In the Begining אֱלֹהִים Created the Heaven and the Earth.

What is in a name? If your name is David, it's a Hebrew word that means "beloved". If it's George, that's a Greek word that means "farmer". I know a David or two that's not beloved, and I've only met one farmer named George. Right now the #1 name for baby boys in the United States is Noah (which means "comfort") and for girls the #1 is Emma (which means "universal") While an infant can be comforting, a 2 year old is much less so, and "universal" is a difficult reputation to live up to.

Biblically speaking, a person's name means "Everything" The Hebrew word for name is שֵׁם "Shem" which can also mean designation, reputation, fame, glory, memorial, and monument just to name a few meanings. God has numerous names and each name describes an attribute of His majesty. 

When confronted by a situation, any situation, call on God's name. His name is a strong, protective tower that the righteous run into and find safety (Proverbs 18:10), His name is holy and awesome (Psalm 111:9). God has many names and no matter what situation we face at least one of God's names reveal a characteristic we need to cling to.

The first name of God we see in the bible is אֱלֹהִים  which is pronounced Elohim. We see it right at the very beginning of the book

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Jesus is transgender? I'm not going to use the word ignorant as an insult, I'm going to use it in it's original form, the poor author is belaboring under pure ignorance

Sometimes all you can do is shake your head

When you see this, keep in mind that the video comes from The General Board of Discipleship  of The United Methodist Church. Remember back in the good old days when Methodists were considered normal?

Now you know why Hillsong is so popular - strippers in "church"

Obama mixes his hate of America with his hate of religion

Religion of Peace Update #1 - In southern Egypt a 70-year-old Christian woman was stripped, beaten and marched naked through the streets by an armed mob of some 300 Muslim men, in punishment for being the mother of a Christian man suspected of carrying on a relationship with a Muslim woman

Religion of Peace Update #2 - It's been a while since we heard of any new, disgusting torture/murder device from Islam. The respite is sadly over.

Religion of Peace Update #3 - Islam gets this one thing right

Target is in denial over their economic Hindenburg act caused by their bathroom policy

Good reasons not to be a Roman Catholic

I love this, however it raises the question, is it right in the light of  Matthew 6:5-7?

Spurgeon Thursday - As the days grow dark

Words we need to keep in mind as the coming of our Lord draws near

WWUTT Wednesday - Heavenly Tourism

Once upon a time Mike Bickle, the founder of IHOP and self appointed Apostle in the NAR, went to Heaven and spoke with God, and Jesus, and Paul. I'm just wondering if he bumped into Rick Joyner who also claims to have conferred face to face with my Lord and Savior. Todd Bentley goes one better - he visited heaven with Bob Jones, but he also tells us that God visits him. Maybe it's getting too crowded up there for God, what with all those visitors, so He has to come down here to meet a few self appointed apostles

The cool thing about visiting Heaven is the money you make when you get back! 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper, Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo, Flight to Heaven by Dale Black,  and who can forget The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven by Kevin and Alex Malarkey (what a marvelously appropriate name) All money makers, and there's so many more out there making money. Here's a nice infographic on the business of visiting Heaven.

Now personally I'm not going to call Shenanigans on this, I'll let Jesus do it.

Emergent Monday - Bickles Bible Botching

“Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the
difference between what is right and wrong;
rather it is the difference between right and
 almost right.” - CH Spurgeon

Thank you to all of you who've given me so much feedback on my NAR posts, but if you like my stuff, wait until you take a look at Holly Pivec's articles at the Spirit of Error blog. She is doing an incredible job of keeping track of apostolic-prophetic movement (the NAR or the “New Apostolic Reformation“) — the fast-growing movement within charismatic and Pentecostal churches that promotes modern-day apostles and prophets who assume great authority that biblically is not theirs to assume. Holly is the former managing editor of Biola University’s magazine, Biola Magazine, and a former contributing writer to the Christian Research Journal. She has a master’s degree in Christian apologetics from Biola. This is one of her most read postings:

Bickles Bible Botching

Mike Bickle–the leader of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, Missouri–is revered by many people in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement as a sound Bible teacher, as someone who majors on teaching people the written Word of God. 

But I have noticed something disturbing about his teachings. The Bible verses he uses to support them frequently have nothing to do with those teachings–and sometimes they actually teach something very different.

In this post, I look at one of Bickle’s teachings and show how he attempts to support it through the use of a botched interpretation of Scripture. This example should raise a flag of caution in people’s minds when they encounter his other NAR teachings.

The ‘Israel Mandate’

IHOP has a ministry called the “Israel Mandate,” that seeks to mobilize people to pray for Israel and the salvation of the Jewish people. Well, this might all sound good–even to many traditional evangelicals who have, historically, shown strong support for Israel and Jewish people.

So, then, what’s the problem with the “Israel Mandate?”

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

The past 12 months have been kind of tough for me. Health issues are primarily vexing for me. While I rarely pray for healing I do pray for help in dealing with my health issues and God answers my prayers in the most wonderful ways, and He sends His answers in the form of children. My own children and step children help around the house while the granddaughters help in their own special ways. A six year old is not adverse to fetching items that grandpa needs when he's not feeling well, and is a more than willing accomplice when he is feeling well enough to commit a little mischief, or maybe even head up into the mountains for an unscheduled picnic.

Then again the baby can be pretty handy too. Just her presence takes grandpa back 30 years when he was changing her aunts and uncles diapers and the whole world made a lot more sense. Sometimes grandpa's need that, and sometimes they need a nap, and who better to teach a baby the fine art of napping than a grandpa? These little girls have given me more joy in the past year than I can ever relate, and it's all God's doing. This is why I chose what I did for yesterday's Spurgeon Thursday. Thank you Lord for your wonderful gift of wonderful children and please bless my family as we celebrate the baby's very first birthday tomorrow.

This is Obama's legacy

NAR Super Apostle Yonggi Cho suspected of embezzling $67 Million

Will the next denomination to fall into apostasy be the Methodist church?

A little bit of Barack Obama, a little bit of Rob Bell, a lot of false teaching

Is your pastor apostate? Here's how to find out.

The BBC says that the BBC is too Christian

Spurgeon Thursday - Spurgeon Quotes About Children

There's a reason for this post, which will be shared in the near future.

You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, & training them up in God’s fear, & minding the house, & making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts

Let no Christian parents fall into the delusion that Sunday School is intended to ease them of their personal duties. The first and most natural condition of things is for Christian parents to train up their own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

You may speak but a word to a child, and in that child there may be slumbering a noble heart which shall stir the Christian Church in years to come.

When joy and prayer are married, their first born child is gratitude.

Begin early to teach, for children begin early to sin.

Train your child in the way in which you know you should have gone yourself.

I heard the story of a man, a blasphemer...an atheist, who was converted singularly by a sinful action of his. He had written on a piece of paper, "God is nowhere," and ordered his child to read it, for he would make him an atheist too. The child spelled it, "God is n-o-w h-e-r-e. God is now here." It was a truth instead of a lie, and the arrow pierced the man's own heart.

WWUTT Wednesday - Who Is Jesus?

Who is Jesus? We know His name was really Yeshua (Joshua), and that he was the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation, the messiah. Messiah means "anointed" which in turn means chosen. He's the central figure of Christianity, and He's my brother. Personally (and Biblically) Jesus adopted me as His brother

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (Ephesians 1:5) 

4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

This is cool, I've never had a brother, and I'm not going to go in to how incredible it is to suddenly realize that I have one who created the heavens and earth and actually died to save me, but He is so much more than that...

What is a Church Really For?

Some people will be shocked when they
find out what the church is really for

This was originally posted by Glenn Chatfield at The Watchman's Bagpipes on February 6, 2010. All Scripture in this article is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible

What is the reason we assemble together as believers? What was the biblical purpose for assembling, and should it still be the purpose?

Whenever the Bible speaks of the Christians assembling together, what do we see taking place? There really isn’t a whole lot in the Bible about their assemblies for worship, but let’s start with a look at Acts.

Chapter 2, verse 42 we find “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.”

Continuing to chapter 20, verses 7-11 we find: “On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he extended his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled, and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on speaking. When he was overcome by sleep he fell down from the third story, and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, threw himself on him, embraced him, and said, ‘Don’t be alarmed, for his life is in him!’ After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, he conversed a considerable time until dawn. Then he left.”

1 Corinthians 11:17-26 is a discussion by Paul about their misuse of the Lord’s table, and he gives them appropriate instructions. This tells me that the Lord’s table (or as many call it, Communion) was a common part of their gathering.

Emergent Monday - The False Apostles of the NAR

You know them, in the Greek of the New Testament they are Simeon/Petros, Andreas, Iakōbos, Ioannes, Philippos Bartholomaíos, Thomas/Didymos, Matthaios, Iakōbos, Thaddaios, Simon o Zelotos, Ioudas Iskarion, Paulos. We know them as Simon/Peter, Andrew (brother of Simon/Peter) James (son of Zebedee), John (son of Zebedee), Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus (also called Jude), Simon (the Zealot), and Paul.

The first 11 were disciples of Christ, Paul on the other hand was never a disciple. The word disciple simply means "a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosopher" So a disciple is one who follows. The 11 were no longer disciples after Jesus sent them out:

5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; 6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. (Matthew 10:5-8)

Once He sent them out on this mission they became apostles. apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos which means an envoy, ambassador, or messenger commissioned to carry out the instructions of the commissioning agent. If you notice these are small a apostles, a capital A Apostle is a bit different. In the Bible there are only two qualifications to become an Apostle; the man had to have been a witness to the risen lord (Acts 1:22, Acts 10:38-41, 1 Corinthians 9:1, 1 Corinthians 15:7-9) and the man had to be appointed as an Apostle by Christ (Matthew 10:1-7, Mark 3:14, Acts 1:24-26, Galatians 1:1)

All 12 Apostles got their commission directly from Jesus, the eleven received their commission in Matthew 28:16-20, and Paul received his on the road to Damascus. So biblically, a disciple is one who follows Jesus, an apostle is one who is sent out by Jesus, and an Apostle is one who witnessed the risen Christ and was then chosen by Him. And since they received their authority from Jesus, to disobey an Apostle was to disobey God

11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12)

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

In the military I had a position that put me in an enviable to many people in uniform. My job was to account for every nuclear weapon on my Strategic Air Command base, and insure proper maintenance, storage, transportation, loading and unloading on aircraft in the proper sequence. It was a difficult and intense job, but it had it's perks, like having to tell commissioned officers what to do and on occasion pointing out their mistakes. Loudly. Nukes are serious stuff  and sometimes the a Staff Sergeant had to dress down a wayward Colonel on occasion, it was necessary for the safety and security of the most dangerous weapons every created by man.

I only mention this because we don't have that kind of fun in the civilian business world. Although there's quite a few VP's out there who desperately need a dressing down for their own good, But they take themselves too serious to realize that theiI find my fun elsewhere. Seeing the look on my bride's face when she discovered that I taught our 11 month old grand daughter to use the doggy door was seriously good entertainment. Take the world serious? Take myself serious? No, it's not going to happen any more. Serious is God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the commands They gave us. Corrupt politicians, this pathetic election cycle, the destruction of the family, persecution, world wide war... we knew it was coming, God told us it was going to happen. The very best we can do is delay the inevitable, and that's not happening. Take your bible serious and detach emotionally from this dying rock.

Stating the obvious

Recently the Mayor Nanny of New York City demanded a boycott of the Christian restaurant Chick-fil-A, Christians respond.

J.D., I can feel your exhaustion.

Normally when someone mentions Beyonce I think "Bouncy who?" No more. Warning: there are some articles that can't be unread. This is one of them.

More Roman Catholic idol worship

Spurgeon Thursday: The Charles Haddon Spurgeon Rap

Personally I'm not crazy about rap, but this one is special. Oh, I get rap all right - rap (supposedly) means Rhythm And Poetry, it's a throwback to the beat era of the late 50's early 60's which never thrilled me either. Call me a luddite but to me music is much more than meter and lyrics, melody is extremely important to me, and if the artist throws in multi-part harmony and at least two key changes, now you're talking. But this rap had me hooked in just the first 17 words. I saw the first slide of this video and thought "There's a message that needs to be shouted from the rooftops by our kids" and I hung in there unto the very end. And I'm glad I did.

WWUTT Wednesday - Did Jesus Hate Religion?

Did the Prince of Peace really hate religion? The bible is very clear about Jesus and his discussions with the Pharisees, He even had Seven Woe's for them. So He clearly doesn't like religion because he didn't like the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed in what we now call The Old Testament and believed it was the inspired word of God, but they also gave equal authority to oral tradition and attempted to defend this position by saying it went all the way back to Moses

Then there were the Sadducees. the Sadducees believed that only the written law of Moses was authoritative, they saw worship at the Temple as the main focus of the Law (which meant that when the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD the Sadducees were destroyed too) Because the Sadducees were more concerned with politics than religion, they were unconcerned with Jesus until they became afraid He might bring unwanted Roman attention. It was at this point that the Sadducees and Pharisees united and conspired to put Christ to death. The Sadducees are also implicated in the death of James by the historian Josephus.

Money changers in the temple, the whip made of cords, clearly Jesus doesn't like religion, right?

Emergent Monday - Excuses Excuses

If you've been keeping track, the prophesy record for the NAR is pretty abysmal. Keep in mind that being a prophet isn't all about picking Super Bowl winners (am I right Rick Joyner?) but about speaking God's truth to others. The English word prophet comes from the Greek word prophetes, which can mean “one who speaks forth” or “advocate.”

More than 133 named prophets are mentioned in the Bible, including 16 women.These aren't folks who just woke up one day and thought to themselves "Hey, I'll be a prophet, the money's not good but the work is easy" True prophets are chosen by God to speak for Him

I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. (Deuteronomy 18:18)

True prophets of God aren't well loved in this sinful world, primarily because they are true prophets of God and say what God tells them to say. A shining example is Ahab, king of Israel. He had 400 false prophets telling him what he liked to hear, and one true prophet, Micaiah. The 400 predicted victory for Israel over that Arameans, but  Micaiah prophesied defeat and death, for which he was imprisoned. Of course Micaiah was right (2 Kings 22:1-40) Paul also has been known to prophesy, one of his most damning prophesies is found in his letter to the Romans where he tells of a world falling deeper into sin (Romans 1:20-32).

Enter the New Apostolic Reformation - it's not new, it's not apostolic, and the only thing they have reformed is the art of ear tickling - their false prophecy is staggering and nearly as creative as their excuses for spewing false prophecy in the first place. Let's look at a few. First is Dutch Sheets prophesying that the leaders of all governments will lead their nations righteously

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Unfortunately I missed this

The findings of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom 2016 report show that persecution against believers is intensifying around the world.

Thieves stole $500 worth of bibles from a Massachusetts Morning Star book store. Morning Star books is owned by false prophet Rick Joyner who clearly didn't see this coming.

Christians are "called to resist" Trump.

Religion of Peace Update #1 - ISIS kidnaps young girl, rapes, tortures, murders and dismembers her, then sends body parts and video tape to her parents.

Religion of Peace Update #2 - Egyptian spokesman reveals the true cause of Muslim violence

Religion of Peace Update #3 - Members of the Religion of Peace are turning to the Prince of Peace in ever increasing numbers

ESPN fired Curt Schilling for supporting North Carolina's efforts to protect women from sexual predators, and hired drunken drug abusing homosexual advocate Abby Wambach. Way to keep it classy ESPN.

Spurgeon Thursday - Clowns and Goats

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

This quote is attributed to CH Spurgeon all across the internet (the first quote I mean, I'm positive that the second one is Paul) but I can't find an actual source for it. Does anyone have a real source for this quote? It's a much better job or prophesy than anything (and everything) that the NAR has put out. 

WWUTT Wednesday - Alter Calls and the Sinners Prayer?

I feel that Ray Comfort is right, the sinner's prayer just may be Hell's Best Kept Secret. Here's an example:

In 1991, in the first year of the decade of harvest, a major denomination in the U.S. was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. That is, in one year, this major denomination of 11,500 churches was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. Unfortunately, they could only find 14,000 in fellowship, which means they couldn’t account for 280,000 of their decisions.

Many churches are not being honest with people, yes there is joy in Christianity when you realize that Jesus is your kinsman redeemer, but there's a lot of pain and sadness involved in realizing that he was maimed, tortured and killed for your bad behavior, and then you still continue that behavior. Churches need to teach that God is not Santa Claus, Heaven is not a tourist destination, Hell is real, the gospel is spread with words which are necessary, Satan is out to drive a wedge between you and God, and people are going to hate you because they hated Jesus first. There's a bit more to it than walking down the aisle and saying a prayer. Modern evangelism says, “Never question your salvation.” The Bible says the exact opposite. It says, “Examine yourself and see if you’re in the faith” (2Cor. 13:5)

Emergent Monday - IHOP and the Perils of Passion

Scott Pursley is the Senior Pastor at Lamb of God Fellowship in Livingston, NJ. He is a teacher who is well grounded in the Word. This article was originally presented in sermon form (mp3). Pastor Scott reformatted his notes for publication at BeyondGrace and are reposted here

The International House of Prayer, located in Kansas City Missouri is principally the vision of one man, its founder and chief doctrinal spokesman, Mike Bickle. Therefore a critique of IHOP is in the final analysis a critique of Mike Bickle’s teaching ministry. However, because of the unusual beginnings of Mr. Bickle’s ministry and rise to national prominence it is also necessary to focus on the teaching/preaching ministries of two alleged prophets, Paul Cain and Bob Jones. Their ministries are parallel developments and significantly influence and shape Mr. Bickle’s perception of IHOP’s divinely authorized origins.

The multi-million dollar ministry that is IHOP has it roots in the modest beginnings of the Kansas City Fellowship of the early 1980’s. According to Mr. Bickle, IHOP is a direct fulfillment of prophecies delivered to him by Bob Jones and Paul Cain. Repeatedly Mr. Bickle has declared that no one has been more integral to establishing the prophetic in his ministry than Bob Jones. Part of the mythology of Mr. Jones legendary status as a prophet are numerous false prophecies, now largely forgotten. These include claims of California being destroyed, nuclear weapons being detonated on the East and West Coast, and an oft repeated story of a drought confirming special ‘divine’ authorization on Mr. Bickle’s ministry.

From the very early days of Mr. Bickle’s ministry he adapted his own version of the so called ‘Latter Rain’ teaching of the late 1940’s made popular principally through the writing of George Warnock’s ‘Feast of Tabernacles’ (As well as a hand full of other, now obscure Pentecostal heretics). This parallel has been pointed out to Mr. Bickle on numerous occasions necessitating a public denial of IHOP’s dependance on Latter Rain teaching. However, no actual substantive explanation has ensued from Mr. Bickle regarding this allegation. The false teacher and Latter Rain proponent William Branham was very influential in the theological formation of the disgraced prophet Paul Cain. Paul Cain in turn influenced greatly both Bob Jones (who frequently referred to Mr. Cain as the greatest prophet of God on the earth) and Mike Bickle who often appeared with Mr. Cain in large venues around the U.S.