Thoughts For 2017

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Dealing With Guilt

"Has guilt been removed, removed, we mean, from the sinner who believes? Let the Scriptures answer: "As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psa 103:12). "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions" (Isa 43:25). "Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back" (Isa 38:17). "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:17).

But how could guilt be removed? Only by it being transferred. Divine holiness could not ignore it; but Divine grace could and did transfer it. The sins of believers were transferred to Christ: "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa 53:6). "For he hath made him to be sin for us" (2 Cor 5:21).......And because he is "in Christ" there is, therefore, no condemnation for him (Romans 8:1). Hallelujah!"

~ Arthur Pink, "Comfort for Christians"

RC Sproul Jr., James White's Son-in-law Thad Pinch, and Clayton Jennings

2Pe 2:2  Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

RC Sproul Jr. has been caught by the arm of the law for violating multiple laws and most importantly, endangering other people's lives, namely his two children who were in the car with him while he was DUI by twice the law's limit. The report is here. His blood alcohol level was .175 and he failed the sobriety test, unable to walk without assistance and was driving erratically, at one point hitting a curb.

The article includes some information about Sproul's pattern of drinking and his identity with alcohol (he calls is a "freedom" which he has paraded around for decades).

Sproul Jr. was caught having set up an account at the adultery website Ashley Madison last year. He was suspended from Ligoniers for several months, but in July had resume teaching.

More history of Jr's drinking here.

Sproul Jr's defrocking because of fraud and spiritual abuse here.

James White of Alpha And Omega ministry and The Dividing Line online radio show:

As Christian Research News reports:

"In June, Christian News Network ran a piece entitled Tattoos For Jesus?  Group Raises Funds For “Church Plant” By Tattooing Members, Sampling Booz. The group mentioned is Apologia Church in Tempe, AZ.  JD Hall of Pulpit & Pen blogged about this in When “Reformed” Theology is a Cloak for Debauchery.  Seth Dunn of P&P followed up on JD’s article with A Dash of Discernment and a Pinch of Aggravation: James White and Daughter Respond to Negative Coverage of Apologia Church.  Dunn revealed the following..."

Further, according to Christian News Network:

One of the men at the center of a controversial online video featuring a young man obtaining a tattoo and vaping at a fundraising effort for the tattoo artist’s part in their group’s proposed church plant is now back in rehab after continued drug use, a public statement released by his elders outlines."The elders of Apologia became acquainted with the past sinful patterns in Thad’s life very early on,” the statement reads in part. “There were issues related to drug addiction and serial adultery that ultimately led to Thad going to a long-term Christian recovery program in Georgia."“Over the course of our time with them we had to confront instances of substance abuse which never ultimately stopped,” it outlines...Apologist James White, Pinch’s father-in-law, became especially vocal about the matter, advising that he had paid for Pinch’s tattoo, and that while he personally despises beer, he drinks part of a Smirnoff Ice each night as a sleep aid.End quote.

The elders at Apologia have advised Summer Pinch, the wife of Thad and daughter of James White, to divorce Thad:

"Pinch’s wife, Summer, co-hosts a theology podcast called “Sheologians,” which launched on iTunes on Sept. 29. On Sept. 30, she publicly posted to her personal Facebook page Apologia’s statement about the advisement to divorce."

CNN also further reported that Thad Pinch's father, Mike:

"He confirmed that his son, who had been in rehab approximately four years ago and had been involved at one point or another with bath salts, alcohol, cigarettes and vaping, went back went to rehab on Aug. 25 to obtain help for a continued drug addiction. Pinch stated that he had been concerned that the church environment Thad was in was not conducive to substance abuse recovery and regeneration.

James White's response is here.

The fact that leaders and parents are unwilling to see particular family members as unsaved while the evidence is clear, shows they have no discernment, no love for the soul of that person, no love for the Scriptures, no fear of God, and are violating the command to uphold the duties and obligations of the office of elder without partiality (1 Tim 5:21). 

1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7  but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 

1Jn 2:4  The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 

1Jn 2:5  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 

1Jn 2:6  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 

Also, in other news, Christian News Network has reported:
"Tony Nolan, the mentor to celebrity preacher Clayton Jennings, who requested prayer for Jennings in the self-described evangelist’s “Confessions” video admitting to sexual indescretions [sic]while in ministry, has announced that Jennings has ended the “repentance and renewal process” with him and has decided to use secular damage control services instead. Jennings has also removed the video featuring Nolan from his social media pages."
No accountability for this rebel who's wise in his own eyes but has been revealed by God to be a man enslaved to sin and darkness. Why did anyone think he'd come to his sense? Because they were presuming he was saved. What he needs is salvation.

When Christians Are In The Most Danger

Oh, believe me, Christians are not so much in danger when they are persecuted as when they are admired. When we stand upon the pinnacle of popularity, we may well tremble and fear. It is not when we are hissed at, and hooted, that we have any cause to be alarmed; it is when we are dandled on the lap of fortune, and nursed upon the knees of the people; it is when all men speak well of us that woe is unto us." 

~ Charles Spurgeon

Practical Christianity - When The Holy Spirit Approaches A Heart

"It is not simply that the Holy Spirit approaches a heart in which there is no love for God, but He finds it filled with enmity against Him.....And nothing but the almighty power of the Spirit can overcome that enmity and bring any rebel truly to love the God of Holy Writ."

~ Arthur Pink, "Practical Christianity"

This is absolutely amazing grace and mercy! THIS thought keeps the Christian humble before Him.

Rom 8:6  For the mind set on the flesh is death,

Eph 2:3  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 

Eph 2:4  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 

Eph 2:5  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 

Slandering God

I do believe we slander Christ when we think we are to draw the people by something else but the preaching of Christ crucified.
 
- Spurgeon

What Is Your Assurance and Peace Grounded On?

"Assurance and peace are to be found by resting on the Word of God. The ground of both is outside of ourselves. Feelings have nothing to do with either. Deliverance from judgment is by the Finished Work of Christ, and by that alone. Nothing else will avail. Religious experiences, ordinances, self-sacrifice, church membership, works of mercy, cultivation of character, avail nothing.

The first thing for me, as a poor lost sinner, to make sure of is, Am I relying upon what Christ did for sinners? AM I PERSONALLY TRUSTING IN THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST? If I am not, if instead, under the eloquence and moving appeals of some evangelist, I have decided to turn over a new leaf, and endeavor to live a better life, and I have “gone forward” and taken the preacher’s hand, and if he has told me that I am now saved and ready to “join the church,” and doing so I feel happy and contented — my peace is a false one, and I shall end in the Lake of Fire, unless God in His grace disillusions me.”

~ Arthur Pink, "Gleanings in Exodus"

Is All Well With You and the God of Scripture?

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Which Do You Want?

"They who do not yearn after holiness of heart and righteousness of life are only deceiving themselves when they suppose they desire to be saved by Christ. The plain fact is, all that is wanted by so many today is merely a soothing portion of their conscience, which will enable them to go on comfortably in a course of self-pleasing which will permit them to continue their worldly ways without the fear of eternal punishment."

~ Arthur Pink, "Practical Christianity"

"INDEPENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY"

To be pampered, flattered, and applauded by men,

is a poor, base thing, that is not worth having.

To be despised, to be spit upon, to be caricatured, and to
be jeered, is the highest honor that a Christian can have.

~ Spurgeon

The Bible

"The Bible is no lazy man's book! Much of its treasure, like the valuable minerals stored in the bowels of the earth, only yield up themselves to the diligent seeker."

~ Arthur Pink, A Fourfold Salvation"

Oh But God Sees And Will Act

"The sinner sees little cause for alarm and fails to apprehend his imperative need of promptly accepting Christ as his Saviour. He imagines himself secure. He goes on in his sin, and because judgment against an evil work is not executed speedily he increases in his boldness against God. But God's ways are different to ours. There is no need for God to be in a hurry - all eternity is at His disposal. He is in no haste to execute judgment because He knows the sinner, cannot escape Him. It is impossible to flee out of His dominions! In due time every transgression and disobedience shall receive "a just recompense of reward."

~ Arthur Pink, "The Wrath of God"

Anti-Principles Principle

There is a spiritual war waging right now, more blatant than ever, but is being played out in our society by attacking values and principles.

“Rights have to exist in practice — not just on paper,” Clinton argued. “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”

Bank of America, not happy enough to have your money, is pushing the same anti-principles principle:
"Love Has No Labels successfully launched in 2015 encouraging audiences to examine their implicit biases—ones most people don’t realize they have—in order to promote acceptance of all people. We signed on to this campaign to demonstrate a commitment to fostering inclusivity for employees. We look forward to integrating Love Has No Labels into several of our upcoming employee and community events in 2016, starting with Pride Month in June." This is headed up by BofA's "Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer."

That they have such a useless and made up position with nothing but cultural realigning as it's objective is telling. That BofA also echoes Hillary's demand for changing values in order to get a behavior (sin) accepted , so blatantly is wrong. After all, they don't demand this of Muslims, do they? They don't demand this of themselves, do they (the reaction to Trump winning the presidential election is telling)? The only ones demanded to compromise are those with a different set of values.

Moreover, the God of Scripture, who is the God of Truth, has defined what love is and is not. After all, He is so characterized by true love, that His the God of love. He says:

1Cor. 13: ^6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

2Thes. 2: ^10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Heb 5:14  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice  to distinguish  good from evil. 

1Jo 1:6  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 

1Jo 2:4  Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

Mar 7:20  And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21  For from within, out

of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 

coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.23 All these evil things

come from within, and they defile a person."

Isa 45:19  I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

'Seek me in vain.' I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Joh 8:31  So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are

truly my disciples, 32  and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

1Jo 2:21  I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it , and

because no lie is of the truth. 

Then there is the "Frankenstein" commercial by Apple pushing "accept everyone who's not like you":

"The neck bolts as sockets for Christmas lights are just one of the strangely magical elements here. In fact, the whole setup is discordant—this isn't even Frankenstein's holiday—but that actually helps to build the sense of "otherness" that the spot is trying, at the end, to dispel.

It's beautifully shot, and the details are great—like the framed photo of Mary Shelley in Frankie's home. And the end line, "Open your heart to everyone," will be read far and wide as a plea for acceptance in a political climate where the core of that message is in dispute."
Again, where's the open heart speach to Muslims? To Hillary Clinton supporters? To the mainstream media? Ah yes, only the "deplorables" (that is, those who have an opposite worldview than the liberals) are called to compromise (presuming quite a lot about the hearts, values, and motives (not to mention lie about) of said deplorables). Who after all, has been rioting for a year now? Not law-abiding, hard working people like biblical Christians (who ,by the way, call upon Scripture's command to obey our government (unless it tells us to sin against God), to honor and pray for our leaders, and to work for an honest day's wage in order to take care of one's own family, and to have integrity in one's life).

Then there's Amazon's preaching:

"The ad features a priest and imam having a pleasant conversation over tea. As the the imam prepares to leave, both men remark at their sore knees, share a hug, and part ways. Afterward, they both take out their smartphones and buy the other knee braces through Amazon Prime.Amazon finds common ground between a priest and imam.

Amazon this week released an ad that appears to be a response to the 2016 presidential campaign.

While the ad is designed to promote the company’s Amazon Prime membership, its theme suggest it’s trying to achieve far more than additional Prime memberships. The ad features a priest and imam having a pleasant conversation over tea. As the the imam prepares to leave, both men remark at their sore knees, share a hug, and part ways. Afterward, they both take out their smartphones and buy the other knee braces through Amazon Prime. The ad ends with both the priest and the imam kneeling to pray while wearing the knee braces they received from the other via Amazon Prime."

This after the Orlanda jihad of a homosexual night club. This after countless jihads both foreign and domestic. What is ironic is that Islam can't nor is willing to coexist with the West, much less any non-Muslim religion. CAIR (and unidicted co-conspirator with terrorists), is working to get ignoramuses in the US and the West to think Islam is just a harmless religion like Roman Catholicism, which is a downright lie. Anyone who has read the quran, the hadith, and the history of Muhammad (this is a good short article on these things), as well as have been on top of the constant jihads worldwide, knows that this political religion is one of slaughter, not of peace. To be sure, both Roman Catholics and Muslims do indeed bow and worship the same god--the one who temporarily is at work in this world, that is, the devil--but not the true, Triune God of Scripture.

These blatant pushes for acceptance are ironic and really quite hypocritical because it's the same liberals who don't accept those with a diametrically opposing worldview, those who voted for Trump or Bush, those who are against abortion, those who are against Islam, and those who believe and obey the Bible openly and consistently. Such liberals are not just in our society at large but are part of American Evangelicalism specifically. While their hostility is merely a tad more veiled, it is there nonetheless. These are the liberals who constantly tell us to stop pushing our principles and beliefs and the Bible down their throats, yet they think they're entitled to do it themselves.

The Designs of Our Gracious Heavenly Father

"One of the principal designs of our gracious heavenly Father in the ordering of our path, in the appointing of our testings and trials, in the discipline of His love, is to bring us to the end of ourselves, to show us our own powerlessness, to teach us to have no confidence in the flesh, that His strength may be made perfect in our conscious and realized weakness."

~ Arthur Pink, "Gleanings in Genesis"

Gratitude

Singing

Many of you sang very prettily just now, didn't you? I wonder whether you would sing very prettily, if there were a stake or two in Smithfield for all of you who dared to do it? If you sang under pain and penalty, that would show your heart to be in your song. We can all sing very nicely indeed when every body else sings. It is the easiest thing in the world to open your mouth, and let the words come out; but when the devil puts his hand over your mouth, can you sing then? Can you say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him?" That is hearty singing; that is real song that springs up in the night. The nightingale singeth most sweetly because she singeth in the night.

~ CH Spurgeon Songs in the Night

One of the best quotes I've ever read by Spurgeon and it's extremely applicable more now than ever. Nearly all but the Remnant won't even stand for biblical Truth in these easy circumstances, much less sing truth to the King of kings and find joy in Him regardless of circumstances.

Don't Want A Constitutional Republic Electoral College? Here's why that's a dangerous idea

"I hope everyone who wanted to end the electoral college now understands why a direct vote for president is not a Republican government feature and is not in our best interest for true representation. The electoral college allows true representation across a broad and vast environment. Just look at this map and you will see that a direct vote would steal representation from most of the country and give it only to big cities and in only high populated areas. We can never abandon the electoral college and by doing so would eliminate the Republic and instill a direct true democracy which history has showed [sic]to us always exhauts [sic], commits suicide and dies. As it is now, trump [sic] lost the popular vote but won the electoral college. He would have lost in a direct election and 3/4 s of the country would not have been heard or represented." ~ Frank (Thomas Jefferson FB page)

Swallowed up in a worldly church!

(James Smith, "Man's Treatment of Gods People" 1859)

"If the world hates you—keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world—it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world—but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you!" John 15:18-19 

Such is the testimony of the Lord Jesus. 

Real Christians have never been favorites of the world—and while it continues what it is, they never can be. 

Nor can the pure and simple gospel be pleasant to the world, because it lays the sinner in the dust, and exalts God as supreme and sovereign. Let us not be surprised then, if we hear worldlings speak against the gospel, and traduce the Lord's people; for what the Romans told Paul, is in a good measure true in the present day, "For concerning this 'sect', we are aware that it is spoken against everywhere!" Acts 28:22

This 'sect' originated with Jesus, the hated Nazarene, who came into the world for its good, and to save His people from their sins. He gathered around Him many—but they were principally the poor and unlearned. There was nothing in them, or about them, to recommend them to the proud and sensual world. 
They were begotten of God, and made new creatures in Christ. 
They embraced the truth that He taught. 
They observed the precepts that He gave.
They copied the example that He set.

Their creed consisted pretty much in these facts: 
that man is a lost sinner, 
that salvation by works is impossible, and therefore it must be all of grace—or not at all; 
that the Lord Jesus came into the world to take the sinner's place, fulfill the law in the sinner's stead, and die as the sinner's substitute.

By such hopes, they were animated, 
by such rules, they walked, and 
at such objects, they aimed.

And yet, they were spoken against and despised, because they poured contempt on the luxuries, pride, and honors of this world. They were treated as the offscouring of all things, unfit for society, unfit to live. 

"Do not be surprised, my brothers—if the world hates you!" 1 John 3:13

And yet, like Israel in Egypt, the more they were persecuted, the more they multiplied and grew; until at length they spread not only over the Roman empire—but nearly over the world. And, had they retained . . .

  the simplicity of their lives,
  the spirituality of their minds, and
  the correctness of their creed—
they would no doubt have encircled the globe!


But at length they were . . . 
  courted by royalty,
  loaded with wealth, 
  became intoxicated with worldly honors,
and then their glory departed!

They drank into the spirit of the world, 
conformed to its maxims and customs, 
sought its approbation and applause—and 
so fell from their exalted station, and lost their real dignity. The 'sect' that had been spoken against everywhere, with the exception of a few—was swallowed up in a worldly church!  

There are still some, who, like the ancient sect of the Nazarenes, are spoken against everywhere. They will not swim with the stream. They will not compromise their Master's honor, or give up their Master's truth. According to the light they have—they walk; and they rejoice to exalt the Savior, humble the sinner, and proclaim salvation, all of grace. They rejoice that they are counted worthy to suffer shame, for His dear name.

Reader! Do you belong to this sect? Is there anything in your religion that is distasteful to the world, anything that draws forth its opposition, or excites its contempt? The carnal mind is still enmity against God, and if we are godlike—that enmity will manifest itself against us!

If we copy Christ's example, as set before us in the gospel; if we testify against the world, that its works are evil, and call upon it to repent, as Christ did—we shall soon be hated by the world!

Encourgement

(J. C. Philpot, "Faith's Standing-Ground" 1862)

"And everyone will hate you because of your
 allegiance to Me." Luke 21:17

Professors of religion have always been the 
deadliest enemies of the children of God. 

Who were so opposed to the blessed Lord as the 
Scribes and Pharisees? It was the religious teachers 
and leaders who crucified the Lord of glory!

And so in every age the religionists of the day 
have been the hottest and bitterest persecutors 
of the Church of Christ. 

Nor is the case altered now. The more the children 
of God are firm in the truth, the more they enjoy its
power, the more they live under its influence, and
the more tenderly and conscientiously they walk in
godly fear, the more will the professing generation 
of the day hate them with a deadly hatred. 

Encouragement

Spurgeon, "INDEPENDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY"
To be pampered, flattered, and applauded by men,
is a poor, base thing, that is not worth having.

To be despised, to be spit upon, to be caricatured, and to
be jeered, is the highest honor that a Christian can have.

To Recap

James Woods ‏@RealJamesWoods  58s

58 seconds ago

Now that #WhatsHerName has been relegated to the dustbin of political history, the list on the right is just a stunning lesson in hubris.

Oh the hypocrisy and lies of Hillary and the Lefties. Be sure your sins will find you out.

Thanks Famous Christian! Ed Stetzer Slams White Evangelicals & Calls For Racism

Old Ed Stetzer, the Emergent Church Movement leader cum TBN host and Life Way guru has some deep, biblical, and non-racist wisdom and insight for us. I'm so glad famous Christians can tell us how to think, believe, and act. I mean, their standard is so much higher than.....Scripture's. Here's what he said in his piece, "What Do White Evangelicals Owe People of Color in Trump’s America They Helped Create?"

As such, let me share six ways that White Evangelicals, among others, can respond.

First, if you’ve never spoken up about some of the offensive things that Trump has said, this would be a good time to apologize for that.

Second, if you are in ministry leadership, affirm (or begin) a commitment to developing a multicultural approach that more intentionally elevates people of color.

Third, we must all speak for—and sometimes even join—those who are marginalized.

          Fourth, we must embrace the refugee, the immigrant, and people on the move.

Fifth, we must speak up and quickly condemn any and all racist comments flowing out of this election.

Sixth, we must elevate non-Anglo evangelicals.

          ~Excerpts, Ed Stetzer, "Christianity" Today

You could not get more fleshly, more earthly, more unspiritual than that. Placing guilt upon a whole people that are not proven to be guilty is not only unjust, it is slanderous. To apologize for another man's sin is also wrong. To elevate anyone based on race is itself, racist. After admonishing racism among white Evangelicals, he turns around and pushes racism. Twice. 

Scripture, on the other hand deals with such fleshly, temporal, and divisiveness:

2Co 5:16  Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

Joh 6:63  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 

Php 3:4  although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more 

Php 3:5  circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; 

Php 3:6  as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. 

Php 3:7  But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 

Php 3:8  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 

Php 3:9  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 

Eph 2:11  Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--

Eph 2:12  remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

Eph 2:14  For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 

Eph 2:15  by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 

Eph 2:16  and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 

Eph 2:17  AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 

Eph 2:18  for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 

Eph 2:19  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, 

And how does Scripture describe such wisdom as that of Stetzer and those puppeting the same liberal, racist, socialist nonsense?

Jas 3:12  Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. 

Jas 3:13  Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 

Jas 3:14  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 

Jas 3:15  This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 

Jas 3:16  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 

Jas 3:17  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 

Jas 3:18  And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 

How Reagan Dealt With the Riots of Berkeley in 1969 (what he said may trigger the snowflakes)

How Reagan dealt with Berkeley students in 1969

Clayton Jennings: he's taking a hiatus but will be back

According to Polemics Report:

Well, it appears that the pressure is on, because now, Jennings has “postponed all events until further notice.”

Notice, Jennings hasn’t confessed to abusing his spiritual authority to promise a young lady marriage, meet her, lower her inhibitions with alcohol, commit fornication, and then give her the abortion pill and attempt to cover up the matter with ongoing deceit. Yet, he has postponed his events “until further notice.”

Other churches as well are telling people that he will reschedule those events in just a few, short months. These include, for example, Bedford Acres Christian Church, which expressed as much in an email to Pulpit & Pen admin, Tim Weakley.

End quote.

As usual, Evangelicalism will give him three months to "rehabilitate" and then he'll climb back onto the state. Like Driscoll, Swaggart, and others before him, these men are arrogant and refuse to be humble and repent.

This is why judgment is beginning in the churches by God Himself.

Don't Give Them Fair Names

Do not give fair names to foul sins. Call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter.

- Spurgeon

Faith and the Word of God

Faith which accepts one word of God & rejects another is not faith in God but faith in our own judgment, faith in our own taste - Spurgeon

It's also treason and arrogance by a self-proclaiming slave of the King to sit in judgment of the King's very own words.

Goodbye Highlights

According to the American Conservative,the popular children's magazine, Highlights, will start to feature homosexual parents in future editions. They are helping destroy God's design for families, society, and churches.

Time to reject the publication.

Photo source

Politicians

“You know what party politics are. We are all trying to [usher] in another set of maggots to eat the cheese; that is about all it amounts to; first turn out one lot, and then turn in another. It comes to little more than that. Even in the pursuit of really good matters of policy, do you know any Christian man who goes into politics who is the better for it? If I find such a man, I will have him stuffed if I can, for I have never seen such a specimen yet. I will not say, do not attend to politics; but I do say, do not let them spot you.”


~CH Spurgeon

Do You Pray For "Travelling Mercies" and "Hedges of Protection"?

“All studies done on the subject confirm that people have but a cursory knowledge of the Bible – at best. Rare are those who are willing to follow the Apostle Paul’s directive to “study to show themselves approved unto God.” (2 Timothy 2:15) Most are content with getting their theology from sound bites and sermonettes which have little, if any, grounding in Scripture.” Justin Peters

If you’ve spent any amount of time in an evangelical Sunday School, listening to prayer requests, and then, either being led in prayer or sharing a rotating prayer baton within the group, you’ve heard this supplication to the Lord.

“We ask for traveling mercies for …”

And then whoever is traveling gets a mention before the Lord.  Now, don’t read what I am NOT saying.  There is absolutely nothing wrong, unbiblical, or errant in praying for the safety, traveling or not, of our loved ones and friends.  Doing so is an expression of Christian love.

But “traveling mercies” prayers tend to slightly irk me on two fronts.  First, they seem to exude a subtle undertone, the slightest hint, about God’s insufficiency for His children, as though somehow He might not have noticed the long-distance conveyance of His own children and that, not knowing, He might forget to watch over them.  I mean, nowhere in the New Testament do we see an apostle asking for “traveling mercy” prayers. Paul, who it seems accrued the most first-century apostolic frequent-flier (well, frequent-evangelist) miles, never implored his epistle recipients to pray for him in this manner, and never do we see him – or any other New Testament writer – doing so for anyone else.....

But there’s another phrase that is rampant in the vernacular of evangelical intercessions, and it exudes a bolder sense of exhorting God to act, not in granting providential, temporal safety from the perils of the world, but beseeching Him for protection within the realm of the supernatural. That, of course, is … (insert drum roll here) … invoking the hedge of protection prayer.  

End quote.

~Bud Ahlheim, Pulpit and Pen

Go here for the full article.

These kinds of prayers are akin to the superstitious mantras of Charismaticism's "binding Satan", rebuking Satan, and "pleading the blood", and likewise most Evangelicals don't stop and think about what they are praying and if it's biblical. It's a good point that most accidents happen within 5-10 miles of one's home yet that's never, and I do mean never, included in such prayers. Worse, as the article suggests, it presumes a lack of faith in the providence of God and that what He ordains in our lives, including "bad" things, are meant for our good. Such prayers as these are really, when you think about it, prayers of doubt.

What's On Your Bookshelf?

Many, MANY churches have latched on to some of the most dangerous teachers in Christendom, and you’ll find the worst of the worst in the studies your women are doing.  We’ve been warning women’s ministries about several such teachers, which you can read more about in the links at the bottom of this article. One in particular is Jen Hatmaker. This past week, the famed author made a huge public affirmation of homosexual relationships. In the days that followed, LifeWay Christian Books pulled all of Jen and Brandon Hatmaker’s products from their shelves....

Pastors, can we finally once and for all purge Hatmaker’s anti-biblical influence from your women’s ministries?

Related Reading:

1. The Christian Woman’s Guide to Conversing With Bereans
2. “Woman, just try harder!”
3. War Room’s Priscilla Shirer’s Contemplative History, and Why It Matters
4. Leaving Lysa: Why You Shouldn’t Be Following Lysa TerKeurst or Proverbs 31 Ministries
5. Need help exchanging “whispers with God”?
6. Evaluating Beth Moore’s Upcoming Live Simulcast
7. Six reasons not to follow Christine Caine
8. Complementarian John Piper shares teaching duties with a woman?
9. Oleo on the buffet line is not what your women’s ministries need.
10. In Case You Were Wondering: Are Female Bloggers Violating Scripture by “Teaching” Men?

~Berean Research

Each one of these people including Ann Voskamp, Sarah Young, Ann Lotz, and Nancy Leigh Demoss are to be rejected.

The Golden Scepter Or the Rod of Iron

"The Lord has a golden sceptre and an iron rod. Psalm 2:9. Those who will not bow to the one, shall be broken by the other."

Thomas Watson

Php 2:9  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 

Php 2:10  so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

Php 2:11  and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
nor His ear dull, that it cannot hear,
but your iniquities have separated you from your God;
and your sins have hidden His face from you,
so that He will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue has muttered perversity.

No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.
They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spiders web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

Their webs will not become garments,
nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
and the act of violence is in their hands.
Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and destruction are in their paths,
the way of peace they have not known,
and there is no justice in their ways;
They have made themselves crooked paths;
WHOEVER TAKES THAT WAY SHALL NOT KNOW PEACE."

Isaiah 59:1-8

Music- from 200 A.D.'s Arius To Today's Hillsong and "Jesus" Culture

One of the worst heretics of all time, Arius  who lived in the 200's A.D. denies the deity of Jesus Christ. He spread his heresy through catchy tunes that everyman like sailors, travellers, and millers would like and that was one way he dispensed his spiritual hatred of Christ. Brandon Hines at "Pulpit & Pen" goes on to say this is the same with Hillsong today:

This expansion is problematic, as Hillsong teaches such dangerous doctrines as the Prosperity Gospel and what appears to be a Universalist view of the Atonement. They have scandalously compromised with homosexuals and provided shamefully immodest entertainment on their stages. Hillsong is a dangerous cult that should not be trusted to write songs for their own church, let alone songs that people sing worldwide.
Like Arius, Hillsong uses music that is pleasing to the ears as bait to ensnare the hearers further into their false doctrine. Hillsong isn’t the only cult that does this, though. Bethel Church in Redding, CA has written many songs like “One Thing Remains” that have been major hits, and their band Jesus Culture is a big hit in Contemporary Christian Music. However, once people are drawn in, they are taught that to believe in Biblical Sufficiency is Idolatry and introduced to a less-than-stellar view of the Trinity. 

~ "Enchanted and Ensnared By Music", Pulpit & Pen

My Politics - Letters of John Newton

From the Letters of John Newton
The whole system of my politics is summed up in this one verse, "The Lord reigns! Let the nations tremble!" Psalm 99:1

The times look awfully dark indeed; and as the clouds grow thicker--the stupidity of the nation seems proportionally to increase. If the Lord had not a remnant here, I would have very formidable apprehensions. But He loves His children; some are sighing and mourning before Him, and I am sure He hears their sighs, and sees their tears. I trust there is mercy in store for us at the bottom; but I expect a shaking time before things get into a right channel--before we are humbled, and are taught to give Him the glory.

The state of the nation, the state of the churches--both are deplorable! Those who should be praying--are disputing and fighting among themselves! Alas! how many professors are more concerned for the mistakes of government--than for their own sins!

Spiritual Warfare

Here is a new article from Pulpit and Pen on serious error in the War Room's theology and practice (which is the real theology of Pricilla Shirer and her father Tony Evans, as is with Charismatics worldwide), as discussed by Justin Peters and Jim Osman (this is part 2):

If you saw the 2015 “Christian” film War Room you might recall the scene described below by Justin Peters in his review of the movie.  (If you didn’t see the movie, you can safely skip it, as there is more to refute than there is to extol.)

In one of the more emotionally rousing scenes of the film, upon discovering her husband’s philandering ways, Elizabeth retreats to her war room. As she repeatedly cites to herself James 4:7b, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you,” indignation swells within her and she begins to talk to the devil. “No more, you are done! Jesus is Lord of this house and there is no room for you anymore! Go back to Hell where you belong and leave my family alone!” she shouts.”  Justin Peters

As Peters points out in his review, “there are at least two significant problems with this.” He correctly reminds readers that “Satan is not in hell,” though that’s a popular notion believed by many.  Peters reminds us that, according to 1 Peter 5:8, Satan is “prowling about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.”

Peters’ second point is much more important for believers to understand …

As Peters and Osman discuss, there are two broad views about spiritual warfare. The first – and Scripturally-correct – one is the truth view. The second, perhaps more prevailing, but no less erroneous, view is that spiritual warfare is about territory.....

End quote.

Go here for the full article.