July 26, 2007
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from his exposition of Ephesians 2, discusses false evangelism.
The trouble with all false evangelism is that it does not start with doctrine, it does not start by realizing man’s condition. All fleshly, carnal, man-made evangelism is the result of inadequate understanding of what the apostle teaches us in the first ten verses of this second chapter of Ephesians. If you and I but realized that every man who is yet a sinner is absolutely dominated by ‘the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience’, if we only understood that he is really a child of wrath and dead in trespasses and sins, we would realize that only one power can deal with such an individual, and that is the power of God, the power of the Holy Ghost. And so we would put our confidence, not in man-made organizations, but in the power of God, in the prayer that holds on to God and asks for revival and a descent of the Spirit. We would realize that nothing else can do it.
We can change men superficially, we can win men to our side and to our party, we can persuade them to join a church, but we can never raise the spiritually dead; God alone can do that. The realization of these truths would of necessity determine and control all our evangelism.
Originally found at Oldtruth.
Posted in Doctrine, Evangelism 
No Comments »
July 22, 2007
If crude comedy is not your bag, then maybe witchcraft is. Several weeks ago the Church of England released a book for youth workers using the Simpsons. It is their position that this will make the Gospel more relevant, thus making the Gospel more attractive to youth. The concept is, put simply, hogwash. I’m not sure ‘hogwash’ is in the dictionary but it should be. I think you can come to your own conclusion as to my thoughts about this ridiculous idea of mixing the filth of the world with the timeless treasures found in Holy Scripture.
What on earth is the Church of England thinking?
As if the Simpsons are not enough relevant garbadge, the Church of England has now embraced witchcraft by introducing a Harry Potter ‘Youth Guide’.
Consider this outrageous quote regarding the ‘gospel according to Potter’.
The Anglican Communion should learn lessons from Harry Potter, the Bishop of St. David’s, Carl Cooper, said on the eve of the release of the final book in the long-running series. Cooper told the Western Mail and Echo newspaper that the Christian virtues of humility, respect and love portrayed in the stories about the teenage wizard should be replicated within the church.
Now, if we dare, let us consider the Word of God for a moment.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
[italics, emphasis mine]
Did you catch that; their ears will be turned unto fables rather than the truth. What more is Harry Potter than fables? You be the judge!
You can review some of the links found bellow and start praying for revival, you can know I am.
Harry Potter ‘Youth Guide’ Links:
Link 1 | Link 2 | Link 3 | Link 4 | Link 5
Posted in Apostacy, Bible, Church of England, Witchcraft 1 Comment »
July 21, 2007
This idea of cobelligerence has been a concern of mine for some time now. There are very well known ministry leaders that seem to, at various levels and degrees, accept this concept of cobelligerence. I discussed the topic of cobelligerence at some length in this post.
I recently found this letter from James Dobson to Father Frank Pavone (Roman Catholic). It is very clear to me that James Dobson accepts the Roman Catholic Church as a Christian denomination. We must consider the sobering reality that many ‘Evangelical’ para-church ministries and churches all over America are embracing Rome with open arms. This should give all true Christians reason for concern.
The following is the text of the letter. You can download a PDF of the real letter here.
August 24,2006
Father Frank Pavone
Priests For Life
P.O. Box 60200
Staten Island, NY 10306-0200
Dear Father Pavone:
On behalf of the entire staff of Focus on the Family, I want to take a few moments to extend best wishes to you and to all of your friends and supporters gathered in Amarillo. Today marks a milestone event in the history of Priests for Life and the Catholic Church of America, and it is an honor to pass along our congratulations on the establishment of Missionaries of the Gospel of Life.
Your tireless work on behalf of the preborn gives witness to the strength of your dedication and has served as an encouragement to me, personally, to keep up the good fight. You are to be commended for the conviction and passion with which you have taken an unwavering stand in opposition to abortion. And by partnering with Christians from across the spectrum of the Body of Christ, you have not only advanced the pro-life movement, but you have effectively demonstrated the importance of banding together in order to confront the Culture of Death prevalent today. Only when we build a Culture of Life in its stead will we successfully put an end to the senseless killing of little ones in the
womb.
Now you will have an even greater opportunity to fulfill this vision. As you prepare seminarians who will devote their ministry exclusively to this battle, I am confident that the impact of your efforts will only increase. You are a dear friend to me, Father Pavone, and I look forward to our ongoing collaboration. May God continue to use Priests for Life and the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life to call the Christian community to an even deeper commitment to saving innocent babies. Richest blessings!
Sincerely,
James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Posted in Cobelligerence, James Dobson No Comments »
July 19, 2007
From Christian Research Net
Tammy Faye is dying. She has inoperable cancer. As her drama has unfolded on national television one can only conclude that she has become the living manifestation of the false hopes and false doctrines of the Word Faith movement.
Read the complete post here.
Let us all pray Tammy Faye will find enough strength to turn to the truth and not die with false hope.
[youtube xWtMgBKOHuw&rel=0]
Posted in Word Faith No Comments »
July 7, 2007
Welcome to the PastorBookshelf free book giveaway program, Free Book Friday. Nearly every Monday we will pick a book and announce it here on the PastorBookshelf Blog. To enter to win the book, link to the post that announces the week’s free book from your blog and then post the link to your post in the comments section of our post (not necessary if your blog sends out pingbacks automatically). On Friday we will randomly select a winner and mail the book to you free of charge. We’d love for you to review the book for PastorBookshelf Reviews, but this is entirely optional. Our plan is for this to be a nearly weekly occurrence. Spread the word! One qualification: you must be (1) preparing for pastoral ministry, (2) in pastoral ministry, or (3) a trainer of ministers.This week’s free book is Recalling the Hope of Glory by Allen P. Ross. Find out more about this book at our PastorBookshelf Overviews entry.
Posted in Books No Comments »
July 5, 2007
Dr. Robert Saucy (Biola University) shares his concerns about this growing movement.
After reading this article, I was pleasantly suprised to discover the view of Dr. Saucy on this topic. Dr. Saucy stops short of calling the Roman Catholic Church apostate but does share his concern from an evangelical protestants perspective. I do not know Dr. Saucy’s views on all aspects of Evangelical doctrine, let that be said now. I am however very pleased at Dr. Saucy’s stance with regards to “Evangelicals and Catholics Together”.
Here is a sampling from the article.
In 1994, 40 Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants signed a controversial document titled, “Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.” It affirmed agreement on basic articles of the Christian faith and urged cooperation in world evangelization and on social issues, like fighting abortion. Charles Colson (founder of Prison Fellowship), Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ) and James I. Packer (theologian) signed it. Mark Noll’s book, Is the Reformation Over? (Baker Academic, 2005), brought the movement back into the spotlight. Biola Connections spoke with Robert Saucy, Biola University’s distinguished professor of systematic theology, to learn more.
You can read the complete article here.
What makes this article stand out is that it comes from the world of Academia. In the world of Christian Academia, it is rare today to get a clear, distinct view on a matter. It is also rare to get such an othodox reponse.
I want to openly commend Dr. Saucy for taking such an unpopular stand on a very important topic.
May God receive all the praise.
– Shane Trammel
Helpful links on Romanism:
Blog of Shane Trammel
Apprising Ministries
Symphony of Scripture
Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries
Berean Beacon
The Berean Call
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
Posted in Catholicism, Ecumenism, Pope Benedict XVI No Comments »
July 3, 2007
If your interested in the growing evangelical facination with Rome you will want to listen to this radio broadcast from Crosstalk.
| [odeo=http://odeo.com/audio/14753743/view]
Download MP3. |
Archive of radio program can be found here.
Host: Jim Schneider
Guest: Mike Gendron
Mike Gendron is the Director of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries. He is the author of books such as Preparing Catholics for Eternity, and Roman Catholicism: Scripture Verses Tradition.
The Emergent Church movement is growing. It’s a church that rejects the current seeker friendly movement and instead offers an experience with God. The problem with this is that subjective experience is replacing the objective truth of God’s Word. It’s this desire for an experience with God that has the Emergent Church taking on some of the traditions of medieval Roman Catholicism. In fact, because of subjective experiences, some evangelicals and Protestants, from lay people to pastors, are bypassing the Emergent churches and going right back to the Catholic faith.
Learn more concerning how these two religious branches are connected, where and why the Catholic faith contradicts Scripture, and more on this edition of Crosstalk.
More Information
Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries
P.O. Box 940871
Plano, TX 75094
972-495-0485
http://www.pro-gospel.org
To obtain a copy of Preparing Catholics for Eternity send a donation of $15 or more to:
Crosstalk
3434 W. Kilbourn Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53208
1-800-729-9829 M-F 8am-5pm Central
Order Online
Posted in Apostacy, Catholicism, Church History, Church Life, Cobelligerence No Comments »
July 3, 2007
T. D. Jakes is known to hold to the oneness view of the Godhead in which God is manifested in different forms - first the Father, then the Son, and then the Holy Spirit - but never at the same time. But why stop there? — Bob Hunter
Read the complete post here at Symphony of Scripture.
You will also find this post from Pastor Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries insightful.
Modalism
The anti-Trinitarian belief that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are “modes” of God, but not true persons capable of interacting with one another.
The early church initially struggled with the question of whether Jesus was fully God (see Ebionism, Docetism, and Adoptionism) in the same sense as the Father. Once the councils agreed that Jesus is fully God (as is the Holy Spirit), they struggled to reconcile this with monotheism.
Modalism offered a simple and enticing solution. Its proponents taught that God is a mono-personal being that can change “modes,” assuming the role of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at different times. Webster’s metaphysical definition for mode is “the form, or way of being, of something, as distinct from its substance.” Modalism teaches that God has one substance, but several “ways of being.” The common illustration that the Trinity is like the forms of water–ice, liquid, and steam–unfortunately is an exact representation of Modalism rather than Trinitarianism.
Although Modalism initially has appeal in its simplicity, it is a dangerous teaching because it misunderstands not only “what” God is, but more importantly, “who” God is and therefore who we are. If the Father, Son, and Spirit are only modes of God (or “masks” as some taught), then the God behind the mask is unknown to us. We are forced to understand the Father, Son and Spirit as illusions and not the true God we desire to know and love. Moreover, if we are God’s children in relation to him as Father, but the Father is an illusion, then our status as his children is also an illusion (Gal 4:6).
Modalism also fails to account for greater than 70 passages in Scripture where the Father, Son and Spirit are mentioned together as distinct from one another and as interacting with one another. In Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:16-17), the Father speaks and the Spirit descends upon Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsamane (Mark 14:36) and hanging on the cross (Luke 23:46), Jesus himself prays to Father. John’s Gospel is full of reference to the three person’s relations, not only in their speaking to one another (John 17), but in actions such as “sending” (John 14:24-26; 20:21) and “loving” (John 3:35; 14:32; 15:9). The epistles also show the three persons as distinct. Galatians 1:1 teaches the Father raised the Son; 1 John 2:1 teaches the Christ is an advocate between humanity and the Father; 1 Peter 1:2 teaches different roles for each Person of God in the salvation of man; the relationship between the Father and the Son is given as the modal for the fellowship between believers (1 John 1:3).
Modalism was the most common Trinitarian error in the history of the church and it continues today. Many in the church may inadvertently hold to Modalism without realizing it, but others still openly deny the personal distinctiveness of the Father, Son and Spirit. Groups such as Oneness Pentecostals and the “Jesus only” movement, popular preachers (notably T.D. Jakes), and even some Christian musicians (such as Philips, Craig and Dean, click here for more) are modern Modalists.
Posted in Modalism, Sabellianism, T.D. Jakes, Theology 1 Comment »
July 3, 2007
If you still have some questions as to why I have such disdain for Pat Robertson, let me share with you this outrageous piece of news.
On June 26, 2007, presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani ventured into conservative territory with a speech at Regent University. May I remind you Regent University is considered to be one of America’s most conservative Christian universities. Why they [Regent University] claim to be “America’s Preeminent Christian University”.
There are several related article links provided at the bottom of the post for your review. I would like to focus here on the outrageously positive remarks Pat Robertson has for Mr. Giuliani and the event. In the video I have included, we also hear Pat Robertson report on how well Giuliani was received by those in attendance.
I would be remiss if I did not include the fact that Rudy Giuliani supports civil unions, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and supports taxpayer funded abortions in some cases. These are the kind of Christian worldview positions those in attendance must support or are willing to ignore. After all, Mr. Giuliani claims to be a Christian.
Here is a rough transcript of what Mr. Robertson had to say in the video.
Lee: [speaking to Pat Robertson]
What was your impression of the reception Giuliani received at Regent?
Pat: [responding to Lee]
It was overwhelmingly warm. People came out saying were going to support him, we want to give him money, we want to vote for him. I mean it was just amazing. We had, I would say, the cream of the political and business community in this area come to hear him and paid for tickets to come see him. In my opinion is was a smash appearance.
People where very high on Rudy and what he had to say. He did a great job. I think the thing he has said that conservatives should listen to is he is going to appoint judges after the stripe of John Roberts, Alito, Scalia and those people.
The thing is abortion should not be something that the President has anything to do with, it should not be a national issue, never should have been. Roe v. Wade was a mistake. They shouldn’t have brought that up into the federal level, it should have been kept at the state level.
It was a marvelous event.
I am competely and uterly amazed at Pat Robertson’s comments with regard to the Presidents role in the issue of abortion. I would love to get your comments with regard to the issues raised with this post.
Related Links:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/06/27/2007-06-27_robertson_thinks_rudy_heavensent_.html
http://www.thecronline.com/blog/2007/06/regent-university-abducted-by-aliens.html
http://www.nysun.com/article/57392
http://www.nysun.com/article/57208
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/26/giuliani-regent/
http://mediamatters.org/items/200706270012
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11433263&ft=1&f=1003
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/06/27/giuliani/
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/185104.aspx
http://www.regent.edu/news_events/giuliani.cfm
Here’s the video:
Posted in Pat Robertson, Regent University, Rudy Giuliani 1 Comment »
June 29, 2007
“It is thought to be mere bigotry to protest against the mad spirit which is now loose among us. Pan-indifferentism is rising like the tide; who can hinder it? We are all to be as one, even though we agree in next to nothing. It is a breach of brotherly love to denounce error. Hail, holy charity! Black is white; and white is black. The false is true; the true is false; the true and the false are one.”
- Charles Spurgeon
(HT: Symphony of Scripture)
Posted in Quotes, Spurgeon No Comments »
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