The Problem With Atheists....

Kyle... yes, I will name him "Kyle"

Kyle fancies himself a very extraordinarily intelligent guy. He thinks he knows everything there is to know, and that is why he is proud to be an atheist, and not another "idiot Christian". Who could be so ignorant to believe the Bible is true? What a bunch of myths and fairytales, he says. He thought he could win me over to his much more superior point of view, one that gazed loftily over all the heads of the (in his mind) ignorant Christian masses of dumb sheep.

I shared this with Kyle:

and he thanked me and laughed, and said "Yes, I see it is an Atheist meme that shows how backwards Christians are!"

Then I pointed out that the atheist is headed downward and the Christian is going up, and that it is a perfect depiction of the fact that atheists will come down from their lofty superiority, while those dumb Christians down there are headed upward.

Kyle stopped laughing.

Avoid Such People

2Timothy 3:1-5 (ESV)

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

For people will be
lovers of self,
lovers of money,
proud,
arrogant,
abusive,
disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful,
unholy,
heartless,
unappeasable,
slanderous,
without self-control,
brutal,
not loving good,
treacherous,
reckless,
swollen with conceit,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

having the appearance of godliness,
                                                  but denying its power.

Avoid such people.


Recently I saw a clever quote on Facebook meant to encourage those who have been rejected by someone. It stated that these persons who would leave you were just garbage anyway and they helped you by taking the garbage (themselves) out. The above list reminds me of the "garbage" that we don't need in our lives and are better without. Doesn't it read like a list of things you see and hear about on the evening news every night? 

The one that seems the most innocuous and may actually be the most deadly is the "having a form of godliness but denying His power". It's so easy to think that a "religious person" is a good person. There are many (I believe) that are so religious, so seemingly good, and proper, and like an angel of light....but there's an important piece of the puzzle that is missing! The goodness is of themselves and not of the Lord. They will soak in your compliments and praise, forgetting that it is God who made them and if there are gifts of the Spirit, they are His gifts and He gets the glory, honor and praise, we are simply His servants, and perhaps if we are very blessed: His friends.

How many deceivers are out there, wolves pretending to be sheep, doing a pretty convincing job of it too... however they will be outed, and if they are very blessed, they will receive the gift of true repentance and God's grace...but until then, we should avoid them, pray for them but do not join them thereby giving the impression that you agree with such things.

Here's a better way, rather than surrounding yourself with false friends:

 1Pe 3:4-4 (KJV)
 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.  For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands...

this was taken by me on one of our road trips
so serene :)

 

Strange Fire Q&A

In this video John MacArthur answers things that were brought up by his critics in the form of a Q&A, Phil Johnson submits the various criticisms which Pastor MacArthur then addresses (very well I might add):

False Christians

There are many false Christians just as there were many false followers of Jesus in the times of the apostles. Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were false as were most of the huge crowds that followed Jesus. We see from John 6:66 that most people only wanted immediate gratification. In yesterday's post I discussed Beth Moore. She teaches "that kind" of Jesus, the kind that will give you all the goodies if you will believe that He will. She is one of many false teachers leading people astray. But the Bible warns that people want their ears tickled with this kind of garbage, so the responsibility of her error lies partially with her listeners. 

 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;  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (KJV)

We see that happening more and more, don't we?

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.   And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2 Peter 2:1-3 (KJV)

These people...do they honestly believe that they are teaching the things the Lord wants them to teach? Have they truly sought Him for the truth and diligently studied all of God's word so they would speak truly of Him? What does Jesus say?

 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?   And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:21-23 (KJV)


When I read these warnings I do not say to myself:  
"These don't apply to me...get thee behind me satan for trying to lie to me".

Instead, I say and have always said:
 "Jesus I hope that these are not words you will have to speak to me when I see You, however, if you say them to me I know that in all things You are truthful and pray for your forgiveness. Help me through my stubbornness, remove this guilty stain from me I pray that You in Your mercy and goodness remove my guilt so that I won't be among the many You say will be rejected...yet IF I am rejected, I know it would be a right decision. I deserve hell. It would be a blessing and mercy to be forgiven, and not in any way deserved."

Let us not build a life on the sinking sand of self pity or self-confidence or self-anything where we think the things we do will be our saving grace. Let us instead acknowledge our lack, our fallenness, our depravity, agreeing with Jesus that without His intervention we are destined for hell. Nothing we can do can outdo our sin debt. Only the blood of Christ can pay the payment for our crimes (even if these crimes were only in our thoughts and never reach the actual doing stage, Jesus said if we even thought them we are guilty of them---face the truth: our sins are many and they are terrible) which we can never pay we can only accept His gift of forgiveness in humble gratitude.

So stop following false teachers with your itching ears to find another way. There is no other way. Humble yourself before Jesus while there is still time.

Beth Moore

DebbieLynne has a couple of posts touching on this false teacher.



I had to take many breaks through this because I cannot take much of Beth Moore at a time. She is one dingy woman for certain. I think many love her because she comes across as a dingy blonde. Who can fault her for not getting all of her facts straight. She's just a blonde after all, right? It seems like that is how she tries to excuse her lack of Biblical accuracy. She is one of those who make Christians a laughing stock amongst unbelievers (atheists, yes I lump everyone who is not a Christian as an atheist, because either you are with Him or against Him). I don't know if she is a Christian or not. Just because she (or anyone) claims to be one doesn't make it so (as I have seen time and time again). The proof is in the pudding. God will reveal the truth about her, and about everything in His perfect time. In the meantime, please, please, please know and understand how these things get mutilated by these false teachers, the likes of which you can find on TBN every day.

 See if you can suffer through her rantings with that horrible overdone southern twang. Chris Rosebrough takes us through her "message" and tries to untangle what she rants about with the searchlight of the Bible. At one point he says "I think my ears are bleeding".  Sigh. She turns all of scripture on it's head...and I can see that people who follow people like her (instead of following Jesus Himself) can wind up in confusion or worse, end up losing what little faith they might have had before they began following her. She needs to confess that she doesn't teach what Jesus or the Apostle Paul taught. She needs to stop.

Listen if you can stomach this stuff  enough to be able to understand the difference between the truth of the gospel and the rantings of people that think they teach the Bible but instead butcher what it actually says.

Listen to the broadcast at DebbieLynne's website (I cannot get it to embed here)
http://debsheadstick.blogspot.ca/2014/07/beth-moore-confidence-and-looking-at.html?showComment=1406572630526#c7118769919111099094

Questions that Don't Require Answers....

And yet, I'll answer them anyway...on my own turf :) That way I won't keep going in circles with it.

!. the "why did you call me a hater?" question.

I was simply showing that you yourself "hate" Christians by using your definition of hate (not agreeing with them) that if you were honest you would see how you give yourself more leeway as to what you see in others as hatred directed towards you. That you wish to make it more than that is up to you....

2. More about God's love (and what atheists see as the lack of God's love...or God's apathy perhaps?) and about man's love for wife, children, etc. 

I'm surprised that I get asked this question by someone who has had training to hold a job as a pastor. I have to bring up the fact that this shows lack of proper education or perhaps a lack of comprehension on your part because this is Bible 101 for pastors. C.S. Lewis has a great little book entitled "The Four Loves" which breaks this down very nicely.

If you really want to know the answer to this and many other questions God ultimately is the one who knows them all best (but I know you don't like that answer). The alternative is to keep thinking only you are right and "if there is a God He is wrong"...good luck with that one. You will have eternity all by yourself thinking you are the most correct and it still won't do you any good.

Bruce you have one chance at a final question/rebuttal and then I'll shut the comments down because I see how these things deteriorate, and I'm not having that here. We are not going to play the endless circle of meaningless questions to show "I am right and Christians are stupid" here. Sorry if that upsets you.

The Falling Away and The Remnant Church

From his own story, with no need for deconstruction whatsoever, he essentially came at the doctrines of Calvinism on his own, started reforming one church, crashed and burned at the next, then spiraled downward slowly into unbelief through the spectrum of liberalism. 
 http://www.choosinghats.org/2014/07/the-haberdashery-of-bruce-gerencser/

Since he "outed" himself in my last post, I will use the atheist's full name in this one. Bruce Gerencser (I won't give him the elevated status of "pastor", he's burned up that right) gives us a good look at what atheists do when dialoguing with Christians. In this (above linked) article Joshua Whipps does an excellent job of dissecting exactly how Mr. Gerencser ruins attempts at meaningful dialogue with Christians and only gives kudos to those who agree with him. Yep, I've been there. But what I'm interested in examining here is what Mr. Whipps says in the portion of the article I excerpted. I've heard this before that many Christians enter into a liberal form of "Christianity" (I'm doubtful about it actually being Christian), before completely losing what faith they had, or thought they had.

This sermon by Phil Johnson talks about liberalism and the Church. This is a very uplifting and edifying sermon. One thing he says towards the beginning is the thing that I was (thankfully I can say "was") having trouble with. He says that institutions and persons have failed and will continue to fail into the future, but the gospel of Jesus will be triumphant. I admit that I was overly concerned by individual persons failing and falling away. Pastor Johnson says that this is actually a blessing in disguise in that the Lord is weeding out through this process the pretenders and keeping the faithful remnant. Pastor Johnson sees the season of unpopularity of the Church having a purifying effect on the Church because the ones who go for any other reason besides their love of Jesus, will drop out. They can deny and deny and speak of their previous love for Jesus, but in the end TRUE LOVE DOESN'T FAIL, so their denials are about as valid as an alcoholic saying he's not a drunk. Anyway, have a listen to an excellent sermon and be strengthened in the power of the Lord to save those who truly desire Him. He is faithful and true, and let our desire be for Him and His saving grace alone, even when everything else on earth fails.

Enemies at the Gate: Four liberalizing trends that threaten the contemporary church

The Anti-Pastor

      Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

                                                                            2 John 2:18 (ESV)

      I have heard that it happens from time to time, a pastor struggles with his faith...and gives up the struggle. Recently I stumbled onto the website of such a former pastor. God only knows if he truly was saved and if he was (I personally doubt it myself) the Lord will retrieve Him in His time. As of this time this ex-pastor not only says he has given up on Christianity, he also feels it his duty to anti-evangelize the flock. He goes about seeking whom he can “assist” in getting others to give up their faith just as he did. That is why I've christened him the anti-pastor. He doesn't think it is enough to blaspheme God by saying He doesn't exist, he also feels the need to yank people out of the fold. Yeah, that's right...I truly thought I had seen it all. Is there no limit to the hurt the devil will inflict on Jesus? It seems not, however there is a limit. One day people like the anti-pastor will come to the end of the time the Lord will give to their foolishness which inflicts pain on others. He will limit it in such a way that the only pain they will inflict is on themselves for ever and ever. God in His mercy is still giving him time to repent (otherwise he would have passed from this life into his eternal fate) so I hope he will “get true wisdom” and learn truly of Christ instead of getting his learning from the spirit of antichrist. God only knows how much more time the anti-pastor has left on earth to turn around and repent of the error of his ways.

      I'm not going to post a link to this man's website because the teachings of this man are ugly to say the least. If anyone is interested in doing research into these ridiculous goings on I'll make it available upon request with a warning to cover yourself in prayer before inflicting such ugliness on yourself. For most of us it is enough to be aware that he's out there, and the Lord is allowing him to do his worst damage for a while, until He says “Enough!”, and then it will be too late for the anti-pastor. Let's hope for him he wises up before it is too late for him.

Edit (added after Bruce revealed himself here): There is an interesting dialogue that went on between Pastor Joshua Whipps and this person that I have given the title "The Anti-pastor". Mr Whipps gives more detail about this situation as well as detailing how to attempt at a rational dialogue with atheists (on a scale of 1-10 I would rate my attempts at this a 6.5-7, a failing grade, using this article as a measuring instrument)
 http://www.choosinghats.org/2014/07/when-your-resume-is-irrelevant-your-testimonial-does-the-trick/

There are two more articles which give more info on this situation specifically here:

http://www.choosinghats.org/2014/07/the-haberdashery-of-bruce-gerencser/

and

http://www.choosinghats.org/2014/07/wherein-bruce-gerencser-combats-the_vast_evangelical_conspiracy/

Hypocrisy Clearly Displayed

Something we should often ponder and speak up about:

Have you ever had an atheist (or homosexual, or pro-abortion person) tell you that they aren't trying to recruit people however their cause (against God, heterosexuals, babies or a combination of the three) is practically the only thing they talk about, and get angry or call you "insensitive" about it if you disagree with them?...hmmmm  Do you think that is being a hypocrite and a liar? I'll tell you straight out that I do.

False "Men of God"

 image link (great article here btw)

There are many false teachers these days, I've been posting about the obvious ones on my other blog under "The Gifts of the Spirit" series...but there are those who are just as false, but more stealthy and snakelike...I've always enjoyed John MacArthur, however someone (thanks Lyn) gave me a heads up about him and his ties to the Rockefeller Foundation. You can read about it here.

I found his pre-trib position difficult to bear with, but I didn't find it something that I would dismiss a pastor for...but now this goes a bit deeper...because it looks as though soon people will be required to be chipped (as in verichip aka MARK OF THE BEAST), and these "ministers" (read it as "of Satan") are saying it is not THAT MARK because we who are saved will have been raptured before the MARK makes it's appearance. Sigh. Wow.

In past conversations on Christian forums I've had quite a few people dismiss the chip saying "it isn't the MARK, and even if it were, God knows we have to eat, work, etc, so He is forgiving and will forgive us..." then the martyrs of previous times had it all wrong and died for nothing??? No, dear friends. Be assured that the Bible says that all who take the MARK will go with the false Christ and the false prophet to hell. Too strong for you? Read the book of Revelation for yourself and ask the Lord for wisdom, truly.

Conversation with an Atheist

Recently I got into a discussion in the comments section of this post. I wanted to post on it because I do think others who happen to wander here might benefit from it. I want to preface this conversation with the most excellent advice from the Bible that says to avoid all foolish arguments. To engage in a moral or theological discussion with an atheist most definitely falls in that category. We have no foundation for common ground where we can even attempt a reasonable discussion because he has completely different meanings for anything I have to say, thereby effectively placing a monkey wrench into the machinery of any useful dialogue. Pussy-footing around the facts isn't my style, if something needs to be said, I believe it should just be said without a lot of beating around the bush. That is what I enjoy about the writings of the Apostle Paul. Anyway, I do hope he eventually sees that he is headed for ultimate and eternal ruin, but it is beyond me how to get that across to him. Boomslang presents himself as a former or fallen away Christian. There's no such thing. Either he was never saved and he needs to become saved (if he ever hopes to avoid the thing he says he no longer believes in i.e. hell) or the Lord will eventually bring him back to the fold from where he has strayed.

Ok, here's the evidence for the Bible's wisdom in avoiding discussions with

Can a Truly Saved Person Fall Away Part 2

The abbreviated and direct answer is "no"

There is a remnant that is always talked about in the scriptures, and when reading the Bible the whole of it needs to be considered instead of dissecting it's parts and only taking what you want and throwing out the rest. However even if a person does THAT there are essentials that will always remain in the person who is born of the Spirit of God. The essentials:

1. God alone is true and everyone else is a liar (if you must chose between one or the other). We all err, no one gets it perfect here, so if there is error it would be on the side of man getting it wrong, not God.

2. Jesus came into this world, fully God made flesh, to die for our sins, and was resurrected from the dead on the third day. As He was resurrected so will He resurrect to eternal life those who are found in Him.

3. There is a hell which is eternal separation from God. We all were destined for it. God's grace provided one way to escape it. There is no other way except the way He has provided, Jesus sacrifice for our sins. Our sins would send us all to hell. His blood pays the ransom for that inevitable ending to be circumvented.

If anyone says they believed those 3 things above "at one time" but believe it no more, they never truly believed it. They may have thought they did, in a group think kind of way, by attending church, singing the songs, praying, REALLY PRAYING for forgiveness....however there is a surrender involved

The Fabian Society

Little clip about the Fabian socialists about six and a half minutes long.


We are not "of this world" but it is good to understand our surroundings.  Their symbol is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Privacy? or Sneakiness?

There is a difference. I understand the desire for privacy. My dear hubby hates his photograph being taken, let alone having it published on the social media websites (!!!). His reasoning is somewhat unreasonable to me, but I respect it because I know it is not out of a sense of wanting to hide something.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their first reaction was to cover themselves. They did not want what they did to be in full view. That is why they made fig leaved aprons for themselves. There was a slight difference between Adam and Eve's situation and our own situation today. Adam and Eve were not in the midst of a sinful (sin-filled) culture, but were alone with only animals and plants...and the Lord...I personally don't believe they were trying to hide their sin from the plants and animals, so the only One they were trying to keep from finding out about their sin was God. God did not accept THEIR MEANS of covering themselves but instead provided them with a skin of an animal (something had to die as a result of their sin) and HE PROVIDED the proper way to be covered.

Are we so different from our first parents? We too try to cover the wrongs that we do in ways that perhaps we think will make them appear less bad, or make ourselves look good (in our own eyes, at least). Is that the correct way? Of course not. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but THROUGH HIM. Those are not just pretty words. They are the truth that sets us free from having to cover ourselves with our own ways of trying to "look good", or hiding altogether from others. I have been to websites where the blogger cleverly hides everything about what they really are about. The website is pretty, pretty pictures, pretty (but empty) words, things that inspire others to want to know more about this family and this blogger, and this blogger always, ALWAYS, had me wondering about what they really stood for, and why it was not openly proclaimed. Why hide? Privacy? Then why blog? And if we truly are in Jesus, why not proclaim it in everything, truly showing that we have HIS covering over OUR SIN, which is something we as Christians are to proclaim, especially in a time such as this....

And yet, instead, there are excuses, and charming alternatives that Jesus "must also bless" because He is a loving God after all, isn't He? Yes. He is a loving God. And like a truly loving Parent, He won't allow for self-deception, especially self-deception in Christians (or those who when pressed will say they are) who have as their main self-interest the desire to gain other people's praise for themselves, instead of where it rightly belongs, with God alone. Then it is still our own works, fig-leaves, that we want others to be impressed with. When we truly love our loving God, we only find comfort in desiring that others know how Jesus alone gets all the glory..... if there is any good to be found in me, it is ONLY because of Him. Is that something that I should keep hidden? Will God be "ok" with my attempts at making Him a hidden "side-kick" of mine that I once in a while bring out so that I can show myself to be a "good Christian"? What can we learn from our first parents regarding such behavior?

This is something that I've been wondering about with all the "big brother surveillance" lately. Many want to do away with such surveillance and I agree in part that it is again the way this world operates, it wants to replace God, to make itself God, watching over us. But do we need to hide ourselves? Do we need fig leaves to make ourselves appear good to others? Or can our lights shine all the brighter when those in the world are calling evil "good" and calling good "evil"? Do we hide our light under a bushel when it is unpopular to be a Christian and only display it for self gratification? Or must we proclaim it even if it gets us, like the early disciples, killed?

Time will tell who the "real Christians" truly are. We have nothing to hide, because we have an Advocate to the Father. :)

Rick Warren Part 2

I found a few videos that I put forward for our prayer and consideration. This one is by John MacArthur, giving his thoughts on "The Purpose Driven Life" gospel:

This one explores the "purpose of" The Purpose Driven Life (there is no TRUE purpose to it):

This is an interview with between Lane (from Lane's Channel on YouTube) and Michael Horton (from The Whitehorse Inn) This is excellent, and one that I want to visit often for the reminders. Michael Horton nails it, telling the reason for right doctrine, and how important it is to get it right, and how easy it is to blur the line of right doctrine. It needs to be solidly Christ centered, not "me" or "us" centered:

Now keeping what Michael Horton says firmly in mind, carefully watch what John Piper says about joining arms with Rick Warren:

Rick Warren

 Rick Warren

I've never been one to follow Rick Warren, but I have heard alot of people speak up about his unbiblical teachings on various forums and blogs.

Lately Rick Warren has been showing up at Reformed conferences, and it is causing people to wonder if he has forsaken his former waywardness and taken up a more orthodox view.

This article says an absolute and resounding "NO!" , and that the lines between what is true and what is false are continuing to be more and more blurry. Please read it and decide for yourself.