Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Fox Television glorifies Satan. Really! Fox is going to air a new TV show called Lucifer which portrays Satan as a nice, if misunderstood, guy. The press release shouts “the TV series centers on Lucifer who, bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the gorgeous, shimmering insanity of Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals.” To me it sounds like ignorance seasoned with blatant Satanism wrapped in Gnosticism. Pastor Joe Schimmel isn't surprised. As he says "...for the last several years, Hollywood has portrayed everyone from meth dealers to sexual deviants as "cool," while depicting Jesus as a cuss word! Isaiah warned “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness…” (Isaiah 5:20)

Where does your congregation stand? As we know, atheists have two gods: Evolution and Environment. Worshiping one can only be faith based (because it doesn't exist) and the other is simply worshiping the Creator's creation. However the Washington Post has charted out for us where each denomination and segment of society stands. It appears from this chart that the less biblical you are the more likely you are to worship Evolution and Environment. Which brings us to Mr. Pope...

Rather than address the theological starvation his followers are dying from, Mr. Pope has decided to not just join but lead the socialist power grab called "global warming" which, by the way, is a complete and utter fraud.

Separating the sheep from the goats.

The NAR Is Preparing For Conquest

Better gear up for the 5 major changes coming to the Church

By Marsha West

John Burton has written a piece entitled "Ancient and Emerging: 5 Major Changes Coming to the Church." Before you get all excited, or maybe even concerned over those changes, you should know a bit more about Burton. As it turns out he's a "prophet in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement. According to his blog, John Burton, he "has been developing and leading ministries for over 20 years and is a sought out teacher, prophetic messenger and revivalist. Burton has authored ten books, has appeared on Christian television and radio and directed one of the primary internships at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City."

That Burton was associated with IHOP-KC could only mean that he has served under IHOP's Pied Piper Mike Bickle. I spent quite a bit of time researching Bickle for a piece I wrote and discovered his strong ties to the NAR or what some refer to as Dominionism. Also identified was his involvement with the Kansas City Prophets (KCP). According to Pastor Ken Silva, the KCP:

brought grandiose claims that a 'new breed' of super prophets were beginning to arrive on planet earth who would change the world forever. These so-called prophets were a group of men that coalesced around a church known as the Kansas City Fellowship, pastored by Mike Bickle, that attracted a following of other likeminded churches in that region. (More on the KCP here)

The Tyranny of the Minority

Imagine that you show up to church one Sunday, after a vacation or something like that, and find that things have changed. You go to a small church, maybe 200 regularly in attendance at most, a nice Christian church that believes in the bible, the reformation, and is pretty conservative. 

When you show up after your absence you see that the candles have been replaced with lava lamps, the pianist has been replaced with a jukebox that plays nothing but disco music, the pastor now wears a kilt and a turban, the only message that is taught is gnostic gnonsense exclusively, and communion is now Doritos and Pepsi served while the pastor reads from The Hobbit.

A little investigation reveals that all of this was done because two couples in the church demanded it, and the rest of the congregation allowed it to happen. In shock you demand to know what is going on but the moment you ask you come under attack; you're a hater, you're intolerant, you should be thrown out of the congregation and fired from your job because you like the biblical God-centered standard that your church once held to dearly. A lawyer is hired to destroy your livelihood and savings account.

Memorial Day 2015

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

- G.K, Chesterton

Isn't She Lovely

With Apologies to Stevie Wonder

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one full day old
I never thought through love we'd see
A grandchild as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love

Isn't she pretty
Truly the angel's best
We are all so happy
We have been heaven blessed
I can't believe what God has done
Through our kids He gave life to one
But isn't she lovely made from love


Isn't she lovely
Brand new life is a gift -
A gift of God's favor
Without Him we'd be adrift
All this could not be done
Without my dear who conceived the one
She's so very lovely made from love

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Religion of Peace Update #1 - Saudi Arabia advertised vacancies for eight executioners Tuesday after beheading nearly as many people since the start of the year as it did in the whole of 2014. The article didn't mention it but I think you have to bring your own sword... talk to HR, they'll know.

Religion of Peace Update #2 - Islamist terrorism is caused by Global Climate Change. It's got to be true, the Most Incompetent President In US History says it's true (please ignore the meteorological fact that the planet's temperature hasn't changed since the turn of the century)

I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, and to be charitable their biblical education, at least in the 1960's & 1970's, was negligible at best. So I look at the ability to remember a multitude of bible verses by my brothers and sisters brought up in the bible with some envy. So when the Eternity Matters blog put up a post about the Scripture Typer bible memory system I was more than interested. Review coming!

Religion of Papism update: Mr. Pope has decided that running the monolithic RCC isn't enough, he's now decided to be the top power player in Global Politics prying his way into negotiations on every level. Maybe I'm being paranoid but things are starting to look clearer.

Authority of the Bible – A Strong Argument for Christianity

by Patrick Zukeran

There are many books today that claim to be the Word of God. The Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Mormon, and other religious works all claim to be divinely inspired. The Bible claims to be the only book that is divinely inspired and that all other claims of inspiration from other works should be ruled out. Does the Bible confirm its exclusive claim to be the Word of God? The totality of evidences presents a strong case for the divine inspiration of the Bible.

The strongest argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible is the testimony of Jesus. Jesus claimed to be the divine Son of God and confirmed His claims through His sinless, miraculous life and resurrection. The events of His life have been recorded in the four Gospels, which have proven to be historically accurate and written by first century eyewitnesses.{1} Since Jesus is God incarnate, whatever He taught is true, and anything opposed to His teaching is false.
Jesus directly affirmed the authority of the Old Testament and indirectly affirmed the New Testament. In Luke 11:51, Jesus identified the prophets and the canon of the Old Testament. He names Abel as the first prophet from Genesis, and Zechariah the last prophet mentioned in 2 Chronicles, the last book in the Jewish Old Testament (which contains the same books we have today although placed in a different order). In Mark 7:8-9, Jesus refers to the Old Testament as the commands of God. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus states that the Law and the Prophets referring to the Old Testament is authoritative and imperishable. Throughout His ministry, Jesus made clear His teachings, corrections, and actions were consistent with the Old Testament. He also judged others teachings and traditions by the Old Testament. He thus demonstrated His affirmation of the Old Testament to be the Word of God.

Taking It One Yom At A Time

Yom

What is a Yom? Why is Yom splattered all over my scriptures? How do we determine what kind of Yom are we dealing with? When is a Yom not a Yom? And why is Yom a favorite weapon of creation deniers?

Yom is a Hebrew word, it's origin is an unused root word meaning "to be hot" as in the warmth of the daylight hours of the day. Biblical Hebrew has a limited vocabulary, containing fewer words as compared to most other languages. Contrast that with English which has the largest vocabulary. 

Because English has so many words, most words have one set meaning, words that have multiple meanings are often differentiated by spelling (such as which vs witch) which actually creates a homonym. However biblical Hebrew has so few words that many words often have more than one meaning and context would determine the meaning. 

Yom relates to the concept of time, and exactly what Yom means is determined by studying the context of its use with the other words around it using hermeneutics (Herman who?) Hermeneutics is the theory of text interpretation and can be used interchangeably with exegesis{Yeah, I threw this one in for Pastor Paratus too} and simply put it means to draw out the meaning of the text by studying the context of the text.

Depending on the context Yom can mean daytime, sunrise to sunset, a 24 hour day, sunset to sunset, a year, or a long span of time of either determined or undetermined length, Because Yom can mean all these different things, anti-creationists use Yom as a warclub to beat their unsubstantiated theories into our heads. But we have a defense! It's that Herman guy... Hermeneutics! 

It's a Matter of Authority

Ken Ham Speaking At Aurora Calvary Chapel

Science once told us that there were canals on Mars filled with water and made by martians.

Science once told us that bloodletting was good for what ails you... if you lived through it.

Science once told us that Astrology, the study of how the position of the planets and stars effected your life, was a legitimate science

Science once told us that the earth was hollow

Science once told us that Phrenology, the study of the size and shape of your head is directly related to your personality, was a legitimate science

Science once told us that what a pregnant female thinks will affect the personality of the baby.

If there is one fact that remains a fact when the harsh light of science is projected on it, it is the fact that every single scientific fact, theory, or hypothesis has been proven wrong. In some form or another. every discovery made has been updated, changed, modified, disproved, withdrawn, refuted, and revised. I don't mind science being wrong, because that's what science is all about, you make a guess, you get proven wrong, you start over. There is no "settled science" because the nature of science means to keep looking until you get it 100% right, which means you keep looking and keep revising and keep failing over and over and over.

Hey - that's the reality of science. It's not just throwing out unproven theories and demanding they be accepted because they sound good.

Unity of the Spirit

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Originally posted in  The Watchman's Bagpipes blog:

The tragedy is that men are trying to produce unity by telling us that it does not matter very much what we believe, that as long as we all come together and work together, and do not argue about doctrine, we shall all be one.  But the unity of the Spirit comes through understanding, not through discounting understanding and saying that the knowledge of doctrine does not matter. . . . 

Doctrine must come first.  The Holy Spirit's chief work is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.  So there is no value in our prayers if we do not believe in Him, in His unique deity, in His incarnation, virgin birth, miracles, atoning death, resurrection and ascension.  The Spirit glorifies Him, and we must therefore believe in Him and be "of one accord" in our doctrine.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16, p.79, 80

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Religion of Peace Update #1 - Crosses in every room at Washingon D.C.’s Catholic University of America are a human rights violation that prevent Muslim students from praying. Seriously - you can't make this stuff up, sometimes this blog writes itself.

Religion of Peace Update #2 - The one Islamic state that hates Israel so much that it has written into it's constitution to destroy Israel is not officially recognized by Mr. Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Once again the Roman Catholic Church has turned it's back on the word of God to dabble in petty human politics and chose sides with Satan.

Religion of Peace Update #3 - Lindsay Lohan converting to Islam? I can't wait to see how this works out.

I used to think this stuff was utter nonsense, but then after Religion of Peace Update #2 I'm thinking maybe not so nutty after all...

Love The Church

In 1991 John MacArthur gave a sermon about why he loved the Church. He was asked why he didn't go into a sports career (he was a star football player in college) or go on to be a radio preacher, or the president of a seminary instead of remaining a preacher. He went on to explain why he loved the Church and being part of a church and his reasoning is as sound as it is wonderful. He put into words the same reasons why I love the Church but couldn't articulate.

The first reason, and the best as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that the Church is the only thing Jesus built. He didn't build a seminary or a radio ministry, He built a church:

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:18)

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The Great Falling Away and Universal Truth

This morning I joined a Facebook discussion about the record number of Christians leaving the church. Statistically speaking you can make statistics say anything, and as the great American philosopher Samuel Clemons once said "There are three kinds of lies in this world: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics." 

The drop in the number of people identifying as Christians needs to be addressed - by Christians. What's causing the drop? Personally I am of the opinion that the modern church has become a social club where the bible is used to prop up a wobbly card table, preachers have become Joel Osteen and Beth Meyers wannabe's, and God has become Barney the purple dinosaur singing "I love you, you love me..." People need and want real theology, they need and want to know why Jesus was tortured and murdered, why his death atones for our sins, what is salvation through grace. This is becoming rare indeed, instead many churches are dedicated to self centered nonsense like this:

When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy. - Victoria Osteen

A friend started a Facebook discussion on whether these people were still "spritual" and traded in their tired old religion to seek Universal Truth. That's when I chimed in:

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Interesting Morning Epiphany

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Religion of Peace Update #1 - 700 girls and women have been rescued from the demonic clutches of  the Islamic terrorist organization, Boko Haram. These women were starved, beaten, raped, and used as slaves - a full 30% are now pregnant from being converted to 'sex machines' in the name of Allah. When Boko Haram realized their captives were close to being rescued they started stoning these women and girls to death. It does not appear that any of those released are from the group of more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram a year ago.

Religion of Peace Update #2 - Two of Allah's finest tools of evil opened fire on a Texas cartoon contest in Garland Tx. The two Al Qaeda operatives were introduced to Allah personally by Texas police officers. Obama appointee Ninth Circus Court of Appeals Judge Mary Murguia in 2011 didn't think that one of the madmen, Elton Simpson, was a threat to anyone and let him walk disregarding mountains of evidence that showed this person was a walking time bomb. I'm sure Judge Mary working up an apology to the state of Texas and the rest of the United States right now.

The Saddest Verse in the Bible

Last Saturday I was honored to serve coffee and refreshments to the Women's Ministry here at the First Berean Congregational Church at their annual celebration of motherhood, expectant motherhood, grand-motherhood, great-grand-motherhood, and "otherhood". As the brunch got underway, introductions were made and many of the women stood and shared their favorite bible verse. 

I never thought of having a favorite bible verse, one that I could call my very own, one that would give me comfort and guidance whenever I recalled it. Immediately one leapt to mind and I rejected it because it was too easy, so I continued to ponder but that one verse kept coming back to mind relentlessly. So I pondered that verse, and studied that verse, and prayed over that verse, and slowly the reason why the Holy Spirit brought me that verse dawned on me, and soon I realized it was the saddest verse I know, yet at the same time it's most wonderful verse in the bible. 

So let me drag this out and preface this properly. I'll start with a question - Does God love us? Yes! He really does! He made us for reasons we can barely fathom yet we pitiful little creatures give him pleasure just by loving him back:

For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation. (Psalm 149:4)

I could go on and on, but to be honest it would be easier for me to let CH Spurgeon go on and on for me instead: 

App Review: Blue Letter Bible

I really, really like the Blue Letter Bible website, I really do, it's one of my favorite study tools out there, it's packed full of information and references and commentaries. So when they came up with the iOS application I downloaded it immediately. Even though I'm trying to "unApple" my technical life I still have the odd Apple product or two laying around so I can compare iOS vs Android (and because my Boss says I have to have one... for now). Just recently the Blue Letter Bible just released an Android application of BLB and I immediately installed it on my phone and tablet (I'm very "Samsung-centric") and tore into the 'new kid on the block' to see what's under the hood and how it stacks up against it's older iOS brother. 

For you non techies iOS = Apple products, like iPhone, iPod, iPad iWatch, iStrain. Android = Android phones (Motorola, Samsung, LG) software is based on the very stable Linux operating system and the phones themselves do not shatter like great-grandma's finest lead crystal if dropped more than three inches. The Blue Letter Bible app is not available for Windows phones, then again much of the known technical universe is not available for the Windows phone.

Both the iOS version and the Android version have similar functions, their layout is a bit different so if you get used to one it will take you a little searching to find that same function in another. However, with just a few exceptions, the core functionality of each application is very similar. Here's my overall view of this application:

Remembering the 21 Egyptian Christian Martyrs

In separate attacks during December 2014, and in January 2015 ISIS terrorists captured 21 migrant Egyptian workers from the Libyan town of Sirte. ISIS claimed they were being held to "avenge the [nonexistant] kidnapping of Muslim women by the Egyptian Coptic Church"

These men were Christians all, despite the protestations of some Christian bloggers who should know better and one sitting president who doesn't appear to know much. Twenty men were raised to love and follow Jesus, and one received a baptism of sea water and blood and came to know God is a very personal way.

These men were not street thugs or felons so the Obama administration felt no compunction to send a representative to their memorial service, they were just hard working men trying to provide for their families who were slaughtered at the embarrassment of Islam and to the glory of their lord Christ Jesus. Before their names are lost in the sands of time let us remember them one last time:

ISIS Slaughters 300 Christian Prisoners

Isis militants slaughter more than 300 Yazidi captives in northern Iraq after thousands were taken captive from villages 

• Hundreds of Yazidi prisoners have been killed near Mosul in northern Iraq
• Yazidi Progress Party condemned the 'heinous criminal acts' by extremists
• About 40,000 were captured when Isis attacked Yazidi villages last summer
• 
  

By JENNY STANTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 14:08 EST, 2 May 2015 | UPDATED: 07:20 EST, 3 May 2015

More than 300 Yazidi prisoners have been slaughtered by Islamic State militants near Mosul in Iraq. According to the Yazidi Progress Party, hundreds were murdered by Isis on Friday in the Tal Afar district. It comes after around 40,000 people were kidnapped at gunpoint when the terrorists attacked Yazidi villages last summer.

The party statement, quoted by Shafaq News, condemned the 'heinous criminal acts' committed by Isis against the Yazidis.

Random Bits

Empress Clinton demands that religious beliefs about murdering unborn babies needs to be changed. Why? Because Empress Clinton demands it.

It's all about the doctrine - an awesome post about the importance of sound doctrine - something the emergent church is avoiding at all costs.

More proof of Ear Tickling on the increase - you may ask "What's wrong with the book 'Jesus Calling'?" in a word - everything. Seriously, everything.

The World Map of Christian Apps - got a spare megabyte or two on your smartphone or tablet? If so then this list is for you! Many of these apps are quite good, a some need work, and some... I'm still trying to figure out why they exist. I definitely have some reviewing to do. Sadly a few of my favorite apps didn't make this list, so here they are: CARM (Android, iOS) Got Questions (Android, iOS, Windows) Grace To You (Android, iOS, Windows, Kindle)

This could get interesting - a Catholic has decided to sit down and read the bible, while blogging about her trip through God's word. Will the Holy Spirit of God lead her to a stronger faith? Will she find salvation in Jesus rather than the trappings and man made requirements of the Catholics? Or will she loose interest half way through Isaiah?

Barack Hussein Obama has abandoned captives being held by the terrorist government in Iran in order to insure Iran has nuclear weapons.