Quotes (142)

Forgiveness costs us nothing. All our costly obedience is the fruit, not the root, of being forgiven. That’s why we call it grace. But it cost Jesus His life. That is why we call it just. Oh, how precious is the news that God does not hold our sins against us! And how beautiful is Christ, whose blood made it right for God to do this.

- John Piper

Jesus, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the cross.

   This is an interesting three-minute video. It starts off rather strange, and a few seconds into it you may find yourself asking, “Why am I watching this?” But hang in there. As weird as it may seem at first, it actually makes a fantastic point while using a little humor to drive that point home.

Quotes (141)

Rationality (the right use of sanctified reason through sound logic) is never condemned in Scripture. Faith is not irrational. Authentic biblical truth demands that we employ logic and clear, sensible thinking. . . . Scripture frequently employs logical devices, such as antithesis, if-then arguments, syllogisms, and propositions. These are all standard logical forms, and Scripture is full of them.

- John MacArthur

According to Mormonism, are we to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or not?

It is no secret that many false and vain and foolish things are being taught in the sectarian world even among us about our need to gain a special relationship with the Lord Jesus. . . . In an attempt to be truer than true [Christians] devote themselves to gaining a special, personal relationship with Christ that is both improper and perilous. . . . Another peril is that those involved begin to pray directly to Christ because of some special friendship they feel has been developed. In this connection a current and unwise book, which advocates gaining a special relationship with Jesus, contains this sentence—“Because the Savior is our mediator, our prayers go through Christ to the Father, and the Father answers our prayers through His Son.” This is plain sectarian nonsense. Our prayers are addressed to the Father and the Father only. They do not go through Christ. Bruce R. McConkie, Church News, Page 5, March 20, 1982

All of the prophets since Christ have testified that he did come. All of us need to study the life of the Savior and follow him faithfully throughout our lives. We each need to have a personal relationship with Him. Gospel Principles, Page 61, 1997

What a difference fifteen years makes.

Quotes (140)

Surely this is the way we should understand the sufferings and death of Christ. They have to do with me. They are about Christ’s love for me personally. It is my sin that cuts me off from God, not sin in general. It is my hard-heartedness and spiritual numbness that demean the worth of Christ. I am lost and perishing. When it comes to salvation, I have forfeited all claim on justice. All I can do is plead for mercy.

- John Piper

Sermon of the week: “The Practice, Posture, and Position of Worldliness” by Tullian Tchividjian.

Pastor Tullian Tchividjian of New City Presbyterian Church in Florida delivers a message on the Church being in the world, but warns to be careful that the world doesn’t get in the church. This message is entitled The Practice, Posture, and Position of Worldliness.

Click on the link to listen streaming, or right click on the link and click “Save As” (Internet Explorer) or “Save Link As” (Mozilla) to save to your computer. From there you can burn this to a CD or upload it to your MP3 player.

Quotes (139)

The idea that the Christian message should be kept pliable and ambiguous seems especially attractive to young people who are in tune with the culture and in love with the spirit of the age and can’t stand to have authoritative biblical truth applied with precision as a corrective to worldly lifestyles, unholy minds, and ungodly behavior. And the poison of this perspective is being increasingly injected into the evangelical church body.

- John MacArthur

Book Review: The Road to Reality by K.P. Yohannan

After reading K. P. Yohannan’s book Revolution in World Missions, I was really impressed on how he grasped the realities of the lukewarm Church in America.

I just finished reading his follow-up book to that one: The Road to Reality. If he hit a home run with the book Revolution in World Missions, then he hits a grand slam with this one!

In this book he provides a scathing indictment of the lukewarm church and calls the Christian to quit living the lukewarm life. The book flows well and is a page turner. K.P. knows how to communicate well and gets his points across that will certainly leave an impression on you.

Here’s an excerpt from chapter 21:

The streets of India–especially in our bloated, overpopulated cities like Bombay and Calcutta–are maddening to Western visitors. Millions of homeless people are born, live, and die in them. Part toilet, part barnyard, part roadway–they are also the bedroom, living room, and marketplace for the poorest of the world’s poor.

In summertime’s furnace heat, the dust of centuries rises from them to fill your eyes, choking your mouth and nose. In the monsoon rains, the streets turn into vast seas of mud and sewage. In winter, the freezing pavements bring disease and death to those who have nowhere else to rest their starving bodies.

It was one of these nightmarish streets of Bombay that I was surrounded by an army of begging children. Already late and on my way to an important meeting, I tried to ignore the pleading children as I waited for the light to turn green.

Suddenly from the sea of hungry faces I heard a voice so distinct from the rest that I was paralyzed. In crystal clear tones I heard her speaking in plaintive Hindi, “Sir, my father died three months ago of tuberculosis. My mother is too sick to beg anymore. My little brothers and sisters have not eaten for two days. Please, sir, they are hungry and crying. Can you please give me a few pennies so I can buy some bread?”

The light turned green. But I couldn’t move. I was arrested by the image of this little girl who must have been about 9 years old. Her face was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, perfectly shaped with big brown eyes and long black hair.

Through the tears on her cheeks, the dust and the sweat, I could see that in different circumstances this desperate little waif could easily have been a princess. Her filthy hair had obviously not been washed or combed for weeks. She was barefoot and dressed in rags. But I’m still sure she had the potential of being a winner in the Miss World beauty pageant.

Then something else happened. It was as if another face came before my eyes right beside hers. It was another child, about 8, also with big brown eyes. But she had long, clean hair and a shining face. Her clothes were fresh and colorful–and she wore nice socks and tennis shoes. I knew her. She was the best student in her class. Each night she said her prayers and read the Bible. Her parents loved her. She had a comfortable home, air-conditioned from the Texas summer and heated in the cold winter. She had a comfortable bed with clean sheets every week. I didn’t know the name of the dirty little beggar girl, but I did know the name of the girl beside her. It was Sarah, my own darling daughter.

Then I heard a supernatural voice beside me ask, “What is the value of this beggar girl? Is she of less value than your daughter, Sarah?”

To read more, you’ll have to get the book, and I highly recommend that you do. The book can be purchased at Gospel For Asia by clicking here.

Quotes (138)

We have literally dumbed our minds down to a point where I do not believe that there are many adults that can comprehend two literate sentences strung together on doctrinal issues. And I mean that with all my heart.

- Ingrid Schlueter

Pete the Porno Puppet (two videos).

From the folks that brought you the ministry tools Wally the Wiener and “Every time you masturbate God kills a kitten,” comes two videos from Pete the Porno Puppet. The latest arsenal in the war against pornography:*

Strong viewer discretion is advised.

HT: A Little Leaven

Quotes (137)

   My new theory is that perhaps atheists evolved from the chicken, because they not only have chicken characteristics–a head, eyes, mouth, skin, neck, heart, earlobes and legs (homology structures), but they also have the chicken’s tendencies–they are chicken livered. They hang around Christians like annoying little bugs hang around light, trying to inject their poison whenever they can.

If you are an atheist, I hope I’m ruffling your feathers. I want to get under your skin and ask why you don’t have the courage to even whisper to Moslems what you keep shouting at Christians. Prove me wrong. Get onto a Moslem website and tell them that you don’t believe their god exists. Do your little “I don’t believe in Zeus” thing. Tell them they believe a myth. Talk about Mohammed as you do Jesus (use lower case for Mohamed). Do your “I don’t believe in the flying spaghetti monster” thing. Tell them that we weren’t made by a god (lower case), but that they evolved from primates (that will go down well). Also, let them know in no uncertain terms that the Koran is full of mistakes (give some examples), and that their mosques are full of hypocrites.

You wouldn’t dare, because you are chicken-livered. You know that they are not like Christians. Despite the “anonymity” of your little chicken coop, they would come after you to lop off your head. And when they find you, you would fall on your knees and be praying to God for help . . .

- Ray Comfort

The persecuted Church in China featured on the CBS Evening News.

Quotes (136)

   If the Son of God had gone from incarnation to the cross without a life of temptation and pain to test His righteousness and His love, He would not be a suitable Savior for fallen man. His suffering not only absorbed the wrath of God. It also fulfilled His true humanity and made Him able to call us brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:17).

- John Piper

The hypocrisy of Atheism.

I have a personal rule: I never debate with an Atheist. Why? Because it has been my experience that more often than not, they aren’t interested in open and honest discourse, but prefer to take a condescending, argumentative stance. Secondly, I can’t prove the existence of God to someone who denies His existence anymore than they can prove to me there is no God. Now, with that said, I wanted to share with you something that occurred recently, and the conclusion I’ve come to.

While at a local coffee shop awaiting my decaf, hazelnut latte, I posted this tract on the bulletin board:

Shortly thereafter, a woman in her thirties entered the shop and found her way over to the bulletin board. Upon seeing the tract, she quickly removed it and promptly found a table where she sat and thumbed through the little booklet. Her behavior caused me to speculate that she was familiar with these kinds of tracts. I began to observe.

This woman then took pen in hand and began to write on the tract; both the front and rear covers. This really piqued my interest. I continued to observe.

A short while later, another woman entered and approached the table where the woman–with tract in hand–sat. The second woman greeted the first and the first gleefully showed the second woman the cover of the tract. The second woman gave a smirk while the first had a grin ear to ear. She then returned to the tract to the bulletin board.

My party and I left at the same time these two women left and my curiosity got the best of me. I returned into the establishment to retrieve the tract. And there I read what the woman in all her giddy-like-a-school-girl excitement had written on the front of the tract:

There is no God!

I then turned it over to the back cover and read:

“Shame on God!”

I immediately felt pity for her. Then, like a ton of bricks, I was struck with an epiphany. All of my previous experiences with Atheists came rushing back to me with what this woman wrote and it was as if a light bulb went on.

How can you on one hand say, “There is no God!” then on the other hand say, “Shame on God!”? That is either blatant hypocrisy or a mild case of schizophrenia. (Now, do I believe that Atheists as a whole suffer from schizophrenia? No. So please spare me the hate mail.)

You can’t claim that someone or something doesn’t exist, then offer an opinion on that someone or something. Let me offer an example:

If I said that the Loch Ness Monster does not exist, but then warned you that you should be careful while swimming in Loch Ness because the Monster might get you, would you not be justified in questioning the truthfulness of my original claim that Nessie doesn’t exist?

So I came to realization that most self-proclaimed Atheists aren’t Atheists because they disbelieve the existence of God, but it’s simply because they hate Him. They don’t want to be limited in their lifestyles nor be confronted with their sin.

I would prefer if these pseudo-Atheists would be more upfront and honest about their beliefs and just come to terms with the fact that they hate God. It would be refreshing if they just shook their angry fists at their creator instead of playing the He doesn’t exist game.

When they decide to be honest with themselves (and others) they will not have to be so careful in the future that they might slip up–revealing their true beliefs of God–like the coffee shop woman did.

As always, I welcome your comments. So what do you think?

Gordon B. Hinckley: Dead at age 97.

Gordon B. Hinckley

1910 - 2008

Read the News article here.

HT: Fourpointer

Quotes (135)

    None of us will will ever know Christ as a great Savior until we first know ourselves to be great sinners. If you and I do not recognize our need for the Gospel . . . we will never, ever tune in to the Gospel. . . . We will never, ever experience the glory of God’s salvation if we do not first experience the grief of our own sin.

- Tullian Tchividjian 

Book review: Winning the Witnesses by Daniel Rodriguez.

I just got through reading the brand new book Winning the Witnesses by Daniel Rodriguez (Evangelist to Jehovah’s Witnesses for over 22 years). It was a very good book; quick and easy read. This 107-page book deals with evangelizing Jehovah’s Witnesses using an entirely different method than suggested previously by such men as Walter Martin and Bill Cetnar.

In this book, Daniel Rodriguez explains why the old approach of throwing Scripture back and forth is mostly ineffective by outlining why no matter what verses you quote, the JW is conditioned to not accept what you’re saying. This is because they consider it to be your interpretation, not the Watchtower’s. And since you are viewed as a pagan under the influence of Satan, you can quote Scripture all day long to no effect because they will refuse to accept what you say, even if it’s printed in black and white in their own Bible.

The author’s approach is to sever the JW’s lifeline, the source of all their “truth” and understanding: Their utter dependence and blind obedience to the Watchtower Society. Rodriguez says that if you can help the JW to see that the Watchtower Society is not inspired, you can begin to make great progress with the JW. Rodriguez then provides simple insight on how to show them that the Watchtower Society is not only not inspired, but that they’ve never claimed to be and why they never can claim to be.

For those who want help in their evangelism efforts to JWs, this book is a must-have in your library and makes a great resource for future quick-reference.

I would love to put this author’s evangelism technique to the test, but unfortunately my house has been red flagged by the JWs.

Quotes (134)

It is painful to think about Hell and judgment. I understand why preachers do not like to talk about it, because I don’t either. It is so much easier to preach that “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” or to focus on the many delightful aspects of “possibility thinking” and the “word of faith” that brings health, wealth, and happiness. The grace and love of God are pleasant subjects, and no one more beautifully demonstrated them than our Lord Jesus. Yet in His earthly ministry, He made more references to Hell and judgment than He did to Heaven. Jesus lived with the reality of Hell, and He died on Calvary because He knew it was real and coming to everyone who doesn’t turn to God in this life.

- K.P. Yohannan

Reverend Larry Phillips blesses a new abortion clinic, declaring it “sacred and holy.”

This is an unbelievable story coming out of New York.

According to a Times Union article, the “Reverend” Larry Phillips of Emmanuel Baptist-Friedens United Church of Christ has “blessed” a new Planned Parenthood abortion mill in a ceremony that has been called “Sacred Ground.”

From the article:
To commemorate Tuesday’s 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion, clergy blessed this city’s new Planned Parenthood clinic in a ceremony dubbed “On Sacred Ground.”

“Today is more than about the building and about bricks and mortar,” Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Linda Scharf said. “It’s a blessing to demonstrate the support of the clergy.”

The reverend declared that the new abortion mill is “sacred and holy . . . where women’s voices and stories are welcomed, valued and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers . . . sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled.”

Read the whole article by clicking here.

They band themselves together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

Psalm 94:21

Underground Reality: Vietnam.

I am disappointed to report that Voice of the Martyrs is no longer offering Underground Reality: Vietnam. However, I am pleased to announce that it is now available for rent here from Netflix.

I highly recommend this video. This is a must-see video and it should be shown in all youth groups.

The DVD describes itself as follows:

See what happens when eight ordinary teens set out on a mission to meet the underground church in Vietnam. Travel with The Voice of the Martyrs and a group of American and Australian teenagers as they journey through cities and jungles in order to witness the everyday life of the Vietnamese underground church.

These teens come from the nominal, lukewarm Christian churches so common in America, Europe, and Australia, but by the end of their journey (which includes smuggling Bibles) you see their lives transformed by the realization of what it truly means to be a Christian when your life and liberty are at stake.

The two hour DVD is broken into four half hour episodes and will keep the attention of even its younger viewers.

Quotes (133)

Marketing principles are becoming the arbiter of truth. Elements of the message that don’t fit the promotional plan are simply omitted. Marketing savvy demands that the offense of the cross must be downplayed. Salesmanship requires that negative subjects like divine wrath be avoided. Consumer satisfaction means that the standard of righteousness cannot be raised too high. The seeds of watered-down gospel are thus sown in the very philosophy that drives many ministries today.

- John MacArthur

Rob Bell: The Bible is a human product?

In a November 2004 Christianity Today article entitled The Emergent Mystique, influential pastor Rob Bell and his wife were interviewed. They had some very eye-opening things to say about the Bible.

“This is not just the same old message with new methods,” Rob says. “We’re rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life. Legal metaphors for faith don’t deliver a way of life. We grew up in churches where people knew the nine verses why we don’t speak in tongues, but had never experienced the overwhelming presence of God.”

In fact, as the Bells describe it, after launching Mars Hill in 1999, they found themselves increasingly uncomfortable with church. “Life in the church had become so small,” Kristen says. “It had worked for me for a long time. Then it stopped working.” The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself—”discovering the Bible as a human product,” as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. “The Bible is still in the center for us,” Rob says, “but it’s a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it.”

“I grew up thinking that we’ve figured out the Bible,” Kristen says, “that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big again—like life used to be black and white, and now it’s in color.”

Read the whole article here.

How many have died in America since the start of the war in Iraq?

Quotes (132)

Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.

- Charles Spurgeon

1834 - 1892

Psychedelic frog Nativity set.

I know, I know . . . Christmas is over, but I just stumbled upon this piece of trash depicting the birth of Christ. I figured my Den of Robbers category was looking pretty famished so I thought I’d throw this in! Nothing says Christmas like psychedelic frogs, eh?

LDS finally admits that Joseph Smith was a polygamist, and that he told different versions of the “first vision.”

The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting in this article that a new LDS produced and approved manual is conceding what historians and others who have researched Mormonism have known all along; Mormon founding prophet Joseph Smith was a polygamist!

Those of us who have known about Joseph Smith’s multiple wives (including one marriage to a 14-year old child) have one thing to say, “Welcome aboard, what took you so long?”

But even more shocking to me than their admission of Smith’s practice of polygamy (after all these years of denial) is another admission made by LDS. This one is even more damaging to their house of cards:

The first chapter about Smith’s “First Vision,” in which he claimed to see God and Jesus in a grove of trees, includes a footnote about how Smith described the encounter in different ways to different people.

Holy smokes! I never thought I’d live to see the day when Latter-day Saints would admit to that.

This problem of Joseph Smith telling conflicting versions of an event that he supposedly experienced is yet another incidence that critics of Mormonism have been citing for years only to be told by well-intentioned Mormons that we’re crazy.

I believe that with the advent of the internet, the Mormon organization finally has to start dealing with these issues instead of sticking their head in the sand and telling their members to “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

We’ve been telling Mormons this stuff for years while Mormon apologists have accused us of being anti-Mormon liars who don’t know their history and beliefs as well as they do, and since they haven’t been taught this stuff in their local Ward, then it couldn’t possibly be true . . . could it?

I have to give credit to the LDS organization for their candidness and finally admitting to documented truths that they and we have known all along. If they continue this new trend of telling the truth I imagine that they’re going to see a change in their membership numbers.

HT: Fourpointer

Quotes (131)

One of the great boasts of many Western evangelical Christians is their devotion to the Scriptures. It is hard to find a church that does not at one time or another brag about being “Bible believing.” When I first came here, I made the mistake of taking that description at face value. But I have come to see that many evangelical Christians do not really believe the Word of God, especially when it talks about Hell and judgment. Instead, they selectively accept only the portions that allow them to continue living in their current lifestyles.

- K.P. Yohannan

Mormonism, Mitt Romney, and the Public Trust on CrossTalk.

Jim Schneider interviews Rocky Hulse on this edition of Crosstalk entitled Mormonism and the Public Trust. Rocky Hulse runs the Nauvoo Christian Visitors Center in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Click on the link to listen streaming, or right click on the link and click “Save As” (Internet Explorer) or “Save Link As” (Mozilla) to save to your computer. From there you can burn this to a CD or upload it to your MP3 player.

Quotes (130)

Doth that man love his Lord who would be willing to see Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, while for himself he craves a chaplet of laurel? Shall Jesus ascend to His throne by the cross, and do we expect to be carried there on the shoulders of applauding crowds? Be not so vain in your imagination. Count you the cost, and if you are not willing to bear Christ’s cross, go away to your farm and to your merchandise, and make the most of them; only let me whisper this in your ear, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

- Charles Spurgeon

1834 - 1892

Sermon of the week: “The Word of Faith That We Proclaim” by John Piper.

This week’s sermon is entitled The Word of Faith That We Proclaim by John Piper.

Click on the link to listen streaming, or right click on the link and click “Save As” (Internet Explorer) or “Save Link As” (Mozilla) to save to your computer. From there you can burn this to a CD or upload it to your MP3 player.

Quotes (129)

A hundred years after Spurgeon sounded the alarm, most theological education in England is rank liberal. Church attendance is a fraction of what it was then. Evangelicals are a tiny minority, true biblical preaching is uncommon even in supposedly Bible-believing churches, and the evangelical movement has been dangerously susceptible to almost every theological fad exported from America. In short, evangelicalism in England never recovered from the modernist/liberal assault that began a century ago.

- John MacArthur

The Graham Formula.

Check out this 30-minute video (broken into 7 segments) examining the evolution of the “alter-call” and “salvation prayer,” and how these two man-made, man-centered evangelism techniques are producing countless false converts. I certainly didn’t agree with everything in this 7-part video (I think they handled Finney and Graham’s contributions to these errors way too lightly) but for the most part this series is right on the money! What do you think?

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Part Four:

Part Five:

Part Six:

Part Seven:

HT: Joie de Vivre

Questions and answers for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Pretty good 3-minute video . . . and the music was a great choice.

Quotes (128)

Many Christian leaders are caught up in secondary issues that sap their time and energy. I will never forget preaching in one church where the pastor had turned defending the King James translation of the Bible into a crusade. Not only does he spend most of his pulpit time upholding it–but thousands of dollars go to printing books, tracts, and pamphlets advocating the exclusive use of this one translation. In the years I have lived and worked in the United States, I have watched believers and whole congregations get caught up in all kinds of similar crusades and causes that, while not necessarily bad in themselves, end up taking our eyes off obedience to Christ.

- K.P. Yohannan

Infanticide rate dropping?

According to this news article the number of abortions being performed was down 25% in 2005 compared to 1990. So now only 1.2 million children are ripped from their mother’s wombs and executed for being inconvenient instead of the 1.6 million murdered in 1990.

Quotes (127)

I am not in favor of a stagnant church. . . . My complaint is with a philosophy that relegates God and His Word to a subordinate role in the church. I believe it is unbiblical to elevate entertainment over biblical preaching and worship in the church service. And I stand in opposition to those who believe salesmanship can bring people into the kingdom more effectively than a sovereign God. That philosophy has opened the door to worldliness in the church.

- John MacArthur

Choose life.

Planned Parenthood: Legally disemboweling, decapitating, and dismembering your children since 1973.

A picture of “Choice.”

There has never, and will never be a justification for this.

Period!

35 years of genocide of an unwanted class.

Nothing could be a more sobering reminder of just how depraved, sick, and evil the condition of  mankind is and how foolish we are (thinking ourselves to be wise) when you consider what took place 35 years ago today.

We rightly rail and lament the cruelty of slavery in this country where men, women, and children were treated as less than human and not afforded the same protection as the rest of society. We declare, “never again” when it comes to the evils committed against Jews, Christians, Gypsies, the handicapped, and others in Nazi Germany.

Yet, here in America, in this day and age, we still like to kid ourselves by thinking we’re much more civilized, refined, and “evolved” than those of the past. Truth is, we have blood on our hands. The blood of over 40 million innocent and completely defenseless human beings slaughtered on the alter of convenience and under the protection of our government.

When a country that claims to be “Christian” legalizes the brutal execution of its most innocent class–the unborn–we forfeit the right to the title “Christian Nation.”

And don’t be fooled, God will not withhold His righteous wrath forever. 

End this senseless war on the unborn.

Click on this chart to see the statistics on those Americans who have died in war, compared to those who have died in the womb. Unless, of course, you prefer to continue living in your world of denial.