Marketing and Gimmicks

Slice of Laodicea weighs in on this foolishness quite aptly:

“When you see videos like the one below, it is difficult to imagine that Christianity used to produce some of the finest minds in the world. The brilliance of men like John Owen and Jonathan Edwards who submitted their minds to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, continues to shine down through the centuries. Harvard and Yale were at one time Christian institutions, dedicated to the Gospel and developing minds to the glory of God.

Fast forward to 2009 and the rotting corpse of Western Christianity. This buffoonery is what now fills churches today—the entire idiotic scene inspired by a children’s cartoon of singing and dancing vegetables. Infantalism rules, literacy is dead, and God-given intellects are dead, suffocated under years of video game playing, movie and television watching. Hard to believe that Christians used to produce books like “Bondage of the Will”, and translations of the Scriptures from the original languages. Today, pastors and church laity are reading “graphic novel” (comic book) versions of the Bible because they struggle to grasp anything beyond a one syllable word. Here are some of evangelicalism’s finest in action. Watch and weep.”

Sunset at the Isle of Palms

Me Church, where its all about you!

Once again from the archives the ever popular and growing Me Church

If Galatians had been published in Christianity today

Here is a thought provoking article from the Sacred Sandwich:

Dear Christianity Today:

In response to Paul D. Apostle’s article about the Galatian church in your January issue, I have to say how appalled I am by the unchristian tone of this hit piece. Why the negativity? Has he been to the Galatian church recently? I happen to know some of the people at that church, and they are the most loving, caring people I’ve ever met.

Phyllis Snodgrass; Ann Arbor, MI

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Dear Editor:

How arrogant of Mr. Apostle to think he has the right to judge these people and label them accursed. Isn’t that God’s job? Regardless of this circumcision issue, these Galatians believe in Jesus just as much as he does, and it is very Pharisaical to condemn them just because they differ on such a secondary issue. Personally, I don’t want a sharp instrument anywhere near my zipper, but that doesn’t give me the right to judge how someone else follows Christ. Can’t we just focus on our common commitment to Christ and furthering His kingdom, instead of tearing down fellow believers over petty doctrinal matters?

Ed Bilgeway; Tonganoxie, KS

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Dear CT:

I’ve seen other dubious articles by Paul Apostle in the past, and frankly I’m surprised you felt that his recurrent criticisms of the Church deserved to be printed in your magazine. Mr. Apostle for many years now has had a penchant for thinking he has a right to “mark” certain Christian teachers who don’t agree with his biblical position. Certainly I commend him for desiring to stay faithful to God’s word, but I think he errs in being so dogmatic about his views to the point where he feels free to openly attack his brethren. His attitude makes it difficult to fully unify the Church, and gives credence to the opposition’s view that Christians are judgmental, arrogant people who never show God’s love.

Ken Groener; San Diego, CA

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To the Editors:

Paul Apostle says that he hopes the Galatian teachers will cut off their own privates? What kind of Christian attitude is that? Shame on him!

Martha Bobbitt; Boulder, CO

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Dear Christianity Today:

The fact that Paul Apostle brags about his public run-in with Peter Cephas, a well-respected leader and brother in Christ, exposes Mr. Apostle for the divisive figure that he has become in the Church today. His diatribe against the Galatian church is just more of the same misguided focus on an antiquated reliance on doctrine instead of love and tolerance. Just look how his hypercritical attitude has cast aspersions on homosexual believers and women elders! The real problem within the Church today is not the lack of doctrinal devotion, as Apostle seems to believe, but in our inability to be transformed by our individual journeys in the Spirit. Evidently, Apostle has failed to detach himself from his legalistic background as a Pharisee, and is unable to let go and experience the genuine love for Christ that is coming from the Galatians who strive to worship God in their own special way.

William Zenby; Richmond, VA

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Kind Editors:

I happen to be a member of First Christian Church of Galatia, and I take issue with Mr. Apostle’s article. How can he criticize a ministry that has been so blessed by God? Our church has baptized many new members and has made huge in-roads in the Jewish community with our pragmatic view on circumcision. Such a “seeker-sensitive” approach has given the Jews the respect they deserve for being God’s chosen people for thousands of years. In addition, every Gentile in our midst has felt honored to engage in the many edifying rituals of the Hebrew heritage, including circumcision, without losing their passion for Jesus. My advice to Mr. Apostle is to stick to spreading the gospel message of Christ’s unconditional love, and quit criticizing what God is clearly blessing in other churches.

Miriam “Betty” Ben-Hur; Galatia, Turkey

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Christianity Today apologizes for our rash decision in publishing Paul Apostle’s exposé of the Galatian church. Had we known the extent in which our readership and advertisers would withdraw their financial support, we never would have printed such unpopular biblical truth. We regret any damage we may have caused in propagating the doctrines of Christ.

Really, Really Born Again!

This is an article by Phil Ryken

I just received my copy of John Piper's new book Finally Alive: What Happens When We Are Born Again? One of Piper's reasons for making the biblical case for born-again Christianity is to guard the term against its misuse in popular culture, especially in the sociological research of The Barna Group. Piper writes:

"When the Barna Group uses the term 'born again' to describe American church-goers whose lives are indistinguishable from the world, and who sin as much as the world, and sacrifice for others as little as the world, and embrace injustice as readily as the world, and covet things as greedily as the world, and enjoy God-ignoring entertainment as enthusiastically as the world -- when the term 'born again' is used to describe these professing Christians, the Barna Group is making a profound mistake."

They are using the term "born-again," Piper says, "in a way that would make it unrecognizable by Jesus and the biblical writers." What the research shows instead, according to Piper, "is not that born-again people are permeated with worldiness," but "that the church is permeated by people who are not born again."

Joel Osteen said what?

From the Defending and Contending blog site:

Joel Osteen talks about the abundant life but is this what the Bible says?
Because, you know, you’re not living a full Christian life if you have bills to pay or you’re sick. More useless drivel from a man who has admitted he’s “not a preacher, but more of a life coach.” He needs to step down out of that pulpit and concentrate on his number one passion: selling books. If he can’t preach the whole counsel of God, he doesn’t need to be claiming to preach any of it.

You know what the most absurd part of this surreal experience is? He even manages to take a passage from the abomination known as “The Message” and make it even more unfathomable than the original (You’ll hear him quote from Ephesians 1:4 (MSG), in a way that has never been heard before by human ears. If it wasn’t so sad it would be hilarious).

An American Beauty inside and out

Great Sports Story

Are you believing the gospel?

During this men's Bible study we look at the importance of the gospel. Many times people have been in churches for years but have a difficult time understanding and being able to explain the gospel.
This is a teaching that covers 4 basics:
- Purpose of God
- Problem with man
- Solution in Christ
- Application of faith

I hope this will encourage you to continue preaching the gospel to yourself on a daily basis

Are you believing the gospel?

View more presentations from BertBrim.

Are you believing the gospel? - Pastor B.

Mae Hargett Funeral

Mae Hargett Funeral from Pastor B. on Vimeo.

New church plant?

Thousands showed up this past Sunday thinking that the Barnum and Bailey Circus was simply another new church plant. A spokesperson for the circus said that those that came said they plan to come back and attend next Sunday. When they were informed it was not church but rather a circus those attending were shocked. People said how grateful they were to be entertained and made to feel good. Another person when questioned said yeah "we don't want to think about eternity and things like heaven or hell until we get there." Another said the only difference between the circus and his church was that the pastor at his church was a much better clown!

Things you don't want to hear in church

This from the Sacred Sandwich blog:

Churchgoers are notorious for not wanting to sit in the front row during worship service— at least in most of the churches I’ve attended in the past. I used to think it was because the attendees wanted a certain level of anonymity or perhaps the freedom to easily slip out of the room if they felt the need. But lately I’ve decided that some folks are sitting in the back row because they don’t want to hear anyone sitting behind them.

Have you ever been in the middle of a church service, trying to focus on singing a hymn or contemplating the sermon, when two people sitting behind you suddenly felt compelled to have a short, but apparently unavoidable discussion about the amazing absorption of the Sham Wow? Oh sure, they try to whisper politely, but they might as well use a bullhorn. Against the backdrop of dedicated corporate worship, such muted chatter can often sound like nails on a chalkboard.

After pondering this issue, I came up with a list of remarks that I really, really don’t want to hear behind me during church service. Here are just a few:

• “Dude, I’m gonna hafta call you back. We’re about to pray or something.”
• “Boo-oooo!”
• “The pastor looks really cute today.”
• “Mommy, my tummy doesn’t feel good. I think I’m gonna throw uh—erpleeeeeck!” (Accompanied by a splashing sound against my seat.)
• “Hey there, ladies… nice bibles. You come here often?”
• “Zzzzzzzzzz…”
• “Sweet! I just scored the last Krispy Kreme at the snack table.”
• “He’s good, but he’s no Joyce Meyer.”
• “Dang it, I grabbed my Bhagavad-Gita by mistake. The Message Bible is still in the Prius next to my yoga mat.”
• “You think they’ll mind if I use the offering basket to break a five?”
• “Seven-day sex challenge? Now you’re talking, pastor!”
• “I can’t see the pulpit. The guy in front of me has a melon that could show up on Google Earth.”

Okay, that last one was a little too close to home for me, but I’m sure the reader can come up with worse possibilities. The point I’m trying to make is that perhaps we have become a bit too casual during our services, and our churches have become more like coffeehouses and movie theaters instead of places of corporate worship.

Believe me, I’ve seen it happen before. One Sunday morning, back in the summer of 2001, my wife and I had entered into worship in a church where we formerly held membership. We had begun a sincere, heartfelt worship of God, singing praise to Him: fixing our heart and mind on our Lord and Savior, when instantly that focus was broken. The lights dimmed, a large screen came down from the ceiling, and a movie clip from Apollo 13 was projected above the pulpit as a dramatic lead-in to the sermon. Suddenly, we were no longer in a worship service, but in a theater watching the big screen. That’s when we heard a woman behind us whisper with delight, “I love this movie… Isn’t Tom Hanks great?”

Wow. All she was missing was the hot buttered popcorn.

So let’s not forget the focus and purpose of these worship gatherings, folks. I suggest you read Hebrews 12 which ends with the following summation: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

And the people sitting behind us said… “Amen!’

A "new brand" of pastor

We are seeing a new brand of pastor develop in the church planting scene. Right from the heels of a recent post on Perry Nobles we have Gary Lamb at Revolution Church. It seems the church had a trailer stolen and below is the actual response from the senior pastor. Should you want to go to the original article just click on this LINK.

To the people who stole our trailer:

First let me say, God loves you. Second let me say we forgive you. We really don’t want to forgive you, but God says we should so we do. Third of all I want you to know that I think you are scum bags. I think you are lowlife degenerates who need a good butt kicking. Matter of fact I feel so strongly about the fact that you need a good butt kicking that I am volunteering to do it. I hope you believe in God because you should get on your knees and cry out to Him like never before because if we find you, I can promise we will kick the crap out of you. It won’t be pretty, it won’t be over quickly, and it will be very painful. I know that doesn’t sound very nice but I feel pretty strongly that is what you need.

I am curious what kind of lowlife you must be? Trust me, I have been around some pretty low ones before but never one that would be so low as to steal from a church. I understand you probably need some crack or something like that but stealing from a church would scare me. It would scare me more once I realized which church I stole it from. We are probably the only church you have ever heard of that will honestly break your legs once you are found.

Let me say again that we DO forgive you. But there are still consequences for your sin and your consequence will be toting a butt kicking. It is obvious you aren’t very smart so let me give you some advice. Get that trailer out of the county QUICK. As soon as I hit publish on this blog post a church of about 1000 crazy people will know that our black, children’s trailer has been stolen and I can promise they will be on the lookout for it. You would much rather me find you then one of them.

Best Wishes,

Gary Lamb

Lead Pastor, Revolution Church

And so it goes...

How to "scold" the congregation

This video is from the recent archives but continues to remind me "how" NOT to pastor. Some might be surprised to know the relationship that brother Perry has with some of the hot new rising pastors on the church planting scene.

Check out the language, tone and message to his congregation at New Springs Church. Are you feeling the love?

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

This is an article from the Pyromaniacs Blog by Phil Johnson

"This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:39-40).

The two phrases set forth the divine side of salvation and the human side of salvation.
You know, beloved friends, that the general custom is, with the various sects of Christians, to take up one part of the Bible and preach that part, and then it is the duty of all divines on that side of the question not to preach anything but that. Or if they find a text that looks in rather a different direction, these gentlemen are expected to twist it round to suit their creed, it being supposed that only one set of truths can possibly be worth defending, it never having entered into the heads of some people that there can be two apparently irreconcilable truths which nevertheless are equally valuable.

Think not that I come here to defend the human side of salvation at the expense of the divine; nor am I desirous to magnify the divine side of it at the expense of the human; rather would I beseech you to look at the two texts which are together before us, and to be prepared to receive both sets of truths. I think it a very dangerous thing to say that the truth lies between the two extremes. It does not: the truth lies in the two, in the comprehension of both; not in taking a part from this and a part from that, toning down one and modulating the other, as is too much the custom, but in believing and giving full expression to everything that God reveals whether we can reconcile the things or not, opening our hearts as children open their understandings to their father's teaching, feeling that if the gospel were such that we could make it into a complete system, we might be quite sure it was not God's gospel, for any system that comes from God must be too grand for the human brain to grasp at one effort; and any path that he takes must extend too far beyond the line of our vision for us to make a nice little map of it, and mark it out in squares.

This world, you know, we can readily enough map. Go and get charts, and you shall find that men of understanding have indicated almost every rock in the sea, almost every hamlet on the land; but they cannot map out the heavens in that way, for albeit that you can buy the celestial atlas, yet as you are well enough aware there is not one in ten thousand of the stars that can possibly be put there; when they are resolved by the telescope they become altogether innumerable, and so far exceed all count that it is impossible for us to reckon them up in order and say, that is the name of this, and this is the name of that. We must leave them: they are beyond us. There are deeps into which we cannot peer; even the strongest glass cannot show us much more than a mere corner of the starry worlds.

Thus too is it with the doctrines of the gospel: they are too bright for our weak eyes, too sublime for our finite minds to scan, save at a humble distance. Be it ours to take all we can of their solemn import, to believe them heartily, accept them gratefully, and then fall down before the Lord, and pour out our very souls in worshipping him. - C. H. Spurgeon

New Element Discovered!

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Monkey see, Monkey do...

This is from the Sacred Sandwich blog site:

Settling relationship struggles

In a day and time when there are many seminars and books on relationships, here is a quick way to solve those pesky quirks and problems.

I'm spreading the news...

Memories of New York City tour last year, it was a blast!

Theme From New York, New York - Frank Sinatra

Just when you thought it was safe...Ruthie!

Redneck Flatscreen TV

The four circle gospel - what?

Here is the rage on the college campuses now-a-days. It is called a gospel presentation that uses four circles but there is one major problem. It doesn't contain the gospel message at all. It is a way we can live better lives in order to go and heal the planet. Do you know why we fall for these types of gimmicks? Because we don't know our Bibles nor what the gospel is, or even how to articulate it to others. Therefore we become subject to deceptions, deceits and counterfeit gospel presentations. This is an audio clip from "Fighting for the Faith" on the show called the Dark Knight Sermon Review. In this audio Chris Rosebrough gives a good critique as to why this is not a Biblical gospel presentation.

For more on Chris and Fighting for the Faith go to this LINK.

The four circle gospel - Rosebrough

Quote for the day

"The cliché, God hates the sin but love the sinner, is false on the face of it and should be abandoned. Fourteen times in the first fifty Psalms alone, we are told that God hates the sinner, His wrath is on the liar, and so forth. In the Bible, the wrath of God rests both on the sin (Romans 1:18ff) and on the sinner (John 3:36)."
-D.A. Carson The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, Crossway, 2000, p. 70.

The ongoing dangers of postmodernism

Here is an excellent article on why postmodernism is dangerous within the evangelical church.

clipped from apprising.org MacArthur is dead on target below when he says: The reason behind postmodernism’s contempt for propositional truth is not difficult to understand. A proposition is an idea framed as a logical statement that affirms or denies something, and it is expressed in such a way that it must be either true or false. There is no third option between true and false. (This is the “excluded middle” in logic.) The whole point of a proposition is to boil a truth-statement down to such a pristine clarity that it must either be affirmed or denied. In other words, propositions are the simplest expressions of truth value used to express the substance of what we believe. Postmodernism, frankly, cannot endure that kind of stark clarity.

New church plant in Wisconsin

2Tim. 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
2Tim. 4:4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

clipped from www.alittleleaven.com Is this a case of Christian persecution? Absolutely NOT! But if you're concerned that Great Lakes Church will not have a venue to preach their gospel of 'great sex', don't worry. GLC found a movie theater that will allow them to worship their sex god. That's appropriate since Great Lakes Church is rated R.

Quote for the day

This is from Bob Dewaay who is the author of Redefining Christianity: Understanding the Purpose Driven Life Movement

clipped from www.cicministry.org The Bible is our "firewall" against paganism. When we believe and practice scripture alone, we are sure to develop a Christian worldview—if we interpret the Bible according to the meaning of its Spirit-inspired authors. Scripture "alone" implies that using extra-Biblical sources for spiritual information is forbidden. It also implies that God has revealed everything we need to know and that it is sinful to think or act otherwise. God has limited our access to spiritual information for our own good. He wants us to think like true Christians; not like pagans.

Oh no! Barbie has gone postmodern

Application in preaching

How to preach - John MacArthur

Snow Again!!!

Listen Biblically to sermons preached

Joel Osteen is at it again. Preaching what people want to hear instead of what is in the Bible. This is a "name it and claim it" or "blab it and grab it" type of prosperity gospel that is a TOTAL distortion of God's word. Many, many people are deceived to the point where they embrace and go for these types of messages hook, line and sinker. As Chris Rosebrough says in the review of this short audio clip, this is nothing short than the doctrine of demons. Folks remember this is from the man who has the largest church audience in America. The ears are getting tickled because people are coming to hear exactly what they want, but unfortunately it is not what the Bible says!





















What does false teaching sound like...Listen carefully to this short audio clip
Joel Osteen twisting Scripture - Rosebrough

A daughter in prayer

Distubing trend in Montana

Congratulations John MacArthur 40 years!

Here is the article from Pulpit Magazine. Folks we need more pastors today like Dr. John MacArthur that can leave a legacy of faithfulness in the church and solid Bible teaching.

Yesterday our church celebrated John MacArthur's 40th anniversary as our pastor. Below is the article that Rick Holland wrote in our church bulletin. An electronic copy of the bulletin can be viewed at this link.

First Thessalonians 5:12–13 contain a simple request from the Apostle Paul that echoes to us on this historic day: “But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.”

Today we are esteeming our Pastor-Teacher, John MacArthur, and appreciating his 40 years of service here at Grace Community Church. It is rare to find a man with four decades of unwavering commitment in ministry fidelity. It is rarer still to see this accomplished in the same church. On that rainy February weekend in 1969, no one knew that God was beginning something extra special, with worldwide impact and epic influence. From the very beginning our pastor said, “If you take care of the depth of your ministry, God will take care of the breadth of it.” John’s attention to the depth of his study of God’s Word has been used by His Spirit to extend gospel truth to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Ministry fads have come and gone. New ideas about how to do church have been tried and forgotten. The theory of preaching itself has been reshaped almost annually. But our pastor has never wavered in form or content in the pulpit of our church. John MacArthur is the embodiment of faithful expository preaching.

Our pastor has served as an excellent shepherd. He has married and buried, counseled and comforted, planned and prayed. But the credibility and precision for all the dimensions of his ministry have flowed from his preaching ministry. When church history refers to the preaching ministry of its heroes, it refers to the pulpit. There is no question that John MacArthur will be noted in the next chapter of church history, specifically for his faithfulness in the pulpit. For the record, he has stood in that sacred desk for over 7,000 hours!

Our pulpit is 45 inches tall (when fully elevated), 58 inches wide and 27 inches deep. It is famous for being one of the first to be installed with a hydraulic lift, so that it can be adjusted for height, and so that it can be hidden beneath the platform to reveal the baptistery. Its unique shape offers maximum surface area from which to work, allowing the preacher ample room for the Scriptures and his notes. Our pulpit is not particularly ornate, and intentionally so. Its purpose is not to draw attention to itself, but to exalt the Word of God as it is proclaimed to His people.

It is the proclamation of the truth from our pulpit that makes it special. Like Ezra, who read the Scripture and explained its meaning to the people, so our pastor proclaims God’s Word to us each week. As a result, the pulpit at Grace Church has an unparalleled reputation for being a place where expositional preaching meets an eager congregation.

Because of both the historic and symbolic importance of the pulpit in our church, the elders of Grace commissioned renowned impressionistic painter, Ron Hicks, to compose an original painting of it. John will receive this painting today as a small token of our appreciation and love for him.