How to Choose a Good Church

When I was saved in 2017, after reading all the way through the New Testament for the first time ever in my life, the Holy Spirit convicted me about what kind of church I should be attending. I was not a Born Again Christian until the age of 42 and had been attending church for most of my life. When I married my husband, who was a Christian, I started attending church every Sunday with him, unless I had to work. I never heard the Gospel in any of the churches I attended. Not only did I not hear the Gospel, but the churches I attended were, what we would consider today WOKE. Meaning that they preach more about social causes and unity rather than the Gospel. They have women pastors, deacons, and elders. They worship, worship music, in other words the music portion of the service is longer than the preaching of God’s Word. And I grew up in the Catholic cult, which has MANY heretical teachings of it’s own. They claim to be the true church, even though they do not follow the God of the Holy Bible. So how does one choose a good church? And why are you staying in the church you are in? These are two questions I will attempt to answer in this post. I pray it will be convicting to you.

Let’s address the second question first, why you are attending your church? There are many reasons why people stay in bad churches or put up with bad doctrine and the Bible does address this!

Reason #1– 2 Timothy 4:3-4, says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

It is very true that people do not want sound doctrine, they just can’t tolerate it. They don’t even want to read the King James Bible because it’s either to difficult to read or they don’t want to take the time to study it, even though it’s the only Bible in English that is an accurate word for word translation. Or other’s will dismiss certain doctrines because they don’t like what it says, and make excuses by saying that doctrine was for that time period. In many cases they would rather go along with the cultural whims then the Biblical doctrines. They pile up books, watch TV programs, or attend churches that teach easy to hear doctrine, cotton candy, myths, and fables.

Not only do these people choose not to go to a doctrinally sound church, they will attack you for doing what the Bible says. They will call you a Bible bully, they will say you are from Satan, they will call you judgmental and divisive. You will get called a pharisee, unloving, or recently for me a liberal. Instead of searching the scriptures, they are offended and will attack you. They never think that maybe God is making their conscience feel guilty.

 

 

Reason #2– 2 Timothy 3:1-2, says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, and unholy. We are certainly living in the last days. And this could very easily be reason, number one in fact, and ties into reason number one. Men are lovers of themselves! They are proud and covetous. People attend churches for their own selfish desires and preferences. They boast about how great they are and that they just need to be themselves (this is code for…I can sin when ever I want). They are defiantly covetous! They not only attend churches that tickle their ears, they want to know what they can get from church for themselves, it’s all about me, myself, and I. Whether it’s the coffee bar, some “fun” kids, program, or mind numbing music with rock and roll or rap style type music, it’s all about their wants and desires. They preferer to go to a church that looks like a night club, they don’t want to look different then the world! They don’t listen to their parents who they think are just old and outdated and have no idea what they are talking about. They are not thankful that their parents love them enough to give them boundaries and guidance, they blame them for their problems instead of looking at their own rebellion against God. They do not want to be holy as God is holy. They don’t want to be separate from the world. They blasphemy God in word and in deed. Their number one person in their lives is THEMSELVES, and their PRIDE!

Reason #3-Matthew 16:24 &26, Jesus said to his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? People do not want to take up their cross in the biblical sense. Many people actually use this verse out of context, but this means to deny your own wants and desires to completely do the will of God, no matter what it may cost you. In Matthew 10, Jesus is speaking about persecution to His disciples, warning them and us of what is to come. He told them they will be hated. In Matthew 10:21, it says, “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. These verses remind us of taking up our cross and following our Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost! People do not want to do this, they would rather be liked and loved by the world then by God. Many people will not leave a church because their family and friends are there. They don’t want them to be angry. They don’t want to say anything to the pastor about his heretical teaching, why? Self love….if we are honest. Sometimes we will say, “Well, I don’t want to cause division in the church.” Ok? But if you are addressing the false teacher or the heretical doctrine you are not causing division, they are! Your job is to say something in love and gentleness. Expose the false doctrine and the sin it brings. Then you are to mark and avoid this pastor and warn others! Call out false teachers by name like Jesus did! Take God and His Word, seriously, this is eternity at stake! But unfortunately people don’t want to do this. Yes it’s uncomfortable, but we still have to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you attend a doctrinally sound church you may be convicted and people don’t want conviction, they want fellowship, peace, and unity at all costs even though this goes completely against God’s Word! In fact it is of Satan, for even he disguises himself as an angle of light.

Reason #4 is stated in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 says, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.

This verse is talking about the tribulation and the anti-Christ, but before he comes there is a falling away. I think we see this more and more everyday. It’s been happening for 2000 years, but it has grown exponentially, even in the past 4 years! There is so much apostasy, false teaching, and bad doctrine one can hardly keep up with it. But, if you take God’s Word literally, you will know that this is to be expected.

HOW TO CHOOSE A CHURCH

Now that we know why people do not go to good churches…How do we decide on a biblical church to attend?

#1 The correct and complete Gospel is shared, and you MUST believe that Jesus is God. John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.

John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

John 20:28 Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God, speaking of Jesus. There are many more verses that show the deity of Jesus, but here are a few.

You must believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and conceived of the Holy Spirit. In Luke chapter one the Bible says that the angel Gabriel went to a virgin named Mary. In verse 31 he said she shall conceive in her womb, a son, and his name will be JESUS. In John chapter 1:13, it says Jesus was born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. In Matthew chapter 1:20, it says, “The angel of the Lord came to Joseph and appeared to him in a dream and said, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”

And this bring me to the next belief your church MUST have about Jesus. In Matthew 1:21, the Bible says, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sin.” You must believe that Jesus is God and he died for your sin. John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father but by me.” You must believe that you are only saved by Jesus. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Jesus is the only way to be saved. Understanding the Gospel is the difference between Heaven and Hell for all eternity! If you do not have the right Gospel you have a damnable Gospel. In the book of Galatians the apostle Paul makes this point very plainly by saying, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed!!! Then he goes on to say this point again. Galatians 1:6-9. These wicked men that preach another gospel will have to answer to God some day for lying and spreading a false gospel. In Matthew 10:14-16, Jesus is talking to his disciples and telling them about the wolves in sheep’s clothing and how they will not hear your words, and not to worry about it. Jesus said it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then for these brood of vipers, false teachers, and Satan worshipers. These are men that are deceitful and will be judged by God more harshly, for spreading falsehoods.

Finally you must believe in your heart that Jesus rose from the grave on the third day conquering sin and death! Romans 10:9, says, “That if thou shalt confess with they mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, then thou shalt be saved. You MUST believe this. If you do not then our faith is in vain and death still has a sting. 1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching in vain, and your faith is also vain.

#2 Eschatology is the study of end time events and prophesy. This is also a very important doctrine. While this does not effect Salvation it can lead to a different gospel, so I say this with caution. For example if you are a Post Millennialist believes Christ will return after a period of time and there will not be an actual 1000 year reign of Christ. Many Christians that do not have a biblical view of proper eschatology are usually Calvinist or Charismatic. The danger is that some Christians are always worried about the mark of the Beast. If you take this mark you are not a Christian and will be in Hell. In Revelation 14:9-10 it says who ever takes the mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. John MacArthur, a Calvinist, said that if a Christian takes the Mark of the Beast they will still be in Heaven. It’s simply not true, and this is a different Gospel, people who are doing this are worshiping the Anti-Christ and rejecting Jesus. Or if you are part of the New Apostolic Reformation, you believe you must work to bring Jesus back. This could lead to a different gospel of works. I am not going to get into to much on this post about these false movements.

So here is the proper eschatology according to the Bible.

#3 Your church must be dispensational. There are different types of dispensational doctrines and you can study this out, but some Christians do not believe in dispensations. Dispensation just means different ways God had worked or administered through out time. It’s very clear that God is working in different ways from the Old Testament to the New Testament. For example, Jesus is the payment for sin in this dispensation we are living in right now. In the Old Testament there had to be animal sacrifices. Same God different dispensations, different ways of atoning for sin.

#4 Your church must NOT adhere to Replacement Theology!!! Replacement theology is the belief that Christians have replaced Israel. Not true and unbiblical. In Genesis 12:2-3, God tells Abram that He will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great: and though shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. This is speaking of the nation of Israel and it has not changed. Israel is God’s chosen people that He uses to bring about His plans and purposes. The Bible says if you are not a Jew that you are a gentile. In Galatians 3:28, the Bible says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all on in Christ Jesus.” In this passage it is speaking of two groups of people. Jew or Greek (gentile), no where does it says that gentiles are replacing the Jewish people. In Romans the Apostle Paul writes in 11:1, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. In Romans 11:8 it says, (According as it is written, God hath given them the sprit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. We are living in the dispensation of the gentiles. God has allowed their eyes to be darkened so they can not see, Romans 11:10. This does not mean the church has replaced Israel. I know of Jewish people who are saved and have trusted Jesus as their Savior, but for the most part God is focusing on other nations. This was another consequence for the Jewish people’s unbelief. In Romans 11:20, God says, “Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.” In other words, Gentile, be not prideful because God is punishing Israel, who is the natural branch of the Olive Tree, but fear God, least you be not spared. God is not done with Israel yet, and will turn His focus back on them during the 7 year tribulation. If you go on to read Roman’s chapter 11 you will see that God plans on saving the Jewish nation when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

#5 Your church must believe in free will and that God came to save everyone, in other words your church must NOT hold to the TULIP doctrine. All of the doctrine of Calvinism and Tulip is heresy! Below is a link to Robert Cogdon Ministries, he does an excellent job explaining Calvinism and it’s problems according to the Bible.

#6 Your church must believe in the Rapture. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Luke 17:34-37, says, “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men (this means two people, not homosexuals) in one bed: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together: the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field: the one shall be taken, and the other left. Revelation 3:10, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Mark 13:32, But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 1 Corinthians 15:52, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Thessalonians 5:9, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, this wrath does not mean Hell but the Tribulation according to the context of the rest of the passage.

#7 Where did your pastor go to seminary? This can tell you a lot about how they are teaching their flock.

#8 Does your church practice church discipline? Matthew 18:15-18, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Titus 3:9-3:11 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth , being condemned of himself. 1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that ae without? do not ye judge them that are with in? But them that are with out God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. ! Corinthians 5 the entire chapter.

#9 If your church ignores Bible prophesy and eschatology. Avoid this church!

#10 If they do not expose evil or call our false teachers by name. Ephesians 5:11 And have not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 1 John 4:4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are got out into the world. Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them!

I pray that if you are a Christian you will study and apply these biblical principles to your life so you can grow in Christ and be of like mind with Him. God wants you to grow in wisdom and in knowledge of him so you will not go apostate. Hebrews 5:11-14 states, “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God: and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age , even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. James 1:22, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

The Dumbest Generation?

I saw a post the other day on Facebook that said, “This is the dumbest generation that has ever existed.” And I thought to myself that could be! But the Bible says there is nothing new under the sun, in Ecclesiastes 1:9. So is it true this is the dumbest generation?

In Isaiah 1:4, says, “They have all gone away backwards.” Why? In Isaiah 1:5 it says, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.”

The world might say we are making progress or that we are “progressive” or that we are “woke.”

The term progressive means making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities, moving forward or onward. While we certainly are making more and more technologies, this does not mean we are making our world a better place. In fact evidence is showing that people are going to be living less years on this planet as the years go by. And now that we have gone through Covid-19, they are making a prediction that because of Covid people will be living shorter lives. Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries? – Our World in Data

Progressive ideas in technology have their own consequences. Artificial Intelligence is becoming so advanced that the people who create it may not even be able to control it, in other words it will have a mind of its own. 13 Mind-Blowing Things Artificial Intelligence Can Already Do Today (forbes.com) In the book of Daniel chapter 12:4, talks about the last days here on this earth. It says, “even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Many people are trying to be their own God and are trying to live forever. It is true people are traveling every where and knowledge keeps increasing much to our determent. Just like the Tower of Babel, when people where trying to reach God and be like God, people are still doing this today. Just like in Genesis the people built the Tower of Babel as an act of rebellion against God. They tried with their own hands to create their own ark of Salvation, their own fortress. They wanted to be like God. And so is it today with Artificial Intelligence, people want to be like God and create their own ways and do their own thing. They want to create their own spouses, their own children in their image, their own intelligence or knowledge. They want to have their own religion.

Then you have the progressive ideology in the LGBT or what I like to call the alphabet crowd. Us Bible believers are relics who act like a bunch of Hillbillies with our Bibles and dogmas. As these people go around having all their sexual lust and imaginations of their hearts propagated in every corner of the world, they demand that people respect them and tolerate them. But really what they mean is you need to tell us that what we are doing is so brave and that its okay to be who we want. In the mean time behind all of this vibrato is suicide, depression, addiction, violence, diseases, and the family being destroyed. These people will never have children of their own. Now they are allowed to adopt other people’s children and teach them that God is okay with their abominations. This is just child abuse. These poor children leave an abusive situation to enter into another one. This is not progress.

Also along with this progressive religion is the transgender movement. Parents not identifying their children at birth as a boy or a girl, but allowing the child, who has no idea what the world is like to have a gender change, administering hormones that make them unable to grow properly and unable to have a family of their own when they are older. This is not progress.

Then there is “progress” on the Satanic movement going on, with all it’s New Age “enlightenment.” My husband and I have seen many more people walking around with the pentagram tattoos even around here in rural Ohio. This particular symbol above is a pagan symbol. Pentagrams are symbols of Satan worship, but this one in particular means they worship the earth. Romans 1:25 says, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more then the Creator.” In other worlds they worshiped God’s creation. They worship the things God has created including Satan, themselves, others, animals, and hand made idols. God made everything! It seams people would rather worship anything but God. People who worship this way are usually also evolutionalist. They believe we are evolving from animals, to humans, and recently humans to aliens. This is not progress! The Bible says in Romans 2:21-22, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Indeed!

Now people are so “smart” they want to erase history! How smart is that? Or they want to fight against being modest. I just read an article about an Olympic athlete who was upset because the judges said her too short “shorts” are inappropriate for public competition. They are too short! Or they don’t want to work, and the government keeps handing out money. God’s Word says if you don’t work you don’t eat. God has given us work to do and it’s a very good thing! None of this rebellion is progress.

I could go on and on but, to sum this up, let me make it plan, we are not making progress. We are digressing as a human race. Acting like animals and following after our own lustful desires. And its no wonder because they teach we are animals with the evolution theory. The world would rather fight then work. They would rather be anything then what created them to be. They are professing themselves to be wise, but they became fools, Romans1:22. And the judgment of God is on them, Romans 1:28, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Reprobate means to condemn strongly as unworthy, unacceptable, or evil. 2 : to refuse to accept : reject. Indeed, I can conclude we are living in a dumb and foolish generation and it’s only going to get worse before the Lord returns.

Be Careful Every Eye What You See

Psalm 101

A Psalm of David King of Israel

A perfect heart

Psalm 101:1 I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee O Lord, will I sing. God’s ways are perfect, just, and right. All of God’s Word is to be praised. God’s mercy and judgment are to be desired. God knows what is best and it’s something we should be thankful for.

Psalm 101:2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. The only wise and perfect way a person can live is by God’s Word. To fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. A person is foolish if they can not stand in wise counsel. Matthew 10:28 says, “And fear them not which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.

Psalm 101:3 I will set NO wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside: it shall not cleave to me.

I want to emphasis in this post of how important it is to God that we are to not set wick things before our eyes. Matthew Henry writes, “It is the character of a good man that he shuts his eye from seeing evil.” Isaiah 33:15-16 says, “and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure. Job 31:7 states, “If my heart walked after my eyes then let me sow and another reap.” Numbers 15:39, “Remember all the commandments after your own heart and your own eyes; after which ye use to go a whoring. Ecclesiastes 11:9 reminds us “Walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of their eyes: BUT know thou, that for all these things God will bring the into judgment. All of these scripture verses have an if and a then. If you shut your eyes from seeing evil you will be blessed. If you set wicked things before your eyes you will be cursed.

We know that during Bible times they did not have television, internet, or movie theatres, but this does not mean that people were not doing wicked things. Does it not boggle the mind how much people are drawn to wicked things? Even if they are not participating in it they still have the desire to watch. In the book of Esther, King Ahasuerus was putting on a feast for the princes and he wanted to entertain his guests. He asked his wife Queen Vashti to come and show or perform for them, because she was very beautiful, in order to entertain his guests. She refused, and of coarse because God is so good he used this evil desire to bring Ester on to the scene and she helped to save her people.

In Genesis Noah got drunk and passed out naked inside of his tent. Ham saw his father naked, instead of covering him up he went and told his brothers, as if to say, “come and look at old Dad, drunk and naked” and in my minds eye, he was mocking his father instead of preserving his father’s dignity. Ham’s older brothers upon finding out, went in BACKWARDS to cover up their naked father, so they would not set their eyes on wickedness and preserve the dignity of their father. And when Noah woke up, he knew what his son Ham did and he cursed Cannaan because of it. Of coarse this story points to Christ and the cross, but it also points to the wickedness of our hearts.

In Exodus we have the story of Aaron and the gold calf. Moses was up on the mountain with God, and when he did not come back right away, Aaron decided to make the people gods and set them before the people to worship, and this was when the gold calf was made. In Exodus 32:5 it says, “And when Aaron saw it, he built an alter before it (the gold calf) and made a proclamation that they were going to have a feast to the Lord. Noticed instead of getting rid of the golden calf he set this wicked “god” before his eyes and the eyes of the rest of the Israelites and they worshiped it, breaking the 2 Commandment about not making a graven image of the only God. I was speaking with a young lady one time and her family likes Buddha statues. I told her that this was a wicked thing to be doing, and her response was, “But I think they are beautiful.” Their family was setting false god’s before their eyes, and as long as Satan can get your eyes off the only true God, that’s all he wants. But people love to be religious and they will also do what is right in their own eyes.

In the New Testament during the time of Jesus there was actual play acting and entertainment. It was during this time we get the world hypocrite. A hypocrite was known as someone who wears a mask or pretends to be someone they are not. In Rome, the theater of Athens from the Greeks talks about plays being performed as early as 472 BC. Their was a playwriter named Aeschylus, one of his first plays was call ‘The Persians.’ This idea of play acting spread and became very popular. Many of the plays were used for political gain, or what I would call propaganda just like we have today.

Also in Rome, there was the Roman Coliseum to which gladiatorial games and animal fights would take place in the form of entertainment. During the time of the Incas and Aztecs there was human sacrifices for the sake of Sun worship, and this would be a public event. Needless to say watching this wickedness and setting it before our eyes is not something God finds honorable. He does not wish that anything like this would cleave itself to our hearts. Putting these things before our eyes desensitizes us to the seriousness of sin. And what we fill our minds with, will effect our hearts, and then our behaviors.

All of this to say, that God cares about what we see and hear. Why is it that just because it’s behind a screen, TV or in the form of theatre, we think that in our liberty we can entertain ourselves with sin? Would be go to a Satanic temple? Would we watch witches perform witchcraft in real life? How about go to a strip club? But yet we think that just because it’s on a screen or in the form of entertainment it’s okay?

Romans 1:28 says, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affections, implacable, unmerciful. Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Let’s take a look at these underlined part of this scripture.

• Without understanding in Greek means foolish, unintelligent, by implication wicked or foolish.
• But have pleasure in them in Greek means to think well of, in common, assent to, or to feel gratified with them.

Two final thoughts on this I would like to leave you with. Are we willing to be without understanding, foolish, or unintelligent? Are we not willing to pray to the Lord and ask Him for understanding about the things we decide to do? The Lord has always given me understanding if I am willing to humble myself before him. There is not excuse in today’s age just to do what ever is pleasing to our flesh we have the internet and can research everything. We should always take our due diligence in prayer, Bible reading, and research so that we understand what we are participating in. And are we not guilty of a sinning against God if we find pleasure in entertaining ourselves with wickedness? God not only finds it offensive that we DO these things, but that we HAVE pleasure in them that do them.

Christian Psychiatry and Pharmakeia

This topic is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I spent 20 years refuting Psychology and prescribed mood altering drugs in my field of work. Honestly, I have to say I am a little disappointed that people who profess the name Christian would find these two methods of helping people acceptable in the eyes of God. This post is going to address these two methods according to the Bible and why Christians should avoid this type of healing method at all costs.

Why is phycology a problem for the Christian? The Bible says in 2 Peter1:2-4, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The Bible also says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after their rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

The psychologizing of the church is not only becoming a big issue, but IS a big issue. By psychologizing I mean teaching, trusting, and promoting unscientific and unproven psychological opinions in areas where the Bible has already spoken. (PsycoHeresy, M. and D. Bobgan, p.8)

One has to wonder why the Bible is not sufficient in the Christian’s life? Why have we turned to humanist philosophies and practices? Are we trusting that God will keep His promises?

Usually, when this is asked, people will say that God made all these ideas, He made science, he made the mind. While this is true the Bible says we have free will and that God is good and perfect. The Bible also says that Satan is the prince or the “god” of this world. So yes God made the brain and it’s ability to think, but men have free will, and Satan is trying as hard as he can to get as many people to end up in the Lake of Fire with him, because he literally does not care about a single person on this earth. He wants to be like God and to be God, which will never happen. As it says in Colossians 2:8 man spoils a person through philosophy and vain DECEIT! Colossians was talking to the born again Christian. And if a person is not a Christian they are a slave of the Devil, and only have doctrines of demons. The Bible says that God is not the author of confusion, so even though we are fearfully and wonderfully made, you have the free will and choice to think or feel how you want. You choose to sin if you are abiding in man made philosophies and counsel, instead of abiding in Christ and His wisdom. It’s that simple. Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

Let’s look at Parmakeia.

Pharmakeia is the Greek word for the administering of drugs, poisoning, sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it, or the deceptions and seductions of idolatry. (Biblestudytools.com) In other words you are under the control of an evil spirit, which is idolatry and they seduce you. Needless to say that all drugs used in the medical field are a poison and can cause many problems for our bodies including our brains. But on this post I want to talk specifically about the problem with taking mood altering drugs such as Antidepressants, Anti-Anxiety Medications, Stimulants, Antipsychotics, and Mood Stabilizers. With out getting into all the technical terms of SSRIs, SNRIs, etc., what you need to know is that these drugs do effect your God given brain cell chemicals call neurotransmitters that are associated with all of the functioning of your body and how your feel. The diagnoses for any psychological matter is in the hands of so called experts and the opinions differ from person to person. One clinician may prescribe a drug for a “mental illness” and the other may not, because their definitions of the “mental illness differ I interpretation.

The other important factor you need to understand are the statements ALWAYS made about these drugs. Such as this one. “Confused by the choice in antidepressants? With persistence, you and your doctor should find one that works so that you can enjoy life more fully again.” There is always a push for a better and happier lifestyle, that is a false sense of hope. We live in a sinful world and we are never going to be completely happy all the time. And you could replace the antidepressant drugs with any of the psychotropic drugs mentioned in the statement above and have the same false promises. It’s safe to say that all advertisement is about getting you to think you need a particular product in order to have a better life, this is always the psychological game that is played, and their is a lot of money in it. They never show the people in the commercials suffering the side effects of these drugs. In fact Psychology and counseling are a big business and they are not scientifically proven to work. What they do is take a few testimonies of people who think they have benefited from these services, and they may have, but it’s not because of the psychologist, counselor, or drugs, it’s because of the client’s willingness to change.

Born again Christians who have to Holy Spirit inside of them should be transformed by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit living inside of them. If they are trusting in other manmade medications and counseling that is called idol worship and it needs to be repented off.

I will leave you with this thought, with the side effects of antidepressants. Many of these side effects are the same as other illicit drug use. Better known as witchcraft or pharmekeia. The question a Christian must ask themselves is whether they are participating in it out of ignorance or rebellion? Ignorance in not bliss.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): It increases the serotonin (a neurotransmitter) levels in the brain, which is known to control emotions.

Antidepressants: Relax the mind.

The Devastating Side Effects of Antidepressants arehigh blood pressure,insomnia,sexual side effects, weight gain,migraines, and suicide.

Proverbs 18:1-2 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself.

Don’t be like a fool.

Schizophrenia, Demonic Possession, or Sin?

It’s a very serious topic and one that I think the Bible clearly addresses and that the secular phycological counselors address. I have also worked with people that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and other “mental health disorders.” I am full convinced that their is NO SUCH THING as mental health disorders and that what the Bible says about mental health is true. We are going to take a look at the evidence the secular world gives pertaining to mental disorders, and what evidence God’s Word says about mental disorders. I’m going to address the difference between a disorder and an illness, and look at the real life experiences given in the Bible of people who experienced, what we would say today would be a disorder.

The definition of a disorder is to disturb the order of or to disturb the regular or normal functions. I do believe that their are many examples in the Bible that talk about demons and how they disturb an individual or disrupt the normal functions of a person. I also think that the Bible clearly gives examples of people who have disorder in their lives because of Sin. If a person had demonic oppression or possession, or sin in their lives, a logical consequence of their sin is to be disturbed or disordered. For example, people are diagnosed with PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I agree it “disorders” your life when you go through trauma, BUT it should never be solved with psychotropic drugs! Trauma happens in everyone’s life because we live in a fallen world. More about this on a different blog post.

The definition of an illness is an unhealthy condition of the body or mind. This is a real thing that happens to people that may or may not be caused by demonic activity or by sin. You may have trauma to your brain do to a violent impact from an accident you where in. Your brain would be bruised. Or maybe you had a bad reaction to medications, vaccines, chemicals, viruses, or other things that could cause your brain to be damaged . Some people’s brains deteriorate just do to the fact of getting old in age.

I am going to use schizophrenia in this post to examine whether or not this mental disorder, (not illness) is caused by demonic possession or by sin.

According to the Mayo Clinic

Schizophrenia involves a range of problems with thinking (cognition), behavior and emotions. Signs and symptoms may vary, but usually involve delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech, and reflect an impaired ability to function. Symptoms may include:

• Delusions. These are false beliefs that are not based in reality. For example, you think that you’re being harmed or harassed; certain gestures or comments are directed at you; you have exceptional ability or fame; another person is in love with you; or a major catastrophe is about to occur. Delusions occur in most people with schizophrenia.
• Hallucinations. These usually involve seeing or hearing things that don’t exist. Yet for the person with schizophrenia, they have the full force and impact of a normal experience. Hallucinations can be in any of the senses, but hearing voices is the most common hallucination.
• Disorganized thinking (speech). Disorganized thinking is inferred from disorganized speech. Effective communication can be impaired, and answers to questions may be partially or completely unrelated. Rarely, speech may include putting together meaningless words that can’t be understood, sometimes known as word salad.
• Extremely disorganized or abnormal motor behavior. This may show in a number of ways, from childlike silliness to unpredictable agitation. Behavior isn’t focused on a goal, so it’s hard to do tasks. Behavior can include resistance to instructions, inappropriate or bizarre posture, a complete lack of response, or useless and excessive movement.
• Negative symptoms. This refers to reduced or lack of ability to function normally. For example, the person may neglect personal hygiene or appear to lack emotion (doesn’t make eye contact, doesn’t change facial expressions or speaks in a monotone). Also, the person may lose interest in everyday activities, socially withdraw or lack the ability to experience pleasure.

Symptoms can vary in type and severity over time, with periods of worsening and remission of symptoms. Some symptoms may always be present.

In men, schizophrenia symptoms typically start in the early to mid-20s. In women, symptoms typically begin in the late 20s. It’s uncommon for children to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and rare for those older than age 45.

Symptoms in teenagers

Schizophrenia symptoms in teenagers are similar to those in adults, but the condition may be more difficult to recognize. This may be in part because some of the early symptoms of schizophrenia in teenagers are common for typical development during teen years, such as:

• Withdrawal from friends and family
• A drop in performance at school
• Trouble sleeping
• Irritability or depressed mood
• Lack of motivation

Also, recreational substance use, such as marijuana, methamphetamines or LSD, can sometimes cause similar signs and symptoms.

Compared with schizophrenia symptoms in adults, teens may be:

• Less likely to have delusions
• More likely to have visual hallucinations

*Just as a side note. When I was studying abnormal Psychology in college the experts back then said most ALL schizophrenia started in the early to late teens and it was highly linked to nicotine, marijuana, and other drug use. As I was researching this, I noticed they have pulled away from this being the cause.*

Lets take a look at the most obvious factors of this so called mental health disease.

1. Age: Notice the ages it tends to manifest itself. It’s young people who are no longer under the care of adult supervision and they are free to experiment with all kinds of occultic things on their own. It’s not typically manifested in older people because for the most part older people have had their season of dabbling in sinful behaviors and it’s very true that sin is only fun for a season. According to the Mayo Clinic,” It’s not known what causes schizophrenia, but researchers believe that a combination of genetics, brain chemistry and environment contributes to development of the disorder.” I agree that they have NO IDEA, I don’t believe they were born this way, this is the excuse people make for practicing the sin of homosexuality as well as many other sins. I do agree that your brain can be altered, especially by drug use, as well has any other sin anyone would like to continually indulge in. I also agree that environment can play a part in the cause of schizophrenia/demonic oppression. To the extent that if your parents or the people who raised you practice a certain evil behavior, it will be normal for the children to also mimic this behavior and find no problem in doing it. All of these theories are Biblical and I’m going to hopefully convince you to prove my point with scripture and logic according to God’s Word.
2. Hallucinations and voices are part of the schizophrenic experience and is VERY real to the person. What does the Bible say these experiences are? I believe that according to God’s Word, these are demonic voices from demonic possession. Satan likes to infiltrate the mind and in some cases the body. A person with Schizophrenia may also be experiencing familiar spirits with visual hallucinations or demonic oppression from outside the body.
3. Disorganized speech and babbling? Sounds like the Charismatic movement of speaking in tongues! Which I think is demonic.
4. Extremely disorganized or abnormal behaviors that include foolishness, anger, and no response to any kind of authority? Seems demonic to me! More to come about this.
5. Lack of personal hygiene and interest in social activities? We will explore this from a Biblical perspective.

This particular post will not be about the brain and it’s chemical imbalances. I do believe that when you damage your brain with alcohol and drugs you can defiantly do some serious brain damage. You can also do lots of damage to your brain by engaging in any sin or viewing it for long periods of time. It’s true that the brain is part of our flesh and it can be effected by sin. It’s also made up of many chemicals that help to regulate our behaviors and emotions, but as sin comes in through the eyes our minds become tainted by “stinking thinking,” and our brains will respond chemically to accommodate perpetual wickedness we either witness or perform, i.e depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, apathy or any other sinful thoughts. God placed chemicals in our brains to help us live in ways that please Him, but if you are not saved or not walking with the Lord as you should be your brain as well as your soul will be effected by your sin. If we are behaving in evil ways then such diseases as, sexually transmitted diseases, organ diseases, heart attacks, infections, and sicknesses including cancers can be consequences of our sin. When Jesus said, “If your eyes cause you to sin pluck them out or if your hand causes you to sin cut it off. For it will be better for you on the day of judgment that you do not have these body parts then to be cast into Hell for all eternity. He used this hyperbole to make a point to how serious sin is to God. This is the spiritual battle that we fight. Sin is so deceptive and alluring a person can become so desensitized to it that they never see their sin as evil in the sight of God or their need for a Savior. This type of deception is wicked and comes from the Devil himself.

Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We need to remember that Satan is the prince of this World and that we do not fight against each other but demonic forces. We need to understand Satan’s character. When we understand how completely evil he is and how much he hates everyone especially God, then you will be able to see what kind of havoc he is creating.

In Mark chapter 5 it says,

 1 And they (Jesus and his disciples) came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

² And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

³ Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

⁴ Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

⁵ And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

⁶ But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

⁷ And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

⁸ For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

⁹ And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

In this passage the man was demonically possessed and was tormented by these demons named Legion. What were some of the behaviors we see? Crying and depression, cutting himself, a “super human” type of power where no one could bind him. He was a social outcast and secluded himself in the tombs of the mountains day and night, so he was homeless and jobless. The demon did not like Jesus talking to him. I know of many people who are experiencing demonic oppression or possession that say they don’t want to talk about Jesus, they want to be left alone. Does this not sound like a schizophrenic or the description of the teenager who is abusing drugs? I would say yes it does.

Here is another example in the Bible of a demonic spirit but this time in a child.

Matthew 17:15-18 says,

15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. ¹⁶And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. ¹⁷Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

So does Satan and his demons care about children? NO! His father said his son was acting like a lunatic and was in much anguish. In some commentaries they used the example of epilepsy to describe this boys condition. Needless to say he did not have control over his body and the spirits would try and harm him by making him fall into a fire or water. This reminds me of the drug addicts I used to work with that would have epileptic seizures. Their drug use had consequences. (a side note: I don’t believe that all seizures are caused by demonic attacks, but we can not deny it as a possibility) I also worked with a women who was diagnosed with bipolar, who was taking lithium, and had to be moved from our facility because she threatened to kill the counselor. The lithium was supposed to be helping her. She was in a constant state of psychoses. Another women I worked with was an alcoholic, when she left treatment she put herself in front of a train and killed herself. Many of our clients were involved in the occult and also on PRESCRIBED psychotropic drugs for their depression and anxiety. The success rate was very low and the rehab was a revolving door for many of these people. And what I mean by “success rate” is that they did not “relapse” or get arrested. So if this is success then I would say there was a zero percent success rate, because almost all the time these women would replace their drug use with other idols like, food, sitting in front of the TV, sleeping or laziness, gossiping and running to other mischief, or just about any other sin under the sun. They would be expected to attend AA meetings where they were REQUIRED to have some kind of higher power, which would bring them in to more idol worship, because their higher power was not the God of the Bible. There fake gods could not cure their addictions, anxieties, or depression, they kept on taking more and more prescribed drugs, that only sent them into more despair and suicidal thoughts. They would have bad reactions and horrible emotional reactions and the advise was to just keep taking these drugs it will get better in 2 or 3 weeks. The reality is they never got better, they just learned to cope with their mental health issues so they could function from day to day. But the medical community would say that it’s the drugs when it was just people learning how to cope. What these people needed was Jesus. They needed the Savior that could lift all demonic possession or oppression that the person was experiencing and take away the bondage to their sin.

There was only ONE time at an AA meeting where I heard someone talk about Jesus and how Jesus saved him from the bondage of sin. He was talking at the meeting as the speaker. The sad part was that talking about Jesus was taboo in AA meetings. I remember he kept saying that he knows he is not suppose to talk about Jesus, but this was his recovery experience and Jesus was his higher power. I remember he was very carful with his words when talking about the Lord saving him. I myself, being the counselor that brought clients to these meetings, was also lost and not saved and I remember thinking I wish he would just speak what was on his mind.

Satan and his demons find much pleasure in shutting up the saints and they also want as many people to go to the Lake of Fire as possible and they will do what ever it takes to make a person miserable and distracted so they will not think about Jesus. And if you are washed in the blood of Jesus, repented of your sins, and put your trust in Jesus alone for our Salvation…. Satan will try everything he can to make you ineffective for the Lord. For the Born Again Christian, the spiritual war is real and we MUST take a stand, we need to know who our ememies are so that we can fight them spiritually.

Here is a young man who explains what he is going threw, because he is a Catholic he has not been set free from his bondage to this demonic oppression he is going through. Some foul language so be advised.

The Reformed Movement and the Liberal Movement in Women’s Ministry

The Reformed Movement and the Liberal Movement in Women’s Ministry

In this post will be a brief summary of these two movements and their origins. I’m going to compare them in a way to show how we must continue to obtain a biblical worldview, so as to not stray from the fundamental meaning of scripture. I also want to show by using scripture how both of these movements veer from biblical Christianity, by just simply and precisely quoting scripture, keeping in mind that God never contradicts Himself. I have noticed that when people become born again Christians by grace through faith alone, they tend to jump on the Calvinism or Reformed theology train, especially if they have come out of hyper charismatic movements, liberal religions, or cults. This happened to me, and I am not saying this happens to everyone, but I want to take a look at why this may be happening.

I want to use the IF:Gathering women’s conference to expand on by first point of a liberal church movement. The IF:Gathering was started by Jenny Allen who based the entire conference off of the premise, “If God is real, now what?”

These are the temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness when the Devil told Jesus in Matthew 4:3 “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” And in Matthew 3:6 “If thou be the son of God cast theyself down.” And in the final temptation of the Devil, he takes Jesus to the highest mountain and said he would give Jesus the entire world if he would just worship him. No wonder Satan is wicked and evil!! He had the audacity to tempt God Himself to worship him!!!

Satan said, “If you are God then….”, honestly how deceptive to base a movement about God on whether He even exists or not!!!

The vain ideology of the IF:Gathering, is an ecumenical movement that is bound up in the pragmatic nonsense of the culture, bringing together all types of unbiblical ideologies into Christianity, to form a new movement among evangelicals that brings everyone that says they are Christians together. The speakers are very popular and charismatic. They seem godly and kind, but if you are reading your bible you will be able to spot and discern that they are twisting scripture to push their vision and their purpose. It is very wicked and deceptive. These false teachers have crept into houses, LITERALLY, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust, as it says in Second Timothy 3:6!!! And these women who have these teachers in their homes are fulfilling the words of God, given to the Apostle Paul that says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4) And why do false teachers come into the church? Titus 1:10 says, “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” If you do some research you will see how much money these women make off of prorogating false doctrine and all their paraphernalia. This is a movement directed at women in their homes all around the world, and it’s all about how you feel and these women do not seem to have a firm grasp of the entirety of the gospel, and they are not workmen, studying to show themselves approved unto God, needing to not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. If Jenny Allen was reading her Bible and taking it seriously she would not be inviting false teachers to her “gathering.” (Not all are false teachers) This is an example of liberal “Christianity” and is not based on the Word of God.

Reformed theology and Calvinism on the other hand is quite the opposite in their doctrine, and this is why it can be so appealing to those of us who have come out of false religions and heretical movements. As a complement to the reformed community, they do a great job exposing all of these false movements and their teachers and quit accurately. They also believe we are saved by grace through faith alone. Because they are so good at identifying these false movements people assume that all their doctrine is correct and reliable, so they don’t challenge the T.U.L.I.P doctrine that comes from this movement.

Anything that veers from the Bible as Christianity is a movement. As it is with Catholicism so it is with the Reformed movement. Catholicism began at the council of Nicea in 325 AD and Calvinism started in 1519, in Zurich with John Calvin, as to refute the Catholic Church. I’m not going to get into the history of these two events at this time, but I’m just giving the basic beginning to point out these doctrines did not come from the Bible.

As there is a number of liberal/ecumenical women’s conferences, there are a number of women’s reformed conferences. Neither are biblically sound and in my opinion should be avoided.

Reformed doctrine is different in that is is not liberal, which is a great thing, and it’s defiantly not ecumenical. But in some ways it’s exclusive and intolerant of criticism even if you back up your arguments with scripture. Most times they will just say you are an Arminian, which is not correct either. What we should be are Christian’s that base our faith from the entire word of God, in it’s proper context. Each of the doctrines has a founder, Calvinism was from John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Huldrych Zwingli. Arminianism was from Jacobus Arminius. The founder of Christian doctrine is God. And like with Catholics, Calvinist will use creeds they made up with twisted scripture to support their belief system. Calvinist belief that God has already elected or predestined certain people to be in Heaven, better known as the doctrine of election. Knowing the history is important, and I can see why many people who come out of the Catholic cult or other religions would jump to the reformers, because of this event in past history! As our pastor says and I agree, we are not protestants either, we are biblical Christians.

John 3:16 says, “That God so loved THE WORLD, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:17 For God sent NOT his Son into the world to condemn the WORLD; but that the WORLD through him might be saved. (This means everyone on planet earth!)

John18:3 HE (any person) that believeth on him IS NOT condemned: but he (any person) that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (This verse is talking about ALL of us, we are ALL born condemned. Not some are born for Heaven and some are born for Hell, and we must do the work of believing)

2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his PROMISE, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not will that ANY should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance. (Again God is not electing some for Heaven or Hell)

There are many more scriptures that back this doctrine up that we all have a responsibility to believe. The Calvinist will say we are not capable of our own free will to believe and that we must be born again to even believe in the first place. John 6:28 says, “Then said they(the disciples) unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? John 6:29, Jesus answered and said unto them, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him who he hath sent.” Calvinist think that people do not have to do anything to be saved and twist this scripture to mean that we can only believe through irresistible grace and it’s ALL the work of God. They also believe in a hyper sovereignty of God that says God picks who will be in Heaven or Hell. But what does Jesus say? The only “work” we have to do is to repent and believe.

It is very true that we can never do anything to save ourselves, none of our good works could ever save us! But the only work that can save is belief or faith. If you try to get into Heaven any other way then believing on the Lord Jesus Christ you have a different Gospel! You are not saved. And if you have faith as the size of a mustard seed, it can move mountains! But God is not going to force you to believe, this is up to you, to believe and receive the free gift of grace and you can also reject the free gift of grace. A Calvinists would say belief is a work and therefore this is a different Gospel. That is not what God’s Word says according to John 6:29. I really do think believing can be a very hard thing to do, because unbelievers are so blinded by Satan. I have heard people say, “That’s hard to believe.” But the Bible says it’s a good work and in order to be saved one MUST believe and it’s the only thing that will save you. In contrast, yes God will answer the sincere prayer of an unbeliever to help them to believe, but God is not going to make you believe if you refuse to believe, this is the heretical teaching of Calvinism called irresistible grace. It is clear that throughout all of scripture we have the free will to make choices, God does not force us to do things His way, but does chasten us if we disobey Him, but only for the believer. For the unbeliever there is no chastening from God, he will try and get your attention through your life circumstances to get you to repent and believe, but he will not discipline you as a believer because you will not listen. Your eternal judgement for sinning against Him will be Hell, and it is your choice.

Ephesians 2:8 says for by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of yourself here means you can do nothing but except or have faith to earn God’s favor.

Romans 10:9 That is thou (you) shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, tho shalt be saved.

Some may say I am deliberately leaving out the scripture such as Romans 11:6 or Titus 3:5 I am not ignore them either. They also support the reformed theology of what they say is evidence of their doctrine, I don’t think so, but this post is not about expounding on these verses. I am pointing out the obvious contractions to the TULIP theology that is out there. And God is not a liar, if He says ALL He means ALL. And God is not a monster having many people born just so they have no free will to choose Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That is not a loving God and that is not the God of the Bible.

This false doctrine is confusing and divisive because if taken the wrong way it contradicts so much other doctrine that clearly says each individual person of their own free will must believe. The Holy Spirit definitely gets each person to think about what will happen to them if they die, but the individual must decide for themselves whether they believe on Jesus Christ for salvation. This is the only work they have to do, and it’s a work that God asks us to do in order to be saved. A person can either reject the truth the Holy Spirit is trying to get them to understand or they can pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help their unbelief. There is nothing you can do to receive eternal life except to believe, repent of your sins and accept the free gift of God’s grace by the way of the work Jesus did on the cross.

Romans 16:17-18 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

1 Corinthians Chapter 1:10-13, to me sums up what these two types of movements are doing, people are following fallible people instead of the infallible word of God.

¹⁰ Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

¹¹ For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

¹² Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

¹³ Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

May we all be PERFECTLY joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement!! Amen

Max Lucado, Women “Preachers” Heresies and Legalism

As part of my research on A.R.C churches I decided to go to the Experience Church’s Facebook page to get some more insight about this movement. I also have been wanting to write about Max Lucado and his ecumenical heresies. Watching the women “pastor” at Experience church talk about the pharisees and legalism and reading about Max Lucado, I realized that people who profess to be Christians are mixing up these terms. I myself have been called a legalist or judgmental, so it’s important to define our terms according to the Bible.

Gotquestions.org https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-Christian-legalism.html has a good explaination of this. In my words it’s were someone makes up their own rules of righteousness that the Bible never addresses as righteousness. For example, playing cards is not a sin, but gambling your hard earned money away is. Ephesians 4:28 says,”Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Proverbs 15:27 Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live, and of coarse that tells us greediness and covetousness is a sin. Gambling usually benefits the person who owns the casinos, not the person who is squandering their money, both people are greedy and want to get money quickly.

Another form of legalism is traditions and rituals, if you are doing them to gain some kind of holiness and expect others to do the same then you are a legalist. The pharisees were upset with Jesus because people were not washing before they went in to eat, for them this was a ritual that brought some kind of holiness. (some people seem to still act this way sometimes lol!!) Many churches do these types of things from having a liturgical calendars and creeds, to confessing your sins to a priest, lighting candles, and even communion and baptism can become legalistic if you are not careful. It’s not a sin to do these things, but if you are doing them for the wrong reasons it’s wrong and sinful at the most, and unnecessary at the least. If you think you become right in God’s eyes by doing these things or more holy because you are doing these things you ARE NOT a Christian. Christians are saved by grace through faith ALONE, and the same with our holiness, it’s ONLY by God’s grace. No wonder some people think Christianity is boring, there is no room for the Holy Spirit to work in someone’s life when all you do is mechanical, ritualistic, and legalistic.

Now let’s get to my main point! Many, Many, Many Christians are exchanging what God calls sin for legalism. This is heresy. They will down play sound doctrine and misrepresent unity.

👎Max Lucado– No. He recently embraced Jen Hatmaker as a guest on her podcast. He has preached at Lakewood (Joel Osteen), affirmed Bill Johnson (Bethel), endorses Beth Moore, wrote the foreword for Christine Caine’s book, Undaunted, etc. And the church Max pastors, Oak Hills Church, is egalitarian. In 2021, he threw the Bible and the church under the bus by apologizing to the homosexual community.

And then there’s this quote from Max during an interview with Preaching.com: I really enjoy listening to Joel Osteen. I think Joel has a unique assignment in his ministry, and that’s to cast a wide net. He’s got a different assignment and a different gift mix than, for example, a John MacArthur; and I enjoy listening to John MacArthur equally; but you can see that they’re two different types of preaching. I enjoy Joel because I think his assignment in ministry is to encourage people, and we live in a day that is so discouraged, discouraging. I enjoy John MacArthur because I think—it seems to me—his assignment is to equip the church with very detailed biblical understanding. He’d be more like a Beth Moore or a David Jeremiah; I think we need that, as well. https://michellelesley.com/tag/max-lucado/ If any of you know these famous Christians you will know way this is a horrible statement.

Here is a quote from Lucado about the Church of Christ “Lucado said he represents a ‘movement of grace’ in the Churches of Christ, ‘a move away from legalism.’ https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/max-lucados-heresies-and-ecumenical-confusion.php While its good to move away from leagalism, this is not what Lucado is speaking about, he is talking about ignoring what the Bible says about sin and how God wants His church set up. Lucado especially ignores the roll of men and women in the church and recently he is NOT calling homosexuality a sin. He has an ecumenical stance on Christian Unity, and ignores sound doctrine and dismisses God’s Word as being all authoritative.

Now lets go over to Experience Church with “Pastor” Justiena Brownlee. On a Facebook from Experience Church on March 1st, 2021, if you are interested in what I am talking about, she basically said Jesus didn’t go around judging people. She did say that He is the perfect judge, but didn’t say anything about sin or why Jesus had to die on the cross. She was trying to point out that Jesus was not a legalist, insinuating that Jesus never called out sin, which she never says. Browlee quoted Jesus as saying, “I will take your judgment so you can have mercy.” First off judgment is not a sin if done biblically and secondly Jesus didn’t die because we are judgmental. The Bible, God”s Holy Word, tells us to judge!!! But to do it rightly. My guess she is preaching this because she doesn’t want to be held accountable to God’s Word for being a women pastor.

JESUS SAID,

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:1-5

JESUS SAID,

Matthew 18:15-17 ¹⁵ “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. These are the words of Jesus, clearly Jesus wants us to call out sin especially sin in the church.

As with Lucado and Brownlee as well as many others, they have made sinning as to legalizim therefore bringing in destructive heresies. Heresy is a belief or an opinion contrary to sound doctrine. If a person lives in unrepentant sin and does not ask Jesus to forgive them from it, they will spend eternity in Hell, mostly likely because this is not the fruit of a true Christian, meaning they need to be born again. God is not okay with Christians living in sin. Women usurping the male authority in the church or in her home, if married is a sin. I had to repent of this when Jesus saved me, I was running my home. And homosexulity is called an abomination in God’s eyes and can not be practiced by a born again Christian.

What does the Bible say about Entertainment That God Abhors?

When it comes to the Christian life it’s important to test all our thoughts, decisions, and actions to the Word of God. I can attest that the more you are reading your Bible the more you will love the Lord and you will begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. In essence you will start to become more like the Lord and grow in love for Him and His ways.

Psalm 11:5 says, “The Lord trieth the righteous:but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.”

If you are a born again believer the Lord will try you as the Psalm says. Meaning you are going to get a test. Sometimes the testing is very trying and difficult other times it’s like a pop quiz, easy if you have done your homework.

What is our homework? 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Your homework is to STUDY, just like a student in school. Why do you study? To show yourself approved unto God. God is the schoolmaster and we are trying to please Him because we love Him. Have you ever wanted to please someone because they loved you so much that you didn’t want to let them down? This should be our attitude towards God. So that when we do get that pop quiz we will not be ashamed because we failed God. And when we fail God, the reality is we also let others down. Now the Lord is also a forgiving God, and He will forgive us when we do fail/sin, but this is not my main point. The last point I would like to make pertaining to this passage is asking yourself, “Am I rightly handling God’s word of TRUTH?”

I don’t know about you, but I really hate feeling ashamed of something I have done that I know is not right, but the fact is that we should. God still loves us even when we sin, but it’s what we do with that sin that tells us if we are growing in our Christian walk. If we refuse to feel ashamed and explain it away, we are being nothing but prideful. We may say things to make other’s feel badly, as if they are to blame for our sinful behavior, we might say, well it doesn’t cause me to stumble and it’s just what I like to do, it’s my personality, in other words, I was just born this way baby! I’m sure you have heard that before, if you are paying attention to the culture. You many twist scripture and say things like, “well I guess I shouldn’t eat shell fish, or mix my fabrics in my clothing. or I guess we shouldn’t observe Easter or Christmas because of it’s pagan roots? I would admit it’s good to examine the roots of our holidays and consider whether or not this would bother or conscience and then make decisions accordingly. But what am about to address is not about the pagan roots of celebrating the Messiah’s birth or Resurrection, but just plan sin.

Here are my thoughts…

I find it very disturbing when professing Christians entertain themselves with things that God says are a sin and an abomination. We can all agree that watching pornography, r-rated films, horror movies, movies that glorifying drunkness, drug use, sex or violence are things we should avoid. (at least most professing Christians) But for some reason when it comes to witch craft, sorcery and magic and things of the occult we give it a pass. Why? Because we make excuses and say, “Oh it’s just make believe, it’s not real.” Would we apply this logic to anything else I just listed? No, but the reality is you are right it’s not real, what these actors are doing, is that they are acting. Actors are not actually getting high or drunk as they are acting out a scene, they are not actually murdering someone, or in most cases they are not actually having sex with the person in the movie (although some have actually crossed that line, and in order to do this actors actually have to be intoxicated to do so, because it weighs on their conscience so much) Why then do we give witch craft and sorcery a pass? If, as a Christian I was asked to play a witch or wizard and cast spells, if I do have the Holy Spirit in me this should be very offensive to me. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Abstain from ALL appearances of evil.” Psalm 101:2-3, “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.” We are not even supposed to set wicked things before our eyes!!! Our Lord knows what is good for us and He wants what is best for us. If we do not heed this counsel we are just asking for trouble from the devil himself.

We must be so diligent, dear Christian. As in 2 Timothy chapter 3:2-4, there is a part of the verse I would like to point out. In the last days men shall…be despisers of those that are good, traitors, highminded, and lovers of pleasure. Are you angry with those who are lovers of good? Are you the one that is the traitor or highminded, thinking you are better than others? Are you a LOVER OF PLEASURE?

When you entertain yourself with wickness you are pleasuring yourself, it’s exciting and stimulating, it’s cool and hip. You are just going along with the crowd and you are not seperating yourself. It’s FUN and probably relaxing.

I do have a rule of thumb that may help us if we would like to watch something and it’s very simple. Does the movie portray the sin as something fun and acceptable, something we should be pursuing? Is the purpose to glorify the sin or to make it look wrong or evil. Or if the person dressed as that character, are they portraying the antagonist or protagonist? And when it comes to witch craft their is not such thing as good magic or bad magic, it’s all bad, but Hollywood likes to distort this. Not only with magic, but with many other sins.

Finally lets go back to Psalm 11:5…but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. It’s not enough to repent of doing wicked things, but to also repent of your LOVE for wick things. You many not be participating but if you have the desire for sinful things you are just as guilty and should be ashamed. And if you are the one that is causing other’s to stumble you should not be surprised if others do not want to be around you. You are the one that is offensive to the believer that is trying to honor the Lord, not the other way around. But for some reason many Christian’s try to make the person who is just trying to do what the Bible says as the bad guy.

I hope this is helpful, and I pray not only will I take heed to this truth, but others also 🙂

ARC, Churches Take Away Members From Other Biblical Churches

ARC stands for Association of Related Churches, I’m going to add to this and say other churches that flow down the same stream of ideology. There are many churches in America that mimic these churches even if they are not part of the ARC, association.

When I moved here to Northwest Ohio, it seemed to me people where clamoring for our church attendance. Every time I met someone they would ask, “where do you go to church?” It’s great to invite people to church, but looking back on my story, I wonder really what the motive was? The last proposition was not long ago. The lure was that they had lots of children at their church with fun things to do. I thanked her for the invite, but I really like the church I attend.

When I became a born again Christian, it was important that my children were in a doctrinally sound church, not that it was fun. There is not a lot of children at the church we attend, but the doctrine is sound and we are truly learning to be disciples of Christ. We wanted our children to be in a Bible believing church. This does not mean we don’t have fun, it’s that it’s not the focus. In my opinion, many parents look for churches with lots of programs and games, with a little bit of Bible teaching; or they look for a church that all their friends and family attend, so to not disrupt their lives. And if I am honest, I also did the same thing before I was saved. This is a grave mistake parents make, and many children walk away from their faith, because it was never there to begin with.

So what is so attractive about ARC or churches like it?

1. In these churches lost people feel comfortable because they do not say, “Are you sure you are a Christian?”
2. They don’t share the complete gospel.
3. This churches are exciting, with lots of young people and are emotionally driven
4. They don’t sing hymns and have lots of new songs
5. They put unregenerate people into ministry
6. They have platforms and stages, not pulpits and alters.
7. They like to do a lot of good for the community, making the people involved feel like they are doing something good also
8. They have women pastors
9. They scout young people to be the faces of they church, or people who can keep up a worldly appearance
10. Young people are running the youth groups
11. Small groups are not about studying God’s Word, they are about bettering the community, games, food, crafts, ect….
12. Topical preaching on making yourself, marriage, and family life better. No expository preaching!
13. No church discipline
14. You can interpret the Bible how ever you want, for YOU. No stance on doctrine
15. The music style fits the popular music of the day

THE BIG PULL SUMMED UP!

1. They want to make a difference in their communities, with no gospel
2. The music
3. Emotionalism

Here is a link to the fasted growing churches in America in 2020. Andy Stanley’s church is first and that should say it all if you know what he teaches.

https://outreach100.com/largest-churches-in-america/2020