This is a truly wonderful, thought provoking, sobering video. The “sinner’s prayer” is no real assurance or evidence of the new birth.
Testimony of realizing the Lordship of following Christ
21/12/2008 at 11:04 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: altar call, Bible, Biblical, cross, faith, false converts, God, gospel, Jesus Christ, Lord, preach, preaching, repentance, Saviour, sinner's prayer, unbiblical
Santa – yea or nay?
14/12/2008 at 4:33 pm (thoughts)
Tags: Bible, Biblical, Christian, Christianity, Christmas, Father Christmas, Jesus, Lord, myth, Santa, Santa Claus, truth, yuletide
Christmas is approaching and I’m sure many are talking about whether or not to tell their children about Santa Claus/Father Christmas. Here’s an interesting story – an uproar when 7 year olds were told by their teacher that Santa doesn’t exist.
My own parents never taught me about Santa. Not for any particular reason other than that they weren’t taught about it either so it simply didn’t occur to them to give some mythical figure who somehow made it down our blocked chimney the credit for giving me gifts that they bought with their hard earned cash.
Here’s an excellent article from Thabiti Anyabwile on why he’s saying “Down With Santa Claus”
How To Build A Church With False Converts (WOTM)
27/11/2008 at 10:55 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: altar call, Bible, Biblical, Christianity, church, decisional regeneration, evangelism, faith, false converts, God, gospel, Jesus, modern evangelism, Salvation, Way of The Master, WOTM
Unfortunately, I think I’ve heard many of the examples set out in the clip below:
Young Convert to… what?
16/09/2008 at 12:01 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Biblical, Christianity, conversion, convert, evangelism, faith, gospel, islam, James White, testimony
A good, thought provoking video by James White – check the similarity between what goes on in many churches and conventions today and this conversion to Islam!
Creationism – a tenet of “extreme Christianity”?
12/09/2008 at 10:51 pm (apostasy, thoughts)
Tags: Anglican, belief, Bible, Biblical, Christianity, church of england, creationism, evolution, faith, Genesis, God, truth
*Update* The Church of England will issue an apology to Charles Darwin for rejecting evolution. See this link from A Little Leaven.
Today I read this story calling for creationism to be taught in UK classrooms. I thought this is a step in the right direction, though I wouldn’t expect the Genesis chapter 1 account to be the only one presented. My daughter is only 1 and a half years old and I wonder just how hard me and my husband will have to work to teach her the Lord’s word in opposition to what she’ll be expected to learn in school!
On the other hand, check this story out. For those of you who have read my post on the Church of England, I haven’t got an axe to grind with them but I haven’t met many in my adult life who took the Bible seriously. If you’re an Anglican who believes what the Bible says about creation I’d truly love to hear from you! An excerpt from The Times:
“The Church of England expressed deep concerns last night about the spread of creationist views as it prepared to unveil a website promoting the evolutionary views of Charles Darwin.
Anglican leaders fear that “noisy” advocates of a literal interpretation of the Bible – especially in the United States, where even the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, is a vocal supporter – are infecting the perception of Christianity worldwide.”
Excuse me? Unveiling a website promoting Darwin’s evolution theory? How bizarre! Imagine, Sarah Palin – whatever you think of her and her views – affirming the truths of creation in this case – being seen as somehow a negative perception of the faith. Huh? What am I missing here? And as long as we who name the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19) and show forth the fruit of the Spirit and not the flesh, what does it matter what the world thinks of us? There are many words from the Scriptures that tell us that the world hates God, His word and His elect. The apostle John did say ” Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”
Am I being naive or don’t most UK Christians believe in a literal six day creation? I don’t have much knowledge of the wider church scene here though I’ve been born again for ten years now. I remember singing “All things bright and beautiful” at school in the 80s, I daresay that doesn’t happen nowadays!
Seriously though, it seems to me that judging by things I read in newspapers or Internet forums that believing in a Creator is a hallmark of a nutter or an “extremist” and for some reason I was slightly surprised to hear such views from professing Christians…
Leaving pentecostalism – my journey thus far…
23/08/2008 at 2:43 pm (thoughts)
Tags: Arminianism, beliefs, Bible, Biblical, Calvinism, charismatic, church, doctrine, doctrines of grace, faith, gifts, God, gospel, Jesus, Lord Jesus, monergism, pentecostal, synergism, truth, tulip
As promised, here’s where I am theologically and how the Lord brought me here…
As you may have read in my testimony , I was a member of a pentecostal church for a number of years. However, quite early in my walk, say around 2000, I felt niggles about what I was being taught and was seeing in my church versus my personal study of the Bible. By then I got my own PC and hooked up to the Internet and found a website linking to www.deceptioninthechurch.com which talked about many errors, heresies and false teachers and was one of the few at the time that actually named them! Thankfully I didn’t have digital TV so hadn’t come across many of them with the exception of TD Jakes. I remember being thoroughly confused about Oneness Pentecostal theology versus the Bible declared about the one Triune God. I was surprised to see how many of these preachers mostly from the USA were popular with many in the congregation here in London, especially as I had not heard of any of them before I was born again.
I would read 1 Corinthians 14 and wonder how come people would shout out in tongues yet this chapter said that should not be so? That didn’t stop me from feeling pressured for quite some time as I hadn’t spoken in tongues and I remember feeling so left out when I wasn’t “slain in the spirit” nor running the church aisles as could be seen there on occasion. I remember often feeling that I must be missing something as I hadn’t been “baptised/filled in the Holy Spirit” in the way that pentecostals define it.
Things started to get tough for me when I kept reading more and more from the Bible and on the web… I would either ignore it unless it was gross error, ie word of faith which that church wasn’t heavily into. By this time I was certain in my conviction that those like Benny Hinn, Paula White et al were to be avoided and even considered leaving my local church… but I lacked the courage of my convictions.
My husband and I began to talk more on these issues. Thankfully, there’s not been any dissension between us on doctrine. Some teachings we read, saw and heard had a profound impact on us, such as True and False Conversion, a set of DVDs from the deceptioninthechurch website regarding the New Apostolic Reformation, writings by Spurgeon, Tozer and many others and above all, the Holy Bible.
We’d heard of Calvinism and Arminianism but didn’t study them in much depth. The more we read, the more we’ve become believers in the doctrines of grace, though I’m still a LOT to learn.
Last year it all got to a point where we decided to quietly leave that church. It was surprisingly difficult to talk to others about the teachings of the Bible, especially regarding popular false teachers. We’re in a smaller assembly now and so far it’s been a fruitful experience. It’s the first church I’ve ever been to where an offering isn’t taken up but you may give via a box at the back of the church, LOL!
I still have a lot of respect for our former pastor and we’re glad to have left on a good note, though we’ve had few enquiries as to where we are these days! I’m at a point now where I feel almost like a new Christian, where I have much to learn and unlearn. Where am I now regarding pentecostalism? I’m formulating my beliefs on whether or not the sign gifts have ceased. My husband is leaning that way, which is saying something as he was more interested in the prophetic movement than I ever was.
