What you are about to read is disturbing and shocking, especially if you have children who attend a church youth group. Please be aware that what is detailed below is happening in many churches in America, and may be coming to yours very soon. Prepare to be outraged.
Those churches who rely on their slick marketing schemes to “draw a crowd” have sunk to new lows as of late. This is especially evident in the area of the foreign-to-Scripture concept of the church youth group led by the ever-so-popular (and equally absent from Scripture) youth pastors.
For those who have no idea what kind of shenanigans have been going on in the name of “youth ministry,” here are a few samplings that DefCon’s addressed in the past:
But these past examples are mild compared to what’s taking place now. Countless churches are going out of their way to pander to the youth culture by means of the basest of juvenile humor (the very humor formed, cultivated, and driven by the world).
Because these so-called churches are constantly chasing after the hem of the garment of their elusive mistress of cultural relevance, they must constantly come up with something new, something more radical, something more shocking, something more like the world in order to attract and keep their “customers.”
But as with all fads, what was hip, cool, and relevant yesterday loses it’s impact tomorrow, so something even more vile, shocking, and wicked (yes, wicked) must take the place of yesterday’s flavor of the month.
To see this spiral into depravity I submit two articles for your consideration.One was written by a Christian journalist for a Christian news source from August 2002, the other was written by a secular journalist for a secular news source in September 2009.
The following is the 2002 article from World Magazine’s Gene Edward Veith:
Stupid Church Tricks
by Gene Edward Veith
Four sets of parents are suing a church in Indiana for what happened at a New Year’s Eve lock-in. A youth leader chewed up a mixture of dog food, sardines, potted meat, sauerkraut, cottage cheese, and salsa, topped off with holiday eggnog. As if this spectacle were not disgusting enough (let the reader beware), he then spit out the mixture into a glass and encouraged the members of the youth group to drink it!
Some of those who did, of course, became sick, whereupon their parents sued the church. According to the Associated Press account, the youth pastor said that the “gross-out” game, called the Human Vegematic, was just for fun and that the church forced no one to participate. The lawsuit accused the adults in charge of pressuring the 13- and 14-year-olds into activities that caused them physical and mental harm.
Such “gross-out” games have become a fad in youth ministry. Since adolescents are amused by bodily functions, crude behavior, and tastelessness following the church-growth principle of giving people what they like as a way to entice them into the kingdom many evangelical youth leaders think this is a way to reach young people.
The Source for Youth Ministry, a popular and widely used resource center, posts scores of games on its website, many of which were contributed by youth group leaders in the field. There is Sanctuary Softball, which involves whacking a Nerf ball in church, with home plate being the area of the altar, and running through the pews, as the fielders then try to hit the batter with the ball to make an out. Another fun activity is Seafood Catch, which involves putting minnows in the baptistery, then catching them by hand. (“Extra points for eating them after it is done.”)
Then there are games designed to appeal to adolescents’ hormones. These include kissing games like “Kiss the Wench.” “Leg Line Up” has girls feel boys’ legs to identify who is who. Some of them have odd homosexual subtexts, like “Pull Apart,” in which guys cling to each other, while girls try to pull them apart. Another has girls putting make-up on guys, leading to a drag beauty show. Then there is the embarrassingly Freudian “Baby Bottle Burp,” in which girls put a diaper (a towel) on a boy, then feed him a bottle of soda, and cradle him until he burps!
These are presented as just ordinary games, good ways to break the ice at youth group. But there is another category of “Sick and Twisted Games.” Many of these involve eating and drinking gross things, like at the Indiana church. (“Toothbrush Buffet” has youth group leaders brushing their teeth and spitting into a cup. Each then passes it along to the next in line, who uses what is in the cup to brush his teeth. The last one drinks down everyone’s spit.) Others are scatological, and are too repellent to describe.
What do teenagers learn from these youth group activities? Nothing of the Bible. Nothing of theology. Nothing of the cost of discipleship. But they do learn some lessons that they can carry with them the rest of their lives.
*Lose your inhibitions. Young people usually have inhibitions against doing anything too embarrassing or shameful. These exercises are designed to free people from such hang-ups. For some reason, post-Freudian psychologists whose “sensitivity groups” are the model for these kinds of exercises maintain that such inhibitions are bad. Christians, though, have always insisted that we need to feel inhibited about indulging in things for which we should feel ashamed. This is part of what we mean by developing a conscience.
Though being “gross” may not be sinful in itself, overcoming natural revulsions can only train a child to become uninhibited about more important things.
*Give in to peer pressure. Defenders of these kinds of activities maintain that they help create group unity. The way they work, though, is to overcome a teenager’s inhibitions with the greater desire to go along with the group. In other words, these exercises teach the teenager to give in to peer pressure. Instead, youth groups need to teach Christian teenagers not to go along with the crowd and to stand up against what their friends want them to do.
*Christianity is stupid. Status-conscious teenagers know that those who are so desperate to be liked that they will do anything to curry favor are impossible to respect. Young people may come to off-the-wall youth group meetings, but when they grow up, they will likely associate the church with other immature, juvenile phases of their lives, and Christianity will be something they will grow out of.
Teenagers get enough entertainment, psychology, and hedonism from their culture. They don’t need it from their church. What they need and often yearn for is God’s Word, catechesis, and spiritual formation.
Here are some quotes from this article along with my commentary interjected in red.
As the youth leader held his arms aloft, the teenagers gaped at the hair, furred into a strip matted by sweat and deodorant. They watched as Pastor Turner dug into a jar of peanut butter and smeared gobs of it onto the exposed underarms, then turned to the audience. Did anyone, he asked, have the guts to lick it clean and swallow it down without puking? He got two volunteers. As the audience roared with excitement and disgust, the two male teenagers approached the youth leader and began to lick his armpits, burrowing their faces in the peanut butter and eating it. Neither puked. Their only prize was bragging rights. [This one needs no comment.]
It may seem hard to believe, but the genesis of the “Fearless” program was a marketing impulse.[No, it's not really that hard to believe. It's what we've come to expect from those who think they can "do church" better than God.]Pastor Turner and his creative team say they wanted to do something that would shock and astound their teenage audience. [If you really want to "shock and astound" the teens, try preaching the Word!] They hoped to get students talking about Celebration Church and about the Wednesday night service. [Because talking about Jesus and His finished work on the cross just isn't as cool.]They wanted a buzz that would go viral, that teens would text and Twitter about. They wanted the kids to share their cell phone pictures and videos. Ultimately, they wanted hordes of kids to show up the following Wednesday to see what crazy things the youth ministry would think up next. [Makes the church leadership feel good seeing all those kids show up to see what crazy world-mimicking things the youth ministry would think up next. What about the novel idea that kids should be showing up to church to learn more about God and to fellowship with the brethren? Oh, and don't forget, what you attract them with is ultimately what you have to keep them with. And here's the paradox: Take away the contrived entertainment and you lose the kids, "They're not doing what attracted me, dude, so I'm outta here." Keep the same level and you lose the kids, "They're not cutting edge, they're like so 5 minutes ago, I'm outta here." So the only solution is to push the envelope more and more.]
The program isn’t confined to the church’s Deerfield Boulevard campus. [Why not just say church? What is so offensive to all these megachurches that they hide behind the name "campus?"]Across town, at the Orange Park campus, another youth minister was hosting his own “Fearless” event. . . . Instead of an armpit, [22 year-old Pastor Shawn] Kelley smeared peanut butter on a youth leader’s feet and challenged two teens to lick it off. It was pretty gross, the pastor assures. “This leader’s feet are pretty bad.” . . . Still, Kelley says he did not, as Folio Weekly heard from a concerned parent, spread the peanut butter on his own feet, or between the youth leader’s toes. “We didn’t want to put it in between his toes,” he says. “That would be pushing it.” [Oh, so now we're taking a lesson on morality and what is and is not "pushing it" from Mr. Kelley. We'd love to know by what standard you rely on to define what's "pushing it" and what's not.]
Pastor Turner wants to send kids home from church thinking, “I don’t believe what just happened here tonight.” [Not thinking about their utter sinfulness before a holy God and the only propitiation for their transgressions being the spotless Lamb of God nailed to a cross because without the shedding of blood their is no remission of sins.] That’s a fair approximation of what one area mother felt when her son came home from the Orange Park service with video footage of the toe-licking. . . . She was so upset that the next morning she contacted Pastor John Wyatt, the head youth pastor for all six Celebration locations. She was stunned when he didn’t agree that having a child lick anything off an adult’s feet was inappropriate. . . . [She may have been stunned, but we're not. In fact, just wait till you see the comments start pouring in on this post defending this foolishness.]The mother suggests that the act between a minor and an adult in a private home would seem not only inappropriate, but perverse — and possibly illegal. [Wow, she hit the nail on the head!]But she says Pastor Wyatt, 37, and other church leaders didn’t concede there was anything wrong with what they’d done. [And they never will.] The woman decided not to allow her son to attend the church again. . . . [Although I question why she let him attend in the first place, this decision is wise.] “When you send a kid to church, you aren’t expecting they are going to be exposed to something like that. It just does not really make sense how Bible study turns into fish eating and eating peanut butter off a grown man’s toes.” [We've been trying to make sense of this foolishness too, but in the end, it's just silly men who have never grown up, getting paid to play silly games with kids who will eventually be inoculated against true Biblical Christianity.]
“The idea is to get students here to meet our Savior. They are getting all this crazy stuff out there in the world all the time. We are trying to show them that God is cooler.” [1. No, no, no. The "church" was never meant to be the place for people to "meet our Savior." The church is for the Believers, not the unbelievers. If an unbeliever attends a church service and he "meets our Savior" then great, but this was not the purpose of the assembly of the brethren. Actually reading your Bible would clarify the confusion.
2. So you're essentially using the old "bait and switch" tactic to sucker teens into your church? I guess if you're offering a fuzzy, non-offensive, feel-good Jesus then you can get away with it.
3. You're "crazy stuff" is somehow better than the "crazy stuff" in the world, how? Because you've "Christianized" it?
4. God is not "cool." For crying out loud, if you can't comprehend or even remotely understand the nature of God you have no business being a pastor. Have you forgotten that "cool" is defined by the world? Your god is an idol formed in the imaginations of your "creative team." You can keep your god. I'll stick to the true God revealed in Scripture who is not hip, cool, or what's happening now, but who is holy, holy, holy.]
Asked whether there was a religious lesson behind the grotesquerie, Wyatt offers, “It’s all about what it means to be fearless and know God is with you.” Pastor Kelley describes the “Fearless” stunts as metaphors for the courage it takes to be young and openly Christian. “It’s about being fearless, by allowing them to do something that took boldness, that they might possibly get made fun of for doing,” he says. “Standing up for Christ in the world requires you to be fearless.” [So let me get this straight. Standing up for Jesus requires boldness and fearlessness, but instead of instilling that in the youth by having them actually stand up for Jesus, or even showing them by example, instead you have them perform sick, twisted, and erotic games and this will somehow help them stand up for Jesus? And if they need to perform these juvenile games to stand up for Jesus then does that not mean that you're suggesting to them that their source of strength comes not from God but from them and their willingness to act like fools? Here's a novel idea: Try having them become "fearless" by actually proclaiming Jesus Christ, and start with you by boldly preaching Jesus Christ. Then encourage the one's that are really sincere to take missions trips to countries where standing up for Jesus will get you imprisoned, tortured and/or killed. Somehow I don't think the countless martyrs throughout church history and today needed to lick peanut butter off someone's toes in order to stand up for Jesus.]
Wyatt also points out that it’s much easier for a kid to talk about church with other teens when the conversation is about chugging a Happy Meal or bobbing for chicken feet. “They experience God here on Wednesday nights,” says Pastor Wyatt, “and they can’t always articulate that to their friends. This gives them something to say. ‘Wow, you’ve got to come to church, you’ve got to check this out. This is amazing! ’” [Of course it's easier to talk about Happy Meal chugging or bobbing for chicken feet if you're unregenerated. Preach the pure, unadulterated, hard truth of the gospel then sit back an watch the kids talk to other kids. A word of caution though, if any of them do get truly converted, they'll probably be telling other kids about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice instead of your church, and they probably won't remain in your church for very long either.]
“Unfortunately, somebody was offended, and we apologized right away,” says Pastor Wyatt. “But the other side of that is, there was a whole bunch of kids who gave their life to Christ that night. Ultimately, our goal is to get people into church and into a relationship with Jesus.” [Ah, the old "someone gave their life to Christ" card. Always employed when someone questions the worldly, Chirst-less, and wholly unbiblical marketing tactics of today's cool, hip, and relevant social clubs. Somehow, we're told not to judge them, but they are quick to judge others, claiming to know the hearts of these kids and pronounce that they're saved. Here's an experiment I suggest trying. Take these kids who you claim to have "given their life to Jesus," separate them from the toe-licking and armpit licking shenanigans, and teach them the hard things. Teach them the whole counsel of God. Teach them doctrine. Teach them that they are expected to lay down their life daily, that they're to die to self, that they're to take up their crosses daily and follow Christ. Teach them that those who choose to live holy lives will be persecuted. Teach them that friendship with the world is enmity to God and that those who love the things of this world are enemies of God. Then we'll check back in with you in six months and see where those kids who "gave their life to Christ" are. If they were truly converted they will be right there desiring more of the meat of the Word. If they were false converts they'll have left for the other megachurch down the street who has bowling/pizza nights, whip cream fights, rock concerts, gross-out games, and the weekly "rededicate your life to Christ" alter call.]
This article also interviews Karen McKinney, a director of youth ministries and associate professor at Bethel University who opposes the foolishness of what you’ve just read above. But just when you think there’s a voice of reason, we read this:
McKinney finds programs copying “Fear Factor” and other puke-inducing events to be a contradiction to the church’s message of stewardship. “What did we just teach?” she wonders rhetorically when told about the youth program. “What value is it when we know there are kids starving? … There are ways to teaching young people to be bold without wasting food.” [McKinney is about to offer an example of how she taught teens valuable lessons by means of a much better technique. Brace yourselves.] As an example, McKinney remembers how she was invited to speak about sexual boundaries to a teen group at a church in downtown St. Paul. After brief introductions, she broke the 12 students into two groups and told them they were going to play strip Pictionary. For every round lost, the losing group would have to take off an item of clothing. Before they even started, she says she could hear a 13-year-old girl say under her breath, “This is wrong.” But she said the group went through three rounds before the 13-year-old stood up and said, “I thought the topic was boundaries. We should not be playing this game.”McKinney then asked the other students if they also thought the game was wrong and why they didn’t voice those concerns. “They got the message loud and clear what it means to stand up when it comes to crossing these kinds of boundaries,” she says. Licking peanut butter off somebody’s armpit, she observes, crosses those boundaries without drawing valuable lessons for the Celebration students. “It’s just totally inappropriate,” she says. [So it's all right to "cross boundaries" as long as a lesson is learned? And encouraging 13-year-olds to play strip Pictionary is an acceptable ends-justifies-the-means lesson? Good grief, the inmates are running the asylum!]
Welcome to the American Christianity where worldly wisdom reigns from the pulpit and rules the day. Those who lower Christianity to such base levels are showing that they do not believe that the Gospel is enough to save as the Apostle Paul believed it was when under inspiration of the Holy Spirit he penned Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes . . .”
Faith comes by hearing the Gospel, not by quaint little stories about how to be bold like Danielwhile having kids perform gross and even erotic acts before their peers.
The defense commonly used by proponents of this worldly behavior in church is usually that they’re trying to reach a certain group, and in order to do that, they say, “you must first relate to that group and become like that group.” But I have to ask: If you have to reach people where they’re at, tell me, how do you reach the abortionist? How do you reach the homosexual? How do you reach the intravenous drug user? How do you reach the pedophile? I’ll stop there as I do not want to give these youth leaders any new ideas for their next big thing.
In seven years we went from teen girls feeling teen boys’ legs in youth group, to teens licking peanut butter off an adult’s feet and playing strip Pictionary. I can only imagine what the next seven years will bring.
I conclude with a quote from Gene Edward Veith who summed up the whole problem in his article posted above:
Status-conscious teenagers know that those who are so desperate to be liked that they will do anything to curry favor are impossible to respect. Young people may come to off-the-wall youth group meetings, but when they grow up, they will likely associate the church with other immature, juvenile phases of their lives, and Christianity will be something they will grow out of.
The blessed founder of Christianity chose to make his advent among the lowly and the despised. This was agreeable to the spirit of that Holy Religion which he came to establish. There was a time when a multitude of his followers, astonished and convinced by the omnipotence displayed in his wondrous miracles, were disposed to” take him by force to make him a king,” but so far from encouraging their design, the inspired historian tells us” that he departed again, into a mountain himself alone.” (John vi., 15.) In reply to the inquiries of the Roman governor, he uttered those memorable words, “MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD,” and his whole conduct from the manger to the cross, and from the cross to the mount of ascension, was in strict accordance with this characteristic maxim of genuine Christianity.
In selecting those whom he would send forth as the apostles of his faith, be went, not to the mansions of the great or to the palaces of kings, but to the humble walks of life, and chose from the poor of this world, those who, in prosecuting their mission, were destined like their divine master, to be despised and rejected of men. In performing the work which their Lord had given them to do, the lowly but zealous fisherman of Galilee, and the courageous tent-maker of Tarsus, with their faithful fellow-laborers, despising all earthly honors and worldly aggrandizement, were content to lay every laurel at the foot of Christs cross, and to” count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, their Lord,” for whom they had “suffered the loss of all things” (Philippians, iii., 8.)
A few centuries afterward, we find the professed successor of Peter the fisherman [i.e. the Pope], dwelling in a magnificent palace, attended by troops of soldiers ready to avenge the slightest insult offered to his dignity, surrounded by all the ensigns of worldly greatness, with more than regal splendor proudly claiming to be the sovereign ruler of the universal church the Vicegerent of God upon earth, whose decision is infallible and whose will is law. The contrast between these two pictures of Primitive Christianity in the first century, and Papal Christianity in the seventh or eighth, is so amazing, that we are irresistibly led to the inquiry, can they be the same? If one is a faithful picture of Christianity, can it be possible that the other is worthy of the name?
- John Dowling (Source: Dowling, John (1845). The History of Romanism: from the Earliest Corruptions of Christianity to the Present Time)
I just completed a page-turner that I highly recommend to the readers of DefCon. David Kupelian’s provocative missive The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, And Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom, takes you behind the scenes of how the media, entertainment, and politicians drive the culture and how they not only shape how the masses think, but also what to think.
If you ever wanted to know how sodomy went from a commonly shunned taboo (i.e. a sin) to now not only being accepted as normal, but those who dare to speak against it considered the new outcasts of society, you have to read this book.
If you ever wanted to know how our society can decry the atrocities of the Nazi Holocaust while simultaneously accepting and condoning the barbaric dismemberment of their own children under the guise of “freedom of choice,” you have to read this book.
Recommended to me by a friend, I found this book to be shocking, riveting, compelling, and impossible to put down.
Although I can’t recommend this book enough, I do caution some readers that the material dealt with can be disturbing at times and even profanity is present in the section dealing with the hip-hop culture’s grasp on our youth.
Well over 200 reader reviews have been done on this book on Amazon.com with an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Click here to read the reviews on Amazon.
Conscience has often lent its sanction to the grossest errors, and prompted the greatest crimes. Did not Saul of Tarsus, for instance, drag men and women to prison; compel them to blaspheme; and stain his hands in saintly blood, while conscience approved the deed—he believed that he was doing God service. . . . Read the Book of Martyrs, read the sufferings of our own forefathers; and under the cowl of a shaven monk, or the trappings of a haughty churchman, you shall see conscience persecuting the saints of God, and dragging even tender women and children to the bloody scaffold or the burning stake. . . . So far as doctrines and duties are concerned, not conscience, but the revealed Word of God is our one only sure and safe directory.
I am currently reading a riveting book by WordNetDaily managing editor, David Kupelian, entitled The Marketing of Evil. I am reading the chapter on abortion in which many former abortion providers (who have turned from their barbaric torture and dismemberment of innocent children) have revealed what the abominable abortion movement actually does to our most innocent and defenseless class of citizens. Here are a few very disturbing quotes from the book:
“Saline abortions have to be done in the hospital because of complications that can arise,” says ob-gyn staffer Debra Henry. . . . “The saline, a salt solution, is injected into the woman’s sac and the baby swallows it. The baby starts dying a slow, violent death. The mother feels everything, and many times it is at this point when she realizes that she really has a live baby inside of her, because the baby starts fighting violently for his or her life. He’s just fighting inside because he’s burning.”
“One night a lady delivered, and I was called in to see her because she was uncontrollable,” said David Brewer, M.D., of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. . . . “I went into the room, and she was going to pieces; she was having a nervous breakdown, screaming and thrashing. . . . I walked in, and here was her little saline abortion baby kicking. It had been born alive, and was kicking and moving for a little while before it finally died of those terrible burns, because the salt solution gets into the lungs and burns the lungs too.”
“I’ll tell you one thing about D&E abortions,” lamented Anthony Levantino. “You never have to worry about a baby’s [sic] being born alive. I won’t describe D&E other than to say, as a doctor, you are sitting there tearing, and I mean tearing–you need a lot of strength to do it–arms and legs off babies and putting them in a stack on top of a table.”
“Psychologically,” noted [Carol] Everett, “the doctors always sized the baby at ‘twenty-four weeks.’ However, we did an abortion on one baby I feel was almost full-term. The baby’s muscle structure was so strong that it would not come apart. The baby died when the doctor pulled the head off the body.”
“There are no words to describe how bad it really is,” added Carol Everett. “I’ve seen sonograms of the baby pulling away from the instruments as they are introduced into the vagina.”
If you know anyone who’s considering an abortion, please, forward them the link to this post and/or buy them the book The Marketing of Evil and have them read chapter 9 on abortion. It very well may save the life of that child.
Consider your Lord and Master, you that call yourselves [Christ’s] disciples. Many look upon you that will not look unto [His] Word, and will judge [Jesus] by your practices. Do not damage [Him], by misrepresenting [Him]; as if [He] allowed those evils which you allow yourselves. Why should [He] be “wounded in the house of My friends” (Zech. 13:6). Why should you crucify [Him] afresh, and put [Him] to an open shame?
John Lanagan, a dear brother in Christ, has spent much time researching and exposing the 12 step cult that enslaves many, even those who profess Christ. Here is a well researched article submitted by John at his blog, my word like fire….to God be the glory.
Seances, spirits, and 12 Steps
Do not seek out mediums and spiritists; do not seek out and be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:31)
Author Richard Burns, better known as Dick B., has been churning out books and articles on the alleged Christian origin of Alcoholics Anonymous for years. The prolific author has written ‘Anne Smith’s Journal,’ ‘Dr. Bob and His Library,’ and many, many others. Regrettably, in his nearly thirty books Dick B. has never acknowledged the influence of spiritualism upon the creation of the 12 Steps.
His books, however, have deeply influenced the Body of Christ. People frequently justify A.A. attendance with statements like, “Well, Alcoholics Anonymous was originally Christian.” Or, “The 12 Steps are based on the Bible.” A common misconception is that one or both Alcoholics Anonymous cofounders, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, were Christians.[1]
In A.A. circles the cofounders are affectionately known as Dr. Bob and Bill W. Promoting one of his more recent titles, ‘The Conversion of Bill W.,’ Dick B. writes, “It’s an account of the many ways the Creator seems to have touched the life of Bill W. and, through him, the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.”[2]
Galatians 1:6-9, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”
It is a tragedy when those who claim the name of Christ are being duped by the myriads of false teachers who have no desire for truth. An even greater tragedy occurs when false professors and/or their false teachings begin to be endorsed by well-respected ministers of the gospel. However, the greatest tragedy is when well-respected ministers of the gospel not only endorse false teaching and heresy but then allow it to be preached as truth in the midst of those sheep whom they have been supposedly called upon to protect. The man in question is none other than John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota.
Before we continue, I want to make it very clear that this is not a private issue, but one that is well out in the open. The false teaching and endorsing of such teachings and heresies is well-documented. This is an open matter and is being addressed accordingly based on the commands we find in Scripture.
I am under no delusions that this will NOT be a popular post with some. However, Defending Contending believes we can no longer be honoring to Christ and His Word if we merely overlook what is happening within the ranks of evangelicalism simply because of who the pastor might or might not be, or how popular he appears to be.
With that in mind, let’s continue by looking briefly at two heresies taking over at an alarming rate. Both of these doctrines are pushing the ranks of the uninformed back towards the open, welcoming arms of Rome again. Sadly, these doctrines are even being embraced or unknowingly being endorsed by even very conservative Baptist churches.
First – Federal Vision in a nutshell believes that when a person unites with the visible local church that the individual becomes one with Christ. Federalists also teach that when an unbeliever partakes of communion (the Lord’s Table) that they are actually feeding upon Christ. Further, they teach that being baptized is the means whereby a person becomes one with Christ. For further information, I would highly recommend this article at The Banner of Truth Trust. FV has been rejected outright by many mainline Reformed denominations. Second – The New Perspective on Paul (or NPP) believes that Judaism was actually a religion of grace. They teach that salvation is possible by the keeping of the law. They also teach that the righteousness of God is actually referring to His faithfulness and that it has nothing to do with the truth that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the new believer. N.T. Wright is abundantly clear about what he means and what he stands for when he declares that justification is about the mark of what a person already is, and is not about the means whereby one is justified with God. A quote from N.T. Wright, “In theology, therefore, justification is not the means whereby it becomes possible to declare someone in the right. It is simply that declaration itself. It is not how someone becomes a Christian, but simply the declaration that someone is a Christian. It is not the exercise of mercy, but the just declaration concerning one who has already received mercy. This is a crucial distinction, without which it is impossible to understand the biblical material.” For further reading go to this article at Theopedia
Let’s makes this very clear! Federal Vision and the New Perspective on Paul are both heresies that lead back to Rome! Those who teach these are leading people deliberately astray and must be classified as heretics at worst and in need of repentance at best for their false teachings. Both of these teachings are nothing more than a rehash of Roman Catholic doctrine which has damned millions to hell.
Now that the reader understands a little more of the heresies defined above, we move back to John Piper’s progressive downhill slide which looks like this –
1) Mixing oxymorons for many years such as “Christian hedonism”
2) Openly endorsing Mark Driscoll (the vulgar, sewer-mouthed talker) with no known retractions
3) Blasphemously claiming the Lord of Glory was damned upon the cross
4) Openly endorsing the Federal Vision heresy as proclaimed by men like Douglas Wilson, and clearly indicating that Douglas Wilson is NOT preaching another or false gospel
5) Openly endorsing the New Perspective on Paul heresy as proclaimed by men like N.T. Wright, and clearly stating that N.T. Wright is also NOT preaching another or false gospel, but that the NPP is merely a “confusing gospel!
** Edit Note ** Points 4 & 5 have numerous proofs, but here is a video clip from The Resurgence.
“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” (2 Cor. 11:14-15)
John Piper is leading many astray by his open endorsements of these men as mentioned above. His own theology comes into question when he publishes questionable material on his site about the doctrine of justification which you can still find on his site at Desiring God – I am firmly convinced that John Piper has slid this view under the noses of evangelicals who have missed the error of a justification that is NOT by faith alone. For more information on this issue and the problems with a recent work entitled Future Grace, you can visit Trinity Foundation.
While we at DefCon have respected John Piper as a man of God in the past, we believe we can no longer endorse any teachings by Piper. Our prayer is that God will bring Piper to a point where he will see the error of his teaching before it is too late and repent. We pray that God will also open the eyes of all those who blindly follow a man who is openly endorsing heresies as being merely a “confusing” gospel. “Confusing” gospels are no true gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ. They damn the souls of men to a Christ-less eternity in hell forever.
The Scriptures exhort us to openly exhort and rebuke those who cause divisions within the faith once delivered to the saints. John Piper is and continues to do this by his strange brand of heterodoxy which has sucked in the unlearned and learned alike. May we ever be alert to the apostasy that the apostle Paul warned will appear in the latter days. It will come from within the midst of what seems to be truth, but it will be mixed with poison. Pastors and their people will swallow it, and before they realize it is too late will be overcome.
Thanks to Phil Johnson for the heads up on this video. I know and have seen the true need in Africa for the pure, unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ to be preached to those who have never heard. So, I am disgusted when I see the likes of Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers, Kenneth Hagin and all the other false professors of Christ exporting the heresy of prosperity gospel to Africa. The poor people in this video have still not heard the truth, but they are mixing their own animistic religions with a veneer of “Christianity” with the hopes of becoming much better off.
I have personally watched charlatans like these seen in this video asking their audience to “give $100 US dollars in order to receive $100 blessings, $50 US dollars to receive $50 blessings, etc.” Yes, in America we have been blessed with much in the way of material wealth, but if all we are exporting is a false gospel, a few Africans will wind up wealthy, but they and their followers will only find themselves in hell forever.
It takes an incredible amount of effort and energy on the part of the news media to maintain such an obviously outrageous suspension of reality. But what would happen if the press reported accurately, objectively, and courageously on the Middle East conflict? Media reports would reflect, truthfully, that Israel is a Western democracy surrounded by dozens of backward, repressive, terror-supporting Arab police states dedicated to Israel’s annihilation. They’d show that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Arafat was the father of modern terrorism. They’d show that the so-called Palestinian problem was cynically created for the precise purpose of eliminating the Jewish state by deception. The media would reveal that the Palestinian leadership is not now, nor has it ever been, interested in a separate Palestinian state next to Israel, but rather, in taking over all of Israel.
This past week many Protestants (and especially Lutherans) celebrated Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses to the Wittenberg door in 1517. But all is not well in Lutherville. Someone has crept in unnoticed.
Meet Nadia Bolz-Weber. The tattooed, female, pro-sodomy, emergent, foul-mouthed, feminist, Lutheran pastor who has Martin rolling in his grave.
Here are some interesting quotes from her blog.
This is how they will know that you are my disciples: that you take my body and blood to the airport. Amen?
To sing “Take O Take Me As I Am” while putting cookers and bleach and condoms in bags felt quite holy.
Nothing says “He Is Risen” quite like a chocolate fountain in the baptismal font.
A few sentences I had to cut from tomorrow’s sermon, so I am letting them live here: Much ink and much blood has been spilled on the matter of the Trinity doctrine. Are we celebrating God as bad math? 1+1+1=1? Why don’t we add some other church doctrine festivals? We could have “Substitutionary Atonement” Sunday where we celebrate God as angry cigar chopping loan shark demanding his pound of flesh. Or perhaps “Divine Inspiration of Scripture” Sunday and celebrate God as confused librarian.
I’ve been at Luther Seminary for 3 weeks now and have yet to meet an out GLBTQ person. Um, I know they have to be here somewhere. It’s so weird to be in an environment where it is apparently not safe to be out. It’s making me deeply sad actually. I think I’ll start being a little obnoxious about it and find some rainbow flags and pink triangles to sport.
Allie Allie in come free!!!!
It’s so troubling to me to be a part of system (the ELCA – my denomination) who has a policy of exclusion that I do not agree with….it actually goes beyond disagreement, I think it is sinful. I just refuse to leave and will (along with many many other folks) work to change my church. That is a threat, not just a promise.
This is the inevitable result of someone who takes the Bible seriously but not literally.
The most successful arm of the evangelical church in recent years, in terms of growth, money, and prestige, has been the market-driven (seeker-sensitive, new-paradigm, user-friendly) church. Because of this success these churches are being mimicked all over the country, and indeed, the world. But is this church fully dressed? Is she outfitted in the biblically prescribed robes of evangelism, edification, worship, and instruction? Or is she wrapped in rags composed of empty human philosophy stitched together with bits and pieces of truth? If the latter is true, why have so few seemed to notice?
Your Wednesday sermon of the week is another must-hear. The Glory of the Gospel by Art Azurdia needs to be heard by everyone that shares the gospel (that should be all of us) and especially preachers and pastors.Thanks to The Atlantic Baptist for alerting me to this message.
“…it is asked, ‘Why all this tirade against Roman Catholics?’ We repel the implication. It is not against the unhappy millions that are ground down under the iron heel of that enormous despotism. They are of the common humanity, our brethren and kinsmen, according to the flesh. They need the same light instruction and salvation that we need. Like ourselves they need the one God, the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; and from the heart we love and pity them. We would grant them all the privileges which we claim to ourselves. We can have no animosity towards them as men and candidates with ourselves for the coming judgment. But it is the system under which they are born, and live, and die, I repeat, which we denounce, and when we shall cease to oppose it, then let our right hand forget her cunning, and our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth. What is it but a dark and terrible power on earth before which so many horrible memories start up? Why, sir, look at it! We drag the bones of the grim behemoth out to view, for we would not have the world forget his ugliness nor the terror he has inspired. ‘A tirade against Romanism,’ is it? O sir, we remember the persecutions of Justinian; we remember the days of the Spanish Inquisition; we remember the reign of ‘the Bloody Mary;’ we remember the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; we remember St. Bartholomew; we remember the murdered Covenanters, Huguenots, and Piedmontese; we remember the noble martyrs dying for the testimony of the faith along the ancient Rhine; we remember the later wrath which pursued the islanders of Madeira, till some of them sought refuge upon these shores; we remember the Madiai, and we know how the beast ever seeks to propagate his power, by force where he can, by deception where he must. And when we remember these things, we must protest against the further vigor and prosperity of this grand Babylon of all. … We come a growing phalanx [a rectangular mass military formation], not with carnal weapons, but with the armor of the gospel, and wielding the sword of truth on the right hand and on the left, we say that ANTICHRIST MUST FALL. Hear it, ye witnesses, and mark the word; by the majesty of the coming kingdom of Jesus, and by the eternal purpose of Jehovah, THIS ANTICHRIST MUST FALL.”
This comes from a dear sister in Christ, Steph, who has encouraged me many times in the past with her postings. May you be blessed as you read her post entitled, ‘unravelled’…
The cry of my heart has long been, “Lord, I want more of You!”
In this cry, is the full understanding that more of Him = less of me. This both costs everything and hurts more than can be told, as the Lord takes me through my ordinary life as He pleases. At times, to my shame, I find myself holding on with my fingers so tight as to make my fingernails white with the pressure, only to find He gently pries them open to let go of yet another thing that He needs me to. I can never anticipate ‘what’, ‘when’ but only know with utter certainty, that they will indeed take place, in His time, all for His glory, and my good (Romans 8:28)
I am to be transparent before Him. Telling Him all, hiding nothing. I have to be constantly prepared to face His ‘mirror’ regardless of what I see in its reflection and allowing Him to deal with what ever it is that He chooses to show me. I have no wish to keep a long account with the Lord. The quicker I learn to fall on my knees before Him, the better.
It’s that time of year again when the shameful marketing of Christ gets into full swing. Do you see anything wrong with this Christmas nativity decoration being sold by Christian Book Distributors, or is it just me?
When I would yell at my children, I was teaching them that they didn’t have to do what I said whenever I said it, just when it was important enough (or I was mad enough) to raise my voice. What’s worse, I was undermining my wife’s authority in the home because she wasn’t as big and scary and didn’t have as deep a voice as me. Thus my word (thundered through the house) became the standard for eliciting obedience. We do not want our children to do what we say with conditions attached. We want them to obey, period. Learning not to repeat ourselves, not to yell, not to call the offending child by all three of his or her names, but to speak in clear, level tones and follow through with consequences for every act of disobedience has completely transformed our home.
The former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas says she had a “change of heart” after watching an abortion last month — and she quit her job and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility.
And we wonder why the pro-abortion zealots go absolutely out of their minds when pictures of murdered babies are displayed by pro-life activists. Actually seeing what happens to the most innocent and defenseless class of our society when a woman enacts her “right” to murder her child tends to change people.
One of our problems today is that we no longer do our own thinking. Newspapers do it for us, the people interviewed on Radio and Television do it for us, and we sit back and listen. That is one of the manifestations of the breakdown of self-discipline. We must learn to discipline our minds!
Again, let’s sum up the first post. While the ultimate judgment comes from God, the Lord Jesus makes it clear that judging another is not only permissible, but is commanded to be fulfilled. However, this judgment is only to be based on issues of the heart. It is not to be done with harshness, but in a way that shows humility as well as a true desire to follow the dictates of Scripture. If Scripture is NOT the basis for judging another, then it is wrong.
And to summarize the second post. Judgment was expected both from the church corporately as well as by individuals who noted another who chose to remain in their sin…It is our responsibility to judge one who remains in their sin. When a person rejects the admonitions of a caring, loving, and humble believer who desires their restoration, that person is to be shunned and treated as an unbeliever. We are not to invite them into our home for fellowship all the while hoping that things will change in their lives. In other words, we do NOT continue to treat them as we would a brother or sister who is striving for a life of holiness.
The bottom line is this in regards to judgment – NO JUDGMENT = NO HOLINESS. NO HOLINESS = NO PURITY. NO PURITY = NO CHURCH. NO CHURCH = NO LIFE. NO LIFE = NO CHRIST!
Now that we have established the responsibility of the church in regards to judgment, how does discipline play its part in a New Testament church? There are not just problems with churches refusing to exercise judgment within local church settings, but very few actually practice any form of discipline. This is probably due to three main reasons. 1) Pastors have failed to teach the entire counsel of God which includes the necessity of discipline. 2) Churches prefer to be nice cozy social clubs where the world can come and look like everybody else who has already preceded them into the building. 3) If the church demands a life of discipline, they understand that their numbers will not necessarily be large and the offerings will get smaller.
The Scriptures teach us there are five (5) steps of discipline. However, before we cover these, it is important to understand what discipline is NOT. Discipline is NOT the means whereby we get rid of those we don’t like in the church! Discipline is NOT a catch-all for those situations where we are too cowardly to provide effective, biblical counsel to those in our congregations. While we will break down the necessary steps for each level of discipline, it is vital that we remember our churches do not belong to us. We are not seeking to establish our little kingdoms. Because the church is that which Christ paid for, we must abide by His commands and seek to establish purity no matter what the cost.
So, what is discipline? It is for the sole purpose of RESTORATION!
Galatians 6:1, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual RESTORE such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” The word RESTORE means, “to complete thoroughly (i.e. repair literally or figuratively), mend, make perfect, join together, prepare, restore. No person in their right mind would desire to cut off their arm or foot. No more have we any right to simply cut off those who have sinned. If they are a true believer and respond to discipline, we have restored a brother.
2 Tim. 2:25-26, “In humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” Again, we are commanded to provide correction or discipline to those who are in opposition to the teaching of the Scriptures.
James 5:19-20, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” The truth spoken about is the Word of God. When a person is turned from their error, we as believers have helped them to be turned from sin which might entrap them further. If discipline is not practiced though, it is an easier path for the sinner to tread when he or she is not held accountable.
Lord willing, in our next section, we will cover the five (5) steps of discipline and see how each apply to the life of the believer as well as the integrity and purity of the local church.
“John Huss (Jan Hus) was born at Hussenitz, a village in Bohemia, about the year 1380. His parents gave him the best education their circumstances would admit; and having acquired a tolerable knowledge of the classics at a private school, he was removed to the university of Prague, where he soon gave strong proofs of his mental powers, and was remarkable for his diligence and application to study.
In 1398, Huss commenced bachelor of divinity, and was after successively chosen pastor of the Church of Bethlehem, in Prague, and dean and rector of the university. In these stations he discharged his duties with great fidelity; and became, at length, so conspicuous for his preaching, which was in conformity with the doctrines of Wickliffe, that it was not likely he could long escape the notice of the pope and his adherents, against whom he inveighed with no small degree of asperity.
The English reformist, Wickliffe, had so kindled the light of reformation, that it began to illumine the darkest corners of popery and ignorance. His doctrines spread into Bohemia, and were well received by great numbers of people, but by none so particularly as John Huss, and his zealous friend and fellow martyr, Jerome of Prague.
The archbishop of Prague, finding the reformists daily increasing, issued a decree to suppress the further spreading of Wickliffe’s writings: but this had an effect quite different to what he expected, for it stimulated the friends of those doctrines to greater zeal, and almost the whole university united to propagate them.
Being strongly attached to the doctrines of Wickliffe, Huss opposed the decree of the archbishop, who, however, at length, obtained a bull from the pope, giving him commission to prevent the publishing of Wickliffe’s doctrines in his province. By virtue of this bull, the archbishop condemned the writings of Wickliffe: he also proceeded against four doctors, who had not delivered up the copies of that divine, and prohibited them, notwithstanding their privileges, to preach to any congregation. Dr. Huss, with some other members of the university, protested against these proceedings, and entered an appeal from the sentence of the archbishop.
The affair being made known to the pope, he granted a commission to Cardinal Colonna, to cite John Huss to appear personally at the court of Rome, to answer the accusations laid against him, of preaching both errors and heresies. Dr. Huss desired to be excused from a personal appearance, and was so greatly favored in Bohemia, that King Winceslaus, the queen, the nobility, and the university, desired the pope to dispense with such an appearance; as also that he would not suffer the kingdom of Bohemia to lie under the accusation of heresy, but permit them to preach the Gospel with freedom in their places of worship.
Three proctors appeared for Dr. Huss before Cardinal Colonna. They endeavored to excuse his absence, and said they were ready to answer in his behalf. But the cardinal declared Huss contumacious, and excommunicated him accordingly. The proctors appealed to the pope, and appointed four cardinals to examine the process: these commissioners confirmed the former sentence, and extended the excommunication not only to Huss but to all his friends and followers.
From this unjust sentence Huss appealed to a future Council, but without success; and, notwithstanding so severe a decree, and an expulsion in consequence from his church in Prague, he retired to Hussenitz, his native place, where he continued to promulgate his new doctrine, both from the pulpit and with the pen.
The letters which he wrote at this time were very numerous; and he compiled a treatise in which he maintained, that reading the books of Protestants could not be absolutely forbidden. He wrote in defence of Wickliffe’s book on the Trinity; and boldly declared against the vices of the pope, the cardinals, and clergy, of those corrupt times. He wrote also many other books, all of which were penned with a strength of argument that greatly facilitated the spreading of his doctrines.
In the month of November, 1414, a general Council was assembled at Constance, in Germany, in order, as was pretended, for the sole purpose of determining a dispute then pending between three persons who contended for the papacy; but the real motive was to crush the progress of the Reformation.
John Huss was summoned to appear at this Council; and, to encourage him, the emperor sent him a safe-conduct: the civilities, and even reverence, which Huss met with on his journey were beyond imagination. The streets, and sometimes the very roads, were lined with people, whom respect, rather than curiosity, had brought together.
He was ushered into the town with great acclamations, and it may be said that he passed through Germany in a kind of triumph. He could not help expressing his surprise at the treatment he received: “I thought (said he) I had been an outcast. I now see my worst friends are in Bohemia.”
As soon as Huss arrived at Constance, he immediately took logdings in a remote part of the city. A short time after his arrival, came one Stephen Paletz, who was employed by the clergy at Prague to manage the intended prosecution against him. Paletz was afterwards joined by Michael de Cassis, on the part of the court of Rome. These two declared themselves his accusers, and drew up a set of articles against him, which they presented to the pope and the prelates of the Council.
When it was known that he was in the city he was immediately arrested, and committed prisoner to a chamber in the palace. This violation of common law and justice was particularly noticed by one of Huss’s friends, who urged the imperial safe-conduct; but the pope replied he never granted any safe-conduct, nor was he bound by that of the emperor.
While Huss was in confinement, the Council acted the part of inquisitors.
They condemned the doctrines of Wickliffe, and even ordered his remains to be dug up and burned to ashes; which orders were strictly complied with. In the meantime, the nobility of Bohemia and Poland strongly interceded for Huss; and so far prevailed as to prevent his being condemned unheard, which had been resolved on by the commissioners appointed to try him.
When he was brought before the Council, the articles exhibited against him were read: they were upwards of forty in number, and chiefly extracted from his writings.
John Huss’s answer was this: “I did appeal unto the pope; who being dead, and the cause of my matter remaining undetermined, I appealed likewise unto his successor John XXIII: before whom when, by the space of two years, I could not be admitted by my advocates to defend my cause, I appealed unto the high judge Christ.”
When John Huss had spoken these words, it was demanded of him whether he had received absolution of the pope or no? He answered, “No.” Then again, whether it was lawful for him to appeal unto Christ or no? Whereunto John Huss answered: “Verily I do affirm here before you all, that there is no more just or effectual appeal, than that appeal which is made unto Christ, forasmuch as the law doth determine, that to appeal is no other thing than in a cause of grief or wrong done by an inferior judge, to implore and require aid at a higher Judge’s hand. Who is then a higher Judge than Christ? Who, I say, can know or judge the matter more justly, or with more equity? when in Him there is found no deceit, neither can He be deceived; or, who can better help the miserable and oppressed than He?” While John Huss, with a devout and sober countenance, was speaking and pronouncing those words, he was derided and mocked by all the whole Council.
These excellent sentences were esteemed as so many expressions of treason, and tended to inflame his adversaries. Accordingly, the bishops appointed by the Council stripped him of his priestly garments, degraded him, put a paper miter on his head, on which was painted devils, with this inscription, “A ringleader of heretics.” Which when he saw, he said: “My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, did wear a crown of thorns; why should not I then, for His sake, again wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly.” When it was set upon his head, the bishop said: “Now we commit thy soul unto the devil.” “But I,” said John Huss, lifting his eyes towards the heaven, “do commend into Thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ! my spirit which Thou has redeemed.”
When the chain was put about him at the stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?”
When the fagots were piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was so officious as to desire him to abjure. “No, (said Huss;) I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.” He then said to the executioner, “You are now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language:) but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.” If he were prophetic, he must have meant Martin Luther, who shone about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.
The flames were now applied to the fagots, when our martyr sung a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude. At length his voice was interrupted by the severity of the flames, which soon closed his existence.
Then, with great diligence, gathering the ashes together, they cast them into the river Rhine, that the least remnant of that man should not be left upon the earth, whose memory, notwithstanding, cannot be abolished out of the minds of the godly, neither by fire, neither by water, neither by any kind oof torment.”
“Why then has this people, Jerusalem, Turned away in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return.”
(Jeremiah 8:5, NASB)
As could be agreed upon by most believers, Christians have the right, even the duty, to evaluate and hold accountable to Holy Scripture professing evangelical Christians who, for reason of their manifest beliefs and behaviors, appear to be departing from the faith.[1] Jude told his readers to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). To shirk this responsibility means that believers are being disobedient to the faith once for all delivered. To all Christians the Spirit gives His anointing which places upon them the responsibility to discern the “spirit of truth” from the “spirit of error” (1 John 4:6; 2:20-21, 27). To the congregation at Rome Paul wrote:
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Romans 16:17-18; Compare Philippians 3:17-19.)
This same apostle also warned the elders at Ephesus:
“I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” (Acts 20:29-31)
In one context, Paul even named the false teachers! (2 Timothy 2:17; Compare 1 Timothy 1:18-20.)
Thus, in fidelity to the apostolic injunctions, in an open forum known as Herescope, we attempt differentiate truth from error. We do so because mainstream Christian publishers and churches–not wanting to become overly controversial and therefore risk the loss of membership and/or sales revenue–ignore issues that we, for the integrity of God’s truth as revealed in Holy Scripture, are compelled to engage. In past generations, the pan-evangelical movement exposed and faced down the errors presented by Christian-like cults without, but has, for whatever reason, been quite unwilling to expose equally destructive heresies within. As John MacArthur noted fifteen tears ago, an undiscerning spirit amongst evangelicals has bred and is breeding “reckless faith.”[2]
Reversing The Reformation – How Some So-Called Protestants Are Subtly Undermining Justification By Faith – By Terry Rayburn
Note: October 31 is Reformation Day, celebrating the Protestant Reformation, when the biblical gospel of grace was re-introduced to the Church at large.
The Roman Catholic Church held an almost monopolistic grip on the hearts of millions of people for hundreds of years.
Through the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, the awful legalistic system of “salvation by works” nearly choked out the light of the Gospel of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only small pockets of true believers in Christ escaped the dark heavy blanket of Romanism.
Then around 500 years ago came what we call the Reformation.
Men like Luther and Zwingli and Calvin and Knox, intense students of the Scriptures, rose up and shined the light of the Gospel into the darkness of European Catholicism.
These brave men brought an end to the monopoly of the Popes. They boldly proclaimed that salvation was
by grace alone, not by merit;
by faith alone, not by works;
by faith in Christ alone, not in sacraments;
under the final authority of the Word of God alone, not the unscriptural teachings of the Bishops of Rome.
“When a Jesuit of the minor rank is to be elevated to command, he is conducted into the Chapel of the Convent of the Order, where there are only three others present, the principal or Superior standing in front of the altar. On either side stands a monk, one of whom holds a banner of yellow and white, which are the Papal colors, and the other a black banner with a dagger and red cross above a skull and crossbones, with the word INRI, and below them the words IUSTUM, NECAR, REGES, IMPIOUS. The meaning of which is: It is just to exterminate or annihilate impious or heretical Kings, Governments, or Rulers. Upon the floor is a red cross at which the postulant or candidate kneels. The Superior hands him a small black crucifix, which he takes in his left hand and presses to his heart, and the Superior at the same time presents to him a dagger, which he grasps by the blade and holds the point against his heart, the Superior still holding it by the hilt, and thus addresses the postulant:”
Superior: My son, heretofore you have been taught to act the dissembler: among Roman Catholics to be a Roman Catholic, and to be a spy even among your own brethren; to believe no man, to trust no man. Among the Reformers, to be a reformer; among the Huguenots, to be a Huguenot; among the Calvinists, to be a Calvinist; among other Protestants, generally to be a Protestant, and obtaining their confidence, to seek even to preach from their pulpits, and to denounce with all the vehemence in your nature our Holy Religion and the Pope; and even to descend so low as to become a Jew among Jews, that you might be enabled to gather together all information for the benefit of your Order as a faithful soldier of the Pope.
You have been taught to insidiously plant the seeds of jealousy and hatred between communities, provinces, states that were at peace, and incite them to deeds of blood, involving them in war with each other, and to create revolutions and civil wars in countries that were independent and prosperous, cultivating the arts and the sciences and enjoying the blessings of peace. To take sides with the combatants and to act secretly with your brother Jesuit, who might be engaged on the other side, but openly opposed to that with which you might be connected, only that the Church might be the gainer in the end, in the conditions fixed in the treaties for peace and that the end justifies the means.
You have been taught your duty as a spy, to gather all statistics, facts and information in your power from every source; to ingratiate yourself into the confidence of the family circle of Protestants and heretics of every class and character, as well as that of the merchant, the banker, the lawyer, among the schools and universities, in parliaments and legislatures, and the judiciaries and councils of state, and to be all things to all men, for the Pope’s sake, whose servants we are unto death.
You have received all your instructions heretofore as a novice, a neophyte, and have served as co-adjurer, confessor and priest, but you have not yet been invested with all that is necessary to command in the Army of Loyola in the service of the Pope. You must serve the proper time as the instrument and executioner as directed by your superiors; for none can command here who has not consecrated his labors with the blood of the heretic; for “without the shedding of blood no man can be saved.” Therefore, to fit yourself for your work and make your own salvation sure, you will, in addition to your former oath of obedience to your order and allegiance to the Pope, repeat after me—
The Extreme Oath of the Jesuits:
“1, _ now, in the presence of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the saints and sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in the Pontificate of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is Christ’s Vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Savior, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation and that they may safely be destroyed. Therefore, to the utmost of my power I shall and will defend this doctrine of his Holiness’ right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the now pretended authority and churches of England and Scotland, and branches of the same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere; and all adherents in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named Protestants or Liberals, or obedience to any of the laws, magistrates or officers.
I do further declare that the doctrine of the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others of the name Protestants or Liberals to be damnable and they themselves damned who will not forsake the same.
“For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was—a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability. For this she got herself abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has given over the struggle. She appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make what use she can of his powers. So today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God. Many churches these days have become little more than poor theaters where fifth-rate “producers” peddle their shoddy wares with the full approval of evangelical leaders who can even quote a holy text in defense of their delinquency.
And hardly a man dares raise his voice against it.”
You can tell a man by the friends he keeps and likewise you can tell a church by the associations it keeps. So this Reformation Day, let us take a stroll through the halls of Roman Catholicism’s past and present as a simple reminder why true Biblical Christianity will never be at peace with the false religious system and counterfeit Christian organization of Rome.
You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. Leviticus 19:17
There is a special obligation upon friends to be helpful to one another in this matter. The laws of friendship require us to discover what things endanger us. . . . Silence or concealment in this case is treachery. He is the most faithful friend, and worthy of most esteem and affection, that deal most plainly with us in reference to exposing our sin. He that is reserved in this case is but a false friend, a mere pretender to love, whereas, indeed, he hates his brother in his heart.
The priest speaks, and Christ, the eternal and omnipotent God, bows his head in humble obedience to the priest’s command.
- Father John O’Brien
The Faith of Millions
Jesus died to institute the priesthood. Had he not died, where should we find the victim that the priests now offer? It was not necessary for the Redeemer to die in order to save the world; a drop of his blood, a single tear, or prayer, was sufficient to procure salvation for all . . . but to institute the priesthood, the death of Jesus Christ was necessary.
Men do not seek earnestly after forgiveness of sin, for lack of conviction. Few are convinced what a dreadful thing sin is…that it is distillation of all evil, that it brings all plagues on the body, and curses on the soul. Unless a man’s sins are forgiven, there is not the vilest creature alive–the rat, serpent or toad–which is in a worse condition than the sinner. For when they die they go but into the earth; but he, dying without pardon,goes into hell torments forever. Men are not convinced of this, so they play with the viper of sin. Men do not seek earnestly after forgiveness of sin out of hope of impunity. They flatter themselves in sin; and because they have been spared so long, therefore think God never intends to reckon with them. “He has said in his heart, ‘God has forgotten, He hides His face and will never see it’.” {Psalm 10:11} They think that God is either blind or forgetful. BUT, let sinners know…long forebearance is NOT forgiveness. God bore with Sodom a long time, but at last rained down fire and brimstone upon them. The adjourning of the court does not acquit the prisoner. The longer God is taking the blow, the heavier it will be at last—if sinners repent not.
Thomas Watson (from his sermon entitled ‘The Lord’s Prayer’}
“Peter Orasuk was a heroin addict and drug kingpin in Canada until Christ reached down and saved him. This is his testimony that was preached in the Ballymena Gospel Hall in N. Ireland.
This is a ‘must hear’, not only for people who are doing drugs, but for anyone who wants to hear of the power of Christ to save the most hopeless of sinners.” (Quote from Sermon Details on Sermon Audio)
Your sermon of the week is Soli Deo Gloria: The Supremacy of God in All Things by Brian Borgman. This is part two of a thirteen part series entitled Introduction to the Reformed Faith that Pastor Borgman gave in 1998. DefCon will be posting all thirteen sermons in this series over the next few months. Look for each additional installment every couple weeks. You can find part one, A Tale of Two Gospels, here.
The most spiritual attainment of a Christian in the world, the most spiritual, evangelical mourning and repentance that can be done by a Christian, is a mourning over his unbelief; that the Word of the Lord is not more precious to him; that he cannot trust God’s Word naked without props; that he doubts it so often, when darkness comes on; and that he lets go of this great rock, the faithfulness of God.
You simply must download and listen to this speech, Death Is Not Dying, by Rachel Barkey. You will be encouraged, you will be moved, you will be challenged, you will need a tissue. I listened to it twice in two days and wanted to share it with the readers of DefCon.
Mrs. Barkey gave this speech in March 2009 to over 600 women after learning that she would be dead in a few short months; she died July 02, 2009. You can read more about her story here.
From the standpoint of the redeemed, the punishment of the wicked is an act of unspeakable mercy. How dreadful would it be if the present order of things should continue forever, when the children of God are obliged to live in the midst of the children of the Devil. Heaven would at once cease to be Heaven if the ears of the saints still heard the blasphemous, filthy language of the reprobate. What a mercy that in the New Jerusalem “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination” (Revelation 21:27)!
It is written in the Scriptures that the gospel of Jesus Christ “…is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Rom 1:16) Likewise, it is written that if anyone one “…be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Cor 5:17)
Today, countless people have religion that purports itself as Christianity. Yet this religion has no power to save and no power to transform their lives. Rather, it is dead religion not unlike what one would have found with the Pharisees and their disciples during the days when Jesus walked the earth. Rote, ritualistic and repetitious; this religion is found across our land. Here, countless people are raised in such faiths from babes upward and have been taught the traditions of men from their religion’s hierarchy as to what they must do and must not do in order to be “right” with God and rewarded with eternal life.
Or, we have so-called pastors instructing millions that salvation is simply raising their hand to ”ask Jesus into their heart” or the repeating of the “sinner’s prayer.” Scant mention is ever given to the gospel, repentance and what salvation truly is; rather the bulk of their appeal is made to the flesh. This done through various mediums with the most popular being music where skilled musicians take the congregants on an emotional roller coaster ride so as to get as many as possible to raise their hand or come forward to the “altar.”
Yet I ask how many of these persons are ever changed by the power of God through the gospel? How many can truly testify that they are new creatures in Christ where they have put to death the old man and are now walking in newness of life? How many can say that the darkness they use to love and run to, they now hate and flee from? How many can profess that the light they use to hide from and scorn, they now seek out and proclaim from the rooftops? Truly some can and to God we give all the glory for this, but many cannot because sadly for these once the music dies down, the lights dim and the crocodile tears dry, they are the same person they were before every praying that prayer or making their purported profession of faith.
The conversion of Pasha, a Russian immigrant in the 1800’s, is no such empty profession or example of impotent religion. Rather, it is an amazing testimony of the power of God through the gospel to totally transform a wretched sinner. A story that will surely bring tears to your eyes not only as you see how great the gospel is and the God who has given it unto this world, but also for his tender mercies to shower rich blessings on his children. Please take the time to read it as you will be greatly blessed therein.
My hope for the true Christian is that reading it may give you great joy as your love is increased for the God who hath graciously saved you even if your testimony or mine is not as stunning as Pasha’s. For the Christian in name only, I pray your reading it may give you a longing in your heart to be set free from your sin and changed by the power of the God through the gospel even as Pasha was.
Mark what I say. You may know a good deal about Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where He was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophecies, and His ordinances. You may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ’s cross by experience–unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins–unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on the work Christ did on the cross–unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing. The mere knowing Christ’s name will never save you. You must know His cross and His blood…or you will die in your sins. Beware, I say again, of a religion without a cross.
J.C. Ryle (from his sermon entitled ‘The cross of Christ)
I wrote this poem a while ago speaking to the religion of Rome and some of my experiences in it. A religion which is a lie as is true for any and all dead religion. In Rome specifically, as long as one is a “card-carrying” Catholic and shows their face to Mass most Sundays and occasionally the confessional box, all is well. Here, it does not matter a whit as to what your lifestyle is and the fact that you are living like the devil incarnate does not even register on the radar. As long as you are “in” as a Catholic, all is good to go for you and you are assured that entrance into heaven is guaranteed; even if you have to spend a few thousand years in purgatory.
And as such a Catholic I can assure you that the countless apologists from Rome including the arm-chair theologians found on YouTube and elsewhere will receive you as an angel from heaven. Doesn’t matter how you are living your life, doesn’t matter how much in bondage to sin you are; just as long as you are a Catholic and willing to write diatribes against “Protestants”, you will be quickly enlisted to the fight with no questions asked.
But the moment you leave Rome, watch out because these same “brethren” will turn on you like vipers awakened from their slumber. Doesn’t matter how you explain to them the wicked life you were once living which Jesus has set you free from. Where you testify that you were “…dead in trespasses and sins … [and] walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air … [where you] had [your] conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath” (Eph 2:1-3) but are now by God’s grace a “…new creature [where] old things are passed away … all things are become new (II Cor 5:17). Doesn’t matter that you tell them you are now reading God’s Word and understanding it where you are convicted of your sin. Doesn’t matter about how you are no longer worshiping God by the traditions of men but rather by the commandments of God. All of this and more falls on deaf ears and cannot penetrate hardened hearts because the faithful Catholic “knows” that outside of Rome there is no salvation.
The tragedy is that before the Spirit opened my blinded eyes to my sinful state, I was a self-righteous religionist who arrogantly believed he was on his way to heaven for one reason and one reason alone. This of course because I was a Catholic. Yet nothing could have been farther from the truth for I was a reprobate through and through as the bad fruit from my tree (i.e. life) bore ample witness to. So too, the same being true for my friends, school mates, family members and even clergy (one was an universalist I later found out and the one I served under as an alter boy, a child molester). Yet no one, and I mean no one ever warned me or those around me of our perilous state. I never heard anything about repentance, never heard the gospel, never heard the words “…except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luk 13:3). Never! Just keep going to Mass and doing all we tell you to do and all will be well. Lies, damnable lies!
So to all the Catholics out there I hope you will find these words speaking to your heart. I share to focus not on myself but rather to shine a light in the darkness so that you might examine your own life and be honest with your sin and no longer hide behind the cloak of your religion. And that you might come to repent of your sin, believe on the Lord Jesus alone for your salvation and seek to worship the Father in Spirit and truth.
A Child of Rome Set Free
by: brother Michael
Raised Roman Catholics, my family would be,
Two brothers, a sister, my parents and me.
As babes from the womb, Rome’s doctrines held sway,
Over our hearts and our lives, all of the day.
Baptized and catechized, confirmed by the priests,
Bowing to idols during all of her feasts.
It goes without saying the nuns taught us well,
Not to question the Pope, lest we be cast into hell.
But little did they know, or maybe they did,
How me and their pupils were servants to sin.
Yielding our members to desire and vice,
Never understanding born again, Jesus, True Life.
For from childhood and upward the fruit on our tree,
Bore witness to the fact even if you disagree.
That of our flesh and our mind, we all lived in sin,
Being children of disobedience, and rebelling therein.
This assuredly is no mystery, for the world doth know,
How Catholics trump many in that which they sow,
To the flesh and sin they cannot deny,
Drinking it down with gusto, like bottles of wine.
Get angry with me for this truth you should know,
Because religion never saves, whether Protestant or Rome.
And religion Rome has, to this I agree,
Bowing and kneeling, teaching repeat after me.
Crossings and incense, chantings and more,
Silences the knockings, of Jesus at the door.
Open unto me, and I will come in,
So says he to Rome, and all found therein.
But the knockings of Jesus that day I’d not hear,
As I walked down Rome’s path, year after year.
Thinking I’d be heard, for the rosaries I’d pray,
Never hearing Jesus’ word, wherein he did say.
Pray not like the heathen who think they’ll be heard,
Who recite vain prayers with many a word.
Yea, rather pray simply to the Father above,
With words from your heart, spoken in love.
These were our days much more I could write,
‘Bout how we were taught, that Rome’s always right.
Steer clear of the Bible and what Jesus taught,
Lest all of our deceptions become all for naught.
And like the good child I wanted to be,
I submitted to my parents, the priests and the “See.”
Onward and upward in Rome I did climb,
Becoming an alter boy, made my parents to shine.
Maybe one day a priest he’ll become,
Sacrificing afresh, God’s most beloved Son.
Yet herein lies the truth that Rome must deny,
For the day that she’d stop, be the day she would die.
Salvation’s by grace through faith in the Son,
Believing in Jesus as the only one,
Who can save one from sin and raise them anew,
A gift per God’s grace, not reward for what you do.
Too amazing to believe many will say,
Yet true it certainly is, as old things pass away,
For those born again, raised alive from the grave,
No longer in bondage, no longer a slave.
Serving in Spirit not letter of law,
Loving their enemies, and praying for all.
Unto all those who read, condemn I don’t do,
But rather point to Jesus and his Word which is true.
Open the book and search it this day,
For all that come in faith, he’ll never turn away.
Forsake dead religion, the traditions of men,
Repent, believe on Jesus, bless God and amen.
Learn to apply Scripture. Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the Word thunders against sin, think thus: “God means my sins.” When it emphasizes any duty, “God intends me in this.” Many put off Scripture for themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the Word, bring it home to yourselves: a medicine will do no good, unless it is applied.
Dear Friend, The Pope’s latest encyclical can read like an ideological bombshell. However, when we study papal history with its obsession for global power, it is not so shocking. The Papacy has an agenda for the United Nations, economic institutions, and international finance organizations. The Pope has called for the crafting of a new governmental body above these groups and intends that the new body be equipped with enforcement power on a startling scale. Much more sobering is the detailed body of Roman Catholic social doctrine on which the encyclical is built and which the Papacy is in the process of instituting secularly. These documents need to be analyzed and rejected before nations and peoples unwittingly concede both temporal and religious control to the Vatican. We have outlined the heart of the major tactics found in the body of Roman Catholic social doctrine, which includes the Pope’s latest encyclical. Our article is called, The Pope’s Plans on Organizing Political, Economic, and Religious Activities Worldwide. If you wish to get the article as a Microsoft Word document, just request it and it will be sent to you. We consider this to be one of the more important appraisals we have done.
As a follow up to last week’s sermon on Isaiah 53 by J. Randall Easter (see here), I present this Wednesday’s sermon of the week also on Isaiah 53 by Phil Johnson entitled The Atrocity That Pleased God.
I found a missionary video well worth watching. Stephen and Laura Holt are Baptist missionaries working in Sierra Leone. They are mining diamonds, but not the kind you wear on your fingers. The rough hewn characters being mined are the results of an 11 year civil war similar to the one that engulfed its neighbor, Liberia. The gospel message is going out and this family, whom I have never met or spoken to, are in need of prayers though as they face the forces of evil that do not want the message of Christ to penetrate this predominantly Muslim nation. As Christ is preached, precious jewels are coming forth being born anew by the Holy Spirit of God. Their sins are being forgiven and they are becoming new creations in Christ. Pray for Sierra Leone, West Africa!
Faith is not built by preaching introspectively (constantly challenging people to question whether they have faith); faith is not built by preaching moralistically (which has exactly the opposite effect of focusing attention on the self rather than on Christ, in whom our faith is placed); faith is not built by joining the culture wars and taking potshots at what is wrong with our culture. Faith is built by careful, thorough exposition of the person, character, and work of Christ.
I once walked into a garden with a lady to gather some flowers. There was one large bush whose branches were bending under the weight of the most beautiful roses. We both gazed upon it with admiration. There was one flower on it which seemed to outshine all the rest in beauty. This lady pressed forward into the thick bush, and reached far over to pluck it. As she did this, a black snake, which was hid in the bush, wrapped itself round her arm. She was alarmed beyond all description; she ran from the garden, screaming, and almost in convulsions. During all that day she suffered very much with fear. Her whole body trembled, and it was a long time before she could be calmed. That lady is still alive. Such is her hatred now of the whole serpent race, that she has never since been able to look at a snake, even a dead one. No one could ever persuade her to venture again into a cluster of bushes, even to pluck a beautiful rose.
Now this is the way the sinner acts who truly repents of his sins. He thinks of sin as the serpent that once coiled itself around him. He hates it. He dreads it. He flees from it. He fears the places where it inhabits. He does not willingly go into the haunts. He will no more play with sin than this lady would afterwards have fondled snakes.
What you are about to read is disturbing and shocking, especially if you have children who attend a church youth group. Please be aware that what is detailed below is happening in many churches in America, and may be coming to yours very soon. Prepare to be outraged. 
The blessed founder of Christianity chose to make his advent among the lowly and the despised. This was agreeable to the spirit of that Holy Religion which he came to establish. There was a time when a multitude of his followers, astonished and convinced by the omnipotence displayed in his wondrous miracles, were disposed to” take him by force to make him a king,” but so far from encouraging their design, the inspired historian tells us” that he departed again, into a mountain himself alone.” (John vi., 15.) In reply to the inquiries of the Roman governor, he uttered those memorable words, “MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD,” and his whole conduct from the manger to the cross, and from the cross to the mount of ascension, was in strict accordance with this characteristic maxim of genuine Christianity.
I just completed a page-turner that I highly recommend to the readers of DefCon. David Kupelian’s provocative missive The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, And Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom, takes you behind the scenes of how the media, entertainment, and politicians drive the culture and how they not only shape how the masses think, but also what to think.
Consider your Lord and Master, you that call yourselves [Christ’s] disciples. Many look upon you that will not look unto [His] Word, and will judge [Jesus] by your practices. Do not damage [Him], by misrepresenting [Him]; as if [He] allowed those evils which you allow yourselves. Why should [He] be “wounded in the house of My friends” (Zech. 13:6). Why should you crucify [Him] afresh, and put [Him] to an open shame?
It takes an incredible amount of effort and energy on the part of the news media to maintain such an obviously outrageous suspension of reality. But what would happen if the press reported accurately, objectively, and courageously on the Middle East conflict? Media reports would reflect, truthfully, that Israel is a Western democracy surrounded by dozens of backward, repressive, terror-supporting Arab police states dedicated to Israel’s annihilation. They’d show that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning 
The most successful arm of the evangelical church in recent years, in terms of growth, money, and prestige, has been the market-driven (seeker-sensitive, new-paradigm, user-friendly) church. Because of this success these churches are being mimicked all over the country, and indeed, the world. But is this church fully dressed? Is she outfitted in the biblically prescribed robes of evangelism, edification, worship, and instruction? Or is she wrapped in rags composed of empty human philosophy stitched together with bits and pieces of truth? If the latter is true, why have so few seemed to notice?
Your Wednesday sermon of the week is another must-hear. 
One of our problems today is that we no longer do our own thinking. Newspapers do it for us, the people interviewed on Radio and Television do it for us, and we sit back and listen. That is one of the manifestations of the breakdown of self-discipline. We must learn to discipline our minds!
“John Huss (Jan Hus) was born at Hussenitz, a village in Bohemia, about the year 1380. His parents gave him the best education their circumstances would admit; and having acquired a tolerable knowledge of the classics at a private school, he was removed to the university of Prague, where he soon gave strong proofs of his mental powers, and was remarkable for his diligence and application to study.
These excellent sentences were esteemed as so many expressions of treason, and tended to inflame his adversaries. Accordingly, the bishops appointed by the Council stripped him of his priestly garments, degraded him, put a paper miter on his head, on which was painted devils, with this inscription, “A ringleader of heretics.” Which when he saw, he said: “My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, did wear a crown of thorns; why should not I then, for His sake, again wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly.” When it was set upon his head, the bishop said: “Now we commit thy soul unto the devil.” “But I,” said John Huss, lifting his eyes towards the heaven, “do commend into Thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ! my spirit which Thou has redeemed.”
The flames were now applied to the fagots, when our martyr sung a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude. At length his voice was interrupted by the severity of the flames, which soon closed his existence.
You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. Leviticus 19:17
“Peter Orasuk was a heroin addict and drug kingpin in Canada until Christ reached down and saved him. This is his testimony that was preached in the Ballymena Gospel Hall in N. Ireland.
Your sermon of the week is 
The most spiritual attainment of a Christian in the world, the most spiritual, evangelical mourning and repentance that can be done by a Christian, is a mourning over his unbelief; that the Word of the Lord is not more precious to him; that he cannot trust God’s Word naked without props; that he doubts it so often, when darkness comes on; and that he lets go of this great rock, the faithfulness of God.
You simply must download and listen to this speech, 
From the standpoint of the redeemed, the punishment of the wicked is an act of unspeakable mercy. How dreadful would it be if the present order of things should continue forever, when the children of God are obliged to live in the midst of the children of the Devil. Heaven would at once cease to be Heaven if the ears of the saints still heard the blasphemous, filthy language of the reprobate. What a mercy that in the New Jerusalem “there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination” (Revelation 21:27)!
It is written in the Scriptures that the gospel of Jesus Christ “…is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Rom 1:16) Likewise, it is written that if anyone one “…be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Cor 5:17)
Mark what I say. You may know a good deal about Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where He was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophecies, and His ordinances. You may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ’s cross by experience–unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins–unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on the work Christ did on the cross–unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing. The mere knowing Christ’s name will never save you. You must know His cross and His blood…or you will die in your sins. Beware, I say again, of a religion without a cross.
I wrote this poem a while ago speaking to the religion of Rome and some of my experiences in it. A religion which is a lie as is true for any and all dead religion. In Rome specifically, as long as one is a “card-carrying” Catholic and shows their face to Mass most Sundays and occasionally the confessional box, all is well. Here, it does not matter a whit as to what your lifestyle is and the fact that you are living like the devil incarnate does not even register on the radar. As long as you are “in” as a Catholic, all is good to go for you and you are assured that entrance into heaven is guaranteed; even if you have to spend a few thousand years in purgatory.
Learn to apply Scripture. Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the Word thunders against sin, think thus: “God means my sins.” When it emphasizes any duty, “God intends me in this.” Many put off Scripture for themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the Word, bring it home to yourselves: a medicine will do no good, unless it is applied.
global power, it is not so shocking. The Papacy has an agenda for the United Nations, economic institutions, and international finance organizations. The Pope has called for the crafting of a new governmental body above these groups and intends that the new body be equipped with enforcement power on a startling scale. Much more sobering is the detailed body of Roman Catholic social doctrine on which the encyclical is built and which the Papacy is in the process of instituting secularly. These documents need to be analyzed and rejected before nations and peoples unwittingly concede both temporal and religious control to the Vatican. We have outlined the heart of the major tactics found in the body of Roman Catholic social doctrine, which includes the Pope’s latest encyclical. Our article is called, 
As a follow up to last week’s sermon on Isaiah 53 by J. Randall Easter (
