Prayer

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How We Got The Bible

John F. MacArthur, Jr.

Ever since Eve encountered Satan’s barrage of doubt and denial (Gen. 3:1-7), mankind has continued to question God’s Word. Unfortunately, Eve had little or no help in sorting through her intellectual obstacles to full faith in God’s self-disclosure (Gen. 2:16,17).

Now the Scripture certainly has more than enough content to be interrogated, considering that it’s comprised of 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 31,173 verses, and 774,746 words. When you open your English translation to read or study, you might have asked in the past or are currently asking, “How can I be sure this is the pure and true Word of God?”

A question of this kind is not altogether bad, especially when one seeks to learn with a teachable mind (Acts 17:11). The Scripture invites the kinds of queries that a sincere student asks. Continue reading →

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Antichrist, Great Tribulation, Rapture, 666, and the Second Coming of Christ, but what do the Scriptures say?

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Four Views of the End Times – Teaching series DVD

Speaker Dr. Timothy Paul Jones

What does the Bible actually say about the end times that lead to the return of Jesus Christ? TV shows and movies throw around words such as Antichrist, Great Tribulation, Rapture, 666, and the Second Coming of Christ, but what do the Scriptures say? The differing ideas that divide believers into four major points-of-view are examined in the Four Views of the End Times. This DVD-based study (for personal or group use) explains each view objectively including:

  • Preterism
  • Historicism
  • Idealism
  • Futurism

and the issue of the millennium including: Continue reading →

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The War of Truth

Charles Spurgeon Sermon

Exodus 17:9 (King James Version)

9And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. Continue reading →

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Judgement Of Unbelievers

Romans 1:18-19  –   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

RELATED ARTICLES:

 The Justice Of God In The Damnation Of Sinners
by Jonathan Edwards

Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God
by Jonathan Edwards

God’s Answers To Man’s Excuses

God’s Answers To Man’s Questions

God’s Righteous Judgment by Mike Ratliff

The Sin of Unbelief by Charles Spurgeon

A Nation Abandoned By God by John MacArthur

Who Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God?The Great White Throne Judgment by Steve Lawson

A good reason to leave God? by Dan Phillips

Does God create people knowing they will end up in hell? by John Samson

Does God Love His Enemies? by John Samson

Modern Myths: Man Is Basically Good by D James Kennedy{video}

Woe to Those Who Call Evil Good, and Good Evil by James R White      {video}

Continue reading →

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The Unbroken Line of True Nobles

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 17, 1875,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

“Instead of your fathers shall be your children,
whom you may make princes in all the earth.”
Psalm 45:16.

WERE you ever perplexed by being drawn with almost equal force in two directions? I have been so. There is a bond which reaches from the cemetery which holds me very fast and, therefore, I desired again, this morning, to have made use of the solemn visitation which so suddenly removed one of our friends from us. But this is the beginning of the week set apart for prayer for the young, and I have felt duty bound to take a part in the celebration and to assist to stir up Sunday school teachers and the members of the Church in general to pray for the blessing of God upon the rising generation.

Now these mourning friends expect a consoling word from me—and these children demand that I plead for them, also! I realized the scene in my study. What was I to do? Between two subjects I might arrive at none and that was not a desirable conclusion. I watched, looked and prayed, and at last I resolved to yield myself to both influences, and I have as nearly as possible done so by selecting this text—“Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you may make princes in all the earth.” Continue reading →

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A Faithful Friend

A sermon (No.120) delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 8, 1857, by C. H. Spurgeon at The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

“There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”—Proverbs 18:24.Cicero has well said, “Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.” Friendship seems as necessary an element of a comfortable existence in this world as fire or water, or even air itself. A man may drag along a miserable existence in proud solitary dignity, but his life is scarce life, it is nothing but an existence, the tree of life being stripped of the leaves of hope and the fruits of joy. He who would be happy here must have friends; and he who would be happy hereafter must, above all things, find a friend in the world to come in the person of God, the Father of his people. Continue reading →

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Eastern Meditation Sneaks into the Church

Prof. Johan Malan, University of Limpopo, South Africa

There is a widespread resurgence of Eastern meditation among nominal Christians in the West. In many churches and other Christian circles, prayer is increasingly replaced by meditation, which is also described as contemplation, centring prayers, or quiet prayers. Meditation is often accompanied by Yoga relaxation exercises and relaxed breathing in order to promote a mental shift from the rational left brain to the intuitive right brain.

The basic objective with meditation – whether it be Hindu-based Transcendental Meditation (TM), Buddhist, Islamic or ‘Christian’ meditation – is to acquire a situation of complete rest in your body, soul and spirit, thereby eliminating stress and facilitating contact with deeper, more creative levels of your consciousness. Rational thinking is intentionally suppressed and switched off while you transcend to mystical spheres to make contact with your deeper self. According to Naomi Humphrey (Meditation – the inner way) meditation helps to deliver you from spiritual and mental bondage, and also from fear, by enabling you to transcend to a new perception of reality. The result is a holistic way of life in which spirit and matter become integrated.

The inner journey Continue reading →

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Who Were the Magi?

Bible Q & A With John MacArthur

Few biblical stories are as well known, yet so clouded by myth and tradition, as that of the magi, or wise men, mentioned by Matthew. During the Middle Ages legend developed that they were kings, that they were three in number, and that their names were Casper, Balthazar, and Melchior. Because they were thought to represent the three sons of Noah, one of them is often pictured as an Ethiopian. A twelfth-century bishop of Cologne even claimed to have found their skulls.

The only legitimate facts we know about these particular magi are the few given by Matthew in the first twelve verses of chapter 2. We are not told their number, their names, their means of transportation to Palestine, or the specific country or countries from which they came. The fact that they came from the east would have been assumed by most people in New Testament times, because the magi were primarily known as the priestly-political class of the Parthians-who lived to the east of Palestine.

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Exaltation Follows Humility

From – Strength for Today – John MacArthur

“Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Philippians 2:9-11

God will exalt the humble.

Having plumbed the depths of Christ’s humiliation (Phil. 2:5-8), Paul now soars to the heights of His exaltation (vv. 9-11). Like Paul, the apostle Peter affirmed that the great theme of Old Testament prophecy was the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow (1 Peter 1:11). Regarding Christ, the writer of Hebrews says that “for the joy set before Him [He] endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). Christ understood His sufferings in light of His exaltation.

Continue reading →

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Why All Other Reponses to Apostasy Are Wrong

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Part five of a series. Read part four.

Christ commended the church at Ephesus for its stand against apostasy, but warned them about the danger of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

We have come now to the third of the five keys to a Biblically loving response to apostasy: You need to understand why other responses to apostasy in the church are wrong responses. Once again, this has to do with the Biblical definition of Christian love. What many people call Christian love is really a counterfeit. It is not agape love at all.

Continue reading →

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Is It Wrong to Name Names?

Dr Paul M Elliott

Some readers criticize us for citing, by name, individuals and institutions that promote heretical doctrines. They tell us that naming names is “unloving”. We respond that Scripture does not support this accusation. Consider the example of the Apostle Paul.

What is the Truly Loving Thing to Do?

Paul considered it vital to demonstrate his deep agape love for Christ and His church by warning believers to beware of those who would seek to “overthrow the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:18). Paul’s consistent policy was to name names, recognizing that speaking in generalities is not always enough.

So great was Paul’s concern for the Galatian church’s departure into legalism – “another gospel, which is not another” (1:7) – that he cited the example of a fellow apostle’s temporary departure from soundness:

Continue reading →

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How Pietism Deceives Christians: The Errors of Elitist teachings in the Church

By on Jul 28, 2011

By Apprising Ministries special correspondent Bob DeWaay

There are no extraordinary Christians; but being an ordinary Christian is an extraordinary thing. How I wish I would have understood that when I was a new Christian. But I didn’t. Soon after my conversion I began a quest to become the best possible Christian.

In so doing I fell prey to teachings that promised me a Christian life superior to that of ordinary Christians. What I did not know was that I had embraced pietism. I didn’t become an extraordinary Christian and I did walk straight into error.

My journey into the “deeper life” oftentimes involved embracing contradictory teachings. For example, two of my favorite teachers in the early 1970’s were Watchman Nee and Kenneth Hagin. One taught a deeper Christian life through suffering[1]) and the other taught a higher order Christianity that could cause one to be free from bodily ailments and poverty.[2]The hook was that both claimed to have the secret to becoming an extraordinary Christian. I found out that they didn’t.

Continue reading →

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Examine Yourself

John MacArthur
Matthew 5-7; 2 Corinthians 13:5

Are you a Christian? Many people who claim to be point to some event in the past to substantiate their claim. But inviting Jesus to come into your life in the past is not proof that you are genuinely saved. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul says to the Corinthian church, “ Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves (emphasis added).” He wouldn’t have said that if some event in the past were obviously the answer. The Bible never verifies anyone’s salvation by the past but by the present. If there is no evidence of salvation in your life now, you need to face the fact that you may not be a Christian. You need to examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. How does one do that? Jesus shows us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

The Distinguishing Mark of a Christian

Continue reading →

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Oprah and Obama: Ecumenicising an Africa in need of Christ

Grant Swart

The letter which I have attached hereto, was brought to my attention a few days ago, sent to me by a family member and friend who has a sharp eye for matters pertaining to controversial political issues. Although the letter is of secular nature, I thought it might be relevant to the times we are living in here in Africa, where, as in the rest of the world, the momentum of the ecumenical movement has become unstoppable.

The recent embarrassing repeat visit to our shores by Oprah Winfrey, accompanied this time by an even more embarrassing, (to the Christian, that is), Michelle Obama as a “socially concerned” spiritual ally, provided the incentive for me to feel this letter justifiably be re-posted on our blog. Had Michelle Obama not insisted on using the church as a platform to preach her deceptive message, I might have felt otherwise and simply have left the politicking to the politicians.

I do realise that the content of the attached letter is in contrast to the usual material we post here, but the blatantly obvious ecumenical message which Michelle and Oprah carried with them on that visit, somehow seems to tie in with this openhearted local opinion Continue reading →

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Ritualism Among the Reformed

Dr. Paul M. Elliott

Colossians 2:11-17, Galatians 5:1-6

We are presently in the section of Colossians chapter two where the Apostle Paul  deals with the danger of legalism in the life and thinking of the believer, and in the life and ministry of the church. As we begin today, let me read this tremendous statement for you once again. And if you are able to open your own copy of God’s Word as you are listening today, I trust you will do so. Colossians chapter two, beginning at verse eleven. Paul writes this:

In Him [that is, in Jesus Christ] you [that is, you who have believed on Christ] were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with  Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it [that is, in the cross of Christ].

Continue reading →