The best closing statement ever - James White

This has to be the best closing statement to a debate that I’ve ever heard! Those of you who are Reformed in your theology, enjoy. Those of you who are synergistic in your theology, put aside your presuppositions, and just watch.

Thanks to Lane Chaplin for this video.

How is this Christian?

As you know, Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. has been in the news lately for some remarks that are “over the top” to say the least. His brand of RACISM is especially foul because it masquerades behind a veil of Christianity.

MAKE NO MISTAKE THIS IS NOT CHRISTIAN IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.

This is racism, pure and simple.

Compare what you read below, with what the word says about men, and how God sees them.

Galatians 3:27-29
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female - for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Now, having read those beautiful words from our Lord, contrast that with this  from their “About us” section of the web site:

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian. … Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain “true to our native land,” the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.

As reported at worldnetdaily, the focus on the African continent continues in two of the 10-point vision of the church:

 

1. A congregation committed to ADORATION.
2. A congregation preaching SALVATION.
3. A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
4. A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
5. A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
6. A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
7. A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
8. A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
9. A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
10. A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.

Does this sound like what’s found in the word of God? This is what Rev Wright’s wants you to know about them…that they are “committed to Africa.” Not only is this man centered selfishness, but it’s an affront to God.

Not one word about being committed to Christ. Nothing about how God made man in His image, and that there is only one race…the human race. Nothing about how, they will preach the gospel to their neighbor, no matter what their color, because in God, there are no races, or distinctions of nationality.  

There is only one true way to defeat racism, and that’s the regeneration of men’s hearts by the Holy Spirit of God.

 Reverend Wright; if you’re going to peddle this sick racism, do me a favor and don’t use God’s holy name while doing it.

You are just as sinful and rebellious towards God as those you denounce. You give God lip service while at the same time, you use His name to promote your own agenda.

By your actions you sully the name of Christ, by your words, you misrepresent God.

REPENT NOW

Are you SAVED or just SORRY?

Brannon Howse over at Worldview Weekend wrote a good piece about what it is to be saved. As I am an “ex-false-convert” I can sympthaize with what he says. Read it and ponder his points, what about you? Are you just “sorry” and not “saved”?

On Being Sorry, Not Saved

By Brannon S. Howse

In several books, from the Worldview Weekend platform, and in various articles you’ve hopefully read here, I’ve sounded the alarm about the sorry state of the worldviews of many evangelical Christians. Numerous studies-perhaps the most stunning of which was done by the Southern Baptist Church of its own youth-reveal that the lifestyles, values, and the resulting worldview of most of those that attend “evangelical churches” is no different from the world and that a large majority of students leave the church after graduating from high school, never to return.

While the studies reveal the problem, they don’t explain what has caused it, but I believe I know. The root is that our churches are filled with false coverts. And it’s a problem I identify with all too readily because, despite being raised in a Christian home, taught in a Christian school, and a member of a Bible-believing church, I was a false convert myself until I was an adult. And the scary part of it is that it’s not all that hard to do!

I played the “game” (even though I didn’t know I was playing a game). I thought I was saved because I believed in Jesus Christ, had prayed the “sinner’s prayer,” walked the aisle, and had been baptized. I was “sorry” for my sins but it was not the kind of sorrow that produced repentance unto salvation.

My wake-up call came when I read the book of 1 John and recognized ten clear signs of a true convert but saw very few of those signs manifested in my own life. After searching the Scriptures further, I discovered the source of my dysfunctional attempt at Christianity in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10:

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

True repentance was missing from my heart and, hence, my life! “Godly sorrow” causes someone to turn and go in the opposite direction of a willfully sinful life. True repentance leads to a change in a person’s life, priorities, and desires, and it produces God-honoring fruit.

You see, many people say they believe in Jesus, but this does not make them saved. Recall that the Bible says demons believe in Jesus (James 2:19) but so what? It’s not a saving belief.

Too often people say they are saved because they are sorry for the bad things they do, but they continue to willfully practice sin (can you say “Sunday Christian”?). The 2 Corinthians passage makes clear that there is a worldly sorrow that leads to death and another, godly, sorrow that produces repentance leading to salvation.

What really caught my attention and caused me to realize I was not a good person, that I was totally depraved and deserved hell, was when I encountered the Biblical teaching and doctrine of the moral law or the Ten Commandments. That made me realize only a godly sorrow that leads to repentance and salvation would do. The moral law revealed my true condition-my extreme sinfulness and depravity.

Sadly, repentance is not a Christian doctrine we hear taught often enough (many churches never teach it), and as a result, the church is filled with false converts. This dire reality should concern all of us. Scripture is forthright about how important this is:

• The word “repent” and its various forms is used over 100 times in the Bible.

• John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2).

• Jesus preached this same message of repentance. Mark 1:14, 15 says, “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’”

• In Mark 6, Jesus sends out the 12 disciples two by two. Verse 12 states, “So they went out and preached that people should repent” (italics mine).

Every day 150,000 people step off into eternity, and a frightening percentage of them fall into eternal judgment. And many who wind up under judgment are likely shocked when they realize their situation. Many will have thought they lived a good life as defined by today’s standards. They went to church, perhaps even walked the aisle and got baptized. Some even taught Sunday school. But Jesus warned us this would happen:
<i>”Not everyone who ^psays to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will ^qenter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who ^rdoes the will of my Father who is in heaven. ^On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not ^prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ^And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, ^you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)</i>

I thank God someone once spoke doctrine into my life, revealed the true condition of my heart and mind, and declared Code Blue for my soul. It’s time for the American church to declare Code Blue and return to teaching sound Biblical doctrine-to our children, teens and adults-because hearts and minds are at eternal risk.

If you agree that this is a series issue facing the American church then would you please join us in promoting the FREE, Code Blue Rallies we are holding in 8 cities this fall?

Complete details can be found at www.codebluerally.com

We would also invite you to order our Worldview Weekend Family Survival Kit. Complete details are at this link.

http://www.worldviewweekend.com/survivalkit.php

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^p [Hos. 8:2]

^q [John 3:3, 5]

^r ch. 12:50

Repent! (that’s a dirty word)

Here is a video from Pastor Mark Keilar.

He talks about the elimination of the “first part” of the gospel from our modern preaching…the myth of Jesus preaching a different message than the OT.

God Knows

I’m reposting this from over at Hip and Thigh.

We can all talk the talk when things are going well for us, but when we get hit with something like terminal cancer…can we keep our theology honest?

A dear friend of ours just learned recently she has cancer. She goes in this week for a battery of tests to determine how bad the cancer is and if it is treatable. Her doctor says it looks to be in advance stages.

My wife and I have known her and her husband for years. We all attended the same singles group 10 years ago before any of us were married. Her and her husband have four young children. Our kids are in Awana together with their kids and she is an integral part of the pre-school program at our church.

A glum spirit of melancholy has descended upon her immediate friends because of the thought of what all this could mean for her and her family. She is young, a loving wife and mother of four small children, and a devoted Christian.

Yesterday while driving home after church, my wife recounted a conversation she had with another gal who is a mutual friend. My wife came out of the nursing room and saw this gal sitting alone on a bench weeping over the plight of their friend. they start talking about her situation, what will happen if she dies, who will raise the children, that sort of thing. However, during the course of the conversation, this gal says to my wife in passing, “God knows.”

My wife asked, “What do you mean when you say, ‘God knows?’” Her friend replied, “What do you mean?”

My wife continued, “Do you mean that God knows, like He knows about gas prices being too high, or that He knows, because He is intimately involved in her situation?”

This gal comes from a charismatic background where the idea is taught that any sin, suffering, sickness, and trial, is the doing of the devil. In this theology, God would never do anything bad to His children. Her and her husband have been at our church for a few years and they are slowly retraining their minds to think biblically in this area.

She responded to my wife’s question by asking, “Are you saying God gave her this cancer?”

My wife, who never ceases to amaze me with her ability to counsel theologically, replies,

“Yes, and not only that, it is good.”

I only wish I could capture the inflection of her voice when she said this to me.

Her friend, taken aback just a bit, responds, “How is cancer good?”

“It is good,” my wife replied, “Just like when it pleased the Lord to crush His son for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:10). He was glorified in the crushing of Jesus.”

“But she could die and leave 4 children without a mother and a young man without a wife,” her friend stated.

“Of course we don’t know that; we have no idea what God will do,” My wife replied. “But we will see God’s character put on display, and your personal faith is already being stretched and forced to grow as you see God at work in her life.”

As my wife re-told her interchange with her friend, it caused me to think on practical terms, especially when we dialog with each other on matters of personal faith and the daily ins-and-outs of the Christian walk.

There have been many times I have said in passing, “God knows,” as I contemplated a trial of a friend or some other serious situation. I am sure many of us have. We will say “God is in control,” “God is sovereign,” etc., but have we honestly thought through the theology of these oft repeated Christian platitudes?

There is a lot packed into those two words, “God knows.”

The question is, do we genuinely believe and live out what those two words imply?