Potty Mouth Christians

After reading some recent post over at Christian Research Network and Slice of Laodicea on the subject of dirty mouth Christians that spew vulgarities, I stumbled across this quote while studying my Matthew commentary by Oliver B. Greene just hours after having read both of these articles and just thought I would let Mr. Greene share his thoughts on the matter as well.

Cursing is the devil's cheapest ticket to hell. Cursing requires no talent or education. Any drunkard, bum, prostitute, gambler, liar, thief - any degraded character on earth can swear as fluently as can the person who has wealth or a college degree. Anyone can abuse an oath, but it takes a real Christian to speak truth and cause men to believe what is said because it is backed up by a life of true Christian character.

The man who curses God is a coward. If God were standing near him, visibly, he would not curse the Creator of this universe. When a wicked man curses his fellowman and consigns him to hell or uses God's name in vain pertaining to his fellowman he is actually praying for God to damn his fellowman to hell. The sad truth is, such a man is bringing damnation upon his own head.

Cursing makes no one richer, wiser, happier, or better loved by anyone. It helps neither morals, manners, nor disposition. Cursing is disgusting to a lady or gentleman. It is abominable and deplorable to Christians, and it is an insult to Almighty God who spoke this world into being. God will not hold a blasphemer guiltless. Vengeance will be poured out upon him, and unless he repents he will spend eternity in the lake of fire.

Excerpt taken from "The Gospel According To Matthew Vol. I" Commentary by Oliver B. Greene, The Gospel Hour, Inc Copyright 1971

Sin Killers

My brother in Christ, Brodioi informed me this morning that his pastor Dean Sisk is taking his church (Belle Aire Baptist Church) through a new Tuesday morning men's study that is somewhat unique. It is entitled "Sin Killers," which is not so much a Bible study (though there are numerous biblical references throughout) as it is a study of an update of a classic work by Puritan John Owen, entitled "Overcoming Sin and Temptation." You can download the audio from the church website here which is available in MP3 format. I have found this study to be a very profound look at the seriousness of sin and how we are to deal with it on a daily basis, which is to be about killing it all the day long.

Sin Killers Series
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“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you” John Owen

Quote of the Day

"The man who is seriously convinced that he deserves hell is not likely to go there, while the man who believes that he is worthy of heaven will certainly never enter that blessed place." —A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Lord, is it I?

Matthew 26:21-22 - "And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. They were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, ‘Lord, is it I?’ "

You know as I come to these verses one can only wonder to what degree of betrayal each disciple must have already struggled with in his own heart or imagined in his own mind as each of them were made exceedingly sorrowful and maybe even began to doubt their commitment to the Lord and yet it is quite clear that each of them knew that this hideous nature lay within them all as is evident by their own confession "Lord, is it I?". Oh how true are His Words in Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Yes, even the disciples didn't know their own hearts, they were so deceived by it that they didn't even know if they would be the one who would betray the Lord. The truth that there is a potential for betrayal at some level that lays within our own hearts must be fully exposed so that we can clearly see this sin for what it is and destroy it before it destroys us. In the famous words of John Owen "be killing sin, or it will be killing you." We should always be on guard against the sin of betraying our Lord in word, deed, or thought and don't ever hesitate to ask the question Lord, is it I?

Doctrines of Contradiction

I have heard many Pentecostals preach some of these false doctrines first hand and they have no idea the damage that they may cause in a young believers life. How someone can teach that Jesus is the only way of salvation and then deny that His Grace is Sufficient enough to keep you is beyond me. As I read more articles on the history of the Pentecostal Movement I find it to be a very strange rabbit hole indeed.

"…Many Pentecostals believe that Baptism is necessary for salvation and that eternal life may be lost due to sin in ones personal life. Speaking in tongues is often said to be the evidence of Salvation. A denomination which believes that speaking in tongues is a necessary part of or the evidence of salvation has fallen into the same trap as Romanism. THINGS whether Tongues or Sacraments are not necessary for Salvation. Giving approval to Pentecostal or Charismatic participants condones their Church and the errors that accompany them,… The statement that most ex-Catholics were in the Pentecostal or Charismatic denominations could mean that they still need salvation... it therefore becomes imperative that the plain Gospel be preached to all, especially those who claim to be saved and yet continue to associate themselves with unbiblical positions that contradict the doctrines of salvation, Romanism and Pentecostalism.…." (Read the full article)

Sins of The Father

In my pursuit of the origins of the beginning of the Pentecostal movement and it's founding leaders I have come across some very disturbing articles at the Seek God website and anyone who is involved in a Pentecostal or Charismatic church should read these articles and then seriously re-think the wisdom of staying in a church who's origins come from such men as Charles Fox Parham.

Depending upon which reports one reads, Charles Fox Parham’s sins and errors are partially discussed, totally ignored, excused, obscured or glossed over. Understanding that most people neither know the history nor the beliefs would explain why many have been snared into adhering to such as Parham and hence the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement. Many who endorse him as “father of the Pentecostal movement” generally say he started out good but developed some problems. However, facts dictate otherwise and the foundations which these many denominations have been built upon are not the Gospel of Jesus Christ and obedience to the Word of God. Many of those who associated and aligned with Parham can also be evaluated in this same manner. (Read the full article titled "The Sins of The Father")

Presumptuous Preachers

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church."

The argument, whether any woman may or may not be a preacher of the word should be primarily one of Scripture. The seeming fitness of some women, by their gifts and graces, to edify the churches by preaching, is then useless and false. When God endows a woman with the ability to understand and teach His Word, it may be safely assumed that he has some wise end in view; he has some area or sphere in which her gifts will come into proper play. But surely it is far from reverent for the creature to decide, against God's Word, that this sphere is the pulpit. God’s wisdom is better than man's. The sin involves the presumption of Uzzah. He was right in thinking that it would be a bad thing to have the sacred ark fall into the dirt, and in thinking that he had the physical strength to steady it, just like any Levite; but he was wrong in presuming to serve God in a way that God had not prescribed. So when men lament the “unemployed spiritual power,” which they suppose exists in many gifted females, as a great loss to the church, they are reasoning with Uzzah; they are presumptuously setting their human wisdom above God's wisdom.

Excerpt taken from an article by Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) titled "Women Preachers (The Public Preaching of Women)" October, 1879. You can read the whole article here.

Stop Casting Pearls

After last weeks scandalous atheist debate, I ran across this quote by Oliver B. Greene and thought it was very poignant.

Matthew 7:6 "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."

I do not wast time in arguments with atheists, agnostics, "free thinkers," Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, or any others who deny that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the only way of salvation, and that the blood of Jesus is the only cleansing power. To enter into discussion with such people or to argue with them is to cast pearls before swine and give unto dogs that which is holy.

Quote taken from "The Gospel According to Matthew Volume II (Chapters 6-10) commentary by Oliver B. Greene; The Gospel Hour, Inc., 1972

The Wave of Pragmatism

Does the end justify the means? Evangelicals like never before appear to be answering yes. Churches zealous to attract the unchurched have baptized virtually every form of amusement.

The early Christians met to worship, pray, fellowship, and be edified—and scattered to evangelize unbelievers. Many today believe instead that church meetings should entertain unbelievers for the purpose of creating a good experience that will make Christ more palatable to them. More and more churches are eliminating preaching from their worship services and opting instead for drama, variety shows, and the like. Some churches relegate Bible teaching to a midweek service; others have dropped it altogether. Those with access to the secret knowledge tell us that biblical preaching by itself cannot possibly be relevant. They say the church must adopt new methods and innovative programs to grab people on the level where they live.

That kind of pragmatism is quickly replacing supernaturalism in many churches. It is an attempt to achieve spiritual objectives by human methodology rather than supernatural power. Its primary criterion is external success. It will employ whatever method draws a crowd and stimulates the desired response. Its underlying presuppositions are that the church can accomplish spiritual goals by fleshly means, and that the power of God’s Word alone is not sufficient to break through a sinner’s blindness and hardness of heart.

I don’t believe that is an overstatement. The wave of pragmatism sweeping the church today seems predicated on the idea that artificial technique and human strategy are crucial to the church’s mission. Many appear to believe that we can capture people for Christ and the church only if our programs are imaginative enough and our sermons are persuasive enough. Therefore they bend their philosophy of ministry to suit whatever techniques seem to satisfy the most unbelievers.

Excerpt taken from "Our sufficiency in Christ" by John F. MacArthur, Jr. (c1991). Dallas, TX: Word Publishing.

Atheism Within

With all the interest in the Ray Comfort atheist debate taking place this week the blog world has been very chatty about this subject both positive and negative remarks for and against Ray's methods, I can see where both side are coming from; although I tend to side more towards the negative remarks I'm very thankful for Ray and Kurt for their passion of winning lost people to Christ. We should all pray for such passion in our own witness. As I visit my favorite blogs every week I came across this article by Tony Reinke titled "The Atheist Within" over at the Shepherds Scrapbook and I thought it was a very humble and Biblical way of approaching the topic of atheism.

Atheism is not only a supposedly rational conclusion that a god does not exist, but also the practical conclusion that God is unworthy of my affection. The idols of my own heart reveal the depth of remaining atheism!

When we as Christians see the atheist within our own hearts we begin to understand the glorious greatness of our Savior! What a beautiful Savior that holds on to sinners and never lets go. (Read Full Article)

Destination Ignorance

Scott MacIntyre over at the Wood and Steel website has written a great article on the ignorance among Christians today and just what is leading the church into this dangerous destination.

The Church is asleep in the back seat, and many pastors are asleep at the wheel. In fact, if pastors would wake up they might discover they're not driving, but being towed. Wake up, pastors. Wake up, Church. The people who are towing the church are no longer even proclaiming the Word of God. They are serving you a fabricated admixture of biblical and unbiblical teaching that is cloaked in terminology that appeals to our traditional evangelistic foundations. We are falling prey to church idiom while failing to understand what is actually being said. The church is being rallied to action, but that action may not even be biblical. (Read Full Article)

Quote of the Day

"Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice.” —A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Fighting Lust

Over at the Irish Calvinist Eric has started a new series on how to think biblically about lust and how we as Christians are to deal with it. I found Part 1 very insightful and helpful. Thanks Eric

God has said that sex is to occur within the framework of marriage (between a male and a female). Therefore, any lustful craving to experience the intimate pleasures reserved for the marriage apart from this sacred institution is to pursue enjoyment apart from God’s clearly revealed will. When a man sits and quietly fixes his eyes and heart upon a woman (whether it be on a computer, television, photo, in person or in his imagination) and then begins to desire her sexually, this is sinful lust. The man has lustfully craved sexual satisfaction apart from divine sanction.

Propitiation

1 John 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

Propitiation 1. Appeasing divine anger by a sacrifice that atones for a sin or offense against God. 2. In the New Testament, restoring the holy relationship between the Creator and his creation through the atoning sacrifice of Christ that satisfies the needs of divine justice

Kurian, G. T. (2001). Nelson's new Christian dictionary : The authoritative resource on the Christian world. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Pubs.

Propitiation [pro pish ih AY shun] — the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, through which He paid the penalty demanded by God because of people’s sin, thus setting them free from sin and death. The word means “appeasement.” Thus, propitiation expresses the idea that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for sin that a holy God demanded. Although Jesus was free of sin, He took all our sins upon Himself and redeemed us from the penalty of death that our sins demanded.

Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.

True Christianity

This video floored me and broke my heart at the same time!!! It should make us weep that in today's seeker friendly church it takes someone like this to stand up and present what true Christianity is!

Thanks to Symphony of Scripture for posting this first.

Nothing but an Apostate

In a follow up to "Nothing but a Dreamer" todays radio program Grace To You aired a sermon by John MacArthur that describes how to spot apostate false teachers like Dave Parker host of "The Living Room". If you don't believe me please view his dream that he calls "God's Dream" and then download and listen to this sermon by Dr. MacArthur and decided for yourself.

Apostate false teachers from Joseph Smith to Benny Hinn and everybody in between claim that God speaks to them in their dreams, in their visions. And this, of course, transcends the necessity to be submissive to the Word of God which is not in their hearts anyway. And it gives them the illusion of authority and God gets blamed for all their aberrations. They reject the Word of God.

Now that is a fair way to interpret that. But even if you want to beg the question of revelatory dreams here and go another direction, you could interpret it this way, “Yet likewise these dreamers,” and you could...we’ll come down from that lofty claim to revelatory dreams and you could come down and say it this way, “What they teach is nothing but the figment of their own...what?...imagination.” That’s all it is. It’s not anything more than that.

These apostates with their evil corrupted minds who stay in the church to destroy, these spiritual terrorists controlled by Satan have nothing but perverted sensual ideas running around in their minds and they become the authority for their own deceptions. At its simplest, they reject the Word of God and base their lies on the musings of their own deluded brains. At its highest, they claim God speaks to them and God told them and God gave them the Book of Mormon and God gave them The Science and Health and Key to the Scripture and God gave them the revelation that told them to do this and to do that, and God spoke to them in a dream, a vision. But the bottom line is, they are unwilling to bow completely to the authority of the Word of God.

Excerpt taken from a sermon preached by John MacArthur titled "How To Identify Terrorists In The Church" you can download this sermon in it entirety at gty.org or read the entire transcript here.

Trouble the Waters

Dirty, filthy sinners are made clean by the Word-the Word of God which is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16)

In Ephesians 5:25-26 we are told that Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, "that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word."

There is not much "troubling of the water" today. It is true that we have more preaching today than ever before, we have more Sunday schools and more churches than we have ever had; but the present day churches are trying to trouble the waters through methods other than the preaching of the Word of God. Liberalism and modernism have been substituted for the Gospel. But there is only one way to trouble the waters and bring healing power to the souls of poor, blind, halt, withered sinners.

Excerpt taken from "The Greatest Question" by Oliver B. Green Copyright 1966

Purpose Driven Articles

With the recent interest in this blog due to an article about the down-grade of a church caught up in the seeker friendly movement I thought it would be appropriate to post a list of links to some very informative articles about the dangers that come when a church embraces the seeker sensitive movement.

• The Gospel: A Method or a Message? - Bob DeWaay
• Built to the Master's Plan - John MacArthur
• Charles Finney's Influence on American - Bob DeWaay
• Church Growth Gone Mad - Clay Miller
• The Deformed Theology of Seeker Sensitivity - Don Matzat
• Demise of Preaching in the Modern Church - Bob DeWaay
• Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats? - Charles Spurgeon
• Gimme That Showtime Religion - John MacArthur
• The Gospel According to Hybels and Warren - Nathan Busenitz
• Mega Churches: Postmodern Seeker Sensitivity - Craig W. Booth
• New Hermeneutic Again - H. A. Dobbs
• The New Liberals - Don Matzat
• Problems Related to Seeker-Sensitive - John H. Armstrong
• Programs, Get Your Programs - Phil Johnson
• The Purpose Driven Church - Nathan Busenitz
• The Purpose Driven Church (a critique) - Michael J. Penfold
• The Purpose Driven Life - Review - Bible Bulletin Board
• The Rejection of the Classical Doctrine of God - David F. Wells
• Robert Schuller and the Seeker Sensitive Church - Bob DeWaay
• Some Thoughts on Church Growth - Dr. Kim Riddlebarger
• What's wrong with User Friendly? - John MacArthur
• What's Inside the Trojan Horse? - John MacArthur