Grace

"Grace is never exercised at the expense of righteousness. Grace upholds rather than ignores our responsibilities toward God and toward our neighbor. The grace of God that bringeth salvation, teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:12)."

~ Arthur Pink, “Gleanings in Genesis”

Andy Stanley Says Christianity Doesn't Hang By The Thread of the Bible

More demonic attacking of Scripture, this time by Andy Stanley, as Bud Ahlheim from Pulpit And Pen reports:

You don’t need to “repent and believe” to be “a part” of Andy’s church. There’s no need to be born again, or even profess to be. As with last week’s message, Stanley reaffirms that you don’t even need the Bible.

“Christianity does not exist because of the Bible. It is the other way around. The reason there is the Bible is because of Christianity. And this is one of the concepts that so many people outside our network of churches have a hard time understanding.”  Andy Stanley

Pointing to the audience before him, Stanley says, “I think that you get it.” Why do people in Andy Stanley’s church understand his denial of Scripture as a valid presuppositional apologetic intended to bring back to church membership people who left church because they were obviously not Christian to begin with?

“Because you’re above average intelligence if you attend one our churches, okay? You get this.”  Andy Stanley

His straight-faced delivery of this line, gathering some chuckles from the crowd, yet reflects Stanley’s response to the critics who have challenged his denial of Scripture. He and his Northpoint crowd know something others don’t. “But at some point,” he says, “we need to grow up and see this the way it actually is. And the great news is that Christianity does not hang by the thread of the Bible.”

~End quote. Pulpit And Pen blog

Wrong, Stanley!

1Pe 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, 25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you. (Peter is quoting Is. 40:6-8).

Mat 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Stanley's in "good" company though:

Michael  Patton of Credo House and author ofThe Theology Program (is your church using this program?):

Quote:

I believe that the Scriptures could contain error and the Christian faith remain essentially in tact. Why? BecauseChristianity is not built upon the inerrancy of Scripture, but the historical Advent of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Christ because man, lived a perfect life, died an atoning death, and rose on the third day not because the Scriptures inerrantly say that these events occurred, but because they did in fact occur. The truth is in the objectivity of the event, not the accuracy of the record of the event. 

Let me take this one more step further. The fact is that we don’t even need the Scriptures in order for Christianity to be true.Remember, the Christian worldview is Christocentric (centered around the Advent of Christ), not bibliocentric (centered around the Bible). 

Not only is it true that Christianity is not dependent upon inerrancy, inspiration, and recording of the events, but it is also not reliant upon our knowledge of the events.

~ "The Inerrancy and Sole Authority of Scripture Attacked by Peter Enns (former Westminster Theological Seminary Professor), Greg Koukl (Stand To Reason), and Michael Patton (The Theology Program)"

As to Stanley's flattery of the intelligence of his audience:

Rom 16:17  Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

Rom 16:18  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 

How They Sneak In Among Us

Wicked men will always raise up dissension by way of error and self-exaltation through the back door, while claiming, at the front door, that they and their systems are the remedy.

~Biblical Christ Research Institute

If It's Not In Scripture, Reject It

If anything should occur in your own mind in vision which is not already revealed in the Book of God, put it away, it is an idle fancy.

~Spurgeon

Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

2Co 10:5  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and

take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Col 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:4 I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument.

1Co 1:19  For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." 

1Co 1:20  Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 

1Co 1:21  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 

Living Between Two Worlds

"There are some who have been brought up under the protection and sanctifying influence of a godly home. Later, they go out into the world, and are apt to be dazzled by its glittering tinsel and carried away by its apparent happiness. Their foolish hearts hanker after its attractions and pleasures. They are invited to participate, and are sneered at if they hesitate. And only too often, because they have not grace in their hearts, nor strength of mind to withstand the temptations, they are drawn aside, heeding the counsel of the ungodly and standing in the way of sinners. True, they cannot altogether forget their early training, and at times an uneasy conscience will move them to read a chapter out of the Bible and to say their prayers; and so they halt between two alternatives and vainly attempt to serve two masters. They will not cleave to God alone, relinquish all for Him and follow Him with undivided hearts. They are halters, borderers, who love and follow the world, and yet retain something of the form of godliness....If the Lord be God, follow Him as He bids, and trust Him for all needed grace."

~ Arthur Pink, "The Life of Elijah"

1Ki 18:21  Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word. 

To Come To Christ

"To come to Christ for life, is for the sinner to abandon his own righteousness and be ready to be made the righteousness of God in Christ; it is to disown his own wisdom and be guided by His; it is to repudiate his own will and be ruled by His; it is to unreservedly receive the Lord Jesus as his Saviour and Lord, as his All in all."

~ Arthur Pink "The Sovereignty of God"

The Minimum Christian

The minimum Christian is not clear on a number of points. He cannot see the harm in this, or that, or the other popular amusement. There is nothing in the Bible against it. He knows several excellent persons who do so--at least, so he says. Why should not he? He stands so close to the dividing-line between the people of God and the people of the world--that it is hard to say on which side of it he is actually to be found.

Ah, my brother, are you making this attempt? Beware, lest you find at last that in trying to get to Heaven with a little religion--you miss it altogether; lest without gaining the whole world--you lose your own soul. True godliness demands self-denial and cross-bearing--and if you have none of these, you are making a false profession!

~Spurgeon

Rev 3:15  'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 

Rev 3:16  'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 

1Ki 18:21  Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word. 

The LDS Church Supports Muslim Immigration

I post this because of the LDS's liberal agenda which spawns from it's cult history. Their story was that they were endlessly persecuted and forced to wander and ended up in Salt Lake City. The truth is that they are a cult and their beliefs were (and are) outlandish, including polygamy.*

"Mormons worship the US Constitution and its guarantee of religious liberty. Radical Islam is the number one enemy of religious liberty in the world today. " - Tom Tancredo on Breitbart

This is a good point, as well:

 It is an open secret in Washington, D.C. that the Mormon church supports open borders and lax enforcement of immigration laws. Many Mormon politicians have been supporting amnesty and open borders for decades. 

The media is suddenly full of stories on Trump’s “Mormon problem.” According to the mainstream media, Trump’s call for “extreme vetting” of Muslim immigrants in his foreign policy speech kicked open a hornets’ nest of Mormon concerns about “religious tolerance.”
ISIS leaders must be rolling in the mosque’s aisles in uncontrolled laughter over the Mormon concern over Muslim immigration, considering that religious liberty is the first casualty wherever radical Islam and Sharia are enforced.
Under Sharia law enforced by orthodox Muslims wherever they have the power to do so, religious liberty is defined as giving Christians and Jews and other “infidels” a choice: either convert to Islam, pay the “Jizya” tax, or die. That is religious liberty under Islam, and it bears no resemblance to the religious liberty guaranteed by the US Constitution.
Trump is advocating a new policy of vigorous, effective screening of Muslim refugees and immigrants to identify likely Islamist terrorists and bar their admission to our country. So, how did a ban on admission of likely terrorists become a war on religious liberty? Once you find a good answer to that question, my friends, you will have discovered the answer to the riddle of political correctness run amok.

The truth is that not only does the Constitution NOT prohibit immigration restrictions on persons holding beliefs hostile to public safety and national security, there are several US Supreme Court decisions upholding Congress’s and the President’s powers to put the nation’s safety and security ahead of any alleged universal right of foreign nationals to enter the United States. 

                      ~Tom Tancredo at Breitbart

* Brigham Young ordered the massacre of 150 non-Mormon immigrants. This became known as the Mountain Meadows massacre. Young ordered Bishop John D. Lee in 1877 to murder a wagon train of helpless immigrants.- Wikipedia (also reported elsewhere)

Liberal Salon: GOP should dump God in order to be relevant

Breitbart reports:

Salon Magazine has accused the Republican Party of being out of touch with “post-Christian America,” warning the GOP that if it doesn’t renege on its alliance with Christianity, it will soon become irrelevant.

Ted Cruz’s failure to get the GOP nomination, Matthew Sheffield proclaims in Salon, “is a perfect window into trends that will set the pace of American politics for decades to come: Americans are moving away from Christianity, including people most likely to vote Republican.” 

And while Sheffield rightly notes that atheists overwhelmingly vote Democrat, he comes up with the unlikely conclusion that Republicans should slough off their historical friendliness with religion in order to keep up with social trends. In other words, Republicans should repeat the Democrats’ mistakes of alienating the pro-life community, religious believers, and traditional families in the hopes of pandering to the relatively small group of religiously unaffiliated.

While observing that “the religiously unaffiliated appear to have a real preference for Democrats,” Sheffield insists that Republicans could cut into the Democrats’ voter base if they would just abandon the illusion that Americans still care about God.

“While secular people have always favored Democrats for as long as the data goes back,” Sheffield says, “the situation has actually become even worse in recent years for the GOP.” 

If the GOP would just sell its soul and dump its religious constituency, Sheffield suggests, things would go a whole lot better. This includes a full embrace of same-sex marriage and other positions at odds with Biblical morality, in the name of political expediency.

End quote.

For the liberals over at Salon to want to help the GOP win, that is suspect entirely. The DNC kicked God of their platform in the last election or two. But with that said, there is some truth in there, although not for Salon's reasons. The truth is, is that the GOP is indeed becoming more of a farce of conservative values, much less Christian ones. The candidates they offer, their pundits and their leaders are increasingly hostile to absolute truth. That the GOP is increasingly sodomy, illegal immigration, abortion, socialized medicine friendly shows this. I do believe in most ways the GOP's God-friendly platform is indeed more political than heartfelt, but the sneering of any acknowledgement of God within the GOP party is arrogant. Let's just say that Romans 1 has already happened to the DNC--at least with the GOP there's a semblance of acknowledging God exists. Some within the party haven't yet wholly been turned over to their hardened hearts and seared consciences. For how long, who knows.  Politics are indeed a spiritual issue--even a spiritual battle.  

But I'll pose a question: how many churches will go this route? Campus Crusade For Christ has already dumped "Christ", and now is just called "CRU". Churches are becoming doctrinally vague in order to embrace all sorts of people. So what we see in politics, we'll see happen in the churches, as they typically parallel the political arena.

Princeton's HuMAN Resources Department Bans "Man" From Vocabulary

The College Fix reports:

The Princeton University HR department has largely wiped the word “man” from its vocabulary.

The relatively new policy in effect at the Ivy League institution spells out the directive in a four-page memo that aims to make the department more gender inclusive.

Instead of using “man,” employees are told to use words such as human beings, individuals or people.

~The College Fix

Of course, this has been enacted in the state of California for some time now. But it goes to show two things: 1) Princeton is full of non-thinking people, who are puppets for their ridiculous man-hate, and 2) this is the goal of ancient gnostic feminism, which is really hatred toward God, His creative order, and His Word.

"There is a radical difference between desiring to be delivered from a world of disappointment and sorrow and a longing to be delivered from this body of death in order that we may be present with the Lord. The latter was the case with the Apostle when he said, “having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phi 1:23). A desire to be freed from abject poverty or a bed of languishing is only natural, but a yearning to be delivered from a world of iniquity and a body of death so that we may enjoy unclouded communion with the Beloved is truly spiritual. One of the greatest surprises of our own Christian life has been to find how very few people give evidence of the latter. The majority of professors appear to be so wedded to this scene, so in love with this life, or so fearful of the physical aspect of death, that they cling to life as tenaciously as do non-professors. Surely heaven cannot be very real to them. True, we ought to submissively wait God’s time, yet that should not preclude or override a desire to “depart, and be with Christ.”

~ Arthur Pink, "The Life of Elijah"

Desperate, dishonest, deviant: homosexual You Tuber is a faker and a liar

Popular homosexual YouTuber Calum McSwiggan reportedly faked an alleged hate crime attack on himself in West Hollywood on Monday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen,” he claimed. “With three broken teeth and six stitches in my forehead, I’ve never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye.

Captain Holly M. Perez of the West Hollywood Police Station claims that they “were unable to substantiate the assault” and that McSwiggan “had no visible injuries” at their time of investigation. Police soon arrested McSwiggan however after he was seen by deputies vandalizing a car, and the YouTuber ended up being processed with a mugshot and given a cell for the night.

West Hollywood Police officers “then observed [McSwiggan] injuring himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone inside the cell.” After breaking his teeth and piercing his forehead, McSwiggan was quickly sent to the local hospital.

“Mr. McSwiggan’s booking photo was taken prior to deputies seeing Mr. McSwiggan injuring himself,” reported the police station in a statement to The Advocate, confirming the captain’s claims that McSwiggan was unharmed at the time of his arrest.

“I saw Cal screaming crying after the attack. He didn’t fake it,” wrote one of McSwiggan’s friends in a tweet, acknowledging that he didn’t witness the actual events.

~Breitbart

Desperate, dishonest, deviant.

Survey: excessive health problems among deviants

With nearly 69,000 participants, the survey revealed that lesbian, gay and bisexual adults "were more likely to report impaired physical and mental health, heavy alcohol consumption, and heavy cigarette use, potentially due to the stressors that (they) experience as a result of interpersonal and structural discrimination," researchers wrote online June 28 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

~Yahoo News

Sin has consequences. Trying to go against God's created order, suppressing the Truth with their unrighteousness (Romans 1), will have physical ramifications.  They blame those who reject their deviant behavior, for their physical problems which is irrational. The problem is enslavement to sin, and the solution is to repent of one's sins, confess one to be totally depraved with original sin, and cry out to God our Creator, for mercy and forgiveness. He is quick to forgive and save those who come to Him through Jesus Christ the resurrected Lord for salvation. Those whom HE sets free through faith in Christ Jesus alone by His blood, are made free indeed by Him.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom 1:19  because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Rom 1:20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Rom 1:21  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22  Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23  and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Rom 1:24  Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
Rom 1:25  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Rom 1:26  For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
Rom 1:27  and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

Rom 1:32  and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. 

Confidence In the Lord Himself

"If our confidence be fully placed in the Lord Himself, he will not fail us. He will stand by us, though no others do; He will deliver us out of the hands of those who seek our hurt; He will put to confusion those who set themselves against us; and He will honour us in the sight of those who have slandered or reproached us. Look not on the frowning faces of worldlings, O trembling believer, but fix the eye of faith upon Him who has all power in heaven and in earth. Be not discouraged because you meet with so few who are like-minded, but console yourself with the grand fact that if God be for us it matters not who is against us....Put yourself unreservedly in His hands, seek only His glory, and He will not fail you. Trust Him fully as to the outcome, and he will not put you to confusion."

~ Arthur Pink, "The Life of Elijah"

An Open Letter of Apology

An open letter from JD Hall:

There comes that moment – even for Christians steeped in conservative traditions – to recognize when the times have changed…and the times have changed. Taking a cue from other Christians who find a sense of closure in writing an open letter of apology to the gay community, I will follow suit and apologize for several things on behalf of not just myself, but my fellow Christians.

Dear Gay Community,

As a Christian who has been forced to evaluate where I stand in recent days in light of Scripture, in both tone and message, I would like to apologize for myself and other Christians…

Read it here.

Five Things That May Happen After Brexit

The UK will survive. Although British twitter seems to be lighting up with signs of panic, the UK’s self-governance stretches back centuries before the existence of many of Europe’s modern states. The notion that the country is incapable of governance without a bureaucratic superstructure from Brussels is simply silly.

~ "5 Things That Come Next After Brexit", Daily Wire

Brexit

Leaving the shackles of socialist and anti-semitism behind and on to self-rule and sovereignty once again.

 

Justice and Mercy Without True Humility

"If Christians were content with doing justly and loving mercy, but would cease walking humbly with God [Micah 6:8], they might go through the world, not only in peace, but with applause; but he that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). Such a life reproves the ungodliness of men and provokes their resentment."

~ Arthur Pink, "The Beatitudes"

The key is  humility before God. Most who claim Jesus' name have no humility before God. They have "no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom. 3:18). Therefore social justice without true humility before the Holy One of Israel who demands we be holy as He is holy, is nothing but fake humility. That is to say, it is pride. A form of godliness without His power and Spirit (2 Tim. 3:5).

Good News: abstinence among teens up 28% since 1991

And now for some good news:

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveals that nearly 60 percent of high school students today have never had sex – an increase of 28 percent since 1991.

In a press statement about the report, the American College of Pediatricians says the news “demonstrates clearly that Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA), or sexual abstinence, is a relevant message for youth and a goal they can achieve.”

In addition, the College says the CDC’s report also shows that Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) is “failing.”

“Teens who do choose to engage in sexual activity are using less birth control; sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise, as is adolescent depression, sometimes referred to as the emotional STI,” the College notes. “Sexual abstinence is the only behavior choice that offers adolescents 100% protection against the triple epidemic of depression, STIs and teen pregnancy due to early sexual debut.”

~Breitbart