Calendar

[CatieladyB]

Déjà Vu?

Taking a good look around the world these days brings home the reality of this; it is a perfect description of the present times, although written to a different generation:

Romans 1:18-32
God's Wrath against Mankind

     "18) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19) since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20) For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

      21) For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22) Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23) and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

      24) Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25) They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.  Amen. 26) Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27) In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

      28) Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29) They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30) slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31) they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32) Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

This sounds as though we are in some serious trouble here; we are truly living this out right now! Woe to us!

[CatieladyB]

Rock Redemption!


I have been listening to and collecting music since the early '60s, starting with "45s" as they were called back then, which were small vinyl records with a single song on each side. Side A was the hit song from the radio and side B was another song offering. I then began collecting full size vinyl records or albums, which were around 12" in diameter containing 5 or 6 songs on each side, I managed to accumulate about 300 before moving on to cassettes and now CDs are my fancy. I never got into 8track tapes though; since I didn't own a car when they were popular and they came and went so quickly. When I finally got my own car I had a cassette player put in. At one point I even owned a reel to reel tape recorder which I ended up using to record my friend's band and later on I bought a cassette deck that I also used for recording the band.

I've been attracted to all types of music over the years and all types of music groups. Even when I got married and started having kids, I still collected music. But after awhile, I realized that as I was listening to the radio or a cassette in a car full of kids, something didn't seem right. These kids were listening to the music too and sometimes the words that were being used in the songs were not what I would want to hear coming out of the mouths of my children!

Around this time I had decided that I needed to get back to church, I had been brought up going to church every Sunday and for some reason I felt I had to give my children the same in their upbringing.  Although all of my kids went to public school, all but one of my six kids went to a Christian preschool, basically because my sister-in-law had sent her kids there so I just trusted her judgment.  My son had ADHD and went to a special Ed preschool run by the public school system.

Anyway, through my sister-in-law and another friend, I found the bible Chapel I now attend. The more time I spent there the more I learned and soon it all seemed to make sense! The music being sung was of a current contemporary kind and I began to like it! Pretty soon I preferred to listen to it over some of my old fare because of the kids; there was even a new local Christian radio station I could listen to in the car!

Now, the music I listen to most is music that is not necessarily all about God or even what's known as "Christian", but is more God friendly than that of the past. One thing I have noticed a lot recently is that many of the people I listened to in the past keep popping up in the strangest places! Guys like Alice Cooper, Lou Gramm, Richie Furay, John Michael Talbot, Bob Dylan and even Charlie Daniels have shown up in Gospel and Christian Contemporary music.

Actually there are many genres of "Christian" music, Hip-Hop, Pop, Ska, Rock, Alternative, Punk, Punk Rock, Metal and I've even heard of Rastafarian!  Whatever kind of music genre you can name there is a version of it with a Christian theme. I like mostly Christian Rock or Hard Rock, bands like Blindside, 12 Stones, Thousand Foot Kutch, We As Human, Kutless, Spoken, Project 86, Stryper, Seventh Day Slumber, Demon Hunter, etc., the list goes on forever!

So imagine my surprise when I'm listening to internet stations like Broken FM, Reign Radio, Static Radio and URrock Radio and all of a sudden I hear "Salvation" by Alice Cooper or when I'm at a Christian festival in my state and one of the groups playing is The Lou Gramm Band, whose front man just happens to be the former lead singer of the band Foreigner! Or when I find out that one of the founding members of a band I listened to as a teen back in the late '60s and early '70s, Mason Proffit, has gone rogue and joined a Catholic Brotherhood as did John Michael Talbot and is writing worship songs about God. We have heard over the years about Bob Dylan finding faith and the songs he has written professing it, along with Johnny Cash. I even found some Charlie Daniels albums in my local Christian book and gift store!

Then I found out that Richie Furay of the bands, Buffalo Springfield, Poco and the Souther Hillman Furay Band was pouring out music with a new theme and that he has become a Pastor of a Calvary Chapel in Colorado! Or when I find out crazy stuff like, Michael Sweet of Stryper was the co-lead vocalist and guitarist for the well known group Boston, from 2007 – 2011, it just blows my mind!

My latest find has me reeling as well; I was listening to a mainstream rock radio station in my car that I've listened to for years that plays what's known as Classic Rock. They played the song "Never Been Any Reason" by a group I had only vaguely heard of before, Head East. Over the years I think I've only heard that name once or twice, but the song sparked my interest and I had to find out more about the group! So the second I got home I googled it (thank goodness for modern technology!) and what I found out freaked me to no end, turns out that the lead vocalist was none other than John Schlitt of Petra fame! I also found out that John Elefante of the band Mastedon was once frontman for the band Kansas from '81 – '84! Wonders never cease! You never know who has turned their life over to the Lord!

Over the years I have come across many groups with songs that hit a spiritual cord, like Blindfaith's "Presence of the Lord", Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven", Bruce Cockburn's "Lord of the Starfields", The Hooters' "All You Zombies", Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky", the Rolling Stones had "Prodigal Son", Rush's "Peaceable Kingdom" or Collective Soul's "You", along with tons of others as well. The first time I heard the album "Far From Home" by Steve Winwood and Traffic with the songs "Here Comes a Man", "Holy Ground" and "State of Grace, I couldn't help but notice the spiritual message ingrained throughout. Not all of these people were devout believers; many were just searching for something to fill the void in their lives at one time or another, others were just trying to spark more interest in their music, but some actually found God!

So it does my heart good to learn that many of the people in the mainstream music world have turned to the Lord. It's actually a good thing when bands don't flaunt their "Christian-ism", because people can be drawn in by the message in the music and not scared away by the thought of listening to Christian music! Bands like Emery, actively look for venues that are "outside the box" to play at, bars, clubs and mainstream music festivals like Vans Warped Tour, just as Jesus reached out to those around him, tax collectors, lepers, drunks, the demon possessed and harlots, anyone in need!

So it just goes to show, you can't always judge a rocker by their appearance or the type of music they play! They might just be ROCKIN' FOR The Lord!

[rickyz]

So true! All the awful things I put myself through in my rebellious days, were the exact things that made me realize I needed a Savior. I wasn't thankful for them at the time but I'm sure thankful for them now. God used them for His glory and is still using them now. Thank You Jesus!!

[rickyz]

Not all storms come to disrupt your life.
Some storms are there to clear your path.
   

[rickyz]

"What I have in Christ is greater than anything I don't have in life."

[rickyz]

My bad

[Tom Johns]

"If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. If you want to hear God speak audibly, read your Bible out loud."

— Justin Peters

[Tom Johns]

"God has a purpose behind every problem. He uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact, He depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than He depends on the Bible."
                           -Rick Warren

.

To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

2 Peter 2:1-3

Brother, I think that is a dangerous perspective. I have many friends who have turned away from the faith because they went by experiences over the Word of God... Jesus prayed "Sanctify them by YOUR WORD... Your Word is TRUTH... Rick Warren has proven to be a false teacher and a false prophet over the years... be careful of people like him.

[rickyz]

I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up.

[rickyz]

Saved by grace.

[rickyz]

"For the Word of God is alive and active, Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

[CatieladyB]

I have to agree with tom, I haven't heard anything about this Rick Warren, but I have heard of others not using the Bible in their preaching.

[CatieladyB]

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Are there really such things as False Prophets or false teachers, out there in the world today? I hadn't really given it much thought until recently, when I received an email from the Barnes and Nobel store about some new books by authors I was unfamiliar with. But there was one I thought I had heard of before, Joel Osteen. I didn't know anything about him except that I had seen him speaking on T.V. a few times and I was wondering if he was a Christian preacher or what. So on a whim, I Googled him and found some unsettling stuff, one article was titled "Is Joel Osteen a False Prophet" and another was "Why I Called Out Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer".

In the Bible there are many warnings of False Prophets, in Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus says this "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions."

1Timothy 6:5 tells us "These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth, to them a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy." And in Galatians 1:6&7 we are told "I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ."

In Romans 16:17&18 we read "I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people." And Colossians 2:8 where we read "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

As I read through these articles I was greatly disturbed by the allegations, I had seen Joyce Meyer on T.V. before, but never really took the time to listen to what she was preaching. She and Osteen never seemed to be presenting the Gospel in a fashion that drew me in and made me want to watch and listen, actually it never really appeared like they presented it at all!

I had grown up in the Protestant and Methodist churches which never seemed to preach from the Bible and I didn't really learn a whole lot until I found the Bible preaching church I now attend. I find that I am more drawn to speakers who quote the bible and go into detailed explanations, than those who use vague theology as a means of justifying their teachings, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses tend to do.

So as I began reading these articles, I became concerned, I had never heard of the Prosperity Gospel or the Word of Faith movement before and knew nothing about either. I believe Joyce Meyer is a proponent of Word of Faith and Joel Osteen is pushing the Prosperity Gospel.

In the article about Osteen I learned that Joel had not been called by the Spirit or even God, to preach the Good News Gospel, but had been appointed by his mother when his father died some years after establishing the Lakewood Church near Houston Texas. So he was thrown into the position of heading a Charismatic mega church after being the media producer behind The John Osteen TV program whose television outreach had gone to a global market. With no Bible College or Seminary training he became a motivational speaker and author, after taking over for his father. He is very vague in his doctrine and doesn't seem to use the bible as his source of inspiration or for facts, basically saying people can believe whatever they want, but can get wealth, good health and fame from God by working hard and donating to his church. So what once was a church based on relatively sound Bible doctrine became a source of wealth instead of a church founded on Biblical truth reaching out to a lost and hurting world!

What I found out about Joyce Meyers was equally troubling, not only does she live an extravagant lifestyle, spending millions on 5 homes for herself and her children along with a personal jet and expensive cars, all with the money earned from speaking engagements, books sales, and the donations to her ministry; but she preaches a false doctrine called Word of Faith. Although she seems to have had some formal training in ministry at Life Christian University in Florida (which is an unaccredited institution) and has been given an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by Oral Roberts University which is an accredited institution, her teachings do not follow biblical theology.

Her teachings border on science fiction, one such teaching, is that when Christ died on the cross, He went to Hell and became the devil. Yes, we all can agree He went through Hell on the cross, one can't even imagine the pain and suffering He took on for us, but nowhere in the Bible does it say He went from being God to being the devil, then back to being God again! In 1 Peter 3:18-22, it does tell us that Christ suffered physical death, but was raised to life in the Spirit and went to preach to the spirits in prison who had disobeyed God long ago when He caused the terrible flood, before ascending to Heaven to sit in the place of honor next to God. Those people who died before Christ came to earth are often referred to as being asleep, but will rise along with everyone else on the day of Christ's return to be judged.

Then there is her bold statement that she is in no way, shape or form, a sinner! When the Bible clearly says in Romans 3:22-24 "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

She also preaches that we are "little gods" and if we put our minds to it, we can speak things into existence, such as good health or wealth, the Bible does tell us that we were created in the image of God, but nowhere does it say we have the power to "speak" things into reality just as God did when he created the world! She further insists that one must be careful of what they confess, because the wrong confession is a confession of defeat and failure, which will bring on defeat and failure. Confessing sickness or lack of finances will actually bring them on, you could lose your blessings from God if you make the wrong confession. The truth is, the only thing God requires from us is Faith in Christ and repentance of our sins along with trying to do what is right in the eyes of God.

There are many charismatic speakers, teachers and those that call themselves preachers out there in the world today, unfortunately too many are not out there presenting the truth of the Gospel, but seeking wealth and fame! It's a really scary thought that Oprah Winfrey has gone from being a talk show host, with some strange takes on things, to a "Christian" with even stranger preaching! But what is she preaching? It's not the Gospel, so just what is it? Apparently it's a religion based on the song by John Lennon titled "Imagine" with the following lyrics:


Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

There is a huge movement towards a one world religion where all spiritual paths are equally valid (except if you believe in Jesus Christ of course), and Oprah is right in the forefront of that movement. She is basically saying there is no God, no Christ and we are all masters of our own fate! Actually I think she is into Star Wars big time, because she claims to believe in "the FORCE"!

These are just a few of the many False Prophets and teachers out in the world today. We need to be careful and not let ourselves be led astray by "wolves in sheep's clothing"! Open your eyes and take a good look around the world today! Where is the truth? So far I personally have found the Truth of God's word in the Bible!

[Tom Johns]

I was born and raised in the word of faith/prosperity gospel movement. I spent half of my life in it. God opened my eyes and I got out of that mess and now that I am outside of the fire, I can easily see through all the smoke.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV

[rickyz]

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.   2 Timothy 3:16-17