The Virtual Church Isn't Church

Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 

Heb 10:24  and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 

Heb 10:25  not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 

Heb 10:26  For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 

Heb 10:27  but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. 

Scripture is clear about the necessity "all the more" of assembling together for fellowship with believers in the local church in order to courage one another as we see the day drawing near and keeps us accountable (disobedience calls for warning). This is the function of the local church which by Scripture, is defined as called out ones assembling together, under the leadership of elders and deacons, for the public reading of Scripture, teaching, preaching, use of spiritual gifts, prayer, doctrine, encouragement, laying on of hands of leaders, church discipline (which itself necessitates observing life as well as doctrine of both leaders and non-leaders), partaking of the Lord's Table, and baptisms. Virtual "church" necessitates no accountability at all either for the "pastor" or for the "member". In fact, it allows for great sin and disobedience (by refusing to obey the commands and by sin never seen by others). It also chokes the life out of the believers because by nature we are social beings and need true fellowship (which is based on sound doctrine).
Because of the Wuhan Virus (COVID 19) more Evangelicals are redefining "love", "church", "essential" "non-essential", and pitting Bible versus against each other as they shut down their churches for an indeterminable time as they rely solely upon the government for its commands.  Those "sound" churches who previously decried using livestreaming as "church"  and reserved its use only for those who are home-bound due to illness or the fragile elderly, are now are justifying this--"temporarily" as they qualify it. But now that they've justified it, they can't unjustify it. Their redefinition of "church" and "worship" is now in line with all the other churches whom they have looked down on as not as sound nor spiritual as they. Some even denounced multi-campus churches. Yet here they are, following the exact model out of pragmatism (same reason as those "lesser" churches). This is a spiritual battle, not a physical one. 

So now those who take the Word seriously and not as an option to be obeyed, are described as having a "melt down" by Evangelicals. Actually the biblical Christian is to fully & dogmatically obey the Lord's commands.

In a virtual church there’s no accountability between the people and the elders, testing them by observation of life and doctrine:

1Tim 4:11-16 “show yourselves an example” in “speech, conduct, love, faith, purity”
1Tim 4:13 public reading of Scripture, exhortation, teaching

1Tim 4:15 in all these things your progress needs to be evident to all

1Tim 4:16 pay close attention to yourself & doctrine, persevere in them, ensures salvation of your hearers (implies, observers)

You can’t provide for widows on the church list if you aren’t joined to a church, but rather your family is “church”and Scripture makes the difference between one's own widows and those in the church who have no family.  Also the requirements to be on the list demands observation of good works, show hospitality to strangers, washed the saints' feet, assisted those in distress, devoted herself to every good work (1Tim. 5:9-16) 

Elders can’t rule virtually therefore they can’t have double honor IF they rule well. It must be seen, and that happens in real life, not sitting behind a computer screen in from of a book case. Moreover, “ruling well” includes observerable behavior of whole life (marriage, family etc).1 Tim 5:17

You can’t deal publicly with a sinning elder if you can’t see the elder sin. The congregation can’t be in fear of sin if this does not happen. It also means that the congregation can’t be held accountable for their sin either, sin there aren’t witnesses. This is church discipline. 1Tim 5:19-21

Can’t lay hands upon leaders to lead because this demands observation of private life (1Tim3), and a physical act of the hands.1Ti 4:14,5:22

Interestingly, this quarantine has aided elders who dislike leading the sheep of God. For years it's been evident they hate it by way of refusing to deal with their own sin (brought to them by the sheep) or that of their church members (unless their hand is forced, or if it's a "trouble maker" who has pointed out their sin and compromise either doctrinally or practically; ie, they discipline the ones in line with Scripture and shield those who are definitely in sin). The sin of favoritism is one of the biggest unrepentant sins of church leaders EVER (James 2; 1Tim 5:21).

Self preservation is disguised in "protecting" ("love") others while disobeying the clear command to assemble together: 2Ti 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Derision of Christians seeking to obey the command of Christ while generous belief & obedience to a wicked government that denies church gatherings, demonstrates how truly close we are to the End.

Spiritual food is more important than physical food. Spiritual poison is worse than physical poison. Yet many Evangelicals are willing to "risk" their lives to get food from the market, but not "risk" their lives to get spiritual food. 

Spiritual health includes the Scriptures and fellowship (going back to Heb. 10 in the above passage, as well as other Scriptures like 1 Peter 1-2, Acts, etc). Persecution never stopped the believers from assembling together. In fact the Dispersion from Jerusalem (persecution) caused the creation of new believers and new churches. 

Col 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Col 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

Col 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Excellent Article On The Data of the Wuhan Virus With Reasonable Actions Suggested

The best, data-driven info I've seen (originally shared by Brit Hume), by Aaron Gin. 


Here's just a sampling of the information but the article has lots of graphs which are helpful as well.


Quote:

For all of March, the world has hovered around 1.1. This translates to an average daily growth rate of 10%, with ups and downs on a daily basis. This isn’t great, but it is good news as COVID-19 most likely isn’t increasing in virality. The growth rate of the growth rate is approximately 10%; however, the data is quite noisy. With inconsistent country-to-country reporting and what qualifies as a confirmed case, the more likely explanation is that we are increasing our measurement, but the virus hasn’t increased in viral capability. Recommended containment and prevention strategies are still quite effective at stopping the spread.

Bell curves is the dominant trait of outbreaks. A virus doesn’t grow linearly forever. It accelerates, plateaus, and then declines. Whether it is environmental or our own efforts, viruses accelerate and quickly decline. This fact of nature is represented in Farr’s law. CDC’s of “bend the curve” or “flatten the curve” reflects this natural reality...

To summarize, China, Singapore, and South Korea’s containment efforts worked because community-based and airborne transmission aren’t common. The most common form of transmission is person-to-person or surface-based...

True community spread involves transmission where people get infected in public spaces and there is no way to trace back the source of infection. WHO believes that is not what the Chinese data shows. If community spread was super common, it wouldn’t be possible to reduce the new cases through “social distancing”.

“We have never seen before a respiratory pathogen that’s capable of community transmission but at the same time which can also be contained with the right measures. If this was an influenza epidemic, we would have expected to see widespread community transmission across the globe by now and efforts to slow it down or contain it would not be feasible,” said Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of WHO.

To summarize, China, Singapore, and South Korea’s containment efforts worked because community-based and airborne transmission aren’t common. The most common form of transmission is person-to-person or surface-based.

Presence doesn’t mean infectious. The viral concentration falls significantly over time. The virus showed a half-life of about 0.8 hours on copper, 3.46 hours on cardboard, 5.6 hours on steel and 6.8 hours on plastic.

Due to COVID-19’s sensitivity to UV light and heat (just like the normal influenza virus), it is very likely that it will “burn off” as humidity increases and temperatures rise.

Released on March 10th, one study mapped COVID-19 virality capability by high temperature and high humidity. It found that both significantly reduced the ability of the virus to spread from person-to-person....

Age:

It’s already well established that the young aren’t particularly vulnerable. In fact, there isn’t a single death reported below the age of 10 in the world and most children who test positive don’t show symptoms. As well, infection rates are lower for individuals below the age of 19, which is similar to SARS and MERS (COVID-19’s sister viruses).

According to the WHO’s COVID-19 mission in China, only 8.1% of cases were 20-somethings, 1.2% were teens, and 0.9% were 9 or younger. As of the study date February 20th, 78% of the cases reported were ages 30 to 69. The WHO hypothesizes this is for a biological reason and isn’t related to lifestyle or exposure.

“Even when we looked at households, we did not find a single example of a child bringing the infection into the household and transmitting to the parents. It was the other way around. And the children tend to have a mild disease,” said Van Kerkhove.

According to a WSJ article, children have a near-zero chance of becoming ill. They are more likely to get normal flu than COVID-19...

93% of people who think they are positive aren’t

Looking at the success in S. Korea and Singapore, the important tool in our war chest is measurement. If we are concerned about the general non-infected population, what is the probability those who show symptoms actually test positive? What is the chance that the cough from your neighbor is COVID-19? This “conversion rate” will show whether or not you have a cold (another coronavirus) or heading to isolation for two weeks. Global data shows that ~95% of people who are tested aren’t positive. The positivity rate varies by country.

Based on the initial results and the results from other countries, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases will increase as testing increases, but the fatality rate will continue to fall and the severity case mix will fall.

In general, the size of the US population infected with COVID-19 will be much smaller than originally estimated as most symptomatic individuals aren’t positive. 93% — 99% have other conditions.

Globally, the US has a long way to go to catch up in testing. As testing expands, the total number of cases will increase, but the mild to severe case ratio will decline dramatically.

1% of cases will be severe

Looking at the whole funnel from top to bottom, ~1% of everyone who is tested for COVID-19 with the US will have a severe case that will require a hospital visit or long-term admission.

~Source and full article with all data

The Quarantine and the Lord's Church

Our government is telling us we can't congregate in groups of more than 10. Churches everywhere are shutting down. Why? Because they might get sick. Might. And even then, it's an upper respiratory illness, not leprosy. I believe that churches should continue gathering together for corporate worship including the teaching of Scripture, prayer, and use of spiritual gifts. We are to obey God not man. We are to trust God, not man. Nor are we to fear getting an upper respiratory ailment. When no one we know personally has gotten this illness, when you look at the numbers for perspective (US deaths is 264 and CA has 39 million people, our city has 3 reported positive tests), it's an overreach of the government. Being reasonable, we should indeed wash our hands, don't touch anyone outside family, go ahead and stand a little further apart, take vitamins and supplements, drink liquids. This should give us a better immune system (for those who don't have an ongoing disease) and allow you to meet together as the Lord commands.

Please think about this: if you can go to the grocery store, Costco or Walmart during this quarantine to get food and toiletries, you can go to church to be fed spiritually and encouraged. If your church is too large (according to the government), then attend your small groups on the Lord's Day.

Are you willing to forsake the assembling together as a church indefinitely (CA's governor's word)? Do you realize they started off saying it was for 14 days, then it was 4 weeks, now it's looking like 10 weeks (the schools are closing until May 5th)? Ten weeks with no church, no gathering for the Lord's Table and self-judging for sin before Him, no exercising of your gifts and mutual edification in the Lord's flock?

The government thinks it can determine what is essential and non-essential. It has determined corporate worship as a church is a non-essential. But God has said it is essential. We must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29)..

There's no such thing as a virtual church. None. The definition of "ecclessia" means a gathering together of persons called out from the world in a local body led by elders and deacons where the word is preached and taught,  people pray, hymns sung, the Lord's Table partaken, edifying the brothers and sisters. That requires physical presence. Video and live feeds are not that and you can't participate in the Lord's Table virtually either. Nor for that matter, can you participate in church discipline.

Think of this as a trial run to test yourselves to see how much you're willing to obey God rather than man, to see how you really define a church and what is essential, and how much you really trust the Lord. Because sooner rather than later, there will be true, physical enemies that will turn us into the police, throw us in prison, or try to kill us for being Christians. If you can't pass this easier test, what makes you think you'd pass that test?

Heb 10:21  and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 
Heb 10:22  let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 
Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 
Heb 10:24  and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 
Heb 10:25  not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 
Heb 10:26  For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 
Heb 10:27  but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.

Act 2:42  They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 
Act 2:43  Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 
Act 2:44  And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 

Act 2:45  and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 

1Pe 3:13  Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 
1Pe 3:14  But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 
1Pe 3:15  but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 
1Pe 3:16  and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 

1Pe 3:17  For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. 

Act 5:25  But someone came and reported to them, "The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!" 
Act 5:26  Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned). 
Act 5:27  When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, 
Act 5:28  saying, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." 

Act 5:29  But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. 

For some quarantine levity

For the Wuhan Virus quarantine....

A collection of several funny tweets of cats showing the art of self-isolation. Made me literally lol.

When you can't get to gym or it's too cold outside (or some countries are on solid lockdown): https://twitter.com/akkitwts/status/1239746063369515009








Well, old girl, you’re about to have the busiest month of your life:


Source

Source for this:

Mom sent a picture of how their street is socializing

Sin Is Theoretical To Evangelical Leaders

Evangelical elders, professors, speakers, and authors consider as a theoretical issue in themselves and their friends, family, and colleagues :

sin

deception

demons

creation

Jesus' return

The Great Tribulation

Truth (doctrine)

error

sexual immorality

greed

persecution

It's all theory to them, otherwise they'd be humble and teachable, repent of actual sin when found, be discerning themselves (which requires absolute belief in all Scripture) and welcome discerners, plus they would practice biblical separation from errorists and unprincipled men even among their friends, fellow elders, colleagues, family.

By considering these things to be theoretical, they can then embrace doctrinal triage which then embraces sin triage (redefines sin) and even the gospel triage (bare minimum to believe but that would create a different, powerless gospel which is no gospel at all). And they throw out and persecute those who warn them. Acts 20, 2Cor 6, 2John 9-11.

Elyse Fitzpatrick Teaches Men And Promotes Heretics

It's not just Beth Moore that teaches men. It's also Elyse Fitspatrick. Anyone who is part of The "Gospel" Coalition as she is, must be rejected because that group is founded by heretic Tim Keller and promotes heresies. 

Who she endorses are some of the worst, immoral people in Evangelicalism. Here are some examples:

On TBN with Tullian Tchividjian (fired from two churches for sexual immorality and lying): (info on him here and here)

Promoting liberal, pro-abortion feminist liberal Karen Swallow

Promoting gay Anglican priest Sam Allberry (more info here)(Revoice infamy):

Promoting TMS grad and Reformer, homosexual activist Preston Sprinkle:

elyse_fitz

 New Episode  our friend Preston Sprinkle joins us to talk about the intersection of faith and sexuality. This is such an important topic and I learned so much from Preston. Please listen in. Find us on iTunes (Front Porch with the Fitzes) or the link is in my profile

Adam Tyson's Church Uses Feminist Jen Wilkin for Their Women's Group

So on the one hand there's John MacArthur in his Truth Matter's Q & A earlier today, repudiating Beth Moore (rightly so), but on the other hand TMS graducation and TMU adjunct professor and Kanye West mentor/spokesman/pastor Adam Tyler's church, is teaching their women (including his wife or his wife is the leader, it is unclear) through Jen Wilkin's book on Exodus. He was in an interview about his role with Kanye West and he talked about discussing things with his wife as things progressed with West (his wife seems enamored with celebrity) (time mark 33:00). She even used her study of Wilkin to encourage him to be like Moses (huh?) and do the leading/"preaching" at the Sunday Services.

Go here to find out why Wilkin is dangerous:

Jen Wilkin is the egalitarian feminist who works at The Village Church under Matt Chandler. Wilkin advocates for the destruction of biblical gender roles and is a regular speaker in the evangelical preaching circuit.

Wilkin, like Beth Moore, is staunchly opposed to God’s design for women and is rebellious against God’s Word. Wilkin has advocated for homosexual inclusion and teaches that God’s Word “whispers” about homosexuality while it “shouts” about other sins.

End quote.

This church proclaims Wilkin teaching men and women about parenting:

At Tyson's church as of today:




You need to know that the way they entice people is by claiming their brand of complimentarism which is just a slightly more subtle version of feminism cloaked in Christian talk. In other words, Village Church says only men can be elders, but like all Reformergents, they believe women can teach men--it's just not in the role of elder. Village has a statement that says women can co-lead with men in a mixed group.

Wilkins teaching men at TGC 19 pre-conference on training children to be future evangelists:

Wilkin admits that there are men in her audience at this conference:



Also, MacArthur continues to share the platform with feminists (women teaching men spiritual things, using Scripture, etc) like at the Sing! conferences, Strange Fire conference, Proclaim 19 conference.

This is the hypocrisy and double mindedness God warns AGAINST and will be their downfall (I have dealt with women teaching men on this blog, particularly regarding Moore, Shirer, and Kay Arthur)--so all the verses about this issue are treated there).

Village Church Promotes Submission To Islam Although They Claim It's "Engaging" Them

Sara Long from Chandler's Village Church wrote an article about engaging Muslims. It's more like how to let the Muslims reach gullible Western Christians and they know this VERY well. 

Visit your local mosque.

Be sensitive to where the “Christian West” has failed to look like Jesus.

Ask questions about their families and their background.

Talk about Jesus, but carry no agenda. Human souls are not projects, and it takes time to build trust in any relationship.

Follow the Spirit’s lead, not your agenda. New relationships are not the place to debate in-depth theology. For example, God coming to us in the form of a man is essential to Christianity but very offensive to Muslims, and thus, not a good place to begin a relationship.

End quote.

First of all, don't visit a mosque. They are demonic strongholds. There's no reason to go inside Satan's domain. We aren't called to go in  and it's far wiser to stay out of such things. To enter is to willingly submit to Satan and his religion of Islam. 

We ARE in the West and real Christians in the West don't worry about the failures of Evangelicals who are frauds. Starting of in the apology mode is typical for liberals and Long is no exception. What she means by how the "Christian West has failed to look like Jesus", she doesn't say. What she considers "Christian" also is unknown (Muslims think Roman Catholics are Christians, but they are not).

The whole point is supposed to be reaching the Muslims for Christ, right? That's an agenda. She's being dishonest. Frankly that's a key to Islam: dishonesty. The false dichotomy of having an agenda to proclaim the Gospel to the Muslims and care about their souls is also dishonest: people share the gospel BECAUSE they care. Also, she's promoting "friendship evangelism" that is a failure especially using her "tips" because she's trying to not offend at all and do that over time (see below about where she says friendships are more important than being right). Basically this whole diatribe is about submitting to Muslims and their demonic religion, something the Christian isn't supposed to do. We serve Yahweh. Allah is satan. But she sure wants to silence Christians or at least try to remove the sharp double edged sword of the Word.

Long goes on:

Don’t criticize Muhammad, the Qur’an, or anything about the Islamic faith.

Respect their fasting during Ramadan by not eating or drinking around your Muslim friends during the holiday.

Don’t be afraid to visibly practice your faith and pray in the name of Jesus. It will not be a surprise that you and your Muslim friends disagree theologically, and they will appreciate your authenticity.

Treat God’s Word with respect by not placing your Bible on the ground. Muslims show a great deal of respect for the Qur’an.

We must be more committed to our relationships than to being right.

Again, more avoidance of offense even though she's talking to American "Christians". She would do well to remember that Muslims demand all respect, but they don't care about respecting Christians. In fact their quran says to kill us. So there's that.

One must tell the Muslim that their quran isn't true and that their view of Jesus is not according to Scripture nor fact ("Isa" is not a historical person--its a Muslimfied version of Jesus and they deny he was crucified). Their entire worldview is built upon the quran and hadiths, so it is impossible to preach the Truth without exposing their error.

She uses the Muslims as the standard of respect  and proper behavior which is unbiblical. More Sharia.

Worst of all she says relationships trump Truth. She doesn't care what is right in Yahweh's eyes. She cares about not offending Muslim "friends". Wasting time to build up a friendship and then never tell them the truth because it will offend, while submitting to their religion, is anti-biblical.

She also calls for submission to Sharia (but her ignorance has no idea this is what it is):
Don’t initiate a handshake with someone of the opposite sex. Women should approach women, and men should approach men.
If you have adequate time to prepare a meal for Muslims, research markets in your area that sell Halal meat. Don’t serve pork or alcohol.

A few things to note that Long didn't tell people:

Silence in Islam is agreement or permission:

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet said: "A non-virgin woman may not be married without her command, and a virgin may not be married without her permission; and it is permission enough for her to remain silent (because of her natural shyness)." [Al-Bukhari:6455, Muslim & Others]

Even during Ramadan, their "holy" fast, they will break it for the sake of deceiving Westerners:

According to this verse a Muslim can pretend to befriend infidels (in violation of the teachings of Islam) and display adherence with their unbelief to prevent them from harming him.

Under the concept of Takeyya and short of killing another human being, if under the threat of force, it is legitimate for Muslims to act contrary to their faith. The following actions are acceptable:

Drink wine, abandon prayers, and skip fasting during Ramadan;Renounce belief in Allahl Kneel in homage to a deity other than Allah;Utter insincere oaths. 

~Clarion Project

Muslims are called to not take Christians or Jews as friends, but will in deception, for the sake of promoting Islam:

Surah 5:51: O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends.

Quran (53:29) - "Therefore shun those who turn away from Our Message and desire nothing but the life of this world."

Quran (3:85) - "And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers."

Quran (5:80) - "You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve; certainly evil is that which their souls have sent before for them, that Allah became displeased with them and in chastisement shall they abide." Befriending unbelievers is one sign that a Muslim is bound for Hell.

"Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: except by way of precaution (prevention), that ye may Guard yourselves from them (prevent them from harming you.) But Allah cautions you (To remember) Himself; for the final goal is to Allah." Surah 3: 28  (Al-Takeyya  - lying.)

Sahih Bukhari (49:857) - "He who makes peace between the people by inventing good information or saying good things, is not a liar." Lying is permitted when the end justifies the means.

~The Religion of Peace 

Even this shows they won't take Christians on as friends:

Surah 98.6 - Lo! those who disbelieve, among the People of the Scripture and the idolaters, will abide in fire of hell. They are the worst of created beings.

Gullible Westerners like Long should realize that Islam is a religion of violence and lies. It's father is the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning, so it's no surprise that Islam is built and promotes and has a culture of lies.

Different types of lies allowed by Islam:

Muslims are allowed to lie to unbelievers in order to defeat them. There are several forms:

• Taqiyya (Shia) or Muda'rat (Sunni):
tactical deceit for the purposes of spreading Islam.

• Kitman: deceit by omission.

• Tawriya: deceit by ambiguity.

• Taysir: deceit through facilitation
(not having to observe all the tenets of Sharia).

• Darura: deceit through necessity
(to engage in something "Haram" or forbidden).

• Muruna: the temporary suspension of Sharia in order that Muslim immigrants appear "moderate".

~The Religion of Peace

While the biblical Christian does live in this world, one must be very careful who his friends are. No friendship is worth the price of truth and the soul of another.

Psa 26:4  I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites.5  I hate the assembly of

evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. 

To submit to Sharia is to submit to demons. Jesus not only didn't care about offending the Pharisees, He deliberately did so in order to demonstrate how they were solidly opposed to Him and the Father.  If you preach the biblical Christ and His Gospel to a Muslim they will indeed be offended because their quran denies the Triune Godhead.  If they're not offended, you didn't preach the biblical Christ. 

We are to be honest, not underhanded. Don't pretend to not have an agenda if your goal is to preach the Gospel of the biblical Christ:
2Co 4:2  but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
When Paul was taken to Mars Hill to expand on the gospel he was preaching in the marketplace in Athens, he told the philosophers of the day they were ignoramuses even though they considered themselves quite learned. They were ignorant of the one thing that matters: the true and living God. He actually went on the offensive here:

Act 17:24  "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 

Act 17:25  neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
Act 17:29  "Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

Yes, he did offend them, but in order to show them their error of idolatry and who the true God is. We should do no less with Muslims, Roman Catholics, or any other religion.
While I've touched on some issues here, this isn't a full treatment--it's a brief overview.

Historian Who Popularized Gender As A Social Construct for Power, Retracts

A Canadian historian who popularized the notion that gender was a social construct is regretting he ever said that.

LifeSiteNews reports:

Christopher Dummitt is an associate professor at Trent University’s School for the Study of Canada. On September 17, Quillette published an essay in which he explains his past conviction that “sex was wholly a social construct” “all about power,” admits that his “big idea” has run roughshod over biological common sense and freedom of speech, and offers a “mea culpa for my own role in all of this....”

By his own admission, he could “cherry pick” details because “history is a big place. And so there was always something to find....”

Dummitt maintains he was on “safe ground” to the extent that he “stuck to the documents, and reconstructed how people talked in the past,” but the conclusions he drew from them were “intellectually bankrupt” because they “came from my ideological beliefs — even if, at the time, I wouldn’t have described this as ideology....”

“And that’s why I was so angry and assertive about what I thought I knew. It was to hide the fact that, at a very basic level, I didn’t have proof for part of what I was saying. So I stuck to the arguments with fervor, and denounced alternative points of view. Intellectually, it wasn’t pretty. And that’s what makes it so disappointing to see that the viewpoints I used to argue for so fervently — and so baselessly — have now been accepted by so many in the wider society.”

~End quote. LifeSiteNews

Cherry picking from history to fit one's presuppositions and ideology, or suppressing study findings, happens all the time  in "science". It happens with the global warming "scientists" too. They throw numbers at you, but you have to ask some critical questions and do some digging to find out the context and truth. For example:

In 2015 the mythical "97% of the world's scientists agree global warming is real, man-made, and dangerous", except that's not true. According to Ian Tuttle:

The “97 percent” statistic first appeared prominently in a 2009 study by University of Illinois master’s student Kendall Zimmerman and her adviser, Peter Doran. Based on a two-question online survey, Zimmerman and Doran concluded that “the debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific bases of long-term climate processes” — even though only 5 percent of respondents, or about 160 scientists, were climate scientists. In fact, the “97 percent” statistic was drawn from an even smaller subset: the 79 respondents who were both self-reported climate scientists and had “published more than 50% of their recent peer-reviewed papers on the subject of climate change.” 

Surely the most suspicious “97 percent” study was conducted in 2013 by Australian scientist John Cook — author of the 2011 book Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand and creator of the blog Skeptical Science (subtitle: “Getting skeptical about global warming skepticism.”). In an analysis of 12,000 abstracts, he found “a 97% consensus among papers taking a position on the cause of global warming in the peer-reviewed literature that humans are responsible.” “Among papers taking a position” is a significant qualifier: Only 34 percent of the papers Cook examined expressed any opinion about anthropogenic climate change at all. Since 33 percent appeared to endorse anthropogenic climate change, he divided 33 by 34 and — voilà — 97 percent! When David Legates, a University of Delaware professor who formerly headed the university’s Center for Climatic Research, recreated Cook’s study, he found that “only 41 papers — 0.3 percent of all 11,944 abstracts or 1.0 percent of the 4,014 expressing an opinion, and not 97.1 percent,” endorsed what Cook claimed. Several scientists whose papers were included in Cook’s initial sample also protested that they had been misinterpreted. “Significant questions about anthropogenic influences on climate remain,” Legates concluded.

~End quote.  National Review

Or how about global warming's emailgate as I reported:

"Three themes are emerging from the newly released emails: (1) prominent scientists central to the global warming debate are taking measures to conceal rather than disseminate underlying data and discussions; (2) these scientists view global warming as a political “cause” rather than a balanced scientific inquiry and (3) many of these scientists frankly admit to each other that much of the science is weak and dependent on deliberate manipulation of facts and data."

~Forbes

SCIENTISTS AT TWO OF THE WORLD’S LEADING CLIMATE CENTRES - NASA AND NOAA - HAVE BEEN CAUGHT OUT MANIPULATING TEMPERATURE DATA TO OVERSTATE THE EXTENT OF THE 20TH CENTURY "GLOBAL WARMING".

The evidence of their tinkering can clearly be seen at Real Science, where blogger Steven Goddard has posted a series of graphs which show "climate change" before and after the adjustments.

When the raw data is used, there is little if any evidence of global warming and some evidence of global cooling. However, once the data has been adjusted - ie fabricated by computer models -  20th century 'global warming' suddenly looks much more dramatic.

This is especially noticeable on the US temperature records. Before 2000, it was generally accepted - even by climate activists like NASA's James Hansen - that the hottest decade in the US was the 1930s.

End quote.

Bold, red are my emphasis.