Tim Conway – Only One Way To Attain Righteousness
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End of post.
Phyllis Tickle: It’s Not If Sola Scriptura Ends But When
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In this short post Apprising Ministries shows you why, having embraced these Emergent wolves, the price is only now beginning to be counted by the evangelical community.
PHYLLIS TICKLE: IT’S NOT IF SOLA SCRIPTURA ENDS BUT WHEN
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The evangelical community has embraced these Emergent wolves and the price is only now beginning to be counted. Recently Apprising Ministries covered Emergent Church Theologian Tony Jones and his Unrepentant Homosexual Christians where Jones announced a couple of weeks ago that he now believes “that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church.”
Do you think that was simply a coincidence? Well, as you read this short bit below the answer to the question I asked last week becomes clearer: Will Rob Bell Now Follow Tony Jones Out Of The Closet? The following is from Missio Dei, a website sympathetic to the Emerging Church rebellion against Sola Scriptura, and reveals that we are indeed only now seeing the very tip of an iceberg of apostasy:
Today was day one in The Great Emergence conference. To a large extent it was a deeper summary of each part of the book, including some of the keys dates, pivotal moments and events that helped create what we’re experiencing now. [Phyllis Tickle] made a significant point about how this turn is deeply affecting the concept of Sola Scriptura.
One of the things that caught my attention was Tickle’s comment that there are forty-four specific events that underline the move away from Sola Scriptura. I would love to see what those 44 are but that would be like icing on the cake. The final subject in the turn away will be how we address homosexuality in the church. She reiterated that it’s not if Sola Scriptura ends but when…
The central point of Tickle’s book is, “Where is our authority?” And much of the underlining question for those in this conference is the step and subsequent journey out of traditional church expressions and into new ones. (Online source)
See also:
PHYLLIS TICKLE: TICKLING ITCHING EMERGENT EARS
WE FEEL HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A SIN
KEN SILVA: IT’S TIME TO RETHINK THE ISSUE OF HOMOSEXUALITY
No Other Gospel
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The rebellion against God is alive and well…for now. This rebellion began before the fall of Man into sin (Genesis 3). It began when Lucifer attempted to overthrow God and ascend to the throne himself. Because of this, he lost his place in Heaven and became Satan. When he deceived Eve in the Garden and Adam followed her into sin, they actually became recruits in his continual war against God. All of their descendents were born into this army as children of wrath. After God interceded after the fall, He prophesied that there would be a seed of the woman who would be bruised by the serpent, but He would, in turn, crush his head.
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Ken Silva Agrees with Rob Bell
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There’s a headline few people would have ever expected, but we are in the last days. Apprising Ministries explains.
KEN SILVA AGREES WITH ROB BELL
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In his Saturday, October 18, 2008 sermon “Beware the dogs” Rob Bell, a popular icon of the Emerging Church, says:
Beware those dogs. Now, uh… this week, I’m out running; and I run by a church and the church building out front has one of those backlit signs where they change the letters each week to tell you the name of the sermon. These signs are hard for me…I don’t find them clever, I find them horribly annoying; they are a stench upon my nostrils. (audience laughter) And, uh, in the summer…“this church is prayer conditioned” not funny. (audience laughter) Um…“sign broken, message inside”.
Or my personal love/hate non-favorite is “ch – - ch, what’s missing? U-R”. (audience laughter) You know, we always say Americans…we won’t stand for torture…yes, we do.
(audience laughter) As I’m jogging by and I’m reading the sign, I literally have this thought, “that sermon sounds so insanely boring…I mean this would make people take up golf.” (audience laughter)Beware of that dog. Beware of that dog that tells that your tribe is better, that your church gets it, that your theology is more progressive, that your budget is more fiscally responsible, that your building is all about the people and God and not about the…beware of that impulse. Now, substantive discussion about what it means to be a follower of Christ in 2008…brilliant, let’s have it.
But that impulse, that says, “We get it” Not boring like that…our tribe is a little more relevant, our tribe cares more about the poor, we understand the context of the Scriptures better, therefore….we….beware that dog. Paul says, “We boast in Christ Jesus and nothing else.” My response jogging by the sign should be, even me God’s love and grace, God’s peace for even me, even you, even us, God has saving love for the whole world and we get to be a part of it.
Any whiff of superiority, condemnation, judgment against some other sub-tribe of the tribe, is absolutely, totally, diametrically opposed to the beautiful life-giving grace and peace that boasts in the resurrected Christ and nothing else. Are you with me now? Beware of that dog. (audience applause) (Online source)
Well, I for one agree with Rob Bell that we should beware of those who would say the kinds of things highlighted above…like well, Bell. It’s pretty clear Bell’s confessing that he personally is guilty of the very same bad things he’s just finished telling us “those dogs” do. As a matter of fact, Bell’s been canine-like before. For example, in “Rob Bell Tells It Like It Is” for Relevant magazine Bell slams pre-mil, pre-trib Christians e.g. Tim LaHaye for, “preaching horrible messages about being left behind and this [earth] is going to burn-absolutely toxic messages that are against the teachings of Scripture.”
But wait a minute, “against the teachings of Scripture”; I thought the Bells are the ones who told us to embrace mystery because we really don’t want the Bible to be so black and white. Especially when in his book Velvet Elvis (VE) Bell says:
I was in an intense meeting with our church leaders in which we were discussing several passages in the Bible. One of the leaders was sharing her journey in trying to understand what the Bible teaches about the issue at hand and she said something like this: “I’ve spent a great deal of time recently studying this issue. I’ve read what the people on the one side of the issue say, and I’ve read what the people on the other side say. I’ve read the scholars and the theologians and all sorts of others on this subject. But then, in the end, I decided to get back to the Bible and just take it for what it really says.”
Now please understand that this way of thinking is prevalent in a lot of Christian churches,…but this view of the Bible is warped and toxic, to say the least… The assumption is that there is a way to read the Bible that is agenda- and perspective- free…This perspective is claiming that a person can simply read the Bible and do what it says – unaffected by any outside influences… When you hear people say they are just going to tell you what the Bible means, it is not true. They are telling you what they think it means (053, 054, emphasis his).
So when it comes to Bell’s hating one of the views within the legitimate differences Christians have concerning eschatology it would seem we now have to realize that Bell understands “the context of the Scriptures better” than the rest of us do when he tells us “what the Bible means.” Now I don’t personally take LaHaye’s position but I’m sure not going to judge and condemn those who hold to a pre-mil, pre-trib eschatological position by saying they are preaching “absolutely toxic messages that are against the teachings of Scripture.”
All of a sudden Rob Bell rolls up the Emergent mystical mystery tour and now knows for sure that the pre-mil, pre-trib position is against the teachings of Scripture as “a stench upon [his] nostrils”? Which would now mean we’d best beware of those dogs like Rob Bell who would hold that their eschatology is superior because, well, he’s apparently exempt from his own teaching in VE. Can you see it now; when Bell tells us “what the Bible means,” it is then true, whereas someone e.g. who happens to be pre-trib, pre-mil is only telling us “what they think it means.”
Or how about in that same interview when Bell’s asked about dealing with critics and says:
When a Christian can find nothing better to do with their time [than criticize]…you start realizing that some Christians need to be saved. How a person would have energy to take shots at other Christians is just mind-boggling. You have to be so disconnected from the pain of the world to think that blogging is somehow a redemptive use of your time.
How does Bell in a sudden “whiff of superiority” now know that someone who is critical of him finds “nothing better to do with their time” and needs “to be saved” because they’re supposedly “so disconnected” from the new reality? Answer: He doesn’t. Bell has no way at all to know what God may be doing with someone’s writing and/or ministry on the Internet. Then there’s the December 21, 2007 story over at ABP News.com “Rob Bell: Christians shouldn’t fear controversy over doctrine” by Drew Nichter who pointed out that with Bell’s “success has come plenty of controversy.”
Nichter then tells us that Bell “does not pay attention” to this criticism because he doesn’t “Google my name.” However, Nichter does go on to mention that if Bell did “he would find a Rob Bell archive on a website called Apprising Ministries.” This would make me one whom Bell called “disconnected” from life because in his fickle fantasy I would only be thinking about how “blogging is somehow a redemptive use” of my time. But instead it looks like Bell’s entered the doghouse yet again feeling he’s just “a little more relevant” because he and his ”tribe cares more about the poor” etc., etc. while those who hold the doctrines of grace like me don’t.
And Nichter also writes:
When asked whether he is an emergent-church leader or claims any affiliation with the movement, Bell simply said, “No.” But he said he understands the movement to be “simply a conversation asking, ‘What does it mean to be the people of Jesus?’” Addressing anyone who is critical of such a movement, Bell said, “I wonder whether that person is a Christian. That seems like a conversation they ought to have”…
Bell had much stronger words for those who are frightened by such an approach to theology [as the Emerging Church], comparing them to Pharisees. “They’re obsessed with absolutely minutiae issues surrounding, ‘What words do you use to define the Bible?’” he said.
“They absolutely obsess about people who, in their minds, don’t use the exact proper definitive language they’ve agreed upon somewhere.” Bell insisted he is not worried about offending “fundamentalists,” adding that each time he does so, “there are a thousand [new] people who are now listening.” (Online source)
Again those like myself, who are critical of Bell’s postliberal mystic musings concerning a reimagined non-gospel of social reform in some restored creation in the here and now, just aren’t as enlightened as the super spiritual ones in Emergent Church rebellion against Sola Scriptura. O, poor pitiful souls are we, hopelessly disconnected from reality as we “obsess” over stuff like the vicarious penal substituationary atonement and preaching against sin, even if it’s of the homosexual variety.
Sad-sap dolts insisting on maintaining the purity of the geniune Gospel of Jesus Christ in prayerful hopes that people will repent of their sin thus sparing them from enduring the wrath of God, which all of unregenerate mankind is already under. Alas, if we old-fashioned un-enlightened ones dare to criticize Rob Bell and his Emerging Church friends like Doug Pagitt they will now “wonder whether [we are] a Christian.” Well, I say: Good, now they are finally coming to understand what’s really at stake. And in the end, I heartily agree; beware the dogs like Rob Bell.
See also:
DOCTRINES OF SPIRITISM AND ROB BELL
WHERE DOES ROB BELL STAND REGARDING THE PRACTICE OF HOMOSEXUALITY?
ROB BELL RESOURCES FROM APPRISING MINISTRIES
JESUS WANTS TO SAVE CHRISTIANS FROM ROB BELL
Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Spencer Burke: More on hell and universalism
A Christian Message Defending the Existence of…Santa Claus?
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A friend on Facebook posted this unbelievable link to a site that purports to have the Gospel. Yes, that is what a world in crisis needs now: Santa Claus and little elf acolytes in pointy shoes and red hats, who rest not, day or night, serving the great Bearded One. People are literally believing fables now, taught by profane evangelical leaders who have nothing else in their empty heads and hearts.
When Grace Comes Home – Witness – Part 3 of 3
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A dear sister in Christ sent my mom the book, “When Grace Comes Home” by Terry L. Johnson. My family just finished reading the book and we highly recommend it. It is God-centered, God honoring, Bible saturated, enriching and very edifying. You can purchase the book HERE.
3. Confidence in ordained means guards us from compromise. If you are convinced that only God can convert a sinner, that He does so through His gospel message, then you won’t be tempted to equivocate when the message is rejected. When the world responds to the gospel with complaints that it is ‘too hard’, or ‘too serious’, or ‘too negative’, which has always been the world’s response, the temptation to water-down the message can be enormous. Many ministries have been reduced to entertaining goats, as William Still calls it, rather than feeding sheep. ‘Let goats entertain goats,’ he says, ‘and let them do it in goatland.’
The Apostle Paul warned of this in his own day:
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; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths (2 Tim. 4:3, 4).
His answer? ‘Preach the word…reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction’ (2 Tim. 4:2). He said of his ministry:
…we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor. 4:2, NIV).
The conviction that God is sovereign does this for one. One looks to God and not human ingenuity. One is not tempted to make the gospel more palatable to worldlings. One knows that is unpalatable. This is expected. One knows that the unregenerate heart is hard. One knows that it cannot understand what we’re saying (1 Cor. 2:14). What are we to do then? Proclaim the gospel. It is the power of God. It is ‘living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.’ (Heb. 4:12) One can trust God to work through His appointed means without manipulating the audience or the message. God encourages the Apostle Paul to continue in Corinth saying, ‘I have many people in this city’ (Acts 18:10). They were not yet converted, but they would be. The gospel itself would be the means of digging them out. I believe the same is true for us today. We don’t need to use psychological pressure. It doesn’t work anyway. We don’t need to tone down the message. We would weaken its effectiveness by doing so. What we need to do is depend upon the God-appointed means and get out of the way.
Sadly, the popularity of gimmicks in the churches reveals a lack of faith in the gospel. Behind the dog and pony shows is a lack of faith in the God who gave the gospel. When people again begin to believe in the sovereignty of God, I suspect a lot of these novelties will pass from the scene. The program of the churches will be scaled back and simplified. We will preach, pray, and watch the mighty hand of God at work.
Second, the doctrines of grace encourage and motivate the evangelist. Rather than destroying the incentive for evangelism, the doctrines of grace have often motivated the servants of Christ to proclaim the gospel in what have sometimes seemed impossible situations. Why? Because God can change anyone’s heart. If the ‘heart of the king’ is in the hand of the Lord, and He turns it where He wishes, and the king is the ultimate in personal sovereignty, always doing his own will (exactly the Proverb’s point), then God can turn anyone’s heart – the Apostle Paul’s – anybody’s (Prov. 21:1). This conviction has emboldened men to stand for the truth in the face of ridicule, violence, and death. It has given them confidence of success amidst hostility, apathy, and incomprehension at home and abroad. Here is the difference. The Arminian preaches with the vision of Christ meekly knocking at the door of the heart of the sinner. Jesus waits. The evangelist waits. Nothing can happen until the sovereign will of man allows God to help. A hard heart can look particularly hopeless in these circumstances. The Calvinist has a different image altogether. His Jesus is not passively waiting. He kicks the door down. There is no door that He cannot kick down. He can save anyone at anytime!
Over the centuries, the greatest Protestant evangelists and missionaries have been Calvinists. The sixteenth century Reformation itself, above all else, was a religious revival. Its leaders were more than theologians. They were primarily preachers of the gospel and evangelists. Yet, most of them were Augustinians. The great Puritan preachers of the seventeenth century were all Calvinists. John Bunyan was a Calvinist. The greatest evangelist who ever lived, George Whitfield, the star of the eighteenth century Evangelical Awakening, was a Calvinist. The other men of the ‘Great Awakening’ era, excepting the Wesleys (whom Packer, nevertheless, calls ‘confused Calvinists’), were Calvinists. We think of the Welshman Howell Harris, the American Presbyterians, Williams and Gilbert Tennant, the great Jonathan Edwards, Daniel Rowlands, and many others. In the nineteenth century, the English Baptist, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and the saintly Scotsman, Robert Murray McCheyne, were Calvinists. Even in the twentieth century, admittedly not the most successful era for Biblical Calvinism, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and D. James Kennedy, author of the Evangelism Explosion, are both Calvinists.
As for missionaries, virtually to a man all of the founders of the modern missionary movement were Calvinists. One can begin with the father of modern missions, William Carey, and his fellow laborers among the Baptists. They were all Calvinists. The non-conformists, Robert Morrison, missionary to China, and Robert Moffat, missionary to Africa, were Calvinists. The leaders of the missions movement in the Church of England, Henry Venn, John Newton, Richard Cecil, and Thomas Scott, were all Calvinists. In Scotland, John Wilson, John Anderson, Alexander Duff, David Livingston, John G. Paton and the other pioneer missionaries were Calvinists. It is a remarkable thing, yet true. Rather than undermining evangelism and missions, Calvinism seems to promote it. Whitefield’s biographer, Dallimore, suggests that this was true of Whitfield for the very reasons we’re stating. He preached with confidence that God ‘is able to save the uttermost.’ He can change a human heart.
I have been ordained to the gospel ministry for over fifteen years now. There have been a number of people during those years about whom I have thought, ‘They’ll never be reached.’ Maybe you have been aware of such people in your own circle of ministry. You may have a gospel-hardened sibling or parent, child, or neighbor. You are tempted to think of them, ‘They’ll never be converted.’ You are tempted to give up on them.
Never give up. You may ask my wife: I never give up on people. Why? Not because I’m such a magnanimous person. I don’t give up because I believe in the sovereignty of God. God can save anyone. Jonathan Edwards once wrote a Narrative of Surprising Conversions. We’ve seen some surprises. We continue to witness, from the pulpit and the pew, week-in and week-out to hard hearts and hard heads because, if they are to be saved, it is the gospel which will do it.
Does Calvinism make a difference? Oh yes, it does. It forces us to depend upon God and not ourselves. It gives us confidence and hope in the task of gospel witness. And I am convinced that when revival comes, it will be these convictions which will lead the way.
End of post.
When Grace Comes Home – Witness – Part 2 of 3
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A dear sister in Christ sent my mom the book, “When Grace Comes Home” by Terry L. Johnson. My family just finished reading the book and we highly recommend it. It is God-centered, God honoring, Bible saturated, enriching and very edifying. You can purchase the book HERE.
2. Confidence in ordained means guards us from the temptation to use coercive methods. A significant amount of today’s mass evangelism leans on psychological ploys in order to produce decisions. A great deal of attention is paid to the mood that is set at these meetings. The environment must be ‘non-threatening’, warm, and upbeat. Attractive music and attractive people are paraded to the microphones to help establish the proper setting for the message. Following the message, a decision is called for, and then encouraged by a mass movement of people forward, often inaugurated , by ‘counselors’. This herd movement is crucial in turning the will of the unconverted. Multiple stanzas of soft music such as ‘Just As I Am,’ are played, extending the time given to respond and the psychological pressure.
The problem freely admitted by those who are engaged in this kind of meeting (and the many, many churches that mimic this style in their weekly services) is that many of those who ‘decide for Christ’ soon fall away. The percentage that become true disciples of Christ is very, very low. Our explanation for the fallout rate is that many of the conversions are psychological only, responses to the various non-spiritual pressures being applied; i.e., the emotional (music), the social (the herd), and, depending on what message is given, the carnal (desire for ‘fire insurance’, solving of personal problems, etc.). The antidote is unadorned gospel preaching. The gospel itself, apart from its wrappings, is the ‘power of God unto salvation’ (Rom. 1:16). The Holy Spirit must persuade the heart and turn the will if a person is to be truly converted. Everything else is a counterfeit.
(Continued on next post…)
End of post.
When Grace Comes Home – Witness – Part 1 of 3
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A dear sister in Christ sent my mom the book, “When Grace Comes Home” by Terry L. Johnson. My family just finished reading the book and we highly recommend it. It is God-centered, God honoring, Bible saturated, enriching and very edifying. You can purchase the book HERE.
My next few posts are excerpts from the chapter “Witness”.
…..First, the doctrines of grace teach dependence upon God. What are we saying about a sinner? We are saying that he cannot convert himself, and we cannot convert him. The making of a Christian does not lie in the natural ability of the preacher or the listener. God must convert him. Because men are dead in sin and lovers of darkness, it takes a miracle to make a Christian, a miracle that only God can do. For us to be ‘successful’ in ministry, we must depend upon God to change hearts. If our theology said a little less than this, for example, that man is only sick and not dead, then we might not have to depend upon on God so much. We can give medicine to the sick. But we emphatically cannot raise the dead. We could persuade those who have the ability to repent and believe to turn to Christ. But we cannot argue a corpse out of its grave.
Okay, then how do we get God to do it? Answer: Through the ordained means. Preach the gospel, live the gospel, and pray. We could say more, especially about worship and the sacraments, but this is an adequate summary for now. If we will concentrate on these things, we will have a much greater likelihood of seeing a significant work of God than we would otherwise. Why? Because these are the means He has given to grow His church. Thus, this may be the crucial conviction for truly successful evangelism, and here’s why…..
1. Confidence in ordained means will guard us from distraction. Nearly every day I get in my mail an announcement of some new technique, some new program, some new method of growing the church. There are seminars galore. What do they teach? They teach you to work on a number of ‘common sense’ items which help your ministry. Work on appearances, they say. Be sure that your facilities are clean and neat. Work on organization. Borrow from methods of Wall Street and big business. Work on image. Let Madison Avenue ensure that you project the right image to the world. Work on your program. Have something for everyone, young and old, married and single, divorced and remarried, athletic and handicapped. Enormous energy is now being expended by the churches in these areas. This is how we can grow the church, it is thought.
Nothing is inherently wrong with any of this. The problem with it is that it is a tremendous distraction. If all the energy, thought, and time that is being put into these things (demographic surveys and all) were being put into proclamation and prayer, there is no doubt that the church would be ahead. It is scandalous when these external things are the focus in churches which give almost no time to prayer, and little time to preaching. These other activities are not irrelevant, but they come close to being irrelevant when measured by the gospel itself. It is the gospel which is the power of God. The ‘style’ of a church can be comically poor and God can still bless it. The Apostle Paul said of his preaching,
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God…And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (1 Cor. 2:1, 3, 4, 5).
He was content with weak methodology because its very weakness provided the black backdrop for the gospel diamond to sparkle more clearly. God’s power is ‘perfected in weakness’ (2 Cor. 12:9). When we are weak we are strong, because our work is more convincingly supernatural when human strength is absent. The faith of the Corinthians might have rested on ‘the wisdom of men,’ had the Apostle Paul preached with stylistic finesse. Because he didn’t, they saw not a clever man but a ‘demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’ When we concentrate on the simple, basic means and don’t worry about the glitter, people can’t say, ‘They were successful because of such and such a program or technique.’ They will, instead, conclude that God must be in it, and they will truly believe because their faith will not ‘rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.’ His message?
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).
‘Christ crucified’ is the message that manifests the power of God. Because God is sovereign we should concentrate on proclaiming it and praying the power of God into it. God, in a moment of revival power, can do more than all our organizing and programming efforts can accomplish in a lifetime. Revivals are born in prayer meetings, not board rooms. This conviction will keep us focused and on track.
(Continued on next post…)
End of post.
For the Second Sunday in Advent
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O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.
For there, O Lord, doth lie the Word
Made flesh for us; herein Thy grace forthshineth.
He Whom the sea and wind obey
Doth come to serve the sinner in great meekness.
Thou, God’s own Son, with us art one,
Dost join us and our children in our weakness.
Thy light and grace our guilt efface,
Thy heavenly riches all our loss retrieving.
Immanuel, Thy birth doth quell
The power of hell and Satan’s bold deceiving.
Thou Christian heart, whoe’er thou art,
Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move thee!
For God’s own Child, in mercy mild,
Joins thee to Him—how greatly God must love thee!
Remember thou what glory now
The Lord prepared thee for all earthly sadness.
The angel host can never boast
Of greater glory, greater bliss or gladness.
The world may hold her wealth and gold;
But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true Treasure.
To Him hold fast until at last
A crown be thine and honor in full measure.
–Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676
Focus on the Family Praises “Twilight” Vampire Love Movie
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Somebody wake me up and tell me this is a bad dream. Caryl Matrisciana, a long time occult researcher and movie producer, reports that Focus on the Family’s Plugged In Online website has some advice for Christians about the Twilight vampire movie phenomenon. Caryl writes:
The Christian organization, Focus on the Family’s “Plugged In Online,” website has this very positive thing to say to Christians desiring to see a movie about a vampire, a teenage girl, and their lust for one another. “Family is a big part of what nurtures Twilight’s love. Edward’s coven—family—of vampires is a loving one. Each member is committed to protecting the others, even Bella when she becomes part of them through her relationship with Edward.”
So vampires are OK as long as their in a loving coven, er, family? Paging Mr. Dobson: Time to focus on the Word of God instead of trying to find a pro-family theme in a vampire movie with occult content. Don’t whine about losing the “culture”, anybody. Christians have bent over backwards to become the culture and now are indistinguishable from it.
Here is Caryl’s full report on the movie.
“Through,” Not Engulfed
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“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isaiah 43:2)
Bridge there is none: we must go through the waters and feel the rush of the rivers. The presence of God in the flood is better than a ferryboat. Tried we must be, but triumphant we shall be; for Jehovah Himself, who is mightier than many waters, shall be with us. Whenever else He may be away from His people, the Lord will surely be with them in difficulties and dangers. The sorrows of life may rise to an extraordinary height, but the Lord is equal to every occasion.
The enemies of God can put in our way dangers of their own making, namely, persecutions and cruel mockings, which are like a burning, fiery furnace. What then? We shall walk through the fires. God being with us, we shall not be burned; nay, not even the smell of fire shall remain upon us.
Oh, the wonderful security of the heaven-born and heaven-bound pilgrim! Floods cannot drown him, nor fires burn him. Thy presence, O Lord, is the protection of Thy saints from the varied perils of the road. Behold, in faith I commit myself unto Thee, and my spirit enters into rest.
C.H. Spurgeon
Washer on “God Loves You and Has a Wonderful Plan For Your Life!”
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The Mark of the Wounds
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“Don’t talk of things of religion and matters of experience with an air of lightness and laughter, which is too much the manner in many places. In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the [...]
