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.

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

I'm trapped having to go to Target. I live in a small town but we do have a few super stores even though our K-Mart closed. I'm not crazy about our Walmart. Don't get me wrong, some Walmart's are very nice, but ours isn't one of them. Personally I'd rather do all my shopping at Tractor Supply Company or Bomgaars (we don't have a Menards, which is good, I can't stand their jingle). My problem is that no matter how wonderful a midwest farm and garden store is, they don't fill prescriptions.

Most stores that provide prescription service are a long drive off and I don't do grocery store pharmacies, which leaves me with Walgreens and CVS. Since Walgreens has turned its back on military veterans and refuses to accept Tricare (I do no business with any company that discriminates against the military) I have to go to CVS pharmacy which is at Target. Double whammy because CVS has the same bathroom policy as Target, and some of my prescriptions are 'specialty medications' that my insurance only covers at CVS. I go in, get my prescriptions, and get out. I don't take my granddaughter with either, just in case she may have to go to the bathroom Is there nowhere safe to let your daughter go to the bathroom? Yeah, a few places.

Think this bathroom thing is about gays and transvestites? No, its about you brother Christian.

The Turkish government has seized all of its last remaining Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Churches

Purple Rain is a worship song? Do these people even know that the man they're worshiping (Prince) was a member of a doomsday cult?

Spurgeon Thursday - It's All About Jesus