Interview with Roger Olson

This is an interview discussing Roger Olson's book "Against Calvinism."

The TRUE Prosperity Gospel (Paul Washer)

Wretched: Don't buy it!

Is God Good?

Many times people bring up false arguments to discourage people from following the Lord Jesus. This video does a good job of explaining and showing the falsity of these arguments.

Assurance

Assurance

A1 Definition
B1 The belief that God has saved me, that my sins are forgiven, that I am a Christian, and that I will go to heaven when I die.
B2 From ISBE: It signifies the joyous, unwavering confidence of an intelligent faith; the security of a fearless trust.

A2 The Words
B1 G4136 plerophoria (play-rof-or-ee'-ah) n. entire confidence (Mickelson)
B2 full assurance, most certain confidence (Thayer)

A3 The Uses in the New Testament
B1 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. (Colossians 2:2, AKJV)
B2 For our gospel came not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. (1 Thessalonians 1:5, AKJV)
B3 And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end. (Hebrews 6:11, AKJV)
B4 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22, AKJV)

A4 Faith and hope
B1 Faith = believing God.
C1 Example 1: The Lord Jesus says that He will come back. I believe this, so I have faith that He will come back.
C2 Example 2: The Lord Jesus says that He will punish sin. I believe this, so I have faith that He will punish sin.
B2 Hope = the emotion, expectation, that it will happen
C1 Example 1: The Lord Jesus says that He will come back, I hope it is today.
C2 Example 2: The Lord Jesus says that He will punish sin; I hope people repent and trust in Jesus Christ. If I add "...because He will punish sin," this part of the statement would be faith.

A5 God wants us to have assurance. See the verses above especially Hebrews 6:11.
B1 Another translation of Hebrews 6:11 is "Hebrews 6:11 ESV And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end."
B2 What the writer of Hebrews wants is for all Christians to have a full assurance, a complete confidence, an unwavering/non-doubting hope.

A6 Verses on Assurance
B1 God is able: 2 Timothy 1:12 KJV For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
B2 God has the strength and ability to do so: Jude 1:24-25 KJV Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, (25) To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
B3 God will deliver: 2 Timothy 4:18 KJV And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
B4 God has more than enough power to keep us: Ephesians 3:20 KJV Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
B5 God is able to keep us: John 10:29 KJV My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
B6 God has the strength to finish what He started: Philippians 1:6 KJV Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
B7 God has promised resurrection: Psalms 17:15 KJV As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

A7 Making our salvation sure:
B1 Passage: Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:1-11 NKJV
B2 Thoughts
C1 Making call and election sure
D1 Call equals the invitation given by God. He has done this: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NKJV
D2 Election equals chosen. Chosen by foreknowledge.
D3 Sure equals stable, steadfast, difficult to knock over or fall.
D4 Our assurance of salvation can be increased by these things.
C2 His great and precious promises given by His great power. He is absolutely able to do this. He has the power to save and to keep safe.
C3 Add: used in the sense of supply, increase. It does not mean it is nonexistent and so one needs to add it. It is to increase, grow, have it expressed in a greater way. The design of the apostle is to say, in an emphatic manner, that we are to strive to possess and exhibit all these virtues; in other words, we are not to content ourselves with a single grace, but are to cultivate all the virtues, and to endeavor to make our piety complete in all the relations which we sustain. The essential idea in the passage before us seems to be, that in our religion we are not to be satisfied with one virtue, or one class of virtues, but that there is to be. Barnes notes.
D1 Virtue to faith
D2 Knowledge to virtue
D3 Self-control to knowledge
D4 Perseverance to self-control
D5 Godliness to perseverance
D6 Brotherly kindness to godliness
D7 Love to brotherly kindness
C4 These will bear fruit. These are being light and salt in this evil world.
C5 Those who lack these things are shortsighted, blind, and forgetful (that his/her sins are forgiven).
C6 By their fruit you will know them (Matthew 7:20).
D1 Know means "recognize," that is, people will by observation of a person if they are truly Christians or not.
D2 Fruits of
E1 Doctrine: the effects and purity of their beliefs, teaching, and what they say.
E2 Life: how they live and act both in church or in other places. It will show up in their attitude, true humility, a willingness to repent, ask forgiveness of another, and their reaction to events in their life.

Today's Society

I read recently where mother from Texas was sentenced to probation, and lost custody of her children--for spanking her daughter! "Rosalina Gonzales of Corpus Christi pleaded guilty on Wednesday to injury to a child for swatting the two-year-old on her buttocks."

So writes Ray Comfort on his blog.

We have to start doing life God's way. Society is falling apart. The ways opposite to what the Bible teaches lead to a dysfunctional society.

Today's Dangers: Beth Moore

Another Davies Highway Tune

It Is Well With My Soul

I couldn't find a way to embed. Cheers.

A Problem with Experiences

Many Christians turn to experiences to validate their Christianity. One of the reasons this is wrong is found in this article: The Labyrinth: A Walk By Faith?

Successful marketing techniques induce in consumers the yearning for something they may not really need, and then offer a product to fulfill that desire. Similarly, promoting the thought that we must have experiences to feel close to God creates an impatience and dissatisfaction with the challenge of walking by faith, and implies that we are not getting truly deep or intimate experiences with God. But experiences are fleeting; they come and go. They are a black hole that is never filled, leading to repeated attempts trying to fill the hole. Offering the labyrinth as a spiritual tool can create such a black hole, because each experience is never enough – there must always be more.

Hummingbirds

Watch these two videos. Which of these took a large team of engineers, a design, and lots of money, and which one was random, processes only by chance without engineers, design, or money?

Evolution is a lie. God designs the real bird.

A Warning from the late Walter Martin

There is a progression that takes place in liberal theology: It begins with a corrupt bibliology, a corrupt view of the nature and the inspiration of Scripture. They have a corrupt theology because once you are picking and choosing from the Bible what you want, your theology has to suffer from it, because your human reason is corrupt… every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine. There wasn’t a single exception.

This corrupt Bibliology then lead them to the next step. Their theology began to be touched by it, their view of the Cross, the Virgin Birth were both immediately questioned; then came the miracles of Christ… And finally they had emptied the Gospel of all its content; they were simply using the outward shell so that they go on collecting money from the people and the churches; because they knew that if the people in the pew knew that they were apostate, they’d throw them out. So the strategy was hang on to the trust funds; hang on to the money we’ve got; hang on the properties we control, and we will gradually educate the laymen into this new approach to theology.

And then finally we will take control of everything. The gradual process of feeding you theological poison until you become immunized enough so that you don’t know what’s happening to you. And when you wake up to what’s happening to you, it’s too late they’ve got everything. That is not a baseless charge, I stand prepared to prove that the Cult of Liberal Theology in the United States has deliberately and consistently followed this methodology to entrap, control and dominate the denominations and the churches of the United States and our educational institutions. (The Cult of Liberalism, available from Walter Martin Religious InfoNet)

Paul Proctor - What Have We Become?

Paul Proctor - What Have We Become?

The world has become our standard. When are Christians going to realize:

1. John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

2. 1 John 2:15-17 EMTV Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) Because everything that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not from the Father but is from the world. (17) And the world is passing away, and its lust; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Pray for the USA

It is sad that in the USA this harassment is increasing.

Nevertheless we must continue.

David Wilkerson Dies

David Wilkerson's last blog posting states in part:

Even questioning God’s existence will be injected into your mind. These have been the devices of Satan for centuries. Some of the godliest men and women who ever lived were under such demonic attacks.

David is now dead from a traffic accident that happened 27 April 11. I am not Charismatic or Pentecostal at all--zero. David was about the only one of that group that I respected.

Please pray for his family. Please pray that the people today will be delivered from evil--evil thoughts, desires, words, and deeds, and evil theology, ignoring living a New Testament life style and doctrine.

Mocking Jesus

A good read from Cal Thomas. In one paragraph he writes:

He was mocked for the darkness He revealed in each of us and the refusal by many to come to the Light, because they (and we) prefer to remain in darkness rather than be cleansed by the light. Perhaps this mocking has something to do with the way a few who claim to be His followers misrepresent Him. That may be worth mocking, but He isn’t.

Why do people mock Jesus? Poor hatred. He came to expose their sins (the ways they have broken the Ten Commandments), so that they could repent and trust in Him for forgiveness.

Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words

The Problem of Evil

We need to respond when people ask us questions about our faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Often they will bring up this type of question. Here is how to answer it.

Read this paragraph and weep

Now a Senior Fellow at Biologos, Dr. Enns devotes much of his time to lecturing on theology and writing scholarly essays that routinely cast doubt on the inerrancy and authority of Scripture, the literal concept of Bible interpretation, the historical existence of Adam and Eve, and other fundamental facts in the Bible. At the beginning of 2011, he released a new Bible story curriculum with Peace Hill Press in which he states, for instance, that the subject of sin should not be taught to children. This is disturbing for parents who love the Bible.

This article was written by Henry Morris III and can be read in its entirety here.

Increase Our Faith

Often one hears, “I need more faith.” They pray for more faith; they constantly are seeking more faith. They quote Luke 17:5, “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.” They also quote Matthew 17:20, “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

The idea behind these verses in their mind and understanding is, “We need more faith, so we can heal the sick, preach the gospel, raise the dead, etc.” I have heard this many times. But this IS wrong.

Faith is simply “believing God.” A very simple concept. It involves trust. The opposite is doubt. Consider the following illustrations.

Faith and doubt are on a balance. They are opposites. If we have a lot of faith, we have less doubt. If we have a lot of doubt, we have less faith.

An example, if I earn my money to pay my bills and have a little left over for fun, I need a certain amount of money. If the work does not come in, or I am laid off part time, or am sick, or any other situation that upsets our income, then we are stressed. The Christian in such an example can have faith, “God will take care of my needs,” or “I don’t know what is going to happen, I have to do everything I can to have enough money.” It may fall some where in between.

If we pray for God to increase our faith, He might very well put us in an uncomfortable situation and show that He can provide.

Faith is not for the purpose of doing miracles; it is a simple trusting in God to meet our needs.

Who Is Your Jesus?

Joe Donahue says he finds people sometimes treat Jesus more like a mascot than the Savior, resulting in what he describes as an "unhealthy love" for Jesus.
"Jesus is treated by the church in the same way we would treat a genie," says Donahue. "We keep Jesus in the pocket of our T-shirt or the pocket of our clothes, and we pull him out when times are tough and we stick him back in when things are going well."

So who is your Jesus. More on the above here.

Is the Old Testament Reliable?

Is the Old Testament Reliable?

This is an important article. Even thought the Bible has been proved over and over again, many still question if it is true. Every generation needs to know that Christianity is a reasonable faith. Please read the article and see the the Old Testament is true. It is not blind faith but a reasonable faith that we have. Archeology has shown many, many people and places to be actual.

The Measuring Tool

The Measuring Tool

When a carpenter needs to measure something, he uses his tape measure; it is the only source of 100% truth. He cannot use his finger, his elbow to finger-tip length, the width of his hand, or just “eyeball it”. If he did, the measure would not be accurate.

Likewise, if he were to measure it and thinks, “O, that just can't be right; I know by experience that it is longer/shorter than that,” then he should not be surprised that the measure is wrong—the part does not fit.

So today the only source of 100% truth is the Bible, but people want to add to it or marginalize it. The believe the whole Bible is true, but they think, “O, that just can't be right; I know by experience that it is _________.” They may depend on a certain teacher, book, feeling, dream, vision, voice, or something else as the final authority. All that does is change/wrest/deny the absolute truth.

I have heard people say they check every dream, vision, feeling, experience, book, teacher, etc with the Bible, but do they really take the time? Do they write down this feeling, experience, dream, vision, etc and actually check it out? I don't think so.

The measuring tape is the source of 100% truth in measuring, so the Bible is the only source of 100% truth for Christianity.

PS: The measuring tool may be electronic, mechanical, or sound but it still measures by the same standard—an eighth of inch is still an eighth of an inch, and a millimeter is still a millimeter.

The Bible says:

Deuteronomy 25:14-16 ISV (14) Don't have different measuring devices in your house—one large and one small. (15) You must have honest weights and measuring devices, so you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, (16) for anyone who does these things—anyone who deals dishonestly—is detestable to the LORD your God."

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ISV All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (17) so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good action.

The Different Gospels

How many gospels are there? There is only one, and by it all others are judged by. Today, however, there are many different “gospels”. Here is a list and some warnings. So be a Berean and see if it is so. What “gospel” we trust in, may be the wrong one. Your soul and eternity is at stake.

False Gospels

For the true gospel see here.

The Importance of the Bible

In my view, it is inconsequential on the part of individuals who are seeking to enter the Kingdom of God to veer from what the Bible really teaches, and instead following the “Blind men” who will only lead them further into the “wilderness”. It is slothfulness on the part of Christians who fail to read the Bible, which is the guideline for Christians. The analogy here is, if anyone wants to become a medical doctor, the individual has to stick to medical books, likewise, an aspiring lawyer sticks to law books. So, if anyone wants to become a true Christian, the individual must stick to the Bible, and refrain from depending solely on fake prophets!

---K. Badu

A Word of Truth

A quote from Ray Comfort:

You may be the most popular dude on the planet, but the moment you say that you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, the world will see you as a homophobic, brain-washed, self-righteous, hate-filled, dim-witted, anti-science, trouble-making, self-righteous, fear-mongering, anti-choice, war-causing, hypocritical, religious bigot.

The Kimyal Receive the Bible in Their Language

This video brings tears of joy to me.

The Kimyal People Receive the New Testament from UFM Worldwide on Vimeo.

Unicorns?

An excellent video. This is truly apologetics

Is God In A Box?

Is God In A Box?

What does it mean when people say “God in a box?”

What’s in your God-box? Each of us, says author Anne Robertson, builds our own way of understanding God—our "God-box"-- and fills it up with bits of scripture, wisdom, and our experiences of God at work in our lives. It’s a perfectly good way to puzzle out what God means to us. Encountering God through our human limitations, we learn something about the meaning of Incarnation.

But to say that our experience of God is the only valid one is to put a lid on the box and create an idol.

Author Anne Robertson from the introduction to her book: Blowing The Lid Off The God-Box: Opening Up To A Limitless Faith.

So when one hears, “You’re putting God in a box,” or “Your God is in a box,” or “You have to let God get out of your box,” or many other similar statements, they are essentially stating that it is your idea of God and who He is.

Is this right or wrong?

We must ask ourselves if we believe absolutes exist. In this day/age it is the common mindset that there are no absolutes, even for those who say they believe in them. Today the mindset is pragmatic relativism. The pragmatic means “whatever works”. Encarta® defines this as “

1. way of thinking about results: a straightforward practical way of thinking about things or dealing with problems, concerned with results rather than with theories and principles

2. way of evaluating theories: a philosophical view that a theory or concept should be evaluated in terms of how it works and its consequences as the standard for action and thought.

Encarta:

Relativism means “what is true for you”, but it “might not be true for me.” WordWeb® defines it as “ the philosophical doctrine that all criteria of judgment are relative to the individuals and situations involved.”

There are absolutes however. To best see this read Francis Schaeffer’s book: The God Who Is There

Is God in a box?

Yes.

God has absolutes.

          1. God cannot lie.

(Titus 1:2 [HCSB])

in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

          2. God does not change.

(Malachi 3:6 [AKJV])

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

God is in a box--a box He has made. The attributes of His character do not and cannot change. If they did, we would never know what He wants from us.

His word--the Scriptures--also do not change.

For ever, O LORD, your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness is to all generations: you have established the earth, and it stays. (Psalm 119:89-90, AKJV)

The word “settled” has the idea of fixed and permanent. Note, too, that His faithfulness never changes either.

Another verse:

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35, AKJV)

God does not change. His methods do not change. His gospel does not change.

Whenever someone challenges you this way, tell them that God is in a box, that He never changes. Our ideas of Him may change, after we read the Bible, but God never changes.

The Wonderful Bible

“I have heard many fanatical persons say the Holy Spirit revealed this and that to them. Now that is very generally revealed nonsense. The Holy Ghost does not reveal anything fresh now. He brings old things to our remembrance. ‘He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have told you,’ [John 14:26]. The canon of revelation is closed; there is no more to be added. God does not give a fresh revelation, but he rivets the old one. When it has been forgotten, and laid in the dusty chamber of our memory, he fetches it out and cleans the picture, but does not paint a new one. There are no new doctrines, but the old ones are often revived. It is not, I say, by any new revelation that the Spirit comforts. He does so by telling us old things over again; he brings a fresh lamp to manifest the treasures hidden in Scripture; he unlocks the strong chests in which the truth had long lain, and he points to secret chambers filled with untold riches; but he coins no more, for enough is done.

Believer! There is enough in the Bible for thee to live upon for ever. If thou shouldest outnumber the years of Methusaleh, there would be no need for a fresh revelation; if thou shouldest live till Christ should come upon the earth, there would be no necessity for the addition of a single word; if thou shouldest go down as deep as Jonah, or even descend as David said he did, into the belly of hell, still there would be enough in the Bible to comfort thee without a supplementary sentence.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The New Park Street Pulpit
Vol. I (1855), p. 38

What the Pastors Are Missing

Most pastors are catering to pleasing the unsaved. They don't seek to please God who has given the Gospel. Did Jesus preach this way?