Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts

The Battle For The Truth [Update 2]

My blogging friend Bill Muehlenberg who writes at the blog Culture Watch has a very thought provoking post up called The Attempted Eradication of Christianity.

Excerpt:

The secular jihadists have declared war against Christianity, and are working overtime to ensure that it is eradicated in the Western world. This site has documented many dozens of examples of this, and each new week provides further case studies in this.

The secular crusaders think all would be sweetness and light in this world if we could only get rid of those pesky Christians and their awful religion. They somehow expect us to believe that utopia will arrive on planet earth when Christianity is gone and secularism reigns supreme.

Yeah right. More people were killed last century in the name of secular humanism than all the world’s religious conflicts put together. The bloody side of secularism is unfortunately a historical reality. And the overwhelming good which Christianity has done for the world is also a matter of historical fact, as I discuss elsewhere: A Review of How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin Schmidt.

Personally, I think that the secular jihadists are hell-bent on attacking Christianity because deep down they know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth. Such people war against the truth because it hurts to face the facts contained within the truth of the Gospel. The rebellious nature of unrepentant, sinful men causes them to refuse to give up their soul-destroying error(s). This occurs mostly because they are entrenched in the pride of life and have faith only in themselves. No wonder the world is such a mess!

What I think is ironic is that secular jihadists who hate Christianity find themselves willing to compromise the truth of Christian faith, yet embrace false religions/teachers such as Islam. Thus, they form a kind of unholy alliance with them. Who would have thought that liberal leftist, atheistic progressives could compromise their secular beliefs with Islamists who want to impose Shariah law here in the U.S.? But it's happening! Why? Because both agree on at least one thing - the desire to be persistent viruses attacking Biblical Christianity. You know the old phrase, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." But don't you wonder why they would submit to compromise in order to commit such dastardly deeds?

I think that it has to do with lies. The lies that atheists/agnostics/skeptics believe against the God of the Bible and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can work in alliance with the lies of the Islamic religion; as long as they are in agreement about one or more humanistic ideas/principles.

For example, recall in a previous post where I shared that the secular atheist billionaire, George Soros, once approached Qaddafi (leader of Libya) regarding some sort of "deal" that Soros wanted done. I think that it had to do with a green Socialist initiative. When Qaddafi backed out, he became an enemy of Soros. As we know, Soros is the puppeteer (at least one of them) behind the puppet pResidency of Barack Hussein Obama. So it is likely that Soros was the one behind getting the U.S. and NATO involved with bombing Libya during the Arab Spring uprisings. (When I find links to previous blog posts about this I will add them here).

So you see, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" can quickly devolve into a new kind of enemy.

In John MacArthur's book, The Truth War several of his quotes can easily be applied here:

Uncertainty is the new truth. Doubt and skepticism have been canonized as a form of humility. Right and wrong have been redefined in terms of subjective feelings and personal perspectives.

We have witnessed the appeasement of Islamists by the secularist New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who gave approval to a mosque being built near Ground Zero. Yet, at the same time, Bloomberg and others are fighting to refuse to allow the display of the cross at the almost completed memorial - which was formed by girders in the 9/11/01 terrorist attack wreckage. Why? Why was one religious request granted and the other denied? I think that it is because Islam and secular atheism are like two peas in a pod. Both are in error of what God's Word teaches and both are involved with evil.

John MacArthur writes:

The arrogant rationalism that dominated the modern era is already in its death throes. Most of the world is caught up in disillusionment and confusion. People are unsure about virtually everything and do not know where to turn for truth.

BINGO!! MacArthur hits the nail right on the head with that quote! In fact, he mentions Islamic jihad on page 29:

We live in an era when religious fanatics routinely blow themselves up, fly planes into buildings, or commit unthinkable evil acts of barbaric terrorism in the name of religion. The biblical strategy for spiritual warfare has nothing whatsoever in common with the tactics of Islamic jihad.

Scripture is clear that physical force is not a legitimate tool for the advancement of the kingdom of God.

You see, radical Islam is intent on warring against and conquering other religious faiths and nations in order to achieve their end times goals.

As far as Christianity goes, the Truth War has nothing to do with carnal warfare or physical violence. There are, however, times when evil makes warfare absolutely necessary.

John MacArthur notes:

Of course, believers who are policemen, soldiers, or otherwise agents duly authorized by the government must be willing to use deadly force when necessary as part of their duty to the civil government. Scripture nowhere endorses any kind of absolute pacifism.

In fact, Romans 13:1-4 expressly grants governments the authority to wield the sword in order to punish evildoers, defend their national security, and maintain civil peace.

Going to war against those who attacked us on 9/11/2001 was necessary in order to protect our nation and people from further attacks by radical Islam. Unfortunately, the creeping Sharia infiltrating our nation through liberal court judge decisions is making it easier for the false religion of Islam to take hold here in America. We would learn a good lesson if we would heed the warnings from Great Britain where unrestricted Muslim immigration created fierce cultural battles within their nation. They are now seeing that the multiculturalism they embraced over the last few decades is turning against them in cities where Muslim dominance reigns. But that's another subject for another blog post.

In conclusion, John MacArthur instructs us:

The Truth War is not a carnal war. It is not about territory and nations. It is not a battle for lands and cities. It is not a clan war or a personality conflict between individuals. It is not a fight for clout between religious denominations. It is not a skirmish over material possessions. It is a battle for the truth. (emphasis mine).

Paul makes this clear in 2 Corinthians 10:5, where he spells out the ultimate objective of the Truth War: "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." The battlefield is the mind; the goal is the absolute triumph of truth; the priceless spoils of conquest are souls won out of the bondage of sin; the outcome is our willing submission to Christ; the highest prize is the honor given to Him as Lord; and the ultimate victory is completely His.

Hat Tips:

Culture Watch

John MacArthur: The Truth War (Note: Excerpt of book at this link. Scroll down to "Read Excerpt PDF.")

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Update:

Bill Muehlenberg has written a new blog post about multiculturalism:

Force-Fed Multiculturalism

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9/4/11 Update

Be sure to read Noisy Room: The Hate That Never Ended.

Excerpt:

If you are a Jew, they kill you. If you are a Christian, you convert, pay the Jizya tax or they execute you. If you are gay, you will be put to death. Women are property and slaves. Sexual abuse is legal and rampant. Beheading is the preferred method of execution. And the list goes on and on… Imagine a worldwide Caliphate where this is the norm, where a fascist theocracy rules the day and freedom no longer exists. This is what these people bring. They bring evil, slavery, darkness and death.

We are at war with millions of Islamic radicals who believe this. These are the radical Islamists and their hate never ended after 9-11.
It has been going on since Islam began and we are fighting for our lives and our way of life. We better start acting like it if we don’t want something much worse than 9-11 to play out on the lawn of the White House or in some mall in middle America.

The Jihadists need to understand this… We will never submit. We will never forget. We will fight you and the other enemies America faces within and without and we will win. That’s what good does – it wins, it overcomes. We will put an end to your hatred that never ended one way or the other. Evil is stupid and cowardly and in the end – it always loses.


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Update 2:

Bloomberg isn't the only one promoting Islamic mosques and Sharia law in New York. Take a look at this blogpost, 2 videos, and startling article about the New York Times support for Sharia law!

We The People: New York Times is Now Promoting Shariah Law

Excerpt:

The NY Times puts for its drivel following the startling predictions of Avi Lipkin seen in the video below.  Take it for what it is worth my friends, but Sharia hasn’t been creeping through America, it’s been galloping.  Readers of this column are already aware that Sharia Law has been used in Court Cases in 23 States of our United States. 


As the man in the Of Mosques and Men: Reflections of the Ground Zero Mosque video over at Answering Muslims says at the end of the Youtube video:

"Come out of the cave America - it's dark in there."

Atheists Sue To Prevent WTC Memorial Cross Display

This morning, I read a post over at The Blaze: Atheists Sue to Stop Display of Cross at World Trade Center Memorial.

Excerpt:

A group of atheists is up in arms over the display of a cross at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The World Trade Center memorial, which is intended to serve as a reminder of the tragic terror attack that occurred nearly 10 years ago, is scheduled to open on the event’s 10th anniversary.

(Read what Meredith Jessup has to say about this legal challenge over on the blog.)

When the Twin Towers collapsed on September 11, 2001, two beams perfectly formed the cross, which many view as both symbolic and iconic. It is this object — a steel cross — that is perfect fodder for atheists and non-believers who do not wish to see any religious items included in the memorial.

Continue reading here.




It is interesting to read the various comments over there. Please view the video (at The Blaze link above) of the blessing of the cross, then you will understand my comment better.

Christinewjc
Posted on July 28, 2011 at 10:38am
I would expect Mayor Bloombutt to sign the complaint, but Gov. Chris Christie? What a huge disappointment! Christie has lost my respect. During the video, the brother read a letter where someone claims that “we all worship the same God,” and that includes Muslims. Well sorry – but that statement is incorrect. Of course, the writer has the right to say and believe what he/she wants. But it doesn’t make it true. Read my essay about this at Talk Wisdom:   Why Muslims Don’t Worship the Same God as Christians.

How ironic it is to realize that Bloomberg approves of the 9/11 mosque being built, but objects to the display of this cross at the memorial! Unequivocal bias anyone?? Muslims and atheists probably have more in common because both obviously worship a different kind of god – a humanistic one.

Hat Tip: The Blaze

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In other news - The Blaze: McCain References TEA Party Hobbits on Senate Floor

I saw the RINO progressive try to distance himself from his own remarks on Hannity last night. Fat chance! Hannity wasn't fooled and neither are GENUINE CONSERVATIVES! I heard that Sharron Angle stated that McCain just "through her and his former running mate, Sarah Palin under the bus."

The thing that this debt crisis debate is bringing out for all to see is just who in the Republican party are genuine Conservatives that support the principles and values of what the TEA Party Patriots are trying to do to correct the corruption and stop the out-of-control spending in Washington D.C. Was McCain blind to the results of the 2010 mid-term election? Ah! It grieves me to see him do this.

But one comment over at The Blaze jumped out at me. It actually makes McCain look quite foolish on this issue:

dr_funk
Posted on July 27, 2011 at 8:47pm
He obviously hasn’t read the Tolkien series, because if he had, he would know that the Hobbits were the only ones with any courage, and that they persevered in the face of all sorts of evils, betrayers, and nay-sayers, and eventually brought down the most powerful evil empire in existence that, if they had not destroyed it, would have conquered the whole of middle earth.

Obviously, McCain has no concept of “courage” or “principle”.

Urgency and Necessity of The Truth War

Chapter Three of John MacArthur's book, The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception is entitled "Constrained Into Conflict: Why We Must Fight for the Faith."

I have had this book for a long time. Every so often, I go back and read some of the chapters. If you do a search on this blog, you will find at least four blog posts about the book. Recently, I ran across a link to several John MacArthur Videos. Many of them are excerpts from his book The Truth War.

Years ago, I bookmarked the final three pages of chapter three. It is subtitled, "When It's Time To Go To War." I found it very interesting that the verse in Jude 3, which contains the phrase "contend earnestly for the faith" is actually stronger in meaning when translated from the Greek. MacArthur writes:

The expression "contend earnestly" is translated from a strong Greek verb epagonizomai,literally meaning "agonize against." The word describes an intensive, arduous, drawn-out fight. There is nothing passive, peaceful, or easy about it. Jude "exhorted" them - meaning he urged and commanded them - to wage a mighty battle on behalf of the true faith.

So then literally, we are to "agonize against" the falsehoods that creep up into Christianity that often, quite frankly, turn Christian truth into something unrecognizable. I could cite dozens of examples. But two of the most contentious moral problems of our time are the acceptance of homosexual behavior and abortion of children in the womb.

There will always be people who try and twist the truth to their own advantage. Many times it is used as an excuse to cover their sins. But there is only One Provision for the forgiveness of sins - and that is Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. Christ is the only way to be reconciled unto the Father.

MacArthur continues:

Jude himself says he felt the necessity to write this command. He employs a verb that speaks of pressure. In other words, he sensed a strong, God-given compulsion to write these things. He was not writing them because he took some kind of perverse glee in being militant. He was not responding to a momentary whimsy or personal anger. This was critical, and since the writers of Scripture never wrote by human self-will, but only as they were moved by the Spirit of God (2 Peter 1:21), the extreme urgency of Jude reflects the sovereign influence of the Holy Spirit, and therefore also the mind of Christ.

I love that last line - "This was critical, and since the writers of Scripture never wrote by human self-will, but only as they were moved by the Spirit of God (2 Peter 1:21), the extreme urgency of Jude reflects the sovereign influence of the Holy Spirit, and therefore also the mind of Christ."

I don't know about you, but in my lifetime I have NEVER seen so many liars getting away with their sin and corruption than over the past two and a half years. It seems that ever since the Obama administration got into office, any semblance of a reasonable government was out the window. As one example, we only need to turn on the T.V. each day and hear the bad news about the current debt crisis to understand how fallen man has gotten us into such a mess. Then, in the next news segment we find out that Obama has raised 86 million dollars for his re-election campaign. Why would anyone in their right mind want to re-elect this monster?? Answer: money, power, influence, and the desire to "fundamentally transform America" which is code word for collapsing our Constitutional Republic Capitalist system and bringing in a cesspool combination of communism, socialism, Islamo-fascism and sharia law. What could go wrong? But all of that is for another blog post.

MacArthur continues:

We thus have an urgent mandate from God Himself to do our part in the Truth War. The Holy Spirit, through the pen of Jude, is urging Christians to exercise caution, discernment, courage, and the will to contend earnestly for the truth.

Notice what we are supposed to be fighting for. It is not anything petty, personal, mundane, or ego related. This warfare has a very narrow objective. What we are called to defend is no less than "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

Jude is speaking of apostolic doctrine (Acts 2:42) - objective Christian truth - the faith, as delivered from Jesus through the agency of the Holy Spirit by the apostles to the church. As he says in verse 17: "Remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Notice: no one discovered or invented the Christian faith. It was delivered to us. It was not as if someone mystically ascended into the transcendental realm and drew down an understanding of the truth. We don't need an enlightened guru to open the mysteries of the faith for us (cf. 1 John 2:27). The truth was entrusted by God to the whole church - intact and "once for all." It came by revelation, through the teaching of the apostles as preserved for us in Scripture. Jude speaks of "the faith" as a complete body of truth already delivered - so there is no need to seek additional revelation or to embellish the substance of "the faith" in any way. Our task is simply to interpret, understand, publish, and defend the truth God has once and for all delivered to the church.

The fact that the Bible is the Written Word of God, Jesus is the Living Word of God, and the Holy Spirit of God guides us into all truth allows born again believers in Jesus Christ to "interpret, understand, publish, and defend the truth God has once and for all delivered to the church." How can we spot untruths, heresy, apostasy and lies? By making sure that what is being espoused by any preacher, teacher, or layperson is not contradictory to what the Bible teaches!

John MacArthur explains:

That is what the Truth War is ultimately all about. It is not mere wrangling between competing earthly ideologies. It is not simply a campaign to refine someones religious creed or win a denominational spitting contest. It is not a battle of wits over arcane theological fine points. It is not an argument for sport. It is not like a school debate, staged to see who is more skilled or more clever in the art of argumentation. It is not merely academic in any sense. And it is certainly not a game. It is a very serious struggle to safeguard the heart and soul of truth itself and to unleash that truth against the powers of darkness - in hopes of rescuing the eternal souls of men and women who have been unwittingly ensnared by the trap of devilish deception.

This is a battle we cannot wage effectively if we always try to come across to the world as merely nice, nonchalant, docile, agreeable, and fun-loving people. We must not take our cues from people who are perfectly happy to compromise the truth wherever possible "for harmony's sake." Friendly dialogue may sound affable and pleasant. But neither Christ or the apostles ever confronted serious, soul-destroying error by building collegial relationships with false teachers. In fact, we are expressly forbidden to do that (Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-15; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 John 10-11). Scripture is clear about how we are to respond when the very foundations of the Christian faith are under attack, and Jude states it succinctly: it is our bounden duty to contend earnestly for the faith.

I have to chuckle each time I see someones car with the bumper sticker that says "COEXIST" where each letter represents a different religion. It seems to me that the liberal/progressive advocates of such a symbol often hate those who adhere to true Christian faith and they tend not to hide their disdain. Just watch some of the alphabet soup news programs and commentary shows out there and you will see what I mean!

Why is there such hatred for Christians? I think that it is because of what Jesus told us in these verses:

Jhn 15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before [it hated] you.

Jhn 15:19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Jhn 15:25 "But [this happened] that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'

Read the entire chapter of John 15. It starts out Jhn 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." Jesus is speaking in these verses and He goes on to reveal that Jhn 15:5 "I am the vine, you [are] the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

John 15 is such a comfort these days. Why? Because Jesus has warned us that followers of him will be hated. It is part of the "turf" in the warfare we are in for the souls of men.

John MacArthur continues:

Notice carefully: Jude is not suggesting (nor am I) that Christians should contend among themselves over every petty disagreement or divide into factions over every personality conflict. In fact, that is the very thing the apostle Paul condemned in 1 Corinthians 3:3-7. Divisiveness and sectarianism are terrible sins that hurt the church when major divisions are manufactured out of petty differences over trivial, doubtful, indifferent, or less-than-vital matter (Romans 14:1).

We cannot include differences over abortion or homosexual practice. They are not in the "petty disagreement" categories. Both of them break at least one, if not more of the Ten Commandments. However, a difference over whether a hard Christian rock band sings a Christmas song or a more traditional choir sings it better would be a petty argument. Such a thing is a matter of taste.

John MacArthur continues:

Now, you might think that the difference between a picayune disagreement and a serious threat to some core truth of Christianity would always be obvious and clear-cut. Usually, it is. Most of the time, it is easy enough to see the distinction between a peripheral issue and a matter of urgent and fundamental importance. But not always. And here is where mature wisdom and careful discernment become absolutely crucial for every Christian: sometimes serious threats to our faith come in subtle disguise so that they are barely noticeable. And false teachers like to surround their deadly error with some truth. Therein lies the seduction. We must never assume that things like the teacher's reputation, the warmth of his personality, or majority opinion about him are perfectly safe barometers of whether his teaching is really dangerous or not. We also shouldn't imagine that common sense, intuition, or first impressions are reliable ways of determining whether this or that error poses a serious threat or not. Scripture, and Scripture alone, is the only safe guide in this area.

As Dr. MacArthur states in that last paragraph sentence, "Scripture, and Scripture alone, is the only safe guide in this area."

Amen!!!

The term "Scripture" itself appears in the Bible 32 times!

This is a beautiful verse:

Gal 3:22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Hat Tips:

Grace To You.org - The Truth War pp. 74-77

Blue Letter Bible and all links.

Through the Lens Of God's Word [Update]

Received the March issue of Coral Ridge Ministries' "Impact" newsletter in the mail yesterday. These newsletters are brief but often very informative.

This morning, there was a spam post in my comment box. It was an invitation to link my blog with someone who posts about astrology. I politely declined the invitation, but welcomed the spammer to continue reading here at this blog. It is my hope that she, perhaps, will be inclined to read the Bible and learn about Jesus Christ.

On the back of the Impact newsletter, there was a commentary that was adapted from Dr. James Kennedy's (who is now deceased) message entitled: "The Christian World and Life View." I would like to share that message with readers today.

In the center of the essay, there is a box that reads:



"A biblical worldview is one in which all of life is viewed through the lens of God's Word."


What a great quote! And you will most likely notice my title for this post came from that quote.

As you read Dr. Kennedy's message, I would like to challenge you to think about all of the turmoil that is now going on here in the United States as well as all around the world. Also, for those who have been following the Glenn Beck** program and conservative talk radio, see if you don't see a distinct repetition of a pattern emerging from what Dr. Kennedy mentions in history. Has communism suddenly become "cool" to our young people who have been brainwashed by liberal/progressive/socialist/communist "red diaper doper babies" of the sixties who became today's majority of professors in thousands of liberal colleges and universities around our nation? Can you recognize how being "divorced from God" has created a moral vacuum in the hearts and minds of many people today?

I can't even imagine living apart from God in today's world of chaos. The Bible has warned us of what is to come "at the end of the age" and we are witnessing an enormous amount of Bible prophecy coming to fruition over the past 60 years. Israel rising again as a nation was prophesied in the Bible hundreds of years before it happened. Almost all of the 300 or so prophecies which were given by the Old Testament saints in reference to the coming Messiah were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. The remainder of those prophecies will be fulfilled at His Second Coming.

The Bible tells us:



Mat 28:17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.


Jesus informed us:




Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.


Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,


Mat 28:20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.


What could be better than knowing that Jesus Christ, is "with you [us, me] always, even to the end of the age?"

In contrast, the non-believer, who lives apart from God often experiences what Dr. Kennedy describes here:



"...man finds himself in a state of morbid decay and despair. He becomes nihilistic as he becomes aware of the logical consequences of his view. He concludes that life is not worth living. There is a deep void in the pit of his soul."


But let's start at the beginning of Dr. Kennedy's essay:


The Christian World and Life View
Commentary from Dr. Kennedy

Weltanschauung--that is probably not a phrase one would be intimately familiar with, and yet everyone has a "Weltanschauung." It's a German term which means world and life view. Simply put, a world and life view, or worldview, is a set of assumptions or presuppositions that determine the way we look at the world and our place in it. It determines how we view reality and everything that comes down our path.

A biblical worldview is one in which all of life is viewed through the lens of God's Word. There are many worldviews arrayed against this Christian view.

Naturalism, for instance, is the idea that nature is all there is--that there is nothing in the universe but matter (materialism). This worldview was promoted by Carl Sagan, an evolutionist and naturalist. On his famous ten-part educational TV series entitled Cosmos, Sagan made this clear statement: "The cosmos is all there ever was, or is, or is to be." That worldview is purely naturalistic, materialistic, and atheistic.

Chuck Colson in his book, How Now Shall We live? says that many of the battles in our culture stem from a conflict between worldviews. He says, "The culture war is not just about abortion, homosexual rights, or the decline of public education. These are only skirmishes. The real war is a cosmic struggle between worldviews -- between the Christian worldview and the various secular and spiritual worldviews arrayed against it."

One worldview that rages against the Christian view, and which has arisen since the French Enlightenment of the 1780's, is rationalism*--the idea that reason is the only source of knowledge and understanding. It rules out entirely any faith in God or His Word.

Additionally, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, published in 1859, provided a comprehensive worldview in evolution that made atheism palatable for the first time. Darwin's evolutionary view has been promulgated in Western society in the last 150 years like few things have.

This Darwinian worldview helped set off World Wars I and II; gave rise to communism, which, according to The Black Book of Communism, put to death some 100 million people, and fueled Nazism and Fascism.

While the atheistic worldview says "down with God," humanism says, "up with man"--but the end is the same: man is elevated in place of God, and God is abased.

That counters what Christians have always believed--that God is the measure of all things; that God tells us what is good and bad, right and wrong. He directs the very course of our life. In humanism, man is divorced from God. And that has led to catastrophic consequences.

Because he lives apart from God, man finds himself in a state of morbid decay and despair. He becomes nihilistic as he becomes aware of the logical consequences of his view. He concludes that life is not worth living. There is a deep void in the pit of his soul.

How far removed that is from the Christian world and life view, which says God has made us in His image; that He has placed eternity in our hearts and has given His own Son to redeem us from our sin. We have a glorious calling "to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever," and to be co-workers of Christ in the redemption of the world. Life is filled with meaning and purpose. This Christian worldview is glorious beyond understanding. I pray it is yours.

- Adapted from Dr, Kennedy's message: "The Christian World and Life View."
Hat tip:

Coral Ridge Ministries

* Some thoughts to consider about "rationalism." Logical reasoning is not an absolute law which governs the universe. Logic is not a set of rules which govern behavior. When one's view only explains how to use logic, you must decide whether logic is the right tool for the job. There are other ways to communicate, discuss, and debate.

** Some of my Christian friends have expressed some concern about my interest in Glenn Beck's TV program. There is no need for this concern. I am well aware that Glenn is a Mormon (and as Brannon Howse in this video link states), could also be guilty of EMBRACING NEW AGE THEOLOGY and possibly be deemed as A UNIVERSALIST.

I see Glenn as a news analyst who has an uncanny ability to discover and share what is going on in our current political world. I DO NOT EMBRACE HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.

But at the same time, Beck has given a voice (on several episodes of
his show) to some genuine biblical Christian leaders, pastors, and authors (for
example, promoted Dr. David Jeremiah's book "The Coming Economic Armaggeddon").
At least that is one good thing that is happening as a result of his large TV
audience.

However, the fact that he also embraces Ghandi and universalistic
ideas shows that he himself is probably not a biblical, born again Christian.

We can continue to pray for genuine salvation through Jesus Christ for Glenn. We can also appreciate what he contributes to our nation through sounding the alarm bells about Obama's dangerous socialist agenda and why we cannot let such terrible policies stand or continue past 2012.

I am grateful to Brannon Howse and his indepth analysis and warnings about Glenn's religious beliefs in the video he created at the above link.

True Meaning of Christmas

While waiting in line to mail packages at the post office, I couldn't help but notice that every Christmas card on display was of a secular nature. The only cards that actually said "Christmas" on them were of the Peanuts gang and Santa Claus.

I decided to do a search to find out the last year that the Madonna Christmas stamps - depicting Mary with the Christ Child - were sold at the post office.

In my first search, I found the following stamp dated 2006:



Description from USPS.com:


Christmas: Chacón Madonna and Child with Bird

The 2006 Christmas stamp features an oil-on-canvas entitled Madonna and Child with Bird. Dating from around 1765, the painting is attributed to Ignacio Chacón-an artist active from about 1745 to 1775 in Cuzco, Peru. It is now part of the Engracia and Frank Barrows Freyer Collection of Peruvian colonial art at the Denver Art Museum. In designing the stamp, art director Michael Osborne slightly cropped the painting's floral "frame" and surrounded the entire composition with a gold border that echoes Chacón's use of gold-leaf embellishments.

A famous painting by Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo entitled La Sagrada Familia del Pajarito (The Holy Family of the Little Bird) probably served as an indirect prototype for Chacón's Madonna and Child with Bird. The importance of birds in Inca culture would have made the topic of Murillo's painting particularly resonant in Peru. Birds were sacred to the Inca, partially because of their ability to fly and move closer to Inti, the sun god. So in Cuzco, colonial artists often incorporated birds or feathers into images of the Virgin and Christ to indicate their divine status.


Of course, this stamp is created more for the Catholic religion which believes that Mary was also divine - as was Christ. Unfortunately, that is incorrect. According to the Bible, Mary is NEVER mentioned as "divine." She is properly honored as the mother of Jesus (not "the mother of God") and is called "blessed."

During my second search, I found an article dated back in 2008 at The Telegraph UK which was entitled, "Church leaders fear religious Christmas stamps will be scrapped."

The sub-title tells us why:

Church leaders fear religious Christmas stamps could be scrapped for pantomime designs after Royal Mail forced them to be sold "under the counter".


Take a look at the ugly "pantomime design!" I don't even want to post the photo here at this blog. Well - at least "pantomime sisters" are rightly labeled as "The Ugly Sisters!" Ha! But...c'mon!! What do their ugly faces have to do with Christmas?

I agree with this Canon Chancellor:

Canon Chris Chivers, the Canon Chancellor of Blackburn Cathedral, has called the choice of stamps "utterly demeaning" and said in a letter: "If we are to have Christmas stamps at all, let them be Christian. But if for some mindlessly secularist reason we must have a choice, then let there be stamps of both sorts, in equal number."


Continuing on in my search, I found a blog called Darleen's Place. Her blog archive contains an essay entitled, "US Post Office goes Politically Correct - Updated". She claims that the Mary With the Christ Child stamps were not available in 2005, but correctly speculated that it would be back in 2006 (see stamp above). Lots of great comments there, too.

Darleen's blog led me to a 2005 post entitled, "The War Against Christmas" at Michele Malkin.com. Lots of additional links to explore there, too.

One of the prettiest Christmas stamps I found during my search was from Canada!



Ahhh! I'm running out of time. Hopefully, I can return to the search and find more photos of the Madonna and Christ Child commemorative stamps.

USPS.com Postal History PDF page has listings of all of the Christmas stamps over the years, but no photographs of them. According to that page, the last stamp of this kind issued was in 2009.

4424 Christmas: Madonna and Sleeping Child
by Sassoferrato, by Giovanni Battista
Salvi.
After 17th c. painting by Italian artist
Giovanni Battista Salvi, more commonly
known as Sassoferrato. Hearst Castle,
San Simeon, California.

Oct. 20, 2009 44¢ Carl T. Herrman


It appears that the site hasn't been updated past the date of January, 2010. Perhaps there IS a Mary and Christ Child stamp out there but it's under the counter and customers need to ask for it?

How sad!!!

Darleen was unfortunately correct back in 2005 when she shared:



P.S. After waiting in line and shaking my head about the secularism displayed at the post office, I went to The Family Christian Store and found some beautiful CHRISTIAN themed ornaments!

One is a blue bulb ornament from "The True Meaning of Christmas" line that says, "A Child Is Born" with Isaiah 9:6 NIV on the other side: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given."

A pretty red bulb ornament says, "Keep Christ In Christmas."

A flat wooden look ornament with a north star design depicts the nativity etched upon it.

A hand painted ceramic heart-shaped design on a dark red background states, "Be still and know that I am God."

The fourth one is in the shape of the cross and has the entire 23rd Psalm written on it!

Psa 23:1 [[A Psalm of David.]] The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want.


Psa 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.


Psa 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.


Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.


Psa 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.


Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.


All so beautiful!







Hat Tips:

USPS.com

The Telegraph UK

Darleen's Place

Michelle Malkin.com

Investigative Report on Radical Imam Rauf [Update]

Last week, on the way to a restaurant, my husband was playing with his new app on his Ipad. The application "listens" to the music and lyrics of a song on the radio, and then tells you the name of the song and the artist. When The Coffeehouse station on XM radio played a particular song, I recognized it immediately and beat the app in naming the song, and then the artist (or so I thought). The song was "Come Away With Me" and I stated (incorrectly), "by Norah O'Donnell."

My husband said, "No! "It's Norah Jones! Who the heck is Norah O'Donnell?"

I laughed to myself when I realized that Norah O'Donnell is that nitwit "reporter" over on the GE sponsored (you know - the people who "bring evil to life" as Glenn Beck says - ha!) MSNBC, which is one of the worst organization within the media of mass deception.

Perhaps the term "nitwit" is too soft. After all, anyone who says what Norah recently said actually deserves the title of absolute and blithering idiot!!

MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell: Those who oppose Ground Zero mosque are like the 9-11 terrorists
posted by John Schulenburg at Gateway Pundit - 30 minutes ago
via Breitbart… On Morning Joe, Norah O’Donnell says that those who oppose the Ground Zero mosque are acting “like the people who attacked America and killed 3,000 people.”

I doubt that Norah would ever read this blog, but if my wonderful readers here know of anyone who might think the same way that she does, please help educate them with the following two links included at the bottom of the page.

Act! For America sent me the following email today. If O'Donnell (or anyone else at MSNBC) had any real investigative skills, she might learn what this organization discovered through extensive research!



Exposing the real Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Dear Christine,

This past Friday, President Obama waded into the Ground Zero Mosque controversy, asserting it was a religious freedom issue.

Memo to President Obama and the politically correct elites in media, politics, academia and elsewhere: We’re not disputing First Amendment rights here.

We are not opposed to the first amendment right to build a mosque. We are opposed to the erection of a mosque on the sacred ground of Ground Zero, because this will be viewed by tens of millions in the Muslim world as a victory shrine. This will embolden those committed to jihad against America and swell their ranks.

We are opposed to the stunning insensitivity toward the 9/11 victims by Imam Rauf and those supporting him in this endeavor.

And we are concerned about the real agenda for this mosque, an agenda that includes the advance of sharia law, which is why we bring you this email today. In this extensive expose’ below learn for yourself who the real Imam Rauf is—hardly the “moderate” he and his apologists claim he is.

If you haven’t yet done so, please sign our petition opposing the Ground Zero Mosque. One national poll now shows that 54% of Democrats, 70% of Independents, and 82% of Republicans are opposed to the Ground Zero Mosque.


The following report is in PDF form - and WELL WORTH THE READ! Please share with everyone you know. With terribly misinformed reporters like Norah O'Donnell - who has obviously been helplessly fooled by the taqiyyah-minded radical Islamists - who needs additional enemies?




Excerpt:


quote:
Feisal Abdul Rauf By Alyssa Lappen
An investigative report prepared for ACT! for America

Feisal Abdul Rauf, born in Kuwait in 1948, boasts of his issue from an “Egyptian family steeped in religious scholarship.” 1 He presents himself as a Muslim moderate.2 Yet Feisal Rauf's Muslim Brotherhood provenance, radical by definition, is as authentic as it gets.

Evidence of family, and direct Rauf Muslim Brotherhood connections

Rauf's father Dr. Muhammad Abdul Rauf (1917-2004), was an Egyptian contemporary of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) founder Hassan al-Banna.


Rauf's father studied and taught at Islam's closest equivalent to the Vatican --- Al-Azhar University --- beside Hassan al-Banna, perpetuating the pious family tradition of radicalism.


In 1948, Rauf's father fled Egypt, during its first MB crackdown; Feisal was born in Kuwait. 3


In 1965, Feisal's father left Malaysia for New York City to stealthily buy two thirds of an E. 96th Street block for an Islamic “personal trust,” revealing its $1.3 million Islamic money from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Libya only after construction of the MB mosque began in 1984. 4


Likewise, 46 Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) nations funded the $17 million Islamic Cultural Center, only after its 1992 opening did Rauf's father reveal that funding source or admit his long-term plans for discriminatory Muslim-only housing for the Islamic complex. 5


Rauf's father named Feisal as a permanent trustee of the MB mosque.


Under Feisal's permanent trusteeship, ICC employed Al-Azhar imam Muhammad Gemeaha. A week after fleeing the U.S. on Sept. 28, 2001 he stated, “only the Jews” could have perpetrated 9/11; Allah says Jews “disseminate corruption in the land,” spread “heresy, homosexuality, alcoholism, and drugs.” Americans would exterminate Jews like “Hitler did” if they knew.


ICC then hired Al-Azhar envoy Omar Saleem Abu-Namous. He too saw no “conclusive evidence” that Muslims committed the atrocities, but rather saw Muslims as innocent victims. 6


At Perdana Global Peace Organization, an MB, Hamas and al-Qaeda affiliate, Rauf is second in command to antisemitic former Malaysian P.M. and Islamic law advocate Mahathir Mohamad,7 who in Nov. 2002, incited global anti-West financial war as a “jihad worth fighting for.”8


On May 7, 2010, Rauf himself stated, “Some people say ... Muslims ... attacked on 9/11 … ”9


In 2001 on 60 Minutes, Rauf called U.S. policies “an accessory to the crime that happened,” and said, “In … the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden was made in the USA.” 10


Rauf wants to impose sharia in the U.S. His 2004 book, What's Right with Islam, is translated into Malay as the Call from the WTC Rubble. 11


In Dec. 2007 Rauf promoted the book at a Kuala Lumpur Hizb ut Tahrir (HT) meeting. 12 Banned in Germany since 2003 and outlawed in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, among other places --- the organization is ideologically akin to the MB.


In the fiscal year ended Jun. 30, 2009, Feisal's ASMA accepted at least $1.3 million, including $576,312 from Qatar,13 whose government stands accused of funding international terrorism, has long harbored terror financiers, and for decades hosted Muslim Brotherhood spiritual chief Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Rauf is quite friendly with Qaradawi, a large, founding shareholder in terror-funding al-Taqwa Bank who champions sharia law, wife beating and suicide bombing. 14


Rauf concluded in the Washington Post, shortly after President Obama's June 2009 Cairo speech, that he'd challenged Muslims to “Live up to the tenets of our religion, embrace Shariah law as conceived by the Prophet, and see what happens.” 15


Rauf seeks more U.S. legal “leeway” for sharia --- to put Muslims above the law --- by

“[Inviting] voices of all religions to join the dialogue in shaping the nation’s practical life, [and allowing] religious communities ... to judge ...according to their own laws.16


On Dec. 9, 2007, Rauf said in Arabic to Sa’da Abdul Maksoud of the Hadi-el-Islam website, that current, unjust governments, “do not follow Islamic laws.” He advocates establishing sharia

“in more [ways than one] ... through a kingdom or a democracy, [so long as the] fundamentals of Shariah [exist, with standards of Muslim scholars] required to
govern. ...to organize ... relationships between government ... and the governed.” 17


In March 2010, also in Arabic, Rauf stridently denounced interfaith discussions. “I don't believe in interfaith dialogue,” he said in an article that highlighted his statement in its headline. 18


Rauf's Manhattan ASMA offices at 475 Riverside Drive occupy the suite next door to Council of American-Islamic-Relations (CAIR) of NY; its national parent is the U.S. arm of the MB terrorist group, Hamas, and an unindicted coconspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terror financing case in which the organization and five officers were convicted.19


At the Jul. 13, 2010 New York Landmarks hearing on the fate a 152-year-old wrought-iron era building where a piece of jet fuselage fell through its roof on 9/11 --- CAIR-NY executive director Zaed Ramadan supported destroying the structure opposite Ground Zero to build Rauf's 15 story mosque, a monument to Muslim victory to tower above the memorial site. 20


Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan in 2009 both refused to sign a Freedom Pledge to protect former Muslims from the death sentence sought by most sharia interpretations for Muslim apostates. On Oct. 20, 2009, Former Muslims United asked ASMA's executives to pledge to

“renounce, repudiate and oppose any physical intimidation, or worldly and corporal
punishment, of apostates ..., [however] that punishment may be determined or carried out by myself or any other Muslim including the [apostate's] family, community, Mosque leaders, Shariah court or judge, and Muslim government or regime.”21


Rauf's 2000 and 2004 books both laud sharia and envision implementing it in the U.S. – and “rejuvenating” the Islamic spirit of 14th century jurist Taqi al-Din Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah and his 18th century heir Muhammad bin Abdul al-Wahhab. Rauf also lauds purported “modernists” Jamal al-Dinal-Afghani (d. 1897) and Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) who revered Wahhabis, Ibn Taymiyyah and like Rauf pretended sharia – with perennial jihad and countless strictures on non-Muslims and women – complements Western ideas like those in the U.S. Bill of Rights. 22


Rauf also authorized two mainstay MB organizations, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to produce “a special non-commercial edition” of his 2004 book to promote “proper [Western] understanding of Islam...”23


Rauf's ASMA in 2004 established the purportedly liberal Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow.24 Its liberal faces are largely overwhelmed by sharia devotees like al Qaeda supporter Yasir Qadhi,25 CAIR-NY community affairs director Faiza N. Ali --- who co-authored CAIR's fallacious “denunciation” of a superb 2008 NYPD report on homegrown jihadists --- and CAIR-NY community organizer Debbie Almontaser, who once ran the city's Khalil Gibran Academy.26


Since at least 2006, Rauf's U.S.-based Cordoba Initiative has partnered with Gallup Organization and “Sunni and Shi'a scholars from Morocco to Indonesia” to create “an Islamic legal benchmark for measuring 'Islamicity' of a state”---sharia index---for official, state, public and press use in the “Muslim and Western worlds.” He initiated the project, funded by Malaysia and many other nations in the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). 27


A key sharia index board member, Jasser Auda, doubles on the academic council at the U.K. the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) office and in summer 2010 taught with Muslim Brotherhood heavies---e.g. former ISNA leadership development head Louay Safi, IIIT v.p. and NAIT founding general manager Jamal Barzinji and Minaret of Freedom head Imad Ad Deen Ahmad, present at the Beirut terrorist convention in January 2001. No mistaking their intent. /end quote






Continue reading [Note: PDF FORM] Feisal Abdul Rauf Investigative Report


Also, if you happen to think that Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews - think again. Please read my essay on this subject which was written back in 2006.

Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?

Hat tips to all links.

*******

Update:

Just when you think you have read all that there is to know about Rauf and the proposed Ground Zero mosque, read Big Peace: Ground Zero Mosque’s Hidden Websites: Follow the Shariah.

Excerpt:

Do the math. The 15 floors planned for the Ground Zero Mosque just don’t add up.

What’s the goal? Maybe the Imam’s goal is not simply to force a provocative “insensitivity” about 9-11 on the American public, with the help of America’s elites. Maybe the Imam’s long-term goal is to force Shariah law on the American public – of course, again, with the help of America’s elites.



Hat Tip to Daily Thought Pad for alerting me to the website!

*******

Second Update:

Here's an interesting essay posted at Bible Prophecy Today: The Prophecy of Ishmael and the Ground Zero Islamic Center.

See the comment section for additional discussion about Ishmael and Bible prophecy regarding him and his decendants.

The Error of Collective Salvation and Black Liberation Theology (Update #3)


Did any readers see today's broadcast of The Glenn Beck Program on the Fox News Channel? It was a great expos'e of the errors of Black Liberation Theology (BLT) and liberation philosophy (lp). Glenn demonstrated how these two have hooked up with Marxism to create the skewed, unbiblical view of the definition of "social justice" that is being touted by the likes of liberal, progressive pastors such as Jeremiah Wright and Jim Wallis.

I want to encourage readers to DVR The Glenn Beck Program re-broadcast on the Fox News Channel tonight! In the past I have seen it shown at 11:00 p.m. (PT) and/or 2:00 a.m. (PT) - so check the listings.

The YouTube version of the show usually comes out several hours after the first broadcast, so I will be looking for it to include here in this post. Then readers can view it online.

I think that Beck did a great job describing both BLT and lp and explaining why it is in error of the true Gospel of Christ. He also included the Marxist elements (such as the ideas of "collective salvation" and "social justice") which Obama and his cohorts often refer to in lectures and speeches. We get a good idea as to why Obama's kind of beliefs mirror his maniac former pastor, Jeremiah Wright's Black Liberation Theology beliefs.

Beck had the author of Liberating Black Theology, Anthony B. Bradley as a spokesperson on his show to back up what Beck was sharing with the audience.

Even though Beck is a Mormon (he even acknowledged this during the broadcast) - which is viewed by most born again Christians as a religious offshoot in error of genuine Biblical Christianity - the fact that he DOES have a T.V. show and is able to use it to refute the "social justice" and "collective salvation" perversions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a HUGE advantage in and of itself. Fortunately, he resisted going into his particular religion's traditions and beliefs in the book of Mormon. Today he did a great service to viewers by showing the perversion of Black Liberation Theology and black liberation philosophy.

This blog post will be added to over the next several hours, so please check back as more information will be forthcoming.

Update #1 @ 4:23 p.m. PT -

Although Glenn didn't have a lot of time to go into detail about the connections between the Black Panther Party rants (and the subsequent dismissing of the charges of voter intimidation done by members in the 2008 election by the Obama administration DOJ Attorney General - Eric Holder) he did show video evidence of it on his show the previous day. Today's show dealt less with the horrid rants of members and leaders (former and current) of the Black Panther Party, and more with how it relates to the spiritual confusion being touted by Black Liberation Theology, liberation philosophy, the error of collective salvation, and the skewing of the biblical meaning of social justice. You can see how these elements of error are being used by certain organizations (like the NAACP) to cause politically-driven hatred, racial tensions and division by the perpetrators of such beliefs via these posts:

Daily Thought Pad
NAACP Readies Racism Resolution Against Tea Parties As Michelle Obama Tells NAACP: America Still Unequal

Gateway Pundit
Republican Tim Scott Releases Statement – Condemns NAACP Resolution Against Tea Party - Republican Tim Scott from South Carolina spoke out against the NAACP’s racist attack on tea party patriots today Tim released this statement this afternoon...


The Conservative Monster.com - Conservative News, Politics, Terrorism, CNIN - Steve Cooper
Explosive Debate Between Megyn Kelly & Kirsten Powers Over the DOJ Dismissal of the Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case - * Click here for the VIDEO* * Share this story * ** *[image: Bookmark and Share]* *Order The SPECIAL EDITION - Air Brushed - Conservative Mons...

Big Government
I Condemn the NAACP - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is expected to pass a resolution condemning the “racist elements” of the Tea Party m...

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
NAACP Passes "Tea Party Is Racism" Resolution - The NAACP just passed a resolution condemning as racist the tens of millions of people who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement. As originall...

Desert Conservative
ERIC HOLDER: THE PROFILE OF A RACIST PROFILER! - Eric Holder, America’s Racist Attorney General! http://lisarichardsusa.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/eric-holder-racial-profile-racist/

Patriots and Liberty
The Evils of Collective Salvation - Faultline USA Update 5:20 PM: Be sure to watch Glenn Beck tomorrow, July 13th. The entire program will be devoted to the issue of Collective Salvation. Chr...

*******

All of the ills and divisions occurring in the hearts, minds, souls and spirits of mankind boils down these facts:

1. We are all sinners in need of the Savior - Jesus Christ.
2. We must be born again. (Jesus words in John 3:3)
3. Without Jesus Christ indwelling our hearts and minds in the form of the Holy Spirit, the minds of men are wrought in, and/or vulnerable to spiritual deception.
4. The rejection of God's Written Word, the Bible, and the ignorance and/or rejection of God's Living Word - Jesus Christ leads unrepentant minds into error, heresy and apostasy.

*******

Update #2 @ 6:15 p.m. PT -

Also see Glenn Beck's Page: Liberation Theology and Social Justice

Excerpt:

Jesus never said, "Take from the rich and let the government redistribute it." Take the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan chose to take it upon himself to help; he took on the bills himself. The government never told him to do it. Anything else is a perversion of Christianity and the perversion of the principles of God.

You don't need to be a Christian to believe this. You need to understand this because a perversion of God is extraordinarily dangerous.

Tonight, I have to take it a step further.

We are living in dangerous times and unless you understand what people are saying and why they are saying it and how they arrived there, then too many Americans are going to be fooled.

We start with James Cone. He's one of the founding fathers of liberation theology. Liberation theology is a brand of Christianity based on the liberation of the oppressed from unjust economic, political or social conditions. It centers around the idea that people are in one of two categories: the oppressor and the oppressed. Poverty, according to this theology, is caused because the poor are "victims of others."

James Cone is credited with starting the same liberation theology behind Rev. Wright's church:
Continue reading HERE.

*******

Update # 3 @ 8:46 p.m. PT -

Link to The Daily Beck broadcast of The Glenn Beck Program for 7/13/10:

Watch Glenn Beck.com: July 13, 2010 Show - Collective Salvation

Also - Talk Wisdom made the list of "collective salvation" hot news!

Looking For Christian Reviews On This Essay!





When I read the title of the latest post over at Herescope: Restoring the Gospel of Salvation, I was excited to read it. The title of the article, however, was a bit different from the title of the post, which asks, "Does not the salvation of sinners trump national restoration?"



Without revealing my reaction after reading the editorial, I present it here - in its entirety - so that readers can write their own thoughts, comments, positive and/or critical reviews about what was written in the essay. I am especially interested in what other Christians think about the article, though all are invited to share their opinions as well. I plan to reveal my thoughts, comments and reactions to the post sometime over the next two days.

Happy reading! I encourage each Christian reading here to put on your apologetics hat and take some time to comment about what you have read!

In Christ,


Christine

*******


Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Restoring the Gospel of Salvation

Does not the salvation of sinners trump national restoration?




An Editorial by Rev. Dr. Orrel Steinkamp



There is a new virus going around. Its called Christian political war gaming. Once the virus strikes it becomes a near obsession. I know a number of people who don’t get enough sleep because they are at their computers doing political war games. Once they lived healthy Christian lives. Their passion was the Gospel of saving individual sinners. Now they rarely have the time or energy for their former passion. Their affections have been alienated. They need a Gospel intervention.

Former websites that defended the Gospel of salvation now are mostly devoted to restoring an illusive American past and proving our present president is a stealth Muslim attempting to make America a Muslim caliphate. Joseph Farah, World Net Daily Christian conspiracy expert, is sure Obama has specific plans for Christian concentration camps.

Even if all this is true, why should this divert us from our mandate of preaching the Gospel to every creature? Why should we be attempting to infiltrate and dominate every political entity before the time of God's vengeance?

Paul wasn't worried about imperial palace intrigue in Rome. Obama is just being a politician from the Left. Like all politicians before him he has an agenda. We do not have to accept these principles and we can vote our conscience and financially support the campaigns of our choice. In the current political stalemate this could qualify me as a liberal. Well! I didn’t vote for Obama and I didn’t vote for McCain. I was comfortable with making a write-in choice, one I know my every reader would support. I don't like Obama's stance on many things personally, and I deeply resent his reference to two fathers on fathers day. But neither did I appreciate "born-again" President Bush's statement to Muslim leaders that we both pray to the same God.

Nevertheless, Romans 13 states with clarity that God puts up rulers of His choice for His purposes. I may not agree with God's choice and can't always see His purpose, but I am commanded to pray for the rulers our Sovereign God raises up.

Is it for Christian evangelists to suffer near frenetic emotional exhaustion in the political war games arcade? Is the eternal purpose of God hanging on such a thin thread? Is the biblical Jehovah really such a wimp deity, and a weak onlooker to the affairs of men, hoping Christians will overcome politically and take back dominion our God supposedly lost in the Garden of Eden and a establish the kingdom of God in the earth?

America survived Clinton, Hoover, and a corrupt Ulysses Grant, and it will continue to survive if it is God’s will. My God is a sovereign who could overcome Egyptian Pharaohs (after Israel was in bondage for 300 years) and could even raise up Cyrus, a pagan ruler, to accommodate Israel’s return to Jerusalem. Paul never ever looked to Rome except to use his Roman citizenship for the furtherance of the Gospel.

How must we look to the persecuted church? Are we by example suggesting they become political terrorists for the Kingdom of God and unnecessary martyrs? Janet Porter, in her June 8, 2010 WorldNetDaily column, suggested that some of us were like the pious Germans who held high their hymnbooks so they wouldn’t see the cattle cars on their way to exterminate Jews. (A classic false dichotomy.) What could they have done? Lay themselves on the tracks? The German Christians were culpable, not because of their hymn singing but because they made common cause with the goals and destiny of the Third Reich, as did the Vatican in Rome.

Jesus, whom we say is our example, shunned (not a strong enough word) political pursuits in the name of the Kingdom of God. Recall the story of when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. Peter rushed to action and struck off the soldiers ear. Jesus was so perturbed that He instantly restored it and said to Peter "put your sward [sic] in its sheath" (John 18:11).

The Jerusalem that Jesus entered was a political hotbed. The people were involved in every possible action to drive out the pagan Romans from the holy city. When Jesus entered on Palm Sunday He purposefully fulfilled an Old Testament prophesy of the coming messiah by riding into the city on a young donkey. "Hosanna in the Highest" the crowd cried. Hosanna means “save us now." They treated Him as political messiah who would use his supernatural powers to drive out the Romans and RESTORE JERUSALEM. Did they look for a suffering savior who would bear the sins of the people? Hardly! By the time Jesus went to the cross they were all long gone.

Even the Romans saw Jesus as political threat. The quisling Jewish leaders, in collaboration with the Romans, were afraid of a political uprising. But the Messiah came for the redemption of sinners, not a political restoration of the Jewish State. It is safe to say the reason Jesus died nearly alone is because it was not "His Hour" to Judge the nations. It was only "His hour" to go to the cross. Why did He die nearly alone?

The Jews, and even His disciples, expected Jesus "to save now, hosanna." The Dominionists today are crying "hosanna now." They claim we can restore what Jesus failed to do in His first advent. But the resurrected Jesus had to tell His disciples that it was not for them to know the times and the season that the Father has fixed, by His own authority," to restore the Kingdom to Israel.

On the cross Jesus could have called 10,000 angels for His rescue. But this would have totally contravened the plan of redemption from sin decreed by God (not "decreed" by a fake apostle!) from the foundation of the world. Redemption from sin remains to this day the focus of the kingdom of God. Jerusalem was filled with zealots (we would call them undercover militia). They were called the sicarii (Latin for dagger), for they hid daggers in their robes to assassinate Romans and collaborators. Even the Essene community at the Dead Sea was calling for a final battle between the Sons of God (Israel) and the Sons of Darkness.

Into this political milieu Jesus never uttered a solitary political word. He made it plain that “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He, however, looked forward to when the Son of Man would RETURN and when He then would judge the nations. But until that great and awesome Day of the Lord, when the Savior would return on the clouds of glory, He was not striving for an earthly kingdom. He was content with establishing a church, His body upon the earth. Many in His day were offended by Him because He apparently had not political ambitions. Judas is speculated to be among them. Jesus asserted with force that His day to rule the nations awaited His second return, when He would judge the nations like a shepherd divides His sheep from the goats.

G. Peter Wagner, chief apostle of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), made a tactical decision to see Dominionism as temporarily consistent with democracy. I have not been able to locate when and where Wagner made such an "apostolic decree." But, indeed, the Kingdom of God cannot ultimately be a democracy. For Wagner and any other Dominionist, the democratic process can only be a way station on the road to their "kingdom of God on the earth," which is prior to the real Parousia.

Wagner's tactical decision (as opposed to strategic decision) was a major change. It opened the way for the false apostles and prophets to enter the political arena. So now "apostle" Lou Engle is free to lay apostolic hands of blessing on 3-time divorcee Newt Gingrich. Now the NAR apostles and prophets, thanks to Janet Porter and WorldNetDaily, can take their equal places in politics. Now they have the blessing of James Dobson, who endorsed Janet Porter’s May Day event at the Lincoln Memorial. Now Cindy Jacobs, prophetess extraordinaire, who had a visit of the Seraphim in her room that caught it on fire, can share the stage with Newt Gingrich. Now Rick Joyner, who has his own political action organization which he calls the Oak Initiative -- and who reportedly made a trip to heaven and heard Martin Luther repent of the Reformation -- can rub shoulders with James Dobson.

So now these self-anointed, self-appointed apostles of the NAR, laden down with false signs and wonders, false apostolic decrees, and false prophets -- who compete with each other in imaginary "can you top this" fraudulent oracles supposed to be from God -- have been given the kiss of acceptance by Christian Right politicians, including James Dobson. The apostles and prophets see this as a match made in heaven, a giant step toward appointing apostles as governors of every state and province in the world, complete with in-house prophetic seers to make supernatural decisions.

But I for one see it as blip in church history (like the Montanists of the 1st century), a match made in the pit of political desire for power before our King returns in His glory.

A Verbal Shellacking of Wallis' "Social Justice" Agenda [video link added]

Whew! Glenn Beck certainly verbally whacked Jim Wallis and his "social justice" perversion of the Gospel on today's T.V. show! I'm sure that the videos of the show will be available to view later today or tomorrow.*** THIS is a show that you cannot miss! Glenn exposed the "social justice" movement agenda in liberal/progressive churches that has been previously camouflaged for what it really is - the socialistic march towards Marxism.

In a previous post, I wrote about how Glenn exposed the "social justice" terminology that was being used by the Marxists and radicals surrounding Obama at the White House. Today, Glenn excellently exposed how a perversion of the Gospel is being used to promote religious "social justice" in place of what Jesus genuinely meant when he preached during His three year ministry here on earth. The Bible is clear on this issue!

Perversion of the Bible is nothing new. It has been going on for thousands of years. There is "nothing new under the sun" as Solomon so wisely admonished in the book of Ecclesiastes. As Christians, we are to be on alert for such perversion, heresy and apostasy. The book of Jude gave us warnings about such attempts to skew true Christian faith through the guise of false religion. Such warnings are needed the closer we get to the end times. Jesus himself gave us instructions on what to do! See Mark 13.



Perhaps one of my first encounters with the "social justice" progressive movement was when I read and reviewed a book called UnChristian. At the time, I referred to such people as part of the "Emergent Church" movement. But what stands out to me now is the fact that the emergents usually criticize the Christians who believe in and follow God's Word and the Gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ for salvation. I found it odd that they would allow, and agree with, the secular public who often attempt to disparage true Christian faith, beliefs, motives, and proper exegesis, hermeneutics, and interpretation of the Bible that has been passed down through centuries of scholarly Christian apologists, commentators, and writers.

Why is that?

If you read the link above, you will know why. Here is a short excerpt:

Why is there such a small percentage of those who hold a biblical worldview? We get our answer from Jesus himself when we read what Jesus said to the Father in his prayer:

Jhn 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.


Jhn 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.


Jhn 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.


Jhn 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

I noticed that the authors talk about urging those who call themselves Christians towards "spiritual depth." I don't see them emphasizing the need for repentance and receiving the Holy Spirit of God indwelling the soul of the believer.


Back to Jim Wallis and the social justice movement.

It might help to read my previous post: Hunger and Thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS

In a moment of honesty, I think that Wallis' title for the following post is true!

Social Justice is a perversion of the Gospel

Although the author (Wallis) claims that his "message is getting through to Glenn Beck," the exact opposite is happening! Glenn's message about Wallis' perversion of the Gospel is getting through to the American people! Especially genuine born again Christians! Remember, Jesus tells us unequivocally that the elect in Christ will not be fooled by false teachers, prophets or false Christs:

Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.


We are equipped through study of the Bible, Christ's Gospel, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we will not be deceived!

So far, I haven't seen a response posted at Wallis' blog God's Politics. I wonder if a response will be forthcoming? Or will that guy shrink away from Beck's counter challenge? In the former post (link above) Wallis actually challenged Beck to allow him to debate on his radio or T.V. show. Do you think that Wallis will still want to do that now that his agenda has been fully exposed? Hmmm....

Oh wait! I found a more recent commentary at Wallis' blog (via his sidebar)!

Glenn Beck Promises Week-long Focus on Jim Wallis and His ‘Social Justice Nonsense’

But that was written on March 18th. We shall see what happens after today's broadcast. Stay tuned, folks. It promises to be quite the back and forth fight.

There are LOTS of comments to read through at this new link. I skipped over to the latest ones and found the following, which sums up why I think that Beck is right about Wallis:

lilschmoo 1 day ago

The term “social justice” has it’s roots in marxism and communism and is not in the Bible. The word "justice" in Hebrew from Micah 6:8 means the following (strong's concordance):

1) judgment, justice, ordinance

a) judgment

1) act of deciding a case

2) place, court, seat of judgment

3) process, procedure, litigation (before judges)

4) case, cause (presented for judgment)

5) sentence, decision (of judgment)

6) execution (of judgment)

7) time (of judgment)

b) justice, right, rectitude (attributes of God or man)

c) ordinance

d) decision (in law)

e) right, privilege, due (legal)

f) proper, fitting, measure, fitness, custom, manner, plan

What Christians mean as justice: aka, helping the poor, oppressed, etc. is NOT what the term “social justice” at its inception means and this is the phrase that Mr. Beck was referring too. Social justice is an ideologue that subscribes to progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution. In other words: SOCIALISM. In that context, Mr. Beck was correct in saying what he said. Christians are not understanding that when the government says "social justice" it is not coming from a biblical understanding of God’s justice but rather a socialist agenda. God’s justice (which I am all for) and “social justice” are NOT the same.


Bingo!

Update:

View video clips here:

Barack Obama, Jim Wallis, 'Social Justice' & Marxism, via Glenn Beck & Pamela Key
posted by noreply@blogger.com (Arlen Williams) at Investigating Obama - 6 hours ago
Below are sequential excerpts of yesterday's Glenn Beck program -- one of the most important presentations he has ever given. Please take the time to listen to all of these and if or when you have, conside...

Purity Of Truth at War With Blackness of Lies [Update]


This morning, I picked up John MacArthur's book "The Truth War." I have read the book several times and have previously written two blog posts about it. Here are the links:

Truth Means Nothing Apart From God

Fighting For Certainty in an Age of Deception

This time, I want to list the highlighted points within each chapter of the book and expand upon them; particularly as it relates to what we, as Conservative Biblically-based Christian Americans have seen, faced, and dealt with over the course of this last year under the Obama administration.

Rather than working on one extremely long post, my plan is to write several blog posts over the course of the next few days.

Before I begin with the first chapter, I want to share that the quote by C.H. Spurgeon in the preface of the book has special meaning to me, personally. It kind of sums up my original goal when I created this blog over five years ago.

In 2004, I attended my first blog conference at Biola University. One of the speakers asked members of his class what each of our goals will be in writing Christian-based blog material. I stated that I wanted to write discernment articles that include the gospel of Christ while exposing how politics, culture, education, the media, and apostate churches battle against the Word of God and the message of the gospel. I recall that the professor told me, "that would be an impossible endeavor."

Yet, here I am, five years later including all of the above with the discussions here at Talk Wisdom. I don't quite know why the professor thought that way. Perhaps he thought that I should limit myself to apologetics and not include any criticism of the world around us. Or, maybe he worried that any "politically incorrect" approach might turn individuals away from the Gospel message. (Been there, heard that - MANY TIMES - even by some fellow Christian believers.) Perhaps I should have asked him why he thought such an endeavor was "impossible." I didn't get the chance to ask him. The session ended abruptly because we were out of time and he was surrounded by bloggers asking many questions.

The following is the Spurgeon quote:

The Church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition. The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel.

Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this?

It is the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.
- C.H. Spurgeon 1


1. Spurgeon, Charles, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 5 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1879), 41.

As the picture at the top of this post implies - sometimes the truth hurts! However, secular society's love affair for diversity (even at the expense of causing harm) and tolerance (today's code word for never offending anyone!) doesn't WANT to know any kind of truth that may initially hurt anyone (emotionally speaking).

However, common sense tells us to grab the arm of a child and pull it hard to prevent that child from running in the street in front of a speeding bus! The truth of the need for rescue may hurt the child physically at that moment in time, but the lie of freedom to do what would harm him/her if he/she ran in front of the bus can end up killing the child!

Such an illustration is even important when considering spiritual truth. These days, telling someone that their religion is not truth may hurt a person's feelings (at first), but the end result of them finding Jesus Christ and becoming a child of God through the biblical Gospel message brings eternal life that they would not have had without Him!

Spurgeon's ending line is quite the keeper! It sums it all up in one brilliant sentence!


The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies.


Readers, please feel free to share any thoughts, questions, comments, opinions, criticisms, or compliments in the comment section!

1/3/10 Update:

I just discovered that American Prophet has included this post in that website's "News" items!

American Prophet.org/News

Comment there:

Note This is an award winning site and one of our best choices as well.


Of course, the excellent quotes from John MacArthur's book made the post possible! I am truly humbled and honored to have that post recognized by American Prophet - one of the best Christian sites on the web!

Thank you Rev. Michael Bresciani!