Christian, What Do You Believe? Probably a Heresy About Jesus, Says Survey

 Please read this eye opening article "Christian, What Do You Believe?"

“These results are a serious cause for concern,” said Stephen Nichols, Ligonier’s chief academic officer and president of Reformation Bible College. “… The evangelical world is in great danger of slipping into irrelevance when it casually forgets the Bible’s doctrine.”

I Believe In Miracles

Today, for some who read the stories of the Bible, their first question may be: Are miracles, like the parting of the Red Sea or floating ax heads, real? Did these things really happen or are they allegorical? Are they fairy tales? Many struggle with the idea that these very spectacular and supernatural events occurred. Certainly it can seem beyond belief to our minds that these things could have ever happened. Should we believe the miracles of the Bible actually occurred?

For me, the most important factor in answering this question is, if I believe in the God of the Bible, then I must believe He is the Creator. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It’s the first of the 31,301 verses in the Bible and it speaks to us of the most fundamental belief about God and who He is. “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” (11:3). The Psalmist tells us that, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” (33:6). So, first and foremost, to believe the Bible I must believe that God created the universe. That means everything in it. Time, space and matter are His handiwork. Even I am the product of the Creator (Ps. 139:13-16).

To believe in the God of the Bible is to believe in a God who was able to simply speak a thing into existence. From nothing, all things came forth. That tells me Elohim is naturally supernatural. What seems like a miracle to us, is actually normal for Him. What binds and restricts us normally, like time, space or matter, means nothing to Him because if He created it He is outside of it and is in it. Clearly those realities exist for our benefit. Yet, if He chooses to work outside of what we consider the “laws of nature” He can do so effortlessly, if you will. What is a miracle to us is simply the infinite, omnipotent God just being God. There are no limits to this Creator God. As Solomon said, “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).

Back to our question. Did God do miracles and, let’s add, does He do miracles today? Surely you figured where this was going. If God is the Creator and has no limits upon Him and can do anything He chooses to do, why would there be any problem at all in my believing in the miracles of the Bible or that He is able and even willing to do miracles today? If I believe in the God of the Bible and that He is the Creator then I must believe He can do whatever He wants. And, because He is a God whose desire is to reveal Himself to us, then miracles would certainly be a likely way of His doing it. Throughout the Bible He does miracles as He deems best for His purposes and our good. The Incarnation and the Resurrection are two of the high points for us when considering the Miracle God Elohim, and ultimately the two miracles we must embrace and cling to as New Testament believers in the Christ of God. Certainly you can’t leave out the miracle that brings us into the Faith, the new birth.

God is a miracle God! The Bible is a miracle book. And my relationship with Him is the product of a miracle working God.

The Real Love of John 3:16

Often we hear people say that God loves everyone in a defense of overlooking sin in the life of people. The Word of God is ignored and how people live is disregarded in the name of being “welcoming.” To do otherwise will cause a believer or church to be labeled as bigoted or hateful.

The problem with this view is that it is usually expressed by people who either don’t know or don’t really believe the Bible. Once it was the supernatural that was disbelieved and now even the precepts of morality are ignored. All is explained away. It’s completely carnal and worldly. It is an attempt to make the Bible fit into the world’s mold.

No real believer would deny that God loves everyone. He “so loved the world.” This would include every person who has ever lived and lives today. Doesn’t matter the race or nationality. What someone has done (or not done) doesn’t matter either. God loves because He is love. There is nothing He does that doesn’t flow out of His love, even judgement. His commandments are not given arbitrarily but out of His love for us.

There is also the misunderstanding caused by what it means to believe in Jesus. The promise of eternal life is conditioned on the person believing. To believe in Jesus is not simply to give mental assent to the Gospel. According to the New Testament it is to follow Jesus. This means one will believe what He believed and live according to the standards He did. It is to allow Him to be our Lord, Teacher and Master. There is no real believing without being a follower of Jesus.

This is illustrated in how Jesus called His disciples to Him.

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Mark 1:16-18

Simon and Andrew immediately changed the direction of their lives to become followers of Christ. It took more than them giving Jesus a “I believe in You” or to “make a decision” about Him. They had to change to match their lives up to follow Him as Lord. One cannot continue to live the way they did before they made Jesus the Savior of their lives and say they are followers of Jesus. I submit that one can’t say they are saved and not be followers of Jesus (Luke 8:34-38).

God loves us so much He gave His only begotten Son to pay for the penalty of sin and the power of sin to give us freedom and salvation. We are sinners in need of salvation and in His great love He has provided that. Why would we not be affected by that great sacrifice of His love? Why would we continue to live in a way where we do things that caused Him to have to come and die? How could that be a reasonable response to His love for us?   

God loves us! What a powerful thought that the Holy Creator of All Things loves us. This divine love should change us. It should cause us to treat others as He treats us. But it should never be an excuse for withholding the truth of God’s Word to people or the world. He paid too high a price for us to do so. Full salvation has been provided in His great love for us. Let’s live it and declare it. That is love. The love of God being expressed to a world that desperately needs it. 

The Power of Access

During the American Civil War, as a result of family tragedy, a soldier was granted permission to seek a hearing from the president. He wanted to request exemption from military service. However, when he arrived at the White House, he was refused entry and sent away. He went and sat in a nearby park.

A young boy came across him and remarked how unhappy he looked. The soldier found himself telling the young boy everything. Eventually the boysaid, ‘Come with me.’ He led the dejected soldier back to the White House. They went around the back, none of the guards stopped them. Even the generals and high-ranking government officials stood to attention and let them pass through.

The soldier was amazed. Finally, they came to the presidential office. Without knocking, the young boy opened the door and walked straight in. Abraham Lincoln, standing there, turned from his conversation with the Secretary of State and said, ‘What can I do for you, Tad?’

Tad said, ‘Dad, this soldier needs to talk to you.’

The soldier had access to the president ‘through the son’. According to the New Testament, in an even more amazing way, we have access to God ‘through the Son’ – Jesus.

The Death of Hugh Hefner by Matt Walsh

We live in a country where men like Hefner are immediately canonized upon death. I've seen Hefner described as a "hero" and a "role model." These are lies, and we must call them lies. The fact that Hefner is dead does not change the fact that he was a peddler of filth. If a man wishes to be remembered as virtuous and decent, he must live virtuously and decently. We don't become virtuous and decent when we die, as if death itself washes away every bad thing we've done. Quite the opposite, actually. Death is when we reckon with the bad things.

I've been assured that Hefner is "in a better place" now. I realize this is just a thing we say about all dead people, no matter who they are and what they did. And indeed it's possible that Hefner repented before death and has now entered the Better Place. But to confidently state as fact that a pornographer is in Heaven is arrogant and dangerous. Pray that God has mercy on him, but do not run around declaring that a man who spent his life having orgies and taking pictures of naked women must necessarily be reaping eternal rewards.

Let's try to be serious for a change. Let's treat the death of a man like Hefner with somber honesty. It is always sad when someone dies. It is even sadder when a corrupt and decadent man dies. We may have hope that a man of great faith and goodness is in Heaven. We may have the same hope for the corrupt man, but it is a slimmer hope. So, we simply trust in the mercy and justice of God, knowing that He will deliver us all to the destinations we have chosen. And, if we must learn anything from Hefner's life, it's that a life of selfish pleasure seems so pointless once it's over. That is the great lesson he taught us.

May God have mercy on him and all sinners. Amen.

Matt Walsh on Facebook

A Message of Hate? by Shane Idleman

There is a cost to speaking the truth. This realization came nearly 13 years ago when I was asked to speak at the annual conference for the American Baptists, unaware that they were about to divide over ordaining those who embrace the homosexual lifestyle.

Within minutes of beginning my message, people began to leave the large auditorium. Although it was clear that I had struck a nerve, the clearest message came when a woman approached the platform and attempted to disrupt the service. I told her I would be happy to talk with her after the service.

Afterwards, a large line of people waited to talk to me. I will never forget the very angry 12-year old girl. My heart sank when she said, "I hate everything you had to say. It was mean and hateful!" Though shocked by her comment, I was moved with compassion for such a young life filled with passion for the wrong things. Others asked if I ever received death threats.

As I boarded the plane, I was perplexed and confused. I prayed, "Lord, what's wrong. I'm simply speaking Your word and genuinely loving these people."

The words of Titus Brandsma (martyred at Dachau under Hitler) began to ring true, "Those who want to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come into conflict with it."

I buckled my seat, anxious to head for the familiar comfort of home ... but I knew that my life had made a turn. This gospel of love had, ironically, become a message of hate to those who oppose it: "Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he is offering a service to God" (John 16:2b).

Speaking the truth was going to cost me (and it will cost you). I knew that my kids would someday be old enough to ask why the hate mail, mean remarks, indignant looks ... while most feedback is very encouraging, those who are upset will often stop at nothing to get their point across.

Do I enjoy this? That goes without answer. Although many applaud boldness, if the truth be told, life would be much easier if I took a secular job and avoided controversy. But I cannot. God radically changed my life by the power of His Spirit through His truth: "[It's like] a burning in my bones! I'm worn out trying to hold it in. I can't do it any longer!" (Jer. 20:9m MSG).

One of my great concerns is for the pulpits of America: many are exchanging truth for tolerance, boldness for balance and conviction for cowardice. We don't want to offended lest we lose our audience. But truth is controversial—its convicts and challenges. We are not to seek the applause of men but the applause of God. The pulpit inevitably sets the tone of the religious climate of the nation. The lukewarm, sex-saturated culture simply reflects the lack of conviction in the pulpit as well as the pew. Granted, there are many wonderful pastors and churches—I appreciate their ministry, but, as a whole, the church has drifted off course.

The only difference between believers and unbelievers is that believers are simply forgiven—they have embraced God's gracious gift of forgiveness, wholeness and restoration through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Because of the cross, sin has been conquered and atoned for (see Rom. 6). "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9).

My goal is to simply share God's gracious gift. If being labeled narrow-minded, legalistic, judgmental, arrogant and intolerant is the cost of speaking the truth in love, so be it. In 2 Timothy 4:1-2, Paul instructs Timothy, "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:  Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching."

Paul is saying to preach the difficult truths as well as the joyful ones; preach the cross and the new life; preach hell and preach heaven; preach damnation and preach salvation; preach sin and preach grace; preach wrath and preach love; preach judgment and preach mercy; preach obedience and preach forgiveness; preach that God "is love," but don't forget that God is just. It is the love of God that compels us to share all of His truth.

Paul continues, "For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine, but they will gather to themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, having itching ears, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

This should sound an alarm in the heart of every preacher, pastor and teacher to seriously reevaluate their ministry—are we encouraging sin by not warning? If so, we're heading down a dangerous path.

A.W. Tozer reminds us that we'll stand to be judged someday: "That makes me both love Him and fear Him! I love Him because He is my Savior, and I fear Him because He is my Judge." We must speak the truth in love despite the cost.

Shane Idleman is the founder and lead pastor of Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, just North of Los Angeles. 

Two Reasons For The Decline of the Power of God

By Bert Farias

Smith Wigglesworth spoke prophetically decades ago before he died and said that the greatest move of God would be in the 1980s, when solid teaching of the Word would be combined with the gifts and the move of the Holy Spirit. He knew he wouldn't live to see it, but the younger generation would. I cut my teeth on that move of God and personally benefited greatly from it and enjoyed it while it lasted. That move of the Word and the Spirit laid a solid foundation in both my wife and me that we have carried these many years.

We were also privileged to be a part of a very fruitful Word and Spirit missionary movement in West Africa that took us into three different countries before transitioning in the '90s back to America. Here in our own homeland, we were privileged once again to be a part of a great outpouring known now historically as the Brownsville revival (1995-2000). In a five-year period, 4 million visitors came from around the world to that revival, with 150,000 experiencing first-time salvation. We were part of the faculty of senior leaders of the Bible school that spawned from that revival. There, we helped to establish students in the Word of God and their ministry callings.

Since that era, however, I have witnessed a declension in both the Word of truth and the Spirit of truth in many churches. It's not the same. Something is lacking. What should have continued to grow in might and strength has actually declined. What has happened to cause this declension and diminishing of both the Word and the Spirit? Mainly two things.

First Reason for Declension

First, the lack of prayer and the lack of power has resulted in fewer conversions and the decline of church attendance. To offset this, church leadership has created a new church model. This newer model was largely shaped by such men as Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago and Rick Warren of Saddleback Valley Community Church, south of Los Angeles. Their influence is stunning. For example, years ago Willow Creek formed its own association of churches, about 9,500 of them, with 100,000 church leaders attending at least one conference. In its beginnings, more than 250,000 pastors and church leaders from over 125 countries also attended Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church seminars, and more than 60,000 pastors initially subscribed to his weekly email newsletter. Those numbers may be much higher now, just to give you an idea of the scope of the influence of just these two men and this new church model.

This new church model has bred multitudes of churches called "seeker friendly" or "seeker awareness." Their main philosophy is evangelizing through application of the latest marketing techniques. Typically, it begins with a survey of the lost or unchurched. This survey questions the unchurched about the things that interest them and offers things that would motivate them to attend a church. Results of the questionnaire indicate areas of potential changes in the church's operations and services that would be effective in order to attract the unchurched, keep them attending and win them to Christ. Those who have developed this marketing approach guarantee the growth of churches that diligently follow their proven methods. As far as numbers, this method is working, as many churches are exploding with growth. But is it biblically based, or is it a gross compromise of the real gospel? (See my book, The Real Gospel.)

Though it is noble and praiseworthy to reach more people for Christ, let me show you why the means and methods are clearly corrupted. As a result, the end must be corrupted also. Let's begin with marketing as a tactic for reaching the lost.

Fundamentally, marketing has to do with profiling consumers, identifying what their "felt needs" are (by the way, this has been the No. 1 reason publishers have rejected most of my books—not a "felt need"), and then fashioning one's product (or its image) to appeal to the targeted customer's desires. The desired result is that the consumer buys into the product. George Barna, whom Christianity Todaycalls "the church's guru of growth," claims such an approach is essential for the church in our market-driven society. Evangelical church growth leaders are convinced that the marketing approach can be implemented without compromising the gospel. I'm afraid that this has been a great deception, and in my own humble opinion, the No. 1 reason for the declension and diminishing of the power of God in many of our churches.

A.B. McMahon explains it so well:

First of all, the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ are not "products" to be "sold." They cannot be refashioned or image-adjusted to appeal to the felt needs of our consumer-happy culture. Any attempt to do so compromises to some degree the truth of who Christ is and what He has done for us. For example, if the lost are considered consumers and a basic marketing "commandment" says that the customer must reign supreme, then whatever may be offensive to the lost must be discarded, revamped or downplayed. Scripture tells us clearly that the message of the Cross is "foolishness to them that are perishing" and that Christ himself is a "rock of offense" (see 1 Cor:1:18; 1 Pet. 2:8). Some seeker-friendly churches, therefore, seek to avoid this "negative aspect" of the gospel by making the temporal benefits of becoming a Christian their chief selling point. Although that appeals to our gratification-oriented generation, it is neither the gospel nor the goal of a believer's life in Christ.

Truth be told, this new model is now a monster that is breeding a second-generation semi-believer who lacks passion for God and discernment in the things of the Spirit, and is unskilled in the word of righteousness. This is the sad result of man flexing his own muscles and building churches with the strength of the arm of flesh. We have been wise in our own conceits and placed our trust in man's wisdom and ability.

Secondly, if you want to attract the lost on the basis of what might interest them, for the most part you will be appealing to and accommodating their flesh. Wittingly or unwittingly, that seems to be the standard operating procedure of seeker-friendly churches. They mimic what's popular in our culture: top 40 and performance-style music, theatrical productions, stimulating multi-media presentations and30 minutes or fewer of positive messages. The latter, more often than not, are topical, therapeutic and centered on self-fulfillment and how the Lord can meet one's needs and help solve one's problems.

What I have just described at length is the product of man's own wisdom, and the first reason for the declension and diminishing of both the Word of truth and the Spirit of truth.

Second Reason for Declension

Lack of solid biblically based teaching of the Word of God and accurate demonstrations of the Spirit of God have created a void for people to chase spiritual experiences, thrills and sensationalism outside of the real truth. In our travels, we see much of this. Many who are weak in the foundations of the Word are hungry for an experience. That is a risky combination, as it leads to chasing mystical things and the false prophetic.

Some examples would be the obsession with receiving personal prophecy, the abuse of the laying on of hands for everything—for faith, for financial breakthrough, for deliverance, to impart ministry anointing; the gross overemphasis on warfare and deliverance and so forth. Many of these blessings come through the Word, personal disciplines to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, and praying and being led by the Spirit of God. People need to be taught these things.

You can't lay hands on people for everything. And personal prophecy is not the main way you receive from God. Even misguided pastors fall into the trap of either being too heavy handed and restrictive in their leadership style, which will also cause its own set of problems, or being too loose and letting things be a free-for-all.

Good shepherds are good gatekeepers, and they watch at the gate of people's lives for thieves who would steal, kill and destroy them. Good shepherds warn their people of wolves in sheep's clothing that would destroy the sheep. They warn their people of false teachings that will make them spiritually sick. The primary way they do this is by teaching and demonstrating the truth—the same way bank tellers can spot a counterfeit bill by being so familiar with the real. This is also the reason God has given us the Ephesians 4:11 ministry gifts—so spiritual children won't be "tossed here and there by waves and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men" (Eph. 4:14). Good shepherds are like good parents who watch what comes into their children's lives through their associations and lifestyles.

I'm also finding a growing number of older Christians who are not really grounded in the Word of God. They are like those the Word describes who ought to be teachers by now, but have become "dull of hearing" and need someone to teach them again the first principles of the oracles of God (Heb. 5:11-12). Oh, some can quote the Word, and rejoice about the Word, nod their heads and shout amen at the preaching of the Word, but they are spiritual babies who have need of milk and cannot handle solid food yet.

The true anointing of the Spirit must be your teacher, for it is a day and an hour where many are being led astray. Foundational things must be taught to solidify people's lives. Knowing the Word, learning the true anointing and being led by the Spirit must become the emphasis. Understanding your personal authority as a believer, walking in faith and love, learning to enter into the prayer life by putting on the armor of God should be a high priority for every saint. These foundations should never get old, but need to be rehearsed and renewed regularly. Even as athletes or musicians or other occupational workers must continually practice the fundamentals of what they do, so should the earnest Christian do.

Through a process of time, hearkening to this practical instruction will turn the tide again and cause a groundswell of power and effectiveness in the life of the church that will once again distinguish it from the false and carnal church. We've lost spiritual ground that needs to be recovered and pass it on to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.