Joel Osteen, Pharisee extraordinaire

Um.... what part of "Peter, kill and eat!" (Acts 10:9-15) do you not understand, Joel?!?



He may be right of course on all of the science there... but good grief... he's using the Bible to give us a diet... Can Christians stop mining the Bible for stuff other than Jesus???

Bad Associations

To adopt an over-used phraseology from the election, the AiG Creation Museum pals around with unrepentant Jew-haters.

If you want an example click here (warning, you may be very offended, and in fact, you should).

DISCLAIMER: When I say "Jew-haters" I'm really only referring to Herman Otten, not to anyone else in the picture.

Church discipline

So I'm a big believer in church discipline. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 18:15-20:

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

Sometimes it takes this latter extreme, bringing to the church, to bring a person to repentance. In such situations the whole body of believers is involved, and boy can it be difficult.

My pastor said in the sermon last week while talking about this that John MacArthur makes it a policy to sometimes read off the list of names of people who are in the situation where they are completely unrepentant, and unable to come to communion because they have been barred. I just think this is wrong.  Sure, this person needs to know that they may not approach the Table of the Lord (for their own safety if nothing else), and others need to know this too so that there can be accountability. But repeatedly driving this point again and again in this way can lead to all kinds of sin. Doing this could cause others in the church to feel negatively towards the fallen brother or sister, thinking "Ha! I'm glad I'm not that guy" or " Boy, she is such a horrible sinner." It breeds arrogance in the body.

I've always kind of thought that MacArthur was nuts anyway, but I was still surprised by this. Fundamentalism breeds pride and arrogance. True evangelicalism upholds the truth of Scripture, and the necessity of church discipline, but does so with humility and grace as well as firmness.

Or maybe I'm wrong. Any takers?

"Dear Ed. Young"

Hilarious. Simply hilarious. 

But very true.

I'll stop talking about it now.

Ed Young makes a fool of himself on CNN

The anchor really takes him to task. Good for her.

So what should we think about the "7-Day Sex Challenge"?

Pastor Todd Wilken of Issues, Etc. and listeners talk about it. Listen embedded below or go to the Issues, Etc. web site.

No idea

Why do people insist on claiming they have a "thus saith the Lord" on something when it is clear they don't?

If only...

... I had my way pastors who endorsed political candidates would have their 501c3 status yanked. Yes, Brian McLaren, and yes, all of you pastors who want to preach about McCain, this means you.

Jesus Is A Friend Of Mine

So I've seen this now on programs as disparate as "Fighting for the Faith" on Pirate Christian Radio and "Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld" on Fox News within a matter of just a few weeks.



I'm not sure whether laughing or crying is the most appropriate response.

Bah

The truth is just offensive. I shouldn't add to the offense, but I need to stop making excuses for it.

It almost makes me weep

This is the result of American evangelicalism. We have detached ourselves from history, and a whole new generation is growing up believing that they can believe whatever they want about the Bible, and they can interpret it however they wish.

I have friends that I have disagreements with a lot of things when it comes to the Bible. But at least we all agree that the "just me and my Bible" approach is not going to cut it. If we are so arrogant to think that we don't need the community of the church or the testimony of history, then we deserve the crap we get.

Sorry. Rant done.

Absolutely Terrifying

I'm all for claiming the truth wherever you find it and all, but this is just plain ridiculous.

It's borderline blasphemous.

Have a listen.

"Tis of Thee" we sing, but who's the "Thee"?

Attending a Protestant church in America on the Sunday around the 4th of July might be hazardous to your spiritual health.

Under what reasonable understanding of the Christian faith is it ok to sing "My Country, Tis of Thee" in a Sunday morning worship service? I thought the "Thee" we were supposed to be singing to was Jesus.

Would it make any sense for me to sing a love song to my girlfriend in church? Most people would find that very inappropriate. Not that they would be opposed to me loving my girlfriend or singing a song to her. Nor would God. Human affection for one another is good. However, when the focus is supposed to be on our Creator and Savior, it doesn't make any sense.

I think patriotism is like that. It's good, but it's not what Christianity is about. Ceasar might be important, but Jesus is Lord.

Am I wrong about this?

Pastor on the run for putting Jesus first

Orlando Sentinel -- DeLand pastor threatened after flag's removal

Do you have an American flag at the front of your church? A Christian flag? Do you even know what the latter is? What would happen at your church if it were taken down?

DeLand police say they are investigating threatening notes sent a local pastor after the 33-year-old removed a U.S. flag from a Baptist church's sanctuary.

DeLand police Lt. Pete Moon says investigators are examining at least three notes sent to Rev. Sean Oliver Allen.

Allen has taken a leave of absence from First Baptist Church of DeLand, the church he came to came in September. Education Pastor John Long says Allen opted to take the leave after receiving a note at his home.

According to a police report, the note read, "Resign this Sunday or else."

Long says some members of the congregation became upset when Allen decided in October to remove the U.S. flag and the church's Christian flag.

This poor pastor, who probably loves the freedom he has in this country as much as the next guy, is getting reamed because he recognizes that Jesus is Lord and Caesar isn't. There were both flags in the front of the church were I was growing up, and I never thought about it until probably sometime in college. We Americans have a strange sort of Christianity that is comfortable with a national symbol, no matter how important to us, taking its place next to the place where the Word is preached and the sacraments administered.

For a similar example, I went to a church in rural Illinois the day before Memorial Day a few years back. It happened to be Pentecost Sunday. Instead of celebrating the birth of the church with the coming of the Holy Spirit, we went outside and read off the names of people who had died in the service of our country. I am sure it was very meaningful to the relatives of those people, and I am grateful for their service (I am personally proud of both of my grandfathers for serving during the Korean War). However, we have a day for celebrating that, and well, guess what, it was the NEXT DAY. Jesus doesn't want the day off for patriotism.

Tell your pastor to take the American flag out of the sanctuary and display it proudly on a pole on his front lawn where it belongs. And I mean no disrespect to anyone, but get rid of the Christian flag. It's misleading, and we already have a symbol; the cross on which our Savior died.

HT: Boar's Head Tavern