Gospel Living

John MacArthur on Modern Prophets http://www.gty.org/Blog/B130903 Does the office of prophet still exist today? To the hordes of modern, self-appointed spokesmen for God, the answer to that question is a no-brainer. The office of prophet is alive and well in many charismatic churches today—it comes with a detailed job description and is taken with the utmost seriousness. Without a doubt, the enormous influence these "prophets" wield cannot be easily ignored. But does that influence legitimize the office of prophet in twenty-first century churches? In the following audio clip, John MacArthur sheds some much-needed biblical light on that subject. "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1--2 ESV). It's no accident that the word "spoken" is in the past tense. God has conclusively spoken to His people through the testimony of His So...

R.C. Sproul on The Montanists and the Nature of Special Revelation http://www.gty.org/Blog/B130611 The charismatic movement is a recent development in the history of the church, but its distinguishing belief is not. The idea of modern prophets who receive special revelation from God is nothing new. In the following video, R. C. Sproul discusses the Montanist movement of the second century. As he explains who the Montanists were and what they believed, consider the parallels between that movement and twenty-first-century charismatic theology. New revelation is old news. And whether intentional or not, it always amounts to an assault on the sufficiency of Scripture. The early church fathers properly brought biblical truth to bear on the errors of the Montanists in their day. In the same way, the Strange Fire conference is a necessary biblical response to the many errors that plague the modern charismatic movement. For more information about Strange Fire, please visit our...

( Part 1 | Part 2 ) The first two posts of this series form an important foundation: we must rely on the truth the Holy Spirit revealed to us through His Word, lest we grow arrogant and embrace bold deception in the name of God.  If we lean on our own understanding of how God operates, we will fall.  If we grow unsatisfied with the Bible and seek words and visions, we invite spiritual destruction. Indeed, the light of Proverbs 30:6 dispels our confusion:     Do not add to his words,         lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. In total, we said we must avoid Bethel because it is spiritually dangerous, and we said there are two reasons for that.  The first reason we examined in length last week, that it promotes false doctrine , and we looked at the heretical teachings streaming from the pulpit to computers and MP3 players near you.  If you have not read at least that post, please do so now, beca...

( Part 1 | Part 3 ) In the previous post , I argued that doctrine is not only unavoidable, the Holy Spirit wants us to grow in our knowledge of biblical doctrine.   Even so, I understand the many Christians who, burned by those intellectuals whose convictions were buried in seminary, believe avoiding deep theological study is the best salve for the injured soul.  They believe that you can feed only your intellect or your spirit, seeking a moving experience that is not necessarily meaningful, and missing the fact that God created both in union. As such, some of today's most popular teachers and preachers proceed with that foundation; books and sermons promising bigger and better experiences create many celebrity pastors.  However, upon this foundation a house of theology must reside, inside which a Christians find a spiritually environment that is not up to biblical code.  We will see this with our case in point --- Bill Johnson --- as we exami...

( Part 2 | Part 3 ) Doctrine and theology: sour words in the ears of many today, and with good reason.  Knowledge can puff up (1 Cor 8:1), inflating otherwise well-meaning Christians with hot air.  You probably even know someone seemingly more concerned with crossing the "t" in theology than showing the love of the cross.  Yet, God designed our hearts and minds to grow in doctrine ( instruction or teaching ), and we can't go far in our Christian walk without it.  Consider Jesus, who employed sound doctrine when His proper understanding and application of God's Word defeated Satan's temptation (Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-13).  He also chastised the poor doctrine or teaching of the leaders of Israel, saying, "Have you not read" (Mt 12:3, 5, 19:4, 22:31; Mk 12:10, 26; Lk 6:3).  He equated knowing Scripture to knowing the power of God (Mt 22:29).  His Great Commission includes the directive to make disciples and to teach them (Mt 28:18-19).  As...

I'm ashamed to say it, but one of my first thoughts with the unveiling of the new pope was, "Hey, wasn't he supposed to be black?"  And don't believe that to be such a strange thought. Prepare yourself for the prophecies popularized by the 2012 Thomas Horn and Cris Putnamthe book, Petrus Romanus: The Final Pope Is Here .   In it, they explore the alleged prophecies of St. Malachy, a 12th-century Catholic bishop with a decent prediction rate concerning the 112 popes who would follow.  Because Francis I represents the final pope of Malachy's prophecies, we should therefore expect the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church and the ascension of the Antichrist. In short, the book is psuedo-prophecies aimed at psuedo-spiritual, and Dave James at Herescope captures the reality of this book .  While we can conjecture as to whether events are aligning to a biblically-prophetic scenario, it is but an educated guess, as only the Lord knows the day and the hour.  T...

To the skeptic, we proclaim a message that can evidence its own claims through predicative prophecy.  To the Jew, we uphold the Messiah, the one foretold by the prophets of old. Dr. Steve Lawson explains in this brief video: HT: Reformation Theology

ommunication is a two-way street. This includes prayer, says Dallas Willard in his book, Hearing God , the free audio book of the month at ChristianAudio . If we want to feel close to God, then we should be willing to listen for His voice when we pray—and no, he doesn't just mean that Scripture verse that came to mind last night. Christians leaders throughout Evangelicalism are teaching the idea that God actively delivers new knowledge to believers. This naturally stirs confusion in the hearts of many Christians— Will God also speak to me? How will I know if He does? If I don’t hear a clear voice, does that mean that there is something wrong with my faith?   Compounding the issue is the fact that when Christians claim that God told them something, they are essentially claiming to have a prophecy. While we won’t take up space with a full examination of all biblical prophecy here, let’s consider how Christians with the gift of prophecy operated in the NT to see i...

HT to Veritas for compiling this list of informative posts by Dr. Michael Vlach: Introduction to the Issue Seven Approaches to How the NT Uses the OT Resources for Studying NT Use of the OT Contextual Use of the OT by the NT Writers Categories of NT Usage of the OT Literal Prophetic Fulfillment Literal Prophetic Fulfillment (2) Literal Application of Timeless Moral or Theological Point Literal Restatement of an OT Passage with Intensification or Alteration Affirmation of an Old Testament Prophetic Text Whose Fulfillment Is Still Future Some Observations Concerning Matthew’s Purposes in Matt 1–2 Matt 1:22-23 and Divine Correspondence between Israel and Jesus Matt 2:15/Hos 11:1 and Divine Correspondence between Israel and Jesus Matt 2:17-18/Jer 31:15 and Divine Correspondence between Israel and Jesus Matt 2:23 and Summation of an OT Truth or Principle Acts 2:25-28/Psalm 16:8-11 and the Resurrection of the Christ Acts 2:33-35/Psalm 110:1 and Literal Prophetic Fulfillmen...