How Should Christians Respond When Government Bans Church Services?

Joel James from Grace Fellowship Pretoria, in South Africa, has written three articles that help us think about the Christian's response to the government's banning of church services for whatever reason.

Christmas is from the devil and all such mythical declarations

Every Christmas a slew of well meaning Christians—I hope—come out of the woodwork to declare Christmas a pagan celebration and that Christians should not celebrate it. I’ve been through this whole saga too many years ago, but thank God He saved me from such nonsense. Of course, many of these mythical notions about Christmas started with Alexander Hislop’s book, The Two Babylons, which by the way has been debunked thoroughly. And many still accept this book as the bible on all things Christmas, etc.

Just to enlighten those that still think that Christmas is going to send us straight to hell, here are two articles on the matter that is worth reading:
Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Christmas and Sol Invictus by Joseph Abrahamson. A quote:

“Remember first that the Christian faith is as old as the curse on Satan in Genesis 3:15. And while pagan worship of the sun certainly existed in Rome before the spread of the fulfillment of that promise in Christ came to the city; the celebration of Sol Invictus as a god in Rome actually came as pagans attempted to suppress Christianity. This early attempt as suppressing Christianity by means of the pagan worship of Sol is found in the Historia Augusta, a pagan history of Rome compiled in the fourth century AD.”

The other article is Was Jesus Born on 25 December? by Peter Hammond. A quote from Hammond:

“It is true that one Roman Emperor, Aurelian, did attempt to inaugurate 25 Dec. as a pagan festival "the birth of the unconquered Sun." This was in AD 274. Aurelian was attempting to breathe new life into a declining paganism devastated by the advances of Christianity. However, the Roman pagan festival was instituted after the Christians had already been celebrating the birth of Christ on that day for many decades. Their pagan festival was an attempt to create an alternative tradition, which already was associated with the birth of Christ, and of some significance to the Roman Christians. This is not a case of Christians imitating the pagans. The pagans were attempting to imitate the Christians, by celebrating the Sun on the day when Christians celebrated the Son of God.”

May you have a

Merry Christmas!

Update - Also read:
26 Dec 2013 - Yes, Christ Was Really Born on December 25: Here’s a Defense of the Traditional Date for Christmas

Seminar on WOF false teachers with Justin Peters

Photograph of Justin Peters taken during a teaching session on 2 June 2012 Photo copyright, William Dicks, © 2012

Justin Peters is in South Africa to do seminars on the dangers of Word-of-Faith (WOF) teachers, otherwise also known as prosperity teachers, or name-it-and-claim-it teachers.

This seminar is aptly named, “A Call for Discernment.” He will be in South Africa until 17 June. His first seminar was on 1-2 June, which I attended. His schedule for South Africa can be viewed here.

During the seminar, Justin covers all the main heresies that these faith teachers proclaim. This was nothing new to me, as I did a blog series back in 2005 on these heretical preachers and their deadly doctrinal cocktails.

During the seminar, video and audio clips are presented to show what these false teachers teach. People like Benny Hinn, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Jessie Duplantis, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar and more.

When I did my series back in 2005, I bought books and audio tapes of these teachers so that I could accurately present their deadly poison. To see many of these people on video just makes it so much more real.

The whole time while Justin was teaching, he kept a gentle attitude concerning these false teachers, but remained resolute against their demonic teachings.

Nancy Pearcey on the church and the gospel

“The Christian community [the church] is the concrete reality where the transcendent reality of the gospel is made manifest... This is a sobering thought, because the other side of the coin is that the gospel is also most easily discredited through the church. What happens when nonbelievers hear preachers proclaim the importance of the family, but see churches full of workaholic parents with little time for their own children? When they see power relationships that are as exploitive as anywhere else? When they see Christians trapped in the same sexual addictions as the rest of society? When they see evangelical celebrities using the same dishonest spin tactics as the secular advertising world? Christian may preach passionately about the need for a biblical worldview, but unless they are submitting themselves to  continual process of sanctification, they will not have the power to live out that worldview—and they will discredit the very message they are seeking to communicate.” (Nancy Pearcey, Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning, B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN, 2010, p276-277)

Christianity without Christ?

It is a preposterous thought. Christianity without Christ? Really? However, think about it. It seems to be going that way. All kinds of heretics are now getting centre stage within Christianity. Liberals are pushing their brand of Christianity and evangelicals are becoming evanjellycals.

"What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over half a century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia, all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, ‘Yes, sir’ and ‘No, Ma’am,’ and the churches would be full every Sunday ... where Christ is not preached.

“It is easy to become distracted from Christ as the only hope for sinners. Where everything is measured by our happiness rather than by God’s holiness, the sense of our being sinners becomes secondary, if not offensive. If we are good people who have lost our way but with the proper instructions and motivation can become a better person, we need a life coach, not a redeemer. We can still give assent to a high view of Christ and the centrality of his person and work, but in actual practice we are being distracted from ‘looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith’ (Heb. 12:2) A lot of the things that distract us from Christ these days are even good things. In order to push us off-point, all that Satan has to do is throw several spiritual fads, moral and spiritual crusades, and other ‘relevance’ operations into our field of vision. Focusing the conversation on us—our desires, needs, feelings, experience, activity, and aspirations—energizes us. At last, now we’re talking about something practical and relevant.” (Michael Horton, CHRISTLESS CHRISTIANITY: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 2008, pp15-16)

A.W. Pink on modern theology and the sovereignty of God

“It would be foolish for us to expect that this work will meet with general approval. The trend of modern theology-if theology it can be called-is ever toward the deification of the creature rather than the glorification of the Creator, and the leaven of present-day Rationalism is rapidly permeating the whole of Christendom. The malevolent effects of Darwinianism are more far reaching than most are aware. Many of those among our religious leaders who are still regarded as orthodox would, we fear, be found to be very heterodox if they were weighed in the balances of the Sanctuary. Even those who are clear intellectually, upon other truths, are rarely sound in doctrine. Few, very few, today, really believe in the complete ruin and total depravity of man. Those who speak of man's "free will," and insist upon his inherent power to either accept or reject the Saviour, do but voice their ignorance of the real condition of Adam's fallen children. And if there are few who believe that, so far as he is concerned, the condition of the sinner is entirely hopeless, there are fewer still who really believe in the absolute Sovereignty of God.” (A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, p6, Twenty-First Printing, 2004)

Spiritual gifts do not guarantee the perfect church

"If only we could get the gifts of the Spirit to flow freely in our church, then our church will be just like it was in the New Testament times and everything will be perfect for us!"

This is what many a charismatic has thought before, and I was there myself many years ago. Charismatics seem to think that everything will become perfect when they can just "flow" in the gifts of the Spirit. I am a charismatic myself (I prefer to call myself a continuationist or non-cessationist), so I know what I am talking about. At some point a charismatic will think that the gifts are the answer to everything. Most of them never move on from this point because they have been duped into believing this by their church leadership.

The fact is that no-one knows how the New Testament church really "flowed" in the gifts of the Spirit. Look at tongues, for example. Almost every charismatic/pentecostal church I have been to sees tongues as God speaking to us in some mystical way. However, 1 Cor 14:2 says clearly that "one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God." The thing is that charismatics have an idea of what that "flowing" in the gifts should be like even when no-one knows what it looked like in New Testament times. This is one of the reasons why I have held onto a healthy scepticism concerning the gifts.

How to become a hip Christian

HT: Tim Challies

Evanjellycals are confused about the gospel!

I was listening to a White Horse Inn podcast in my car on the way to work this morning. The producer of the show went to a Christian book expo to do a survey amongst those who supposedly sell Christian books because they want to expand our knowledge of the Bible.

Based on their answers, it is very clear that evanjellycals are very confused about the gospel they are supposed to believe! In fact, some of the answers are quite shocking! To think that these people are selling books to Christians, about a Bible that they ostensibly do not know themselves!

In the survey, people had to specify whether they agreed with statements made by the interviewer. Here are two statements and their results:

There is no one who does good, no not even one. There is no one who seeks God.
47% Agree
49%  Disagree
4%  Unsure
* This is a basic summary of Ps. 14: 2-3, and Ps. 53:2-3, which Paul restates in Rom 3:10-12.

Jesus was fully divine and only appeared in human form.
44% Agree
52%  Disagree
4%  Unsure
* This is an example of an early church heresy known as docetism.  Jesus was both fully divine and fully human: 
Rom 1:3-4, 2John 7.

Listen to the specific broadcast below, or download the MP3 here:

To find out more about this episode of The White Horse Inn, visit A Survey of Biblical Literacy, where you will find related articles and recommended books!

Bestselling Christian books of 2010: the good, the bad and the heresy!

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/rachwal81

The list of 100 Bestselling Christian Books of 2010 has been released. Note that this is the list of U.S. sales alone, so it strongly reflects on what “Christians” read in America.

Something that it perhaps points out is what influences Christians at this point in America, and it doesn’t look good. There is some good, but there is also a lot of bad on this list.

For instance, The Shack is number 2 on the list. The Shack is pure heresy and you can read my review of it here. Also, Joyce Meyer is on the list 5 times. Read my series called Heresies in the church to see what heresy she teaches!

Put it this way, this list certainly doesn’t give me that warm felling in my heart about the state of the church in America. What dominates a person’s bookshelf says a lot about what that person believes.

This list represents the bookshelf of the American church. How does that make you feel?

HT: Tim Challies.

Do you entertain worldly passions more than Godly passions?

Phil Johnson, head honcho of the PyroManiacs, wrote a very interesting piece about our passions. Do we get more excited about our favourite sports team, celebrities and the like, than about God and celebrating His glory?

It is definitely worth reading, and by the way, don’t dismiss it off-hand, thinking that you are not like that. Rather spend time reading his “The Bizarre Passions of Worldly Culture, and Why They are Incompatible with a True Passion for God's Glory,” giving it some serious thought.

Just to get you thinking in the right direction, John Piper asked the students at the Passion 2011 conference: “Do you feel more loved by God because He makes much of you or because He enables you to make much of Him?”

Does your church celebrate the gospel, or its own uniqueness in this world?

Trevin Wax, author of Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in An Age of Rivals, and blogger at Kingdom People, has written a very thought provoking blog post at thegospelcoalition called What You Celebrate as a Church Is Just as Important as What You Believe. Wax opens his blog post with the following paragraph:

"What your congregation celebrates corporately is just as important as what your church affirms doctrinally. Celebrate the gospel, and cross-cultural ministry will bubble up in surprising ways. Celebrate your church’s preferential distinctions, and your congregation will become an insular group of like-minded individuals."

In this article Wax gives us two fictitious examples of people having to leave their current churches when they move away to other cities, and how their churches' distinctives made it close to impossible for them to find new churches where they could feel "comfortable."

Religion and politics in America over the last 50 years

Dr. Al Mohler had a very interesting interview with Professor Robert Putnam, Malcolm Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, about his book American Grace:  How Religion Divides and Unites Us, co-authored with David Campbell.

There are some interesting things that came out  in this discussion (and in the book)! By 1990, young evangelicals outnumbered those young people that did not have any religious affiliation (nones) 2 to 1. Now, twenty years later, that number is totally reversed, in that the nones outnumber young evangelicals 2 to 1.

Here are some quotes:

Biblical shepherding is not for the weak

Very often these days, too often, we read about or watch so-called shepherds of God's flock being unfaithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I wrote a post just recently on Joel Osteen fudging the gospel!

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians concerning the stewards of the gospel:

"[1] This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. [2] Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. (1Co 4:1-2)"

A preacher of the gospel must be a trustworthy steward of that given to him. A steward does not own what he has been put in charge of. He is to manage his charge well. And that charge is not anything found within the vast imaginative recesses of the shepherd's mind! He is to be a steward of "the mysteries of God!" If the church were a secular club of sorts, then it would be conceivable to think that the pastor (shepherd) could come up with all kinds of clever ideas as to how he would run the church and what he would say to his flock on Sundays or on other occasions.

Informed worship

Worship or entertainment?

One of the greatest themes in the Bible is that of worship. The greatness and majesty of God demands our worship. As finite beings, the natural outflow of our finiteness in the presence of the infinite greatness of God is worship. Those who do not worship God, or worship amiss, simply are not informed of the greatness of God and who God is!

The problem with the modern worship movement, is that it has created a very strong environment of worshitainment. Why has this happened?

1. Entertainment oriented worship

The problem lies with modern entertainment and the influences it has had on the church. It is here that the church has not been an influencer but was influenced by prevailing cultural norms. Music styles became the dominating force in deciding whether a particular worship service was “liked” or not! I must say, there are some songs, whether modern or hymns, that are simply aesthetically boring and not conducive to worship in song! Obviously, worship in song should not bore us to death, but our worship cannot be based on its entertainment value! That shows how shallow we are in the modern church, when we choose worship songs based on how it makes us feel, forgetting that it is God that we must glorify!

Why cell groups could be a colossal failure

… or life groups, … or home groups, … or… (I will be using the phrase “cell group” to refer to anything similar to the concept, such as “life group,” or “home group.”)

Cell groups can be a real blessing to a church or a real curse. The question is, What are they in your church?

In so many cases, cell groups are measured by how many people are pulled into these cells from the church, or how they meet people’s needs.

I have been part of cell groups for many years. I have been part of the model since the 80s. What makes a successful cell group? Meeting needs? Having the biggest cell group? Having the best socials? How superficial must a cell group be to be successful?

What happens these days in cells is that they are good at all those questions asked above. They meet needs, many of them are bursting at the seams, others have great socials, and as a result, many of them are very superficial too! Many cell groups would not be recognized as church groups if someone had not informed us. Cells are not just social clubs! In fact, they are not social clubs at all!

The statistics driven church

I was supposed to be a panellist on the recording of a Christian television show last week Saturday on the subject of Worldviews at War.

What sparked this show was a letter/article that Dr. Peter Hammond of Africa Christian Action presumably sent to the One Gospel channel (331 on DSTV), which airs The Late Debate.

Unfortunately, I do not know which study's statistics Dr. Hammond refers to in the articles that set the creation of this episode of the show in motion, so I cannot comment on what he specifically refers to. The statistics he mentions state that 75% of university students, that come from Christian homes, are eventually lost to the church in university, and that the liberal, humanistic academia are to blame. You can read these articles here and here.

I have a lot of respect for Dr. Hammond. He has stood up for the truth when it was totally uncool to do so. He has been in dangerous situations for the gospel in countries such as Sudan, while most of us had a good night's sleep. So, this blog post is not aimed at him or his organization, but rather at a broader problem in the church.

Women at risk worldwide: Great Commission failure

Dr. Peter Hammond of Frontline Fellowship, in his latest mail, writes:

“Anyone who wonders why missions are necessary, just need to consider the devastating impact on women when the church fails to fulfill the Great Commission.

”These are some of the shocking facts which were revealed at a focus group on the plight of women in heathen societies:”

Read more about what Dr. Hammond has to say:

The state of the church and 3D pastors

Pastor Tony Morgan (right) next
to a holographic figure.

3D pastors. Who would've thought?

If the only job of a pastor was to preach, then perhaps this would be fine. However, a pastor must be a shepherd! That is the meaning of the word!

Holograms do not shepherd! In fact, technology is the death of the church! Why do I say this?

It has become way too easy for people to use only technology to make up their daily spiritual diet. Christians no longer come together as the people of God, because the over-use of technology has sent a message of total individualism to the church, making the local church a nuisance to our every day lives. Suddenly, we are more interested in what Tom, Dick and Harriet from across the big, blue pond have to say. Pastors have become irrelevant to modern Christians, because they can simply switch on the TV, or stream a video of a sermon via the internet, preached by a pastor that we will never get into contact with.

Global Leadership Summit and the lack of theological discernment in the church

Bill Hybels

Willow Creek, headed by Bill Hybels, is one of the largest churches in America. One of its babies is the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) which has been running for several years. Many churches have jumped on this bandwagon of leadership and growing leadership and running leadership seminars and other leadership BLAH BLAH BLAH. Oh, sorry, I drifted off their for a second or two. Must be all this leadership talk!

The modern church is making so much of leadership and leadership principles that in my opinion, it is forgetting its primary mandate from none other than Jesus Christ Himself. In Mt 28:18-20 it is written:

"18 And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make leaders in your churches from all nations, certifying them as leaders in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all leadership principles that I have commanded you. And behold, I will put great leaders among you always, to the end of the age.'"