Do I deserve to be Shot? (do I deserve to die?)

Why is everyone wearing hoodies?

The wild response of people to the murder/self defense shooting (depends on your perspective) of a black teenager in Central Florida absolutely blows my mind. Actually, in the world today, this is what the media and the government attempt to do in polarizing rich and poor, black and white, democrat and republican.

We are all human. The fact is, we all share the same problem- sin. We have an utterly depraved and wicked heart. We do wicked things to one another because we are wicked, and dead in trespasses and sins.

So in a hat tip to Phil Sheppard, consider this:

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

I am a liar- do I deserve to die? YES! The Bible says that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord (Prov 12:22) and every time I lie, God is within His rights as a mighty sovereign Holy and righteous King to kill me and send me to the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8) Ananias and Sapphira told one lie and they were killed instantly! (Acts 5)

I am coveteous- greedy to a fault- do I deserve to die? YES! The Bible tells us that no greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

I am a thief- I have stolen in the past- do I deserve to die? YES! Achan stole and he was killed. No thief will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

I am a murderer-at heart- do I deserve to Die? YES! The Bible says those who hate their brothers are murderers (1 John 3:15) and that even calling a brother a fool (Matthew 5:21) may cast you into hell. No murderer will inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

I am an adulterer- at heart- Do I deserve to die? YES! Jesus said if we even look with lust, we are guilty of adultery (MT 5:27-28) The penalty, even in Jesus’ day, was stoning for both parties. No sexually immoral person will inherit the Kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

We all deserve to die. The Bible tells us that when we sin- that is transgress the law of God in thought, word or deed, we are storing up wrath against the day of judgement (Romans 2:5) We sin because we are sinners (Ephesians 2:1-3, Romans 3:9-18). We are desperately wicked, and we all will one day will face God in judgment (Hebrews 9:27) and sinners will be paying the penalty for their sins (Romans 6:23) which is death and then the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8)

There is good news, however.

2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man, came to this earth. He lived as one of us, tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin(Hebrews 4:15) He came to lay down His life (John 10:17-18) to demonstrate the Love of God towards those who would believe. He was brutally beaten and hung on a cross to die. He was treated by God, His Father, as though He had sinned, so that we might be treated by God as though we were righteous before Him.

If you will repent and believe on Christ, you will receive God’s mercy instead of the judgment you deserve (Romans 6:23). The good news is that despite what we were, when we are in Christ we have been forgiven completely. We do not deserve to inherit the Kingdom of God, but because of Christ, we can 1 Corinthians 6:11 says this:

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Have you been washed? Look to Christ and be saved.

http://www.needgod.com

Famine in the Land

Hit up Jovan’s Site Here
For a deeper study into the Word of God to examine all teachings, go Here

How To Deal With Critics

There is a new wave of Pastors and church leadership who feel that they are above critique. The list includes, but is not limited to Seeker/Purpose Driven Pastors like Rick Warren, Perry Noble, TD Jakes and Steven Furtick.  The List also includes those neo-calvinists who have made their bed with the seeker-sensitive lot like James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll.  They insert themselves as leaders to the larger evangelicalism, and when other spirit-filled leaders question them, they cut themselves off even further from the body of Christ. What can we do with these men? We must confront them rightly, we must pray for them, but then we must knock the dust off our shoes and walk on, proclaiming the truth in Christ.

Her Blood is on your Hands

Ezekiel 3:16-21 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for4 his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

Pop Diva dead at 48: Was she warned about the wrath that is to come?

I wonder this aloud: If Whitney Houston walked into your church today, what would she hear from the preacher?

When she did walk into church every Sunday in her younger years, what did she hear from the preacher? Did she hear of a holy and righteous judge of all the universe that she ought to fear and reverence? Did she hear about the judgment and wrath that would be poured out on those who do not believe the Gospel? Was she given the opportunity to fear the Lord so that she could have wisdom? Was she ever given the bad news so that she could hear and respond to the good news that though we all are deserving of wrath that she could be saved because Jesus took that wrath upon Himself?

I know she had Baptist and Pentecostal roots, but was she in church just because she had an amazing talent? Did she hear over and over again from people fawning over her, giving glory to her and her voice? Did she ever hear from the preacher that even she, with all of her talent, must be born again, because she, despite her talent, was a sinner in need of a Savior? I wonder, I truly wonder.

These shepherds goat herders in much of the visible church want people to feel good, to occupy a seat, and to give money to support the ministry. They are enslaved to the opinion of people so they must have the best ministries, the best music, and they must never step on any toes. It makes me sick some of the pablum coming out of pulpits today. It makes me sick that Jesus is an addition to your life, or an accessory to add to make you more attractive– rather than your whole life. This is what I despise about the seeker sensitive and purpose driven movement that have their roots in business and marketing. When we seek to please the world and our own ears with music and other worldly entertainment to attract people and fail to preach the whole counsel of God for fear of losing them, their blood is on the hands of the one who has the words of life and fails to give them because of the fear of man.

To all the churches and church men that Whitney Houston (as well as her mother, aunt, and cousin) ever performed for, I hope, for the benefit of the people in your church as well as for all these dear ladies who have performed for you over the years that you did indeed preach the whole counsel of God. To all preachers filling a pulpit today- small or large- you have the very words of God that He has ‘put in your mouth’ from the Bible- preach the whole counsel of God or- their blood is on your hands. Whitney Houston this very day is either blessing God with a whole voice, or screaming curses at you as she is tormented in Hell. Her blood is on your hands if you did not warn her.

The real Roots of the Emergent Church

The Biggest Elephant in the Room?

Wretched Radio together this montage on YouTube demonstrating James Donald’s and Mark Driscoll’s proper and biblical view view of the false teaching that is spewed weekly by prosperity preachers. I wonder why the false doctrine that is presented by word faith modalist Bishop TD Jakes was not addressed in the Elephant Room. Of course, I believe Jake’s view of the Trinity is foundational for it identifies the false God that he worships. As many have said, at least Jake’s is moving in the right direction. I believe, as I have stated before, that only a full repudiation of the language and belief of Modalism is effective in this case. The Potter’s House must remove from their statement of faith the Modalist language contained therein.

God
There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Instead this is what Jakes says:

You describe “manifestations” as modalist, but I describe it as Pauline. For God was manifest in the flesh. Paul is not a modalist, but he doesn’t think it’s robbery to say manifest in the flesh. Maybe it’s semantics, but Paul says this.

This statement is in opposition to all the classic Christian Creeds, and the scripture.

They also must separate from those who continue to teach a false view of the Trinity. They are not brothers in Christ, because they believe in a false Christ.

But onto what I believe is a bigger elephant that was not addressed. Both McDonald and Driscoll know and have taught properly from the Bible that word faith and prosperity doctrine is false. Yet, one of the biggest (this is not a fat joke) proponents of prosperity doctrine today is Bishop TD Jakes. What saddens me is that the federal government seems to have a more proper view of theology than most churches do. They have at least sought to prosecute these thieves who take food out of the mouths of widows and orphans with the promise that their seed of faith will increase. It is a wicked teaching that is taking over many 2nd and 3rd world countries. As Driscoll correctly observed, their God is money and that is what they are seeking after rather than the God of the Bible.

Philippians 3:18-19 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

There are many friends of mine that disagree with me concerning people like Bishop Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar and the like. Friends, these preachers are leading people to hell (and poverty I might add). They are not preaching a biblical gospel. This is not a difference based on style. It is a difference based on content. They sprinkle truth in the midst of their promises to make it sound Christian. It is not biblical that you will gain wealth based on your faith. It is not biblical that if you are sick, crippled, have a disease, or any other issue, that you are out of the will of God or that you lack faith.

I challenge the word faith preachers to look at the life of the apostle Paul and tell me based upon his life, was he filled with the Holy Spirit? Did he lack faith? This man was beaten, jailed, had an illness, a thorn in the flesh, he didn’t speak in tongues publicly, and he was persecuted mercilessly by the government. Did he lack faith? If you don’t like Paul, you can check the stories of James, John, Peter, Stephen, Tabitha, Timothy, Barnabas, and all the way through the Bible. In fact Jesus promised us that we would face trials, temptations, persecution. He told the disciples to seek 1st the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The things that would be added to them would not be health and wealth, rather, provision for their needs. I wonder what Jesus thinks of $10,000 cappuccino machines 10,000 square-foot houses and private luxury jets. I just don’t he had that in mind.

When people like Stephen Furtick, James McDonald, and Mark Driscoll parade around on stage at their conferences fist bumping, hugging, and extolling the preaching prowess of a false teacher they are giving their hearty encouragement and endorsement to what the man is preaching. I urge every serious minded Christian to examine the teachings of TD Jakes before they rush to embrace him as a brother in Christ. Remember–words mean things. When a person makes a statement or agrees with the statement that someone else is made unless that statement is repudiated it stands. It is not enough to agree with a statement of faith when there is out there and opposite statement of faith. Until TD Jakes repudiates entirely his Modalist belief and language as well as his false word faith teachings, he still believes them. And when we embrace him we are embracing them to the confused world that is watching.

Modalist Heretic T.D. Jakes at Elephant Room- Does Jakes now Affirm the Trinity?

2 Peter 2:1-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

It seems Bishop Jakes is much like a presidential candidate these days in evangelical circles. He has made the rounds in the last two weeks to very influential meetings of evangelical churches, has been embraced and endorsed by powerful leaders within that party, and has been seen on the platform addressing people that support that party. He has been put forward and identified by certain powerful and influential leaders as a leading member and an excellent influence to that party.

It is just like Barney Frank has been introduced to the Republicans as a viable presidential candidate, embraced by Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh without repudiating his liberalism.

This is not new in Evangelical circles today, nor is it surprising. In the past years, we have seen the embrace and acceptance of people who preach a different Gospel by those who affirm the true Gospel. And it is getting more insidious; case in point is Rick Warren being invited to preach at the Desiring God conference. While Rick Warren does hold firm to a classic understanding of historic Christian faith, his watered down view of salvation and broad declaration of how one becomes a believer in Christ, even how God views you before you are in Christ has been the basis of many false conversions. The worst part is the Seeker Sensitive model of church growth which preaches a man-centered Gospel that would allow a Murdoch or others to feel quite comfortable in their sin within the church- because repentance is simply not preached, nor is any other hard doctrine. However, while at the conference and in the weeks leading up to it, Rick Warren sounded reformed. Another classic politician, Rick Warren speaks to his audience, whoever that is.

The invitation of Bishop Jakes caused no small furor in said evangelical circles, including the resignation of MacDonald, host of the Elephant Room, from the Gospel Coalition, and Mark Dever declining to take part in ER2 What is the problem with Bishop Jakes that would cause such an issue? According to his own website, he holds to the heresy of modalism:

God
There is one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in three manifestations: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Modalism is a classic heresy, also known as Sabellianism, which denies the trinity. http://carm.org/modalism of CARM puts it like this:

Modalism is probably the most common theological error concerning the nature of God. It is a denial of the Trinity. Modalism states that God is a single person who, throughout biblical history, has revealed Himself in three modes, or forms. Thus, God is a single person who first manifested himself in the mode of the Father in Old Testament times. At the incarnation, the mode was the Son and after Jesus’ ascension, the mode is the Holy Spirit. These modes are consecutive and never simultaneous. In other words, this view states that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit never all exist at the same time, only one after another. Modalism denies the distinctiveness of the three persons in the Trinity even though it retains the divinity of Christ.

Why is it so important? It denies that Jesus is the Christ today. It states the God died on the Cross while manifesting Himself as Jesus.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

At ER2, Jakes made this statement to Mark Driscoll, who was interviewing him at the time.

Driscoll: We all would agree that in the nature of God there is mystery. But within that, for you, Bishop Jakes, the issue is one God manifesting Himself successively in three ways? Or one God existing eternally in three persons? What is your understanding now? Which one?

Jakes: I believe the latter one is where I stand today. One God – Three Persons. I am not crazy about the word persons though. You describe “manifestations” as modalist, but I describe it as Pauline. For God was manifest in the flesh. Paul is not a modalist, but he doesn’t think it’s robbery to say manifest in the flesh. Maybe it’s semantics, but Paul says this. Now, when we start talking about that sort of thing, I think it’s important to realize there are distinctives between the work of the Father and the work of the Son. I’m with you. I have been with you. There are many people within and outside denominations labeled Oneness that would be okay with this. We are taught in society that when we disagree with someone in a movement, we leave. But I still have associations with people in Onenness movements. We need to humble both sides and say, “We are trying to describe a God we love.” Why should I fall out and hate and throw names at you when it’s through a glass darkly? None of our books on the Godhead will be on sale in heaven.

Many believers point at that statement and say- you see- Jakes is no longer a modalist! In fact, James MacDonald, Mark Driscoll, and Steven Furtick, power players in the neo-reformed (James and Mark) and seeker sensitive (Steven Furtick) movements within evangelicalism embraced him, as did many of their followers–not me. I do not believe it for one second.

You can call me intolerant, judgmental, even mean.

I call it being passionate about the Word of God, defending the flock of God, and being a Berean.

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Acts 17:10–11

T.D. Jakes still has some explaining to do. If you want to convince a Berean that you have been changed, you must repudiate the doctrine publicly, at least to the point where you have embraced it publicly. Then, in the same way repent of the heresy, and encourage those over whom you have had influence in that area to do the same. In my opinion, as worthless as it may seem to the larger institution of modern evangelicalism, what he stated at ER2 was not sufficient.

I have not even mentioned the word-faith heresy yet- because that was not addressed at ER2- and that is far more insidious and is creeping more and more into mainstream evangelicalism today.

Again, My Friend Daniel has made excellent observations here