New documentary on pornography

From the Laodicea blog site:

The producers of a new documentary on deliverance from porn addiction list these shocking statistics:

* 60 percent of Christian men and 35 percent of women admit to struggling with pornography. The real statistics are probably much higher.

* Four out of every seven calls to the “Focus on the Family” help line are pornography-related.

* Thirty-seven (37) percent of pastors admit to the addiction.

The documentary film, Somebody’s Daughter, details the destruction of this sin and points to a biblical way out. Here’s the story from WorldnetDaily.

Biblical Antidote to Fear

• We will not die apart from God's gracious decree for his children.
  
  
• Curses and divination do not hold sway against God's people.
  
  
• The plans of terrorists and hostile nations do not succeed apart from our gracious God.
  
  
• Man cannot harm us beyond God's gracious will for us.
  
  
• God promises to protect his own from all that is not finally good for them.
  
  
• God promises to give us all we need to obey, enjoy, and honor him forever.
  
  
• God is never taken off guard.
  
  
• God will be with us, help us, and uphold us in trouble.
  
  
• Terrors will come, some of us will die, but not a hair of our heads will perish.
  
  
• Nothing befalls God's own but in its appointed hour.
  
  
• When God Almighty is your helper, none can harm you beyond what he decrees.
  
  
• God's faithfulness is based on the firm value of his name, not the fickle measure of our obedience.
  
  
• The Lord, our protector, is great and awesome.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Desiring God Conference

Here are the audio messages from the recent Desiring God Conference:

1. “The Tongue, the Bridle, and the Blessing: An Exposition of James 3:1-12” by Sinclair Ferguson (DG blog)
2. Friday Panel Discussion (Driscoll, Ferguson, Piper) (DG blog)
3. “Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing?” by Bob Kauflin (DG blog)
4. “How Sharp the Edge: Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words” by Mark Driscoll (DG blog)
5. “The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours” by Daniel Taylor (DG blog)
6. Saturday Panel Discussion (Kauflin, Piper, Taylor, Tripp) (DG blog)
7. “War of Words: Getting to the Heart for God’s Sake” by Paul Tripp (DG blog)
8. “Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross” by John Piper (DG blog)

The Shack - "Absolute Heresy"

Pastor Michael Youssef has a must listen to sermon on this book. Just click on this LINK.

Summary of heresies found in the book!
1. God the Father was crucified with Jesus
2. God is completely limited by His love and He could not practice justice
3. That on the cross God forgave everybody regardless whether they repent or not
4. Any hierarchical structure whether in church or society is evil
5. God will never judge people for their sins
6. There is no hierarchy in the Trinity, just a circle of unity
7. God submits to human wishes and choices
8. Justice will never take place because of God's love
9. Jesus is walking with all people in their different journeys to God and it doesn't matter which way you get to the Father.
10. Jesus is constantly be transformed with us humans
11. There is no need for faith and reconciliation with God because everyone will get into heaven
12. The Bible isn't true because it reduces God to paper

Now here is your assignment should you decide to accept it. Find an argument from the Bible for every one of these heresies. The Shack is dangerous for it makes a god of whom some may want to worship but it is not the God of the Bible.

Quote for the day

"I feel persuaded that false doctrine, inasmuch as it touches God's sovereignty, is always an object of divine jealousy. Let me indicate especially the doctrines of free-will. I know there are some good men who hold and preach them, but I am persuaded that the Lord must be grieved with their doctrine though he forgives them their sin of ignorance. Free-will doctrine—what does it? It magnifies man into God; it declares God's purposes a nullity, since they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God's will a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace dependent upon human action. Denying election on the ground of injustice it holds God to be a debtor to sinners, so that if he gives grace to one he is bound to do so to all. It teaches that the blood of Christ was shed equally for all men and since some are lost, this doctrine ascribes the difference to man's own will, thus making the atonement itself a powerless thing until the will of man gives it efficacy. Those sentiments dilute the scriptural description of man's depravity, and by imputing strength to fallen humanity, rob the Spirit of the glory of his effectual grace: this theory says in effect that it is of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, and not of God that showeth mercy. Any doctrine, my brethren, which stands in opposition to this truth—"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," provokes God's jealousy. I often tremble in this pulpit lest I should utter anything which should oppose the sovereignty of my God; and though you know I am not ashamed to preach the responsibility of man to God—if God be a sovereign, man must be bound to obey him—on the other hand, I am equally bold to preach that God has a right to do what he wills with his own, that he giveth no account of his matters and none may stay his hand, or say unto him, "What doest thou?" I believe that the free-will heresy assails the sovereignty of God, and mars the glory of his dominion. In all faithfulness, mingled with sorrow, I persuade you who have been deluded by it, to see well to your ways and receive the truth which sets God on high, and lays the creature in the dust." —C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

The sovereignty of God

This from the Bororean Blog Site:

Sin and the sinner

This is from part of a post at the Pyromaniacs blog site. To see the entire post which is entitled 25 things I learned about myself then click on this LINK.

If you are dealing with some significant sin in your life or know someone who is then read these various points about sin and the sinner.

1. Sin only makes sense to itself (cf. Genesis 3), and to other apostates (Proverbs 28:4a).
2. Sin makes you irrational, insane, crazy, nuts (cf. Genesis 3—Revelation 22; especially, for instance, Genesis 3:8; Numbers 13-14; Matthew 12:24; Ephesians 4:17-19).
3. People locked into a sin are impervious to logic, facts and Scripture (cf. Genesis 3:9-10).
4. People locked into a sin always say it's someone else's fault (cf. Genesis 3:12-13).
5. People locked into a sin hate anyone who tries to tell them the truth, no matter how humbly nor lovingly (cf. 1 Kings 22:8; John 3:19-21; Proverbs 15:12).
6. People in love with a sin will always find dire and horrendous fault with anyone who tries to part them from it (cf. Proverbs 9:7-8a).
   
7. Sin destroys, ruins, kills. Its sales-line is a lie: it has nothing we really want (cp. Genesis 3:5 and 7; Romans 6:23).
   
8. Sin doesn't care who it hurts, nor how much, nor how devastatingly, as long as it gets its way (cf. Matthew 10:34-36).
9. There is no sin — no sin — that can't make an excuse for itself that makes sense to itself (cf. John 11:50; Philippians 3:19 ["they glory in their shame"]).
10. Every unrepentant sinner sees himself as noble (cf. John 16:2).
11. Every unrepentant sinner sees his sin as different (cf. Romans 2:3-5).
12. Everything a sinner does to "fix" his situation apart from repentance only serves to make it much, much worse (cf. the sad story of Saul)
    
13. You can't talk anyone out of sin (cf. 2 Timothy 2:24-26).
    
14. The only and sovereign cure for sin, still, is the blood of Christ, applied through humbled repentance (cf. Matthew 3:8; Luke 5:32; 15:7; 24:47; Acts 11:18; 17:31; 20:21; 26:20). There is no "therapy" for sin (cf. 1 John 1:8-10).

Maggie

Steve and Nancy Brown are the proud parents of a 9 week old puppy (vizsla) and her name is Maggie. What can I say, she is a chip off the old block!

When a small church closes

I read the statistics within the last year of the number of small churches that start and close. The Shepherd's Church started in September 2003 and officially closed in September 2007. It was a four year graduate course on doctrine, people, methods, music and leadership. As some of you know I am hoping to write a book called "When a small church closes." Here are some of the people that show up when you have a small church. Of course all names have been changed to protect those who would never admit this is spot on!

Abe and Abegail Agenda - They may look sweet and docile but they are like ducks going around the water at your local lake. Everything looks good on the surface but underneath they are kicking up a storm. Normally they are older and rigid in the ways church should be done. Their motto becomes "have it my way."

Charlie and Coleen Critical - It doesn't matter how you do it or what you do they will find a way to criticize it. A pastor told me that a couple approached him with a problem in the church. He listened and suggested that it might be the very thing that God was leading them to do. They got upset with his answer and said "if that is the best you can come up with then we are going to leave the church." Their motto is "why be part of the solution when you can continue pointing out the problem."

Paul and Pauleen Post Modern - this couple thinks we need to find out what music draws the crowd, especially the young crowd and then provide it. They think we have too much preaching and sermons should be short motivational stories that make people feel good. Paul and Pauleen are in to comfort without any conviction. Their motto is "we don't need more conversions in the church we just need to have some good conversations."

Harry and Henrietta Hypocrite - they look good, sing, teach and even hand out cookies on Sunday but they are not genuine. They gossip, tell about how they did things in there former church and even question if leadership is capable. They end up in leadership and sometimes in small groups to the point that they when they get mad and finally leave others go with them.
Their motto is "we are looking good, smelling good and talking good but we just aren't living good."

Ned and Nellie Non-Biblical - this couple when approached about not using their gifts, reading the Bible, or leaving over the color of the carpet use experience and feelings instead of going to the word of God. If they don't feel it then they just don't do it. If you ask, can you support this kind thinking or action based on the Bible they will say things like "not really." Their motto "we don't know what it means but that's ok because it can mean what we want it to mean-right?"

Earl and Edie Expert - This couple lives by the statement "if we want your opinion then we will give it to you." They know what to do and how to do it. Some of the things they share and implement have been on their minds for years and years. And now that the group is gathered and they are the so-called experts the attitude comes out my way or the highway. However sometimes enough is enough, and if challenged they will take their ball and go home! Their motto "it's not as easy as it looks to always be right."

Mack and Mabel Mono-ministry - they take a ministry and own it, do it and build a fence so high around it that it would take an act of congress to get into it! When Mack and Mabel show up they dominate and dictate their own ministry area. There is no Timothy support or back up plan. And if others offer. Their motto for others who want to involve themselves in their ministry "do not go away mad, just go away."

Ted and Thelma Teflon - whenever they are approached regarding problems they have caused you can be sure that nothing sticks to them. Their motto "we didn't do anything wrong, just ask us."

Dick and Darlene Deflective - this couple has the extraordinary ability to put everything back on those that come in contact with them. The strategy is not to deal with the problem but deflect it away from themselves. By the way they are first cousins of Ted and Thelma Teflon. You might hear statements like the following "of course we would join small groups if the leadership team would stop having people in them." Their motto "take it easy greasy because the problem your trying to lay on me has got a long way to slide."

Ben and Bonita Been-Around - This couple looks the part except they have been to 12 other churches over the years. Upon talking to this couple each church they left has been somewhat off in doctrine, method of understanding of this couples skill and abilities. Their motto "we leave right before church discipline can arrive."

Sammy and Sandy Snitch - this couple comes to attend but really never joins. However they call and meet with pastor in order to give inside information on some of the problem people. Their motto "maybe this pastor will confront them on the sin that we are too intimidated to discuss with our family member, friend or co-worker."

Grant and Gertrude Grumpy - it doesn't matter what you preach, teach, or what you do, this couple finds a way to be and stay unhappy. Their motto is "of course we are happy just look at our face."

U.S. Team Wins Ryder Cup!

Hats off to Paul Azinger and the American Team! This was an awesome win by guys who came together as a great team. Enjoy the video!

Transcript from Rush Limbaugh Show

Family with Down Syndrome Child Meets
John McCain and Sarah Palin

September 9, 2008

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Kurt in Pittsburgh , hello, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network, and how about the Steelers defense?

CALLER: How about those Steelers, huh?

RUSH: How about that?

CALLER: Hey, listen, Rush, longtime listener, first-time caller, one of those Bible, family, gun clingers from western Pennsylvania .

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: And I wanted to share a story with you. A week ago last Saturday we went to the Palin-McCain rally in Washington , Pennsylvania , was the day after he announced her, and we have a five-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, and we made a sign that said: "We Love Kids with Down Syndrome." So when they pulled in in their bus the sign did catch their, McCain and Palin and the rest of their family, it caught their eye, we could tell, they gave us a thumbs-up from the bus, so we were all excited just by that --

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Who gave you the thumbs up, McCain and Palin?

CALLER: McCain, Palin, Cindy McCain, we could see them from the bus. We were in a position where we had eye contact with them --

RUSH: Oh, cool!

CALLER: My wife was holding our daughter.

RUSH: Very, very, very cool.

CALLER: It was really cool, Rush. I was like, "Wow, that's awesome," because I love Governor Palin and so I thought that's really neat. So then we moved around as the bus was getting ready to pull out, we kind of positioned ourselves so we could just wave them on and a Secret Service agent came up to us and said, "Hey, can you come with us?" I was like, "Do we have a choice?"

RUSH: (laughing) You shouldn't have worried. It's not the Clinton administration.

CALLER: Right. So we accompanied them up the hill, we went right to the bus, where it was, and Governor Palin, Senator McCain, Cindy, Todd Palin, they're all standing there. We're in this inner circle with just us and them, and the Secret Service agent, and they came right up to us and thanked us for coming out, said they loved our sign, and Governor Palin immediately said, "May I hold your daughter?" and our daughter Chloe, who's five, went right to her, and I have some pictures I'd love to send you maybe when I'm done here, but Governor Palin was hugging Chloe, and then her little daughter brought their baby Trig who has Down syndrome from the bus, he was napping, and Chloe went right over and kissed him on the cheek, and my son Nolan who's nine, he thanked her.

RUSH: This is amazing.

CALLER: I will send you all the stuff, Senator McCain was talking to my son, and we thanked him for his service, and he asked my son if he wanted to see the bus, and we were hanging out and it was very surreal. I felt like we could have had a pizza and a beer with them, they were so warm.

RUSH: You know what? I want to put you on hold. I want Snerdley to give you our super-secret, known-only-to-three-people here, e-mail address.

CALLER: I will send you everything, Rush.

RUSH: And then could you send us these pictures? Would you mind if we put them on the website?

CALLER: I would be honored, and my main thing is they are warm, kind, genuine people, and they represent the best of this country.

RUSH: That's right. And when you send these pictures, make sure you identify them. I mean, we'll know Palin and McCain, of course. Identify yourselves.

CALLER: I will, I will identify everybody in the picture, Rush, and God bless you for being a beacon of hope and truth in this country.

RUSH: Oh, no, no. It's nothing, it's nothing. You're doing the Lord's work.

CALLER: Well, we're very blessed and I want people to know what a blessing it is to have a child with Down syndrome. These kids, they're angels.

RUSH: That's the thing. There's always good to be found in everything that happens. It may be a while before it reveals itself.

CALLER: Absolutely ,

and when she hugged my daughter I said, here's the difference, this candidate embraces life and all its limitless possibilities.

RUSH: All right.

CALLER: That's what she is.

RUSH: Terrific, okay, I gotta run here, but I'm going to put you on hold.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush.

RUSH: Thank you, Kurt. I really appreciate it.

END TRANSCRIPT

Sen. Obama gives clear stance on abortion

Church Discipline continued

Here is an excellent article form Miscellanies Cross Centered Blog. The man that wrote this article was Robert Murray M’Cheyne who has a Bible Reading Plan online.

Here is writes about our subject for the day Church discipline:

“When I first entered upon the work of the ministry among you, I was exceedingly ignorant of the vast importance of church discipline. I thought that my great and almost only work was to pray and preach. I saw your souls to be so precious, and the time so short, that I devoted all my time, and care, and strength, to labor in word and doctrine. When cases of discipline were brought before me and the elders, I regarded them with something like abhorrence. It was a duty I shrank from; and I may truly say it nearly drove me from the work of the ministry among you altogether. But it pleased God, who teaches His servants in another way than man teaches, to bless some of the cases of discipline to the manifest and undeniable conversion of the souls of those under our care; and from that hour a new light broke in upon my mind, and I saw that if preaching be an ordinance of Christ, so is church discipline. I now feel very deeply persuaded that both are of God – that two keys are committed to us by Christ: the one the key of doctrine, by means of which we unlock the treasures of the Bible; the other the key of discipline, by which we open or shut the way to the sealing ordinances of the faith. Both are Christ’s gift, and neither is to be resigned without sin.” - Robert Murray M’Cheyne in Andrew Bonar, Memoir & Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne (Banner of Truth: 1844/2004), p. 73.

See Matthew 18:15-20 (clearly defined steps of church discipline), 1 Cor. 5:4-5 with 5:9-13; 2 Cor. 7:8-12 (the fruit of godly confrontation); 1 Tim. 1:18-20; Tit. 3:9-11 (notice the difference between church discipline and dealing with the divisive man); Rev. 2:1-7 (notice how a disciplining and discerning church can still lack in passionate love for Christ).

Church Discipline Part 2 - A case study

A pastor sent me this regarding a member in his congregation. Since we were talking about church discipline he thought this might be a helpful illustration. Apparently two women in the church were having some serious issues. One of the women was a friend of and former employee of the other woman. It seems that over the years the number of issues and grievances started to add up. And they even ended up going to and serving in the church he pastored. Finally things got to a breaking point and the one lady approached the other in a Matthew 18:15 context. This pastor said that everything was done in a Biblical manner but the lady who was approached did not listen or hear. After continued non hearing the lady was then approach by and elder team. Unfortunately according to this pastor she was still unwilling to hear.

Here was the list of problems that the one lady had with the other lady in the church. Are these issues significant to the point if the lady doesn't listen then she needs to be subjected to discipline?

1. Jane Smedley seems to be uncontrollably drawn to be critical of others, their work and persons, even when their efforts are related to the kingdom. She is constantly critical of those in her inner circle and seems to look for the negative.

2. Jane Smedley's actions & words convey the attitude that her time is worth more than others. She implies that with her communication to others on a regular basis.

3. Jane Smedley will not admit failure or being wrong. She has an issue with pride.

4. Jane Smedley will often manipulate people, events and organizations to get exactly what she wants the way she wants it! It is Jane's way or the highway.

5. There is no negotiation with Jane. You are either totally with her or against her. And trust me you don't want to be against her.

6. Jane Smedley will only permit and validate only those facts that support her conclusions.

7. Once Jane Smedley locks and loads on an issue, there is no other way unlock and unload her. Woe to the person who tries.

8. Jane Smedley will without hesitation forcefully point out a weakness in others. But in all the years around her I have heard only once she admitted to a flaw in herself.

9. Jane Smedley has been quick to point out to others the need to get professional help but she shows symptoms – such as outbursts of anger, compulsive behavior etc. and refuses to acknowledge that she needs help at all.

10. Jane Smedley is verbally and mentally abusive of others in her sphere of influence. And she often justifies it by saying things like they don’t understand her “gift”.

11. Jane Smedley is so forceful in all her dealings that a disagreement brings an immediate rebuke and often a severing of relationships.

12. Jane Smedley strongly proclaims that God’s plan for the Christian is for each person to get into intimate community. We must according to Jane “get in each others lives”. Yet she has never, to my knowledge, confessed any weakness or offense or need of repentance to anyone – in the church, small group or out.

13. Jane readily admits that she has a difficult time with others in a position of authority. She presently is not submitting in her own church to leadership regarding several issues and those around her are being impacted in a negative way.

Upon talking to this pastor he confirmed that these points about Jane were in true and not overstated nor exaggerations. How is leadership to respond when these types of grievances are occurring between parties in the church?

Now it is time to take a poll - are you ready?

The matter of church discipline

In my last 10 years of full time ministry I have come to a conclusion regarding Americans and church discipline. If you approach and discipline according to the Scriptures many people will respond by leaving the church. I have talked with other pastors and elders and this is a problem that the church in America doesn't seem to be able to answer. Why? Because there are so many churches where discipline isn't done or isn't done in a Biblical way.

I had the privilege of pastoring a small church for approximately 4 years. In that period of time because we were small and intimate there were a number of meetings that involved some form of church discipline. Since we were a "start up" church these types of meetings were preceded with calls to other pastors in our city to get Biblical input. It was never what we looked forward to doing but we understood the necessity and we did not shy away from the process of church discipline. I learned a valuable lesson through some very hard experiences. Here is the lesson - "trust your leadership" unless they give you a reason not to trust them. For example:
- they teach or preach heresy (basically they aren't Biblically grounded)
- they have a total lack of integrity in dealing with the congregation (sin and no repentance)

The one thing I did fairly well was to keep good and accurate notes from all meetings and discussions with members and former members. At some point and time I hope to write a book about this four year journey which will be called "When a small church closes." And a chapter will be devoted to this issue of church discipline. One of the key problems in a small church is that when things begin to unravel, especially with couples in key leadership roles the real facts are never able to be fully disclosed. Unfortunately many things said to an elder team behind closed doors has to remain confidential. And naturally when a person or couple is disciplined and then they leave the church everyone becomes curious as to why. This is where gossip rears its ugly head and then people start to form opinions not on the facts but on speculation. The result in the 4 years of our church worked the following way in the lives of many:
1. Couple A leaves the church in regard to some form of discipline
2. Couple B knows them and likes them and comes to leadership wanting to understand what happened to them.
3. The elders are only able to reveal some but not all discussion at times protecting the confidentially of Couple A that has decided to leave
4. Couple B decides that Couple A was wronged and doesn't stay because they place Couple A's testimony above that of church leadership
5. Couple B leaves and the contribution and gifting leaves and puts additional pressure on those that stay to assume the tasks they were doing in the church
6. As these hard meetings continue to happen and others see people leave it causes them to doubt and be suspicious of the church leadership.

Here is what I found that to be amazing, interesting and distressing all at the same time. People would come to me and start with the presumption that it was the leadership team at fault instead of the people that left the church. As you can imagine in a small church environment it doesn't take too much of that before the body becomes almost too fragmented to continue. Nancy used to say that if you take off the leg, then the arm and lose an eye then an ear eventually the body will die.

The bottom line of this blog article and is that the matter of church discipline can only work, first as it is done in a Biblical way and second where the leadership is respected and trusted.

We had a couple who agreed that the issues we brought forth were potentially harmful and destructive to the body. There were two other well known pastors in Charlotte that walked with us through this very intense process of church discipline. At the conclusion a letter of repentance was written and it seemed as though reconciliation was going to occur. As a leadership team we were advised that when repentance is offered then a form of restoration must take place. In this case we outlined some steps in general that needed to be taken by this couple. However they had no intention of ever going through the steps to get restored within our church. When I called the two other pastors to get their input which was collectively over 60 years as senior pastors they both said the same thing. When repentance is offered but there is no willingness to submit to a process of restoration then there is no real repentance. It is easy to write a letter but when it comes to doing what you say that is another thing.

Do you know the response from many in our small church? They were upset with the leadership team when in fact they should have been upset with the couple that needed to go through the process of restoration. The facts were presented to our elder team and other pastors, and each person agreed as to the actions that needed to be taken. But when you discipline a person or a couple and those in the church don't trust those actions of the elders then it divides and splits the body of Christ. If you have or are planning to start a church then get buy in from those in the church up front regarding church discipline. It may be good to have some form within the membership agreement and that needs to be something everyone understands and agree. And if you have gone through a Biblical process of selecting your elders then TRUST THEM!

I recently heard from a former church member that a particular person who was in a key leadership position still remains upset with the elder team of our former church. Even after hours of meetings, explanations and prayer they remain confused and upset by a number of people who left the church over discipline issues.

The church must utilize discipline for its membership. And those in the church need to submit to discipline when and where necessary. It is not ok to run from the present church to another receiving church until you are restored with former body. The result of people leaving in that manner only serve to highlight the consumeristic mentality that dominates the thinking of so many "professing" Christians. Basically here is what people have said to me in person, via email and phone calls. We will not submit to the leadership of this church and we are going to do what we want regardless of any of your Biblical counsel. I had lunch one day with another leadership member of our church who was trying to decide whether to stay based on a couple that left. We went to the Scriptures and he affirmed at the lunch that leadership was Biblically on track and we never saw the couple again. What does that say? Even one couple told a member if we tried to block their membership to new church because they left unreconciled then they would retain an attorney and sue us! Could I quote the words of the Lord Jesus "that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks!"

Ask yourself the following question - does the church I attend provide discipline to its members?
If I was a part of church discipline would I willing submit?
Does the thought of being asked to leave the church even bother you a little bit?
Have you ever left a former church and are still unreconciled?

Sadly we have a culture in which there is constant church shopping and hopping. I remember that a professor a C.I.U. said this maybe the number one issue for the church in America. How to discipline when those that are disciplined simply leave and find another church to receive them. If you should be in a group of unreconciled former church goers then there is a two-fold solution. REPENT AND BELIEVE!

Blessings

Depression and Dogs

Everybody and yes even the dog world need some encouragement when things are tough. Our yellow lab is going through some tough times emotionally.

Follow up on "lone ranger" teaching

Due to the large number of responses already in regard to this article I have decided to post the mp3 file and details. This will reveal the person, their teaching, the particular section and location of the class. My apologies to those who will find this offensive and yet want to know who this is and what they are teaching. Click on this LINK.

Be aware of "lone ranger" teachers

Some years ago I heard a prominent Bible teacher in Charlotte say the following about a particular section of Scripture he was going to teach. I am going to paraphrase "well as I was studying I came to some very interesting conclusions about this Chapter in this book of the Bible. Even though I can't find anyone else who has gotten this particular take and though it is unique I am fully convinced that this is what it means." This is no exaggeration and as I have reflected back on that teaching I am saying "be aware of the maverick teachers." These are men and women that totally ignore sound orthodox commentators down through our rich church history. When you hear them teach it leaves you with a sense of "why can't I see those kinds of things in the text." One of the first good principles I learned from Dr. Larry Dixon at Columbia International University was the following: Always leave those you are teaching with a sense of I can do that too.

Here is a direct quote from the book "Studying the Bible for all it's worth." By the way this is a good word for all those who are proud of their own unique take on a particular section of Scripture. "The aim of good interpretation is not uniqueness; one is not trying to discover what no one else has ever seen before. Interpretation that aims at, or thrives on, uniqueness can usually be attributed to pride (an attempt to outclever the rest of the world), a false understanding of spirituality (wherein the Bible is full of deeply buried truths waiting to be mined by the spiritually sensitive person with special insight), or vested interests (the need to support a theological bias, especially in dealing with texts that seem to go against that bias).
Unique interpretations are usually wrong. How to Read the Bible for All it is Worth p. 18

Again, be aware of lone ranger teachers!

A cry for HELP!

We have a wonderful yellow lab whose name is Georgia and she is 11 years old. Over the past year she has been showing some very strange behavior. We have done all we can do at the vets office. Presently she is on prozac and valium for this condition. I have included a couple of videos so you can see exactly what is going on with Georgia.




If you have any suggestions, know of a vet specialist or have dealt with this problem then please comment at one of these youtube videos. Thanks in advance

Sharing resources for the kingdom of God

Can you imagine a person or a ministry freely sharing all their resources and material for no other reason than to promote the kingdom of God? Well if you know about Dr. John Piper and Desiring God ministries then you know this is their total ministry philosophy.

The other day I was talking to a person who has some limited ministry resources they have written and developed over the years. As I was talking to them it became more apparent to me that the resource was more about themselves than advancing the kingdom. Of course it is always couched with language like "I want to protect this so it will not be abused..." But bottom line it is an attitude of stinginess and not one of generosity.
If you or I have a resource that can help people get back to God's word, worship in a more God-centered way or serve for His glory then why would we not be willing to share?
How about that verse in 1 Corinthians 4:7 - "For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" An application we could make from this verse would be all that we have received is a gift, since it was given freely then we should not hoard for ourselves.

I hope as the years progress my attitude and actions will be more like Dr. Piper than the person I was in conversation with this past year.

Dr. John MacArthur on Rick Warren's book

In honor of Larry B.

Most of you don't know Larry B. But here is a video that I want to dedicate to him personally. As a matter of fact the guy in the middle may be Larry of 20 years ago. Come on Larry fess up! Now I understand why he likes to dance.

Welcome to pilgrim in a foreign land

Blessings on our small group

Last night we had the joy of being in fellowship with some former members of the Shepherd's Church. Larry and Becky were our hosts and as usual everything was first class! Becky knows how to cook and Larry knows how to eat so you can see that is a wonderful combination. The evening was filled with catching up about family, life in general and of course church. It seems that we have all scattered to various places in Charlotte but still very much excited about the Lord Jesus. We sang, prayed and I was thrilled to share a short devotion from my time this week in Joshua. I am reminded there is no "perfect" church on planet earth but one day there will be! However leaving the presence of those last night it felt like we had a worship service. I heard Buck Hatch once teach on a verse like 2:14 "Do all things without grumbling or disputing." As he ended the class the challenge was to live out this verse literally for one week. Then he adds the next week that within 20 minutes after the class he had violated that very verse. My point is that our sin nature is still tainting, impacting and causing problems especially in the church. Therefore we need lots and lots of grace. Each of the people last night are very grace based in their walk.

I probably at some time or another had hard conversations or tense conversations with each one of the people I saw last night. Still they were able to remain committed to a friendship and fellowship within the body of our small church. A small church is not easy and becomes even harder when the leadership decides to shut it down. If you were to make a list of the number of ways a person can get upset with church leadership, and then decide to leave a church we could write a book. But how wonderful when people decide to stay members of the body when it becomes difficult and even better offer grace upon grace. This is no way as meant as a condemnation to those who left but rather a compliment for those who in fact stayed!

Again for those who came last night it was a time of sweet fellowship, memories and a time to exhort each of us to continue running the race, fighting the good fight and keeping the faith. Blessings on our small group!

Dangers of the Emerging Church

Here is an excellent article on Ken Silva' Apprising Ministries blog regarding the Emerging Church. This is from the writing of Dr. John McArthur:

The Emerging Church Movement is an amorphous sort of loose-knit association of churches that have decided that there is value, there is even virtue in uncertainty about Scripture. The bottom line in the movement is they believe that we aren’t even suppose to understand precisely what the Bible means. And to me, that’s the big issue. It is an attack on the clarity of Scripture and they elevate themselves as if this is some noble reality. They have finally risen to say we’re honest enough to say, “We don’t know what the Bible really means. We can’t be certain. We are…we’re the truly spiritual ones.” It has overtones of spiritual pride, a false kind of spiritual pride which they call humility. They say, “We’re too humble to say that we know what the Bible means.”

The bottom line, I think, in the movement is that it is a denial of the clarity of Scripture. It is a denial that we can know what the Bible really says. And as I said, it’s amorphous because there’s a mish-mash of approaches to this and a mish-mash of styles and things like that. But they have embraced this mystery as if it’s true spirituality. And so, it becomes celebration of mystery, a celebration of ignorance, a celebration that we can’t really know. I think it’s just another form of liberalism. I think it’s just another form of denying the clarity of Scripture. And I think there’s a motive behind it…it’s just another philosophy.

Post-modernism is another bad philosophy. Modernism was a bad philosophy. Post-modernism is another bad philosophy. But in both cases, they assault the Scripture. Modernism made reason, human reason, the king. Reason was supreme in modernism. Thomas Payne, The Age of Reason, The Enlightenment, all of those things, the Renaissance. Out of that came the worship of the human mind and the mind trumps God. Now mystery trumps the Bible. The human mind trumps the Bible in modernism, mystery trumps the Bible in post-modernism. It is at the foundation an unwillingness to accept the clear teaching of Scripture. Scripture is clear, “A wayfaring man though he be a fool need not err.” God holds us responsible for a right understanding of Scripture. We are liable before God for what we do with a true and right understanding of Scripture. These people, like the liberals, deny the clear teaching of Scripture. And I’m convinced that the reason they deny it is not because it can’t be understood, not because it’s unclear, but because they don’t like what it clearly says. And that takes you back to John 3, “Men love darkness rather than light.” The light is there, they hate the light, they run from the light. The issue is not that Scripture is not clear, it is crystal clear.

Quote for the day

Ingrid Schlueter from sliceoflaodicea.com posts this quote from C.H. Spurgeon:

“The Church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel. Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this? It is the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Patience and Wisdom

Some serious pipes

Hey who is this guy? OK, you guessed it my son the B-man rocking in Seattle.

Quotes for the day

From the Borean blog site:
"Listen to the typical gospel presentation nowadays. You will hear sinners entreated with words like, "accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior"; "ask Jesus into your heart"; "invite Christ into your life"; or "make a decision for Christ." You may be so accustomed to hearing those phrases that it will surprise you to learn that none of them is based on Biblical terminology. They are the products of a diluted gospel." —John MacArthur

"The more you behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the more you will see of your own vileness. The more you grow in holiness, the more aware you will be of your inward corruptions and the imperfection of your duties. More and more, you will fell your need of the gospel of grace and you will realize, even after many years of faithful Christian service, that you are a sinner who has no hope apart from Christ. Never forget that in yourself you are unworthy, and guilty and condemned; only in Jesus are you accepted." —Abraham Booth (1734-1806)