April 13th, 2009
Below is an article I found on Sermon Index written by Greg Gordon. In a time when ministries and pastors seem to preach that God needs your money, I found it very fitting. I liked it and thought I would share…
God Doesn’t Want Your Money!
by Greg Gordon
Never in the history of Christianity has there been so many sermons and preachers begging for money. Is God broke? God says “blessed are the poor” we say in our twisted days “blessed are the rich”. God says “godliness with contentment is great gain!” we say in our materialistic age “godliness is great financial gain!”. Right now as I am writing this article there are 1000’s of T.V. preachers begging for money. There are 10,000’s of people opening envelopes and emails as we speaking right now of ministries pleading for financial support. What a travesty that the first impression of the mind of unbelievers in North America is that Christianity is about money.
I admit personally in my life and ministry there were times where I asked for financial support and went against my conscience in that matter. I do believe there is reason and balance and it will vary from ministry to ministry of making some need known. But I do feel the best and most excellent way is to serve God and ask the Father in secret for your needs.
Judas was the money changer and it is surprising so many pastors want to follow in the steps of Judas rather then Jesus. Never has so little been done with so much money for the Gospel. The Gospel work of Jesus Christ requires little money but much men. It requires little financial begging but much knee work before God in prayer. If we were prevailing with God instead of pleading with men for our needs they would have been met overabundantly by this point.
Zac Poonen said this: “The early Christians were humble enough to acknowledge their lack of wisdom in such matters. That was why they gave their gifts to the apostles to be distributed to the poor. But those apostles never touched any of that money themselves.” Their are needs for money to be given for the poor, helpless, and to some workers of the gospel “the workman is worthy of his hire.” But what a contrast we see between these Apostles in the Scriptures and the modern day pastor.
This is a challenge to all Christians to stop giving to these ministries on T.V. who are fleecing the sheep and making themselves rich. Give to ministries that are humble, small, that don’t beg. Find modern day prophets to give to. Don’t give to the slick sleek pastor who just says “nice” things to comfort you.
I close with a very profitable list from Zac Poonen which he calls the “Ten Commandments” on money for Christian workers:
1. Never make your financial needs known to anyone but God (Phil.4:19).
2. Never accept money from unbelievers (3 John 7).
3. Never expect any gifts from anyone (Psa.62:5).
4. Never allow anyone to control you or influence your ministry by giving you money.
5. Never accept money from those who don’t receive your ministry.
6. Never accept money for your personal or family needs, from anyone poorer than you.
7. Never be dependent on any man for your financial needs.
8. Never handle God’s money in a way that would cause others to suspect mishandling (2 Cor.8:20,21).
9. Never be excited when you receive money.
10. Never be depressed when you lose money.
January 20th, 2009
“Remember Lot’s wife.” (Luke 17:32).
There are few warnings in Scripture more solemn than that which heads this page. The Lord Jesus Christ says to us, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Lot’s wife was a professor of religion; her husband was a “righteous man” (2 Pet. 2:8). She left Sodom with him on the day when Sodom was destroyed; she looked back toward the city from behind her husband, against God’s express command; she was struck dead at once and turned into a pillar of salt. And the Lord Jesus Christ holds her up as a beacon to His church; He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
It is a solemn warning, when we think of the person Jesus names. He does not bid us remember Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or Sarah or Hannah or Ruth. No, He singles out one whose soul was lost forever. He cries to us, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
It is a solemn warning, when we consider the subject Jesus is upon. He is speaking of His own second coming to judge the world; He is describing the dreadful state of unreadiness in which many will be found. The last days are on His mind when He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
It is a solemn warning, when we think of the person who gives it. The Lord Jesus is full of love, mercy and compassion; He is one who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. He could weep over unbelieving Jerusalem and pray for the men that crucified Him; yet even He thinks it good to remind us of lost souls. Even He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Read the rest of this entry »
January 6th, 2009
From: Arthur Pink, “Take Heed What You Read“
If you value the health of your soul, cease hearing and quit reading–all that is lifeless, unctionless, and powerless. Life is too short to waste valuable time on that which does not profit. Ninety-nine out of every hundred of the religious books, booklets, and magazines now being published–are not worth the paper on which they are printed!
“Those who live according to the flesh–have their minds set on what the flesh desires,” (Romans 8:5). They are charmed with . . .
oratorical eloquence,
catchy sayings,
witty allusions, and amusing illustrations.
On just such husks, do the religious swine feed!
Read the rest of this entry »
December 4th, 2008
Quoting AW Pink . . .
The Lord’s command in Mark 4:24 is “take heed what ye hear”. Corrupt nature is thoroughly in love with error and will more readily and eagerly receive false rather than true doctrine. Should any dispute this statement, we would refer them to Jeremiah 5:31: “the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so”. Said Christ unto the Jews, “because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not” (John 8:45): what a commentary on fallen human nature - had He preached lies they would have promptly received Him.
Alas, what is man: he will run greedily after something new and sensational, but is soon bored by the old story of the Gospel.
How feeble is the Christian, how weak his faith, how fickle and unstable the moment he is left to himself. Peter, the most courageous and forward of the apostles in his profession, denied his Master when challenged by a maid. Even when given a heart to love the Truth, we still have “itching ears” for novelties and errors, as the Israelites welcomed the manna at first, but soon grew weary of it and lusted after the fleshpots of Egypt.
Real and urgent then is our need to heed this command,
“Beware of false prophets.”
From: Sermon on the Mount
It makes me think of how wonderful our God is since He gave us scripture and the Holy Spirit to battle with our bent toward evil, so that we can overcome the flesh and live in the Spirit. What a stern warning to “examine yourself to see if you be in the faith”.
I think of all the people who love it when “the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so”. In Isaiah it was described as coming from the people themselves:
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
It amazes me when you read the epistles to the churches, how many of the epistles were warnings of false doctrines that spread so quickly throughout the believers. How much more today with 2 thousand years of the imagination of men and doctrines of demons perverting the very word of God. Just as in the days of the Judges the people of God desired not to serve Him directly, but desired a king to lead them.
I see this as a call to have the light of God’s word shine in all the areas of my life. As David said:
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24
September 30th, 2008
Below is an article I found on Sermon Index regarding a topic I have been struggling with lately, and have had discussions with people regarding the gift of tongues. I think this article adequately outlines the conclusions I have come to on the subject (not that agreeing with me makes it right).
Please take some time to read it and let me know your thoughts on the writings of Zac Poonen…
The Truth About Speaking In Tongues - Zac Poonen
“Every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation (change)” (James. 1:17).
God never makes a mistake, He never changes and He gives only perfect gifts. Therefore when He gave the gift of “speaking in unknown languages” (”tongues”) to the church on the day of Pentecost, He knew exactly what He was doing. The gift of “tongues” was a perfect gift. God has not changed His mind about the gift, for He never changes.
God knew the controversies that would surround this gift in the 20th century. Yet He felt the church needed this gift to fulfill its ministry.
Even major truths such as the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, the Humanity of Christ and the Person of the Holy Spirit have been opposed and have faced controversy in the history of Christendom. So it should not surprise us if the gift of “tongues” has been controversial too.
It is always best to stick exactly to what Scripture says on all doctrinal matters. Let us look then, with an unprejudiced mind, at every single verse in the Bible on the subject of “speaking in tongues”:
Read the rest of this entry »
September 12th, 2008
In the wake of my post called “Eat the Meat, Spit out the Bones” Pastor Wendell Smith came out with a blog post called “Scandal and Restoration” regarding the Lakeland Revival and the falling of Todd Bently. The base argument of his post is to not get bitter or disillusioned by the fall of a leader.
My only response is if you don’t exalt men so high in the church (senior pastors), but exalt Jesus, when men fall they won’t leave or get bitter because Jesus will never fall. Also, don’t be so flippant and lazy on false doctrine…especially in your own church.
John Piper, on the other hand, also came out with a blog post talking about the issue. I believe his response is a good warning of the false doctrine, including the ones prevalent in the prosperity gospel and word of faith.
Read Wendell’s Blog
Read John Piper’s Blog
September 9th, 2008
Eat the Meat, Spit out the Bones has always been a statement that bothers me. It is thrown out to say we should not worry about some false teaching mixed in with the bible, but just be mature enough to “Eat the Meat, Spit out the Bones”. I have a friend who asks, would you eat a bowl of ice cream if you knew there was a little dung mixed in, even if you knew you wouldn’t taste it? Of course not, and false teaching is like dung. Below is an article that I tend to agree with:
EAT THE MEAT, SPIT OUT THE BONES
There are a lot of clever-sounding sayings that make the rounds among Christians, and one of these is “eat the meat, and spit out the bones.” Many have written to exhort me to do this, and they mean that I shouldn’t worry so much about exposing error. They wonder why I can’t just “eat the meat, and spit out the bones.”
There is a bit of truth to this saying, in that God’s people are always to exercise biblical discernment when hearing sermons or reading Christian books. We are to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
But the Bible also twice warns that “a little leaven leaventh the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 5:9) and exhorts us to mark and avoid those who teach doctrine contrary to that which we have learned in Scripture (Rom. 16:17). There is great danger in eating the wrong spiritual meat!
What if the meat is rotten or poisoned or hasn’t been cooked or properly stored? The U.S. government regulates how restaurants must cook meat, because undercooked meat is dangerous. When I worked in a restaurant in my youth, I was taught to handle the meat very carefully and to store it properly, because it spoils easily. If you eat meat that is spoiled or poisoned or undercooked, even if you spit out the bones, you will be in trouble. The writings of men like Brian McLaren and Richard Foster and Chuck Colson and Rick Warren contain plenty of rotten meat. Those who advise God’s people to “eat the meat, and spit out the bones,” must explain to us how they know that this “meat” is safe.
Also, what if the bones have splinters or what if you get a bone stuck in your throat? When I was growing up in Florida, I went fishing often with my dad and granddad, and they were careful about which fish they kept and which they threw away, because some had too many bones to eat safely. And Mom was very careful to keep an eye on us when we were eating fish because of the ever-present danger of getting a bone stuck in our throats. This happened from time to time anyway, and it was a very unpleasant thing and, in fact, can be fatal. Likewise, very few Christians are able to wade through sermons or books by compromising preachers on their own and expertly spit out all of the “bones” of error.
And what if you don’t know the difference between meat and bones? A toddler doesn’t know the difference, and if it tries to eat meat and spit out bones, it will quickly be in trouble. Likewise, the average Christian today is far too biblically ignorant and carnal to distinguish properly between truth and cleverly presented error.
My friends, beware of clever sayings that aren’t supported by Scripture.
We live in a shallow, apostate, carnal age, and it behooves us to study the Bible diligently and to think biblically!!!!
Written by David Cloud
|Hat Tip: sermonindex.net|
June 2nd, 2008
Clifton forwarded me an article titled “The Bankruptcy of the Prosperity Gospel:An Exercise in Biblical and Theological Ethics” by David Jones M.Div.; Ph.D. The article outlines 6 major systematic flaws of the prosperity gospel as preached at The City Church and other rapidly growing prosperity churches.
The six major areas he covers are:
- The Theology of the Prosperity Gospel
- Prosperity Theology and the Abrahamic Covenant
- Prosperity Theology and the Atonement
- Prosperity Theology and Giving
- Prosperity Theology and Faith
- The Biblical Interpretation of the Prosperity Gospel
As you can see, these are not minor areas of misuse or error…these are the very foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being messed with, let there be no mistake about it. Below is the section regarding the Abrahamic covenant (see my article on the subject):
Prosperity Theology and the Abrahamic Covenant
The theological basis of the prosperity gospel is the Abrahamic covenant. While this is good in that prosperity theologians recognize that much of Scripture is the record of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, it is bad in that they do not maintain an orthodox view of this covenant. Prosperity theologians hold an incorrect view of the inception of the Abrahamic covenant; what is more germane to the present study, however, they hold to an erroneous view concerning the application of the covenant.
Researcher Edward Pousson best stated the prosperity view on the application of the Abrahamic covenant when he wrote, “Christians are Abraham’s spiritual children and heirs to the blessings of faith…. This Abrahamic inheritance is unpacked primarily in terms of material entitlements.” In other words, according to the prosperity gospel, the primary purpose of the Abrahamic covenant was for God to bless Abraham materially. Since believers are now “Abraham’s spiritual children,” they consequently have inherited these financial blessings of the covenant.
Prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland wrote, “Since God’s Covenant has been established and prosperity is a provision of this covenant, you need to realize that prosperity belongs to you now!” Referring to the prosperity theology of Kenneth Hagin, author Harvey Cox wrote, “Through the crucifixion of Christ, Christians have inherited all the promises made to Abraham, and these include both spiritual and material well-being.†To support this claim, prosperity teachers such as Copeland and Hagin appeal to Gal. 3:14, which says “that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. . . .” While it is not an understatement to say that the problems with this argument are legion, two glaring problems need to be addressed. First, in their appeal to Gal. 3:14, prosperity teachers ignore the second half of the verse, which reads, “That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” In this verse Paul clearly was reminding the Galatians of the spiritual blessing of salvation, not the material blessing of wealth.
Second, prosperity teachers claim that the conduit through which believers receive Abraham’s blessings is faith. This completely ignores the orthodox understanding that the Abrahamic covenant was an unconditional covenant. That is, the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant were not contingent upon one man’s obedience. Therefore, even if the Abrahamic covenant did apply to Christians, all believers would already be experiencing the material blessings regardless of prosperity theology.
Read the whole article here… It is well worth the read.
UPDATE 6/3/2008: The link was broken, but now it is fixed.
Hat tip: Clifton
April 10th, 2008
Below is an article written by Cameron. He was an intern a few years ago and asked me to post this letter that talks about his conclusions of Generation Interns. I would love it if current or past interns would post their opinions on the article in the comments section.
I have never been an intern at the City Church, but I am married to one. I think I speak for Cameron, but our goal is not that the leaders at The City Church are slandered, harmed, or evil spoken of. We just earnestly desire that God be exalted and to see Him worshiped in Spirit and Truth.
Note: I have made changes per Cameron’s request on 2/3/2009
<Cameron’s Article>
I want to talk briefly about Generation Interns. From 2003-2004 I did Interns and it helped me in many ways. As an ignorant and young Christian, I didn’t even know what the synoptic gospels were, namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they they gave a historical account of Jesus’ life and ministry! I hadn’t done much bible reading up to Interns, and the basic doctrine class was very helpful for me in starting out as a new learner of the Word.
We learned about many great topics such as the nature of God, the canonization of the Bible, doctrine of angels and demons, the Trinity, etc. Every Christian needs to be familiar with these things, and there is no price too great for such knowledge. The ministry activities were also some of the best experiences of my life. I built relationships with people who I’m still very close with. Thanks Facebook!
Now, if I may say, I think I may have liked it if 2 other basic things would have been emphasized in the program. 1. That we are required to uphold God’s holy moral law perfectly and, 2. That we are to be under God’s own eternal wrath if we fail to do so.
If these would have been more emphasized, not just by TCC and Interns, but even by the majority of churches who call themselves Christian, then I think I may have understood more sooner why it is that 3. I am saved by grace. I would have realized that I was saved from God, by God. In other words, that what God (Christ the Judge) demands from me, Christ (the Savior) supplies. I really do wish that all churches, and all Christian teaching programs made sure that these gospel 101 points were emphasized. Simply because, then grace could really be grace. I think that is really the therapy we are all looking for.
In the words of Forrest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that”.
Humbly and respectfully,
Cameron
Does anyone else out there think these points should be taught and emphasized by Christian churches? Does anyone disagree?
April 8th, 2008
Judah was on the TBN “Praise the Lord” show from TBN with Pastor Steve Munsey as the host at 7:00 PM PST. I found a few clip of Steve Munsey on You Tube in the fall “Praise-A-Thon” for TBN promising people if the give $$$ to TBN all their problems will be solved.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9QKYmxYcrGg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NuydWziggVM&feature=related
The scripture is very clear about these teachers, and the compiler of the first video puts some of the scriptures on the screen as he preaches. It sickens me because they prey on those who are broke, and become wealthy off of their giving with outlandish and unbiblical promises.
I hear the argument that the city church preaches a “balanced” view of prosperity, but they keep the company of the people who cause people to speak evil of the way of truth. All you have to do is turn on the TBN “praise-a-thon” to see the length they will go to twist scripture for money.
As for pastor Judah, it was pretty cool seeing him up there talking about his new book “Dating Delilah”. Even though I disagree with him on the teachings of the city church, I have always liked Judah. If only he could take his speaking skills and passion and be taught by good biblical teachers who are not hyper-faith and hyper-prosperity he could make great gains for Christ. I often wonder how one could come out of a cloud of such teaching when so much of your life is invested in a specific false teaching.
My niece was watching with me, who is unsaved. She made the comment that Judah seemed sincere and passionate. I agree. But I asked her if the suicide bombers who blow themselves up are sincere and passionate. I think she got my point.
It reminded me of a time I was witnessing on the streets when I met a girl who said she was a Christian, so I shared the gospel with her anyway. After I was done, I asked her if she had ever heard the gospel before, and she said no. I then asked her if she still thought she had been born again, but she said no. I asked her where she went to church, she said Generation Church in the University District (under Pastor Judah). I asked if it caused her concern that she was never presented the true gospel and she said yes. I didn’t ask, but I bet she could quote Malachi 3:10 for me though.
What a shame.
The question isn’t if we are passionate, the question is what are we passionate about. We can be sincere, and we can be sincerely wrong. If people aren’t learning about the true gospel when they go to church, what are they learning?
1 Timothy 4:16
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
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