Purpose-Driven Death Conference

This looks like another rock solid missions conference....and I REALLY like the title!!!



More information here.

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An oldie but a goodie

I know I've been posting a lot of YouTube stuff and not much content lately. I've got too many irons in the fire at the moment and blogging has sort of taken a back seat. I hope to get back into the swing in a week or so. In the meantime enjoy this blast from the past.....The Evangelism Linebacker.

Cardboard Testimonies

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Cor. 5:17

Grab a box of tissues and enjoy the depths of our God's mercy!





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Social Gospel 2.0

No, I am not talking about another conference. I am talking about Donald Miller's "prayer" last night at the Democratic National Convention. I must say I am very disappointed but not surprised. The Social Gospel movement born out of theological liberalism has found another home among some of the emergent church gurus. This is a prime example. See for yourself:

Asking Great Things of a Great God

From this morning's devotional:

Nothing exceeds Thy power,
Nothing is too great for Thee to do,
Nothing too good for Thee to give.
Infinite is Thy might, boundless Thy love,
limitless Thy grace, glorious Thy saving name.
Let angels sing for sinners repenting, prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed, Satan's captives released,
blind eyes opened, broken hearts bound up, the
despondent cheered, the self-righteous stripped,
the formalist driven from a refuge of lies,
the ignorant enlightened, the saints built up in their holy faith.

I ask great things of a great God.

- from "The Great God", Valley of Vision

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Childhood Conversion to Islam

James White:


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Deeper Conference - October 17-18, 2008

This looks like possibly the best lineup of BIBLICAL evangelism speakers I've ever seen:

Ray Comfort
Kirk Cameron
Paul Washer
Ken Ham
Johnny Hunt
Marshall Foster
Todd Friel

The conference will be held at First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA.

For more info and registration costs, click here.

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Are you making anyone thirsty?

From Donald Grey Barnhouse's commentary on Romans:

In a Bible class at the University of California campus, a group of students were considering the verse, 'Ye are the salt of the earth.' They were describing the various functions and qualities of salt for seasoning, for preserving, and for other uses. A Chinese girl said, 'Salt makes you thirsty.' Do you make anyone thirsty for Christ? You never will be separating from something. But you will always be separating unto Christ.

If Christ is truly your treasure, then your life will cause those around you who have never tasted the Living Water to be thirsty.

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Satan versus the Leader

Dr. Chuck Lawless, Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers some thoughts on how he would attack the church today if he were the enemy. I realize this is somewhat outside of the scope of apologetics proper, however since apologetics is part of the larger context of spiritual warfare I think it's appropriate for us to be aware of these things and guard against them in our churches and ministry activities. Here are a few that gave me pause:

Third, I would challenge leaders to emphasize spiritual disciplines . . . but only for others. Sure, Bible study matters, prayer is non-negotiable, and fasting is important. No leader would ignore these disciplines — at least for others. Ordinary church members need to develop these habits, but the enemy reminds leaders that their time and energy are required elsewhere. The result is leadership based on our own power.

Sixth, I would not hinder ministry success . . . as long as “success” results in few changed lives. I am a professor of church growth who believes that numbers are a legitimate means to measure church growth. If, though, we measure only increased numbers without asking whether (1) non-believers are being reached and (2) lives are being changed, growth alone can lull us to sleep. Success thus sets us up for all of the strategies listed above.

Read more here.

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The Ten Commandments of Evangelical Co-belligerence

Steve Camp makes some sobering points through humor about evangelical involvement in politics:

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF EVANGELICAL CO-BELLIGERENCE ...where faith and culture collide

In the highly charged, politically sensitive environment affecting the church today, "an ecumenical movement" has gradually surfaced within Christianity, crossing all denominational lines, advocating political remedies to correct the moral maladies facing our nation. This is an effort in futility. Well-meaning, but confused, evangelical leaders are attempting to accomplish this societal moral sea-change absent of the gospel of Jesus Christ (sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus) and the authority of God's Word (sola scriptura). Because of the biblical vacuum that exists within ECB, here is how The Ten Commandments could be rewritten for today to champion their philosophy of co-belligerence. (Though written in a "tongue in cheek" manner, it is a sad - heartrending reality that Christianity is now known in government circles by political policy, rather than by the preaching and ministry of the gospel--"Jesus Christ and Him crucified.")

1. Thou shalt keep all family values and moral/social causes continually before you

2. Thou shalt not let the Word of God, doctrine, theology, truth, or the gospel of Jesus Christ keep you from “standing together” with anyone to reach our goal of impacting our culture by returning it back to moral traditional values through legislation, judicial process, and co-belligerent partnerships

3. Thou shalt remember the Lord's Day and keep it political; rename it by changing it from the Lord's Day to "Justice Sunday." Be sure to substitute the worship of God; the preaching of His Word; prayer; the heralding of the gospel, turning the Sunday evening worship service into a political rally; making certain you feature non-Christians from different faith-based groups to share the pulpit and platform to insure a wide tolerant political religious ideological appeal

4. Thou shalt not take the name of family value/moral causes in vain; but use every social cultural political co-belligerent means necessary to strong arm politicians to win the day

5. Thou shalt honor thy senator and thy congressman as long as they stand for what we tell them to stand for (this is the first commandment with a vote)

6. Thou shalt boycott, protest and petition against all who act immorally and who try to filibuster judicial Presidential appointees

7. Thou shalt fault, criticize and belittle unsaved people for living like unsaved people given every opportunity possible. It’s OK for them to remain unsaved people, but they just can’t live like they're "too unsaved." (They can be unsaved, but just can’t be outwardly gay; they can be unsaved, but just can’t be vocally pro-choice; they can be unsaved, but just can’t believe in euthanasia; they can even remain unsaved, but must be for a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage)

8. Thou shalt faithfully turn the body of Christ into The Pope’s Political Action Committee (TPPAC): The Lord's Lobbyists; Value Voters, Patriot Pastors; the Largest Special Interest Group in America; and most importantly, Christocrats.

9. Thou shalt not do anything to shrink the mailing list of any Para-church ministry for three things are always necessary for success: donations, donations, donations.

10. Thou shalt always remember to keep your primary focus on the family and not on the faith

Christians and government

This is another topic I am preparing to delve into deeply on this blog in the coming months. There are many different views throughout the evangelical world on what a Christian's role is in government and the political process. Most of these viewpoints have little or no Biblical foundation.

As an appetizer for this I'd like to offer the following take on checks and balances in government from the Believe to Reason blog:

Why so much accountability? The Founding Fathers believed what Lord Acton famously said: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And, built into an engrained Biblical worldview, the Fathers understood that the reason why power corrupts people is because the people themselves are corrupt. The idea that corruption comes from within is uniquely a Biblical concept. No other religion in the world gives such a poor view of the present state of man than the Bible. Jeremiah 17: 9 says, “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it?” Jesus said in Mark 7:22-24, “For from within out of the heart of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man.” In Romans 3:10-12 it says, “There is none righteous, no not one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. There are none that do good.” Isaiah 64:6 says, “our righteous deeds are as filthy rags in the eyes of God.” Even our best is tainted by sin and deceit!

Check out the entire article here.

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Paul Washer Clip on Total Depravity

Another Sad Story Coming From Todd Bentley's "Revival"

From Hank Hanegraaff:

Of course these kinds of stories elevated expectations to fever pitch, and so with tears streaming down her face Angela wheeled the most precious of her possessions towards the stage. This was her moment. This was the culmination of all her hopes and dreams. Within moments the paralysis of her daughter would be but a distant memory.

Suddenly, however, an agony beyond the burden that she carried in her heart for all these years cascaded down upon her and in that moment her dreams were dashed. You see, an usher blocked her entrance to the stage, saying that only the healed had entry to the healer. Angela ended up leaving dejected and discouraged.

Ironically, Gerry's son Taylor, who suffers from epilepsy, left feeling that he had experienced the miraculous. Had Taylor been interviewed that very moment he would have testified to complete and total healing. Gerry, however, left in a quandary. He said that the healer was a fraud. He risked damaging the faith of his son. If he threw away his meds his son would experience a grand mal seizure.

Read the whole story here.

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A Mustard Seed's Worth of Faith

I am not one to encourage people to hang their assurance of salvation on their ability to recollect "a time and a place where they met God". There are far too many people today living like the world having never shown any signs of a change in their life thinking they are going to heaven simply because they wrote a date in the front cover of their Bible or can remember walking an aisle at some point in their lives. That said, I do not want to demean the spiritual value of being able to recall the circumstances of one's own conversion experience. It is a good thing for us to look back from time to time in wonder about the mystery of our salvation and to marvel at how God used other people to plant the Gospel into our fertile hearts.

I cannot recall the exact date and time, or even the exact sermon, but I can remember the circumstances of my own conversion more vividly than any other event in my life. I hope to share more about those events in greater detail in a later post, but for purposes of this post, suffice it to say I had been going through a six-month period of suicidal depression and extreme isolation from other people. I had been beaten down emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually to the point where I was at my rock bottom. A whole life of church attendance and being "the good son" (in my mind) was rendered useless when at that point I was cut to the quick by the realization that I had no clue what it meant to have saving faith in God. Everything in my life at that point came to a complete stop. I was in complete darkness.

Enter: God, and His Gospel, through a portion of a sermon preached by John Piper. I still can't remember the exact sermon (I've listened to hundreds of Piper's sermons since then), but what he preached stands out in my mind more than any other truth from Scripture. In referring to Luke 17:6, Piper said saving faith is a gift from God and not something we conjure up within ourselves on our own. It is the result of the work God is already doing in our lives at the point in which we believe. That's the reason that a mustard seed's worth of saving faith is enough. The faith that God provides is sufficient to save. The faith that comes from within man's corrupt heart is not. For the first time in 32+ years (at that point) of living the "church life" I had to completely resign myself to the fact that I had no assurance because I was living under the false assumption that I just needed to 'try harder at having faith', 'pull myself up by the bootstraps' and 'live right'. At my rock bottom I looked up, and there was Christ. The hand which had been pushing me deeper and deeper into that pit was now reaching down to pull me out of it.

The following quote comes from a sermon Piper preached on 1 Peter 1:22-25. It expresses exactly what I heard preached that day in 2005. It also expresses the point of this post regarding the value of looking back on one's conversion experience with wonder and awe, and exult in the glory of God through his work of regeneration.

Regeneration is God's work, not man's.

O, do you know what it means to be a Christian? Do you stand amazed and speechless that you are a Christian? Do you look back with wonder and awe at the miracle of your new birth? Or do you take so much credit for it yourself that it doesn't occur to you to fall on your face and thank God that you are a Christian?

Think on it! If you have any truly spiritual desire for God, it is owing to the work of God in regeneration. If you have any love for holiness, it is owing to the work of God in regeneration. If you have any hatred for sin, it is owing to the work of God in regeneration. If you have a mustard seed of faith in Christ, it is owing to the work of God in regeneration. To God be the glory for our conversion to Christ! Consider and be astounded, all you who by nature are children of wrath, that you believe in Christ and are new children of the Almighty.

Regeneration is a glorious work of God, not man.

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e-Sword LIVE

Some of you who know me well know that I am a huge fan the Bible Study software e-Sword. I run it on a HP Pavilion tx 2000 tablet PC which has now become my primary Bible for study, teaching and worship. I fully acknowledge that there are far superior Bible study applications out there (Logos, BibleWorks, etc.) that range anywhere from $300 upwards to $1,500. The best part about e-Sword is that it provides the same basic features and it's totally free.

Now, the same e-Sword that I have grown to love is available online. This version is based on the English Standard Version and contains a handful of the plug-ins available for the client version, including Matthew Henry's Commentary, Nave's topics, Strong's, Easton's, and the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge cross-reference. All you need to do is register for free access.

It's a far cry from the e-Sword that is running on my tablet, which currently contains 32 Bible translations, 11 lexicons & dictionaries, dozens of commentaries, and hundreds of ebooks. But this will come in handy if I am ever in a pinch and can't get to my tablet.
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Some thoughts on James 2:18-26

Below is a blog post I wrote last September for the Feeding Jesus blog. It is part of a dialouge I was having with my brother-in-law regarding the role of works in faith. This is a question that comes up quite frequently in Sunday School classes and Bible study groups. At the outset I must give credit to John MacArthur's and F.F. Bruce's commentaries on James, which helped give me clarity on this often clouded passage.

The lines between works resulting from living faith and works resulting from legalism (dead faith) become blurred because people generally are looking at the wrong "line". I don't even like using the word line because it's so much more than that!!! James is calling us to be honest with ourselves about is whether what we are doing is being done from a desire to make much of God or to make much of ourselves. To simply say "well, this is biblical" is not enough. Just because I mimic something that was done in the Bible does not make it God-centered.

This is where living faith comes into play.

First, we know that living faith is a gift from God (Eph 2:8-9) and that's how we know it's alive. It's not the same kind of faith as me saying "I have faith that Danny will be a good husband to my sister". I know good and well that there will be times when Danny does something that ticks me off royally and my faith in him will wax and wane during the years to come. This happens because any faith that I generate is dead in the corruption of my sinfulness and in the process of being made alive (sanctification). Only the faith that comes from God is living and can produce righteous works.

Second, living faith ALWAYS results in righteous works. Pay close attention here. Notice I did not say that someone who has living faith ALWAYS does righteous works. Those who have authentic faith still fail. We still have the warts of our old nature on us. When we fail, it is always a result of acting out of self-centeredness rather than God-centeredness. But we have been given the ability to do works solely for the purpose of glorifying God and magnifying His name (the unsaved man does not have any desire or ability to do this). Therefore for anyone to expect a Christian brother or sister to live a legally sinless life in the eyes of the law represents a misunderstanding of what our justification is all about.

So from James' perspective (3:18), when an arrogant, legalistic Pharisee challenges him by saying "show me your faith without works", he responds by showing his faith BY his works.

James 2:18-26 is a wonderful description of the relationship between justification and sanctification. It can also be a dangerous minefield for the uninitiated. Paul had a lot to say about this too. I recommend comparing James 2:18-26 with Romans 4:1-16 and Galatians 3:1-9. You can throw Hebrews 11:8 and 11:17 in for good measure. This might give you a more "rounded" picture of what the Bible has to say on the topic.

Bottom line, as Ergun Caner once said "the difference between holiness and legalism is that legalism says 'you should be more like me', but holiness says 'you should be more like Christ'!"

God calls us to holiness, not legalism.
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Codex Sinaiticus to be made available online

For fans of textual criticism, what used to be considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will soon become an everyday occurrence. The oldest surviving complete manuscript of the New Testament, the Codex Sinaiticus will be made available online in it's entirety by July 2009. This Codex dates back to the 5th century AD and contains the entire New Testament as well as several books from the Old Testament and some noncanonical books. The new site will allow users to browse or search the text and will contain translations.

Link to the Codex Sinaiticus Project website.
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"What you win them with....

...is what you will win them to." A well-known favorite Christian apologist of mine is famous for coining this phrase in reference to all of the gimmickery and showmanship that is so prevalent in church worship services today.

Consider the case of pastor Jeff Harlow of Crossroads Community Church in Kokomo, IN. Last Sunday, during an illustration of the concept of unity, he attempted to ride a dirt bike out on stage at the beginning of the circus. However, like many inexperienced bikers he probably overrevved the throttle and the bike took off -- down a 5-foot drop into the vacant front row of his church. Harlow sustained an injury to his wrist, for which he underwent surgery Monday. Of course, there is no humor in someone getting injured like this and we certain pray for pastor Harlow's recovery.

However, this does bring to mind once again the growing trends towards the use of gimmicks, gadgets, stunts and other forms of entertainment in an attempt to illustrate Biblical concepts to a postmodern, entertainment-saturated culture. While we are certainly under great Biblical mandate to take the message of the gospel into the "highways and byways" and to be "all things to all people, that by all means [we] might save some," the great risk with gimmick-based preaching is that we trivialize the depth and significance and mystery of the Gospel. Long ago our American culture lost it's sense of awe about things with the onset of mass communication (telegraph, telephone, radio, TV, internet, IM, text messaging....the list seems endless).

When we attempt to use devices and icons from this "aweless" culture we live in, we introduce this same awelessness into church life. We reduce the truths that God intended to be complex down to a level where it is devoid of it's intended meaning.

Many proponents of such practices cite Christ's use of parables during his ministry on Earth. However, this argument completely ignores Christ's own explanation of why he used parables as documented in Matthew 13:10-17. Specifically, in verse 13 Christ explains, "This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do no see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Why is this so? "For this people's hearts have grown dull" (v. 15). Parables were never intended to simplify Biblical truth. They were more like riddles, intended to expose the spiritual blindness of their intended audience, while illustrating complex truths to those who had been given the ability to percieve by God's grace.

I certainly am in no position to make any assessing statements about the spiritual condition of the congregation at Crossroards Community Church. But if current trends in church growth are any indiciation, the typical evangelical worship service today is part corporate worship and teaching, and part revival meeting. Most churches today have a sizable number of unregenerate people sitting in their pews each morning. This places pastors in the often untenable position of having to preach a message that both edifies and equips the saints and will also result in a good response during the altar call at the end of the service. Theologically speaking, this is very awkward. To overcome this awkwardness, many pastors feel forced to resort to showmanship in order to achieve some level of success in both areas.

"What you win them with is what you will win them to."

The Apostle Paul, the greatest theologian who ever walked this earth short of our Lord Jesus Christ, never worried much about putting on a show for people:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

Fighting faith-healing fraud

Dr. Russell Moore talks about why there's a market for faith healers:

I fear that it's more than just P.T. Barnum's famous old maxim about the gullibility of the American public. I fear that there's something missing in our churches that drives even some of our people to charlatans. Might there be less of a demand for these travelling health-and-wealth revivalists if our churches spent more time on our knees in prayer for sick and hurting people?

Of course, all our churches have prayer lists of the sick, and many of them go over these lists line-by-line at Wednesday night prayer meeting. But when's the last time you saw a church follow the command of the Holy Spirit as to what to do for the sick in James 5:13-15? When's the last time you saw a suffering Christian call the pastors of his church to anoint him with oil and to pray for healing?

Read more.

What I am reading now

Over to the right side of the screen there is a "what I am reading now" list. Some of you may notice from time to time heretical works or works from questionable authors. Like any apologist seeking to keep up on the latest heresies and doctrinal errors attacking the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the fundamental doctrines of Scripture, I actively seek out these heresies and attempt to read them from their original sources.

You may also see books that contradict each other. For example, you may see both Normal Geisler's Chosen But Free as well as James White's The Potter's Freedom (a response to Chosen But Free). Our first step in evaluating the truthfulness of any theological claim is in light of Scripture. However, when theological divisions cut very close to each other (and to Scripture) it is also very helpful to evaluate these claims in light of their opposition. This can help expose and flaws or gaps in either side of the argument as we seek to discover the truth as revealed in God's Holy Word.

So please don't be alarmed at the titles you may see from time to time in that list. If you have any specific questions about a book you see in that list, please feel free to ask them in the comments of any post on this blog.

Commentaries on John

Keith Mathison with Ligonier Ministries has posted his top five favorite commentaries on John. These are all excellent and I endorse the recommendation. Personally, I've been using Arthur W. Pink's Exposition of the Gospel of John and it has been superb.

Here are Mathison's top 5 in short:

1. D.A. Carson -- The Gospel According to John (Pillar New Testament Commentary, 1990).
2. Craig S. Keener -- The Gospel of John: A Commentary (2003).
3. Leon Morris -- The Gospel According to John (New International Commentary on the New Testament, 1995).
4. Herman Ridderbos -- The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (1997).
5. Andreas J. Kostenberger -- John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2004).

For more details about these commentaries, click here.

Obama and McCain to appear at Saddleback

According to this news release, presumptive Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are scheduled to make their first joint appearance on August 16th hosted by Rick Warren and his 22,000-member Saddleback Church's Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion.

Warren states that the primary purpose of this event will be "to hear both candidates speak from the heart -- without interruption -- in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan 'gotcha' questions that typically produce heat instead of light." Warren, who will be the sole moderator and question-asker for this event, will not be asking many of the questions that typical presidential debates raise. Rather, he will be "pressing issues that are bridging divides in our nation, such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate and human rights."

These types of events and these issues for Warren are an outcropping of his "P.E.A.C.E. plan", which according to the Purpose Driven website is a 50-year plan to address "spiritual emptiness, selfish leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance."

The fact that Warren, #1 on Barna's top 10 list of influential evangelical leaders, lists poverty, disease, climate, human rights, etc. as the most critical issues for Christendom is a clear indication of the pernicious and ubiquitous influence of two things: the Social Gospel movement and baby-boomer ethics. In a prosperous culture during a prosperous time like the one we live in today, the social gospel with it's emphasis on service and helping others (and it's corresponding deemphasis on salvation by faith alone, repentance and the substitutionary atonement of Christ) dovetails nicely with postmodern, baby-boomerism.

In the future, I hope to post a more detailed explanation of how these influences have harmed the advance of the one true Gospel by undermining propositional truth and supplanting it with service that assuages the pangs of a guilty conscience.

A Theology That Cannot Be Lived Is No Theology At All

Pastor Ray Ortlund writes about having a charitable Christian attitude regardless of where your convictions are regarding secondary doctrinal issues:

My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart – toward them or away from them? If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology. The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one – in Christ alone.

Some years ago I heard a preacher say "A theology that cannot be lived out among others and that does not point people to Christ is no theology at all." This is my foremost conviction when studying and discussing theology with my Christian brothers and sisters. If my attitude does not demonstrate the love that Christ has demonstrated to me, then "my" theology becomes null and void.

The sole purpose of our apologetic as Christians is to "make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." (1 Peter 3:15 ESV, emphasis added). If the first word that jumps out of that verse to you is "defense" (apologia), then I would lovingly exhort you to reexamine your motives for engaging in apologetics. If your manner of conversation with other believers is so negative and divisive that it draws their attention to you rather than to Christ, STOP RIGHT THERE! You are doing more harm to the Gospel with each divisive and angry word.

However, if the first words in this verse that jump out at you are hope, gentleness and respect (I even highlighted them to make it easy for you....you can thank me later!), then it should be clear to you that the only way we can display the hope that God has given us is through gentleness and respect. This is true regardless of whether you are relating to believers and nonbelievers alike. This is no more true than it is when we proclaim the Gospel to nonbelievers. In a non confrontational postmodern world filled with hate mongering terrorist religious groups, it is easier now than ever for argumentative, cranky, negative Christians to be marginalized in the minds of nonbelievers.

This is also true about proclaiming Gospel to believers. You do realize that we are to proclaim the Gospel to believers, don't you? Paul did. "So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." (Romans 1:15 ESV). Why would Paul feel the need to proclaim the Gospel to those who had already believed? He answers that in verse 16: "for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes".

So how do we proclaim the Gospel to our believing brothers and sisters? By letting them see Christ alone in you and through you. By living Christ in front of them as both an example and an encouragement. By wanting the same things for their lives that God has gracious given to you - grace, joy, love, contentment, etc. If your theology is truly given to you by God by emerging from the pages of Scripture, the it will humble you. It will reduce you to Jesus only. It will make you a fun person to be around. It will give you a desire to get to know others intimately regardless of their understanding and convictions about secondary doctrines and matters of conscience.

Cosmic Child Abuse

Brother Steve Camp has written a response to one of the predominant arguments against the substitutionary atonement of Christ coming from the realm of theological liberalism. Penal Substitutionary Atonement is the Biblical doctrine that Christ accepted the penalty for our sins as our substitute. There is a movement among the theologically liberal to deny this doctrine by saying that it accuses God of committing "cosmic child abuse" by putting His own Son to death. For many years this movement existed mainly only in Europe as well as academic circles around the world. In recent years, it has made it's way into books like "The Gospel of Inclusion" by Bishop Carlton Pearson which line the shelves at the local Barnes & Noble.

The deception of Ekhart Tolle

The guys over at A-Team Blog have posted a four part interview with Richard Abanes, author of "A New Earth An Old Deception".

His basic religious message is: You can escape suffering and live happy, fulfilled, and purposeful if you know who you REALLY are. And who are you? Supposedly, you and everyone else, and everything else, is "God" (which he defines as the Life Force, Power, One, Reality, or Essence of all that exists). This impersonal, cosmic, metaphysical stuff is what we need to recognize as our TRUE self, underlying the illusion of forms we see. Such a view is nothing but pantheism, which has been taught in Hinduism for centuries. It's one of the foundational teachings of the classic New Age Movement. It's all very, very old stuff. But with a new twist, thanks in part, to Oprah, who has become, as one person said it, the Queen of the New Age Gurus.

The interview is posted in three parts:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

John Bunyan Theology Conference

Dr. James White over at Alpha and Omega Ministries has posted a series of videos from the John Bunyan Theology Conference being held this week at Grace Reformed Baptist Church in TX. These are full-length lecture videos as YouTube has lifted the 11 minute restriction on video length.

James White is a full-time Christian apologist and is one of my favorite defenders of the Christian faith and theology. His web site is a virtual treasure trove of apologetic videos, articles and other resources. I encourage you to add it to your favorites and to add his RSS feed to your feedreader. Check it out.

The Todd Bentley spectacle: faith or fraud?

Prof. William Dembski of Southwestern Seminary recently took his autistic son and the rest of his family to a Todd Bentley meeting in Denton, TX. His family's expression of faith in a sovereign God who can and does use people to heal people is remarkable. But even more remarkable is the blatant manipulation and Finneyesque con artistry used by Bentley and the leaders of the meeting. Dembski's account is truly sad, but not surprising.

Neither my wife nor I regret going. It was an education. Our kids are resilient. But the ride home raised a question. We found ourselves avoiding talking about the event until the children fell asleep. Then, as they drifted off in the early morning, we talked in hushed tones about how easily religion can be abused, in this case to exploit our family. What do we tell our children? I'm still working on that one.

Are we on God's schedule or is God on our schedule?

It would seem that the "mighty outpouring" going on down in Lakeland, FL is going to take a short hiatus so that Todd Bentley can take his summer vacation. According to the press release, the fresh fire of Lakeland requires a "refresh". For nearly 100 days now, Bentley (of multiple piercing and prison-grade tattoo fame) has been "ministering" to the Lakeland revival and is getting tired of having to do all this work.

I am so glad that the Holy Trinity has Todd Bentley on hand to lead this revival. I can't imagine what God would do without Todd Bentley on his side! And I am also so glad to see that Mr. Bentley can turn the "mighty outpouring" on an off like a spiggot so that he can have time to get some rest and continue doing "God's work".

God will surely use Mr. Bentley some day to draw people to the faith through the only true Gospel, but not in any way most people might think:

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time."

Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

- Acts 13:6-12