Hillary Clinton to speak at Rick Warren’s “church.”

1, November 20, 2007

rick_warren_and_hillary_clinton.jpg Pro-abortion presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will speak at Rick Warren’s “church” during his global conference on AIDS. I warned you about this conference in this previous post and this previous post. The great falling away has begun!

Crosstalk did a show featuring Brannon House on this topic. To listen, click here. Listen to details from last year’s AIDS conference (in which Barack Obama was a guest) by clicking here.

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.


Distractions, distractions, distractions.

1, November 13, 2007

hell.jpg There are so many causes (distractions) that the Church is involved in today, that we’ve lost sight of our primary calling to the world. I’ve listed below three causes that many in the Church are wrapped up in, all worthy, but all distractions. (Please read the entire post before forming an opinion and commenting).

THE DISTRACTIONS:

1).The environment: As you can see from this previous post, the young professing Christians in the video are very concerned about the environment, but something is missing. Something very important.
2). The Poor: A highly commendable cause to be involved in is ending world hunger. Many professing Christians are involved in such campaigns as One.org and other anti-hunger organizations.
3). AIDS:
Yet another commendable endeavor is fighting the spread of AIDS. Rick Warren heads up a huge conference on AIDS each year in an effort to end this disease.

THE REALITY:

I am a conservationist; I turn off lights when I leave a room, I don’t leave water running, I even reuse napkins when applicable. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being a conservationist or caring for God’s creation. However, when we put an unbalanced overemphasis on saving the environment, inevitably our primary responsibilities become neglected.

We should also be concerned for those in the world who suffer from poverty and AIDS (many times they go hand in hand). Jesus took pity on and had compassion for those who suffered. Likewise as Christians we should do the same (although many times we’re more concerned with keeping up with our neighbors than caring for our neighbors).

Where I differ from many of these idealists is here: In so many instances the Christians championing these causes have lost sight of the most important aspect of our purpose here on earth. Jesus commanded us to make disciples, not save the environment, end world hunger, or fight AIDS.

Anyone who disagrees with that either has no concept of Hell or has chosen to dismiss the reality of Hell. Why do I say this? Because those who grasp the reality of Heaven and Hell understand that this life is temporal and the next life is eternal. There will be many in Hell who would have rather died of hunger or of infection knowing Jesus Christ, than to have been preserved on this planet a little while longer, (only to die later like everyone else), and spend an eternity in Hell because they died without Christ.

Regarding the planet, the Bible tells us that in the end times there will be cataclysmic happenings in the environment. It’s going to happen no matter how many things you do–or don’t do–to preserve the environment. Those who worry about this need to spend some valuable time away from the recycling centers and in the study of the Scriptures. An honest review of the Scriptures will reveal to you that God is still in control and will continue to be in control. He is not wringing His hands wondering what to do because he didn’t forsee problems in the environment. The environment should never be the primary focus of the Christian. Leave the earth worship to the pagans, Wiccans and New Agers. As a Christian your hope is not in this earth, but in the life to come, and your mission is to spread the Gospel.

Regarding poverty, Jesus told us that we will always have the poor with us (Mark 14:7) and there will be famines (Matthew 24:7). This is a sobering reminder that no matter how much effort we put in to ending world hunger, it will never cease to exist, God has told us this already.

If you really want to knwo how to make a dent in world hunger, you must consider this: The majority of the causes of poverty in the world is corrupt government. If we change the hearts of the people with the Gospel, we change the governments. If we change the governments, we do great things in the cause of world hunger. However, any true student of the Bible knows that as the end draws nigh, things only get worse. With that said, we should still do what we can for the poor, but like the environment, this should not be our primary focus. Our main concern should not be their physical, but their spiritual needs.

Regarding AIDS, remember that Jesus told us there will be pestilences (Luke 24:11). It’s not like diseases, and especially AIDS, has taken God by surprise. Theses are things that will take place no matter what we try to do to stem them. Again, where is our focus? If it’s first and foremost to share the Gospel with the sick and dying, then we’re fulfilling the Great Commission. If it’s anything else first and foremost, then we’re feeding our own desires to feel good about ourselves for doing something which just so happens to be the acceptable and politically correct thing to do. AIDS is a behavioral disease. Again, change the hearts of man with the Gospel (not a government or social program) and you impact the AIDS epidemic considerably. But . . . will this happen? No, because mankind is fallen and corrupt and there will always be consequences to sin. Thus my point: We’re spinning our wheels trying to fix heart problems with social programs that we already know (via God’s Word) will not work.

In every cause that we take up, it’s rather easy to determine what it is that is driving us. First, ask yourself, “what is my primary purpose,” is it the social cause or the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Now, you can say anything, but when it comes down to it, what do you actually do! Secondly, do you compromise the Gospel or your faith in any degree for these causes? When Compassion International, for example, sends out their packets and the majority of their work is presented as making life more comfortable for people rather than the sharing of the Gospel, I have concern. When they team up with Rick Warren for his AIDS summit, I have REAL concern. By doing this, C.I. has just compromised the true Gospel and aligned itself with the social gospel; one of which does not save. At last year’s conference, Rick Warren invited pro-homosexual, pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama to speak. Now before you get in a tizzy because you’re happy with what the AIDS summit accomplished on the surface, I recommend you check out this podcast from the show Cross Talk in which reporters who attended the conference told of what really took place there in comparison to Biblical Christianity. You can also watch the video below of Rick Warren justifying his philosophy on compromise.

And finally, for those who say something like, “We need to set our differences aside and come together for such worthy causes,” you have already shown that your priority is NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you’ve already compromised the very faith you claim to represent.

If you truly believed the doctrine of hell and the wrath of God that will befall those who die without Christ, then you would be compelled to make sharing that Gospel your first and highest priority.


Rick Warren’s Global Summit on AIDS and the Church.

1, November 7, 2007

Rick Warren is back for yet another Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. Speakers include the vice president of World Vision and the president and CEO of Compassion International (two organizations apparently more concerned with the social gospel than saving souls). If you want to see a complete list of those who will be speaking at this conference, click here.

And why just distract the adults form the Great Commission? This conference will also target the youth. Rick Warren has even packaged a nice little video to address the youth and their parents.

For those of you who would like to know more of what this AIDS conference is really all about, I highly encourage you to check out this episode of Cross Talk from last year’s AIDS conference: Saddleback AIDS Conference. It is very, very enlightening.

If you want to know the truth about the current condition of world missions, I highly recommend you read this book. It will help you to better understand the damage caused by the social gospel as it spreads like a cancer from America to the countries who desperately need the true Gospel. You can get the book for free by clicking here.

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.