Vance Havner vs. Emergents

I'm not sure when Vance Havner preached this sermon but he died in 1986. This quote below is almost prophetic to what is happening in evangelical circles today where some feel we need to rethink and re-imagine our beliefs. It seems to me that when you keep things simple and don't try to judge the Word but rather let the Word of God judge you, you tend to understand the truth more clearly.

Thank you Lord for your TRUTH! It's so refreshing to hear it in this desert of Emerging apostasy.

"It's very fashionable these days to have a spell every once in a while of re-examining our faith. I get awfully tired of it. We make a fresh study of Genesis once in a while and the inspiration of the scriptures and the resurrection, just about everything else. Trying to prove at this late date what our fathers never doubted to begin with. Why are we so busy about trying to establish it now? We've let the world, the flesh and the devil trick us into re-thinking what doesn't need re-thinking. It just needs re-living. And if we do too much of that, it's going to give the impression that we're not sure about it ourselves. We keep on examining the foundations of our faith the world's going to say "well, they must be worried about it themselves"."

--Vance Havner (1901-1986), from the sermon "What Jesus Wants for His Church"

Jesus Died for 'Climate Change'?

A Little Leaven.com has an interesting post on Brian McLaren's priorities in preaching. This viewpoint espoused by McLaren seems to be consistent in Emergent circles. No doubt this is "another gospel". One which focuses on the created rather than the Creator.

This also reminds me of Rob Bell claiming that Jesus died for the birds, stars, etc.

Here is an excerpt...

"Did Jesus die on the cross to 'save' our planet from warming up? According to Emergent leader and neo-liberal Brian McLaren apparently he did... Ummmm... exactly which problem did Jesus establish His church to solve Brian? The Bible doesn't contain any epistles written by Ralph Nader or Al Gore. The Bible tells us that the Church of Jesus Christ is supposed to preach a message of repentance from sins and belief in the gospel."

God's Worship Style is Not Entertaining & Casual

THIS POST on entertainment styles of worship is from Oldtruth.com.

It is a quote taken from the book "With Reverence and Awe: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship" by D. G. Hart, John R. Muether:

"Much of today's worship is oriented, consciously or not, around the idea of entertainment. Pastors and elders fall under tremendous pressure to conduct services that are lively, practical, and relevant in order to keep the people in the pews interested in what is happening. The constant fear is that members will leave a boring style of worship for the church across town with better music, a bigger and younger congregation, and with better lighting and sound systems.

Sermons are becoming messages geared more to "felt" needs than to driving home the needs that the bible says fallen men and women (both redeemed and unredeemed) have. And the message itself is delivered by someone who tries to come across as a "regular guy," not God's servant who is a steward of the mysteries of God, who must handle the word of truth with care, and who has been set apart for this holy task.

Writing in the Christian Century, Edward Farley recently commented that contemporary worship creates a tone that is "casual, comfortable, chatty, busy, humorous, pleasant and at a time even cute." He goes on to suggest that "if the seraphim assumed this Sunday morning mood, they would be addressing God not only as 'holy, holy, holy', but as 'nice, nice, nice.'"

Memorial Day--THANK YOU!

"As we honor their memory today, let us pledge that their lives, their sacrifices, their valor shall be justified and remembered for as long as God gives life to this nation. And let us also pledge to do our utmost to carry out what must have been their wish: that no other generation of young men will ever have to share their experiences and repeat their sacrifice. Earlier today, with the music that we have heard and that of our National Anthem -- I can't claim to know the words of all the national anthems in the world, but I don't know of any other that ends with a question and a challenge as ours does: Does that flag still wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? That is what we must all ask. Thank you."

-President Ronald Reagan, Remarks at Memorial Day Ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, May 31, 1982

Jesus walks into a bar …

"JESUS asked his mates to stay with him, but they got pissed and fell asleep, the bloody bastards."

This is an excerpt from an interesting article on some versions of Emergent churches in Australia.

Yes they may be luring people in but I worry about where and who they are leading the people to. This is nothing new, just more examples of this growing trend of Emergent.

Here is another quote from the article:

"They lay down a purple shawl, with an icon of Jesus, candles and polished rocks, play some music, do some tai chi to relax, listen to a teaching tape, then meditate for 25 minutes. They are utterly still and silent.

The co-ordinator, Annabelle Morgan, was brought up a strict Catholic before getting interested in Eastern mysticism. "I tried Buddhism and others, but there was something missing, and I found it at home in my own tradition," she says.

"In the silence, I've found the experience of being loved. It's very experiential - you can't get the feeling of being loved in your head."

OLD HYMNS-OLD PEOPLE

I remember as a kid, the age of about 4 or 5, being in my old church, looking over at a very very elderly man sitting next to me as the congregation sang "The Old Rugged Cross". I remember watching him as he sang, somehow it seemed as though he understood. He understood the story of the old rugged cross. I did not know who he was or even if I ever saw him again but just looking at that old man and hearing that song for the first time made an impression on me as a small child. Generations apart, yet as a child I marveled at him and remembered the words to that old song.

I also will never forget Dorothy Cleveland. Always smiling. I was told she was born on a missionary trail in Africa. I never once saw that lady open up a hymn book but she sang every word of every song. I always wondered about that. Mrs. Cleveland used to look across the room during the service and give me the biggest smile. I knew that there was one person who looked right through me and loved the person deep inside regardless of my childish faults.

It was a small church but every Wednesday night we would gather. Kids and adults. The elderly and the very young. We gathered for prayer. We sang the old hymns. I wasn't ushered off to some children's program. I was there with these old people. I know it was boring, I know kids can't relate to that, I know I would wander off into la la land and would become totally bored with church and when I get older I will have no interest in God because of those old songs that don't relate to the youth and the boring speakers, you know how we MUST BE RELEVANT etc...blah blah blah. You've heard it all before. We've all heard it all before by the experts. However, somehow something stuck. As a child I witnessed a faithfulness to God in the elderly

I know there is nothing inherently sacred with old hymns. It's not really about the hymns. It's more about a truth which transcends generations. A truth which unites generations. The songs that I saw Dorthody Cleveland sing without ever opening a hymn book were the same songs that I was learning as a child. It was the same songs that my mother and father were singing. It was the same songs that Dorthothy Cleveland's parents and grandparents were singing as she looked up at them as a child, studying their faces the same I had done when I was a child. There was a heritage. There was a legacy.

I can't understand what we are doing. Why are we so eager to get rid of the hymns which have lasted from generation to generation to generation? Aren't we supposed to get rid of the things which are a hinderance to our faith being built up? I guess our leaders know better.

Also, I have to wonder, why are we so sure that we have to separate the old people from the young ? For crying out loud, isn't there any value in our young children and teenagers being in the same room as the older people ? Do we think it's right to just throw out the value and spiritual wisdom and stability the kids can learn from being with, worshiping with, even participating in bible studies with the elderly ?

Some of my fondest memories as a child learning about this marvelous faith in Christ was the interaction I had with the elderly. Some of the richest and most spiritual acts of faith I saw demonstrated as a child were manifested in the character and actions of the elderly.

I learned from them. I sat listening to them, silent. I sat there and did not say a word. I listened. I learned. I remembered.

"Blest Be the Ties That Bind"...every Wednesday night, as we ended our prayer meeting, we would all hold hands in one big circle and sing that old hymn. I look forward to that day when we will sing that song again together, the old and the young...as one.

"Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again."

Church of the Highest Common Denominator

as posted on Slice of Laodicea, Dr. Kim Riddlebarger writes:

"The church of the highest common denominator will not downplay its doctrinal distinctives, but will shout them from the rooftop. I like to speak of this as running our distinctives up the flagpole, proudly displaying them for all to see. This is what we are. This is what we believe. Here is where we stand. There should be something distinctive about a Reformed church. It should be different and stand out from the church of the lowest common denominator. Such a church will stand for something and be willing to teach and defend those things it regards as precious. Instead of telling people that doctrine doesn’t matter—which only plants the seed that Christianity doesn’t matter—the church of the highest common denominator will tell everyone who will listen the truth in love."

Too Timid to Tell the Truth

A.W. Tozer quote from CRN:

"The contemporary moral climate does not favor a faith as tough and fibrous as that taught by our Lord and His apostles. The delicate, brittle saints being produced in our religious hothouses today are hardly to be compared with the committed, expendable believers who once gave their witness among men. And the fault lies with our leaders. They are too timid to tell the people all the truth. They are now asking men to give to God that which costs them nothing.

Our churches these days are filled (or one-quarter filled) with a soft breed of Christian that must be fed on a diet of harmless fun to keep them interested. About theology they know little. Scarcely any of them have read even one of the great Christian classics, but most of them are familiar with religious fiction and spinetingling films. No wonder their moral and spiritual constitution is so frail. Such can only be called weak adherents of a faith they never really understood."

--A.W. Tozer, Tozer on Christian Leadership

Evangelicals Reject God’s Holiness

"...the shallowness of modern life derives not from its banality but from its having lost its moral bearings. ... Christ seems to offer little of what this world is asking for. It wants whatever is new; it looks for the next step in the journey of the human spirit...."

"...this God, majestic and holy in his being... has disappeared from the modern evangelical world. He has been replaced in many quarters by a God... whose Word is a plaything for those who wish merely to listen to themselves, whose Church is a mall in which the religious, their pockets filled with the coin of need, do their business. We seek happiness, not righteousness."

-- Dr. David F. Wells, "No Place for Truth: Or whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology"

READ MORE...

Comments on Falwell

Read this strong commentary from Phil Perkins addressed to Keith and Patrick regarding Jerry Falwell. It's from the comments section on the post The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a Real Man:

"Keith and Patrick,

I was in junior high and high school when Falwell became nationally known. He was hated because he said promiscuity and homosexuality are wrong. Another person who said homosexuality is wrong was Anita Bryant. She was a former pop singer. At the time she was doing commercials for Florida Orange Juice, I believe. She made her stand, Falwell made his stand, and the news media went nuts.

Now this was at a time when most of America in the streets saw sodomy for what it was--a disgusting perversion.

Interestingly, virtually all Evangelical pastors and leaders either said nothing about these two or gave sermons in which these two were portrayed as bigots. They were "unloving." The best offered no support. The worst helped the world stone them.
God will repay.

And the cowardice was so stupid. Most in the pews would have supported the pastors that agreed with Falwell. Instead, the puplits came alive with relevance and God-is-luuv-and-not-much-else bologna. I think many of those pastors (and many today) were obsessed with being like "wise" women of the Phil-Donahue-Oprah-Winfrey-Alan-Alda-Jimmy-Carter type. If this was happening today, perhaps, their insurance would cover the surgery and they could be much happier.

Also, interesting is the fact that those preachers unwilling to preach against sin or to associate with those who do also contend, like Patrick, that God would never judge us--a mark, by the way, of many of the false prophets of old. On the other hand, the Spirit of God, through the prophet Amos told us just how stupid what such a contention is by comparing it to similar stupid ideas: Hear this word which the LORD has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt: "You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something? Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?

Cowardice in the pulpits and the accompanying denial of God's judgment is nothing new. It is hideous and we ought not abide such nonsense. "Men" of God trembling at being hated by the world, while a woman is being verbally ravaged and a brother is being slandered. No excuse. How could they be so cowardly that they could not even speak the truth in their own congregations where they are supported to the hilt? Where do we find these wimps? Big booming voices on the outside, Pee Wee Herman on the inside.

And, yes, Falwell did some sins. Cowardice is just not one of them. (Read David's eulogy to Saul.)

So, Keith, I concur. We need real men. "

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

Truth Mixed with Error is Equivalent to ALL Error

"Error is like leaven of which we read, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Truth mixed with error is equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent looking and, therefore, more dangerous. God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom Christ died.

Exposing error is most unpopular work. But from every true standpoint it is worthwhile work. To our Savior, it means that He receives from us, His blood-bought ones, the loyalty that is His due. To ourselves, if we consider "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt," it ensures future reward, a thousand-fold. And to souls "caught in the snare of the fowler"- how many of them God only knows-it may mean light and life, abundant and everlasting."

--Dr. Harry Ironside (1876-1951)

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a Real Man.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a real man.

He had the guts to stand for the true Gospel, the USA and the Second Amendment.

In my youth I and my brothers embraced and admired Jerry Falwell for his boldness and uncompromising single-mindedness in communicating the Gospel every time he was given the national spotlight. Too bad Joel Osteen never learned to do the same.

Today the youth are embracing Rob Bell. How far we have fallen! I can't help but compare the two. Rev. Falwell had his flaws, but he never saw them as virtuous. Rev. Falwell embraced black and white doctrinal clarity as opposed to "embracing mystery" as Rob Bell does.

Oh yeah, let's not forget, Rev. Falwell never neglected to warn people about hell. This he did out of love. He boldly stood against abortion and the practice of the homosexual life style. Unlike the Emergents who don't believe in a literal hell, who totally overlook abortion, and never in a million years would dare speak a negative word against the sinful lifestyle of sodomy!

Many in the Emerging Church and their leaders, like Brian McLaren and Tony Jones, actually believe that God uses homosexual-practicing people as leaders in the church. Rev. Falwell clearly said on many occasions that homosexual acts were sinful and those who do so must repent of their sin. Simple and clear.

I for one, am grateful for the boldness and faithfulness to the Gospel of men like Rev. Falwell. He will be missed. Do we need more REAL MEN like Jerry Falwell? I say without a doubt we do!

-Keith Oliver

"This Isn't A Game"

"Today's Christianity may be having a lot of fun in its new way of thinking and behaving, but this isn't a game. Eternal souls are at stake, and the departure from the faith is real. Jesus Christ is being presented as a way of relativism rather than as the way and the truth, and the faith is being presented as an ever-changing method or experience that can be inserted into any faith." (In the Name of Purpose, p. 385)

READ EXCERPTS FROM:

"In the Name of Purpose: Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity Here", by Tamara Hartzell, 2006

"Truth and Doctrine Are Not That Important"

Check this out from Oldtruth.com.

Get Your Texts From God

“Get your texts from God—your thoughts, your words, from God. In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear, and your heart full of God’s Spirit, is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin.”

-–Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813–1843)

Be Bold And Tell It Like It Is!

Where have these guys gone? I can count on one hand the few men who still "tell it like it is". Watch another video (CLICK HERE) of Dr. Walter Martin as he does just that.

Evangelical Narcolepsy--Dr. Waltin Martin Video

CLICK HERE to watch Dr. Walter Martin video on apologetics. I love this guy, this is good stuff!

Rob Bell's False Jesus

If Rob Bell is not a false teacher, then why would he condone a comment by the Buddhist Richard Gere about his image of a false Jesus?

Read Rob Bell in his own words:

" Um...uh, the second most famous Buddhist in the world is an American actor named Richard Gere which is an interesting twist. The general agreement is that the Dali Lama is the most famous and Buddhist, the second most famous is Richard Gere. Pretty Woman...we all know who we're talking about? Yeah, uh...this is what he said...uh and I'll try to get it word for word, if I don't well... (he is now quoting Gere) 'I keep having this image that Jesus Christ is here and now. He's here now among us. And he's just quietly watching and that the Jesus Christ is here now among us and he's watching what's going on in his name and he's appalled'. So here you have the second most famous Buddhist in the world saying not only I believe Jesus is here and I believe Jesus is looking for somebody to be his people. And when the larger culture starts talking about Jesus that way, uh that should tell you something"

--Rob Bell, Q and A- Joe Hays and Rob Bell, May 6, 2007 [week 432]

Yes Rob, it does tell us something.

Matthew 24: 4-5: "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." (KJV)

I think this quote by Bell is very revealing. Think about it, a "Christian" minister favorably quoting a Buddhist about his image of Jesus Christ. Rob, this is not the same Christ as that of the true Christian faith.

There can be only one of two conclusions here: 1) This is a false Jesus Gere is referring to, or 2) the real Jesus is revealing himself to this Buddhist. I think I know the answer.

If Bell is comfortable quoting and making such affirming statements about a Buddhist's comments of his image of Jesus, what does this tell us about Rob Bell?

False Teachers are Clever and Pursuasive

This is an interesting audio (CLICK HERE TO LISTEN) from apuritansmind.com describing the characteristics of false teachers. It's very brief and informative. Check it out.

A Biblical Warning of the Leaders of Emergent

2 Peter 2: 1-3

1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.