I have just 'translated' (with help) the Chinese lyrics of the classic hymn 'Great is Thy faithfulness' from Traditional Chinese script (繁体字) to Simplified Chinese (简笔字). Anyway, here it is:
祢的信实广大
1:
祢的信实广大，我神我天父，
在祢永远没有转动影儿；
永不改变，父神每天施怜悯
无始无终上主施恩不尽。
副歌:
祢的信实广大，祢的信实广大，
清晨复清晨，更经历新恩；
我所需要祢恩手丰富预备，
祢的信实广大，显在我身。
2:
春夏秋冬四季，有栽种收成，
日月星辰时刻连转不停；
宇宙万物都见证造物主宰
述说天父丰盛，信实，慈爱。
3:
祢赦免我罪过，赐永远安宁，
祢常与我同在，安慰引领；
求赐今天力量，明天的盼望，
从天降下恩典，福乐无穷。
Though He slay me, I will hope in him; ... (Job 13:15)
With the article on the topic of Refusing on love the truth still fresh on my mind (it is compiled now here), here is a verse we all can meditate on.
Job, as we know from the context, has been afflicted by God with all kinds of sufferings, of which only God and Satan, and the angelic hosts, knew the reason why. As Job struggles with such bitter sufferings, even with the afflictions on his body, he stated this one phrase we all can learn from. Though God may indeed slay Job and destroy him, yet Job is unwavering in his trust and hope in God. Why? Why should that be the case? If God is 'evil' towards you, that he has removed His blessings from you and afflict you, why should you even think about hoping in Him? Humanly speaking, it is already leniant of us to say that we do not 'blame God for this'. Yet to say that we continue to hope in God, isn't that too much to ask? After all, we are very cautious of anyone who betrays us, yet to trust God even though He may bring upon us more calamities?
Perhaps Job is mad, or isn't he? Why should we still hope in God if he disappoints us? Or should we just adopt the attitude of Job's wife, who told her husband to just 'curse God and die' (Job. 2:9). After all, isn't it justifiable for us to do so, since God is the one who broke His promises and annulled the covenant between us, and thus it is His fault, not mine?
Now, of course, such is serious error and is in fact blasphemous. Of course, for us believers who can see the larger view of things, we can say that poor Job wasn't informed that he was going to be used as an experiment to prove his faith in God ad infinitum ad naseum. We can analyze and dissect it to learn the ways whereby God interact with us and the interactions and warfare within the heavenly realms. However, what is it about Job that make him say such a statement?
The reason why Job can make such a statement is because his faith has grown to the extent that he came to treasure God and love God for who He truly is, not for what God can do for Him. In this one statement of his, He disavow all rights and blessings, instead hoping in God because that is where his faith resides. Yes, he did question God, as we can see in his entire complaint against God in most of the book of Job, but he never once doubted God nor charged Him with wrongdoing. And when God questioned him near the end of the book, he immediately repented even of his (legitimate) questioning.
Job's faith in God is one whereby he hopes in God regardless of the circumstances, which is shown in his severe testing by Satan. His faith display the godly quality of truly loving God, which is only available to those who desire God for God's own sake. Such people do not love God because by doing so, they are promised money, longevity, power, or even eternal life. They realize that God is God and He is just in doing to us whatever he pleases.
Therefore, for us modern-day Christians, can we have the same attitude as Job? Are we treasuring Christ because He is worth it and that alone? Or do we, like spoilt brats, whine to God because He never gave us new 'toys' to play with or that He never satisfy our desires? Are we just treasuring Christ because there is benefit to it, even in the gift of eternal life where we treat Christ as our hell insurance policy? O, for God to pour our His Holy Spirit to transform us from our lowly state of being, and make us live for the glory of God alone.
[If a person or people in the movement CANNOT love God and His truth even if there would be no temporal benefit on this earth to it, and no eternal benefit either (ie even if you would still go to hell despite it), but to love God and His truth because He is worthy of it based on the fact that He is God and that alone, then they are 'refusing to love the truth', and thus do not truly love God ...]
I am rather emotionally exhausted due to various issues. Anyway, to all it may concern, I am NOT writing my latest series of blog posts against anyone in particular. I love my Charismatic and New Evangelical brethren, and I am writing this not against anyone in particular, nor any group in particular (those who are astute may notice I criticize the conservatives too). It is precisely because I love you all that I submit this article so that you may turn to God and truly sincerely love the truth and thus be saved. If you cannot take this kind of tough love, then I pity you. I would much rather have you grow and persevere in Christ and demonize me rather than you go to hell while praising how 'loving' and 'kind' I am. Feel free to demonize me; I couldn't care less honestly, as long as you are indeed growing in Christ, I will be pleased. This is all I have to say for now.
[continued from here and here]
Conservatism
Chief error: Love truth for its intellectual correctness
Withint conservative Christianity and especially Reformed Christianity, there is a rich historical heritage and the abundance of clear biblical truths and principles which were uncovered and preached by great men of God who were used powerfully in various movements such as the Protestant Reformation, the first Great Awakening etc. Nevertheless, there is problem even within those who have such great spirtual blessings with them.
The biblical passage that is most appropriate for such churches is that found in the message to the Church in Ephesus as seen in Rev. 2:1-7.
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ (Rev. 2:1-7)
From here, we can see that Jesus is grieved over a church that is orhothodox in all aspects, even exercising church discipline against heretics and seperating from them, and YET losing their first love for Him. What's the point therefore in priding yourself on how orhotodox you are, or how biblical you are especially in being seperate from heretics, when you have lost your first love for Christ? Is God pleased with being right as much as He desires that we love Him? Those who profess love for Christ by holding fast to the doctrines of Scripture and applying them, and yet not truly loving Him, is a hypocrite and is one of those who 'refuse to love the truth', and thus will bring upon them the judgment of God. Didn't the apostasy of the denominations during the modernist/ fundamentalist conflict and earlier in the downgrade controversy taught us something, that the people of God who are willing to tolerate men who taught true doctrines but yet do not truly believe in them themselves would ultimately cause the destruction of the churches? Granted, heretics soon arose who should be excommunicated, but isn't it true that before this even came to pass, that the people lost their love for the truth? Otherwise, how can heretics even enter into the congregation and arose to positions of authority in churches where the people earnestly love Christ and His truth?
Hateful fundamentalism
Chief error: Don't have a love for anything except to be right about the 'truth'
The last movement that I would like to take note here is a minority movement of the fundamentalists who twisted the original fundamentalist movement and became very judgmental of any person who disagree with them regarding anything, no matter how trivial the subject may be. It is to this that the New Evangelical movement may be reacting to, among others, upon which it swung to the other extreme of ecumenism and non-confrontationalism. Such people clearly are not interested in the truth, as they are not obedient to the commands of Christ with regards to such issues. Their state itself is a form of judgment upon them, being a 'refusal to love the truth' in not obeying it in their interaction with others.
Conclusion:
From the analysis of all these various movements, we can see the various manifestations of such an attitude of 'refusing to love the truth', of which both Conservatives and Charismatics, Fundamentalists and New Evangelicals are guilty of. May we therefore as Christians called by God learn how to truly love the truth of God; to treasure the truth of God in our beliefs and actions, and to give all glory to God alone in all that we do.
THE END!
[continued from here]
As one looks upon the landscape of Christendom throughout history and throughout the world, various movements can be seen that manifest the idea of 'refusing to love the truth and be saved'. We will look at some of these movements today (which may overlap), particularly those which are prevelant in such a time as this.
Charismatism (Second wavers, Word-faith movement, Prosperity 'gospel' movement) and Third Wavers (Signs and Wonders movement, Neo-Apostolicism)
Chief error: No concern over truth
The most prevelant movement in the world today which manifests an attitude of 'refusing to love the truth and be saved' are the Charismatics and the Third Wave charismatics. By Charismatics, I am referring to those who are consistent charismatics and thus focus more on experiences, not to those who are symphathetic to the experiential form of Christianity promoted in Charismatism per se or those who believe in the sign-gifts like the Pentecostals (the first wavers). Such Charismatics would include people like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn of the Word-faith movement, and people such as Creflo Dollar of the prosperity 'gospel' movement. Closer to home in Singapore, we have Kong Hee of City Harvest Church for the Word-faith and Joseph Prince of New Creation Church for the prosperity 'gospel' movement. By Third wave charismatics, I am referring to those who are in the Signs and Wonders movement found in such movements such as the 'Toronto Blessing', the 'Kansas City prophets' etc, and those who are in the New Apostolic Reformation, following the ideas of modern day apostles and prophets like C. Peter Wagner and Cindy Jacobs (not to mention Ed Silvoso) etc, regardless of whether they call themselves Charismatics or Third wavers. Third Wavers in Singapore would be people like 'Apostle' Lawrance Khong of FCBC (Faith Community Baptist Church), and 'Apostle' Naomi Dowdy of Trinity Christian Center.
Such people would constitue a large part of worldwide Christianity for sure, and that is someting we should grieve over. Such people demean the Scripture and thus demean Jesus and the entire Godhead as they refuse to examine their beliefs and experiences according to Scripture, and in fact postulating a false dichotomy between the Spirit and the Word. Professing to be wise, they became fools indeed (Rom. 1:22), and as the annals of church history shows, will leade them to grow further and further into apostasy, as the Scriptures have said they would, as a judgment of God sending upon them a strong delusion because they refuse to love the truth and obey unrighteousness (2 Thess. 9:11).
Post-modern emergents
Chief error: Denial of truth
The latest fad as found in the Emerging Church movement (ECM) is marked by a blatent hatred for truth claims, of which exclusive truth claims are the most hated of all. Now, this does not of course applies to everyone within the ECM, but to most of them who glorify ambiguity and ignorance; in other words post-foundational 'christianity'. Such people can easily be seen to refuse to love the truth, since how can you love the truth if you don't even agree that it exists in the first place? As expected, the movement is evolving further and further away from orthodoxy, now embracing open theism and inclusivism.
Utiltarianism
Chief error: Love truth for its benefits only
This is one of the primary errors of New Evangelicalism, and the most prevelant in Singapore. The truths and doctrines of the Christian faith are prized only because of their value in 'doing ministry' and 'living a Christian life', whatever those two phrases are supposed to mean. Therefore, we have bible studies conducted on topics such as how to live a Christian life in the midst of trouble, learning from Jeremiah on how to live the Christian life despite facing obstacles and depression (Latest Bible study by Eagles Cmmunications correct as of 22 Sept 2007). Nevermind the original meaning of the texts and the passages; what they desire is how we can find lessons to learn that would help ME in my condition.
Such is the mindset that is sadly prevelant within much of what calls itself Evangelicalism. The Purpse Driven Life by Rick Warren is popular because 'it works', and the issue of whether it glorifies God in massacring Scripture in the book, or whether the Gospel is properly presented, is not important at all in the sight of 'Evangelicals'. The Seeker-Sensitive enterprise by Bill Hybels of Willow Creek is similarly promoted regardless of its spiritual merit, because ... again 'it works'. Women are allowed to be elders in church because ... without doing so, the church may not have enough office bearers serving; i.e. 'it works'. In other words, the biblical truths are revealed for MY benefits, such that MY life works.
Another part of such utilitarianism is seen even in being orthodox in theology. Being orthodox in theology does not make a person or movement immune from utilitarianism. I have seen for myself churches whereby the pastor preaches the Word of God because of its benefits in so doing. Passages are expounded verses by verse, precept by precept, because they build up the people of God. Now, of course, such is a good and noble goal. However, if you proclaim the Word of God because of its good and spiritual benefits alone, you are still doing it only because 'it works', just doing it in a different and God-ordained way. Instead of doing it for the glory of God ALONE, such preaching does not honor God either. Embracing the 5 points of Calvinism, or being totally orthodox in all aspects of your theology, does not help you as long as you do so because 'it works' and not for the glory of God alone.
Utilitarianism in all its forms, even using the biblical and God-ordained methods, is a form of 'refusing to love the truth', and therefore is not pleasing to God. As can be seen in the annals of church history, Neo-Evangelicalism has been degenerating throughout the history of its existence, from its formation in the 1950s/60s to the present age. The words of God in 2 Thess. 2:10 still holds true for those who refuse to love God for God's own sake. To put it simply, if a person or people in the movement CANNOT love God and His truth even if there would be no temporal benefit on this earth to it, and no eternal benefit either (ie even if you would still go to hell despite it), but to love God and His truth because He is worthy of it based on the fact that He is God and that alone, then they are 'refusing to love the truth', and thus subjected to His judgment upon His own discretion.
(to be continued)
Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (Jn. 17: 17)
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thess. 2:9-12)
I will be starting a new series, specifically expositing on the phrase 'refusing to love the truth' as stated in 2 Thess. 2:10. Recent events have shown me the reason for various things going on in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ which grieves me, and this passage I think is the best expression of the union of truth and love in our Christian walk, and explains a lot of what is happening both in liberal and conservative circles in Christianity.
The passage of 2 Thess. 2:9-12 is set in the context of the description of the last days with the coming of the antichrist or the man of lawlessness. In this particular passage, we can see that as the last days draw ever closer, such events as described here will take place. Before the coming of the antichrist, there will be an increase in false signs and wonders, with the intention of deceiving even the elect if possible (Mk. 13:22). Such and other forms of deception will multiply and will deceive those who are perishing. Of such people, it is described that they are deceived because they 'do not love the truth and be saved'. As such, God will judge them by sending a strong delusion to believe in what is false, and be further condemned because they love unrighteousness.
We can note that in this text, God is described as sending such people a strong delusion, thus we can see that deception and falsehood is a form of judgment sent by God to those who 'do not love the truth and be saved'. Contrary to effeminate 'christianity', God can and will judge people, and He also can and will judge people by giving them lies to believe in, which further their condemnation (Rom. 1:24, 28). God does in that sense 'deceive people', but such is judgment which brings further condemnation based upon the fact that they 'do not love the truth and be saved', not something that is undeserved.
We have been talking a lot about this phrase of people who 'do not love the truth and be saved'. However, what does this mean? A cursory look would show that such people are not saved, and they are not saved because they 'do not love the truth'. Loving the truth therefore is a condition for salvation.
Now, it must be stated that this in no sense detract from the truth that salvation is by faith alone. However, when a person is saved by faith alone, he/she has already been regenerated by the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3: 3) and thus is a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Contrary to the 'free-grace' heretics like Zane Hodge et al, repentance is not a work because a person who will by faith alone receive the salvation offer of Christ will only do so if they have been regenerated in Christ, which will precipitate repentance from sin. Being saved by faith alone apart from repentance is like saying it is possible to be alive without breathing; an oxymoron indeed. When a person has been saved by faith alone, the person will love Christ and love the truth because that is the nature of the new person in Christ.
When talking about the phrase 'love the truth', we can note that there are two components to the phrase, namely 'love' and 'truth'. Since Christ is the truth (Jn. 14:6) and Christ is the Word (Jn. 1:1), loving Christ would mean loving the truth and loving the Scriptures, and vice versa. Therefore, anyone who says that they love Christ but do not love the Truth of God and the Scriptures is a liar. Similarly, anyone who says they love the truths and doctrines of the Christian faith but yet do not love Christ deceives himself and the truth is not in him.
In the next installment, I will examine a couple of examples found within Christendom to show forth how such a phenomenon as 'refusing to love the truth' has been and will be manifested.
[to be continued]
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Oh well, I have finally managed to find the time and energy to prepare my personal report for my not so recent Gen12ii local Southern Cross Project in Singapore, which was held on the 18th -27th June 2007. The trip was a rewarding and tiring one whereby we mainly pass out Gospel packs to the mainland Chinese tourists who have came to Singapore, in order to reach them with the Gospel. We also organized other activities like street witnessing, steamboat dinner outreach and attending one session of an ongoing Alpha Course to the mainland Chinese health workers in order to maximize the usage of our time for the purpose of ministry. All in all, it was a fruitful and rewarding experience. Anyway, here's my personal report:
Dear supporters and fellow brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know that it has been some time since the end of my Gen12ii trip – Southern Cross Project Singapore 2007, which occurred on the 18th -27th June 2007. I am indeed sorry for the late preparation and completion of my mission trip report, but it has been finally completed.
In this report, I would like to just touch on various aspects of the trip and what I have learned from them, as I trust that the team report would be sufficient to inform you as to the various events and issues we encounter during our relative short 10 days of ministry here in Singapore [Basically, our water supply was cut off, and the door locked in on us].
For this Gen12ii trip, I was given the role of the Prayer IC for the team. As I had performed the role of Logistics IC for my previous 2 mission trips, taking up this role was an interesting experience for me, since it has been quite a long time since I took up such a post. Right at the onset, problems start to emerge. I guess when you volunteer to be the Prayer IC you will get the full attention and attack of the Devil. I was subjected to serious attacks from the Devil before the trip by a spirit (small s) of oppression, especially when I attempted to do up the Prayer Calendar for the team. Only after much prayer did the Lord granted me relief and I was able to do what I was supposed to do.
During the trip itself, everything went rather smoothly, at first. Having no recourse to attacking us directly, we faced obstacles such as opposition from people like the tour bus drivers, and various building maintenance issues as outlined in the general team report, which strangely occurred on the days when we had planned to do our street witnessing. Through it all, we had a renewed sense of the battle that is being waged around us, and of the power of God who works in and through our prayers to accomplish His will on our behalf.
A couple of points I would like to mention here with regards to some of the activities that we had engaged in.
The main issue I have is with regards to the Alpha Course session that we were invited to attend, on Saturday the 23rd June 2007. This session was conducted with the aim of reaching out to mainland Chinese health workers who are working in Singapore. As per normal, the session was mainly focused on the video by Nicky Gumbel (of Holy Trinity Brompton in London, UK), followed by a group discussion later. For the group discussion, our mission team was split into various discussion groups allowing us to have more interaction with the various mainland Chinese people. The topic of that day’s discussion was on ‘Why did Jesus die?’, a very pertinent topic for our faith. The message was reasonable, though not too correct in certain places. During the discussion group however, the mainland Chinese in my group asked very deep questions, with regards to salvation by faith alone, the place of works, the raising of the specter of Antinomianism etc. They also pose the question as to if Jesus died for the whole world (which is what Nicky Gumbel as a synergist teaches), then why should we believe in Jesus as we are already saved. The depth of the questions they ask surprises me, as each of them touches on a massive subject in and of themselves, and would take weeks if not months to cover if they were intent to do so. What shocked me is the total inability of the facilitators to answer most of the questions put forward to them, of which a couple were rather obvious since Arminianism and historic Christianity cannot match. There was one time when I was trying to show them why Christians will not want to sin (because they have been given a new nature cf 2 Cor. 5:17), and also about the fact of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness and the imputation of our sins to Christ so that God considers us righteous and thus will accept us as pleasing in His sight. The facilitator however, directly contradicted what I was sharing to them from the Scriptures. Instead, he attempted to posit a form of works-righteousness similar to that promoted by Roman Catholicism; that our works are meritorious in proving the genuineness of our faith. I was greatly disturbed by this. Knowing that these brilliant mainland Chinese are truly interested in spiritual things, I am very disturbed by the fact that we are not able to provide them with the true truth and meat of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ but to give them the ‘watered down porridge’ of the seeker-sensitive gospel, with the facilitators even at best being unsure about the message of the Gospel we are supposed to share, and will be held responsible for creating confusion in the minds of these seekers.
With this, I am even more saddened as I know that those of us who are supposedly more biblical than these facilitators are NOT doing the job of reaching out to these people. I am ashamed sometimes to call myself a conservative, Reformed Christian, as while the world out there is dying and drowning in a wave of heresy, we are busy preaching to the choir. I am not saying this as a word of condemnation, as I myself are also guilty of neglecting outreach as it is outside my comfort zone. What I am saying is that those of us who do know the full truth should be all the more eager to reach out to others, and to call God’s elect out of darkness into His glorious light.
Throughout these 10 days, it has been a privilege for me to partner with God to do the work of an evangelist. Although it has not been as long as any of my previous mission trips, it is not the duration itself that counts, but the surrender of our hearts and the work of the Holy Spirit acting through us that matters. I will take comfort in the fact that the word of the Lord will not come back to Him void (Is. 55:11) and will accomplish what He has desired and decreed. May the Lord use the many Gospel packs and the Bibles in them to reach out to the Chinese in China and save many people, through the reading and proclamation of the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now may the God of all peace, the only wise God our Savior, be with you all now and forevermore. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria, (For the glory of God alone)
Daniel Chew.
Here is a great article from the Spurgeon Archives with regards to sectarianism, or what we would probably call 'denominationalism'. I heartily recommand this article to anyone who is interested in the interplay between the necessity of ecclesiastical seperation and true unity in the body of Christ.
Something humorous for the day. I am not a fan of so-called 'Bible Code' which is akin to numerology, but it seems that running Benny Hinn's name through the Bible Code software program produces some interesting results, like "Faker - Fraud - Scoundrel - Foolish - Embezzlement - Disloyalty - Cheat - Phony - Fraudulent - Money - Sinful - Dishonor - Desecration - Disgrace - Unholy - Blasphemy". Of course, the sweetest irony of all is....
[HT: Christian Research Net]
Here is an excellent article from Pst Bob DeWaay on how Pietism, and especially the beliefs which involve any type of second blessing or special grace confered to people who seek God more and receive it, is wrong. Although we do take part in our sanctification, our walk with God is by grace alone from the beginning to the end, and thus there is no such thing as a super Christian or growth coming through some kind of second blessing or second baptism (of the Holy Spirit), which would create a elite or higher class of super-Christians. Such is the error into which many sincere Christians have sadly fallen into, as they desire to grow in Christ WITHOUT going to or abiding to the Scriptures to see how that is to be done, thus creating unnecessary heartache and disillusionment.
I wouldn't want to name groups and people who teach this error currently for this post, but suffice it is to say now that such teachers will pay a high price to God for the lives they have wrecked and stunted, no thanks to their errant and even sometimes heretical teachings. Only God knows the lives that are destroyed by so-called pastors, 'prophets' and 'apostles' who preach their false doctrines, bringing many people under the same bondage they are under. May God have mercy on His people who may be trapped in such circles.
Good article from Dan of Pyromaniacs here. I totally agree.
Here is an interesting article answering questions about the movement known as Christian Reconstructionism. Note that I am neither for or against the movement.
Here are some interesting videos showing the rise of anti--Semitism in Britian:
Video 1:
Video 2:
Video 3:
Video 4:
Video 5:
Video 6:
As the West grows deeper and deeper into godlessness, I wonder how long will the civilized babarian liberal leftists continue on in their unholy alliance with the Islamofacists in their hatred and racism against the Jews.
Just in case the videos are removed by Blogger following threats from the Islamic extremists, you can check out the videos here.
[HT: Ecclesia Reformata]
Here is an excellent article by Mike Ratliff on how we are to see and conduct ourselves before God. We are called to avoid the extreme of overt pride and over-confidence in our abilities, and to avoid the other extreme of false humility, or deprecating ourselves and having an inferiority complex ('pride in its negative form'). As Mike puts it, 'both are attitudes of pride and are in rebellion against God', and I concur.
I would be starting work proper this coming week, so I would have less time to blog. Articles would thus be much rarer and more likely to come in bursts.
Have these people no shame?! It's bad enough that these Word-faith heretics blaspheme Christ with their teachings and their life, now as they go through their multi-million dollar divorces, the stupid 'sheep' or probably goats will allow them to continue on their 'pastoral' roles in the 'church'! Utterly disgraceful and despicable! Divorcees are NOT allowed to be office bearers/ pastors etc, regardless of the reason of their divorce, for they bring reproach to the Church. And that is my stand and the biblical position. In 1 Tim. 3, a overseer/bishop/elder must be above reproach (v. 2) and manage his household well (v. 5). Ditto for deacons too (v. 12). Whoever does so is in rebellion against God, and does bring the wrath of God against him (worse still her)! And that is final!!
[HT: Christian Research Net]
Here are some good articles from Steve Camp and Pastor Bob DeWaay regarding the preaching and proclaimation of the Gospel:
Removing the Offense of the Cross ... the ineffectualness of candy coated partial romantic gospel appeals, by Steve Camp
The Demise of Gospel Preaching in Modern Evangelicalism, by Pastor Bob DeWaay.
Let's see how the Warren fans will handle this challenge... Are JW (Jehovah Witnesses) to be considered Christians by Warrenites now? Note the condition Warrenites are to adhere to in order to properly answer the question.
