Saturday, January 28, 2017

Personal Works Of Service or Diligent Study of God's Word?

"The tragic thing is that instead of the average young Christian studying diligently God’s Word so as to discover all the details of the divine will for him, he does almost anything and everything else. Many a one engages in “personal work” or some form of Christian “service” while his own life remains full of things displeasing to God! The presence of those displeasing things in his life hinders God’s blessings upon his soul, body, and temporal affairs; and to him it has to be said: “Your sins have withholden good things from you” (Jeremiah 5:25).
God’s Word to His people is: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
But O how little of this “fear and trembling” is to be found anywhere today! Instead, there is self-esteem, self-confidence, boasting and carnal security."
~ Arthur Pink, "Practical Godliness"

Friday, January 27, 2017

The Sound Doctrine of Justification Is Inseparably Bound To Several Other Sound Doctrines

The doctrine of Justification is bound to over a dozen other doctrines, but here's a few:
Imputation, the resurrection of Christ, predestination, election, glorification, sanctification, propitiation, total depravity, the nature of God. 

These can't be divorced from each other.

Rom 4:22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
Rom 4:23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him,
Rom 4:24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
Rom 4:25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
Rom 3:26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Rom 3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Rom 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Rom 8:30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Sound Doctrine Is Bound Together And To The Trinity

Doctrines bound together and to the Trinity & therefore can't be divided:
1Co 6:11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 
1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

The law is a unit and can't be divided; doctrine can't be divided from each other:
Mat 22:36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"
Mat 22:37 And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
Mat 22:38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 
Mat 22:39 "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'
Mat 22:40 "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
Joh 10:35 "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

The sound doctrine of the resurrection isn't a non-essential. It is married to the doctrine of justification, imputation,eternal life, Scripture, and God's omnipotence:

Mat 22:29 But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.
Mat 22:30 "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Mat 22:31 "But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God:
Mat 22:32 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

Rom 4:22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Rom 4:23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him,
Rom 4:24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
Rom 4:25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Compromise Twice In Less Than 24 Hours

Mike Pence, the "solid Christian" participated in the inter-faith religious service. Already not 24 hours into the first term and the "Solid Christian" is compromising. See? It can't be done. You just can't be a true solid Christian and be in politics.



"Multifaith prayers include Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu invocations asking for aid for new president." - The Daily Mail

Photo source: the Daily Mail


There was also the inter-faith false teachers with their false gospels at the Inauguration yesterday. So really, twice within 24 hours fidelity to Christ has been rejected. And people say politics have nothing to do with religion?

So now it seems that strange fire (inter-faith religious services), along with women teaching men and abortion are acceptable even for Reformers/Evangelicals.

Isa 30:1  "Ah, stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;
Isa 30:2  who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

Isa 30:3  Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. 

Eph 5:11  Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 

Rom 3:8 And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just. 

1Th 5:22  Abstain from every form of evil. 

2Co 6:15  Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 
2Co 6:16  Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 
2Co 6:17  "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. 
2Co 6:18  "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.

Ezek 16 blasts both actual and spiritual harlotry.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Doctrine

To tamper with doctrine is to tamper with God. He is married to His doctrine, for it comes from His heart and bears His nature.

The sound doctrine of Scripture can no more be divorced from each other ("non-essentials") than one can divorce the Persons in the Trinity from each other.

Eph 4:4  There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5  one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6  one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

As a brother has rightly said, if you tamper with justification, you tamper with the Justifier; if you tamper with sanctification, you tamper with the Sanctifier.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Contending For the Hopeless Carrot On A Stick: seeking miracles as a quick fix

A popular worship song by Chris Tomlin summarizes the miracle seeker’s sentiments thus: 
Water You turned into wineOpened the eyes of the blindThere’s no one like youNone like you. . . .Our God is greater, our God is strongerGod You are higher than any otherOur God is Healer, awesome in powerOur God, Our God
These lyrics, while true, actually embellish the work of the Holy Spirit by distorting the purpose of miracles. There is a serious error penetrating the walls of Christ’s church that is leading people away from the true gospel into a false gospel of hopelessness. There are preachers and teachers who suggest that divine miracles are the primary purpose of the Christian faith and that contending for them should be our mission. This view is prevalent in the Word of Faith (WoF) and Prosperity Gospel camps. The carrot of hope in temporal miracles sells–it sells books, music, and speaking engagements. Notable proponents of this theology include Steven Furtick, Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, and many others. Biblical passages that are descriptive of a historical event are regularly twisted into a prescription for all people who will “activate” their faith in some way. Miracles, as opposed to Christ, then become the quintessential element of faith....
End quote.

Read the whole article here. He goes into what should be our focus.
Miracles are not a secondary issue to the deceived--why is it to most Evangelicals?

Matt Chandler is also in this group (he was extra special--he was given a prophecy that he'd pull through his brain tumor).

Expecting miracles, even demanding them from God, is just a way to skirt around the trials of life that He brings our way (trials will prove our faith or prove our illegitimacy). Sound doctrine is to be held on to especially in times of trials so that by His grace through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we grow into a mature man in Christ. Skirting around difficulties at best is asking to retard growth and forever be immature which will lead to divisions, arguing, etc. 1Ti 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 1Ti 6:4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 1Ti 6:5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

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. 

Warning: The 2017 Reformation 500 Together for the Gospel Conference

The 2017 Reformation 500 Together for the Gospel Conference will be held in Hamburg, Germany, on April 27-29. The Conference will feature notable speakers from the U.S. as Albert Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever and David Platt. The event is sponsored by Evangelium21, an organization that dubs itself  “a network of Christians who base their faith firmly on Jesus Christ and His grace.” 

Evangelium21 is directed by two other notable speakers at the Conference, Matthias Lohmann, and Ron Kubsch. Now here is where I have concerns. Lohmann and Kubsch are both under the academic leadership of a man named Thomas Schirrmacher at Martin Bucer Seminary. Most of you have probably never heard of this Schirrmacher. But to say the least, this is a dangerous man who has made ecumenism and kissing the feet of the pope his mission in life...

In 2014, Schirrmacher, along with well-known Word of Faith charlatans Kenneth Copeland and James Robison and several others met with the pope of Rome for a three-hour luncheon...

Men such as Mohler, Platt, Dever, and Duncan, and others such as John MacArthur and Paul Washer who have had various dealings with him shall be compelled to do their due diligence before partnering with this worker of lawlessness or anyone under his academic leadership. This man does not have the best interest of the church at heart.

End quote.

~Pulpit and Pen

Please read the whole article as it has more specifics.

Psa 26:1  A Psalm of David. Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. 
Psa 26:2  Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart. 
Psa 26:3  For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth. 
Psa 26:4  I do not sit with deceitful men, Nor will I go with pretenders. 

Psa 26:5  I hate the assembly of evildoers, And I will not sit with the wicked. 

2Co 11:3  But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 
2Co 11:4  For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 

Faith Not Excitement

Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement.' 

- Charles Spurgeon

That isn't true for most Evangelical churches today. It's quite the opposite. It's about entertaining the masses with "awesome" and relevant music, easy messages, self expression, felt needs, and social justice. It's about as wrong as you can get. 

Cowards Never Won Heaven

Cowards never won heaven. Do not claim that you are begotten of God and you have His royal blood running in your veins unless you can prove your lineage by His heroic spirit: to dare to be holy in spite of men and devils.

~ William Gurnall

True and encouraging. People who hide behind men and fight against sound doctrine, fight according to the flesh and fancy themselves as brave. They think they're suffering for the Lord, but it's totally false and they take no hits from the enemy; they are the enemy.



Rev 21:6 Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. Rev 21:7 "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. Rev 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."


There is no such thing as earnestly fighting for the faith by proxy. If you personally don't do it, you need to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. All doctrine is to be earnestly fought for because all biblical doctrine is from the mouth of God. If He holds His word above everything, then we who claim His name, should as well. Otherwise we're committing insurrection.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Non-Essentials You Say?

Some will say, “You make too much of non-essentials.” That is a thing I frequently hear—non-essentials! There are certain things in Scripture, they tell us, that are non-essentials, and therefore they are not to be taken any notice of. Doctrinal views, and the Baptism of Believers, for instance—these are non-essential to salvation, and therefore, is the inference which follows according to the theory of some—we may be very careless about them!


Do you know, Believer in Christ, that you are a servant? And what would you think if a servant should first wittingly neglect her duty, and then come to you and tell you that it is non-essential? If she should not light the fire tomorrow morning, and when you came down, she were to say, “Well, Sir, it is non-essential; you won’t die though the fire is not lit”—or if, when she spread the breakfast, there was no provision there but a crust of bread, and nothing for you to drink; what if she should say, “Well, Sir, it is non-essential, you know? There is a glass of water for you and a piece of bread—the rest is non-essential.” If you came home and found that the rooms had never been swept, and the dust was upon them, or that the bed had not been made, and that you could not take an easy night’s rest, and the servant should say, “Oh, it is non-essential, Sir; it is quite nonessential.”

I think you would find it to be non-essential for you to keep her any longer, but extremely essential that you should discharge her! And what shall we say of those men who put aside the words of Christ, and say, “His precepts are quite non-essential”? Why, I think because they are non-essential, they therefore become the test of your obedience! If you could be saved by them, and if they were necessary to your salvation, your selfishness would lead you to observe them; but inasmuch as they are not necessary to your salvation, they become tests of your willingness to obey Christ!
 

Charles Spurgeon, sermon #359

Evangelical Persecution of Godly Christians

Image may contain: 1 person, text

Do Not Be Surprised




It's All Essential

To assign various degrees of importance to the doctrines in Scripture is like trying to assign various degrees of importance to the three Persons in the Godhead. It can't be done. They are inseparably constrained to each other and to God Himself.

Friday, January 13, 2017

The Balsams of Scripture


The Scriptures are the sovereign oils and basalms; the preaching of the Word is pouring of them out.

— Thomas Watson

God Created Man on the Sixth Day

Day means day:

Exo 20:8  "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9  "Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
Exo 20:10  but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
Exo 20:11  "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Deu 4:32  "Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

Monday, January 09, 2017

Liberals Deny Reality

Isa 5:20  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! 

On social liberals, but this crosses both the social and religious sectors. This is what Evangelical liberals are like today, too. Biblical truth is God saying what reality is. Liberals deny this. That's why you have homosexuals, feminists, psychologists, evolutionists, social justice warriors running amuck in Evangelicalism. They deny the Truth.

They don’t believe reality is reality.

Is this fundamental. This is very key. If you want to understand why a Meryl Streep can think what she thinks and say what she says, or any of these other people — I don’t care if they’re actors, if they’re extreme left-wing commentators, if they’re just marchers on the street or what have you. Liberals believe that what you and I call “reality” is actually phony. They call it “a social construct,” meaning we in the majority have created this thing that we call reality, and its purpose is to define other people and to deny them access, equality, fairness, or what have you.

To them, reality is just as phony as anything else, because they believe that a majority has created this thing called reality so they can exclude others and so they can be an oppressive majority over him people. They think that reality is something mandated by a majority for their advantage. Take marriage. Their belief is that marriage is something created by a majority of people to deny freedom and equality to other people. They believe that little girls liking to play with Barbie when they’re growing, that’s not reality.

That is a “construct” that we in the majority have created in order to segregate and exclude others from our reality. Well, if you… I’m the mayor of Realville. I am. I swim in it. I am the champion of the literate, the literal, and reality. They think it’s phony. They think it’s something that we make up to deny them access to whatever it is that we call real, to whatever we call normal, to whatever — and by “we,” they make it “us versus them.” And so they think that since reality is phony, a social construct, that they can change it — and this is where they fall apart. They think they can change reality.

Look at outcome-based education: 2 + 2 = 5 until the kid figures out that it’s 4. So if you are of a mind that there is no reality, that it is the creation of your political enemies… Take whatever… Put in “reality” whatever you think. They don’t believe it’s real. They think we or somebody, some majority, created a set of circumstances that we call real and reality to exclude them. They then set about trying to change reality, and that’s what liberalism is.

Liberalism is the inability to accept what is for what it is, in the misguided belief that it isn’t real, that it’s the creation of an evil majority — and they set about trying to change it. This is why they’re never gonna be happy, because you can’t escape the real! You cannot escape reality, and you can’t change it. Gravity is real; you can’t change it. Take this out as far as it goes, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. 

The psychology world would call such people psychotic because they have lost touch with reality.

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. 

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. 

Rom 1:21  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 
Rom 1:22  Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 
Rom 1:23  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 

Eph 4:17  Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 
Eph 4:18  They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 
Eph 4:19  They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 
Eph 4:20  But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
Eph 4:21  assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 


God's Word Is True: Johns Hopkins Doctors Conclude Homosexuality Isn't Scientifically Proven

I told you this--never, ever disbelieve Scripture when it states that sodomy is the direct result of spiritual rebellion and not biology. Scripture also tells us how we were created, what our roles are (it's not complex whatsoever), how are relationships are to be, and what is the answer to the enslaving sin of sodomy. Science will never change the eternal truth of God's Word. Even when it seems like "science" says otherwise, IGNORE the science and stand solely on the Word. God will be sure that His Word prevails, as it always does.

Johns Hopkins Conclusion on homosexuality:
For questions that are easier to study empirically, however, such as those concerning the rates of mental health outcomes for identifiable subpopulations of sexual minorities, the research does offer some clear answers: these subpopulations show higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide compared to the general population.

Some of the most widely held views about sexual orientation, such as the “born that way” hypothesis, simply are not supported by science. The literature in this area does describe a small ensemble of biological differences between non-heterosexuals and heterosexuals, but those biological differences are not sufficient to predict sexual orientation, the ultimate test of any scientific finding. The strongest statement that science offers to explain sexual orientation is that some biological factors appear, to an unknown extent, to predispose some individuals to a non-heterosexual orientation.
The suggestion that we are “born that way” is more complex in the case of gender identity. In one sense, the evidence that we are born with a given gender seems well supported by direct observation: males overwhelmingly identify as men and females as women. The fact that children are (with a few exceptions of intersex individuals) born either biologically male or female is beyond debate. The biological sexes play complementary roles in reproduction, and there are a number of population-level average physiological and psychological differences between the sexes. However, while biological sex is an innate feature of human beings, gender identity is a more elusive concept.
In reviewing the scientific literature, we find that almost nothing is well understood when we seek biological explanations for what causes some individuals to state that their gender does not match their biological sex. The findings that do exist often have sample-selection problems, and they lack longitudinal perspective and explanatory power.

Yet despite the scientific uncertainty, drastic interventions are prescribed and delivered to patients identifying, or identified, as transgender. This is especially troubling when the patients receiving these interventions are children. We read popular reports about plans for medical and surgical interventions for many prepubescent children, some as young as six, and other therapeutic approaches undertaken for children as young as two. We suggest that no one can determine the gender identity of a two-year-old. We have reservations about how well scientists understand what it even means for a child to have a developed sense of his or her gender, but notwithstanding that issue, we are deeply alarmed that these therapies, treatments, and surgeries seem disproportionate to the severity of the distress being experienced by these young people, and are at any rate premature since the majority of children who identify as the gender opposite their biological sex will not continue to do so as adults. Moreover, there is a lack of reliable studies on the long-term effects of these interventions. We strongly urge caution in this regard.

~article

Who the authors of this study are:

Lawrence S. Mayer, M.B., M.S., Ph.D. is a scholar in residence in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a professor of statistics and biostatistics at Arizona State University.

He is a biostatistician and epidemiologist who focuses on the design, analysis, and interpretation of experimental and observational data in public health and medicine, particularly when the data are complex in terms of underlying scientific issues....(more at the link)
Paul R. McHugh, M.D. is University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was for twenty-five years the psychiatrist-in-chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital....(more at the link)

Friday, January 06, 2017

The Heresies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Liberalism is the belief that the Bible contains errors. It denies the infallibility of Scripture, which it very troubling. While being a heresy itself, it also opens up the door for other heresies. Bonhoeffer wrote on page 73 of Christ the Center,
‎”The Bible remains a book like other books. One must be ready to accept the concealment within history and therefore let historical criticism run its course. But it is through the Bible, with all its flaws, that the risen one encounters us. We must get into the troubled waters of historical criticism. Its importance is not absolute, but neither is it unimportant. Certainly it will not lead to a weakening, but rather to a strengthening of faith because the concealment within the historical belongs to the humiliation of Jesus Christ.”
When speaking of the creation account, Bonhoeffer claimed it was in error. He said,
“Here we have before us the ancient world picture in all its scientific naïveté. While it would not be advisable to be too mocking and self-assured, in view of the rapid changes in our own knowledge of nature, undoubtedly in this passage the biblical author stands exposed with all the limitations caused by the age in which he lived. The heavens and the seas were not formed in the way he says: we would not escape a very bad conscience if we committed ourselves to any such statement.” (Creation and Temptation, page 27) 

The sinlessness of Jesus is essential for the atonement. Without being sinless, His sacrifice would be insufficient and He would no longer be a perfect sacrifice. In fact, He would also cease to be God! To claim otherwise is a heresy I call Peccatheism. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Peccatheist. This can be read in Christ the Center page 109, where he claims,
“The sinlessness of Jesus fails if it is based upon the observable acts of Jesus. His acts take place in the homoioma sarkos. They are not sinless, but ambiguous. One can and should see both good and failure in them.”

~Brandon Hines, Pulpit and Pen 

Passion 2017: the dangers

Bud Ahlheim of Pulpit and Pen report on this year's Passion Conference which just wrapped up last weekend and it includes the doctrinal problems of not just the teachers, but musicians too (Chris Tomlin and Carrie Underwood), as well as a focus on "experience" which is the Evangelical's new definition of Christianity.
Among this year’s featured participants were the false teaching pastrix Christine Caine, the SBC’s resident recipient of revelation Beth Moore, and Hillsong New York’s “I’ve been on Oprah downplaying Christ” Carl Lentz.....
The pastoral presence of those who might have once been considered reliable, but who are now clearly off the rails of Biblical, doctrinal obedience – how exactly does one stand on a stage in a spiritual endeavor next to known false teachers when Scripture clearly says “avoid them”? (Romans 16:172 Corinthians 6:14-18) – included heavyweight of “Christian” hedonism, John Piper, and former-pastor-turned-conference-celebrity Francis Chan. Even 84-year-old Charles Stanley – father of the “Scripture isn’t important” Andy Stanley – made an appearance to pray with Giglio for the gathering, his appearance giving the explicit nod to the event and an implicit thumbs-up to its headliners.  These days, it seems, that enemy who appears as an angel of light is most often showing up cloaked in an evangelically-approved tunic of ecumenism.....
Given the parade of false teachers and doctrine-avoiding – and, in some cases, doctrine-denying – celebrity Christians across the Passion platform, it’s little surprise that attendees are clueless about the authentic Jesus who, with His Word, is exalted above all things, particularly in His Word. (Psalm 138:2)But, as one 21-year-old attendee to the conference said, “We all want the same thing – the experience.”   (Source)But experience doesn’t save.   Gospel Truth saves. It’s clear in Scripture … from the lips of our Lord, no less … “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  (John 14:6)  You’ll note He didn’t say, “I am the experience.”  A few chapters earlier in John’s Gospel, the Lord identified His disciples, not as those who had an “experience of the Truth to be set free,” but that they would “know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  (John 8:31-32)  That Truth is found by abiding in the Word.
End quote.
The report then deals with the doctrinal problems with the music, including Chris Tomlin and Carrie Underwood.

Monday, January 02, 2017

Piper's Journey Into Hedonism

"We must conclude that Piper's Hedonism is a man made philosophical system that comes from the ideas of C.S. Lewis and Blaise Pasqual. So called Christian-Hedonism is a Heretical Doctrine that has NO place in the Christian Church."- E.S. Williams- Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, England



Why C.S. Lewis was not a Christian. More of why Lewis was not a Christan.

Sunday, January 01, 2017

Unity and Truth

"Constantly we hear of proposals for unity and union . . . but what is the use of pretending where there can be none? There is another matter which needs to be thought of as well as unity and union, and that is TRUTH. To part with truth to show charity is to betray our Lord with a kiss. Between those who believe in the eternal verities and those who constantly cast doubt on them there can be no unity or union." 
 
C. H. SPURGEON 
The Sword and Trowel. 
(February, 1887). Page 91.