WWUTT Wednesday - The Christian Santa Clause

Do I believe in Santa Claus? No, but I believe in the Coca Cola ad campaign that featured a right jolly old elf. Personally, to me the proper symbol of the secular version of Christmas is a live tree draped with real tinsel, bedecked with Noma lights, interesting ornaments with a simple Lionel train set orbiting the base. Unfortunately my wife has an allergy to what ever they spray on trees to keep them green, our pets tend to eat tinsel, Noma lights are few, far between, and now priced beyond my reach, and grandchildren and my Lionel set tend to be a bad combination. But we still have some great Christmas ornaments. Throw in some mistletoe and holly (lots of holly!) a mug of egg nog and a piece of fruit cake (I love fruit cake! If you get one for Christmas and feel an urge to re-gift, I'm your man) some Andy Williams on the Alexa and I'm ready for the secular holiday.

But the Christian celebration of remembrance that God kept his promise and became man and walked among us, knowing from birth that with every step he took that he was growing closer to insufferable agony because of my sin is celebrated a bit differently. Mostly with quiet prayer in my little room, tearful with gratitude and begging God that if He can forgive and  forget my sins, that He can help me forgive myself and forget them too. 

Santa Claus is not St. Nick, and we as Christians need to keep that in mind. We need to keep our secular and Christian celebrations separate, and if we can't I suppose we have to drop one or the other.

WWUTT Wednesday - Clowns Entertaining The Goats

When C.H. Spurgeon decided to cut the mustard he knew right where to stick the knife. I'm sure they had problems with false teaching in Spurgeon's time, but could you imagine if the Prince of Preachers saw the antics that passes for preaching in today's world?

The tomfoolery of Creflo Dollar, the narcigesis of Steven Furtick, the buffoonery of Todd Bentley... Spurgeon would be sure that Christ is just minutes out and coming in hot and fast. 

And we all should be thinking that too. Did you realize there's people out there that actually teach that Jesus Christ will not return until people have prepared the earth for His return? No, this is not some tiny cult hidden back in the hills that use very strange mushrooms in their services, this is the New Apostolic Reformation. Their teachings of Dominion Theology put their plans and dreams first, the gospel a far second. NAR, IHOP, the Purpose Driven Church, the Emergent Church - all lead to the wide gate of destruction.

WWUTT Wednesday - False Teachers Teaching Falsehoods

I had completely forgotten about about the annual false teacher of the year "award". I usually think about it for weeks and research for days looking for the one false teacher that epitomizes the falsehoods of the year. But recent health issues and work issues have really taken their toll on my time to blog, and even to read blogs. It completely slipped my mind.

Yet Monday morning I woke up knowing that this was the day that the world knew that Rick Joyner was the false teacher of the year. No, I did not hear a still small voice whispering in my ear as perennial false teacher Rick Warren advises us to listen for. I think I knew a year ago that Rick Joyner was going to be the winner of the obscure but sadly fitting title of False Teacher of the Year when he falsely claimed that God picked the Carolina Panthers would win Super Bowl 50. Proverbs 30:5-6 came crashing down on his head less than a month later. 

Is it just me, am I growing more aware? or is the number of false teachers among us growing? or are the false teachers among us growing more vocal? Sadly I believe the answer is "Yes" to all three questions. But what shocks me more than anything else are self styled "prophets" and "apostles" who spout utter bunk and people believe their claims that these are "extrabiblical revelations". Just the name alone tells us it's not in the bible, therefor it's clearly not from God. 

WWUTT Wednesday - Studying Revelation

The Book of Revelation is actually the very first book of the bible I ever read. This was back in the days of the "Late Great Planet Earth" craze when it seemed like everyone was predicting the end of the earth by the year 1988. Exactly five years after the anticipated start date of the Apocalypse I had the honor of studying Genesis (and Ruth) under a Rabbi. 

The name of that class was "The Bible as Literature" because you can't teach "The Bible as God's Word" in a publicly funded University, but you can call it Literature and still teach it as God's word. Personally I suggest everyone take a good long hard study of Genesis (and Ruth) under a Rabbi because that will give you a foundation of Jewish law, and when you understand Jewish law a lot of things in the bible start to make a lot of sense.

For example - ever notice that whenever the ancient Israelites built an altar at a place they would prominently name it? that Adam's first job was to name the animals? that God's acts during creation included naming things like day, night, dark, etc? There is power in naming, it's practically (at the risk of sounding Emergent) Name It and Claim It. Once you understand that there's real power in naming, that white rock we receive in Revelation with our new name on it suddenly becomes a very Big Deal.

WWUTT Wednesday - All About The Watchtower

I'm not going to say anything bad about the members of Jehovah's Witnesses, like all people I've met most of them are very nice, pleasant people with enough exceptions thrown in to the mix to make it interesting. What I do have is a big problem with is their beliefs. 

Many of the Beliefs if the Jehovah's Witnesses at best can be described as unbiblical. At the worst they are  utterly blasphemous. It's legalism gone wild. Not only are JW's forbidden to vote, salute the flag, play team sports serve on a jury, they're not allowed to buy Girl Scout cookies!Are JW's saved? Here's a list of just a few of their beliefs, compare them with what God says in your bible and you tell me:

1. God is not a Trinity; the doctrine is inspired by the Devil
2. Jesus Christ is a "created being," who at one time did not exist
3. Jesus is not to be worshiped or prayed to because he is only an angel (a.k.a. Michael the archangel)
4. The Holy Spirit is not a person but is "God's active force" i.e. gravity, electricity etc.
5. Heaven is only for select Jehovah's Witnesses. The majority of Jehovah's Witnesses hope to live on "paradise earth"
6. Heaven is limited only to 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses. There are only 9,105 alive today (2006 figures)

WWUTT Wednesday - What To Look For In A New Church

Arrgh! Church "shopping" can be the worst, am I right? You find yourself looking for a church that fills your needs and desires and that takes a whole lot of time and effort. One of the worst parts for me was getting to know the people and having to say goodbye because you finally got to know the teachings and found them lacking in some manner. 

As the great falling away continues, folks who are in a church that suddenly veers in a downward direction will be looking for a new church. I know a few folks that currently are in the search for a new church home for purely biblical reasons.

What should we look for in a new church - should we look for one with the best music? Best children's programs? Monthly pot-luck vs Starbucks in the foyer? Mean congregational age? Assigned seating? Valet parking?

Luckily our friends at When We Understand The Text have come up with a checklist to keep our minds on point when searching for our new church home.

WWUTT Wednesday - An Election in Which I'm Eager to Participate

At the risk of sounding redundant: have you ever been in a discussion with a member of the "Christian" left that holds Arminian beliefs? Occasionally those that hold a belief that social justice trumps God's word will get upset when you try to steer them back to the bible and throw out an expletive to the effect that Calvinism is evil and unbiblical and a conversation ender.

This is slightly humorous because their Arminianism is based on unbiblical standards: they believe in Partial Depravity - humanity is depraved but still able to seek God, when Romans 3:10-18 clearly states that this is not true. 

They believe in Conditional Election - God only “chooses” those whom He knows will choose to believe. No one is predetermined for either heaven or hell. This under-emphasizes God’s sovereignty (Romans 8:28-13)

They believe in Resistible grace , God’s call to be saved can be resisted and/or rejected should we decide we don't want to follow His call. This underestimates the power and determination of God. They also believe in  Conditional Salvation  - Christians can lose their salvation if they actively reject the Holy Spirit’s influence in their lives. Conditional salvation makes salvation a reward for work rather than a gift of grace (Ephesians 2:8–10).

What they don't like is the U in TULIP - Unconditional Election A.K.A. adoption by God, I've had more than one conversation suddenly veer off to Unconditional Election like it was an accusation of heresy! blasphemy! apostasy! and was used as an excuse to end the conversation. WWUTT has bad news for these Arminians - Election is totally biblical

WWUTT Wednesday - Soldiers

There's been a lot of discussions going on lately about Christians and the role of Government, and they will keep going on for a couple more weeks at least. A recent discussion I was in was about government sanctioned killing, mostly the death penalty but also branching into soldering.

The bible does not say "thou shall not kill", if it did mankind would have starved to death trying to eat rocks before Cane and Able were born. Think about it: how many innocent living plants were dismembered and brutally slaughtered to make that chop salad you so thoughtless had for lunch the other day? The bible says "thou shall not murder" which is a whole different thing.

One cannot read the bible, either testament, and not see that death is a tool God has given governments to perform their function as an agency that He has created. It's a tool used to defend the citizens of kingdoms from external and internal threats. Think about it: God used the Roman Empire's governmental power of execution to perform the ultimate sacrifice which insured our salvation. And the pagans He used to insure our salvation were soldiers.

WWUTT Wednesday - God's Gift To All Of Us

Today is my birthday, and a very bittersweet one it is. Not because I have many many more behind me than I do ahead of me, but because of what is going on at work. 

Due to corporate restructuring many of my friends lost their jobs today. some of these men and women I have been working with since the turn of the century, we moved from one company to another "together" as mergers and bankruptcies occurred. Very few people in the world do what we do, so as we move around in the industry we may not know a person when they show up at our office, but it's guaranteed that we are friends with many of their friends.

 The cuts were sudden and drastic, my small group lost 30% of our people. I found out that my friends were gone only by the way their existance was wiped out of my computer. I was in a pretty bad mood, until WWUTT reminded me of God's love

WWUTT Wednesday - The Hand That Wields The Sword

Martin Luther wrote that "the hand that wields the sword and strangles is … no longer man's hand but God's." Executioners, he believed, are "very useful and even merciful," since they stop villains and deter crime. 

Dr. Albert Mohler, the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said "I believe that Christians should hope, pray and strive for a society in which the death penalty, rightly and rarely applied, would make moral sense. This would be a society in which there is every protection for the rights of the accused, and every assurance that the social status of the murderer will not determine the sentence for the crime,"

On the other hand Jay Sekulow, who heads the conservative Christian advocacy group the American Center for Law and Justice said "the taking of life is not the way to handle even the most significant of crimes." and "Who amongst anyone is not above redemption? I think we have to be careful in executing final judgment. The one thing my faith teaches me — I don't get to play God. I think you are short-cutting the whole process of redemption…I don't want to be the person that stops that process from taking place."

So who is right? God is:

WWUTT Wednesday - Name It And Claim It?

If you pay attention to the Word Of Faith prosperity preachers, their instructions guarantee rewards of cash and property from God Himself if you just say the magic words. Wealth beyond the dreams avarice is yours for the taking if you just speak the words of power.

It must be true because Joel Osteen is worth $40 million and he lives in a $17 million house, Creflo Dollar is worth $27 million and was gifted with a $70 million executive jet. Joyce Meyer is worth $25 million from books sales and preaching and biblically she's not allowed to preach. TD Jakes is worth $18 million and he doesn't even believe that Jesus is God. Steven Furtick says that Jesus' teachings prevent him from revealing his income, but he has a $16 million home which he purchased for $390,000. So God is our Creator and Spiritual Financial Advisory, right?

WWUTT Wednesday - Don't Slap the Heretic

Nicholas of Myra smacks Arius

During the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, Bishop Nicholas of Myra got a little upset with a fellow named Arius. Arius was a Christian presbyter from Alexandria Egypt and was teaching at the Nicaean council that Jesus the Son was not equal to God the Father. Arius claimed that Jesus was created by the Father, is distinct from the Father, and is therefore subordinate to the Father, This belief is called Arianism and it undermines the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. 

Angered with Arius' heretical teaching, Nicholas got up, walked across the room and slapped Arius in the face. Shocked that someone would commit violence in his presence, Constantine had Nicholas locked up in prison and allowed the Bishops to choose the appropriate punishment. The Bishops banished Nicholas to the North Pole, forced him to change his name to Santa and required him to raise reindeer and distribute toys for all eternity. And that's why on St. Nicholas day we're allowed to slap heretics.

Ok, I made bit about the North Pole and reindeer up. And please don't slap anybody, even on a Monday. To a Christian the ending of the actual Nicholas myth is just as weird. And to be honest the whole story is contrived, there's no evidence that Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea or that Arius did either. The best evidence says that  Arianism was discussed and determined to be a Heresy

What is a heresy? As Amy Spreeman at Berean Research so perfectly says "Heresy is a false teaching about the essential doctrines of our faith" and to understand what a heresy is, we must first understand what those doctrines are first. The good folks at WWUTT have discovered that to remember what those doctrines are, you simply need to remember that DOCTRINE is an acronym for our doctrines. Please watch the video and don't slap any heretics. If they upset you I suppose it's ok to put coal in their stocking

WWUTT - The End Of The World

All good things must come to an end, just as all bad things must come to an end too. Unless you're a self professed apostle slash profit prophet of the New Apostolic Reformation, then all things must come to a Great Outpouring and possibly even a revival. Maybe even a Carolina Panthers victory. 

But if you're like me and actually read the end of the Bible, you know that yes, this world is going to end, but it's going to be replaced by a better one. My co-worker and I were discussing bible prophesy and he really likes studying it and is a bit saddened that his new church doesn't study prophesy very much. I like reading prophesy too but I think that bible prophesy is studied too much in some instances. We both agree that bible prophesy is a strange bird in that when it does come to pass that it comes true in a way that confounds and amazes the student of prophesy. Remember Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth where he told us the world was going to end before 2000 because he believed that prophesy said that it would happen within one generation of the reforming of Israel?

Prophesy gets fulfilled in ways that we cannot imagine. I'm sure that in a few years we're going to look back at what has happened, review prophesy, and in one voice say "Dude! I totally missed that!"

WWUTT Wednesday - Slaves to a Lie

A very long time ago slavery was a universal practice throughout the world with the possible exception of ancient India. All ancient societies participated slavery. In China during several dynasties a captured man would be castrated and forced into slave labor, his property would be seized and his family would be sold into slavery also. 

During biblical times prisoners of war were pressed into slavery, foreign slaves became perpetual slaves of the slave owners. There was also debt slavery which sometimes was the only way people could feed themselves, and there was conjugal slavery where a girl would be sold under the understanding that she would marry the purchaser or his son, and failing that she would be redeemed. 

The bible, being written during this era in human servitude, naturally addresses this in numerous areas. Detractors and people who hate a God they don't believe exists ignore the world wide practice and focus on those mentions in the bible as a misbegotten statement of blanket endorsement of slavery. While venting their spleens at Christians, these people seem to believe is that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, they are blissful in their ignorance that right now there are tens of millions of people trapped in various forms of slavery throughout the world today. Researchers estimate that 21 million are enslaved worldwide, generating $150 billion each year in illicit profits for traffickers. About 78% toil in forced labor slavery, about 22% are trapped in forced prostitution sex slavery, and the remaining 26% are children.

So while slavery is very real, and very horrible, our detractors fume about the one book in antiquity that actually addressed slavery for the sin that it was

WWUTT Wednesday - Use Words

I have always abhorred the trite bumpersticker philosophy "Preach the Gospel, if necessary use words". For one thing it's wrong theologically, historically, and spiritually. To me it's always seemed a bit rude and arrogant claiming that those who "practice the Gospel" are more faithful than those who verbally preach it. I know atheists who live a life such that you wouldn't know they do not believe God until they opened their mouths.

As for Francis, he never said such a thing, nor did he follow such unbiblical teaching. Mark Galli, senior managing editor at Christianity Today, wrote an article on this false quote (as well as a biography on Francis) He explains that Francis was quite a preacher, actually more along the lines of Jonathan Edwards or Billy Sunday:

His words were neither hollow nor ridiculous, but filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, penetrating the marrow of the heart, so that listeners were turned to great amazement.

Francis pent a great deal of time using his words when he preached, “sometimes preaching in up to five villages a day, often outdoors. In the country, Francis often spoke from a bale of straw or a granary doorway. In town, he would climb on a box or up steps in a public building. He preached to any who gathered to hear the strange but fiery little preacher from Assisi.” He was sometimes so animated and passionate in his delivery that “his feet moved as if he were dancing.”

As for preaching the Gospel...

WWUTT Wednesday - What "Jehovah" Is and Isn't

It's been a while since I've had the Worshipers of the Watchtower come banging on my door, I think they put a secret mark on my house: Beware! This One Knows the Gospel! and they kind of avoid my house lately. Usually doomsday cults don't annoy me, but the Jehovah's Witness cult is particularly heretical.

The Doomsday Cult of the Watchtower gets their understanding of God from the New World Translation. The NWT is the first intentional, systematic effort at producing a complete version of the Bible that is edited and revised for the specific purpose of agreeing with a group's doctrine.

The Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jesus is not God but just Michael the Archangel. Their proof? They don't really have any, but they do fire off few bible verses that mention Michael as a prince and claim they are proof that Jesus is an angel. I'll ignore the fact that according to their teaching the earth is going to end in 1874 1878 1881 1914 1925 1975 you get the idea. They even gave God a name of their own making

WWUTT Wednesday - The Power of Positive Thought

Mr Osteen is famous for saying awesome positive uplifting things that just tug at your heart strings and make you want to go climb mountains and grab that treasure chest full of gold that God has miracled into existance just for you. 

He says awesome inspiring things like

“God would not have put a dream in your heart if He had not already given you everything you need to fulfill it."

And

“You were not created to just get by with an average, unrewarding, or unfulfilling life. God created you to leave your mark on this generation.” 

And other pastors of his ilk like Joyce Meyers and Beth Moore say close to the same thing, so God must have created the world just for me (and maybe even you) right? The bible is full of passages that tell us that the power of positive thought is all that God asks of us for us to conquor the world, right?

Not so much

WWUTT Wednesday: The Thief Comes to Steal, Kill, and Destroy

I love the video selected for today, if anything at all, it shows that a verse taken out of context is easily misconstrued. So many bible verses can be misused, one that seems to be especially and joyfully misused is Matthew 7:1 which is the one verse nonbelievers always seem to have at the ready to justify their bad behavior.

A real classic is Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. I see that everywhere: on t-shirts, on bumper stickers, on greeting cards. It's used as a rallying cry to climb mountains, win championships, paint the house, etc. However in context it's much different, Paul was letting the church of Philippi know that God has strengthened him in good times and bad. Paul was harassed, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and finally imprisoned and he endured all due to his faith in God and his love of Christ.

WWUTT Wednesday - Watch Your Language

Rare is the person who cannot hit their thumb with a hammer and then not express the sudden shock and pain with a verbal explosion of some sort. Even a solid Christian may let slip an expletive on occasion when in this situation. Worse yet, a Christian may also verbally explode when talking to or about someone who has been frustrating them in some manner. 

I, as a sergeant in the Armed Services, was no stranger to "blue language" (it was the Air Force, of course it was blue). If you committed a safety violation on MY beloved airplane, especially with live weapons in the area, I would let my displeasure with your heinous act be known loud and clear. In military parlance I would "Chew you up one side and down the other for 20 minutes without repeating myself, making you wish your momma never met your daddy."

The mark of a true professional sergeant was to be able to do that 20 minute chew-out without using profane language. What you are saying at full volume is still swearing, there's just no profane language being used which requires a lot more mental effort to be put into your "counseling session". Whenever I have the misfortune to hear Gordon Ramsey speak I think of the well known quote

WWUTT Wednesday - What Does The Bible Say About The Pope?

Mr. Pope recently came out and said

“Today the death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how grave the crime committed. It is an affront to the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God’s plan for man, society and merciful justice... [the death penalty] does not render justice for the victims, but encourages vengeance. The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has an absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty.”

You may or may not agree with Mr. Pope on the death penalty itself, but first of all, the bible does not say "Thou shall not kill, it says "Thou shall not רָצַח (ratsach)" which means to commit premeditated murder, a much different thing all together. And besides it is not unusual for God to use death as a form of justice. Ever hear of the Amalekites? They attacked the Israelites without provocation during the Exodus (Exodus 17:8, Deuteronomy 25:17-18), They later attacked Israel during the time of the Judges (Judges 3:13) and raided the Israelites' land leaving them with nothing (Judges 6:2-5). Eventually God dispensed justice through King Saul 

'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" (1 Samuel 15:3)

Secondly, you may notice that Mr. Pope did not quote this from the bible:

1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. (Romans 13:1-2)

Being the King of the Vatican, Mr. Pope is a governing authority, so he can do away with his death penalty all he wants inside the Kingdom of the Vatican (and yes, until recently the Vatican did have a death penalty) but by Romans 13, those living in a country that has a death penalty are now in opposition to the ordinance of God if they listen to Mr. Pope.

Thirdly, what does the bible say about Mr. Pope?