Soli Deo Gloria

“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘ Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. Deuteronomy 13:1-4

What an amazing passage of Scripture. In my morning time with God in His word I read this passage and immediately several points came to mind with regards to our great God:

1. We have a tendency to always look at the miracle or prophesy of people and then if what they say actually happens or comes true then we want to immediately believe that they must be from God. The world will tell us that this is a true man or woman of God and will flock to them. (Let’s face it, people flock to false teachers today who cannot even verify miracles and healings of the likes of Benny Hinn, Todd Bentley, et al.) However, this is exactly why we must stay soaked in the Word of God – for man does not live by bread alone! You see, this verse teaches us that God, in His majestic sovereignty, may send or allow a false prophet or false teacher to work signs and wonders or tell a prophecy that actually comes true – but if they speak against the Word of God or try to get you to follow after another god then we are to immediately discount them. This puts great light on those who claim to be of God but their god is money, wealth and power and they preach that you should worship and follow mammon and not God. This is a description of none other than the prosperity preachers of our day. Oh how much we see this today!

2. We also see from this passage that God can test us in this way. This is an amazing truth. God in His awesome power and wisdom will use false prophets and false teachers to test people – apparently even His own to cause discernment and discipline and likely to cleanse His church. This warns us that we are to obey our Lord, be led by the Spirit and remember that to trust in Him and “eat His Word daily” is the only antidote to the ever-increasing false teachings of the world. As our Lord Jesus reminds us – many will come in My name and will trick the masses – if possible even the elect! We are also reminded here that God works all things for our good. (Rom. 8:28) Remember that He disciplines those that He loves and may very well bring about or allow false teachers to come to you, your family or your congregation and we must be vigilant – testing the spirits! (1 John 4:1)

3. God must be first. There can be no other gods in our lives. In fact, there can be no second place in our lives with regards to God. Many people have God first but several other “gods” right underneath Him. Worse, they may have God tied in first place with another god. There are many who have a love for God but an equal love for the world. Our Lord Jesus strongly tells us that we cannot serve both God and mammon! May we humbly be reminded of the first commandment. This commandment gives us absolutely no leeway for other gods at all. God Almighty is either first place or no place. There is no middle ground. Christ is either all you have or nothing. He will not be shared. There is absolutely no place for 2nd or 3rd place gods.

4. Finally we see in this glorious passage the sovereignty of God. Here we are comforted to know that nothing is outside of God’s control – even the false teachers and false prophets. The glorious truth is that God can and does use these false teachers and the evil of the world to bring about good. (Rom 8:28) May we be humbly reminded that He used the most evil act in history – the murder of His Son – to bring about the greatest good – salvation and redemption to sinners by His grace. God can and does use evil and sin to bring about His sovereign, perfect plan all the while never being the author or creator of evil or sin. We should also never think that this would excuse man for his own sinful ways – for verse 5 of this chapter makes it clear that these false teachers will be held accountable for their sin. May we find great peace and comfort in this truth only when we are in Christ and walk by the Spirit of God – for outside of Christ it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. (Hebrews 10:31)

Father, forgive our foolish ways. Forgive us for following after false teachers and false prophets who so easily trap and fool our sinful minds and hearts. Give us a passion for your living Word that we may live for you and discern by the Spirit the false ways of this world. We rejoice in who You are – in Your awesome sovereignty and love for Your children. We thank You for Christ – for our perfect, spotless righteousness in Him and we yearn for the day when He returns for His bride with all the angels in flaming fire. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Romans 1:16

How you read Romans 1:16 tells a lot about you. Which of the following best resembles how you interpret the text?

1. Christian
For I am not ashamed of the gospel (the death burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior), for it (the preaching of that gospel and absolutely nothing else) is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (not a superficial shallow mental ascent, but a complete dependence and trust upon Christ)

2. Charismaniac
For I am not ashamed of the gifts of the spirit, for they are proof of the power of God and proof of your salvation to everyone who believes…

3. Word of Faith Charismaniac
For I am not ashamed of pleading for money, for sowing your faith seed offering is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…

4. Roman Catholic
For I am not ashamed of Mary, the Pope, and the Mother Church, for they are the power of God and the only way to salvation to everyone who believes and receives the sacraments, attends meritorious masses, is baptized, keeps the law, does good works, purchases indulgences, endures purgatory, etc…

5. Jehovah’s Witness
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of the New Earth that we peddle door to door, for the Watchtower is the only ones who speak for God and is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and exhaustively works their tails off for the Watchtower almost every waking hour of the day for their entire life to obtain Jehovah’s favor, which is not guaranteed…

6. Mormon
For I am not ashamed of the restored gospel, even though I am ashamed and embarrassed about our church history and the things our church prophets have said (that was just their opinion and they were not speaking for God when they said all those awful things) for the Melchizadek Priesthood which only we have is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and follows the following conditions as outlined in Gospel Principles pages 303-304 (1997 edition): 1.) We must be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. 2.) We must receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 3.) We must receive the temple endowment. 4.) We must be married for time and eternity.In addition to receiving the required ordinances, the Lord commands all of us to– 1. Love and worship God. 2. Love our neighbor. 3. Repent of our wrongdoings. 4. Live the law of chastity. 5. Pay honest tithes and offerings. 6. Be honest in our dealings with others and with the Lord. 7. Speak the truth always. 8. Obey the Word of Wisdom. 9. Search out our kindred dead and perform the saving ordinances of the gospel for them. 10. Keep the Sabbath day holy. 11. Attend our Church meetings as regularly as possible so we can renew our baptismal covenants by partaking of the sacrament. 12. Love our family members and strengthen them in the ways of the Lord. 13. Have family and individual prayers every day. 14. Honor our parents. 15. Teach the gospel to others by word and example. 16. Study the scriptures. 17. Listen to and obey the inspired words of the prophets of the Lord. Finally, each of us needs to receive the Holy Ghost and learn to follow his direction in our individual lives.

7. Universalist Unitarian
For I am not ashamed of the value found in all religions regardless of whether or not they conflict with one another on core issues , for whatever truth is for you, it is the power of God, gods, goddess, no god, or whatever you believe for a better world to everyone who believes or chooses not to believe.

8. Seeker-Friendly
For I am not ashamed of shameless church marketing, for the end justifies the means and pragmatism is the power of God for filling seats on Sundays to watch our awesome worship rock band followed by our hip and and oh, so cool pastor and we’re also giving away free gas cards to everyone who attends our local campus.

9. Liberal
For I am not ashamed of supporting any socialist cause or liberal issue, for a woman’s right to choose and a homosexual’s right to marry is the power of self-empowerment for salvation from the oppressive chains that the white, Anglo-Saxon, Capitalist, fascists have placed on the backs of everyone in this nation.

10. Emergent / Emerging
Romans? Is that in the Bible?

HT: Defending Contending

Every Christian, especially evangelical pastors, should listen carefully to this sermon. Brother Washer speaks the truth in this passionate call for the American church to wake up.  What a wonderful sermon to take the time to watch on this Reformation Day.

I’ve heard people complain that this sermon is too long. Tally up the time we spend in front of a movie screen or television set and then compare that to the time we give to God in hearing the preaching of His living Word.

I’ve already posted a while back on the problems with the popular book “The Shack” that so many professing believers claim to be a wonderful book.  In fact, Eugene Peterson, author of the translation weak paraphrase “The Message” claimed it was equal to the classic book, “Pilgrim’s Progress”.  I’m sorry, this book comes no where near the theological beauty of “Pilgrim’s Progress”.  In fact, it’s at the complete other end of the spectrum with its heretical views of the Trinity.

Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says, “This book includes undiluted heresy.”  It doesn’t get any clearer than that.

The real truth is that the endorsements of the book from popular musical artists and liberal Christians is just one more indication of the complete lack of spiritual discernment in our world and the condition of the church visible.  Maybe pastors should spend more time preaching the gospel and less time endorsing junk like “The Purpose Driven Life” and “The Shack”.  It’s so concerning to see the state of the majority of professing believers in America.

Tim Challies has written an update to his review of “The Shack” and it is an excellent, Biblical review.  If you or a loved one has this book (and from what I hear some churches are handing this book out like they did the “Purpose Driven Drivel Life”, I urge you to carefully read this excellent review.

So head on over to challies.com and check out the updated review.  Tim has also provided his review in an elegant pdf format that you can send to your friends or maybe even your pastor.  And while you’re at it grab a copy of Challie’s excellent book on discernment because it is clearly a lack of Biblical discernment that has caused books like “The Shack” to become so popular among the American church.

I have intentionally wanted to ignore Todd Bentley, self-proclaimed revivalist in Florida, hoping that he would soon go away.  I usually do not like to blog about people like this. There is no doubt that anyone claiming to be of God who speaks to angels and then tells the audience that they must believe in the angel is a false prophet.  We are to believe in Jesus Christ – not an angel.  Todd’s “angel dialogue” is just one of many real problems with this man’s “ministry”.

My friends we are in a time in America where there is so much of a need for discernment.  We live in a time where pastors in other countries are being arrested for preaching the gospel and pastors in America are being arrested for child abuse, drugs and sexual offenses.  Our American Christianity is so watered down that it is no wonder thousands and thousands flock to people like Todd Bentley and genuinely believe he is from God.  Where is the Gospel?  Where is Christ preached?  It is clear in Scripture that when one is filled with the Holy Spirit Christ is proclaimed and glorified.

I was over at Slice of Laodicea this morning and saw a video that caused me to write this post.  It’s a video of Todd Bentley kicking a man with stage 4 colon cancer in the stomach to be “healed”.  That’s right – Todd physically kicked the man so hard he fell to the floor and Todd then told the man that God told him to do it.  This isn’t the first time Todd has proudly announced to his audience that he has kicked people.  He told his audience not too long ago that he kicked an elderly woman in the face because God told him to.

To see the video for yourself head on over to Slice and be dismayed.

My friends… pray!  Pray for Todd Bentley that he will be convicted and that the Lord would bring him to repentance.  Pray for the thousands that have been led into his false teachings.  Pray for discernment!  Maranatha!

“The Shack” by William P. Young is a popular book – a top seller on Amazon.com and unfortunately a book that many young evangelicals are racing to often with support within the Evangelical church.  We seem to see a lack of Biblical discernment within the church – often from leadership.  Just like Rob Bell, Young’s book attracts the young crowd and just because “everyone is reading it” does not make it a Biblically sound book.  “The Shack” has some serious theological problems that include promoting a false view of the Trinity and a heretical concept called modalism.

As I scour the reviews of this book I am amazed at the diverse support for it.  There are the so called “heresy-hunters” that most on the liberal front consider “armed and dangerous” with solid doctrine and then there are those on the other end who say, “it’s just a book”.

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