Gospel

by

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 →

by

Never Make The Gospel Appeal to People’s Emotions

John McArthur explains the dangers of making emotional gospel pleas.

Let me tell you something. Never make the gospel appeal to people’s emotions…never…never. That’s why we don’t have some kind of an emotional appeal here and play all kinds of smaltzy music in the background. I don’t want you to do anything because we work your emotions up. Never appeal to people with any kind of gospel appeal that is directed at their emotions. Why? Because you can manipulate people’s emotions. And, frankly, most people have issues in their lives that make them sad and if you work well enough on their emotions, you’re clever enough at it, you can promise them happiness and when they make some kind of superficial step, they’ll have a momentary kind of relief. They’ll be a kind of newly stirred up feeling that they have. “Oh now, God’s on my side. Now I”m going to heaven. This is wonderful and you’ve accepted me and you’ve embraced me.” And that doesn’t signify anything at all. Continue reading →

by

The Statement Of A Believer’s Experience, the Precious Truth !

PSALM 119

Psa 119:1-176
(1)  Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!
(2)  Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
(3)  who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!
(4)  You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
(5)  Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
(6)  Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
(7)  I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.
(8)  I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!
(9)  How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
(10)  With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! Continue reading →

by

Repentance : Legal vs True

by James C. Heard

Repentance is an old-fashioned word, not much used by the modernists and liberals of our day. True repentance and true belief are inseparable. True repentance and true faith are the products of a quick­ened heart – a work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual life must precede spiritual acts.

Legal repentance is that regret and reluctance that arises in a person after having done something that they should not have done. This repentance arises from a fear of punishment denounced against sin, but it is not accompanied with the hatred of sin and self. This person may be sorry for that which has been com­mitted, but will not be grieved that they have offended a HOLY GOD. Legal repentance fears Hell and dreads punishment, for criminals are always sorry that they face punishment (however, sorrow itself is not true repentance).

Continue reading →

by

A Disturbing form of Gnosticism Detected

I have detected a very disturbing trend the past couple of days on some Social media networks, Facebook and blogs.  The latest a trend being promoted in the form of an ambiguous question “Should we pray for False teachers” or “Are we to pray for  grievous wolves” . I just feel the need to share what I have learned from Scriptures  for whom are we to pray, as it seems this was also a problem prevalent in the church of Ephesus if we come to the understanding of the Apostle Paul’s writings in the 1 Timothy. It seems there were division caused by some Judiazers as they claimed that salvation was solely for law-keeping Jews or Gentile proselytes who kept the Mosaic ceremonies. ( Titus 3:10  As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, ) And a second a form of intellectual religious elitism, later called Gnosticism, was being taught at Ephesus .  Now the teachings subject on the Social media  group was on the Doctrines  of Election sadly it lead to the assumption we are not to pray for false teachers. Sadly it seems here in the group was also is a form of intellectual religious elitism  that is promoted by the group owner.

The Bible says nothing is new under the sun :

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.
(Ecclesiastes 1:9-10)

Less than 24 hours later an article appeared on my social media feeds from a blog with the heading Are We To Pray For Grievous Wolves?  Please read this article with prayer and discernment !

Continue reading →

by

The War Against Reason

Excerpt from Reckless Faith: When the Church Loses Its Will to Discern, © 1994 by John MacArthur.

True discernment has suffered a horrible setback in the past few decades because reason itself has been under attack within the church. As Francis Schaeffer warned nearly thirty years ago in The God Who Is There, the church is following the irrationality of secular philosophy. Consequently, reckless faith has overrun the evangelical community. Many are discarding doctrine in favor of personal experience. Others say they are willing to disregard crucial biblical distinctives in order to achieve external unity among all professing Christians. True Christianity marked by intelligent, biblical faith seems to be declining even among the most conservative evangelicals.

Continue reading →

by

Religious Deception

Prof. Johan Malan, University of the North, South Africa

Abstract: The kingdom of darkness infiltrated the Christian church with a view to adulterating it by proclaiming a counterfeit Jesus, a counterfeit spirit and a counterfeit gospel.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible except where otherwise indicated. Only very archaic terms have been substituted, between brackets, with correlating terms from the New King James Version (NKJV). All pronouns referring to the Godhead are capitalised. Edited by Bernard and Kathleen Reeves of London.

A solemn warning

Since the start of the Christian era, many churches have shown a fatal inability to distinguish between the truth of God’s inspired Word and misrepresentations of it: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:6-8).

Continue reading →

by

The Doctrines of Grace Do Not Lead To Sin


BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT EXETER HALL.

DELIVERED ON LORD’S DAY MORNING, AUGUST 19, 1883,

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under
the Law, but under Grace. What then? Shall we sin, because
we are not under the Law, but under Grace? God forbid.”
Romans 6:14, 15.

Last Sabbath morning I tried to show that the substance and essence of the true gospel is the doctrine of God’s grace—that, in fact, if you take away the grace of God from the gospel you have extracted from it its very life-blood, and there is nothing left worth preaching, worth believing, or worth contending for. Grace is the soul of the gospel: without it the gospel is dead. Grace is the music of the gospel: without it the gospel is silent as to all comfort. I endeavoured also to set forth the doctrine of grace in brief terms, teaching that God deals with sinful men upon the footing of pure mercy: finding them guilty and condemned, he gives free pardons, altogether irrespective of past character, or of any good works which may be foreseen. Moved only by pity he devises a plan for their rescue from sin and its consequences—a plan in which grace is the leading feature. Out of free favour he has provided, in the death of his dear Son, an atonement by means of which his mercy can be justly bestowed. He accepts all those who place their trust in this atonement, selecting faith as the way of salvation, that it may be all of grace. In this he acts, from a motive found within himself, and not because of any reason found in the sinner’s conduct, past, present, or future. I tried to show that this grace of God flows towards the sinner from of old, and begins its operations upon him when there is nothing good in him: it works in him that which is good and acceptable, and continues so to work in him till the deed of grace is complete, and the believer is received up into the glory for which he is made meet. Grace commences to save, and it perseveres till all is done. From first to last, from the “A” to the “Z” of the heavenly alphabet, everything in salvation is of grace, and grace alone; all is of free favour, nothing of merit. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

Continue reading →

by

Enemies at Peace

Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon

(19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892)

When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7)

 

I must see that my ways please the Lord. Even then I shall have enemies; and, perhaps, all the more certainly because I endeavor to do that which is right. But what a promise this is! The Lord will make the wrath of man to praise Him and abate it so that it shall not distress me.
He can constrain an enemy to desist from harming me, even though he has a mind to do so. This He did with Laban, who pursued Jacob but did not dare to touch him. Or He can subdue the wrath of the enemy and make him friendly, as He did with Esau, who met Jacob in a brotherly manner, though Jacob had dreaded that he would smite him and his family with the sword. The Lord can also convert a furious adversary into a brother in Christ and a fellow worker, as He did with Saul of Tarsus. Oh, that He would do this in every case where a persecuting spirit appears!

Happy is the man whose enemies are made to be to him what the lions were to Daniel in the den, quiet and companionable! When I meet death, who is called the last enemy, I pray that I may be at peace. Only let my great care be to please the Lord in all things. Oh, for faith and holiness; for these are a pleasure unto the Most High!

___________________________________________________

HL – http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=1257

by

The Safest Place

Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28)
We believe in the eternal security of the saints. First, because they are Christ’s, and He will never lose the sheep which He has bought with His blood and received of His Father.

Next, because He gives them eternal life, and if it be eternal, well then, it is eternal, and there can be no end to hell, and heaven, and God. If spiritual life can die out, it is manifestly not eternal life, and that effectually shuts out the possibility of an end.

Observe, further, that the Lord expressly says, “They shall never perish.” As long as words have a meaning, this secures believers from perishing. The most obstinate unbelief cannot force this meaning out of this sentence.

Then, to make the matter complete, He declares that His people are in His hand, and He defies all their enemies to pluck them out of it. Surely it is a thing impossible even for the fiend of hell. We must be safe in the grasp of an almighty Savior. Be it ours to dismiss carnal fear as well as carnal confidence and rest peacefully in the hollow of the Redeemer’s hand.

______________________________________________

HL : http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=1309

by

Maturity in Essentials and Non-Essentials

By Pastor John Samson

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.” – Augustine

Doctrine divides! It divides truth from error. It divides the true teacher from the false teacher; the spirit of truth from the spirit of error; and the true Christ from the Anti-Christ.

In the Church, Christians hold differing views about important, yet non-essential matters. Let me explain. There are doctrines in the Bible that while very important, are not essential to salvation. For instance, whether or not someone believes in the baptism of infants or whether or not God still heals today, I think are important issues; yet, what someone believes about these is not essential to someone being included or excluded from the kingdom of God. Someone is not a “false teacher” who takes a different position on these issues. The same is true for doctrines such as whether someone is “pre-trib,” “mid-trib,” or “post-trib” in their belief about the end times, or for those who take different positions on the millennnium – “a”, “pre” or “post.” Sincere, godly, dedicated believers believe different things about these issues, but it does not mean that one person is saved and another damned because they have a different view.

Continue reading →

by

Thundering Truth !!

“The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach today, 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.” ~Charles H. Spurgeon

Continue reading →

by

Worthy Examples To The World

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur

“Let love of the brethren continue.” – Hebrews 13:1

To be a testimony to the world, Christians need to live what they profess.

The nineteenth-century preacher Alexander Maclaren once said, “The world takes its notion of God most of all from those who say they belong to God’s family. They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. They see us; they only hear about Jesus Christ.” Sound biblical doctrine, as important a foundation as it is, is inadequate by itself to influence the world toward Christ’s gospel.

Continue reading →

by

Christ Exalted

Jonathan Edwards

Christ Exalted
Or
JESUS CHRIST GLORIOUSLY EXALTED ABOVE ALL EVIL IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION

Dated August 1738. Lecture.

1 Corinthians 15:25, 26
For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death.

Subject: Our Lord Jesus Christ in the work of redemption gloriously appears above all evil.

THE apostle in this chapter particularly opposes some among the Christian Corinthians who denied the resurrection of the dead and infested the church with their doctrine. There were two sorts of persons in that age who were especially great opposers of the doctrine of the resurrection. One among the Jews were the Sadducees, of whom we read, Acts 23:8. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, either angel or spirit. And we have the same account in other places. Among the heathen that were the chief opposers of this doctrine were their philosophers. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was not consistent with their philosophy, by the principles of which, it was impossible that one who was deprived of the habit of life, would ever receive it again. And therefore they ridiculed the doctrine when the apostle preached it among them at Athens. (Acts 17) Probably the church at Corinth received this corruption from the philosophers, and not the Sadducees. For Corinth was near to Athens, and the place of the chief resort of the philosophers of Greece.

The apostle, in opposing this error, first insists on Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and next on the resurrection of all the saints at the end of the world. And in the verses next before the text, shows how both are connected, or that one arises or follows from the other. And then adds, “then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Observe,

Continue reading →

by

Beth Moore recommends “JESUS CALLING” Book Claiming Direct Divine Revelation !

By

on Dec 21, 2011

The largely pretending to be Protestant evangelical community continues its pilgrimage back to the legalistic spiritual bondage of apostate Roman Catholicism and its evil author the Church of Rome.

As an online apologetics and discernment work Apprising Ministries does what we can to document this woeful walk away from the truths recaptured during the Lord’s Reformation.

How sad He must be to see James Robison And Rick Warren Working To Reverse The Protestant Reformation. Bottom line is this: If sinful ecumenicists like Robison and Warren are right, then the Reformers were wrong.

Beyond question Southern Baptist Bible teacher Beth Moore still remains enormously popular within today’s anything goes evanjellyfish.

Continue reading →