Gospel Living

The Christian missionaries arrested in Michigan based on false charges faced their pretrial yesterday. The judge wants more evidence. You can read Nabeel's post here and the story run by The Detroit News here .

A slogan thrown around in churches today that want to exalt their passion for God is "a church without walls."  Churches sporting this might want to emphasis evangelism or even an ecumenical spirit, or perhaps both. I hate what cultural fundamentalism  has done to American churches.  It likes being divisive.  It likes being offensive.  In doing so, it creates unbiblical boundaries that should be ripped down by those who love God more than their subculture and tradition. Yet, we can easily forget that division is sometimes helpful (1 Cor 11:19).  We are commanded to avoid being unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14).  There is even a joke that Matthew 10:34-39 should be inside a Christmas card with the word "Peace" on the front flap. Walls erect themselves as we commit ourselves to God's Word.  We shouldn't like it, but the answer is to persuade those on the other side of the wall, not to tear down a wall that exists for the sak...

The more I learn about LDS teaching, the more I am struck with the similarities between it and Rome.  No, I am not implying that they are linked either sequentially or causally, except possibly at that Ecclesiastes 1:9 juncture. As I've been reflecting on my  déjà vu  while probing LDS beliefs, I thought about cataloging what I am seeing and posting it here. That is, until I was reading through older items in my RSS reader and found someone who had already done exactly that. I wish I had come across it sooner.   Fourpointer  at DefCon did an excellent job documenting his evidence, so I am going to just give you the quick bullet-points here and ask you to head over there for more info or to comment. Part One : They both teach that after you die, someone else can come along and perform rituals that will help improve the state you are in. Catholicism has indulgences. Mormonism has baptism for the dead. They both have one man whom they claim to be...

This was still the transition stage of the church, and we had issues with our recording equipment. For your Sunday reflection this week is a message that reviews two parts that, unfortunately, you won't get a chance to hear: We've Been Expecting You: Part I - Message 7,8 & 9 Recap of 3 Sermons Bible: Genesis 5; Luke 3:21-38 Lake Hills Community Church was almost like a church plant. We had so many things to get right. One of the most important were faithful--and talented--people whom God raised up to work on our sound system. We had SO many problems to begin with and lost seven sermons. Some we recorded again and lost those. If you stay with the series, you will definitely see an improvement in the sound. We combine three sermons we lost with the topic being the good news of being made in the image and likeness of God, but now also of fallen Adam, with its horrendous consequences "and he died." The first son of God (Adam) failed; the second Son of God ...

I bet you didn't know about this detail of Sir Ian McKellen's childhood: A bit more background: the video was originally posted by hunterdavis , who has many more Sir Ian impressions. I posted the video above, however, because I think its better with the LOTR soundtrack in the background.

Check it. Pilgrim's Progress, part 1 Play Audio! Download Audio   Pilgrim's Progress, part 2 Play Audio! Download Audio   Pilgrim's Progress, part 3 Play Audio! Download Audio (HT: Sermon Gems )

Here is a brief informational cartoon on LDS doctrine.  My cautions before you watch are this: it is not "pro" Mormon in tone, and it looks to be circa 1970's "Super Friends" style, so... some "official" teachings have adjusted since then.  Nonetheless, this will be helpful for those who want the bird's-eye view. Here is the data the poster of this video provided. (I have not yet verified each source, but feel free to post your comments below.) Mormons have been complaining that these are not taught by their religion, but a source of this video provided references to mormon literature for every claim made int he vid: 0:20 - 0:45 King Follett Discourse (History of the Church Vol 6 pg 302-317) 0:54 - 1:00 abraham 3 1:03 - 2:20 Gospel Principles Ch2-3 2:20 - 2:35 Official Statment by 1st presidency 08/17/49 and 08/17/51 and Joseph Fielding Smith in Doctrines of Salvation 1:65-66 2nd Nephi 5:21 2:38 - Gospel Princ Manual Ch3 ...

For your Sunday reflection: We've Been Expecting You: Part I - Message 6 The Two Offerings Bible: Genesis 4; 1 John 3:1-12 Two sacrifices to God were made in the same chapter by two brothers, Cain and Abel. God alone determines what He will and will not accept. Cain brought the best he had; Abel brought what God required. This is one of the earliest examples of "religious substitution" replacing God's Word with man's design. God did not accept it then or now.

A couple of people contacted me, completely unaware of who the chap was in this video . Well, "Witness Unto Me" posted some more information that makes his "misstatements:" United States Marines duped by pretend jihadist, Ergun Caner . What would Slimjim say if he found out about this?

For more information visit: http://www.themysteriousislandsmovie.com

I noticed that James White pointed out another video that exposes one gentleman's false report to police.  Here is that video: What made me perk up was that the man in this video, Roger Williams, claims to be a Christian missionary from Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL, the church to which, in human terms, I owe my salvation.  The "Witness Unto Me" blog interviewed Williams , where he claimed the above video twisted his side of the story (?!?).  He also claimed in that interview that TBC does evangelism quite differently, a claim which I refuted in the meta.  (As a side note: TBC has changed its image over the past few years, so I am not completely discounting the possibility that they have changed their evangelistic methods.) I would be willing to accept that this guy was so incensed due to his supposed doctrinal disagreement with Acts 17 that he would blurt out that You-need-to-worry-about-me-messing-with-you comment and then, realizing ...

But not in the good way. I've only caught snippets of Mr. Beck since he began on Fox News.  I don't want to be mean, but he reminded me too much of Alex Jones or something over at InfoWars to keep my interest for more than a few minutes.  I'm not saying that Beck is at the level of a 9-11 Truther, but there is that tinge of conspiracy in his airwaves. Well, the other night I had Fox running in the background while I was doing some work on a paper, and I had to stop and listen at the start of Beck's program. The history we never learned in school.  Hmm... all right, sounds interesting.  I know first-hand how much schools are skimping on the history classes, and I always enjoy a good story. The history we never learned about Native Americans. Oh. No. I was watching the 11:00 rerun of that day's show, so I hopped onto Google to see what people had written so far about the claims I was hearing.  Nothing much was up yet, but I tried the search again wit...

Bet you never imagined this was going on while you watched those old Star Trek episodes:

From the Grace Gems email yesterday: We really need very little ( James Smith , "The Way to Be Wealthy and Happy!" 1859) "The lions may grow weak and hungry--but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing ." Psalm 34:10 Those who seek the Lord may be sick, or poor, or tried, in a variety of ways; but the Lord will send them supplies , OR give them the grace of contentment , so that they shall not lack any good thing. But how many mistake wishes for needs ! And while the Lord has promised to supply all His people's needs --He has nowhere promised to gratify all their wishes . We really need very little --therefore the apostle says, "If we have food and clothing --we will be content with that!" 1 Timothy 6:8. And again, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5 " They shall not lack any good thing ." That...

For your Sunday reflection: We've Been Expecting You: Part I - Message 5 God Breathed Dust Balls Bible: Genesis 1-3; 2 Timothy 3:17 When the Bible teaches all Scripture is inspired by God, it uses a term that means literally in the Greek "God-breathed." The other significant use of this is with Adam (Gen. 2:7). Thus, both God's word and God's creation of humanity became eternal. If you are heading for heaven, this is glorious news. Sadly, for those who are headed for hell, this is terrible news unless the solution of salvation through Jesus is received.

The title says it all! Enjoy: Now I can finally say I've done it, too.

This might seem obvious. Yet, the missionaries have told me that the evidence for their case is whether I get a spiritual impression from God that what they say is true.  Now, I agree that no one can come to a personal, saving knowledge of God's truth apart from God's intervention.  However, I disagree that their case rests there. LDS Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith wrote, Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground. (Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, p. 188) So great is Joseph Smith that an LDS song dedicated to him is entitled, “ Praise to the Man .” Personally, I would feel funny about singing a hymn about anyone other than Jesus Christ, and the fact that the song encourages participants to “ hail to the prophet ” who now “ can plan for his brethren ” parallel...

You might remember the arrest of Christians who were witnessing at an Arab festival in Dearborn .  This was the same group harassed  at the 2009 festival . Well, the video cameras were returned, and those at Acts 17 Ministries do not seem to have deserved the treatment they received from police.  You be the judge. Video info: http://www.AnsweringMuslims.com/ Chief of Police: 313-943-2235 Mayor's Office: 313-943-2300 Mayor's Email: mayor@ci.dearborn.mi.us Dearborn Police arrest a young Christian girl for holding a camera and telling them to stop touching her. Her trial for "Disturbing the Peace" and "Failure to Obey a Police Order" is set for September 20th. Pre-trial is August 30th. HT to James White .  From his blog: We finally have video of the arrest of David Wood and Nabeel Qureshi in Dearborn. I am truly incensed. I am incensed, of course, at the grossly unconstitutional actions of the Dearborn PD (and the clearly politically based cove...

As a preface, please see Saturday's post . We don't hate the Mormon people, nor do we want to be contentious.  However, in our pursuit of truth, we have to prayerfully sort out the evidence. This video is over an hour long, but it seems to be a very well-done documentary of the differences between the historicity and data of the Bible and that of the Book of Mormon.  It is adversarial to the claims of the LDS church, of course, but I don't believe it comes across as offensive. Also, it is not only a good for raising questions concerning LDS claims, but it is a great video to build your confidence in the Bible.

For your Sunday reflection: We've Been Expecting You: Part I - Message 4 A Lamb/The Lamb/Your Lamb Bible: Genesis 2-3; Exodus 12 Our series is about Jesus in the Old Testament. God used the temporary coverings of an innocent animal to clothe the newly sinful Adam and Eve. He did so later at the First Passover as Exodus 12 shows the progression of how the lamb was viewed; it would have been a sad sacrifice. The same was true for the true Lamb of God. This led to the Lord's Table where the connection to Jesus is obvious--as God intended.

In a recent sitdown with some Mormon missionaries, I was asked to read Moroni 10 from the Book of Mormon. In verses 3-5, it says: Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. They asked me what that meant to me.  So, to answer, I used the example of the Christian Bible. I said that man, made in God's image, has reason and recogni...

PC just got an upgrade. I don't know what the ultimate message is... that Windows 7 is awesome enough to give Apple a cybernetic tail-kicking, or that Microsoft Corporation is the force behind Skynet.

One of the great things about witnessing to your Mormon neighbors and friends is that it challenges you to consider the "nuts and bolts" of the true Gospel... especially considering that Joseph Smith claimed to be restoring the full gospel to the world. Primarily, it will make you consider your view of faith and works in salvation . There are other things to consider, of course. But I've heard of the joyous conversions of professing Christians who, upon sharing the Gospel with LDS members, realize that they themselves have not understood the Gospel!  They realize that there is no substantive difference between their view and the Mormon view , and suddenly they can see where the Word of God cuts a dividing line between man's religion and Christ's glorious Gospel. If you are a youth pastor or church leader reading this, that alone is cause to consider taking a team of young people from your church on a missions trip. < sale >  (If you've read som...

A late post on this one: We've Been Expecting You: Part I - Message 3 Sin Kills -- It Always Kills · 2 of 2 Bible: Genesis 3; Romans 8 We continue our series "We've Been Expecting You" Part I as we walk through the OT up to Christmas. We have seen God's plan of salvation began before the world began. So God was not surprised by Adam's transgression and already had His means of salvation gradually unfolding. The "You" we have been expecting is the birth of the Head Crusher who will eventually be born in the fulness of time.