Anglican Priest Encourages Stealing.

From Christian News Wire: An Anglican priest in the northern English city of York told his parishioners that poor people struggling to survive should steal food and other essentials from shops, rather than raise money through prostitution, burglary or mugging.

Best-selling author and evangelist, Ray Comfort, said, "What may sound like compassion is actually pulpit betrayal. Rather than a sermon telling his hearers to steal from businesses, he should be telling them to take what they need from his own church's collection plate. If he didn't do that because his church is feeling the economic pinch, that brings into question his motive. If his parishioners take his advice and his weekly collection increases, he is benefiting from the crime he instigated and therefore complicit to it. The question also arises as to whether or not the priest personally practices what he preaches. Does he himself shoplift? If he doesn't, he's a hypocrite. If he does, then he's a criminal. If he says that he doesn't need to shoplift because he is financially sound, then he should be giving to his poor folks, rather than making them into thieves."

Britain's Daily Mail reported, "He told parishioners it would not break the eighth commandment 'thou shalt not steal' because it 'is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve.' The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that he said, "'My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,' he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York."

Comfort said, "The twisted advice of the Reverend is nothing new. The religious leaders at the time of Christ also perverted the Ten Commandments. In Matthew 15 they changed the Fifth so that they didn't have to honor their father and mother, and they even tried to soften the Seventh. But in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned that God considers lust to be adultery of the heart.

"This all comes from something called 'idolatry,' which is the sin of making a god in your own image. Once you do that, anything goes. The Bible says that if you steal, even in the case of dire need, you pay back seven-fold. Sex becomes okay "if you love someone." Lying becomes morally okay if they are lies that don't "hurt" anyone. Adultery becomes acceptable if the marriage is boring, and the murder of children in the womb is permitted if a pregnancy is an inconvenience. But the Bible is clear that all liars, adulterers, murderers and thieves will end up in Hell."

The Rev. Jones added, "I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither." He said that people shouldn't steal from small, family businesses, but from large national businesses.

Comfort, who spent a lot of his time feeding the homeless in Los Angeles' infamous McArthur Park, said, "This is what happens when unconverted men go into the ministry. Many of today's preachers should have been plumbers, motivational speakers or bankers, rather than what the Bible calls 'preachers of righteousness.' The moral Law is meant to show us that we are sinners and that we need a Savior. The Ten Commandments don't need changing. We do. We may change them to suit ourselves, but they will still be the standard of judgment on Judgment Day. God wrote them in stone for a reason."

A Call for Discernment - Exposing the False Teachers of the Word of Faith Movement

Below will be a video of Justin Peters. You could call it a preview of " A Call for Discernment - Exposing the False Teachers of the Word of Faith Movement." It is a DVD that will give you a pretty good idea about why discernment is so important, and of the dangers of false teachers. Justin did his thesis for his masters degree on this very subject. To learn more check out Justin Peters.org


If you cannot see the video click here.

New Links on Abortion.

Just updating the blog a bit, by putting some new links on here. One, is Pro Life Training.com. Scott Klusendorf is one of the main persons featured on that site. He gives presentations on abortion for the pro-life argument, and also does debates, where he always wins. I recently saw being interviewed by Todd Friel on Wretched Interviews. In the interview he lays out a simple plan so that you too can win the the abortion argument, in support of pro-life of course. Check out his site, you will learn a lot.

The other site is Abort73.com. This is actually a ministry based in the Rockford IL area, in case anyone was interested with the area that I live. I believe it is lead by a Masters Seminary alumni, I may be mistaken on that though, if I am, I'm sorry, let me know and I'll correct my info. Regardless, it is a fantastic site, with lots of information and resources that you can use. I highly recommend their site, and find out how you can get involved.

Here is a video I got from Abort73. WARNING, it does contain graphic images, so if you got a weak stomach or kids in the room, you might not wanna watch it.

If you can't see the video, click here to see it on you tube.

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The Driving Power of the Gospel.

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God [has] appointed a day in which He will judge the world, and we sigh and cry until it shall end the reign of wickedness, and give rest to the oppressed. Brethren, we must preach the coming of the Lord, and preach it somewhat more than we have done, because it is the driving power of the gospel. Too many have kept back these truths, and thus the bone has been taken out of the arm of the gospel. Its point has been broken; its edge has been blunted. The doctrine of judgment to come is the power by which men are to be aroused. There is another life; the Lord will come a second time; judgment will arrive; the wrath of God will be revealed. where this is not preached, I am bold to say the gospel is not preached. It is absolutely necessary to the preaching of the gospel of Christ that men be warned as to what will happen if they continue in their sins. Ho, ho, sir surgeon, you are too delicate to tell the man that he is ill! You hope to heal the sick without their knowing it. You therefore flatter them, and what happens? They laugh at you; they dance upon their own graves. At last they die! Your delicacy is cruelty; your flatteries are poisons; you are a murderer. Shall we keep men in a fool's paradise? Shall we lull them into soft slumbers from which they will awake in Hell? Are we to become helpers of their damnation by our smooth speeches? In the name of God, we will not.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92)

This is why I believe that the preaching of a Joel Olsteen is dangerous.

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Paul Washer on False Teachers.

I realize I might not make any friends with this clip, but I like it, I agree with what he says. He only mentions Joel Olsteen and Benny Hinn, but there are a ton of other false teachers that can be lined up with him. I hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWMrKcFKqzk

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Project Ezra.

Yesterday, I just started to do what is known as Project Ezra. What is it, is we read the Bible, out loud in the open air, or in public, and then follow it up with a gospel presentation. Now, let me tell ya, I've done open air preaching a couple times, but doing Project Ezra makes it a lot easier. Definitely a lot easier to go from reading the Bible into presenting the Gospel, rather than trying to attract a crowd and then present the Gospel.

For those of you who have never done open air preaching before, might I suggest that you start with this. Its easy, all ya gotta do is read the Bible. You are using God's Word, not your words, and God's Word does not return void. Once you do that a couple of times, you'll soon build up enough confidence to do some open air preaching.

For more info on Project Ezra, click here.

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Know Your Weapon.

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In the military, we are introduced to our rifles. We train with them and become proficient with them. We get an intimate knowledge of this weapon, because in combat, it will save our lives. Without it, we are useless in combat. We get to know the weapon inside and out, and we a trained to be proficient using it. Their are even some people I know that can take their rifle apart and put it back together blindfolded.

For us Christians God has given us a mighty weapon. It is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God(Eph. 6: 17). In Hebrews 4:12 it is described being "sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Just like a soldier and his weapon, we should also have an intimate knowledge of our weapon, because we are in a spiritual battle with the spiritual forces of wickedness (Eph. 6:12).

Hopefully you have all picked up on the fact that this weapon, the "Word of God", is indeed our Bibles. It is very important that we learn how to use it right. Just like a military weapon, if someone uses it not knowing what they are doing, they could harm or even kill a person, spiritually. If we learn to use it rightly, it has the power to fight off wickedness, and lead people to Christ.

So I urge you, pick up your weapons, and learn to use it well. It should be as another part of you, and come naturally to you. Commit verses to memory so that you will always have your weapon with you, and never be caught unarmed. Above all, learn to use it right.

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Halloween Witnessing Tip From Trish.

This is a two minute witnessing tip from Trish Ramos at fishwithtrish.blogspot.com. Check out her blog for more tips, stories, and even some contest.


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How do you view yourself? A letter to unbelievers.

How do we view ourselves? Are we good? Our society now days seem to believe in telling everyone that they are good. After all, we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But is it legit to lie to someone to avoid hurting their feelings? I am certainly not one to hurt anyone’s feelings, but lying to is not only wrong, but to do so to not hurt their feelings is just going to hurt them more in the end. Cases in point, school kids; we don’t want to hurt their feelings. We want them to have a good and high self esteem. Yet, studies show that kids with higher self esteem do more poorly academically. So I guess its fine for them to think they are good now, but when they are older, and can’t do much but flip burgers for a living, who do we blame? Another case, and a very popular one, American Idol. Seriously, it really is sad to see those people coming out of the auditions crying because Simon told them the honest truth and told them that they can’t sing. I’m not just talking about people with mediocre voices, but I mean these people can’t carry a tune in a bucket and they go to these auditions thinking they can sing because no one wanted to hurt their feelings and tell them that they can’t, and so they go to the audition and leave in a mess of tears.

What does this have to do with how you view yourself? A LOT! One of my witnessing techniques is to ask people if they would consider themselves to be a good person. I learned to do this when I became a Christian, and I am following the example of a role model of mine, Ray Comfort. The whole Idea behind it is that the Bible says that “Most men will proclaim his own goodness” (Proverbs 20:6). As a result every time I have asked someone that question, they always give me a response indicating that they are indeed a good person. Even if I were to ask if mankind is inherently good or evil most people will say good. But are we really? In Jeremiah 17:9 it says that “the heart of man is deceitfully wicked; who can know it?” All throughout the Bible there is nothing that indicates hat man is good. Jesus Himself even said “There is none good except God.” (Mark 10:18)

So who is right on this issue? Is it God or is it mankind? I will always stand with God. Reason being… The standards of which we use to define good. A person’s standards can change from one person to the next, and even an individual’s own standard can change due to life experiences and maybe even to justify their own sinful habits. God’s standards, on the other hand, never change. They were written in stone. They are The 10 Commandments. It is the standard that of which He will judge the world by on Judgment Day.

How are you going to do on that day? Have you kept the commandments in thought, word and deed? God can see our thought life and even that will come out as a testimony against us on Judgment Day. Have you ever lied, or ever stolen anything, or even desired something that wasn’t yours? Jesus said that if you look at someone with lust you are an adulterer at heart and if you hate someone without cause then you area murderer at heart. Have you ever done those? Have you ever used God’s name in vain, taking the name of the one who gave us life and used it as a 4 letter filth word to express disgust? How about the Sabbath day, have you kept it holy? Have you always honored your parents? And what about God, who gave you life, have you always loved Him above all else?

If you have broken any of those then you are in danger of going to Hell, because you will be found guilty on that day. You might say “My God would never send anyone to Hell!” Well, I’d agree with you, you are right. Your God wouldn’t send anyone to Hell, because he couldn’t. Because He doesn’t exist, and in believing so you would have violated the 2nd commandment by making a God to suit yourself. So what are you going to do on that day, what are you going to say? What can you say? The answer is nothing because by then it would be too late.

But until that day comes there is hope. There is good news. God loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus (God in the flesh) to live a perfect life and become the perfect sacrifice for our sins. On he cross He took the punishment for our sins, so that we wouldn’t have to. He was then buried and on the 3rd day rose again, defeating death. This through Christ is a free gift, and to receive this forgiveness we must repent of our sins, that is to confess and for sake them. Turn from your sins and then turn toward God, and put our faith and trust in Christ alone for our salvation.

So what are you going to do? I pray that you would repent and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Because I don’t want to see any of you end up in Hell. I love you all too much to not tell you the truth and to not warn you of the danger to come if you die in your sins. Thanks for reading.

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Should He Be Writing a Book on That???

I'm probably gonna make a lot of people not like me very much, but this really struck me odd and I gotta say something. Should a person who wrote a book on how to have purpose in life, and in the process used a lot of verses from the Bible out of context to get his point across, be writing a book on Bible study method? I'd say no, but it happened.

That's right, I couldn't believe it either, but "America's pastor" Rick Warren has written a book called, "Bible Study Methods: 12 Ways You Can Unlock God's Word". I can only imagine that one of the topics would be, how to make any verse mean what you want it to mean.

I do give him credit though, I have not seen his face on the front cover of any of his books. I tend to be a bit cautious of books that have a picture of the author dominating the front cover, like Joel Olsteen, but that's another discussion perhaps.

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The Jesus You Can't Ignore.

How many of you, when you think about Jesus, see Him as meek and mild-mannered person who is nice and kind? I’m willing to be that is what most people think about Him. But how many of you see Him as a person who creates conflict, uses harsh words, and even insults people? I bet not as many of you would even think of Him in such a way, but never the less He did indeed do such things.

Dr. John MacArthur has written a book called, “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore”. In it he points out all of the major conflicts that Jesus has been involved in with the religious leaders of His time, and less than cordial words He had for them. It shows us how Jesus handled false teachers and their doctrine, and the book also gives us advice and shows us how we can the false teachers and their doctrines in our time.

I definitely recommend reading this book, especially if you are tired if seeing false teachers and what they teach seeping their way in the church today. If you want to read more about how to fight against false teachers check out "The Truth War" also by John MacArthur.

More on hereicies here.

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The Character of Genuine Saving Faith

The Character of Genuine Saving Faith

2 Corinthians 13:5, Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

I. Evidences that neither prove nor disprove one’s faith
a. Visible morality: Matt 19:16-21
b. Intellectual knowledge: Romans 2:17ff
c. Religious involvement: Matt. 25:1-10
d. Active Ministry : Marr 7:21-24
e. Conviction of sin: Acts 24:25
f. Assurance: Matt 23
g. Time of decision: Luke 8:13-14

II. The fruit /proofs of authentic / true Christianity
a. Love for God: Luke 10:27, Romans 8:7
b. Repentance from sin: Psalm 32:5, II Cor 7:10, I John 1:8-10
c. Genuine Humility: Psalm 51:17, Matt 5:1-12, James 4:6-9
d. Devotion to God’s Glory: Psalm 105:3, Isaiah 43:7, I Cor 10:31
e. Continual Prayer: Luke 18:1, Eph. 6:18, James 5:16-18
f. Selfless love: I John 2:9ff, 3:14, 4:7ff
g. Separation from the world: I Cor. 2:12, James 4:4ff, I John 2:15-17
h. Spiritual Growth: Luke 8:15, John 15:1-6, Eph 4:12-16
i. Obedient Living: Matt 7:21, I Peter 1:2,22….I John 2:3-5

If list I is true of a person and list II is false or non-evident, then there could be cause to question the validity of one’s profession of faith. If list II is true of a person, then list I will be true as well.

From: Dr John MacArthur Study Bible Index Notes, 1997.

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Update... I'm Back.

Thats right, I am back in the states from a long and stressful deployment. I've actually been back for a couple weeks now, but I have been busy taking care of things and getting used to my new surroundings again. New post will be starting soon, maybe not daily, but definately regularly. So get ready.

Special 4th of July Message.

While many of us are going to BBQ's, camping, or just relaxing somewhere to watch the fireworks, let us remember the importance of this day. When our nation declared its independence and became a free country with the freedoms that we enjoy today. Let us also not forget the men and women who fight so that we can keep these freedoms. And let us make sure to exercise our freedoms, before they are slowly taken away.

Slowing down post

For those of you who don't already know. We are having Internet issues where I am. It is hard being overseas sometimes. Anyway, I just want you all to know that I will try and update as much as possible, but unfortunately it won't be as often as I would like, which is daily. Hopefully things will be back to normal when I get back to the States. Thank you for your patience.

What's Your Story?

A few days ago, I gave my testimony of how I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is my conversion story. If you are a Christian, then you have a conversion story as well. Pastor James Macdonald, I believe said, “If you don’t have a conversion story, you probably don’t have a conversion.”

Your story might not be as tragic as the gang member drug dealer/user off the streets that was into all kinds of sins and troubles until he came to Christ and turned his life around. Yours might be as simple as, “I was reading the Bible one day, and through reading it, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins.”

Also, a conversion story isn’t about a blink in the eye complete change. Sadly we all know it doesn’t work that way. When God sanctifies us it takes time. It is a process that we undergo when we become Christians, that causes us to grow in holiness, and isn’t complete until God calls us back to headquarters.

It is important that we know what our conversion story is, and that we can articulate the gospel through it. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a tragic experience, or a dramatic change. It could just be a normal story that other people can relate to. I say that because, our testimony is probably the best way to get the gospel out to knows we know and love the most in our lives.

My challenge for everyone is to think about your conversion story. Write it out, and either send it to someone you know who isn’t saved, or talk to that person, and tell them your story.

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When I Realized That I'm Wretched.

In August 19th 2005, heading to the state fair, I was involved in a rollover in my truck on the interstate going 70 mph. Fortunately my vehicle was the only one involved, unfortunately, however, I was severely injured. I had severe and deep lacerations on my scalp, and a fractured vertebrae in my neck. Some people would call that a broken neck.

During the recovery time, I spent a lot of it thinking and reflecting back on my life. For a good portion of my life before then, I had gone to church, even regularly on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights during college. If you were to see me outside of church, you would had seen someone deep into sins, trying to please the flesh, making jokes and comments filled with blasphemy, etc... During my time of recovery I had a chance to listen to my conscience. I dusted off a Bible and started reading, but that didn't really do anything for me,. It was like I was reading for the sake of reading.

On, October 18th 2005, after watching the third "Left-Behind" movie, I was looking through some of the extra content on the DVD. On it was an episode of "The Way of The Master," a Christian TV show that teaches Christians how to share their faith biblically and effectively, the way Jesus did. The show was hosted by Kirk Cameron (star of the movie I was just watching) and author/evangelist Ray Comfort.

While watching it, they quoted Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, who said "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that?" At that time I did consider myself to be a Christian and saved, but after hearing that quote, and the authority behind its words, I began to wonder if I was saved or not, because my evangelistic efforts up to that point were... well there were none.

What happened next I had never seen before. They were witnessing to real people out on the streets. While watching the conversations unfold, they were asking one random person off the street some questions. As I was listening to these questions, I would answer them to myself.

The first question was "Do you consider yourself to be a good person?" I clearly thought that I was, but my understanding of the word "good" was quickly changed as the questions followed. The next question after that was, "Do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell when you die?" Obviously thinking that I was a good person I thought I was going to go to Heaven. My understanding of that would soon be changed as well.

The next set of questions brought me face to face with the mirror of God's moral law, The Ten Commandments. Have you ever told a lie? Of course I had. That makes me a liar. Have you ever stolen anything? Yes, just small things though. That makes me a thief. Have you ever used God's name in vain, like a 4 letter filth word to express disgust? More times that I can count. That makes me a blasphemer. The last question that was asked was, "Jesus said that if you look at a woman to lust after her, then you have committed adultery in your heart, have you ever done that?" I would do that countless times a day, I was definitely guilty of that as well.

After that set of questions, was this question, "If you were to die right now, and God judges you, would you be innocent or guilty? Do you think you'd go to Heaven or Hell?" This was when the light bulb turned on. I had just admitted to being a lying, thief, and a blasphemous adulterer at heart. There were six more commandments that we did not go through that I know I had broken as well. I knew I was guilty, my conscience screamed the word "guilty" at me. Knowing how good God is, He would have to send me to Hell. He punishes sin where ever it is found. Then, thinking back to that car accident, when I should had died, I know now that if I had died, I would be in Hell right now. I was literally in the flames, when God pulled me out of the fire.

At that realization, I immediately feel to my knees, crying my eyes out for hours, pleading with God to forgive me for sinning against Him. It was then that I finally repented of my sins, and put my faith in Christ alone for my salvation. Everyday I look in the mirror, I can see and touch the scars on my head. They are a constant reminder to me of how close I was to suffering God's wrath, and how fortunate I am that God has shown me mercy and grace, that has saved a wretch like me.

I wish that no one would ever have to get as close to the flames as I did before they turn to Christ, but know for some people it is necessary. God, thank You for saving me, the wretched sinner that I am. Amen.

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The Prince of Preachers on The Bible

I want to share two quotes with you, about the Bible, from Charles Spurgeon. It was hard picking out the quotes with how many there are and how good they all are, but these are the two that I picked, from http://www.spurgeon.us/. For those of you who don't know who Charles Spurgeon is, you can read a brief biography about him here. Please contemplate, and meditate on these words from "The Prince of Preachers."

"If you wish to know God you must know his word; if you wish to perceive his power you must see how he worketh by his word; if you wish to know his purpose before it is actually brought to pass you can only discover it by his word."

"Now, mark this: by this shall you know whether you are a child of God, or not; by the respect that you have to your Father’s Word. If you have small respect for that Word, the evidences of a bastard are upon you."

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Importance of Memorizing Scripture.

Last month, I had the privilege to listen to one of the best sermons in this day and age. It was given by John Piper, and all he did was quote whole chapters from the book of Romans from memory. There is supposedly a YouTube video of this if you want to see it, but it was amazing. Not only do I want to encourage you to read your Bible, but to memorize it as well.

At desiringgod.org, John Piper did a blog called "Why Memorize Scripture?" I am just going to list the key points here, and encourage you to read his blog here for the details.

Memorizing scripture gives you:

1. Conformity in Christ.
2. Daily Triumph Over Sin.
3. Daily Triumph over Satan.
4. Comfort and Counsel for People You Love.
5. Help Communicating the Gospel to Unbelievers.
6. Communion with God in the Enjoyment of His Person and Ways.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

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Communicating with God.

The past couple of blogs, I have encouraged each of us to read our Bibles. I want to give you another reason to read your Bibles. That reason is, because that is how God communicates with us. Only in the most extreme circumstances when necessary will God talk to people in their dreams, and what have you. Usually when this happens, it happens to people who do no have access to a Bible, because it is outlawed in their country, and the only way they hear the gospel is through God directly talking to them in dreams, or visions.

For us, however, we have access to all sorts of Bibles in different colors, languages, and translations. For us, the Bible is how God directly communicates to us. In it, He tells us what to do, what not to do, and even gives examples. I recently read a news paper article about a high school kid who not only earned his high school diploma and was a football star, but he also completed a bachelors degree, and earned it at the same time he got his high school diploma. He used wise time management that was so effective that he even had time to have a girlfriend and socialize with his friends. If a high school kid can do all of that, then we have no excuse for not having time to read God's Word.

Now, everyone also knows that communication is a two way road. The Bible is how God communicates to us, we communicate to God in prayer. How often should we pray? Daily. How much should we pray each day? You'll have to figure that out for yourself, because it is different for different people. The Great Reformer, Martin Luther, was once quoted saying "I have so much to do today, that I should spend the first three hours in prayer." Granted none of us live the life that Luther did, so we might not have that much time to pray, but maybe some of us do and should.

Reading your Bible, and prayer, go hand in hand. One should never be done without the other. If all we do is pray, then we might as well be talking to a wall. If all we do is read God's Word, then there is no one to warn of the wall, and we'll run right into it. If we don't do either, then the wall falls right down on top of us.

Please make sure your communication with God is open, and going both ways.

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Use Your Night Vision.

In the military, we are given night vision goggles. How they work is, when it is dark outside, we put them on, and inside of them are filters that lets the light in the darkness shine through. It literally separates the light from the dark.

We are in a world that is spiritually dark. God has given us a special tool that filters the light from the dark. That tool is the Bible. It helps us to see the light in this darkened world. It separates the light from the dark so that we know what is good, and what is evil. It helps us to discern between sound doctrine and false teachings. But it only works if we use it.

We need to be like the Bereans. They "...received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were true." Acts 17:11. Just a little encouragement for you all.

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What is Modalism?

According to CARM, Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, "Modalism is probably the most common theological error concerning the nature of God. It is a denial of the Trinity which states that God is a single person who, throughout biblical history, has revealed Himself in three modes, or forms. Thus, God is a single person who first manifested himself in the mode of the Father in Old Testament times. At the incarnation, the mode was the Son. After Jesus' ascension, the mode is the Holy Spirit. These modes are consecutive and never simultaneous. In other words, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit never all exist at the same time, only one after another. Modalism denies the distinctiveness of the three persons in the Trinity even though it retains the divinity of Christ.

Present day groups that hold to forms of this error are the United Pentecostal and United Apostolic Churches. They deny the Trinity, teach that the name of God is Jesus, and require baptism for salvation. These modalist churches often accuse Trinitarians of teaching three gods. This is not what the Trinity is. The correct teaching of the Trinity is one God in three eternal coexistent persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

This was deemed heresy in 325 at the Council of Nicea. Some high profile modalist of our times are, Arnold Murray from The Shepard's Chapel. I've only ever seen them on TV early in the mornings. Another example is, as some say, one of the most influential leaders in evangelical Christianity today, T.D. Jakes.

Why do I bring this up? Because it is one of many false teaching that we have to fight against today, and like many false teachings today, they are nothing new. Most of today's false teachings are just old heresies being reintroduced to Christianity. Difference is, back then they saw it, and condemned it, today, well today the church seems to have a problem calling a false teaching a false teaching. Do not make a compromise when it comes to false doctrine and heresy. Believing in a heresy will send people to Hell.

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires"

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Atheist Problems?

Do you find yourself a little intimidated by atheist when you talk to them about God? Is it because you think they are vastly smarter than you with their evolution theory and all?

If that is the case, consider this. Atheist are people that believe nothing made everything. As a Christian, we of course believe that God made everything out of nothing. I ask you, which one seems like the smarter choice?

Don't forget Psalm 14:1 "The fool as said in his heart, there is no God.."

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Stay in God's Word.

Job 23:12 "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Job no doubt was going through an extremely difficult time in his life. He had reached a point where he could not feel God's presence, but yet he believed that God was still present. Here in this verse, Job is saying that he treasured God's word over his own food.

As Christians, difficult situations or not, we need to be like Job, and put God's word before our own needs. Like Job, we should feed on God's word, and read our Bibles everyday, before we consider our physical needs.

If we worry about our physical needs before even considering our spiritual needs, then we are not trusting God to take care of us. Trust in God for our spiritual needs and read the Bible, and don't worry about your physical needs, God will provide.

This weeks challenge, before you eat anything each day, read a passage out of your Bible, and meditate on it.

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Joy in Repentance.

Luke 15: 4-7 "4 What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' 7 I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

This is first of three parables in Luke 15, all with the same central theme that God rejoices when a sinner repents. Each of the parables addresses the people in the audience; sinners and social outcast as one part of the audience, and the Pharisees on the other (v 1,2), as well as Jesus and God.

Key characters to keep in mind here are the shepherd representing Christ, who actively seeks out the lost sheep, or the sinners. A thing to note here is that the rabbis taught that God forgives those who seek after Him, but here Jesus is clearly showing that He is seeking after the lost. The Pharisees are mentioned in the last part of verse 7 "ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." This isn't mention of people who are already saved, but those that are self-righteous.

The biggest thing for us to get out of this is what happened when the shepherd found the sheep. He gathers his friends and neighbors and rejoices with them because he has found the lost sheep. Now notice what Jesus says next, "I tell you in the same way there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents." There is joy in Heaven when a sinner repents. It is God rejoicing. The same thing happened when I came to a saving knowledge of Christ, and you as well. God rejoices when sinners repent and put their faith in Christ for salvation.

The reason why I mention this, is because while listening to "Free for All Friday" on Wretched Radio a man called up announcing that he got saved while listening to the radio program on Monday, and later that night his wife did as well. Please rejoice with over the salvation of Trevor and Jessica, and pray that God grows them in holiness.

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Gospel Tracts and How to Use Them.

Many people in the church today cringe at the thought of handing out gospel tracts? I have never actually understood why until I got a good look at some of the tracts that their church makes available for the to pass out. Such tracts have titles like "Turn or Burn" or "Jesus is Better Than Beer" are obviously lacking in reader appeal.

But I don't think that should discourage anyone from handing out gospel tracts at all. After all, sometimes we don't have time to talk and share the gospel with people, but we don't want to leave them without the gospel at all, and a tract is very useful for this purpose.

You can hand out tracts to cashiers at grocery stores and drive-thru windows, leave one at a restaurant as part of a good tip (not instead of a good tip), leave some in places where people are bound to find them and read them (if they are good and well written), and you can even just stand on a street corner handing them out, provided they look good and are well written people will take them.

You can even use them in a conversation with someone to move the conversation from the natural realm to the spiritual realm, and share the gospel with that person. I do it all the time, and it is very helpful and effective. Lets face it, talking about the weather and then saying ,"you know God made the weather", is pretty cheesy.

Living Waters produces some great and well written tracts (you can see them here). I get most of my tracts from them, and they are so good that people often ask for more. You also might want to try and write your own tract. Make sure it has all the elements of the gospel in it; the law (10 Commandments), man's sin, God's Judgement, His punishment, and what Jesus did so that we wouldn't have to be sent to Hell.

Currently we are in the process of making a gospel tract of our own, we'll update you when its done and give you all a preview of it.

FYI: One of the great preachers/evangelist in history, George Whitfield, was saved by a gospel tract. Just think of the fruit produced from the gospel seed planted by that tract.

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WWJD? vs WDJD?

In the 90's a fad started in evangelical Christianity that rang to the tune of WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?). Ever since, Christians and non-Christians alike ran wild with this slogan, and often in some blasphemous ways. I even had one of these bracelets, and I had no idea what it meant. While I can go on about the many different variations of this slogan and how they are blasphemous, I'm just going to stick to the original meaning and explain why its not such a good idea.

To ask yourself "What Would Jesus Do" in certain situations opens the door for a person to just assume what Jesus would do. More often than not, these are situations that a person should not have gotten into in the first place. It would seem that asking "WWJD?" before getting into that situation would have prevented a lot of problems.

Another problem with the slogan, is that people have assumed that Jesus would do things that through a clear understanding of scripture He clearly would not had done. An example would be that people have used it to judge people who do open air preaching, saying that Jesus wouldn't do that, but in fact, Jesus did open air preaching many times, including preaching the greatest sermon - The Sermon on the Mount.

The other acronym "WDJD?" stands for "What Did Jesus Do?" and is a much better question for us to ask ourselves. It forces us to read the Bible and see exactly what Jesus did, leaving little to no room for error. Not only that, but it gets us out in the world, preaching the gospel. That is not only what Jesus did, but it is what Jesus told us to do. "...Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." (Mark 16:15)

Ray Comfort has written a book called "WDJD? What Did Jesus Do?" It explains to us what Jesus did, how He did it, how the apostles followed His example, and shows us how we can do the same. I highly recommend this book.

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Annoying Christian Cliches and How are They Wrong.

This might offend a few people that use some of these cliches, and if it does, please leave a comment and tell me why you felt offended, or if you think I'm wrong, tell me why. There are just some cliches that really sort of get up my nose, and when you think about them and examine them closely, they aren't very biblical either.

One that stands out is "You just have to accept Jesus into your heart." I'm sorry, but who are we that our Lord and Savior needs us to accept Him. Its really the other way around, we need Him to accept us.

How about, "There is a God shaped hole in your heart." There are lots of unbeliever that I am aware of that find this one particularly annoying. I don't like it because it is often accompanies with bad and unbiblical evangelism techniques. (for a free e-book on biblical evangelism techniques sign-up to receive this blog via email click here)

One that really gets on my nerves "We are all God's children." It in the sense that He created us, sure, but not in the sense of a family and being adopted into the family of God through Christ. The Bible makes it clear, if we are not God's children through Christ, then we are children of the devil. (1 John 3:4-10)

Finally, for your approval, "Jesus is standing at the door of your Heart and knocking. Won't you open the door and let Him in?" Hermeneutics lesson aside, not only does it sound silly, but most people don't realize that this one originates from misquoting and taking out of context Revelation 3:20.

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Questions to Theistic Evolutionists.

Okay, so theistic evolution is the belief that God did a miracle and two to start creation, and then just left it alone to let it evolve. Believers in theistic evolution are usually agnostics, with a growing number in other religious sects, including Christianity.

You can answer if you are Christian or not, but, I have to ask... If you believe in theistic evolution, what exactly do you do with the creation account in Genesis? If you throw it out all together and/or just interpret it figuratively, then what do you do with all the other passages in the Bible that refer back to it as being a literal account of actually events (to include some things that Jesus said referring to the creation account)? I've got more questions, but they are more or less follow ups to responses.

Comparing the Murder of Abortionist Dr. Tiller with the Assassination of MLK???

Reading an article online from The Washington Times, the article quotes a Dr. LeRoy Carhart (an abortionist) as saying "the Tiller death 'the equivalent of Martin Luther King being assassinated'" and mentions him comparing pro-life displays to the Ku Klux Klan. According to the article this "brought an outraged response from Alveda King, niece of the slain civil rights leader. She is quoted as saying "For LeRoy Carhart to mention the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who worked through peaceful and nonviolent means, in the same breath with that of George Tiller, whose work ended peace and brought violence to babies in the womb, is offensive beyond belief... The analogy is just wrong."

I could quote more from the article but you get the idea. What are the comparisons really?
Dr. Tiller, murderer of tens of thousands of unborn children, Dr. Martin Luther King, civil rights leader.
Dr. Tiller murdered babies for a living, and regardless of what anyone says, it is violent, especially with late term abortions. I have heard women talking about how they could feel the baby kicking fighting to live when they had a late term abortion. Dr. King was an advocate for peace, and used peaceful methods.

You know, I say they share one thing in common only...they both were wrongfully killed. That is it.

Memory Verse of the Week.

Psalm 14:1 "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good." (NASB)

Are You Content With What You Have?

I just recently had the opportunity to ride in a convey along some remote areas in Afghanistan. I tell ya, its like being thrown back in time about a couple thousand years, with the way that the houses looked, and the way people where dressed and working. These people have most likely have been living like that all of their lives, with no electricity, or air conditioning. Can you imagine if you had to live like that? Would you you be contend with what God gave you if you were in that situation, or would you complain?

When I think about being content, I am often reminded of what Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-33.

"25For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will dink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not eve Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

So, I ask you all today, would you be content if you had every luxury taken away from you like, TV, Internet, fast food, running water, and you had only your basic needs met (and I do mean basic)? Do you constantly worry about how your clothes look and if they are designer or not, or are you happy to at least have something clean to wear?

Think over these questions, be honest with yourself when you answer. Then think about Jesus said in the passage above. If God provides and cares for the birds in the sky, then just think about how much He has blessed us with luxuries in life, and make sure to thank God for them, and meeting your basic needs in abundance.

Abortionist Killed in His Own Church.

The past week or so there have been headlines about the murder of abortionist Dr. George Tiller. Now, while he was an evil man, who killed a lot of innocent lives and did evil, what happened to him was not justice, it was murder and was also evil. As Christians, we love justice, but we do not take justice into our own hands and go out killing people who do such grossly evil things. We are told to love our enemies, pray for those who do us wrongly (Matt. 5:44) and we need to remember that God is the just judge of the world, and He will not let sin go unpunished. Let God do the punishing, not us, He does a way better and more through job, and we have no right to anyway.

Another thing to consider is, what is wrong with Dr. Tiller's church? This guy is very well know and has been all over the news for being an abortionist, even preforming late term abortions. Clearly he was committing some very serious sins of which he was obviously unrepentant of, and had no intention on repenting from them. So, why is it that this church didn't use proper church discipline as outlined in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5? Why oh why was his church okay with him living in sin, and looking the other way? Who knows, but I tell yeah, that is clearly a church that I would not want to be a member of.

Todd Friel, of Wretched Radio/TV did a video about this posted on You Tube you can view that video here.

Fishing, Faith, and a Challenge.

Last night as thoughts filled my head, I was thinking back to a few years ago, when I became a Christian. I had such a zeal for knowledge that I would literally not just read my Bible everyday but I would buy books on theology, apologetics, evangelism, I did research, and I took classes so that I could know more about my faith. The more I read, the more I realized that as Christians, we need to be aware of the responsibilities that we have in our faith. One of those responsibilities is to share our faith with others, and to do it biblicly.

The biblical principal of sharing the gospel with someone is always, without exception, "Law to the Proud, and Grace to the Humble." What I mean by that is, we use the Law of God, The 10 Commandments, to show a sinner with a hardened heart his need for the Savior, and once he is humbled and can see how wretched he is, we give him the message of God's love and grace and how it was displayed to us on the cross. If a person is already humbled and sees him/herself as a rotten sinner in need of God's grace, then that is the only message that we need to give them.

Now, if we are to be "fishers of men" then we need to keep a principal of fishing in mind. We need to go where the fish are. Now sure enough, a fish might jump in the boat, just as a person might randomly start going to church and get saved, but its not all that likely. Instead we need to use tools to catch the fish, and God has given us the tools that we need to bring a person to Christ. That being the 10 Commandments. Listen to what Paul says about the law,"Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster, bringing us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith." I'll put it like this, the law taught us and gave us understanding of our need for Christ and brought us to Him so that we can be justified by faith. Without the understanding that the law gives, the message of the cross will sound foolish (see 1 Corinthians 1:18).

My challenge to my growing group of readers is to go out and start fishing. Witness to atleast one 3 people this week. If you want a harder challenge, then make it 1 person a day for the rest of the week. Don't forget to use the tools that God has given us to be "fishers of men". Use the law to hook them, and then use the gospel net to bring them in. For more information on how to share your faith I encourage you to visit The Way of the Master. It is very informative and encouraging. Also don't be shy, leave a comment and tell me how you did.

Memory Verse of the Week.

2 Timothy 2:15 "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (NASB)

Gay Marriage Issue Thoughts.

I know, its been some time since they voted on it already, but there is a small piece of theology that sort of sneaks in this issue. It raised a few questions with me, and I am honestly wondering what others think as well.

First of all, this is a war that I don't see good moral values winning in this day and age. Yeah, we won a battle, but the war seems far from over. Personally, I have no problem with gay people living together getting the same types of government privileges as a straight married couple would. I am willing to concede on that part of the issue, because quite frankly I just don't see good moral values winning in that.

However, I clearly don't want it to be called marriage. My reasons for this are definitely theological. The Bible clearly defines marriage as between one man and one woman. For us to make it otherwise would be to make a mockery of what God said. In forming my reasoning here, I do also feel that since marriage did start as a religious institution, that the state should have nothing to do with it, outside of recognizing it as a union between two people so that they can get the government benefits of being together.

I have no idea when the state got to lay claim to marriage, and us in the religious sector seem to have been too short sighted at the time to see what a mess it would become today. But knowing the fact that marriage is indeed a religious institution, I am really confused as to why the die hard "separation of church and state" people aren't all over government on this issue. Seems to me that they use the whole "separation of church and state" argument is very biased in support of their opinions instead of clear and obvious truths and facts.

In the end, my solution for the whole ordeal would be to give marriage back to the church, and for when two people do join together (gay or straight couple) in some sort of union for the state to recognize, the state should have a different term for it other than marriage. End effect, everyone gets what they want, "separation of church and state" is put back into order, and hopefully everyone is happy.

Let me know your thoughts, and have a good day.

Ahh a fresh start.

Hey, this is the first post of this new blog of mine, and hopefully some of you came from my other blog on myspace. Regardless I hope we can learn a lot together. I hope you guys are ready for the next blog, but until then, feel free to check out the web sites I have listed, and even sign up to have this blog sent to your email. Have a good day people.