satan’s, with which he often assaults the afflicted Christian; but take the shield of faith—that you may quench the fiery darts of Satan.Alas! Crosses and afflictions are the common lot of the people of God in this present world. Our Lord has told us, that in this world—we shall have troubles! Every saint has his own particular difficulties, temptations and conflicts to grapple with. …Read More!
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!
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!
Christian television is full of what you can get if you come to Jesus. The same Christians tell beautiful “testimonies” of how they have got stuff and 100-fold blessings and more stuff. The focus of the testimonies more and more have little or at best nothing to do with the gospel.
Wanna get these too? Come to our Church.
“If we do not preach about sin and God’s judgment on it, we cannot present Christ as Saviour from sin and the wrath of God. And if we are silent about these things, and preach a Christ who saves only from self and the sorrows of this world, we are not preaching the Christ of the Bible …Read More!
In Singapore there is a form of godliness that is rooted in materialism and it’s called “Christless Christianity”…
At “Miracle-Seed Sunday” in Singapore’s New Creation Church last month, the pastor’s sermon was preceded by PowerPoint and video presentations, and donations were overseen by auditors.
[ Singaporeans] are flocking to a new species of churches making appeals more in common with “Material Girl” pop-singer Madonna…
Wearing a white leather jacket and jeans, Senior Pastor Joseph Prince asked God to reward a crowd of about 1,200 with houses, cars, jobs, pay raises and holidays if they contributed to New Creation’s multimillion-dollar funding drive.
Prince’s 24,000-strong flock belongs to a flourishing breed of churches from Houston to Sydney winning followers with a focus on personal well-being. As the rise of so-called mega churches helps make Christians the fastest-growing religious group
Prosperity cannot be a proof of God’s favor, since it is what the devil promises to those who worship him. (Matt. 4:9)
HT Friends on FB.
If I were a prosperity preacher I would name and claim this crib surely 😉
Your best life now.
Photo HT friends on FB.
A recent trend these days in Evangelicalism is to endorse a celebrity and in return a preacher gets publicly affirmed. Another version of this trend is to preach (weak and neutral soppy messages) pandering to people’s feeling and sentiments so as to get recognition. These trends are mostly seen among prosperity and word of faith preachers and broad casters. When prosperity guru T.D Jakes was endorsed by multi millionaire P. Diddy, I saw a few people get excited. They said, “Oh look! Now surely there are going to be multitudes coming to church too after seeing their celebrity in church.” The rationale is usually and sometimes is that the celebrity becomes a draw string to bring people to their church. One ill advised pastor revved up his church by inviting a Hip hop artist to share his pulpit while another mega church pastor invited a popular talk show hostess and on and on the brouhaha goes.
Recently “word of faith” and prosperity teacher Joyce Meyer’s teachings got a public nod from an elated celebrity known for her explicitly raunchy music. Had the message of sin, righteousness and judgement self esteem, health and wealth struck a chord of contention or agreement?
Rihanna’s spiritual beliefs may have raised questions for some in the past, but the 24-year-old singer is not afraid to admit that she is a fan of Christian minister and author Joyce Meyer.
This month, the record-breaking Barbadian singer has been using her Twitter account to spread Meyer’s teachings.
“If Satan can defeat you in your thoughts then he can defeat you anywhere else as well,” reads a message written by Meyer and re-tweeted by Rihanna on June 4.
To underline her point, the singer sent a tweet to Meyer directly.
“@JoyceMeyer you’re awesome,” Rihanna told the minister via Twitter on the following day.
When one of Rihanna’s fans tweeted about Meyer being …Read More!
Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878-October 5, 1969) was an American clergyman. As a liberal and modernist Baptist minister, Harry rose to prominence as the weekly preacher at New York City’s First Presbyterian Church (1918-1924). Fundamentalist Christians nationwide attacked his view that ‘modern Christians’ could doubt doctrines such as the literal truth of the Bible and the virgin birth of Jesus and still remain faithful. The modernists denied the authority and inerrancy of Scripture. Fosdick ultimately would not acknowledge the literal reality of God’s wrath toward impenitent sinners. To him, ‘the wrath of God’ was nothing more than a metaphor for the natural consequences of wrongdoing. His theology would not tolerate a personal God whose righteous anger burns against sin. To Fosdick, the threat of hell fire was only a relic of a barbaric age.
His sermons were often creative, inventive and topical …Read More!
When Pastor Feelgood started his prosperity sermon series he got a massive turn out. He became popular. There were no seats left in the mega church. Offerings time was a real scuffle. Exiting church was a scuffle too. Till he brought in new personal ushers. 😉
The year was 2050…Prosperity preachers were still the most sought after teachers.
If you stopped praying for Africa, please do not. If you stopped praying for Zimbabwe then you probably should get back to putting it back on your prayer list. There is a form of gospel that is spreading around the poverty stricken suburbs and making merchandize of the vulnerable. Yup, all in the name of Jesus:
THE young woman rocks nervously on her high heels and smiles uneasily as the prophet struts around her. She has had a hard time pinning down a man and she cannot get a job, we are told. Today, all her troubles will end.
“Many men have come and promised to marry you, but nothing happens. Is that not true?” declares the prophet.
She swoons: “Yes, man of God.”
He responds: “Listen. I was with the spirit. I’m in a vision. We are travelling. By the power of the spiritual navigator, I am turning towards a junction. Unit K. Is that not where you live?”
She weeps. “Yes, pastor.”
“I am at the door. The hand of the angel of God is on the door, so I can’t see the whole number, just the numbers 7 and 5. What is your house number?” “It is number 7715,” the woman responds.
Bull’s-eye. The church rises in a roaring mass, hands in the air. But wait: now for the big reveal.
“My sister,” the pastor says, rubbing his hands as if he were counting money, then holding her hand. “I see you counting money. Money. You will need a money-counting machine. Money, flowing to you. …Read More!
If only I can paste this bit up there! 😉 
HT. John K. Langemann via FB.
If the 12 Apostles preached prosperity gospel would they would not have been persecuted. Did they go out preaching ‘come to Jesus and you will have your best life now’?
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Mega church Pastor and televangelist Rod Parsley is teaming up with another Prosperity and Word of Faith teacher and multi millionaire Kenneth Copeland and (wait for it) yup, NFL Quarter back, Tim Tebow! In a conference said to let you “experience the power of the Holy Spirit, and learn how the anointing of God to can resonate in your life”.
I hope (sob) Tebow is getting good and sound theological advice. Sob! …Read More!
This video looks at the life of a child preacher called Marjoe Gortner. As a child preacher he earned millions of dollars for his parents. But there was something else…
When Gortner was three his father, Vernon, a third generation minister, noticed his son’s talent for mimicry and overall fearlessness of strangers and public settings. His parents claimed he had received a vision from God during a bath, but this was later conceded by Marjoe to be a lie his parents forced him to repeat. He claimed they enforced this by mock-drowning him because they could not beat him which would leave bruises which might be noticed during his many public appearances. They began training him to deliver sermons, complete with dramatic gestures and emphatic lunges. By the time he was four his parents arranged for him to …Read More!
I will tell you how I used to spend the last day of each year. Yup, we would spend it in church quoting Jeremiah 29:11. We would affirm: “This new year I will be prosperous! This is my year of divine destiny! This is my year of health, wealth and prosperity!”
But Voddie Baucham in this clip explains something very important. How I wish I had come across such teaching on exegesis and rightly understanding scripture in context.
Jeremiah 29:11 is just one of many mis quoted verses. …Read More!!
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There was once at time when the deepest urge of a Christian was to be like Christ. To imitate Christ. The coolest thing about Christianity was Christ and for you to know him you must have first stumbled past a bloodied cross. Gone are the days when it was preached that for our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him Jews and Gentiles might become the righteousness of God. Read More
If the latest Church growth updates are anything to go by then Africa is surely having surplus of growth. The growth has been described by many colourful words like “explosive”, “spectacular” and of recent “fast food-ish”. There seems to be an easy believism called prosperity gospel that is spawning a multiplex of believers. In this form of Christianity, a believer is supposed to be successful; if not, something is very wrong. This emphasis can be seen in the names of the flourishing churches: Winners Chapel, Victory Bible Church, Jesus Breakthrough Assembly, Triumphant Christian Centre. The titles and themes of conventions, crusades and conferences repeat this emphasis: “Gathering of Champions” “Living a Life of Abundance,” “Taking Your Territories,” “Stepping into Greatness.” For all these churches, size and expansion are tangible signs of success—which is why the terms Global, World or International appear in so many of their titles.
South Africa recently hosted the World cup. From this land that gave football fans the much loved and equally hated “vuvuzela” has emerged Rhema Church. Rhema has established itself as one of Africa’s Best Churches. A place where the big shots, celebrities and politicians come to embrace at the table of a “rock and roll” religion. Even the President, Jacob Zuma comes regularly to Rhema to tuck into two of South Africa’s said pastimes, conspicuous consumption and Christianity. But There’s More
This video is disturbing. If it has any ounce of truth in it then Christianity is a mile wide in Africa but only an inch deep.
Pray for the church (the body of Christ) in Nigeria. …Read More!
It is not uncommon to go to an average church and not even hear the name Jesus Christ. However even in churches where the name is mentioned, it is used as a draw string to a rich and lavish lifestyle. No, I am not kidding. Well, you see…
Jesus can give you a new house like this one...
From the pulpit of his modest Spring City church, Pastor Michael Wilkerson delivered electric sermons on God’s desire to shower down riches upon his faithful adherents. And with a Lexus and Escalade in its garage, his $1.7 million Schwenksville home seemed convincing proof. How else but by faith, his congregants wondered, could a man raised on Pottstown’s urban streets have risen to such heights? …Read More!
I have a riddle. This section of discussion is found some where in the blogosphere. With no clues (what so ever) as to who is being discussed I would like you to read with an open mind. Then I will ask you a question at the end. He is…
… a self-styled “bishop”—notorious for his love of money, who teaches a false prosperity gospel, who freely shills for every aberration on TBN, who was ordained in a Sabellian denomination, who has been confronted repeatedly about his anti-trinitarianism, who refuses to renounce modalism, who declines to embrace any standard expression of Trinitarian conviction, and who (on top of all that) is unclear on practically every doctrine germane to the gospel …Read More!
Every so often its good to look back and see what God has done and praise Him for his providence but more so for the spread of the gospel of redemption from sin. I am always over whelmed with compassion for the missionaries who leave their comfortable lives and trudge on to remote mountains in South America or track down primitive tribes in unknown jungles in uncharted territories to preach the gospel. In the same breath, there has always been wisely devised fables and tales that some preachers would like to spread in the name of the gospel. Truth is some of the tales and snake oil being tauted is so alluring and excitable that these teachers easily amass crowds and followings. It is deplorable and nauseating. Such preachers have their reward and surely God will not take this lightly on that great and fateful day when He calls them to account for their deeds. [This is an archive story from reuters.] See what you make of it:
SOWETO, South Africa – “Jesus wants you to drive a brand new Nissan Navara 4×4. He’d also like you to live in a classy house, use the latest cell phone and wear the snappiest designer clothes.” Read More
A certain wise man once said:
“The pious mind must ascend still higher, namely, whither Christ calls his disciples when he says, that every one of them must “take up his cross,” (Mt. 16:24). Those whom the Lord has chosen and honoured with his intercourse must prepare for a hard, laborious, troubled life, a life full of many and various kinds of evils; it being the will of our heavenly Father to exercise his people in this way while putting them to the proof. Having begun this course with Christ the first-born, he continues it towards all his children.”
Well, that man was a pastor called John Calvin in the 16th Century.
Several years later (okay five centuries or more later) a new breed of suave pastors has cropped up. They seem to have conveniently swapped spiritual piety for earthly notoriety. No longer do they say the “Lord is my shepherd” for they already have had their fill beside sprinkler automated plastic astro -turf.
You see, in Africa apparently…
An African Church
A few wealthy Nigerians spent at least $225 million acquiring private jets between March 2010 and March 2011, a Nigerian newspaper reported…
Apart from wealthy business tycoons, Nigerian clergymen and spiritual leaders are also joining the very elite league of jet owners. …Read More!
Is tithing [click here for comprehensive article on tithing] for the New Testament believer? Don’t bother to tell me that giving is good. We know that. Will you tell me then that tithing gets you in the habit of giving so that God can anoint you? Here is a transcript of a popular mega church pastor, television prosperity teacher and personality explaining the importance of the tithe in maintaining…[oh just read on before I spoil it for you]
Creflo Dollar: Now, you know, we’re under the Blood of Jesus, so we can’t shoot and stone people like we used to. All we have to do is repent and God will forgive us and take us where we need to be. But I can tell you, man, if it wasn’t for the Blood, there’d be a whole lot of us being stoned and being in Hell right now over the tithe. But for [“if not for”?] the Blood of Jesus, we’d be doomed.
I mean, I thought about when we first built “The Dome,” I wanted to put some of those little moving bars and give everybody a little card. They’d stick it in a little computer slot. If they were tithing, beautiful music would go off and, you know, [Creflo sings] “Welcome, welcome, welcome to the World Dome.” [Congregation laughs.]
But…if they were non-tithers, the bar would lock up, the red and blue lights would start going, the siren would go off, and a voice would go out throughout the entire dome, “Crook, crook, crook, crook!” …Read More!
Charles Fox Parham (4 June 1873 – 29 January 1929) was an American preacher originally from a Methodist and the Wesleyan Holiness Movement back ground. Together with William J. Seymour, Parham was one of the two central figures in the development and early spread of Pentecostalism (which initially emphasized personal faith and proper living, along with a belief of the imminence of the return of the gifts of the Holy Spirit) in 1901 in Topeka, Kansas. Parham left the Methodist church in 1895 because he disagreed with its hierarchy. He also complained that Methodist preachers “were not left to preach by direct inspiration”. Rejecting denominations, he established his own itinerant evangelistic ministry, which preached the ideas of the holiness movement and was well received by the people of Kansas.
Charles Parham’s Theological roots
Pentecostalism grew out of the Holiness movement roots. John Wesley, the eighteenth century Anglican minister and founder of Methodism, is in many ways seen as “the spiritual and intellectual father of the modern holiness and Pentecostal movements” because of the doctrine of sinless perfectionism. Perfectionism (sanctification) was the second blessing or experience of the believer. This perfectionism would become something a believer must seek and strive for. Read More…
Deception has been one of the oldest games since Eve fell foul in the garden of Eden. The most immediate reaction is usually why didn’t God step in at that moment and in one blaze of purple and blue smoking lightning zap the fruit and serpent into an ashen crisp or vapour? Why didn’t God realize that the serpent would be slithering his way into the garden sooner or later?Then how about in the modern day church, why are there heretics with wacky theology thriving in pulpits and on Christian television? Why do they seem to have larger followings, draw higher ratings and yet they seem to be delving in utter rank deception? Where is God when another false teacher or prophet panders his way through the pockets of innocent people? Well, thanks for asking. I came a cross an excerpt from A.W Pink that may perchance shed some light on what scripture says: Read More
Micah Horner has come up with 50 deal breakers when looking for a church. It is an interesting list and I must say a must read. Okay, are you seated? Here they are:
If the only time your pastor mentions Jesus is in the prayer, it’s time for a new church.
If your pastor preaches sermons consisting almost entirely of quaint illustrations, and funny stories about grandma’s and puppies, it’s time for a new church.
If your pastor uses the first 15-20 minutes of the service to tell corny, irreverent, borderline blasphemous jokes, talk about sports and poke fun at church members for being K-State fans, it’s time for a new church.
If your pastor doesn’t open his Bible during the sermon, it’s time for a new church.
If your pastor prepares a sermon by picking a topic he wants to preach on, and then finds 30 verse fragments taken out of context, in 15 different translations to keep the sermon “Biblical”, it’s time for a new church.
If your pastor uses ‘Nooma’ videos during any part of any sermon (unless to deconstruct it, explain its errors, and warn you about the heresy within) it’s time for a new church. Read More
Apparently the embattled ‘anointed’ televangelist Benny Hinn has sent out an urgent SOS newsletter. Things do not look good financially. But hey wait a minute, if you can only sow a seed into his ministry then God will give you and not him “the greatest season of harvest and abundance”.
Due to the expense and losses we experienced during the investigation process, we’ve been forced to cut back on essential ministry outreaches.
And now we will not be able to go on unless we recover our losses and restore the outreaches this ministry must have in place to preach the Gospel to the world. Read More
You might be a Charismaniac if…
A month that has left all my friends in America loathing the TSA. What with all the pat downs and rigorous body searches at the airports? And those hideous scanner machines that only Hugh Hefner would adore. Then theres been the disease scare that one contaminated or disease carrying terrorist could start a fungal or anthrax pandemic as one pair of gloves is used to search a gazillion other passengers. The black helicopter and conspiracy theories are endless.
The only people who havent noticed the long queues are probably prosperity pastors with private jets and journalists. Or so I thought until Michael J. Totten an independent foreign correspondent made an interesting deduction about the excellence of the Israeli airpot security: Read More
About a year ago I started blogging. I wrote mostly about things pertinent to my Christian walk. Things like disregard for sound Biblical doctrine, fads and gimmicks being used in church today. My discontentment stemmed from the fact that I seemed to be the biggest hypocrite. I had lived over 15 years of my Christian life with little regard for doctrine. Or atleast cared less. Every Sunday I went back to church and we seemed to go through the same routine. This last one year has been an intensive boot camp journey that has seen me make new friends and change churches and discover not only the doctrines of grace but also become enthusiastic about sound biblical doctrine in my pursuit to know God more. But who can comprehend the mind of God?
Which brings me to my point today -God. Remember Saul setting out to look for his father’s lost donkeys one morning (1 Samuel 9)? He didn’t have the least inkling who he was going to meet that day. Neither did he know that a prophet was going to cross his path and tell him that he was the one God was going to anoint to be the first king of Israel. The Bible clearly tells us that this unfathomable God is involved in the very events around the mortal beings he created and He is knowable. God draws people to Himself through several mundane events. So we see He drew Saul to the right place and at the right time he met Samuel the prophet. Now, with this concept in mind that God is alive and He is involved in even the minutest of events around us, meet a good friend of mine called Kathy, a hijab wearing American (not any more though). This is her extra ordinary testimony. A gracious journey to repentance and faith in Christ: Now Read On
“I Finally Got Sent A Hillsong Video That Proves They Preach The Gospel . . . NOT!!” says Cameron Buettel a blogger who set up an interesting challenge. This is the what he found…
To his credit Troy did take up my challenge that no one else has responded to. He went looking for a solid example of someone from Hillsong church preaching the Gospel. I had burdened Troy with the responsibility of substantiating his claim that:
I can assure you that I’ve been to Hillsong quite a few times and have heard the gospel accurately preached. Yes, including the mention of sin and the cross. But There’s More
Its one thing to be a preacher it’s another thing to bring oratorical skills to the pulpit and blend it with perfectly choreographed gimmicks to bring hundreds to their feet beckoning for more stories. Doesn’t it just amuse you when a preacher walks to the pulpit with a Bible and then decides to close it as he begins the sermon? My favourite ones are those “anointed coat” swinging show men who blow into microphones and keep repeating over and over, “I feel the anointing of God is here”. But I must say the deadliest are those slick ones who slide past you and mesmerise you to the point that you don’t even notice that they sneaked into the pulpit without a Bible (not even a pocket Message Bible). And as you try to figure where the sermon is going to come from…BANG! He has hit you between the eyes with a “holy ghost” stunner and you are writhing under your seat with your tie choking the living day lights out of you. Read More
It is said if you have sung a Hillsong tune, then you must have sung a Geoff Bullock song. Geoff Bullock (1955) is an Australian Christian singer-songwriter and pianist best known for his songs “The Power of Your Love”, “You Rescued Me”, “Jesus God’s Righteousness revealed” and “Love overcomes” among others. He was a founder of the Hillsong music team and the annual Hillsong conference. But now he says, “I have grown into someone completely different. I have learnt much, some by bitter experience, but, through all this, I have found a hope and peace that continually surprises me.” But There’s More
There was a time when Christians rejoiced when they read the newspapers and heard of great things that God was doing in far away lands. Things like missionaries giving thanks that despite being in constant threat from the wild beasts and hostile cannibal tribes lives were being changed by the gospel. God was doing mighty things through his divine providence and supplying all their needs and despite the present troubles they were waxing stronger and bolder for the cause of the gospel till the work is done. It seems such courage and zeal for the things of God has been long forgotten. The supposed men of God these days hardly break into a sweat carrying a Bible, let alone preach from it. The name of the game is ‘Get rich or die trying.’ Read More
Dr Leroy Thompson
For those who do not know, I grew up believing in the Word of Faith/ Prosperity gospel. Yes Jesus died for your sins, proponents will agree in passing. But also (they will quickly add) he surely died to make you healthy and wealthy hence the adage the ‘health and wealth’ gospel. Any time the Gospel of Christ is alterred or diluted, it will always be substituted with a form of works righteousness. A set of things to do to achieve a higher level of righteousness, justification, anointing or endearment to God. There’s More
When Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders in his final meeting with them, he said these words: “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” (Acts 20:26-27) The true preacher of the Word seeks to have this as his ambition as well. God is not honored when men think so little of Him and so highly of themselves that they edit the content of the proclamation for the fear of the face of men and so that they may be considered “successful” in some worldly sense. Read More
Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may Read More
Several pastors are taking deep sighs and smirking as Larry King retires from CNN’s Larry King Live show. The show has in the past left several famous celebrities and pastors red faced. Though critics claim that Larry King asks “soft” questions in comparison to other interviewers, this has not been without a long brigade of pastors getting tongue tied when asked what the Gospel is. Larry’s style has never been offensive, for which I will truly applaud him. It allows him to reach guests who would be averse to being interviewed.
Ladies and gentlemen without further ado: Read More
The next time you probably ask a stranger on the street what time it is he might tell you the time three hours ahead of GMT. And if you ask why he will tell you he is going by the Mecca Clock Tower. If you ask why, seeing that for the past 125 years, the international community has accepted that the start of each day should be measured from the prime meridian, representing 0 degrees longitude, which passes through the Greenwich Observatory, he may proudly reply we are “Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time. This is the goal.”
For more than a century, a point on the top of a hill in south-east London has been recognised as the centre of world time and the official starting point of each new day. But now the supremacy of Greenwich Mean Time is being challenged by a gargantuan new clock being built in Mecca, by which the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims could soon be setting their watches.
Big Ben (L) and Mecca Clock Tower(R)
Due to start ticking on Thursday as the faithful begin fasting during the month of Ramadan, the timepiece sits atop the Royal Mecca Clock Tower which dominates Islam’s holiest city. It is at the heart of a vast complex funded by the Saudi government that will also house hotels, shopping malls and conference halls. Read More
Is there still any reverence for the Holy and sacred things of God these days? What ever happened to the good old sermons about sin, righteousness and judgement? They called some of these ‘fire and brimstone’ sermons and phased them out of most churches, radios and television. Have you ever listened to Jonathan Edwards’ sermon ‘Sinners in the hands of an angry God’? Not even so called christian broad casters feature such sermons any more. These sermons are deemed ‘volatile’ and dont draw ratings they say. But they make a fatal error as they gladly proclaim a new gospel. One that is billed as the best thing since sliced bread called Gospel lite -the health, wealth and prosperity gospel.
Flip to a typical modern christian church sermon broad cast and what do you see? A young man who should be a pastor struts around an arena with spandex and jiggles as he lays his closed bible on the Plexiglass pulpit that casts a silhouette against the laser lit giant screen behind him. It’s Sunday and the topic is self esteem and positive confession…for the fifty second time that year. ‘This is our year of destiny’ reads the banner that has always been flown year in and year out. New visitors and tourists stagger in awe as they trudge through the church programme.The message elates them and sure enough tickles their fancy enough to bring them back But There’s More
It’s been coming and soon it will be here. Crowd control has always been a nightmare since the days of the ‘brood of vipers’ open air sermons of John the Baptist to the modern day children’s trampoline tea and biscuit parties of a pastor’s wife. Many delighted mega church ushers seemed to jump for joy this week supposing they had landed themselves a useful gadget in ultimate crowd control but stopped mid air as police in the UK seized large numbers of a gadget that has been supposedly dubbed ‘the ushers touch’.
A MILLION-volt stun gun disguised as a mobile phone is being smuggled into Britain by criminals. Potentially-lethal K95s are 24 TIMES more powerful than a police Taser. But There’s More
Best Life Now
When talk show host Oprah Winfrey so much as spits on a book it immediately catches fire. The ashes can so much as sell for a lump sum that can earn you enough money for an early retirement. In 2006 an Australian Rhonda Byrne got much more than she bargained for when she wrote the New Age self help book, The Secret. Her book did not get spat on. No. The book got featured not once but twice on the Oprah Winfrey show and (wait for this) by the Spring of 2007 the book had sold almost 4 million copies, and the DVD had sold more than 2 million copies. Byrne was listed among Time Magazine’s list of 100 people who shaped the world in 2007.
Byrne writes, “Disease cannot live in a body that is in a healthy emotional state.” But be warned: “If you have a disease and you are focusing on it and talking to people about it, you are going to create more disease cells.” The tenet of the book is that an individual’s focused positive thinking can result in life-changing results such as increased wealth, health, happiness and more.
Wait a minute that sounds so much like Word of Faith you say. But There’s More
Pastor Bil Cornelius
By Denise Mala, Full article Here.
Bay Area Fellowship, the largest church in Corpus Christi, is giving away flat-screen televisions, skateboards, Fender guitars, furniture and 15 cars — yes, cars — at its Easter services.
And even those who don’t win big will walk away with something. The church has gathered donations for 15,000 gift bags, each with about $300 worth of free goods and services.
“We’re going to give some stuff away and say, ‘Imagine how great heaven is going to be if you feel that excited about a car,’ ” lead Pastor Bil Cornelius said. “It’s completely free — all you have to do is receive him.”
He hopes the prizes will help Bay Area lure some people Read More
A small goofy hunch back office intern with heavy black-rimmed glasses scampers into a phone booth and closes the door. Then the moment of dramatic prose is shattered as a seven foot tall, square jawed gentleman, now a glistening man of steel with bulging and rippling muscles and sleek combed-back hair with deep piercing eyes kicks aside the rickety glass door. Tada! Transformed in the twinkling of an eye the super hero has come to save the damsel in distress. In comic literature the moment of transformation occurs at the height of the story as the battle between good and bad reaches its hiatus.
Looking at the news headlines today we read of diseases and epidemics, financial constraints and recessions, devastating earth quakes, Tsunamis and threats of global warming are the fodder of both red top tabloids and conservative dailies. God in his sovereignity has underlined the fact that tomorrow is promised to no man. We are constantly being reminded of the fickle nature of life and man’s mortality since the fall. A recurring question has always been , ‘why does God allow such suffering and why do bad things happen to good people?’ Read More
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 