by Roger Oakland
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Corinthians 5:21)
The heart and core of the Christian faith is based upon Jesus Christ’s shed blood at Calvary as the only acceptable substitutionary atonement for mankind’s sins. The Gospel message requires this foundation. The Bible says the wages of sin is death—thus every person alive should receive the penalty of spiritual death because none of us is without sin, since we are born with our sin nature intact. Satan hates the Gospel message. He understands what the Gospel means, and his agenda is to deceive mankind from understanding and believing so they can suffer eternally with him. While Scripture is very clear about the necessity of Christ’s death in order for us to be saved, some believe this would make God a blood-thirsty barbarian. Embedded within the structure of the emerging church is just such a belief.
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by The Berean Call
Excerpt
Some of the most popular Christian leaders and authors stress the social agenda. Francis Chan, in his wildly popular book Crazy Love, wants Christians to live as simply as possible in order to give more toward the alleviation of "suffering in the world and change the reputation of His bride in America."[25] I think one of the reasons Chan’s book has been received with such enthusiasm is that he is not telling people anything that our culture is not already saying. When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pledged much of their vast fortunes toward the same agenda, the world applauded, just as it has for Chan. Chan is concerned about the reputation of the church in America, and not without reason. However, the true church doing the true work of God (calling people to Christ) will never win the world’s approval. Our message is offensive (1 Cor 1:18-25) and once the world catches on to that we are far more likely to be vilified and persecuted than we are to be cheered — as Jesus promised (Matt 5:11-12). We should find it a source of concern, not a reason for rejoicing, when the world likes us, as Christianity Today in its lead article in August 2011 affirmed it did.
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by Jim Fletcher
The lefties in the American Church never take a day off from denigrating Bible-believing Christians.
I’ve been writing more and more about this, because while we obsess about Iran’s intentions with regard to Israel, the hippies are back, and their dissing of the Bible prophecy crowd has a direct impact on support for Israel—which, I am sad to say, I believe is slipping. I sincerely believe the emerging threat to Israel—from within American evangelicalism—is more dangerous to Israel than the psychos in Tehran.
You see, when groups like Catalyst bring folks such as Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren, and Phileena Heuertz (yoga is beautiful) to mainstream evangelicalism, it’s only a matter of time before the knives come out for the Jewish state.
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by Joseph Chambers
The Holy Ghost is being blasphemed by this generation of religious fads as never before in church history. All you need to do is watch the present churches dancing to their religious rock and funky music. You cannot help but see the blank and giddy stare that is evident in most faces. Instead of spiritual and joyous worship, it is flashy, loud and wild. It’s the exact strange fire that Nadab and Abihu offered in Leviticus and were destroyed.
“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.”(Leviticus 10:1-2)
The Spirit of God is the very reflection of our Father and His Son. The presence of the Holy Spirit is like a river flowing from the very heart of God. Listen to the words of Jesus Christ as He prophesied of the Pentecostal outpouring.
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:37-39)
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by Lighthouse Trails
LTRP Note: We are reposting this book review because, as it was in 2008, another presidential election year is upon us, and we are witnessing another onslaught against conservative Bible-believing Christians by mass media as well as emerging church authors and figures. A perfect example of this, which we will be writing about soon (already working on the article), is a YouTube video by a member of Mark Driscoll’s church titled “Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus.”
BOOK REVIEW: THEY LIKE JESUS, BUT NOT THE CHURCH
Dan Kimball’s new book, They Like Jesus But Not the Church should really be called They Like (Another) Jesus But Not the Church, the Bible, Morality, or the Truth. Kimball interviews several young people (one is a lesbian) who tell him they “like and respect Jesus” but they don’t want anything to do with going to church or with those Christians who take the Bible literally. Kimball says these are “exciting times” we live in “when Jesus is becoming more and more respected in our culture by non-churchgoing people” (p. 12). He says we should “be out listening to what non-Christians, especially those in their late teens to thirties, are saying and thinking about the church and Christianity” (p. 12).
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by T.A. McMahon
Here’s an idea. Let’s go back through historical church eras and glean from such time periods those issues deemed to be of value in the development of the Christian faith.
Let’s review the first-century church, the church between A.D. 100 and 600, then consider the medieval era (A.D. 700 to 1500), followed by the Reformation period (A.D. 1500 and later), and so on. To be effective in this endeavor, it’s important to have a good understanding of the cultural context in which the Christians of each era practiced their faith. In addition, we’ll need to study the Church Fathers and gain the insights they provided. Why? Well, those who are promoting this "re-presenting the past" believe that today’s Christianity will greatly benefit as it "re-invents itself" in order to effectively bring the message of the gospel to the postmodern world. If you think this may not be a good idea, you could be labeled a "traditionalist," one whose faith and practice is inflexible and out of touch with our rapidly changing culture-and church.
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by Eric Barger
Chrislam, which purports to join Islam and Christianity into one harmonious, synthesized religion, is fast becoming a rallying point in some American church circles. Under the leadership of something called "Faith Shared," two organizations, Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First, spearheaded an event loosely called "Chrislam Sunday" on June 26, 2011. It was celebrated by dozens of churches nationwide as joint Christian-Muslim services were held in various Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, Catholic, Lutheran, Congregational, Baptist and other denominations and groups.
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