“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” Col. 2:8 Many American institutions unfairly utilize “desensitization” tactics as tools of manipulation. They do this in order to gain the public’s, including professing Christians’, acquiescence to a proposed position, even an immoral one. Unfortunately, desensitization has even been a successful strategy employed against many professing Christians, who normally would oppose immoral positions. The definition of “desensitize” is; (1)“To lessen the sensitiveness of. 2) To make indifferent, unaware, or the like, in feeling.” Desensitization is usually most effective when conducted over a long period of time, the ultimate goal being to change the public’s opinion by one-sidedly bombarding them with the propagated point of view. Virtually every form of medium is utilized to inundate the senses of the culture, thus creating a facade of normality and propriety in the minds of people. Incidentally, it does not matter if the concept is immoral and sinful, it is presented as being moral, and strongly urged to be accepted. Most “unbelievers”, or people who are nonchalant or morally weak, are vulnerable and the most susceptible to the tactic of desensitization. Either they will embrace the proposed change or will act apathetically toward it–“As long as it doesn’t affect me”, is typically their attitude. This attitude basically leads to a verbal or tacit acceptance of the new position. Such feeble attitudes are expected in unbelievers; those who do not know God and His word. But, for true Christians, desensitization tactics suborning disobedience will rarely succeed. Why? Because believers rely on the truth of God’s word and are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, who protects them against deception. They may be deluded for a time, but will not be able to suppress the voice of conscience permanently. In essence, desensitization techniques, no matter how clever, pervasive, or intense, will never truly affect a true discerning believer, because believers know that the Bible is clear, authoritative, and impervious to change. Sadly, the American culture is being injected with massive doses of desensitization tactics in numerous areas, attempting to gain acceptance; for example, the homosexual/same-sex marriage agenda. Once a shocking unthinkable disgrace now is embraced, exalted, and even applauded, thanks to the influential media, which the government has wielded like a bludgeon and repetitively hammered away at cultural thinking. But, not all methods of desensitization are forceful and overt, more often they are very subtle. They media have done an exceptional job, cajoling and coercing the American public, into accepting homosexuality as a...
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How do you compare to the “Rich Young Ruler”? Technological Advancements Equate to Riches! “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21 When I was studying the account of the rich young ruler, I was convicted concerning my own walk with our Lord Jesus Christ, whether or not I was living it to the fullest. In the past, I merely considered that the ruler was wealthy, tested, failed, and denied eternal life by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-23). The Lord declared to His disciples, how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 19:23-24) which is understandable. But, what piqued my interest, was the fact that the ruler was not a believer. Also I noted that his austere religious disciplines which he proclaimed for himself, were holier than most of my Christian acquaintances. Interestingly, the vast difference between us and the ruler, is that we do not have Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, personally evaluating our spiritual condition. If it were the case, I am fairly certain His winnowing fork would be very busy separating the chaff from the wheat. In other words, Jesus would instantly be exposing and dividing the false believers from the true believers. However something to ponder is that most of us are probably not as monetarily wealthy as the rich young ruler, yet, due to great advancements in technology, we live exceedingly comfortable; so comfortably we could be considered exceptionally rich by comparison. Everyday conveniences’ make it extremely hard to follow Christ with an undistracted heart, because we are preoccupied with so many things. All too often we are scarcely aware of the subtle and pernicious ways in which modern technology invades and orchestrates our lives. We are hypnotized by effortless living, which can lead to apathy, indifference, and indolence, concerning the things of God. Our culture is content with performing almost every task by phone texts, mouse clicks, TV remotes, microwave ovens, Google searches, GPS, etc; ease has become the norm and we are rapaciously consumed by it. Furthermore, sporting events, numerous types of exercise, hobbies, television shows, movies, video games, events of every kind, internet entertainment, computers, iPods, iphones, Face book, Twitter, vacations, etc, and if you allow your mind to wonder this list could continue for days; all of these things compete for space in our hearts against the holy God we are supposed to love whole-heatedly. Entertainment and leisure of all forms, absorbs the majority...
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Jesus Christ’s Earthly Healing Miracles-Allegories of Salvation? “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Matt. 11:5 (1) “Dead are raised“–(The spiritually dead are made alive; regenerated); (2) “The blind see“–(Able to understand spiritual things; illuminated); (3) “The mute speak“–(Able to proclaim the saving Gospel); (4) The deaf hear” (Able to understand spiritual things, also able to physically hear the Gospel preached); (5) “Lepers are cleansed“–(Washed, made clean by the washing of the word of God); (6) “Demons are cast out“–(Snatched from the bondage and enslavement of Satan); (7) “The lame walk“–(Able to walk with the Lord in truth, able to do good works); (8) “The poor have the Gospel preached to them“–(The poor in spirit who oppressed by false religions, are granted to believe the good news of salvation through Christ Jesus); (9) “Healing of the sick“–(Relieved from the heavy yoke of bondage put there by false religious systems....
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10-1-15 Dear Friends of Truth! How bad is it in America? Let us take a look at the non-Christian media and the so-called common man’s reaction to the Pope’s visit to America. In surfing through quotations of people who went to great extremes to simply have a look at the Pope we find some mind blowing comments. One man boldly proclaimed that his curbside view of the Pope mobile was in fact the closest to God one could ever expect to get on earth! Others burst into tears. Others paraded around in a kind of euphoric hysteria. Others pinned their hopes for everything on Pope Francis. Some came away awestruck. The speaker of the House of Representatives resigned after crying during the Pope’s address to the Congress. Others became dream-like and talked about love, joy, peace, happiness, and utopia. It was sort of like a religious Woodstock to them. Only something supernatural could have brought about America’s fawning, groveling, obsequious, and general sycophantic response to the Pope’s visit. We do not think that the “something supernatural” was anything other than a broad burst of anti-Christ display of the powers of demonic darkness. How else could we describe the nation’s servile swarming over someone who must only be described as “Platitude Rex”? Obviously there was no mention of the gospel of Jesus Christ or the authority of the Word of God in the Pope’s address. He is not capable of telling the truth of Christianity or giving a credible witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But to think that an entire nation could be taken in by a stream of platitudes, clichés, and banal bromides is an indication of the spiritual malaise that characterizes our nation. Here are just three examples of his never-ending stream of applause grabbing insipidities: “We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us once were foreigners.” “Our efforts must aim at restoring hope, righting wrongs, maintaining commitments, and thus promoting the well-being of individuals and of peoples.” “To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place.” Now consider all of those organizations, statements of faith, joint resolutions, and declarations signed by Evangelical leaders endorsing the RC religion. Consider what they must be thinking while watching the sacrilegious Mass of the RC religion on national TV and listening to the ecumenical garbage spewed by Francis. Where will the outcry against the Pope at Rome come from? Ugh! How utterly contrary to the apostle Paul who reminds the church at Corinth of his visit: “And when I came...
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The Trinity (God the Father, God the Son-Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit) is entirely active, necessary, and essential, in bringing about salvation. Dr. James White, in his book, The Forgotten Trinity, defines the Trinity as this; “Within the one being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” All true Christians recognize, accept, and embrace that truth; a truth which has been understood throughout church history. Today, more than ever, Christians must ardently defend and proclaim this perspicuous and vital truth, found replete in the pages of holy Scripture; the Bible. Apart from ignorance, to deny the existence of the Trinity (three distinct, but co-equal persons that make up the Godhead), is not Christian doctrine and considered heresy. Please ruminate on these four verses of Scripture extrapolated from the Bible; they validate the above paragraph. Incidentally, there are literally hundreds of such verses in the Bible: “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Matt. 11:27–emphasis added. “No one can come to Me (Jesus Christ), unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:44–emphasis added. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26–emphasis added). Please note: if you consider pronouns, all three members of the Trinity are referenced. “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me“, John 15:26–emphasis added. Please note: if you consider pronouns, all three members of the Trinity are referenced. * James R. White, The Forgotten Trinity, 1998, “Bethany House Publishers”, pg. 26 ...
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Christians pray diligently for the Roman pope Francis, that this man will embrace our Lord Jesus Christ-alone, and Jesus propitiatory work, through His brutal death on the cross for our sins, His bodily Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven; life offered to those who seek our Triune God-alone. Hope, eternal hope, is offered to those who seek, and are given never-ending peace, peace, without constant works, but through complete submission and obedience to our Triune God! Our Lord God has revealed Himself in creation and through the fully sufficient Word, the Bible, for which we have absolute Truth. Eph. 2:8,9, Romans 5....
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“I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me.” 1 Cor. 4:16 While reading the New International Version of the Bible, I noticed a rather disturbing and disillusioning fact. What ought to be the word “exhort” for the Greek word parakaleo, was often exchanged for a less urgent, non-imperative word that weakens the authors intent. In many instances, “encourage” is employed, substituting exhort into many modern English translations of the Bible. In certain passages, the word parakaleo in the original Greek language, was intended as a “calling out” or “admonishment”, to its recipient and therefore, should not be substituted with a word that removes the author’s intent. If you use encourage for instance, you will not be conveying an admonishment to someone and the power of the passage is lost. Therefore, all believers should be familiar with the word exhort or exhortation, because it conveys a truer context to a specific passage of Scripture. This is vitally important, when warning the flock of false teachers who threaten the church with pernicious doctrines. If you juxtapose the words encourage and exhort, you will discover a significant difference in their meaning. For instance, the definition of the word encourage according to the Random House Dictionary, is defined; “To inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence“; “to stimulate by assistance, approval, etc“; “to promote, advance, or foster.” The word exhort, on the other hand, is defined: “to urge, advise, or caution earnestly; admonish urgently.” As used in such texts: Acts 2:40, 20:2, 1 Cor. 1:10, 4:16, 1 Thess. 4:1, 2 Thess. 3:12, 2 Tim. 4:2, Ti. 1:9, 2:15, 1 Pet. 5:1; Jude 3-KJV). Notice the significant diversity between these words in the definitions. Please understand, “encourage” and “exhort” are interchangeable in many verses of the Bible. For example, the same Greek word parakaleo is used to “encourage” in the following verses: Acts 11:23, 14:22, 16:40, 20:2, 27:34, 1 Cor. 14:31, Col. 2:2, 4:8, 1 Thess. 3:2, 5:11, or Heb. 3:13. Or, it is also used to “comfort”, as in: Matt. 2:2, 5:4, Luke 16:25, Acts 20:12, 2 Cor. 1:4, 7:6, 7:7, Eph. 6:22, 1 Thess. 3:7, 4:18, 2 Thess. 2:17. But, when parakaleo was meant to convey solemnity, caution, warning, or urgency; the English word exhort is the more accurate and appropriate word choice. It is extremely important to accurately represent God’s intended meaning, when translating the original language into various languages. Many times it is extremely difficult or virtually impossible, to translate certain Hebrew of Greek words or phrases exactly; in this case, into English. Therefore, it was essential to utilize the most fitting word or phrase to translate God’s...
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Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” John 8:58 “And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!'” Matt. 14:33 Much ink has been spilled on whether or not Jesus Christ is God, especially since He never proclaimed the exact words, I am God in any of the four Gospels. It is however, understandable that the unregenerate man doubts and opposes Christ’s deity, because they know not the things of God and considers them foolishness (1 Cor. 2:14). But, what I find extremely disconcerting, is the fact that there are many professing Christians who deny Jesus’ deity, whether out of ignorance or blatantly. I can understand those who are ignorant of the truth and pray they soon become enlightened. But, it is those who are exposed to the truth and still deny it. Tragically, many of these deniers or heretics as they should be referred; teach at Christian seminaries, churches; engage in debates, make public assertions, publish literary and video works, pervert the teachings of Christ; all under the guise of Christianity. Such pseudo-Christians are the most pernicious to the church, because they assume a certain amount of credibility within the evangelical realm. This makes their erroneous assertions difficult to disprove because they have duped minds. Such pseudo-Christians do the most destruction, because they pollute pure innocent minds with cleverly-plotted deceptions (2 Cor. 11:14-15); even some true Christians are led astray by lies regarding Jesus. Interestingly, even Satan and his demons recognized Jesus as the “Son of God.” (Matt. 8:29, Mk. 5:7, Luke 4:3, 4:9, 4:34, 4:41, 8:28). As the book of James states; “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble” (James 2:19). If only believers would discipline themselves to thoroughly search the Scriptures, saturate their minds with the published works of reputable theologians, and study church history; they would be virtually impervious to the trappings of false teachers. (Acts 17:11, 2 Tim. 2:15). However, if the whole of Scripture is considered, we can easily determine by the sheer weight of evidence pointing to Jesus Christ’s deity, it is indeed a biblical truth. In his book, The Forgotten Trinity, Dr. James White wrote; (1) “There are literally hundreds–no thousands–of passages that testify to the deity of Christ once we understand that no creature could possibly do or say the things that the Lord Jesus did. we would not be able to catalogue them in this brief work”. Jesus’ claim to deity was not only overt by His many proclamations, but also...
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America’s laws are changing so rapidly, drastically, and have become so diametrically opposed to God’s holiness, that the time has come for Christians to increase their commitment to the church and family. Coincidentally, I was listening to a popular “Reformed” evangelical program, when a professing Christian “Sunday school teacher” asked; “How do we help our children as our culture rapidly and morally decays?” I was stunned by his question. Patiently, the host provided encouragement to this man, by suggesting that he teach the basic tenants of Christianity laid out in God’s word, but ended his answer by stating; “Children ought to be sitting in pews alongside their parents, listening to sound preaching and teaching and not dropped off at Sunday school and ought to be homeschooled where they can learn God’s truth unhindered”. Great answer, I thought. But, I was troubled, as to why any qualified “man of God” would call a show and ask such a fundamental question, as this man did, when we should be able to trust the leaders of our evangelical churches. Yet it was a dark glimpse of our current culture. As a “family” of believers we must do all that we can to encourage the children in our churches. We are a universal “family” of brothers and sisters, and God commands us to love one another. Therefore if we see any younger people in our churches we need to mentor and guide them, and give our full support to their parents. As parents, God has entrusted our children to us, to instruct them with great wisdom and do everything possible to saturate children’s minds with the word of God (Duet. 6:5-9). One way this can be achieved is by eliminating the life-robbing, mind-numbing, highly destructive entertainment, that we know pollutes the innocence of their minds, destroys their ability to “think”, and corrupts their hearts away from God. Statistics prove the current “techy” generation has scored significantly lower in every area of academics. So in the place of “entertainment” we ought to provide daily opportunities for our youth to hear and read the sanctifying Scriptures; they need to know that they are part of God’s family. Part of this encompasses being seated in pews alongside their parents, listening to sermons, hearing the rich theology of hymns and participating each Lord’s Day with the family of God. Furthermore, church leadership as well as parents ought to encourage instilling of family devotionals as part of their regular diet, and each child should have his or her personal Bible, with daily time alloted for reading alone and with family. Additionally, it would be tremendously helpful for children to witness their parents behaving as paradigms of godly living...
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I think we would all agree that the word “persecution” brings to mind a variety of thoughts. There are many kinds of persecution. I can remember in the early years of desegregation how often the word “discrimination” was used in the media. Like the word persecution the word discrimination brings to mind various kinds of discrimination. However the Word of God is interested in one main category of persecution and discrimination. It is the oppression and torment associated with standing for the Word of God over and against false gospels. We often get criticized for our stance against the false hopes of the Roman Catholic religion. We do not believe in the dual errors of ‘go along to get along’ and ‘Christianity is a big tent with many kinds of gospels’. Either of these two ideas will ruin the gospel. Sometimes the denigration of our outlook brings out some severe chastisement. Here is an excerpt from a recent e-mail sent to me from a Roman Catholic: “Over the years I have studied the Christian faith and the arguments utilized by proponents and opponents of Roman Catholicism, and among the individuals who possess the lowest caliber of intelligence and ability to think critically would be yourself as well as a few other such Protestant apologists.” This is a pretty typical response from those who are upset with this ministry. This of course stings a little bit but it hardly qualifies for the persecution and discrimination that some of our brothers and sisters are experiencing all over the world. We take this in stride and try to give a level headed response. We understand that the gospel has a cutting edge to it that makes it the focal point of anger for those who reject it. We also take encouragement from Scripture that promises those who are persecuted and slandered for the sake of the gospel are blessed. But straight forward antagonism and insult form only one small piece of the persecution pie. We as Christians need to take into account the cost of being Christian. We lose family members and friends who simply do not understand or want to understand the gospel. We live in a world within a world whereby Christian values and ethics can raise the ire of the general worldview of an anti-Christian society. We find ourselves swimming against the current of modern affairs. We are constantly being pushed to the edge of marginalization by the vanity fair of the worldly wise. Our Lord reminds us to rejoice and be glad for great is our reward in heaven for in the...
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