(-Book Cover: “Believing in a God who does not exist: Manifesto of an Atheist Pastor”)
An Atheist Protestant Pastor? Condoms being handed out at church? A practicing Muslim serving as an Episcopal priest? A practicing Gay Bishop? All ‘April Fools’ jokes Right? No–incredibly true!
This is where you end up once you begin to deny Biblical authority and established truth –than anything goes. *Top
Posted in -The Church, Culture Wars, Humor, Ministry
Tagged April Fools, atheist pastor
(-Picture by WorldIslandInfo.com via Flickr)
US out of wedlock births now exceed 40%. A real indicator that the nation and the dominant culture is headed at full steam away from Biblical Christianity or so it would seem. Unfortunately, I would imagine that the statistics for the American Church are only slightly better.
It is amazing to me how many supposed Christians follow the dominant culture and live together before marriage. I’m sure that many of you Pastors out there have seen this trend.
The super abundant grace taught in so many churches has opened the door to immorality without fear of any judgment from other Christians or from God. Worse yet, so many Christian leaders have jumped the ship and live contrary to Christian Biblical standards and yet brazenly expect to continue in the ministry.
Many see no reason why they should change. A homosexual Bishop continues to live with his same-sex partner and causes schism and division among a 70 million member association but preaches that the Bible is wrong and everyone that opposes him must change?
A former president of an Assoc. of Evangelicals has an affair with a homosexual prostitute but says that now he is ready to minister again but the Church is treating him rather badly and he airs all his dirty linen and attitudes on TV–obviously being used by enemies of the church.
A well known mega-church pastoring couple separate, keep on ministering, and try to split up their huge ministry like it is some kind of multi-million $ business.
A major prophetic minister falls into homosexuality and alcohol but rejects the plan for a supervised recovery, goes his own way, finds a group that extends fellowship to him and now says he is ready to return.
Then the latest, a major healing evangelist falls into adultery, divorces his wife and leaves his children, but now is ready to begin restoration? Because he will never do that one again since he is now married to his sin and intents to continue in it? More shocking, several major leaders seem to be on board with it all?
The fastest growing religious category in America is “none”. Why not, the church has become just like everyone else.
But it is now time for the faithful church to stand up and walk a different path–with signs following but also expect the beginning of real persecution from a rapidly departing dominant culture. *Top
Posted in -Bible Issues, American Church, Christian Living, Culture Wars, Repentance
(-Image by wallyg via Flickr)
When I was a kid growing up in the 50′s and 60′s it seemed like everyone in the neighborhood and everyone our family knew were Christians. But no one really called themselves Christians, it was somewhat assumed–everyone was divided up as either Catholic or Protestant.
Then secondarily if you were Protestant you were also identified as a Baptist, Methodist, or whatever. Oh yes, there was the family at the end of the street that was Jewish–they were Americans also.
I remember being asked at the start of every school year whether I was Protestant or Catholic, we had Bible study once a week–Catholics went to the Catholic class and Protestants to the Protestant. My best friend in 6th grade was Jewish, don’t remember where he went during that time.
If you went into the army in those days your dogtags reflected 3 basic choices–Protestant, Catholic, and Jew. Never really knew anyone growing up that had no religion at all. America has obviously changed in the last 50 years or so.
Somewhere along the way In the 70′s and 80′s, born-again Christians who continued to recognize Biblical authority started calling themselves ‘Evangelicals’ to be differentiated from some of the more liberal main-line Protestants.
Now according to a recent poll, the country is far more diverse and divided than it use to be when it comes to religion. Now ‘none’ — no religion at all– is a larger group in America than Catholic and Evangelical has replaced Protestant as the most popular generic Christian label and one of the largest denomination groups is ‘non-denominational Christian’.
In a MinistryToday article- “God as a Fashion Statement” –it says the following about the growing “None” classification–
they represent a growing 15% of the population but as one researcher noted:
“These people aren’t secularized, they’re not thinking about religion and rejecting it; they’re not thinking about it at all.”
The survey found that among the ‘nones’, 40 percent of them had never experienced any kind of religious ceremony (e.g., baptism, christening, bar mitzvah), and a shocking 55 percent had been married in some sort of non-religious ceremony with no religious reference or trappings at all. Even more shocking , one state–Vermont has 34% of its population in the ‘none’ category, far more than any religious group in the state.
The article ends with this observation:
“The challenge to Christianity, does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.”
I found many articles on the Internet citing the poll, nearly all proclaim and conclude that America is far less religious than it use to be. Something most of us already know. Another indication that change is ahead for the American Church one way or another. *Top (Cross-Posted on ANSWERS For The Faith)
Posted in American Church, News Commentary, Religion
Link: A Charisma News update on Todd Bentley
One response to the update: J. Lee Grady- “The Tragic Scandal of Greasy Grace”
Posted in -Lakeland Revival, News Commentary
According to the report, nearly every denomination of the top 25 in America and Canada either declined or recorded no change in membership during the last year. Only 4 saw increases and 2 were Pentecostal denominations: Assemblies of God and Church of God of Cleveland, Tennessee.
The other 2 were the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses–two denominations which are not orthodox in their theology.
The report noted that: “Many churches are feeling the impact of the lifestyles of younger generations of church-goers — the ‘Gen X’ers’ or “Millenials’ in their 20s and 30s…” who seem to be making different choices than their parents.
The biggest surprise–the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist denominations saw their first declines ever.
Here’s another article claiming that research shows by 2050 only 10% of America will be attending churches.
Response: The declines that for a whole generation only affected the liberal mainline denominations are now being felt in evangelical and conservative churches also. Generational change is a major reason. Without a major revival, we can expect the decline to gain momentum in the years to come.
So far, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches seem to be holding their own.
However, the demographics that many church leaders were concerned about is now proving to be true. As the older generation dies off there are fewer in the younger Gen X and Milllenial group coming on-board to replace them. The American Church is now clearly in decline on many different levels. *Top
Posted in American Church, News Commentary
(-Jerusalem via Wikipedia)
There are two articles that I read this last week which address an ‘end-times’ scenario from entirely different perspectives.
The first is an article I found today on WorldNetDaily: "Zero hour approaches" by Hal Lindsey.
Hal does what he is best at identifying how events in the Middle East are quickly progressing towards an end-time scenario. Iran is on the brink of having nuclear weapons and Hal cites the beginning of an Ezekiel end-time coalition with Russia and Iran in the lead against Israel.
Oh by the way, Hal didn’t mention this, but did anyone notice that Iran just this week put its first satellite up in space using its newest rocket? No I didn’t think so! This story should be as big as ‘sputnik’ was in the 50′s, but the news media is downplaying it and the possible implications for weapons delivery.
The Ezekiel 38-39 battle scenario now is beginning to fall in to place and coming at a time when we have a new administration that might blink when it comes to a possible confrontation with a nuclear power like Russia. Hal always does a great job at scaring the heck out of me!
The second article was published a couple of weeks ago but I just got around to reading it yesterday. It is the second part of a prophetic message for 2009 that I posted on in January: "The Last Days Anointing" by Loren Sandford.
The message that Loren Sandford brings is the flip side of the coin. While the world is literally going to hell, it is time for the church to rise up and finish the task–the gospel is to go into every nation with signs and wonders demonstrating the Kingdom of God.
While Lindsey and Sandford present two different perspectives, I find inspiration in both of them. After over 35 years of studying eschatology, all of the scriptures, and reading 100′s of books having to do with the ‘end-times’, I am of the opinion that no one has it completely nailed down.
I can find holes in every traditional approach–amil, postmil, premil: pretrib, midtrib, postrib, I like premil/prewrath probably the most. The point is, if it is published somewhere in some book than I am convinced that it is probably wrong in some way.
There are surprises ahead for the church in the last days, one of the reasons that God is raising up prophets again is to give vision to the church in these chaotic times. I know, what passes for prophecy and prophets today is imperfect and not always edifying. But just wait, a new generation of prophetic ministry is on the horizon.
I believe that the Second Coming will be similar to the first in that every single learned scholarly ‘Messianic’ expectation of the first century was proved to be wrong. The church is entering a new era when we will need to rely more closely on the Lord and it will no longer be good enough to continue doing things the way we have done them in the past. *Top
(-Image via Wikipedia)
View the Rejected Pro-Life Super Bowl commercial that NBC refused to show-view time 41 seconds. It was too wide for this site so had to take it down. <<click here to view>>
Response:—Powerful! *Top
Posted in -Pro Life, News Commentary
"Almighty God, our Father, everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of You alone. It all comes from You. It all belongs to You. It all exists for Your glory. History is Your story.
"The Scripture tells us, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.’ And You are the compassionate and merciful One. And You are loving to everyone You have made."Now today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.
"We are so grateful to live in this land — a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.
"Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet and every one of our freely elected leaders.
"Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.
"And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches and civility in our attitudes — even when we differ.
"Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all."May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.
"And may we never forget that one day, all nations, and all people, will stand accountable before You. We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
"I humbly ask this in the name of the One who changed my life — Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, [pronounced in Spanish], Jesus — who taught us to pray:
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
"Give us this day our daily bread.
"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."
Response: I found the prayer to be especially inspired and it brings a tear to my eye every time I read it. Since Pastor Rick is from my home town and since my family and I have worshipped at his church on a number of special occasions, I found it to be particularly meaningful and special.
There were so many protests against Warren in the last several weeks, with many asking Obama to drop him from the program. Then there was article after article instructing Rick that he should not invoke the name of Jesus, and even some Christian detractors made it known that a better choice could have been made.
Pastor Rick told them: “I’m a Christian Pastor, so I will pray the only kind of prayer I know how to pray.” Pastor Warren not only invoked the name of Jesus but did so in Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and English. –Praise The Lord. (Cross-posted on ANSWERS For The Faith) *Top
Posted in Intercession, News Commentary, Prayer
(-Presidential Picture by BL1961 via Flickr)
After 8 years a new era is dawning today in America. We come together to celebrate the passing of the torch to a new president regardless of who we voted for–it is an historic day on so many different levels.
After all the sights and sounds, the pomp, the parades, and the balls are all over– a new administration must pick up the ball and face a changing world that continues to bring us wars, economic problems, and natural disasters that no one is prepared for.
As the new president sits down for the first time in the oval office with the levers of power at his disposal, all the weight of that office will finally become apparent. As President Harry S. Truman put it: "The buck stops here."
With two wars on the table and an unprecedented economic crisis continuing to unfold, the new president, Barack Obama, will have little time to celebrate. Expectations are running high and probably way beyond what any one man will probably be able to accomplish on his own– even with an able new administration at his side.
It is time to put aside our differences and petty partisanship and wish for the best–no– we need to pray that the new president is successful, our future depends upon it.
For 8 years I have been praying for George W. Bush–now Barack H. Obama will be in my daily prayers–so bless him and help him God. In Jesus name Amen. *Top (Cross-Published on ANSWERS For The Faith)
Posted in Intercession, News Commentary, Politics & Religion, Prayer
•Feed
More Than 100,000 Britons Want to be ‘De-baptized’
According to the article, similar movements are spreading to other countries, including a well organized move against Catholicism in Argentina.
Response: This is a rather sad development. A generation ago most Britons were baptized into the state church as infants. Now as the secular and the atheist movements gain numbers and cultural credibility many adults are seeking to ‘divorce’ themselves from their former ‘Christian’ identity.
Actually this is really not all bad. It is far better to be either hot or cold. After all, the declining British ‘cultural Christian’ identity has lately produced a weak church. It is actually harder in many ways to bring ‘Cultural Christians’ to Jesus than any other religion. Their ‘luke-warm’ version of Christianity actually inoculates them from seeking the real McCoy.
One good sign, the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches are growing significantly in the UK. Also, those who now identify themselves as Christians in the UK are far more likely to be seriously committed. *Top
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Posted in -The Church, Culture Wars, News Commentary, Secularism
Tagged -Atheism, Secularism