Old Church Fan

Atheism - Part 5

2010-09-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

Is Jesus a myth? Did he really exist? It is more and more common to hear that Christ never even existed, that some ”fanatic Christians” invented Him.

We read in the Encyclopedia Britannica: ”These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds by several authors at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries.”

There is a lot of ressources to answer that claim. Of course, it is not true but you sometime need to give something more than ”That’s not true!”

Here‘s a lot of info about the existance of Jesus-Christ. You’ll find information from both religious and secular sources.

Here’s a detailed article on the testimony of Flavius Josephus concerning the historical Jesus.

Need more details about Julius Africanus ?

Would like to read a book on the subject? Or would like to buy Lee Strobel’s Book on the subject?

Oh! You also have the 4 Gospels and the rest of the New Testament… But there is a good chance an atheist would not accept them as proof that Jesus did exist…

The lies about Christ are not new, they will always exist, you will always be confronted to them… We read in Matthew 28:12-15:

When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Atheism - Part 4

2010-09-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Are Iron Chariots God’s ”weakness”?

We read in Judges 1:19, KJV: ”And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.”

This verse is often used by atheists as ”proof” that God isn’t almighty. It even inspired the name for Matt Delahunty’s Website, http://wiki.ironchariots.org/.

A good place to start would be Judges 4, we’ll start at verse 12 : ”When they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, Sisera gathered together his nine hundred iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the Kishon River. Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, followed by ten thousand men. At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. All the troops of Sisera fell by the sword; not a man was left.” ( Judges 4:12-16)

Apparently, Chariots of Iron are no problem for the Lord Almighty if it was then Barak and his troops would have failed miserably against the 900 iron chariots of Sisera…

Also note that this attack on the Bible is nothing new, it was addressed by C.H. Spurgeon more than a hundread years ago. Please read Pastor Spurgeon’s sermon on this passage to get a better understanding of it.

More information can be found here.

A good practical advice here would be to read the Bible daily ( not just the NT). Going through ALL of Scriptures every year would be a good excercice. That way when someone throws a difficult verse at you instead of creating doubts in your mind, you’ll be ”Yeah, I know that verse, I read it before, I know what it means, I know what it says…”

Atheism - Part 3

2010-09-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Because The Bible is constantly under attack, I decided to post a link to an older post about biblical contradictions.

Hope you enjoy it!

Atheism - Part 2

2010-09-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Let's ask why do Atheists care about religion/God? Why do they debate something they don't believe exist?

Here's some atheists quotes I found on the Internet :

''As a point of fact, religions are dangerous. People use religion to justify the most absurdly cruel acts and attitudes. Few will argue that religion was the principle motivator for the 911 attacks.'' Source

''In practice, though, atheists are interested in both theism and religion, commonly regarding both as not only false but harmful to people and society. Atheists care because religion and theism affect them as well.'' Source

''This is wrong. ALL theists and ALL forms of theism are harmful and destructive. The points outlined above are not specific to fundamentalist extremists; They are common among virtually all theistic denominations.'' Source

You get the idea. It is mostly the reason you get. Atheists care about religions because of ''all the harm that was done'' in the name of religions/god. That's fine and it is a valid concern, indeed a lot of people were harm and killed in the name of relions/god.

You get a ''Saint atheist'' vs. ''Bad religious'' kind of debate...

Do atheists have valid reasons to reject religions? Is it true that religion is dangerous and harmful? Is it always the case?

It is not. Not ALL religious people are bad people and terrorists. Not ALL religious people are fighting a ''holy war'' where someone holding a different belief should be eliminated. Most religious people do no harm at all, they go to church, pray and go back home no harm done.

I know they are not saying that atheists are perfect and never did anything wrong. I know they don't believe that. Yes, standard answer they'll give you is '''Yes, but atheists never did harm to others in the name of atheism.''

Of course, they never did something in the name of atheism. Who would do something in the name of a disbelief? ''In the name of the god that doesn't exist, here, I have to kill you.'' That would be ridiculous...

Religious people did a lot of harm in the name of god/religions and atheists did a lot of harm, period.

So what's the point of this debate? Are we saying that if we get rid of all religions we would have a better society and we would get rid of 'evil'?

Obviously, we would not... Religion is not the root of all evil.

Atheism - Part 1

2010-09-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

In the next few weeks, we'll look at the atheist position.

Is it a valid option? Why do people pick that option? Can it be defended? Ect...

I'll just start today by posting this ebook, The Infidel Delusion a great book that is, in fact, a response to The Christian Delusion.

I hope you enjoy this.

Who is Maitreya?

2010-06-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you are familiar with the name Maitreya... Maybe you know him as ''The World Teacher''

According to his website, ''He has been expected for generations by all of the major religions. Christians know him as the Christ, and expect his imminent return. Jews await him as the Messiah; Hindus look for the coming of Krishna; Buddhists expect him as Maitreya Buddha; and Muslims anticipate the Imam Mahdi or Messiah''

He is all of that? Christ, Buddha, Messiah...? Because, although the names are different, we all ''refer to the same individual'' as we read on the site... After all, we have the ''same'' god, right?

Interesting, since we can read on the same website that ''Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ are not one and the same person.'' So Jesus-Christ was not the Christ... He was not the Messiah, the annointed One. ''Christ'' doesn't even refer to a person according to them. Christ is a ''rank'' or a ''Function'' in the hierarchy of the ''Masters of Wisdom'' and these ''Masters'' guide the evolution of humanity, from behind the scene, toward a ''saner and more just world for all.''

Isn't that cute? Make the world a better place... That's fine but I will never follow someone who denies Christ. Because, you know who is the liar? ''It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.'' - 1 John 2:22-23

Biblical Contradictions

2010-06-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

You hear that a lot, right? ”The Bible is FILLED WITH CONTRADICTIONS!” And then, they give you a list…or just one… Or none, because they don’t want ”To waste their time reading a book full of lies and myths”… Or, they give you a link, like this one and, I guess, feel really good about themselves because they think they ”got you”.

Indeed, they can create doubts in your mind and yes, there are some difficult passages in Scriptures but the contradictions?

We have to either work really hard, or not hard enough, to find contradictions in the Bible.

You need to remember is that these ”Contradictions claims” are not new. They have been around for decades, if not centuries. (William Henry Burr wrote a book on biblical contradictions in the 1800′s)

Just so you can give an answer when you are confronted with a ”Contradiction”, Here’s a list of 143 with the explanations. A great work to preserve the integrity of Scriptures.

Also, for a deeper study, here’s a book, yes a FULL Book, totally free! You can read it here. (The book is called ”An examination of the alleged discrepancies of the Bible, by John Wesley Haley)

I hope these ressources will be helpful to you. They were for me…

BP Oil Spill = Revelation 16:3-7?

2010-06-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

We read in Revelation 16:3-7:

''The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve." And I heard the altar respond: "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments."

Remember another place in Scripture where the sea was turned into blood?

You got it, Moses with Pharaoh in Exodus 7:20-25:

''Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.''

It happened before and you can see in the two texts that it is a result of God's judgment.

Now, is it the fulfillment of Revelation 16:3 that is happenning now?

Verse 3 is interesting because it says ''Into blood like that of a dead man''

John Macarthur in a sermon on Revelation 16:

''The second angel pours his bowl into the sea and it becomes like blood, like that of a dead man...thick, black, dark, cooled, coagulated. It just pictures the sea like the pool of blood that would come from a man who had been stabbed and all his blood was lying in a pool. I don't know what it is that the Lord is going to use to do this.''

It's almost like he was describing the Gulf of Mexico today...

Now, we're not trying to guess the date the Lord will return but we still should keep in mind that He will return someday and we should be ready...

''For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.'' - 1 Thes. 4:16

''Trust yourself, Not God''

2010-06-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

I like that, ''No proof, no god. Done. Think for yourself...''

Do we really think for ourself? I guess we do but did we find the answers to our questions within ourself?

I believe the Bible is true.

Someone else will believe science and evolution and will read books on the subject and they'll enjoy a good Richard Dawkins video on Youtube that explains evolution and all of that.

Maybe you sat down in your living room and you asked yourself ''how did the universe come into existance?'' and you thougt real hard and you found the answer...

I think very few people fit into that last category...

So we think for ourself but we still have to go and search for ''proof'' or ''evidence'' or whatever you want to call them, because we need some sort of assurance. We need a solid ground for our ''system of beliefs''.

I am just saying ( and you could say it in numerous ways and against the Bible too) but what if Richard Dawkins would say one day:''I made that up...Nothing I ever taught was true''What I am saying is, that the answers are not all within yourself, trusting yourself isn't enough.

Dr. Bernie Siegel – New Age Leader

2010-06-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

I know…You’re probably asking yourself ”Who is that Siegel guy anyway?”…

Let’s see who Bernie Siegel is.

He is a Doctor from New York and he attended Colgate University and Cornell University Medical College.

He originated ”Exceptional Cancer Patients” (ECaP). ”ECaP is based on “carefrontation,” a safe, loving therapeutic confrontation, which facilitates personal lifestyle changes, personal empowerment and healing of the individual’s life. The physical, spiritual and psychological benefits which followed led to his desire to make everyone aware of his or her healing potential. He realized exceptional behavior is what we are all capable of.” (Taken From Dr. Siegel’s Website)

Our ”Healing potential”…?? Sounds like something coming right out of New Age/Positive Thinking philosophy

But now…Why is it important that we know Bernie Siegel is involved in the New Age movement?

Because Rick Warren quotes Dr. Siegel to support his claim that ”Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life”:

”You need hope to cope. Dr. Bernie Siegel found he could predict which of his cancer patients would go into remission by asking, “Do you want to live to be one hundred?” Those with a deep sense of life purpose answered yes and were the ones most likely to survive. Hope comes from having a purpose.” (Purpose-Driven Life P.20)

Do you see the New Age Philosophy here? With a positive attitude, you could heal yourself, even if you have cancer… And it is really the same thinking Rick has in mind, right after he writes: ”If you have felt hopeless, hold on! Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose.”

So with the right attitude, we’ll have a wonderful life! Certainly not something that we find in Scriptures…

Sometimes I wonder how these lies entered the Church…

Chris Rock is my Favorite Preacher

2010-05-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

If we could teach Chris Rock to insert a couple of Bible verses in his show, we would have the perfect preacher.... Lots of jokes, entertaining, curse words, F-Word, cleverness, funnny, everything you need... Simply great!

He is nothing like the old typical ''Outdated/irrelevant'' preacher we use to have in our churches...

Ask Chris Rock to read a text from Scriptures and then on with the show. Have him say a ''God bless you, have a good week at work'' at the end and... Voila! You have a relevant sermon and something that seekers will finally enjoy at your church!

I hope this doesn't sound too familiar. Most important, I hope that you're not shouting ''Amen! That's what we need!''

I am afraid that this is becoming the standard in more and more churches. A Short funny sermon is more preferable than a long, more ''conservative'' one...

Of course, we'll read a text from the Bible and pray at the beginning to make our sermon ''biblical'' but what we say after ''Amen'' has almost nothing to do with the text we just read...

Instead of preaching and exposing the Word of God, we preach... Actually, we don't preach. Preaching is not considered an important part of the service anymore.

We love worship, fellowship with others, ect.... But preaching?... ''Please, can't we keep singing instead?''

Oh! You're thinking ''I just want people to understand what I say when I preach.'' or ''I want to contextualize the Word.'' or ''If they don't understand that old Christian stuff they won't believe and get saved''

First, it is the work of the Holy spirit to convince ( John 16:8)

Second, faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ ( Rom. 10:17)

Third, unbelievers don't understand the Word, because they cannot. The natural man understands not the things of God because they are foolishness to him. ( 1 Cor. 2:14... Read 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 2 for a better understanding of this)

It takes a miracle from the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word for someone to get saved...

Please stop asking yourself ''What can I say to convince them?''.... Not your job... Your job: Preach the Word!

''This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.'' - 1 Cor. 2:13-14

”Capture attention by adding sermon features” – Rick Warren

2010-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

From Pastors.com:

”That’s why I use what I call sermon features, which are special segments you add into your sermon to capture the attention of your listeners. I’ve found you can hold people’s attention much longer when you interweave a variety of features into your sermon.

Here are a few of the sermon features we often use at Saddleback:

Testimonies: When someone hears me say it, they may dismiss me as the paid spokesman. But when they hear it through a testimony, it’s from a satisfied customer. For non-believers, the personal testimony has much more credibility.

Skits or dramas: If your church has a drama group, this would be a great way to break up your sermons. It also gets more people involved in your worship service.

Interviews: You can use interviews three different ways. They can be live, by video, or by telephone. Obviously live would be best, but each of these can work well. A “man on the street” is another great option.
Film clips: There are several good sites on the Web that can provide you with illustrations from movies on most topics. Using movies is a great way to speak the language of your listeners.

Songs: At Saddleback we call this the point and play service. It’s a regular part of our Christmas and Easter services. It breaks the service into smaller segments and we’ve found it maintains high interest. Sometimes the songs are performed by a soloist or a choir, and other times we sing congregational songs. Putting a song at the end of each point often adds a powerful emotional punch that helps push the truth past any defense mechanisms and into a deeper level with the congregation.

Tag-team preaching: When we do this, I’ll either share a point with another pastor or trade points back and forth. Another example, my wife and I have done messages together on marriage and other topics. Sometimes just having a different voice shakes things up. ”

I understand what Pastor Warren means but I think we open the door to no preaching at all.

If you think about it, the ”boring” part of such a sermon would be the actual sermon…

Donald Miller ( Blue like jazz) ask a similar question on his blog… He actually goes a step further… How about no preaching at all for a certain period of time…

As if preaching was optional or something that ”Theologians” or ”conservatives” made up…

Rick Warren tries to ”capture the attention” and Donald Miller takes the next step…

Let’s keep in mind what the Bible says on preaching:

”The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 4:7-11

”It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” – Eph. 4:11-13

”Preach the Word…” – 2 Tim. 4:2

Where ”Contextualization” and ”being relevant” can lead you…

2010-05-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

I came across this post from Phil Johnson this weekend. You’ll see, it is scary and very sad at the same time…

I am not the biggest fan of Mark Driscoll, because of his ”in your face” and almost vulgar behavior in the pulpit… But this, it is far worst, at least what is coming is far worst than that, if we believe what Pastor Sam D. Kim is saying…

I’ll admit that what we see in this clip is worst than what we’ve heard so far from Driscoll. Or is it?

But I have to believe that what brought Sam D. Kim to that point is a motivation to become relevant and that he must have started where, or somewhere near, Driscoll is.

By the way… Using the ”f-word” won’t convince anyone that they sinned against God and that they need Christ for their salvation…

Charles Spurgeon on Calvinism

2010-05-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

”The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox’s gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again.”
—C. H. Spurgeon

Read More…

”Transitioning” Book Review – Final thoughts

2010-05-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Here’s my final thoughts on this book… ( View previous comments here)

We’ll summarize ”Defining the vision”, ”Planting the vision”, ”sharing the vision” and ”implementing the vision” like this: Pray until God gives you your vision. Look around you and see who will be your target. Once you defined your vision, keep it a secret, share it only with influential people in the church, Elders, leaders, rich and ”Been there forever” people. Make sure you have them on your side before you tell the church. Choose ”dreamers” and not ”Detail person” who will ”relish procedures and policies”. But don’t worry, God will give the strategic order for your transition.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions here…

The chapter we are all waiting for is ”Dealing with opposition”

This chapter is very important because it shows you how ”Purpose-driven” pastors/leaders view criticism and you’ll understand a lot better why you have the impression to be screaming in the desert when you adress the issue …

First thing, it is never suggested in the book that critics or concerns could be legitimate.

Instead we read that opposition will come from those ”who do not understand”, ”who don’t like the change”, ”whose kingdom you’re messing with”, ”people whom the enemy controls” or ”who just love to be contrary”.

See, no opposition from people with biblical concerns… Notice also, how the criticizers/exhorters are discredited. They ”don’t get it”, they are ”Whiners”, ”prideful” or are simply ”controled by Satan”.

After reading that, let me ask you how you feel? Feeling good? Tempted to go Purpose-driven?…

Let me add a quote from page 114:
”Some people are leaders because they are visionary. Some people are leaders because they are noisier and more opinionated than other. In other words, they are control freaks. (Many pastors I know fit into this camp. )… …they perceive it to be a lessening of their control.”

And this one from page 115:
”I have not looked it up, but I am convinced that the Hebrew word for Sanballat means leader from hell. We all have Sanballats in our churches…”

I think you get the point… ”Who are you to criticize MY vision that God Gave me!?”

It is certainly not a wise approach to ministry. You can never be wrong, you’re in charge, no one can stop you.

We read in the book of proverbs, ”Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many adviser they succeed.” (15:22) and ”Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” (19:20)

The last ”Key truth” of the chapter reads like this ”Be willing to let people leave the church.” He minimizes the importance of people leaving the church by saying this: ”People will leave your church no matter what you do.” (p.127). They in fact lost 300 commited christians and ”gained” 2000 unchurched.

So the christians left the church and the world came in. How did the world come in the church in such large numbers. Are they suddenly searching for God? Or did we dilute the message to make it attractive?

Jesus said that we would be persecuted because of Him (Matt. 10:22), Paul said that the natural man understands not the things of the Lord ( 1 Cor. 2:14) and Peter said that we will suffer for bearing the name of the Lord ( 1 Peter 4)

What motivates the unchurched to come in?

There are a lot of concerns about this book and the whole Purpose-Driven Movement and as you can see this is a very dangerous book for the church… Stay away!

You can find another review here

I’ll finish here with ”WOW” Statements from the book… ”WOW” Statement are simply statement that I read and just couldn’t believe a christian book would say…

On p.27:”We must have Biblical preaching for people to come to know Jesus Christ. But if good preaching alone would win the world to Christ, we would have finish the job long ago.”

On p.53:”Along our stretch of Flamingo Road are four different church facilities. There is a Methodist… There is a Pentecostal… The Catholic church reaches traditional Catholics. Our church reaches unchurched. … By the way- these churches are our teammates, not competition.”

Yes, you read it right, The Catholics are our teammates…

On p.89:”Some piece of vision should be shared in every sermon that is preached. We now organize our preaching and etaching at Flamingo Road around our twelve-step strategy.”

Yes…We preach the vision, not the Word…

''Transitioning'' Book Review – Part 2

2010-05-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Continuing the review of this very influential book… If you missed it, read part 1 here

It takes me a bit of time to read the book, I have to stop on every page, first to calm down then think and pray… But I was warned on page 15 : ”This is not a book about why the church needs to transition. If you need to be convinde of that, you will be frustrated here.”

I am now at page 95 of 173.

From the forword by Rick Warren,

”I believe the greatest days of the church are all ahead of us and I firmly believe there is hope for our older established churches who will take the risk of rediscovering God’s purpose for the Church.”

The greatest of the Church are ahead of us? Really? I guess Paul wasn’t aware of that when he wrote his second epistle to Timothy. ”The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons…” ( 4:3) Sounds exciting doesn’t it?!

And…What is risky with ”rediscovering God’s purpose for the church” ? We should take risks? I believe the risks Warren is referring to is the risk of losing members and mature christians. As we can read on page 127 ( Yes, I cheated, I had to read ”Dealing with Opposition” first…) : ”We have lost 300 who were already committed to Christ and gained 2000, most of whom were unchurched.”

A lot could be said about that last phrase… But we’ll save it for later…
In the first chapter of the book, ”Preparing for Vision”, we see that a vision is ”God-given” meaning that we need to pray, fast and wait for the Lord to give it to us. We want to see the ”Picture of what God wants to do.”

To illustrate his points, Southerland gives us biblical ”Support”…
On page 34, ”King David recognized that there is a set order when it comes to the relationship of prayer and vision : Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. (Ps. 46:10) Don’t miss that order. First, I must be still enough to hear God. Second, I will be able to know Him and what He wants me to do. Third, God will be exalted as His vision is carried out.”

Do I really need to say that Psalm 46 doesn’t say that at all… ? It is not a call to ”hear” what God wants me to do. It doesn’t say that God will be exalted because his vision will be carried out.

God is our strenght and our refuge, He is Almighty, that’s more the idea of Psalm 46.

Just another example, on page 30 : ”God gives us His vision when we are desperate. He speaks to us when our whole heart and mind and soul is set on Him. When we are really hungry and thirsty for God, we find Him. Jesus said it this way ”Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” ( Matt. 5:6)”

Notice how subtle, he starts by saying ”God gives us His vision when we are desperate.” then tells us that God will speak to us if we set our mind and and soul on Him, when we thirst and hunger for God, we find Him. Then he quotes Matthew 5:6 that sounds a lot like the last phrase he just said. Of course, Matt 5:6 has nothing to do with being desperate and waiting on God to give us His ”vision”. Click here, for a better exposition of that verse.

I guess, we’ve said enough on chapter one.

Just a note, If you read the book, you’ll see that the author walks through the book of Nehemiah, in the Old Testament, to illustrate that what he is saying is biblical. I’ll just say two things on that. First, be very careful when someone tells you that they found a new way to do church in the Old Testament. Second, he is reading the book of Nehemiah with the 8-step change model in mind.

We have an interesting statement on page 86, we read :”You have to read between the lines a bit to see that Nehemiah was careful to include all his leaders in the vision.”

Continue to part 3

Transitioning – Book Review part 1

2010-05-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

I got a hand on ”Transitioning” by Dan Southerland. Another ”great” book from Zondervan…

The purpose of the book is to facilitate the transition to become a ”Purpose-Driven Church” and to do so, Southerland offers an 8-step plan.

As I was reading the book, I had the impression that the ”need” to switch from traditional to purpose-driven was based on a Business/Marketing approach.

It becomes very obvious in the Chapter 2, ”Defining the vision”, where he uses Peter Drucker’s (”The father of modern american management” to use Southerland’s own words) approach to business. We should adapt Drucker’s ”What business are we in?” and ”How’s business?” to the Church. We’ll look at that later…

First, I want to point out the 8-steps we find in the book and compare them with the 8-steps Change model from John Kotter. ( Kotter is a professor at the Harvard Business School and author.

Transitioning steps

-Preparing for vision

-Defining the vision

-Planting the vision

-Sharing the vision

-Implementing the vision

-Dealing with opposition

-Making course corrections

-Evaluating the Results

Kotter’s steps

-Create Urgency

-Form a powerful Coalition

-Create the vision for Change

-Communicate the vision

-Remove obstacles

-Create short-term Wins

-Build on the change

-Anchor the changes

As you can see some of the titles speak for themselves. For example : ”Dealing with opposition” and ”Removing Obstacles” or ”Sharing the vision” and ”Communicate the vision”. A bit less obvious, but saying the same thing… ”Making course correction” and ”Build on the Change”.

I think that’s the first step, knowing where the new purpose-driven structure comes from. It is not Biblical but it is a business-like strategy with a strong marketing approach. It is very important to understand that, if we don’t, Southerland will send biblical ”proofs” your way and you might actually believe he has a point… ( Note: These proofs are mostly verses taken out of context or twisting of the Word…)

We’ll go in details in following posts… Continue to part 2

More thoughts on Rick Warren’s ”Preaching like Jesus”

2010-05-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

Rick Warren believes that ”Christlike preaching is always attractive” I think that idea is foreign to Scriptures. I commented on that earlier

Also, being a Christian is not something attractive…

”Dear friends, do not be surprised at the PAINFUL TRIAL you are SUFFERING, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are INSULTED because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. IF YOU SUFFER, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However,IF YOU SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN, do not be ashamed, but PRAISE GOD THAT YOU BEAR THAT NAME. ” – 1 Peter 4:12-16

We’ll suffer and be persecuted for living like Christ, but our teaching on the Christian life and on Christ will be attractive??

In Acts 5:28-34a,

”We gave you STRICT ORDERS NOT TO TEACH IN THIS NAME, he said. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.Peter and the other apostles replied: “WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MAN! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. When THEY HEARD THIS, they were FURIOUS and WANTED TO PUT THEM TO DEATH. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel…”

I guess they were not attracted that much…Good thing Gamaliel was there….

In Acts 17, Paul was in Athens, we read on verses 32 and 33:”When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, SOME OF THEM SNEERED, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council…”

Is Christlike preaching always attractive? I should think it is not… We have to ignore too many passages from the Bible in order to say something like that…

''Bridge the gap'' with other religions...

2010-05-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

It is not our duty as Christians to ''Bridge the gap''...there will always be a gap... The natural man understands not the things of the Lord, because they are foolishness to him. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God...

Working with political and spiritual leaders and becoming one with them, or if you want, building a bridge with them, that very idea is foreign to Scriptures...

Loving our neighbour and uniting with wordly leaders are two different things, they are two different things...

There's a lot more to Scripture than ''love''...

Hey!... Why not invite a Muslim to preach at our church to build a bridge and show them we ''love'' Muslims... Let's have them teach our church about the ''Miracles of the Coran'' and the ''prophet of God''', Muhammed...

''Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.^{'' - 2 Cor. 6:14-16}

You’re not even a Christian…

2010-05-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

Here’s John Macarthur on Doug Pagitt:

”He’s not a pastor; he’s not a Christian; that’s not a church. When you call yourself a Christian and you call yourself a pastor and you say you have a church, all of that has to be—to be legitimate—defined biblically. And if it’s not, that’s not a church and you’re not a pastor and you’re not even a Christian.” Read the rest…

I certainly agree on Pastor Macarthur on this one. If you are going to call yourself a christian, you have to define what you mean biblically.

You can pastor a christian church only if the Word of God is your only authority and if Christ is the Lord and Savior of it.

Moving away from that is, indeed, very dangerous…

Ask yourself, is it the Word of God that we’re studying at church? or a ”christian book” labelled as a ”tool”…

Ask yourself, are we proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus-Christ and the salvation through Him alone? Or was that Gospel replaced with social works as a mean to ”reach people”

Ask yourself, when preaching ( or listening), are you exposing the full truth of the Word? Or did you ignore passages that are more difficult for the hearers, because you didn’t want to ”offend” the congregation?

This is serious stuff, you might see your church moving from ”Christian church” to just being a ”church” and then, eventually, to just be a ”group of people” with no Christ, no Lord, no salvation, no Bible…. No God…

”Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” – Heb. 10:23

Rick Warren's preaching ''like Jesus''

2010-05-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

I read this article from Rick Warren The title ''A primer on preaching like Jesus'' is a strong one and we should have great expectations from such a title.

Pastor Rick begins with verses that shows that the crowds were reacting positively to Jesus' teachings. Suposedly because Jesus was addressing the needs of the People. He quotes Matthew 7:28 but doesn't include verse 29 which says:
''When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.'' - Mat. 7:28-29

Please, feel free to look up any references in the article and see if any have to do with Jesus' cleverness or hability of addressing the people's felt needs... Actually, do it, just to be sure, you get the point of this post...

Pastor Warren continues with Luke 4:18-19, again he silences the verse 29 and 30 ( I am guessing, it would not help to prove his point...) they go like this :
''They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.'' - Luke 4:29-30

Talk about connecting to people!

Then, he continues the article and is basically saying that our message should be attractive to unbelievers. We have to tell them ''good news'' and ''connect with their felt needs''.

A note here, after he started the article with a questionnable use of Scripture as we saw earlier, he doesn't use Scripture except for one other occurence where he quotes Ephesians 4:29, in part of course... Here's what he says : ''Ephesians 4:29 says, ...[speak] only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Notice that who we are speaking to determines what we are to say (this has nothing to do with compromising the message and everything to do with understanding the needs of your listeners).''

Here's Ephesians 4:29 in full:
''Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.'' - Eph. 4:29

Here, in the context of Ephesians 4, we're talking about christian living and how we ought to act as christians. It has nothing to do with preaching...

Again, you noticed that quoting half a verse was convenient for Rick Warren...

The rest of the article is pretty much a psychological approach to preaching...

Actually, the complete article is...

One last quote from Pastor Warren: ''Unfortunately, it seems that many pastors determine the content of their messages by what they feel they need to say rather than what the people need to hear.''

That is completely false... Preaching what you feel and preaching what the audience needs to hear are two wrong approach to preaching. The responsibility of the preacher is to speak for God, to preach His Word, to expose it, to explain it. Preachers are not called to meet the felt needs.

Jesus spoke with authority the truth about Himself and God. The Apostles in the book of Acts preached the Gospel, They preached that God created the universe, that Christ is the Messiah and that He is the only way to God. In the Epistles, we see a call to obey God's Word and to preach it faithfully.

You'll never read the Apostle Paul say something like ''make sure you understand the felt needs of your congregation''

Honestly, I have a hard time finding anything biblical in what Rick Warren is saying...

Does Rick Warren love God?

2010-05-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

I almost wrote the title ''Is Rick Warren a Christian?'' But I thought it wasn't right... ''Is Rick Warren a false prophet?''... Not sure about this title either...
If Rick Warren loves God? I would have to answer Yes... He loves God, not sure that he loves His Word so much...

We read in the Purpose-Driven Life on p. 124 :
''God wants his family to be known for its love more than anything else. Jesus said our love for each other—not our doctrinal beliefs—is our greatest witness to the world.… Relationships must have priority in your life above everything else.''

What does a statement like that suggest? That the Word of God is not important? Understanding the truths of the Bible is not necessary? That We should just all meet on sunday and ''love'' each other?...

Social implication and good works are excellent things! Don't get me wrong, but they are not the first mandate of the Church.

It is troubling when you find out that the Bible teaches something that is quite the opposite of what Pastor Warren is saying... Consider the following verses:

''What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.''- 2 Tim. 1:13-14

''Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.'' -2 Tim. 4:2

''Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.'' - 2 John v. 9-10

''And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?... ...Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.'' - Rom. 10

See the importance of Scripture and Doctrine here? It is very obvious.
Just another thought, remember Jesus quoting Scriptures while he was tempted in the desert in Matthew 4?

Now, does Rick Warren love God? Probably... But His Word, probably...Not...

And I am not just saying that because of that one phrase from Rick Warren, I had to come to that conclusion because of the way he casually uses Scriptures in his Purpose-Driven Books... Not to mention his, daily, twisting of Scriptures on Facebook...

I guess the real question is : ''Can you love God and not His Word?''
''Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.'' - Ps. 119:97

''Unashamed'' Christians...

2010-05-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

For long, Unashamed Christians were Christians who stood up for their Faith in Christ, They would proclaim the truth of God's Word, following the example of Paul in Romans 1:16, ''I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.''

And to Timothy, Paul writes : ''That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.'' - 2 Tim. 1:12

Paul was suffering for proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, but that didn't matter to him, he knew that Jesus is Lord of all and that he owed Him total faithfulness.

Today, in the ''Christian World'', that type of attitude, that type of boldness, is not something that we commonly see. Gospel is dimished, if not completely ignored. We replace it with social work, feel good motivational speech, comedian, rock concerts... Of course, all that in the name of being commited and connecting with our culture.

But hey! Does it really matter that we leave a lesser place for Gord's Word, people are coming, we even have weekly baptism. People are coming to ''Christ''.

Coming to our building would be more accurate, I believe...

Let's get back to the ''Unashamed'' Christian today... More and more Christian today will make public statement with no shame, even if they are questionnable from a biblical point of view...

Consider this Statement, from Jennifer Knapp, found on Christianity Today:
''I'm certainly in a same-sex relationship now, but when I suspended my work, that wasn't even really a factor.'' Unashamed, no worries, no guilt. Note this interviewer didn't make a case of it either...

This other statement from Pastor Doug Pagitt ( to a christian):
''No, there's going to be no difference between the way God going to interact with you when you die and the way God's going to interact with a Muslim when a Muslim dies.''

No problem, God will ''Interact'' the same way with the Muslim and the Christian and, implied, with anyone else... No judgment, no hell, no condemnation... Again, no worries. How can a christian come up with a statement like that?

One last statement from Brian Mclaren :
''I don't think we've got the gospel right yet. What does it mean to be 'saved'? When I read the Bible, I don't see it meaning, 'I'm going to heaven after I die.' ''

Not sure WE got the Gospel? Is it really US that should find the meaning of the Gospel or what the Gospel is? And no, the Gospel is not ''I'm going to heaven after I die'', the Gospel, the Good News, is that we can be saved from the wrath of God, because of His mercy, because of His grace, because of His love, we get saved through faith in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus-Christ at the cross. That's the gospel and it is clear in Scriptures. Unmistakably clear.

Just a few quotes I selected from people who claim to be christians. They are christian artists, Pastors, christian authors, some of them have a great influence of Christianity. Yet, it seems that the importance of Scriptures and its Authority have a lesser place in their christian life...

How do we get to the point where we speak, with no shame, and affirm things that are contrary to the Word of God? ...How?

Just a note in closing about Jennifer Knapp and Doug Pagitt, reading Romans chapter 1 and 2 would be a good place to start to see what the Word of God teaches on these issues...

Warren and Driscoll ”calling”

2010-05-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

I enjoy reading christian books and blogs. I like to know what's happening in the Christian world and in churches around the world. Sometimes, there are things I wish I had not read...but I am curious so I guess that's my problem...

I was surfing the web yesterday and found two quotes, they are as follow.

''So I decided to start a church, for three reasons. First, I hated going to church and wanted one I liked, so I thought I would just start my own. Second, God had spoken to me in one of those weird charismatic moments and told me to start a church. Third, I am scared of God and try to do what he says.” -Mark Driscoll (Confessions, p.39)

“If you want God to do something really big in your church, you’re going to have to apply the principals of exponential thinking as taught in the Bible. The Lord clearly put an idea in my mind…God spoke to me that my faith was not big enough…”you must think exponentially” was the thought that God kept putting in my mind.” (Excerpt from a Purpose Driven video entitled “Exponential Thinking” by Rick Warren)

So God spoke to Rick Warren and Mark Driscoll?

I find it interesting that God spoke to Rick Warren and told him about exponential thinking like we have in the Bible??? Where in the Bible? I would ask... Maybe he saw it in ''The message'' paraphrase of the Bible. (he loves this ''translation'' because it uses the word purpose a lot... ) Probably took a part of a verse and made something up as he does constantly in his PD books and, daily, on Facebook...

Mark Driscoll doesn't twist the meaning of Scriptures, at least I never came across anything that would show me he did. But he has a style that, I believe, dishonor Christ. smutty language, close to being vulgar at times... I worry when the world can relate to pastor like that. Here's a post from Phil Johnson, you'll get the point...

So two pastors, ''called'' supposedly by the Lord Himself and yet they are so much at odds with what the Bible teaches on various issues...

Don’t we have the ”same God”?

2010-05-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

I heard that phrase very often in my life.

It is a sort of call to unity between religions...I guess. I speak with a muslim, it'll come up, with a catholic, same thing.

We have the ''same'' god, yet he told the muslim to believe in Muhammed and to do good to obtain salvation and he told the catholics to pray Mary to get to God and to do good works to get to heaven.

And in the Bible, He said that the only way to God is Jesus-Christ. He said that salvation is not something you can earn, but it is the result of grace and mercy from God.

How can we have the same God? How woud the same God tell different things to different people? Is God trying to adapt His message?
The Bible clearly states that there is only ONE God:

''... even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God. Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand.When I act, who can reverse it?" - Isa. 43:11-13

''For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,'' - 1 Tim. 2:5

There is only one God. He's revealed Himself in creation, in Christ and in Scriptures.

''In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.'' - Heb. 1:1-2

''For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.'' - Rom. 1:20

We can clearly know the God in the Bible, His Word is clear.

Do not accept any compromise with other religions, we do not serve the same God, at all! Nothing is further from the truth.
Simply put, other gods... Don't exist!

There is only one, God the Almighty, the Father of Jesus-Christ! To Him all the Glory forever and ever! Amen!

Franklin Graham nails prayer meetings with other religions

2010-05-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

''We are fooling ourselves if we think we can have some big kumbaya service and all hold hands and it's all going to get better in this world. It's not going to get better." - Franklin Graham ( Read the rest here http://bit.ly/dlvZ3y)

''Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." - 2 Cor. 6:14-16

What is Evangelism?

2010-05-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

That's an interesting question and the answers you get when asking are even more interesting. Answers may vary depending on the person you ask...

Simply put, Evangelism is to share the Gospel with unbelievers and calling them to repent of their sins and becore followers of Christ.

Evangelism is when you speak the truth of Christ with non-christians.
If your evangelism doesn't include words... It is not evangelism...

''Your actions speak so loudly, I can't hear what you're saying''
Heard that before, right? You know, have a good testimony, make sure that people can see Christ through your life.

Sometimes, I have the impression that we're saying something that sounds a little more like this ''Your actions speak loud enough, they don't need to know what you have to say''

We now think that social works and doing good is evangelism. It is not...

Your doing good, your good works, your social implication, ect... Catholics, Atheists, Muslims, Jehovah's witnesses, ect... They all do it.

For an unbeliever, there's no difference between you and them... If you don't speak the truth in love...

People can't guess that you are a christian and that Jesus can save their souls and that they need to repent from their sins... They need to hear the Word of Christ to come to salvation, to come to the true knowledge of God and Christ...
Evangelism could sound something like this...

''Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord...'' - Acts 3:19

''Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ'' - Romans 10:17

Success = Fulfilling the Great Commission

2010-04-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

I came across this title this morning. Sounds great doesn't it? We have to fulfill the Great commission, that's how we can be successuful.

When I read the title, I was like ''That's right! Our main priority is to share the Gospel of Jesus-Christ with everyone around us!''

Then... I read the complete post... http://www.pastors.com/blogs/ministrytoolbox/archive/2010/03/10/success-fulfilling-the-great-commission.aspx

Then... I realized that what Pastor Warren meant was ''Success = Large church'' Or better ''If you do not draw a crowd, you're not faithful to God''

First thing I notice, is that the Great commission is redefine as a mandate to ''Grow'' a church. Nowhere, we see a reference to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus-Christ, to repentance or to the cross.

He goes on saying: ''Jesus defined faithfulness in terms of behavior - it is a willingness to take risks that require faith in order to be fruitful.''

He quotes Matthew 25:14-30, the Parable of the Talents to ''prove'' his point. Questionnable, of course. Let's see why we cannot use it as an argument for Church-Growth movement.

We need to understand that conversion is not we control. It is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the truth of the Word of God. It has nothing to do with methods or cleverness. We're never ask to ''convert'' people. Our focus is to be faithful to the Word of God. The Apostles in the book of acts, then in the Epistles are always focusing on the preaching, living and defending the Word of God. The focus is never on growing in number.

''Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season...'' - 2 Tim. 4:2

According to Rick Warren, in order to be faithful, we need to ''learn new methods that work''. By reading his post, we understand that working, here, means to draw crowds. If we study the Word of God carefully, we notice that ''anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God'', we see that we'll be persecuted, that the World doesn't understand the things of God.

Considering that, we need to ask ourselves what is bringing people into our church by the hundreds, if not thousands. Are we flirting with the world in order to suck them in? Are we toning down our message so that we do not offend the World? Are they coming to a social club to meet their friends or to learn God's word and obey it? Is it the ''Purpose-driven hype'' that convinced them to ''come in''?

Church-growth is clearly not something commanded by God...

Please, do not let the questions at the end of Pastor Warren's post trouble you... Be faithful... To the Word of God, not of man...

A couple of verses to finish...

''Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God'' - James 4:4

''Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.'' 1 Peter 4:12

''If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first'' - John 15:18

When you WON'T believe...

2009-10-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

Ever shared the Word with someone who will never believe? But worst, he won't believe but doesn't have any real arguments against your faith, against God, Creation or the Bible... Name callings are his main arguments.

I guess we could say that ''the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.'' Familiar text from the epistle to the Corinthians. The Gospel of Christ is too simple for most people, too simple that they'll never believe it, they'll never accept it. It is not logic or rational to them. It doesn't make any sense for them...

Our faith is not based on a logical argument or reasoning, but it is the Spirit of God who convinced us of sin, justice and judgment. It is the spirit of God, through the Word, that did the work in us. It is faith...

''The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.'' - 1 Cor. 2:14

Where is our precious book?

2009-06-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

I noticed a couple of years ago that the Word of God was no longer the reference to figure out what could be done in the church, it was no longer the authority.

Any ''man of God'' could write a book and have it sold to thousands of churches and it was fine as long as it ''worked''.

It is not even permitted to question those books or methods. If we do, we're ''rebels''. We have a problem if we don't just accept and follow.

I remember one time, a friend of mine wanted to put in place a ''transformation path'' in their church. It was some kind of a book with some question about your past and what could've affected you while growing up. What made you the way you are. This book was supposed to bring one to spiritual maturity...
Of course, when you tell them that only the work of the Holy Spirit, the reading of God's word, prayers and trials will be bring spiritual growth, they tell you ''Yes, of course we know and you're right'' but nowhere in their books we see that. Nowhere the importance of reading Scriptures is underscored. We give our opinion, share our experience, etc... But we're not studying the Word of God...

From time to time we'll share a verse, preferably one about love or something that is not comfronting, nothing divisive or authoritative. I guess to make sure, we're still an ''evangelical'' church...

''The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.'' - Ps. 119:72

Where is our precious book?...

Genesis Chapter 1 - Creation

2009-05-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and I like to believe that. A simple phrase, God the Almighty, Lord of all, the only true God... The Eternal God created everything that there is, He created life and everything necessary to sustain it. By faith, I believe that God created heaven and earth ( Heb. 11:3 ) and by faith alone.

Honestly, I don't really care if I cannot explain how He did it.
How through His word he brought into existence the world as we know it. How from darkness, He created light.
How He separated land and see.
How He created a full grown man.
There's no way for me to explain it but by faith, I believe that He did!
I believe that the God who made the world and everything in it, is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. ( Acts 17:24)

Is Genesis chapter 1 and 2 literal? Is it a ''framework'' presentation of creation? Is there a gap between 1:1 and 1:2? Is it a second creation in chapter 2? Of course, I have an opinion on those but I think that we ought to be careful in the way we position ourself or, more precisely, why we pick a position / interpretation over another.

Remember that the Lord IS almighty and that He can do all things, things you'll never explain. If in Genesis there's something that doesn't sound right or that is not in accordance with science or popular worldview, always pray God and refer to Scriptures to try to find your answers there.

May God give us wisdom in everything that we do. May He help us understand His Word more and more each day of our life.

''If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.''
- James 1:5

''By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.''
- Hebrews 11:3

Why did we stop trusting the Word of God?

2009-05-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me when I see christians embracing so quickly any ''christian'' books that may come out. Anyone claiming to be a christian will be supported, encouraged and even relied upon, no matter what their ideas might be. We do not want to hurt, judge or show a lack a love. ''Who are we to judge?'' someone might ask.

What is the cause of all that? Why are we so blind that we can't see the lies in those new ''Church-Growth'' or ''Emerging'' or any other ''Evangelical'' movements?

Beside lack of biblical knowledge and discernment, there is the way it is presented. No one will be against the idea of bringing more people in the church. No one will question the idea that we must love one another. No one will be against doing what is good to help our neighbor. We all want to obey God in doing all that but should it be our main focus? Did Jesus call us to preach a ''social gospel'' or was his focus on seeking and saving the losts?

Even tough God calls us to do what is good, to treat everyone the way we want to be treated ( Luke 6:31), He doesn't ask us to forget about His Word. We are to continue/dwell in the things we have learned and become convinced of ( 2Tim. 3:14) and search the Scriptures daily to see if thing are so(Acts 17:11).

We need to read His Word, to study his Word, to memorize His Word, to medidate His Word, we need to share His Word with the ones who don't know Him. We need to pray God and ask for wisdom when we lack of it( James 1:5). We need to examine everything and hold fast to what is good! ( 1 Thes. 5:21)

The foundation of our ministry/church/life should be the Word of God and only the Word of God.

''The Law of God is perfect, restoring the soul''- Psalm 19:7

What does it mean to love our neighbor?

2009-05-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

I read this morning on a popular website ''we seek to respect one another´s differences without a quarrelsome, arrogant or divisive spirit, and to return continually to the great commandment, to love God and one another.''1

I believe this type of approach is more harmful than helpful. It is certainly true that Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your hart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:37-37) And in Luke 6, ''And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise''

But what does that mean? What does it mean to love God? What does it mean to love our neighbor? How can we apply those great commandments to our everyday life? What does it mean in practical ways?

Does it mean we have to accept everything that comes our way? Do we have to trust everyone and believe anyone because we should ''love our neighbor''? Does it mean we have no opinion? Does it mean there is no truth anymore?

I had a discussion with a colleague last week about God and the Bible. We were having a great time and spoke for about 30 minutes. At a point he told me ''I think it is good when people have great values and have strong beliefs like you. Anyone who puts out an effort to do the best they can, in my opinion, deserves to go to heaven...''

Isn't this a nice comment full of love and respect? He wants the best for anyone who lives a good life. And I do too!

But you know what I did? I confronted him. I told him that men are not saved by good works, that we are lost without Christ, that without faith we cannot enter the kingdom of God! ''For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast'' ( Eph. 2:8-9).

Was that not loving to tell him that he is lost without Christ? Had it been better if I had told him ''Your opinion is precious to God and he understands why you believe that...'' No! We cannot leave unbelievers in their lies. Jesus told us to go to all the world and preach the Gospel. (Mark 16:15) To accomplish this great commission, we will get to a point where we will need to confront people in love. It is a great act of love to preach the truth and show them the way to heaven. Would it be loving to let people perish without Christ?...

And I believe the same principle applies to the church. Truth should be preached and taught with faithfullness to Scriptures. We are to preach the Word in season and out of season. ( 2 Tim. 4:2) There is a place for love AND for truth in the church and we should ask God to give us wisdom so we can find the balance in all this.

''For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome'' - 1 John 5:3

''If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.'' - James 1:5

1http://www.crcc.org/content.php?ContentID=1986&OID=4516&phpMyAdmin=ae88912f5ee023659a3e2bc610d1b347

Purpose Driven Life / Church ... A need for a review...

2009-05-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Almost anyone in the Church today will tell you that Purpose Driven is a great ministry that offers great tools for churches today.

Here's a couple of reviews and quotes to help us go further in our understanding of The Purpose Driven Journey...

''One question I ponder every time a “Christian” book hits the bestseller list: “What in this book appeals to the sinful flesh?” No thinking person can honestly believe that such a high-sales book focuses on the requirements for discipleship – die to self. This country does not have enough Biblical disciples to account for this many book sales.'' 1

''On page 18, Warren rightly lauds the Bible, and then declares, “My greatest source of learning, however has been watching what God has done in the church I pastor.” This pragmatic view – study men and how to motivate them - pervades this whole book, and everything of Warren that I’ve read.'' 2

''The author quotes a number of sources other than the Bible. Many of these are quoted as if they are authorities on an area of the Christian life. Among many others, he quotes Mother Teresa, St John of the Cross, Brother Lawrence and Henri Nouwen. None of these people should be considered trusted sources of Christian advice and wisdom.'' 3

John Macarthur on the Purpose Driven Life

May we test everything; hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil... (1 Thes. 5:21-22 )

1- http://www.biblebb.com/files/PDLreview-SB.htm
2- http://www.biblebb.com/files/PDCreview-SB.htm
3- http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/book-review-ric-1.php

Shout to the Lord

2009-05-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

My Jesus, my Savior

Lord there is none like you

All of my days, I want to praise

The wonders of your mighty love

My comfort, my Shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship you

Shout to the Lord, all the earth Let us sing.

Power and majesty, praise to the king.

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of your name

I sing for joy at the works of your hands

Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have in you

Amen

''For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.''

- Jeremiah 29:11

''Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace;

Thereby good will come to you.''

- Job 22:21

Is Rick Warren my Pastor?

2009-05-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Did anyone notice how Pastor Warren is literally taking control of thousands of churches around the world. Books and booklets are being bought by the thousands, ''Purpose Driven'' DVD are being watched in prayer meetings in churches and houses around the world!

Over 30 Millions copies of the Purpose Driven Life were sold worldwide!

They are everywhere. Translated in many language. Here in Canada, we have it in french and a friend of mine goes to a church where they watch a DVD for their bible study...

I read the book and many reviews on it and I must say, there are a lot of different opinions on Pastor Warren.

First thing I want to make clear, I believe that Rick Warren loves the Lord and His Word and that he loves the church. He wants to see as many person as possible commit to the Lord and walk in His ways. I believe that's what he aims for.

I, personally, do not agree with everything that Pastor Warren writes or say and that's normal, I think. My goal is not to writes a review or a critique about Rick warren or his ministry. My concern is more about the churches that use those books and teachings, a couple of questions come to mind:

- Why are they using them?
- What is their goal?
- Why is it not the pastor of the church that prepares the bible study?
- Do they accept everything that Rick Warren says without questioning it?
- Is church growth their goal?
- Do they want to have ''great stats'' for small groups attendance?
- Is it because pastors don't have time to prepare an adequate sermon?
- Is it because it ''worked'' in other churches?

We should ask ourselves these questions and and be really honest in our answers. We also need to remember one thing, nothing will replace the preaching and study of the Bible (along with prayers and the work of the Holy Spirit in the hart believers) when it comes to growing in the Lord and being transformed by Him. No book can replace the Word of God.

May we love the Word of God more and more everyday...

''All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.''

- 2 Timothy 3:16-17

''Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.''

- 2 Timothy 4:2

My old Church

2009-05-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

I remember my old church when I was young ( or younger...), we would go and pray, sing hymns, read the Bible and listen to our pastor teaching us the Word of God.

After the meetings, we would hang around and chat and fool around, spending good quality times with our brothers and sisters in the Lord!

From time to time, we would ride out of town and go to a worship service for youth and again just have a great time singing our praises to the Creator of the heaven and the earth!

On Thursday evening, there would be the youth meetings, on sunday night, another service, similar to the morning service but a bit shorter, there was also the prayer meeting and Bible study on wednesday night, ect...

We had all those meetings and in each of them our focus was to learn the Word of God, spend time in prayer, worship the Lord and spend time with fellow christians.

The focus was the Word, the center was Christ, the authority was the Bible... Always Christ, wanting to know Him more, Love Him more and become like Him more and more everyday.

Then... I cannot tell you when exactly... There's been a shift, a change in our churches and it seemed that no matter what church I would visit, they would have a ''new way of doing church'' or a new book that ''helps us understand the Bible'' or ''just a tool'' to help us in our walk with the Lord, help us becoming ''mature christians''... Christ and His Word have been set aside and replaced with those new ''tools''...

Altough some of these books or method could be helpful in some ways, I still think that the Word of God should be the foundation for any Christian Church. Only the preaching of the Word can have a real impact on anyone's life...

Now, what happened to my old church....