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A Needful Lesson

WheatAndTares

The Saints at Corinth

1 Corinthians 1:2

Paul begins his letter to the Corinthian church by reminding them that they had been sanctified in Christ and been called of God. He assures them of continued grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his continual thanksgiving to God for the grace bestowed upon them by Christ (vv. 3-4). He then proceeds to assure them of his complete confidence that the gospel and the boundless grace of God had been confirmed to them by the operations of God the Holy Spirit upon them in effectual calling, causing them to ever look for Christ’s coming (vv. 5-6). He goes so far as to assure these Corinthian believers that our ever-faithful God, who had called them into the fellowship of Christ, would at last bring them blameless into glory in the resurrection (vv. 8-9).

The Corinthian Church

All these assurances of grace and glory were given by divine inspiration to the church at Corinth. I cannot imagine a local church anywhere in the world, at any time in history, plagued with more evil than the church atCorinth. Among these saints, horrid immorality was winked at as a matter of indifference (chap. 5). Yet, they embraced the notion that by abstaining from physical pleasure they could make themselves more holy and spiritual (chap 7). God’s faithful servant, by whom they were taught the gospel, was scorned among them. Pride caused them to disdain the poor and the weak. Those who possessed, or thought they possessed, great spiritual gifts looked down their noses at those they considered less spiritual. Though the Corinthian church was probably the wealthiest of the New Testament churches, it was the most miserly in giving. They horribly abused the ordinances of God, making the person by whom they were baptized a matter of pride and spiritual superiority, and turning the Lord’s Table into a carnal, religious feast. And they denied the resurrection of our Lord.

All these things divided the local church at Corinth into factions, threatening to destroy it. Yet, when Paul wrote this Epistle to them, he addressed them as “them that are sanctified (having been sanctified) in Christ, called to be saints” (1:2), assuring them that God would confirm them unto the end and make them “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 6).

A Needful Lesson

I call your attention to these things because they set before us a very, very important lesson, a lesson of which we need to be constantly reminded. ― God’s saints in this world are often plagued with moral weaknesses, poor judgment, spiritual evil, and doctrinal error. So long as we are in this world, God’s saints (all of us) are sinners still. We dare not make excuse for our own sins or the sins of others Continue reading →

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“We Eat Grass To Be Closer To God”, Says A High Profile False Preacher From South Africa

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Pastor Lesego Daniel, who is based in Garankuwa, north of Pretoria, told dozens of followers to eat grass because “it will bring them closer to God”.

SA “pastor” under fire over grass-eating followers

2014-01-13 09:46

Pretoria – A South African church leader has come under fire after reports that he made members of his congregation eat grass.

Pastor Lesego Daniel, who is based in Garankuwa, north of Pretoria, told dozens of followers to eat grass because “it will bring them closer to God”.

Daniel made headlines globally after images were shown of his followers laying down in a field and furiously munching grass. Further images were then shown of some followers vomiting. Continue reading →

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Do You Consider Yourself A Christian ?

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There are professing believers on social media that say they refuse to be called a Christian. We know this due to statements of this nature being publicly posted on Facebook. It was these shocking statements which motivated me to place the relevant article which follows further below. Here is a verbatim quote from the post which was placed on Facebook; I will uphold the anonymity of the author.

“If everything that is called Christianity in these days is Christianity, then there is no such thing as Christianity. A name applied indiscriminately to everything designates nothing.” – B.B. Warfield. I agree, that is why it has become increasingly important to define what you believe..like a personal confession of faith….many people say we should not associate with names like Calvinist, Reformed or whatever. I refer to myself as a Calvinist and Reformed because it define my believes which is based on the Bible. To say I am a Christian put myself in the same pool as Osteen, Warren, Hinn and many other which I do not want to be named with and which proclaim a false gospel. “
Note:
1. Some people endeavor to not be labelled and just want to be known as “Christian”. 
2. This is a fallacy, and a cop-out, because today there is no such thing as ‘Christian’ which I wish to be identified with.
3. People walk with crossed around their necks and are ‘Christian’.
4. The Pope is ‘Christian’
5. False prophets are ‘Christian’
6. The Archbishop of Canterbury & Desmond Tutu are ‘Christian’.
7. Homosexuals are ‘Christian”.
8. Many supporters of Interfaith are ‘Christian’.
9. Todd Bentley is ‘Christian’.
10. Therefore I am NOT ‘Christian’ without defining myself, as I have nothing in common with the above people who are not followers of Christ Jesus as revealed in the Bible..

The word Christian is written in the Bible. Right? Therefore I declare to be nothing but a Christian. The discerning believer will know right from wrong, as it is God who leads His sheep. I totally reject man-made labels of any kind being applied to the true believer, in particular where such labels are applied with the intent of superseding the description, “Christian”. I am a sinner saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and the Bible denotes me as a Christian. I belong to Christ no one else.

I have bad news for the author of the disturbing piece which appeared on Facebook,  and that is the mere fact that, to reject the word Christian, is to deny Christ in the believer. Nowhere in Scripture are saved believers called to define themselves by any man-made title other than Christian. Those are things which matter to denominational religionists, will-worshippers and Pharasaical legalists, they do not matter to followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Before we dig into the sermon notes below, let us simply overthrow the false assumption, immature argument and misrepresentation of B.B. Warfield’s words made by the deceived Facebook author.

At a quick glance the error in the “anti-Christian” Facebook quote is clear: B.B. Warfield is asking a rhetorical question here: “IF”, he says, “IF” being the operative and definitive word in the sentence, “IF” everything that is called Christianity in these days is Christianity, then there is no such thing as Christianity. However, the answer to this is, that NOT everything that is called Christianity is not Christianity, either. Therefore, true Christianity most definitely exists among those who call themselves Christians in these days, even according to Warfield!

I would say to the Facebook author that, if you don’t want to be a Christian, then God never called you to be one. Why then bother to even write such derogatory statements aimed against those who do want to be and are Christians? Rather just live the life of an unbeliever. It would be so much  simpler and a lot more temporary fun.

That being said, however, here is the truth for you!!!

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Continue reading →

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The Crisis of the World

 Planet-Earth-2099

Listen to sermon while reading.

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.”                                                                                                            (John 12:31-33)

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). — This is never more clearly and extraordinarily demonstrated to be the truth than by these statements which fell from the lips of our Savior. It is a great marvel to me that God should, in his infinite wisdom, choose to judge the world, destroy the devil, and save his elect by sending his Son to become a man that he might suffer and die upon the cursed tree! Oh, mystery of mysteries, — “God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Oh, the height of God’s love! Oh, the depth of his mercy! Oh, the breadth of his wisdom! Indeed, his ways and his thoughts are beyond us, as high as the heavens are above the earth. Continue reading →

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The Reversal — Perfect Restoration

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“And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.” (Zechariah 10:6)

In Luke 24:47 our Lord Jesus tells us that he died as our sin-atoning Substitute “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.” “God commandeth all men everywhere to repent,” and sinners must repent. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Gospel preachers call all who hear them to repent. Repentance is turning to Christ. Repentance is a change of mind, a change of masters, and a change of motives. You must repent of your sin (what you are), repent of your sins (what you do), and repent of your righteousness. To repent is to make a complete reversal.

But before any sinner turns to Christ, he must be turned by Christ. Continue reading →

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The Two Natures in a Believer

Spirit vs Flesh

By J. C. Philpot

Among those branches of divine truth which, without special teaching, we cannot enter into, is, that of the two natures in a believer. And yet, though every child of God must in all ages have been experimentally acquainted with the inward conflict between flesh and spirit, nature and grace; and though authors innumerable have written on such subjects as sanctification, the trial of faith, the strength of grace, the power of sin, the deceitfulness of the heart, the commencement and progress, decline and restoration, of the life of God in the soul, yet how few even of these really spiritual and experimental writers have laid out the truth of the case as made known in the Scriptures, and felt in the experience of the saints! How blind have many gracious writers, as, for instance, Dr. Owen, and most of the Puritan authors, been to the distinctness of flesh and spirit! In fact, as it seems to us, many good men have been afraid of the real, actual truth. Our Puritan ancestors especially, living in a day when profanity and ungodliness ran down the streets like water, and holiness, therefore, of heart and life was powerfully urged as the distinctive feature of the children of God, intuitively shrank from anything that seemed in its faintest coloring opposed to their view of gospel sanctification. They feared to believe, and dreaded to proclaim, that “the carnal mind is enmity against God; that it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed could be.” They seemed to think, if they once admitted that the flesh, the carnal mind, underwent no spiritual change; in other words, could not be sanctified; it was opening a wide and open door to the worst Antinomianism.  Continue reading →

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ʼn Oproep Tot Nugterheid Vir Diegene Van Die Wegraping

dont worry be jewish

Grant Swart

ʼn Oproep Tot Nugterheid Vir Diegene Van Die Wegraping

Ander name vir diegene is:  die “Futuriste”, Literaliste. Hulle bevorder die teologie van  Pre-millennialisme en Dispensasionalisme.

Die Basiese teologie is:  Opraping of Wegraping,  Die Groot Verdrukking, die wat die duisendjare vrederyk voorstaan, die wat glo die tempel gaan herbou word, die wat glo dat Israel weer sy ou Testamentiese grondgebied gaan terugkry, die wat glo dat daar twee maniere van Verlossing is – een vir die Jode en een vir die Kerk. Volgelinge van hierdie denkwyse is onderandere die dissipels van Darby,  Schofield, Walvoord, Hagee, *[James H. Brookes, Dwight L. Moody, Hal Lindsay, Tim LaHaye, Lewis Sperry Chafer, Roger E. Olsen], Johan Malan, Johan Claasen, Dave Hunt en die meerderheid van oningeligte Christene.  

 

Inleiding

Kom ons maak dit eenvoudig so dat die individu dit kan begryp, en nie teologiese debattering nie. Dit is ʼn redelike onlangse beweging, populêr gemaak deur die fiksie flieks van die “Rapture”. Dit was nie bekend by die vroëere Kerk nie. George Müller wat die Bybel meer as ʼn honderd keer deurgelees het, sê dat hy eerder van Darby, sy vriend, afskeid neem, as van die waarheid in sy Bybel. Die, kom ek noem hulle,: ‘Wegrapers,” lewer soveel goeie apologete en stryders teen Charismate Koningkryk-Nou Triomferende Teokratiese Postmillennialiste en Finansiële Welvaart Gesondheid en Voorspoed Teologie op, maar is openlik teenstanders van Gereformeerdheid en sy skriftuurlike sienswyses oor die wederkoms. Ongelukkig, na hulle soveel goeie werk doen, is daar een groot probleem wat nie Eer bring aan God nie, asook aan Christus se lyding op die kruis wat as nutteloos beskou sal word, gedurende hulle sogenaamde duisendjarige vrederyk soos ons sal sien.

Kerk leiers bly stil, teoloë en akademici spreek nie die Wegrapers aan nie. Hanteer hulle met handskoene. Dit is ʼn baie ernstige dwaallering met ernstige gevolge. Continue reading →

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DECEIVERS AMONG US

unmaskinghypocrite
In Jude 4 the Apostle Jude tells us about the unseen danger of false prophets who arise within the church. They are often unrecognized, especially in their earliest appearances, partly because they profess to believe and preach “the faith once delivered unto the saints.” Yet, these false prophets secretly introduce doctrines that are contrary to the gospel of Christ and are damning, damning to them and to all who follow them.ASSURED GRACEWe must not forget that before he mentions these false prophets, Jude assures God’s elect of his mighty operations of grace by which all who are born of God are saved and kept, even in those perilous times when false prophets abound. Continue reading →
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Useless Religion

Useless without Christ

Listen to sermon : 

Many years ago J. C. Ryle wrote, “There are two ways a man may lose his own soul. [1] He may lose his soul by living and dying without any religion at all. He may live and die like a beast, prayerless, godless, graceless, and faithless. This is a sure way to hell. [2] He may lose his soul by taking up some useless kind of religion. He may live and die contenting himself with a false Christianity, resting on a baseless hope. This is the most common way to hell that there is.”

I want to talk to you about USELESS RELIGION. You may ask, “Pastor, What is useless religion. Surely, any religion is better than no religion.” Not so! — Useless religion is far worse than no religion, because useless religion convinces unregenerate men and women that all is well with their souls when nothing is well. In the practice of useless religion, men, women, and children eat and drink damnation to themselves, not discerning the Lord’s body, not knowing who Christ is, what He came into this world in human flesh to do, what He actually accomplished by His obedience unto death as the sinners’ Substitute (Most people do not know what He did or why He did it.), where He is now, or how He saves sinners by His grace and righteousness, through His blood.

  • All false religion is useless religion.
  • All useless religion is idolatry.

Open your Bible to Habakkuk 2:18-19, and you will see that God’s prophet Habakkuk, writing by Divine inspiration, denounced the useless religion of Babylon as soul-damning idolatry. Continue reading →

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Nine Marks Of A False Prophet

Matt 7 v 15

Don Fortner 

Title: Nine Marks Of A False Prophet
Text: Matthew 7:15
Subject: Indictments Against False Prophets
Date: Sunday Morning – July 27, 1997
Tape # T-92
Reading: Ezekiel 13:1-16 and 22:25-31

Listen to sermon :

(We apologize for this message being incomplete. It was posted before the problem was discovered. We are making every effort to find a complete version for replacement.)

Ezekiel 13:1  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2  Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; 3  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4  OIsrael, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. 5  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. 6  They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. 7  Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? 8  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. 9  And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 10 ¶ Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter: 11  Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.

Ezekiel 22:25  There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26  Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: Continue reading →

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Wicked Balances and Deceitful Weights

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“Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?” (Micah 6:11)

Listen to full sermon :

Jehovah’s question here is its own answer. The Lord God asserts in unequivocal terms that He abhors all injustice. If He saves, He will be “a just God and a Savior” (Isaiah 45:21). If He damns, it will be upon the grounds of strict justice. He will never use wicked balances or deceitful weights. He has named Himself a God that will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7). — “Behold, God will not cast away a perfect [man], neither will He help the evil doers” (Job 8:20). — “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both [are] abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15).

The Lord our God repeatedly avows His absolute, unbending justice in the exercise of His free, saving grace in Christ Jesus, and in the execution of His holy justice. — “A just weight and balance are the Lord’s” (Proverbs 16:11). — “Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord; and a false balance is not good” (Proverbs 20:23). The God of all grace never uses wicked balances and deceitful weights to make sinners pure by His grace. Continue reading →

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THE GOSPEL COALITION: THE “NEW CALVINISM’S” ATTACK ON THE BIBLE AND ITS EPISTEMOLOGY

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If you trust and revere men like, John Piper, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller,Kevin De Young, Joshua Harris, D A Carson, Tullian Tchividjian, Ligon Duncan, Jared Wilson, Thabiti Anyabwile , Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney and all those part of this movement T4G/Gospel Coalition (TGC) /Reformed Charismatics/ you had better think again my friend. Test these men and pray for discernment, because their deception is finely tuned very finely tuned.

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  (2 Corinthians 11:13-14 KJV)

You can also read our previous articles on the issue, all names mentioned above are well known in the Reformed Circles here in South Africa, some of them visited South Africa recently .  Why We Cannot Endorse Rezolution 2013 , More on the New Calvinist /YRR Mystic Tim Keller and Rezolution Conference 2013 , Charismaticism: fraud, lies, arrogance and deception and The New Calvinists. 

Also read these extensive well written articles which voice  serious concerns,  by Dr Paul M Elliott Tim Keller’s False Gospel: A Point-By-Point Analysis. Timothy Keller promotes a “gospel” designed to be attractive to unregenerated man, but stripped of the Biblical essentials and robbed of Divine power and authority.Tim Keller’s False Gospel: Changing Both the Method and the Message. Timothy Keller’s “gospel” rests on a faulty foundation: the misconception that man changes, therefore the message must change. Tim Keller’s Gutless ‘Gospel’. A segment from an interview with Tim Keller shows just how gutless his “gospel” is – a mass of evasions, equivocations, and misrepresentations of God’s truth.Tim Keller: Dangerously Influential. Dr. Timothy J. Keller is one of today’s most influential religious leaders, and one of the most dangerous. Continue reading →

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From Baptismal Font to Damnation

baptism under water

Grant Swart

From Baptismal Font to Damnation 

– there is a road which seems right, but which ends in perdition

It is imperative that we choose the right road. Only the right road leads to the right destination. Taking the wrong road will lead one to the wrong destination, which could obviously cause great trouble.

This is true regarding most matters, but in particular it holds true regarding our eternal destination, which makes it of even greater importance. There are only two places where we can spend eternity – either in eternal glory or in eternal hell. We will either be with God for ever or we will be forever separated from His presence. Eternal joy, or eternal sorrow. Both are final destinations and there will be no turning back. For this very reason it is imperative that we make the right choice, in order for us to be sure.

It is not always simple to make the right choice, and Proverbs 14:12 warns us about a road which seems to be the right one, but which end leads to DEATH.

”There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (ESV)

”There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (KJV)

There are many roads which seem to be right or feel right, but which do not lead to life. Let us take a look down a few of the roads which people perceive to be the right ones, but which end in eternal sorrow: Continue reading →

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The Psalms

the Psalms

 Don Fortner – Discovering Christ in All the Scriptures

PSALMS

God’s Book of Praise

The Book of Psalms is the largest Book in the Word of God. It is a Book about the worship of God. The word “psalms” means “praises.’’ The Book of Psalms is “the Book of Praises.” It is God’s Book of Praise. That which is essential in the praise of God is dominate in these 150 psalms—Worship.” “Worship” means ‘‘prostration.’’ To worship and praise the Lord our God is to prostrate ourselves before him, taking our place in the dust before him as we acknowledge and adore his supremacy, perfection, and work.

This is where we must begin. After describing Christ as the perfect man in Psalms 1 and declaring him to be the exalted King in Psalms 2, we are called to worship him in Psa_2:11-12. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

Worship

The Book of Psalms teaches us to worship our God, to be ever occupied with him. Just in proportion as our hearts and minds are occupied with Christ, we worship him (Col_3:1-3). Here we are taught to treasure his Word, delight in his providence, remember his works, speak of his greatness, trust his care, glory in his gospel, and celebrate his praise continually. We are here taught to find strength for life’s labors, comfort for life’s troubles, and solace in life’s sorrows by continually prostrating ourselves before the throne of grace, seeking mercy and grace from our great God in time of need.

In this Book we have Continue reading →

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Scofield “Bible” (Part 3) – C.I. Scofield: Dispensational Scalawag

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Grant Swart

This is a short follow-on to Parts 1 & 2 Scofield “Bible” – A Handbook for Genocide AND Scofield “Bible” (Part 2) – Re-defining the darkness of fraud, conspiracy and heresy of a brief series I have posted over the past few weeks, which deals with the Scofield Reference “bible”, its author Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, and the massively popular heretical dispensational beliefs it continues to spawn.

Scholarly Bible believing Christians cannot accept a view of Scripture as put forward by the Scofield Reference “bible” (and a God who would have contrived it), and are those who speak out against the spiritual, geo-political, ethnic and religious consequences of such an astonishingly narrow and mistaken world-view as that of Dispensational Pre-millenialism. They also experience with sadness the realization that such enormous energy and devotion have been poured into such a misguided enterprise. More often than not, these “Bereans” would themselves have been introduced to the heretical conspiracies of dispensational pre-millenialism by the worldly church and would have discovered the truth about the kingdom of God and the second coming of the Saviour Jesus Christ only through conscientious and inspired study of Holy Scripture.

While this article describes C.I.Scofield as the scalawag he chose to be, it can be argued that most of the famous dispensationalists world-over and throughout the historic existence of the dispensational heresy, can be regarded as such to a lesser or greater extent, due to their proclaiming such a gross misrepresentation of Scriptural prophecy.  Among these world famous dispensational teachers have been some otherwise truly remarkable pastors and Christians. However, details pertaining to the lives and of the dispensational protagonists are of less significance to the Christian, than the heretical teachings which constitute dispensationalism.

It is not my intention to discuss in this article, all the specifics which constitute the eschatological heresy of Dispensational Pre-millenialism. Continue reading →