The Informed Evangelist

Ambition

2011-11-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

The Evil of Selfish Ambition
By Jon Speed

“Christianity is not a means for someone to find his own glory. Christianity is a means for one’s glory to be extinguished.” Martin Luther

I struggle with selfish ambition. There. I’ve said it.

Why is it so hard to admit this? Clearly, it is sin. But it’s the sin that is culturally acceptable in American Christianity. We admire this in our leaders and we encourage it with our children. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal to say so, but it is.

It is sin. It is rebellion against a holy God. My conscience knows it is true. My biggest problem is me.

Like any sin, I want to justify it. “I’m just trying to do my best for the Kingdom of God.” “I’m just trying to encourage others to be more evangelistic.” “It’s all about souls; I care about people’s eternity.” “I’m bold.” “I’m doing what Jesus did.”

Nah. That’s a bunch of baloney.

The truth is, there are times when I am more interested in building my reputation and my ministry than I am about building the Kingdom of God. I want people to know who I am and what a wonderful gift I am to the Church. Seriously. That’s closer to the truth.

Recently I read about one of the master manipulators of Biblical history; King David’s son, Absalom. Take a look at 2 Samuel 15:1-6 to get the low down on Absalom. Here we have the characteristics outlined of the sin of manipulation for the purpose of self promotion.

Warning Signs

• Appearance trumps reality.

Someone who is a manipulator is someone who makes things appear to be more than they are. Truth in reporting is not what they do. Absalom is all about keeping up appearances. In verse 1, he gathers together chariots and horses and fifty men to run in front of him as he approaches the place where business was conducted in ancient Israel: the city gate. In other words, he organizes a parade for himself. He wants to be a big shot where the city elders make decisions and people congregate. It’s not likely that any of these men were from David’s court, but people probably thought that they were. This was by design.

There are a lot of ways to make things appear to be greater than they are. You don’t need your own Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to do it. In the world of Youtube, and on websites, if you are creative you can make your ministry look impressive. But who are you trying to impress? And why? Answer those questions honestly and you’ll learn a lot about yourself. If we are really doing what we do for an audience of One, then why does anyone else need to know about it?

I understand that there are benefits for sharing testimonies of what the Lord has done on the streets. There is a place for it, as long as it is done in humility. There are practical reasons to share what the Lord is doing in ministry. For example, our ministry has financial supporters, and they want to know that we’re not living in semi-retirement under the guise of doing evangelism.

But there are things that we do that no one needs to know about. There ought to be things that we do, outreaches that we plan, that are simply for the Lord Jesus and no one else. I think this is a good safeguard over our hearts, which will keep our motivations pure on the advertised outreaches.

• Beware the man who always tells you what you want to hear.

As Tonto once said, “White man speak with forked tongue.” Absalom certainly did. Here people came from all around to speak to the official representatives of King David about their issues. Absalom makes a point to bring his parade to the gate and then intercept those who traveled to the gate. When he did, he feigned interest in each person. “Where are you from? What is your problem?” No matter what they said, his answer was always the same, “You have a serious issue! You’re right to be concerned!” He probably nodded his head as he talked, narrowed his eyebrows and showed his concern. Absalom is a salesman.

It is at this point that Absalom sows the seed of doubt in his own father’s leadership. Check out verse four: “Oh, that I were made judge in the land, that every man who hath any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice.” Don’t miss this. Absalom is under the impression that he, by himself, has enough wisdom to answer every problem in the entire Kingdom! Absalom is full of himself.

Matthew Henry points out, “We read not of Absalom’s wisdom, virtue, or learning in the laws, nor had he given any proofs of his love to justice, but the contrary; yet he wishes to judge.” There is not a shred of evidence that Absalom has any experience in these matters at all. All he really wants is power.

Mark the pattern well. The effort to win over the masses by being everyone’s friend is always followed by a power play. It was not Absalom’s goal to make friends for friendship’s sake. Worse, Absalom is not content to live life under his father. It is not enough for him to live the life of royalty amongst the people of God. He is not content unless he is running the show, unless he is the big kahuna.

[There’s much more to say here, but stop for a moment. As John Piper has reminded us, we are content with far too little. Sometimes, I feel like I won’t be content unless our ministry is well funded or well known. This is treason. It is blasphemy. I should not be content unless I am resting in the presence of Christ. “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” (Psalm 73:25).]

Folks, it is easy to get people to like you. Just tell them what they want to hear. Once you have the support of a lot of people, you can make a power play. Power plays come in a variety of forms, but in the eyes of God they are always ugly. The motivation is not political power on the scale of a king, but it is still political. If we get to be respected enough, we may receive an all expenses paid outreach opportunity, get invited to speak with other big name preachers at a conference, or garner financial support so we can become full time evangelists, or get some evangelistic celebrities cell phone numbers on our speed dial.

None of these things are wrong by themselves; what is wrong is using the arm of flesh to gain these advantages rather than the calling of God. Absalom did not have that call. In fact, the Bible tells us exactly what his calling was: to be a judgment on David for his sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:10-11). What if some of the angling for position in the evangelism community is a judgment upon it?

• Beware of false humility.

Humility is a virtue in all Christian circles. It is especially rare in ministry. Yet we all know we ought to be humble. Even the most arrogant know that they ought to be humble.

Have you ever wondered why it is that false teachers gain a following? Sometimes their bad doctrine is so obvious it’s embarrassing. One reason they gain followers is because they have a show of false humility. You can almost see the horns growing out of their heads, yet some act as if they are the second coming of the apostles. Why? Somewhere along the line their followers fell for a show of false humility.

Absalom lays it on thick. In verse 5, people came bowing before him because of his position as the king’s son, as well as the success of Absalom’s PR. What does he do? “No, no, don’t bow before me. I am just a man. Stand up, my friend.” He treats everyone as an equal and greets them with a kiss. Did Absalom really think he was no better than any man? Absolutely not. When you are gunning for the highest position in the land by means of deceit you’re not exactly looking to serve others. In the Kingdom of God, the one who leads is the one who serves.

And that’s the giveaway, isn’t it? There is no real service going on here. Absalom wants to lead by talking his way into leadership. He almost pulled it off: his PR campaign worked. Verse six reports that he “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”

Analogy

What Absalom has done here is take the tools at his disposal in order to become king--his position, wealth, and charm—and used them to imitate a calling of God. He did not get a call from God but he wanted one. So he took matters into his own hands and tried to “build” a calling.

Many people want to be called into ministry and are not. Therefore, they try to “build” a ministry and hope that God will bless their efforts. They hope to convince God that He is wrong to have neglected them by building something in the flesh that will impress Him.

In literature there is a story of a man who dropped out of medical school but who wanted to do something great in the history of science. He wanted to create life. In essence, he wanted to play God. So he gathered all of the necessary parts: arms, legs, internal organs, feet, hands, and a brain. He put them all together and on that table of death he had something that resembled a man. But it was not a man. It was still a corpse. He did not have the breath of life in him.

Dr. Frankenstein wanted to animate the corpse with real life, but he wanted to do it without God. So he strapped that corpse on a table, hooked it up to some wires and chemicals, and zapped it. He created life of a sort, but the monster had no life. It was a walking, breathing, and even a talking contradiction. It looked like a man, but was not a man. Listen to what Frankenstein’s monster said:

“I was endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of
the same nature as a man…When I looked around I saw and heard of none like
me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and
whom all men disowned?”

This realization sends the monster into a rage against his creator and mankind. Dr. Frankenstein intended to do something that would bless the world, but God’s blessing was not upon it. His invention became a curse to himself and his friends. Too late, Frankenstein admits his mistake:

“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is
the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes
his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his
nature will allow.”

It doesn’t take much to build a ministry these days; less than ever before. If you have a computer, an internet connection, a credit card, some additional funding, Absalomesque ambition and the ability to go out on the streets and pass out pieces of paper; voila, you have a ministry. Put the ingredients together, zap it with the electronic glow of a computer screen and you are “official.”

Why do we do this? Somehow there may be a desire within us that aspires to become greater than what God has called us to be. Or, as Stephen Charnock once said, “The most forlorn beggar has sometimes thought vast enough to grasp an empire.”

The Cure

Please don’t get me wrong. There are people who are supposed to be doing full time ministry. If you are called to it, be bold and passionate about your calling. Pursue it with every ounce of energy you have!

But if you are not called, shut down your ministry. I’m not saying “stop evangelizing.” I am saying, shut down your ministry. There is a world of difference between the two. As God said to Jeremiah, “Do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.” Be content to serve as a Christian in your local church. Share the gospel without anyone ever knowing you have done it. Labor in obscurity. Bury yourself in your family, in your church, and on the streets of your community. Bury yourself in prayer, fasting, reading the Word and study. Serve your employer as if you were serving Christ Himself. Find your joy in Christ! If you are not called to ministry, but you faithfully serve Christ, you will hear those cherished words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into thy rest.”

If you are not called and you persist in “ministry”, beware of the damage that your monster can do to the Body of Christ. The corpses of the disillusioned, the apostate, the burnt-out, and those who have lost their families litter the “harvest fields” of evangelism.

I know many people who don’t think that establishing your calling is important. After all, we are all called to share the gospel, right? Keep in mind I’m not talking about sharing the gospel. I’m talking about full time ministry. Calling mattered to the Apostle Paul. He did not go out on his first missionary journey without the recognition of his calling being affirmed by the local church in Antioch (Acts 13:1-4). His internal call was confirmed by the external call witnessed of the leadership of the church in Antioch

If you ARE called to ministry, the best cure for manipulation is contentment. Someone who is content does not manipulate. If you struggle with this, I highly recommend Jeremiah Burroughs’ classic, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. The book is readable, saturated with Scripture, and will change your life.

Another big issue is humility. Study what the Scriptures say about humility. Recently a dear friend recommended the book Humility by C.J. Mahaney (probably because he knows me well enough to know that I needed it). It is a short book, but it will convict you of your pride. In addition to your study of the Scriptures, this book will help you apply what you learn.

Finally, if you are called to ministry and walking with Christ in humility and contentment, beware of those who are not. Modern day Absalom’s surround you. More likely than not, they are slapping your back and selling you on their personality. Your job is not necessarily to expose them (unless they are heretics or in blatant unrepentant sin), but you must avoid them and their deceptive tactics. Read the rest of the story of Absalom. God has a way of catching up with Absalom’s. You should run from them. Keep your distance. When God sends Joab along to deal with them, you don’t want to be anywhere in sight.

Watch the Award Winning 180 Movie Here!

2011-09-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Easter Week, Part Two

2011-03-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

Here are the speaker's bios for the week. Please join us!

Easter Week: The Glories of Propitiation

2011-03-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

Please plan on joining us for our Easter Week services at FBC Briar.

Speakers include Pastor Randall Easter, Dr. Tim Presson, Mack Tomlinson, Emilio Ramos, Jonathan Murdock and Jon Speed.

Speakers bios to come soon...

"Church Planter: The Man, The Message, The Mission" by Darrin Patrick: A Review

2010-11-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Lord has been leading me and my family into the ministry of church planting over the past year to a year and a half. The plan is pretty well established; once we sell our home here near Fort Worth, TX we will move to Syracuse, NY and begin the work of planting a church there. I approach this task with a certain amount of fear (I've never planted a church before) and a great amount of excitement.

In Bible College, I took a class on church planting that was essentially a class on doing a demographic survey. I read a few books on church planting that were disappointing at best. Some did well presenting the mechanics of incorporating a church legally while most focus on Christianized PR. Almost all of them virtually ignore what is a foremost requirement of a church planter: that he be an evangelist.

Recently, a friend at church bought me a copy of Darrin Patrick's Church Planter: The Man, The Message, The Mission (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010). Many friends who are also planting churches right now recommended that I read this book as well, so I was pleased to get a copy. As the sub-title indicates, the book does not deal with technicalities or trivialities, but it deals with what matters most. This, by itself, was refreshing compared to what I've read elsewhere.

The Man

The strength of this book is the section on "The Man." The chapters in this section are pertinent and perhaps the most overlooked issue when it comes to not only church planting, but pastoral ministry as a whole. The chapter "A Rescued Man" ought to be required reading in every church administration class in Bible college or seminary. It deals with the issue of false conversion amongst pastors. Yes, you read that right. Pastors.

This issue is near to me because that was my story. When I was graciously saved in November 2003, I had been pastoring in churches for about twelve years. I was an adherent to a form of the so-called Free Grace gospel (aka "easy believism") advocated by men such as Charles Ryrie and Zane Hodges. I had the classic definition of saving faith in the doctrinal statement I prepared for my ordination; "Saving faith is intellectual assent to the facts of the gospel." I was deceived.

In 2003 the Lord graciously opened my eyes to my own sin, the necessity of repentance, and the power of Jesus Christ to transform my sin-soaked life by faith in His work and person. Prior to that, I can relate to what Patrick writes about a man in this situation. "The well being of the church (and its pastor) is at stake. Consider what happens to a man who tries to lead or plant a church without first having been rescued from his sins. He will either feel beat up (condemned, insecure, and inadequate) or blown up (puffed up and proud), depending on whether the church is declining or growing" (23-24).

I am convinced that my story is not unique. I have met and counseled men in ministry who have become convinced by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that they are not saved and need Jesus. What was true in George Whitefield's day is true today: the bane of the Christian church is an unconverted ministry.

Patrick's chapters on calling, qualification, dependence, skill, shepherding and determination are likewise helpful for the most part. I did find that the chapter on qualifications was a bit weak; there are better works out there that do a better job of getting to the meaning of the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 (Strauch's Biblical Eldership being one of them). His position on some of the qualifications is minimalist at best. For example, much more can be said about "not quarrelsome" than the short chapter Patrick gives us on page 52. And frankly, his definition and application of "hospitable" are both absurd. After defining it as, "He loves strangers. He is not cliquish", he goes on to cite the story of a pastor in Atlanta who decided to work for a gay bar in order to relate and eventually got the owner to agree to host his church plant there. In a classic case of pragmatism and "ends justifying the means" philosophy, the pastor points out that the owner made a profession of faith and now is looking to open other gay bars in Atlanta so that more churches can be planted. Seriously. I am not making this up.

The qualification has to do with the hospitality of the elder and NOT his willingness to engage strangers with the gospel. Certainly that plays a role in hospitality when opening one's home, but it is in no way the whole idea. If the man can engage strangers with the gospel but does not open his home to the church or even to the lost, he is not qualified.

The story begs the question, "What does repentance and holiness look like?" Wouldn't her repentance include a hatred of the sin that had her enslaved? Wouldn't holiness include separating from a lifestyle that promotes hatred of God and the flesh? I'm not talking about fundamentalist legalistic standards here; just basic repentance and Biblical holiness.

I find this to be an area of concern with the whole Acts 29 movement, of which Patrick is a part. In an effort to contextualize the gospel it seems as if the leaders of this movement do not expect any great transformation in the lives of those the gospel reaches. This is ironic since Patrick's conviction on false conversion amongst pastors does not seem to reach the pew in his citing of this story.

The Message

Patrick does an excellent job writing on the pre-eminence of the gospel and the person of Christ in this section. The gospel is a historical, salvation-accomplishing, Christ-centered, sin-exposing, and idol-shattering message. I especially enjoyed the chapters on the Christ-centered and idol-shattering nature of the gospel since these are things the Lord is teaching me about as a Biblical evangelist. The gospel is not the Law of God, it is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel ought to be continually revealing to us as Christian church planters, pastors and evangelists that we have a default worship position and we often settle for far less than God in that worship. We worship hobbies, status, comfort, pleasure, and on and on. The gospel continually reveals this in us and as we grow in grace, we realize that we are truly worse than we first imagined when we came to repentance and faith. We are brought continually back to the Cross and live daily in its shadow.

Patrick's presentation of the message is no reductionist formulaic approach to the gospel. It is broad and it is deep. However this is all the more disconcerting considering the Atlantan pastor\gay bar incident cited earlier. There is a radical disconnect within the Acts 29 movement; their soteriology (doctrine of salvation) does not inform their methodology. I am grateful for the "young, Reformed and restless" that the Acts 29 movement represents. At some point, the movement must recognize that it cannot have the doctrine of the Puritans without having their holiness.

The Mission

The mission of the gospel is covered in chapters on the heart of mission (compassion), the house of mission (the church), the how of mission (contextualization), the hands of mission (care), and the hope of mission (city transformation). This section displays the major inconsistencies of the Acts 29 movement in bold relief. Yes, there is much food for thought here that will be helpful to the church planter who is looking to make an impact in an urban setting. It is an idea inspiring section. However, I contend that the issue of contextualization diminishes the value of this entire section.

Patrick cites Tim Keller at length here. Keller defines contextualization as, "...not giving people what they want, but rather it is giving God's answers (which they may not want!) to questions they are asking in forms that they can comprehend" (195, emphasis mine). Patrick rightly points out that this concept of contextualization originated with the writing of missiologists in the 1980's. The discussion at that time had a lot to do with "dynamic equivalents". If you find a concept in Scripture that is difficult to translate into the culture (e.g. "white as snow" in an equatorial climate that does not see snow), it was proposed that it was okay to translate verses using a substitute that the culture could understand. Now, in the early 21st century, church planting experts are postulating that in a post-modern culture, we need to do similar things with the gospel in order to help the gospel make sense.

In the 1980's this was a hotly debated issue when it came to application to animistic tribes, but it's not debated so much today amongst the young, Reformed and restless. It should be.

In the definitions of contextualization that are bandied about, where is there any allowance given for the doctrine of regeneration, as well as the allied doctrine of total depravity? The Reformers have taught rightly that man is totally depraved (Rom. 1-3). He is in fact "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1-3). The situation is so bad that those who are in such a state cannot understand the truths of the gospel (1 Cor. 2:14).

So what is the Scriptural answer to this dilemma? Does the Word of God teach that the gospel and\or the church must be adjusted or communicated in a culturally relevant way in order for there to be a conversion? No. This is where regeneration comes in. The Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23-25) empowered by the Spirit of God (Jn. 3:5-8) causes spiritually dead people to be born again.

Patrick (as well as the other Acts 29 leaders) ignore this crucial doctrine when it comes to their view of evangelism. Based on the examples cited of successful contextualization, it is clear that the gospel is viewed (in practice) as being the last thing rather than the main thing. Prove your value to the community and then slip the gospel in at the end. The only problem is that this methodology is unbiblical. Jesus and the apostles always made the gospel the front and center issue. Friendships flowed out of a confrontation with the culture, not an assimilation with it. Zaccheus met Jesus in the context of His public ministry. Matthew was converted as a result of Christ's public ministry of proclamation.

Patrick's position, knowingly or unknowingly, is that the process of regeneration needs our help. We must present the message in a form they can comprehend. But what do you do when the Scriptures plainly state that they cannot comprehend it? The answer is much simpler and may not sell a lot of books: proclaim the Word of God (Rom. 10:14-17). It has the power to decimate the philosophies of those who oppose the gospel and it has the power to regenerate.

This is the correct message of 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (contra Patrick's interpretation on page 199-200). This passage reveals that the message of the Cross is counter-cultural and cannot be reconciled to the culture. The message of the gospel removes the philosophers from the radar screen (1:20). The larger context which extends to the end of chapter three reveals that the wisdom of God is utter foolishness (not worthy of consideration) by the world. It is the message itself that does this, not Paul's desire to be "all things to all people". Paul did this last thing out of love for the lost, not a desire to help the gospel or the process of regeneration.

Conclusion:

There are many redeeming elements to Patrick's work. We don't have to agree with everything in a book in order to find some value in it. But the fact remains that the primer of Reformed church planting in the 21st century has not yet been written. When it is, it will recognize the role of regeneration in the work of church planting and will emphasize a biblical approach to evangelism. It will follow Patrick's example and critique the immaturity of men in our culture, but will not slip into that same immaturity with locker room discussions of vasectomies. It will not be littered with citations of questionable (at best) authors and church growth gurus, mixed together with men such as Jonathan Edwards and Richard Baxter. Such writing is not relevant; it is simply inconsistent.

Witnessing to Mormons

2010-01-29T10:52:00.000-08:00

I've been asked a few times about witnessing to Mormons. Here's some guidelines from a conversation that happened last night.

Introductory Points:

1. Don't come across as the heavy right off of the bat. The way I do this is invite them in, act as if I'm glad to see them (it's not an act; I love it when they come) and ask questions about them. Where are they from, how long have they been on their mission (it's a 2 year stint), and, "What's the craziest thing that's happened on your mission so far?" Here in TX they usually have some stories.

2. It helps a lot if you can honestly say you're a student of Mormonism from the historical perspective. I used to live in New York State, not all that far from Palmyra, where Smith claimed to find the golden tablets. I've also been to Susquehanna PA and stood on the spot where Smith claims to have had a visit from John the Baptist. ... See More

As a book dealer, I studied Mormonism from a historical perspective, reading both pro and con material so I could learn who the main people were in case I stumbled across Mormon documents or signed books at auction in Western NY. I have about 12 shelf feet of books on Mormonism, some rare, that I use to read up on it and am always buying more.

You don't need to do all of this to gain credibility, but if you can read enough to have an intelligent conversation with them about Smith, the persecutions the early Mormons faced as they were chased from town to town, you gain respect. Some books I'd recommend on this: Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows My History" (considered anti-Mormon, but she was a Mormon when she wrote it and then was booted out of the church), Leonard Arrington's "Brigham Young; The American Moses" (pro-Mormon, but fairly balanced), and for a fair treatment of Mountain Meadow's Massacre, Juanita Brooks' work (also pro-Mormon, but Brooks was an excellent historian and was often suspected of being a "Jack-Mormon" but was not).

Since I still sell used\rare books, this is an easy transition because I usually have them sit on the couch in the living room that has floor to ceiling bookshelves with theology and biblical studies titles. They usually ask about them and it opens the door.

Another point that I usually try to make here is that I respect their history, that it is fascinating (it really is, apart from the doctrinal baloney) and that I respect their tenacity and their missionary emphasis (I do...you couldn't get all of the college age kids in one evangelical church to do a two year mission knocking on doors 8 hours a day, much less the thousands they have doing it every day). This is important because when I have to talk about Hell, judgment, the Law, etc., later in the conversation I always preface it with, "I'm not trying to persecute you. I'm simply sharing with you the differences between LDS doctrine and evangelical.

The Presentation:

Once I've done all of this, they do their presentation. These days they ask the person they talk to if they would like to pray and I do, asking the Lord to be glorified in our discussion of truth, that He would open eyes to the truth, etc. I let them do their thing, praying that the Lord would protect me from false doctrine as they are sharing. (BTW, I always make sure my kids and wife are in another room. Their doctrine is dangerous and their presentation is very manipulative and emotionally driven.)

Differences:

When I get the opportunity, I ask them, "What do you think the main difference is between Mormonism and evangelical Christianity?" Here's a list of what I cover:

1. The main one: who is God? Evangelicals say He is eternal God and is Spirit. Their god became a god through obedience, was once a man, and has a physical body. They usually point out that they do not believe in the Trinity. I say that A.W. Tozer said that the most important thing about you is what you believe about God. Then I point out 1 Cor. 6:9-10 and say, "Someone in this room is an idolater. It's either you or me. This is important because whoever it is, they are not going to inherit the Kingdom of God."

2. This brings us to the issue of what is the source of truth. For Mormons, it is the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. It is also their "testimony" that Joseph Smith's vision was legit, the "burning in the bosom" that they experienced when they first heard of the vision or read the BoM.

What I try to deal with here is the idea that: 1) their subjective experience has to be evaluated by an absolute authority: The Word of God. I mention 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3. 2) The Bible and the LDS doctrine disagree and that is why I go with the Bible. I focus on the doctrine of God here, pointing out Mal. 3:16 about His immutability, Jn. 4:23-24 about His being Spirit (not flesh), etc. This is where I like to use the Commandments to bring knowledge of sin (usually in testimonial form, because now they are trained to deal with Way of the Master people and will gladly admit they are liars, thieves, adulterers at heart...when WoTM was new, they didn't do this). Then I say, "What you all teach is that a lying thieving, adulterous blasphemer can become god. The Bible says He is holy and has always been holy. Big difference."

Then I bring up an example from evangelical Christianity of the foolishness of using subjective experience as a guide for divine revelation. Todd Bentley. Here's a guy who claims he saw angels, had visions and heard from God. He kicked old ladies in the head and punched people in the gut to heal them, saying God told him to do it. I say, "Look, by your standard, I have no basis to say that he's wrong." They will usually say one of two things: 1) you know them by their fruits and 2) you check what they say against the Bible. (Bingo.) The truth is that Bentley did cheat on his wife and was disgraced and that it did NOT add up Scripturally.

I don't go near the moral issues with Joseph Smith here because they are ready for you on that one. I do focus on the Scriptural contradictions. A basic one that really reveals that THEY don't even agree with their own BoM is to ask them, "Where was Jesus born?" They say, "Bethlehem". Correct. But their book claims He was born in Jerusalem (Alma 7:10). Simple stuff, but it's so blatant that it rocks their world. (Josh Williamson taught me this one.)

3. They have a Scripture that says "We're saved by grace after all we can do." This is works righteousness. So I spend some time here on justification by faith alone, esp. 2 Cor. 5:21, but also Is. 64:6 and Rom. 5. This is where I spend most of my time.

4. I also talk about the Deity of Christ here (Jn. 1) and His perfect fulfillment of the Law. Also go to Hebrews 9-10 and point out that He is the fulfillment of the OT sacrificial system, priesthood, tabernacle\temple, etc. If He is the fulfillment, why do you need a temple?

5. After this I try to deal with false converts in Christian churches. They have Eph. 2:8-9 quoted to them all day. They see the Bible belt phonies here in TX and think the sinner's prayer is a joke. I agree with them. Point out Eph. 2:10 and the proper relationship of works. They are the RESULT of justification, not its CAUSE. You have to repeat this because they will agree with you and then turn around and repeat their mantra about doing all we can do.

You have to emphasize that the changed life of a believer is the result of being impacted by eternal God and His righteousness. I like to use Paul Washer's analogy of the logging truck: if I told you I was hit by an 18 wheeler logging truck five minutes ago, you'd expect to see evidence (like a grill imprinted across my forehead). When you encounter the holiness of God, His righteous demands, the person and work of Christ, it is a life changing deal (2 Cor. 5:17). Then I talk about hypocrites and what Jesus said in Matt. 7:21-23.

6. At the end of the conversation I tell them that when I invited them in, I had an agenda. I believe in Hell (Rev. 20:11-15) and I care about them. I owe it to them to tell them the truth if I think they are deceived. At least, if I really believe in Hell and that our gospel is different. I am careful to tell them I have the same concern for many evangelicals (this takes the persecution syndrome out of the equation).

There's more I could write on this, but these are the basics. I hope they're helpful. I find that this approach keeps the focus on the Gospel while dispelling a lot of the stuff they are trained to deal with. At least for the time being.

Sermon Index Revival Conference Live Feed

2009-10-29T04:53:00.000-07:00

You can watch the live feed of the Revival Conferences from Dublin, Ireland (Nov. 13-14) and Wales (Nov. 17-19) here. We'll post the schedule (in their local time) once it becomes available. Featured speakers include Paul Washer, David Legge, Will Graham, Walid Bitar, Alan Bartley, Yorrie Richards, David Guzik, and Dyfrig Griffiths.

Fort Worth Kiss-in: Another Perspective

2009-10-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we went down to the Fort Worth Kiss In to preach the gospel with a couple of friends from Australia. For the record and speaking only for us, we weren't there to protest. We were there to simply preach the gospel. Why preach at a GLBT protest\event? Because people are there. And the one requirement for open-air preaching is that you preach where people are gathered. It's a simple concept, but worth pointing out since whenever you preach at a GLBT event, you're branded as being a "hater".

One question anyone who watches (and believes) the slanted coverage in the D\FW area should ask themselves is this: "If the evangelical Christians who were there were expressing so much hatred towards homosexuals, then why didn't the TV cameras catch images of screaming Christians yelling "God hates you!"? They got plenty of film of those of us who were actually preaching. Why didn't the broadcasts air it?

Because there wasn't any. What happened was a beautiful thing. Christians from across Fort Worth came to take a stand for morality while expressing genuine love to the homosexual community. The whole gospel was preached. At the end of the day, members of the Missionary Baptist Church that were there sang Amazing Grace while two lesbians stood in the middle of the circle vying for a photo opportunity. If they felt so much hatred, as one of them professed on TV, then why did she do her best to stand in the middle of a group of Christians?

When I first started preaching, I didn't even mention the sin of homosexuality. I did preach about lying, stealing, blasphemy, lust\adultery, but didn't touch the issue of the moment. This drove a couple of the homosexual hecklers batty. It was as if they would have preferred that I preach against homosexuality and screamed hatred. But because I was preaching the love of God for sinners as expressed at the Cross, they were disappointed. Even the news crews seemed disappointed because they left when it became apparent I wasn't going to sound like Westboro Baptist or any of the other sandwich board wearers.

The best Channel 11 could do was get a clip of me responding to a man who asked, "Did you say that unless I repent I will perish?" to which I respectfully and calmly said, "That is what the Bible says, sir."

Since this was the text of Jesus' first sermon, I guess I was in pretty safe company.

Some Christians will read this and say, "But how effective was this?" In our present day pragmatic evangelical malaise, this is the big question. Did it work?

A friend of mine who was at the event reports that one of the GLBT demonstrators came across the street to speak to her and the pastor of the Missionary Baptist Church. I saw them chatting as I left. She reports that this young man said that he wanted to leave the homosexual life and prayed to repent and trust Christ there on the spot.

Whether or not homosexuals get the right to marry (they probably will), can express public displays of affection (they do), or get the same benefits as married couples really does not matter as much as the salvation of one soul. Jesus said that there is great rejoicing in Heaven over the one sinner who repents. Praise God that He still uses His Word and the foolishness of preaching to save sinners.

Weeping over the State of Evangelism

2009-10-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

When Sport becomes a god

2009-09-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

This article will appear in an upcoming edition of The Justin Texan:

Football season is in full swing. This means that high school, college and NFL teams are doing battle on the gridiron and fans are buying tickets, merchandise, paying for special packages on their cable and satellite services to see more games, and starting fantasy football leagues. Athletes are training, some are taking steroids, and parents are carting their first graders to football fields to don pads and helmets and learning how to crash into each other like miniature torpedoes.

I like football. I watch it now and then. I’m originally from Buffalo, NY and used to go to a few Buffalo Bills games a year. I’ve been to a few playoff games in sub-zero weather. I’ve even been to a home opener here in Dallas (which is tough for a die-hard Bills fan) when we got tickets for chump change. I used to be involved in a couple of fantasy leagues and even won a league once.

Here’s my question for myself and everyone else who likes football: at what point does our enjoyment of the game become idolatry? When do we cross the line from healthy enjoyment to outright obsession? Is it when we skip church to go to a game? When we pay more money for merchandise or football equipment than we give to a local church? When we care more about not missing a practice than whether or not our friends know Christ? When you know your team’s playbook better than you know the Bible? Where is that line?

I’ll leave the specific answer to that question to everyone who names the name of Christ and is involved with sport. But generally speaking, theologians agree that idolatry happens whenever something or someone becomes more important than God Himself. I think it’s safe to say that comparing the time, money, and energy we give to the Lord (lit. “Master”) and sport would be a good place to start.

Why do we do this? Why are we content with so little? We find more joy in watching a millionaire run across a chalk line carrying the skin of a pig than we do in the one, true living God! Isn’t there something wrong with this picture? We care more whether our kids, whose ages are measured in single digits, can hit, shoot a gap, throw a ball and make a play than we care whether they know Christ! We’d gladly trade their soul for a Super Bowl ring! “Dereliction of duty” does not begin to describe the father who would settle for such a trade. It’s spiritual child abuse.

Even while you are reading this, if you’ve read this far and not tossed this paper out in a fit of rage, you are accusing me of taking my Christianity too far. Oh really? How far are we supposed to take it? I seem to recall something about Jesus saying that if anyone wanted to come after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him! In other words, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “He bids us come and die.” Pretty extreme, I know, but I don’t write the mail, I just deliver it.

What really mystifies me is that professing Christians idolize a false god. Could it be due to the fact that they can “see” football, games, sport and can’t physically see the living God that they claim to love, serve and adore? Augustine was once approached by a heathen who showed him his idol and said, “Here is my god. Where is yours?” Augustine replied, “I cannot show you my God; not because there is no God to show but because you have no eyes to see Him.”

Do you have eyes to see Him? Or are you blind to the beauty, the magnificence, the power of this living God that we claim to serve? Are you dazzled with Friday night lights or the glory of God?

Declaration of War

2009-09-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Saints, please watch this and be moved. Life is not a game. It is not designed for your personal comfort or amusement. This is a war.

Texas Revival Series!!!

2009-08-31T06:50:00.000-07:00

Please register today at www.TexasRevivalSeries.com.

The Glory of God

2009-08-28T10:48:00.001-07:00

This article will appear in an upcoming edition of The Justin Texan.

Last time we considered the holiness of God and what that means to us as sinners. He is entirely separate from us and sinless. As such, He is different from us and there is a great gulf fixed between the character of God and the character of man.

Today, we finish this part of our series with a consideration of the glory of God. Just as with the term "holy", "glory" in our vernacular means something much less than what it means with God. We speak of the "glory days" of our youth: victories and accomplishments that we have attained for ourselves or a team. We also talk about the term in the sense of patriotism: a nation being glorious in its ideals and accomplishments. Our flag is even called "Old Glory."

But what is the glory of God? According to Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology (page 220f.), it has two senses: 1) honor or excellent reputation and 2) the bright light which surrounds the presence of God. They are closely tied together because the bright light which surrounds God is symbolic of the excellence of His reputation. In the first sense, the Bible says that God created mankind "for my glory" (Is. 43:7). In the latter sense, the Bible says that He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:15-17).

The honor of God is of infinite more importance than our puny, feeble attempts to exalt ourselves. Whether it is through physical fitness, plastic surgery, cosmetics, clothing, possessions, reputation, job position, ad infinitum; our attempts to exalt ourselves and get others to recognize our importance or worth are ridiculous. Why? Because God is the only One who is worthy of praise. Only His reputation is worthy to be known. As we've already said, all of mankind was created for His glory (not ours) and any time we deviate from that plan to seek after our glory, we sin against a powerful, holy, glorious God.

This is the essence of the first of the Ten Commandments: "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Ex. 20:3). Here in the Bible belt, it's not common to see temples to false gods with altars and incense burning (although there are some). But it is common to see self-made reputations presented as reality to those who might come and worship at our own altars of self promotion. This is as common as pennies in evangelical churches where pastors and other leaders are elevated on pedestals and his public image worshiped. The tragedy is that in places of worship, God is not worshiped, but a carefully crafted public relations image IS.

Whatever this is, it is not Biblical Christianity. A.W. Tozer said, "...everything God does is praiseworthy and deserves our deepest admiration. Whether He is making or redeeming a world, He is perfect in all His doings and glorious in all His goings forth". Friend, is this what your life looks like? Does it continually give praise, credit and glory to God or are you chasing after the applause of men for yourself? Do you deeply admire God and long to make Him appear to be great amongst others or are you living for your own accolades? If you live for yourself, please repent. Give up everything for His glory. He is worthy.

John Wesley on Reading

2009-08-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across this today: a portion of a John Wesley letter to a fellow preacher on the importance of reading. In spite of Wesley's busy schedule, he found time to broaden his thinking with reading.

So much open-air preaching sounds like other preachers. What's the remedy for this? A wide range of reading. We're not open-air parrots, we're open-air preachers.

Here's Wesley's letter, taken from an editorial by J.B. Chapman in The Preacher's Magazine (Vol. 6, No. 1 January 1931). It was written to one John Premboth on August 17, 1760. It's as pertinent today as it was 249 years ago!

"What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear to this day, is want of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety, there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian. O begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not: what is tedious at first, will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a petty, superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether. Then will all children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you in particular."

Who is God?

2009-07-31T11:03:00.001-07:00

This article will appear in the August 11th edition of the Justin Texan.

This installment attempts to briefly deal with an issue that entire libraries have unsuccessfully attempted to address. Who is God? The great writer and pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, A.W. Tozer once wrote, “The most important thing about you is what you think about God.” Considering what the Bible says about the sin of idolatry, it can determine your eternal destiny in Heaven or Hell. Galatians 5:20 teaches that idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you are worshipping a false conception of God, praying to a god who does not exist except as a figment in your own imagination, then your soul is in real danger on the day of judgment. This is why it is so important to get our information about God from the right source: the Bible.

What do we know about Him from the Scriptures? We know that He is Creator. The very first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Genesis 1-2 goes on to explain that He did so by speaking the world into existence in six twenty-four hour days. This creation took no effort on His part. He simply willed light, land, water, plants, and animals to be and they existed! Such power is unimaginable humanly speaking.

But His role as Creator goes even further. His is a universe-sustaining power. Colossians 1:18 states that in Christ all things consist (by the way, Jesus is God). In other words, the only reason this universe holds together, why atoms hold together, is because the Lord Himself holds it all together. Some Bible scholars believe that when these heavens and earth are recreated, the present ones will “dissolve in fervent heat” (2 Pet. 2:10) simply because the Lord will remove His presence from the elements!

Even more astonishing, this sustaining power extends to your very physical life. Acts 17:25 and 28 reveal that God gives life and breath to all things. It says that in Him we live and move and have our being! The only reason your heart beats today, the only reason why your lungs draw breath, the only reason your brain emits waves is because God allows it in His good pleasure. No wonder the writer of Hebrews wrote that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God (Heb. 10:31). Know it or not, you have already fallen into His hands.

In His mercy, He gives you what you do not deserve: life. The Bible says that the soul that sins shall die (Ezek. 18:4). How many sins have you committed in your life? How many lies have you told? How many times have you loved yourself more than God? How many times have you had a lustful thought? How many times have you blasphemed this God who created the universe, sustains it, and holds your life in His hands? Yet, you live! Why? Simply because God is rich in mercy and has given you an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel.

My friends and neighbors, you can have peace with this great and mighty God. That peace comes only through what Christ has done. God in the flesh, this God-man, offered Himself up as a sacrifice on the behalf of sinners. He took on Himself the sins of all those who are His so that you could be declared right before God (2 Cor. 5:21). Turn from your sins and cast yourself on the mercy of Christ. For more, please visit http://www.yougotourtract.com/.

Jon Speed is co-founder of The Lost Cause Ministries, an evangelism ministry based here in Justin, TX. He is a member of First Baptist Church of Briar. He can be reached at jon@lostcauseministries.com.

The Second Most Controversial Question

2009-06-29T06:34:00.001-07:00

This column is slated to run in the July 7th edition of The Justin Texan.

Last time I wrote about the most controversial question in the Bible belt: “What is the gospel?” Today I would like to write about the second most controversial question: “What effect should the gospel have on our lives?”

On the surface of it, this does not seem like a controversial question at all. People expect some kind of effect from religious beliefs. If nothing else, it affects one’s weekly schedule. In other words, adherents attend religious services at places of worship. Muslims go to mosques, Buddhists go to temples, Jews attend synagogue and Christians go to church. In some cases, it affects their daily schedules. Muslims pray five times per day. Some Christians pray before every meal.

But what about the gospel? The claim of Christianity is exclusive; Biblically oriented Christians claim that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6). We claim that Christ is God in the flesh (Jn. 1:14). We claim that the message of Christianity has inherent power; the power to change people, not just their schedules. Scripturally, it is the power to bring a spiritually dead man to life (Eph. 2:1-7). Since this is true, the question remains: “What effect does this message have on us?”

To hear some professing Christians tell it, it has no effect. Almost all would agree that it SHOULD cause change in someone’s life, but some say that it does not always follow that a Christian changes. He might have made a religious decision, participated in a religious ritual (walking an aisle or getting baptized), or even joined a church. But do they follow through on their outward commitment? And if they do not, can they be called a Christian?

Once again, the big question is, “What does the Bible say?” What it says gives no hope to the professing Christian who is a hypocrite. The Bible says that those who call Christ “Lord”, preach and even have evidences of spiritual power will not be allowed into heaven if they habitually practice sin (Matt. 7:21-23). It says that those who claim to know the Lord and yet do not obey Him are liars (1 Jn. 2:4). The Apostle John also says that those who habitually practice sin do not know the Lord (1 Jn. 3:4-6). The Apostle Paul gives lists of sins, which if habitually practiced, prove the true nature of the professing Christian (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21).

These are all put forward in the negative sense. How does the Scripture state it positively? 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away and all things have become new! In Luke 9:23 the Lord Himself said that if any man would come after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross (be willing to die) and follow (order our lives after) Him! The Apostle James says that we must be doers of the Word and not just hearers who deceive only ourselves (Jas. 1:22).

Friends and neighbors, eternity is too long to be wrong about our position with the Lord. The Puritan Thomas Watson, writing in the 17^th century, warned of those who would end up going to Hell with the hope of Heaven. Could that be you? Please, do what the Apostle Paul said and spend some time examining yourself to see if you really are a Christian (2 Cor. 13:5).

If someone claimed to have been hit by a logging truck, you would expect to see some evidence of the impact. Who is bigger? A logging truck or God? Why don’t we see radical changes in the lives of those who name the Name of Christ?

Broadway Baptist Gets the Boot

2009-06-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

It was announced on the news of the Dallas affiliate of Fox that Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth, TX was voted out of the Southern Baptist Convention today. My wife can testify that when I heard this my response was, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” accompanied by me hopping up and down on the couch. Picture a fatter, uglier Tom Cruise\Oprah moment.

In May I became a Southern Baptist for the first time in my life. This was a big step for me because of my northern Independent Baptist background. In Yankeeville, many of the Independent Baptist churches view the Southern Baptists as a whole with a great deal of suspicion. The fights over the inerrancy of Scripture within the denomination caused most independent pastors to view SBC as a conflicted denomination full of compromise. Of course, a member church which has recently been supportive of homosexuals in their midst can do nothing but further that bad reputation.

The church I am a member of does not relate to any of the SBC drama at all, and is in many ways, completely atypical of a Southern Baptist Church. We practice church discipline, the sermons are expository, repentance AND faith are both preached, and there are no sinner’s prayers repeated. It’s not a country club; it’s a church. It’s about God, not about the good ol’ boys club. It’s about the Bible and no one is hiding behind their “relevance”.

So why am I so happy with the removal of Broadway Baptist? About a year ago I went with a small group of believers to preach at the gay pride parade in Fort Worth. This was the first time I actually preached at a pride parade. When we pulled up, we noticed that the parade was staging in the parking lot of Broadway Baptist. After the shock wore off, we reminded one another of what Jesus said about those on the “broad way” (Matthew 7:13-14). Most of the parade marchers were wearing shirts that read, “Jesus Would Not Discriminate”, which I can only assume came from Broadway Baptist. So, I had my opening springboard. “Does Jesus Discriminate? Yes, the Bible says He will on the day of judgment” (Matthew 7:21-23).

I was the first to preach, being the guy who brought the amplifier. I think I might have said a whole paragraph when a bunch of angry lesbians stormed across the street and started yelling all kinds of things. Apparently their Jesus doesn’t discriminate about the language they use either. One started yelling about how Ruth and Boaz were lovers. It was an experience, to say the least. I could have preached Joel Osteenese and they would probably have had the same reaction. Eventually they settled down and moved off to the side and we were able to preach for about an hour, to the background music of car alarms being set off trying to drown us out. Every open-air preacher should do this at least once in his life (which is probably going to be my grand total).

Broadway Baptist got what they deserve. Any church which actively supports what is condemned in Scripture deserves to be removed from their respective denomination. From hearing the rest of the story, it should have been done a long time ago. Apparently the church leadership thought it might be cool to have homosexual couples listed in their church directory.

The SBC in recent years has made big strides in the area of returning to their Biblical and theological roots. This purging of an apostate church is the best thing that can happen for the SBC. Disciplining a church should be a reminder to all of us that we too can fall into sin and heresy and be removed from membership. It results in purity in the professing body of Christ.

The Most Controversial Question

2009-06-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Note: This essay will appear in The Justin Texan next week.

The most controversial, yet the most illuminating question anyone can ask a professing Christian here in the Bible belt is, “What is the gospel?”. In other words, “What is the Christian message?” Why is this controversial? After all, with so many churches throughout North Texas one would think that this question would cause the least amount of contention of any question that you could ask a church goer.

Could it be that it exposes the ignorance of the average church member regarding the most basic tenet of Christianity? Just the other day I had the opportunity to speak to a woman in her fifties who has been attending churches for many years. These churches included a wide range of denominations; everything from Roman Catholic to non-denominational. I asked her the big question: “What do you think the gospel is?” She said, “You know, I’ve been attending church for years and I have no idea. I have been hoping that someone would tell me (!). Would you please tell me?” And she was very sincere. It was a privilege to be able to explain the gospel to her in a way that made sense.

Folks, there is something desperately wrong when someone who not only lives in the Bible belt, but who regularly attends a non-denominational church in her own town still does not know what the gospel is! The biggest dilemma of all is the fact that probably 90% of the people who attend church cannot answer this question and yet call themselves Christians. How can someone be a Christian and not know what the gospel is?

Imagine that I call a plumber to come fix a drain stoppage in my home. Imagine that he shows up with a plumber’s van outfitted with all of the tools of the trade, a plumber’s uniform with his name sewn neatly above the pocket, even a license proving that he is an approved plumber. But imagine that as soon as he comes into my home he starts fiddling with my light sockets or ceiling fans but never looks under my sink or near a pipe. What would I be forced to conclude? No matter what his van looks like, no matter what his uniform says and no matter what his education may be, he is not a plumber. No, he is an impostor. A plumber should know something about plumbing.

Likewise, if a “Christian” wears the right clothing on Sunday, carries a baptism or church membership certificate, has a Bible, and is respected as a fine upstanding member of the community and yet knows nothing about the gospel, how can they be considered a Christian? Friends, they are impostors. A Christian should know something about the gospel. If you do not, then what message do you trust to be saved from the wrath to come? Faith must have an object and that object must be reliable. If you don’t even know what the object of your faith is, what in the world do you believe? How do you know it is true? How can you even evaluate it if you don’t know what it is?

Another way of asking the question is, “If I had three minutes to live, what would you tell me that I need to do to get right with God?” This is a good question. If you cannot answer it, you have good reason to be concerned about the nature of your own faith. As the Apostle Paul said, “Examine yourself, to see if you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). For the answer to this most important question, please visit www.YouGotOurTract.com.

Ray Comfort takes on CBS\Calvin Klein

2009-06-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Please keep Ray Comfort in prayer as this issue unfolds. May God be glorified by someone not just being offended, but taking a stand.

Ray Comfort: America Doesn't Need Calvin Klein's Dirt

Designer Calvin Klein has placed a "racy" new advertisement on a five-story-high billboard on a Manhattan building in New York City, which shows half-naked teenagers lying on top of each other in sexually explicit positions.

According to TV co-host and best-selling author Ray Comfort, Sex not only sells jeans, it gets massive free publicity on CBS primetime. CBS "The Early Show" (June 15th) more than willingly scrolled over and zoomed into the lusty billboard an amazing sixteen times, as the show's host interviewed an expert on why she thought it was wrong to show such images in public. The usual reasons were given: it wasn't good for children to see such pictures, etc.

Comfort says there's another reason why Calvin Klein should rethink the tone of its advertising. Presently there are 673,989 registered sex offenders in the United States,[1] and hardly a day goes by when some child isn't abducted, raped, and murdered.

Back in April 1999, ABC TV put a racy billboard of a naked woman lying on her stomach in Comfort's neighborhood in Southern California. The image had a small towel draped across her backside, to keep it legal.

Photo of billboard Comfort covered with orange blanket

When Comfort saw that, he purchased an 18-foot ladder, climbed up the billboard and stapled a huge orange blanket over that naked woman's body.

"I don't want some sexually depraved pervert getting off on ABC's dirt, and raping and murdering my wife or daughter," Comfort says.

Comfort then took a picture of the blanketed billboard and released it to the media, in the hope that ABC would take him to court for willful damage of their property. But they didn't.

"Calvin Klein's campaign not only reveals that they couldn't care less about the abuse of our women and children, it also shows that they have no regard for what God says is right and wrong," says Comfort. "So Mr. Klein, don't even think of bringing your dirt and dumping it in my neighborhood, because I will be up my ladder with a staple gun in hand before the glue on your smutty image is dry."

Ray Comfort debated atheistic evolution on ABC's Nightline in 2007 and earlier this year debated on the BBC. He is the author of some 60 other books including "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists," "How to Know God Exists," and "Evolution: the Fairy Tale for Grownups." He is the publisher of "The Evidence Bible" and more recently, "The Atheist Bible (Unauthorized Version)" and, "The Charles Darwin Bible." His booklet, "The Atheist Test" has sold over a million copies.

U.S. Map of sex offenders: [1] http://cybertipline.com/en_US/documents/sex-offender-map.pdf

Which Verse Says It All!

2009-06-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Note: This article appeared in The Justin Texan on May 19, 2009.

A few weeks ago I was privileged to be able to speak to a class at the University of Oklahoma. This isn’t a common occurrence for our ministry; after all, we are open-air preachers. It’s pretty rare to be invited to anything. People would usually rather that we just go away! A professor saw us on the quad and asked if I would come address his classes.

I began each class with my own testimony to God’s saving grace in my life and a brief introduction of our ministry. Afterwards, the professor opened up the floor for questions. It was a wonderful time. Questions like, “Why is Jesus coming back?”, “Is Gandhi in Hell?”, and, “What is the Christian message?” were asked. This resulted in a half an hour of explaining the gospel to each class. What a privilege!

My favorite question of the day was, “What verse do you think sums up the whole Bible?” This is a tough question. To pick one verse out of the 31,102 verses in the Old and New Testaments is a Herculean task. After thinking for a few moments, I answered, “2 Corinthians 5:21”. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NKJV).

This verse is the gospel in a nutshell. God the Father made Jesus, the eternal Son, to be a sin offering on the behalf of sinners. All of the sins of the children of God were placed on the Son, much like the sins of Israel were placed symbolically on the head of the scapegoat during Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. As the Lord Jesus hung on the cross, He was treated as we deserved to be treated. The whole wrath of God was poured out upon the Son. Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

When we respond to this amazing act of grace with repentance and faith (Acts 20:21), a great exchange takes place. Our sins have been placed on Christ. In return, we are credited with His righteousness. He obeyed the Law of God perfectly and that perfect obedience is credited to us, sinful lawbreakers! God the Father now treats us as He would treat His own Son! He looked upon His Son on the cross as if He were looking at our sins and treated His Son accordingly. He now can treat us as if we were the ones who were tempted in all points and never sinned!

This is the amazing grace that John Newton wrote (and we sing) about; sinners who deserve only Hell getting the perfect righteousness of Christ. We can be found “not guilty” when we stand before God in judgment! There are two conditions to receive this pardon: we must repent (turn from all known sin) and believe (completely abandon ourselves to the work of Christ on the cross). And that’s the kicker. Jesus died for sinners. If you don’t think you are a sinner, then you can be assured that Christ didn’t die for you. The gospel is for those who have been humbled by their own sin and the amazing grace of God expressed at the cross.

Some might say I should have responded with John 3:16. Others might suggest 1 Corinthians 15:3. For my part, I stand amazed by the grace of God in 2 Corinthians 5:21.

ARIS & American Religion

2009-03-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

This week a survey has been getting a lot of play in the media regarding the shift in American religious faith. USA Today ran a front page article on Monday, March 9^th on the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS). The gist of the research is that all major denominations and religions in America have experienced a quantitative loss in membership over the last 18 years.

One highlight of this survey includes the fact that those who refer to themselves as “none” (or of no religious persuasion) is up from 8% in 1990 to 15% in 2008. Of concern to evangelicals in particular is the fact that 15.8% of those surveyed identified themselves as Baptists, down from 19.3% in 1990. Those who identified themselves as non-denominational remained about the same (14.2%) since 1990. Of course, there is a lot more to this survey than these facts, but these are the pertinent facts when it comes to those of us who do evangelism.

It’s not surprising that the media is using this information as a sort of pealing death knell of Christianity in this nation. Already, those who identify themselves as “nones” seem to be taking this news as validation for their stance. On Tuesday I ran into an agnostic who attempted to rub this in my face as proof that Christianity is losing ground. What did I have to say to that?

Well, here’s what I have to say to that. It’s far worse than the news media and ARIS reports. Everyone who is a pastor of a Southern Baptist church knows that it’s worse. 15.8% of the respondents might consider themselves Baptist, but how many of these are attending church on anything approaching a regular basis? In recent years, the bloated membership rolls of Southern Baptist churches have been an issue at the annual convention. There is a debate on how to count noses; do you count people who became members and who never attend church or don’t you? Apparently, the SBC is content to count them and it’s more than likely that as long as they are considered true blue members by the leadership of the SBC, they consider themselves members as well.

Can someone be considered a Christian who has no desire to align themselves with a local church? The Bible doesn’t seem to teach that they can. In fact, if someone hates his brother, he is considered a murderer, by God’s standard (1 Jn. 3:15). Most professing believers do not attend church because they harbor bitterness in their hearts and in fact hate church members and leadership. This violates the spirit of the Sixth Commandment regarding murder.

So, it’s probably much, much worse than the survey reports in terms of active membership. But we can KNOW it is far worse because of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-23. He said that “many” will go to Hell with the hope of Heaven, calling Him “Lord” as they do so, pointing to their apparently supernatural works. Identifying oneself as a Christian in a survey no more makes one a Christian than me calling myself the President of the United States makes it true either.

How many Christians are there in America? Pollsters will never get it right. Since the Scriptures teach that no one can evaluate another’s true spiritual condition before God, but are instead called upon to “examine themselves” (2 Cor. 13:5), polling Christians about their beliefs is a fool’s errand. Only the Lord can accurately assess who is a true follower and who is not (Jn. 2:23-25). And when He does do that on that great day of reckoning, there will be many surprises.

It’s extremely tempting to look at this poll and say, “See, this is what happens when you don’t evangelize.” Since only 2% of Christians evangelize to begin with, it’s only natural to conclude that we’re going backwards statistically. But ultimately salvation is of the Lord and if He wants to save the lost He can make the rocks cry out and testify even if His professing children won’t. The 2% statistic may be far more accurate in gauging who is a Christian in this nation and who is not.

It is highly ironic that the non-denominational sub-group has held steady over 18 years in spite of the growth of the so-called “mega-churches”. All of the money spent on high power praise bands, lighting, facilities, pastors in trendy clothes, expensive youth programs, media ad infinitum has resulted in zero gain over the last 18 years. If you are a seeker sensitive church guru reading this, my challenge to you is, “Why not just start following the Bible? It can’t be any worse than what you’re doing now.” No, I take that back. It will be worse. The people you have drawn with cotton candy will leave when the solid meat is brought out. But do it anyway, your budgets and big box cathedrals be damned. They are anyway.

It’s probably too late for American Christianity. It’s bankrupt and far worse than ARIS realizes. The only problem is that most who actually espouse American Christianity sound a lot like the church in Laodicea; “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” As the Lord Himself says, we “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17). The only remedy is a tidal wave of true repentance (Rev. 3:19).

New Book on Evangelism

2009-02-04T07:19:00.001-08:00

This booklet proves once and for all that confrontational evangelism is the predominant model of evangelism in the New Testament. It is written for pastors, missionaries, evangelists and believers who are passionate for evangelism and for those who are not yet convinced. May the Lord use it to raise up laborers for the harvest.

"Jon Speed has done a wonderful job of showing exactly what it means to fulfill the Great Commission. Evangelism in the New Testament will be a great source of encouragement to those who want to do what Jesus commanded us to do--to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

--Ray Comfort, Living Waters Publications

"You put into definitive terms what the majority of my personal beliefs are regarding the discussed topic. Your use of pie graphs are, I believe, a great demonstrative tool in emphasizing the statistics. These sorts of tools are quite necessary when presenting a topic of this nature to a potentially disagreeable audience. It could easily be argued that this should be mandatory reading for all pastors, elders and deacons."

--John Legg, Way of the Master Australia & Holy Epidemic

"I don't know how you could more clearly state the need for us as Christians to be involved in evangelism unless you took a 2x4 and hit us over the head with it!"

--Mark Mews (Flagstaff, AZ)

Retail: $9.99 (through Amazon.com)

Special Discount Price: $7.00 (through One Million Tracts)

Blessings,

Jon

Atheist Comedian Penn Gets Evangelism Right!

2009-01-19T11:20:00.000-08:00

Penn tells the story of a man who gave him a Gideon's New Testament. Although he is an atheist, Penn is very respectful of this man's witness of Christ. He calls it "wonderful"! He also makes a very strong statement about those who claim to be Christians who do NOT witness. He asks the question, "How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?" Good question.

This video clip, by itself, ought to motivate ALL Christians to embrace confrontational evangelism.

Free Grace Issue #1: Repentance

2009-01-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

I'd like to begin our discussion of the errors of the Free Grace\Easy-Believism camp by discussing their teaching on the issue of repentance. Before we do, a few points of housekeeping are in order.

The discussion will take place in the comments section. I'm not going to post replies to specific issues in the main part of the blog.

Since I'm plain old busy (writing and editing tracts, blogs, doing ministry, small business, family and my own walk with Christ), I just don't care much for debate. My goal here is to expose false teaching and proclaim the truth, not debate it. Debate is usually fruitless when it comes to doctrine unless you're playing by the same rules (hermeneutics). The Free Grace camp does not play by sound rules of hermeneutics, so debating these points doesn't accomplish much. I'll respond to comments that have something to do with the main issues, but I'm not going to repeat myself.

The tactic of trolling will be met with complete apathy and deletion of the offending comment. If you're not sure what trolling is, I think Wikipedia has a decent article on it.

The Free Grace Teaching on Repentance

To be fair, there are two main teachings in the free grace on repentance. Those who seem a little more moderate in their view (e.g. Charles Ryrie) view repentance as a "change of mind" regarding the person of Christ. They hold that the Greek term for "repent" means "to change one's mind" according to the usage of the term in the classical Greek. Therefore, whenever someone in the New Testament says "repent" it must mean to change one's mind about the facts of the Gospel. They do not believe that it means "turn from sin" because this would be a "work".

Charles Ryrie holds this position in his book "So Great Salvation". Using the example of Peter's sermon at Pentecost, he states that Peter tells the audience to repent of their conceptions of Jesus of Nazareth. He says, "That repentance saves" (page 86, emphasis Ryrie's).

The Free Grace camp as a whole (both the moderate and the extreme) make much of the fact that the word "repent" does not appear in the Book of John. They consider this to be strong evidence of the fact that repentance from sin is not necessary for salvation since John was written for an evangelistic purpose (Jn. 20:31). Their logic runs, “If repentance from sin was necessary for salvation, then John would have included it in his writing.” Both camps (represented by Ryrie and Hodges) hold to this idea. It has been rightly pointed out that many other concepts important to evangelism are not mentioned in John's Gospel, including hell. Does that mean that we shouldn't mention hell in our witness?

The more extreme view of repentance comes from the late Zane Hodges. Hodges, in an incredible massacre of the Biblical text and the principles of systematic theology, says that repentance is nothing more than “fellowship with God”. Specifically, he says, “The call to repentance is the call to enter harmonious relations with God” (Absolutely Free, page 145). How does he arrive at this definition? He examines the uses of the word “repent” in Luke and states that the word always occurs in the context of Jesus sitting down and having a literal meal with someone. As a result, he can write, “It is all about the sinner ‘sitting at the table’—having fellowship with—God” (page 149). I wonder what he would have said if the Lord had mentioned the word “repent” only in the context of gathering figs or walking on the water? What interpretation would he have arrived at then?

Emergent Church leaders like Rob Bell have embraced a similar definition of repentance. I have heard Bell say “If anyone tells you that you need to repent from sin, they are not teaching Biblical Christianity.” In his “The Gods are Not Angry” tour stop in Dallas, he re-defined repentance in a way that is similar to Hodges’ view. This should give the Free Grace camp serious reason to pause and consider what they are saying. Bell’s universalistic view of Christianity is well known and reported.

Interestingly, Hodges shoots down the moderate FG view of repentance when he says, “The standard Greek-English dictionary (Bauer-Gingrich-Danker Lexicon) does not list any New Testament passage where the meaning ‘to change one’s mind’ occurs” (page 146). So much for Ryrie’s assertion. Shot down in a blaze of glory by somewhat “friendly fire.”

The Biblical Teaching on Repentance

Now that we’ve considered the basic teachings of the two parts of the FG camp on repentance, we can examine what the Bible actually says in the light of sound hermeneutics.

It would seem that much of the FG argument, in the case of Ryrie’s position, rests upon the Classical Greek usage of the term for “repent.” To read some of the material from the FG camp, one would think that they believe that the Hebrew usage of the term in the Old Testament is irrelevant. However, as The Complete Biblical Library (TCBL) states, “Any understanding of repentance in the New Testament must first and foremost rest upon its Old Testament foundation” (volume 4, page 173).

In fact, this is true no matter what Greek word study one does. In any serious word study, the Hebrew background is given serious consideration. Not so with the FG camp. It is as if they are saying that the apostles (as well as Jesus Himself) would abandon their Jewish upbringing in the Torah and the Prophets simply because a pagan Greek might have used the term to mean “change of mind” (which according to Hodges, doesn’t happen in the NT anyway). To even suggest this is ludicrous in the extreme, but it is the unspoken assertion of the Ryrie FG camp.

The TCBL states this about the Hebrew term for “repent”: “The thought of ‘returning to God’ and His covenant purpose as well as the idea of ‘turning away from sin’ and rebellion is inherent in shuv” (ibid.). As Ezekiel 18:21, 30-31 so aptly illustrates, repentance in the Jewish mindset clearly meant “turning from sin.” It is this idea that would have predominant in the minds of the apostles considering their rich Jewish heritage in the Old Testament.

Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament builds on this foundation, making the case that the New Testament usage of the term “repent” comes directly from the Old Testament. It states, ““…the terms have religious and ethical significance along the lines of the OT and Jewish concept of conversion, for which there is no analogy in secular Greek” (volume 4, page 999, emphasis mine).

That Pauline theology is saturated with the concept of Biblical repentance (turning from sin as well as turning to God), there can be no doubt. Kittel states, “In Christian rather than Hellenistic terms, he (Paul) regards metanoia as ‘the change of thought and will which releases from evil and renders obedient to the will of God” (4:1005, emphasis mine). Further, “…the concept of a radical transformation effected by the revelation of God in Christ is still for Paul the foundation of his whole theology. And this is precisely the thought of conversion as understood by Jesus” (ibid.).

The Free Grace movement asserts that it is not necessary to repent from sin on the one hand. On the other, some wildly assert that it means fellowship with God. But no less of an authority than Kittel (which happens to sit on the shelves of the DTS library, apparently unused) makes it very clear that the term must include “radical transformation” and “release from evil.” It is this intent that the New Testament writers included in their conception of repentance.

A final word on this issue. Regarding those who claim that repentance is a work, may I draw your attention to 2 Timothy 2:25? Repentance is a gift from God; it has nothing whatsoever to do with something that can be worked up emotionally. Man will not repent unless God does a sovereign work in his life. Otherwise, he will continue to crave and coddle his sin.

When we preach the Gospel, we have a holy obligation to call the lost to repentance and faith (Acts 3:19; 20:21). Anything less than that is not the Gospel.

Some Great Men of God on Repentance

“Yet remember, though He condescendeth to reason, to persuade, to [call], and to beseech, still His Gospel hath in it all the dignity and force of a command. If we would preach it in these days as Christ did, we must proclaim it as a command from God, attended with a divine sanction and not to be neglected, save at the infinite peril of a soul…’Repent ye’ is as much a command of God as ‘Thou shalt not steal.’” --C.H. Spurgeon

“The man whose little sermon is ‘repent’ sets himself against his age, and will for the time being be battered mercilessly by the age whose moral tone he challenges. There is but one end for such a man—‘off with his head!’ You had better not try to preach repentance until you have pledged your head to heaven.” --Joseph Parker

“Both the law and the gospel must be preached; the law to give birth to repentance and the gospel to lead to faith. But they must be preached in their proper order, first the law to bring repentance and then the gospel to work faith and forgiveness—never the other way around.” --William Perkins

“Wouldst thou know when thou hast been humbled enough for sin? When thou art willing to let go thy sins.” --Thomas Watson

"Repent therfore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord..."-- The Apostle Peter (Acts 3:19)

"And the times of this ignorance God overlooked, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." --The Apostle Paul (Acts 17:30)

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." --Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:17)

Who Will Go to America?

2009-01-03T06:13:00.003-08:00

As promised, we will begin our discussion of the theology of easy believism and the Free Grace camp later this coming week, but for now, please consider the following video.

One of my personal frustrations is the modern concept of missions which is prevalent in much of evangelical Christianity. Denominations and independent missions agencies send Americans around the world to do tasks which are little more than glorified Peace Corps projects and call it "missions." Exorbitant budgets are put together and funds raised so that they can go overseas and pound nails, play soccer or video games, learn a language or go on prayer walks. Very few missionaries are actually expected to evangelize.

I know this from my personal experience as a pastor and a former missionary candidate with an evangelical mission. The mission required that I raise a minimum of $60,000 a year to live in a nation where the average annual income was about $1200 a year. In my budget, there was no line item for evangelism outreach. It was supposed to be included under the "miscellaneous" expenses ($200 a year). What's worse is that in a few years, our budget would be reviewed and raised (mandatory) to about $75,000 a year. At that point we would be expected to write home and tell our supporters that our support level was low and we needed additional support.

In our present ministry, we are missionaries to America (primarily). We use Acts 1:8 as our model for ministry and are blessed to see this model fulfilled in the last year. We've taken the Gospel to our Jerusalem (Justin, TX), Judea (Dallas\Fort Worth), Samaria (the United States) and the uttermost parts of the earth (Australia). Lord willing, we'll see this same model fulfilled in the coming year. Our primary field of labor has been DFW, but the Lord opens doors elsewhere when you're faithful where you are.

With this in mind, check out this video. There's a lot of truth behind it.

A Proposal for the Free Grace Camp

2008-12-17T06:00:00.001-08:00

The recent post on the death of Zane Hodges brought a firestorm of replies in the comment thread. Honestly, I don't have the time to engage in lengthy debates on threads and I find it difficult to track all of the responses.

I do think it's important to lay out point by point the main issues when it comes to the Free Grace camp's position(s) on the nature of saving faith. I'm grateful for all of the feedback on the Hodges thread because I've learned how marked the differences are between men like Charles Ryrie and Zane Hodges (and his false prophet, Bob Wilkin). I'm glad to see that men like Lou Martenac recognize Hodges' gospel as a "Crossless" gospel. However, Lou, I think that the position that the majority of the Free Grace camp holds is simply the doctrine of Free Grace drawn to its logical conclusion. I'm sure you disagree with me, but I hope to prove this statement over the weeks ahead.

So, the proposal is this: over the next five or six weeks (at least), I am going to post a series of posts here which will address the teachings of the Free Grace camp point by point. This will give all of us one issue to respond to at a time. If y'all want to debate what I write (and I hope you do) go for it. All I ask is that if you choose to respond to the posts, please limit your discussion to the points discussed in the original post. For example, if it's about the true definition of repentance, please limit your responses to that issue. If you want to say something about the definition of faith, please wait until the post on faith comes up before going there. This will help keep things focused.

I hope you will join us for this important discussion. The Free Grace\Lordship debate was not resolved in the 1980's and I'm not foolish enough to think that this will resolve it now. But we're talking about the Gospel and in this day of doctrinal error the Gospel needs to be clarified, as evidenced by some of the responses to the Hodges post.

Zane Hodges' Passing

2008-11-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

It has been reported that Zane Hodges, the former Dallas Theological Seminary professor of New Testament, has passed away at the age of 75. Hodges is best known for his work in the "Free Grace" movement and his books such as "Absolutely Free." He was controversial in life and it is certain that he will remain controversial after his death.

Just last week I gave a message at Holy Epidemic in Melbourne, Australia called "Combating Easy Believism on the Streets." In that message I pointed out the fruit of Hodges' backwards theology as we have observed it on the streets of Dallas\Fort Worth, the home of Dallas Theological Seminary. I've seen seminary students and graduates argue the fine points of the Greek term for repentance while they are drunk. I've seen pastors walking out of comedy clubs, laughing at the same filth that the world laughs at, and then argue with us about what constitutes the Gospel. I've seen a free grace, KJV-only open-air preacher justify his adultery as a professing Christian because of this kind of theology. And this kind of thing just goes on and on.

This different gospel that Hodges (and others) proclaim reduces the glorious Gospel of Christ into nothing more than a general assurance that Jesus made a legitimate offer of eternal life and anyone who considers the offer legitimate is saved. Repentance was reduced in Hodges' theology to nothing more than "fellowship with the Father", eliminating the concept of turning from sin (and to the shock of other Free Gracers, he denied that it even meant "changing the mind about Christ"). The concept of the Lordship of Christ was thought to be limited to His deity rather than any claim of mastery, missing the obvious point that Christ's deity in no way lessens the duty of man towards Him but only increases it.

Hodges' theology affected me in Bible college when I took a theology course taught by a professor who was greatly influenced by this kind of thinking. This influence showed up in my own doctrinal statement where I wrote (as a false convert Baptist pastor) "Saving faith is intellectual assent to the facts of the Gospel". As if saving faith can be reduced to a number of bullet points that we merely say "uh huh" to.

In the days ahead, we're sure to read tributes to Hodges' scholarship. I read a blog this morning which praised his scholarship while admitting to disagreeing with his views on salvation. Maybe it's just me, but if his so-called "scholarship" led to errors in his soteriology, then isn't his scholarship flawed? He might have been able to defend his errant views well, but that does not make the man a great scholar. It only makes him a skilled manipulator of the text. There have been many of those kind of self-appointed scholars throughout history and history has not been kind to them.

I never met Hodges, never took one of his classes or heard him speak. But I was once a fruit of his theology. On this Thanksgiving Day, I have much to be thankful for. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His magnificent grace, rescued me from that false gospel and brought me to true salvation. He gave me the gifts of repentance and faith and in grace drew me unto Himself. I thank God that He rescued me from the blindness I was in and brought me to salvation.

Hodges is dead, but his soteriology is not. It probably will never totally die out. Free Grace proponents have made it very clear that they will be tenacious in their efforts to spread their theology within churches, seminaries, and even children's ministries. With Hodges' passing, I am reminded today how vital our work in Biblical evangelism is. How we must commit to being even more tenacious. How one day, we too will leave a legacy. Will it be a legacy of distorting the truth or boldly proclaiming it? Only time will tell.

Holy Epidemic

2008-11-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

Today's blog comes to you from "Down Under", in Frankston, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. I'm in town for a few days at the Holy Epidemic Conference, Australia's only street evangelism conference. The conference starts tonight.

According to the conference manual, "The purpose of Holy Epidemic is to promote street evangelism and equip Christians for the task...Our desire is that what we are doing on the streets would spread through the rest of Australia (and the world) like an epidemic...I pray that God would use our feeble efforts to preach His blessed gospel to impact the country of Australia with a deep conviction of their sinfulness (John 16:7-9). That people would turn to our Saviour Jesus Christ in sincere repentance, and submit themselves to His Lordship. I pray that we would see a genuine awakening in Australia and the rest of the world."

Amen. A worthy prayer for a nation steeped in unbelief. Please pray with me that the Lord would use the conference to do these things, for His glory.

Speaking Schedule:

Friday Night:

Session 1: Operation Mobilization: Principles for Establishing a Church Based Evangelism Team (Pastor Lionel Letcher)

Session 2: Taming the Lion: Managing Fear Biblically (Jon Speed)

Saturday:

Session 3: Open-Air Basic Training--A Beginner's Guide (Jon Speed)

Session 4: Operation Mobilization II: The Local Church & The Local Mission (Pastor Lionel Letcher)

Session 5: Combating Easy Believism (Jon Speed)

Session 6: Obedience (Pastor Lionel Letcher)

Session 7: The Neglected Weapon of our Warfare (Jon Speed)

Session 8: Question & Answer Session (Pastor Lionel Letcher & Jon Speed)

Please pray that in each session our Lord would be magnified and that we would decrease. Pray for clear explanation of His Word.

Revival Conference in Greenrock, Scotland LIVE Webcast Here

2008-11-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

This conference will be from November 25-27 and you can watch the conference LIVE here on Informed Evangelist. Featured speakers include:

Keith Daniel, Carter Conlon, Al Whittinghill, Denny Kenaston, Don Courville, Gareth Evans, Colin Peckham, David Guzik and others.

We'll post more information on the schedule as it becomes available.

James White on this Historic Election

2008-11-07T04:59:00.000-08:00

Please check out these comments from James White on our recent election.

The Sovereignty of God

2008-11-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to all of those who find their hope in American politics, be they Republican, Democrat or a third party. In the weeks ahead there will be a lot of rhetoric, mostly from the winners in yesterday's election. Please keep in mind that this is all it is: rhetoric. Politicians are only human; dead in their trespasses and sins unless Christ has regenerated them.

Who is really in control? Who sets up rulers and takes them down? Who receives glory for His mighty purposes? Only the Sovereign God of this universe. Anyone else who wraps themselves in the banner of "change" is only a pretender.

"The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and earth beneath" (Joshua 2:11)

"And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwelleth between the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth." (2 Kings 19:15)

"Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all: and in Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." (1 Chronicles 29:11-12)

"O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not Thou over all kingdoms of the heathen? And in Thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee?" (2 Chronicles 20:6)

"Behold, He taketh away, who can hinder Him? Who will say unto Him, what doest Thou?" (Job 9:12)

"The kingdom is the LORD's: and He is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: and none can keep alive his own soul." (Psalms 22:28-29)

"The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Who is this King of Glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory." (Psalms 24:1, 10)

"He ruleth by His power forever; His eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves." (Psalms 66:7)

"O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations of the earth." (Psalms 67:4)

"Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another." (Psalms 75:6)

"God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for Thou shalt inherit all nations." (Psalms 82:1, 8)

"The LORD reigneth, He is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength , wherewith He hath girded Himself : the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old; Thou art from everlasting." (Psalms 93:1-2)

"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are His: and He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings." (Daniel 2:20-21)

"Which in His times He shall shew, Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, Whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to Whom be honour and power everlasting." (1 Timothy 6:15)

"Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." (Revelation 4:11)

"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." (Revelation 19:6)

Voting for Jesus?

2008-10-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

I've been following a debate on a MB I frequent about who to vote for. No one is saying vote for Obama. The debate is between those who are voting for Chuck Baldwin and those who are voting for McCain based on the idea that they don't want to "throw away their vote."

Someone piped up and challenged us all to vote for Jesus. Write Him in. Take a stand for your convictions and vote for Jesus!

To the well meaning MB member who suggested we vote for Jesus, I'd love to, but...

He's not running.

I don't think He would if He could.

He doesn't care what the populace of this ungodly nation thinks about who should run it. Their "vote" has no bearing. He's not into popularity contests (which is what our elections have turned into). He already has His candidate hand-picked and all of the rest of them until He returns.

My Bible says something about the fact that He is Sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords. He will exercise that manifest right sometime in the future (possibly the very near future).

What matters here is not my "power to choose" and the presumptuous attitude that when I throw a switch in a voting booth, I am changing the course of history. (After all, it's all about me.) What matters is whether or not I bring the most glory to God with this opportunity to serve Him in the vote.

In order to do that, I will not choose rat poison instead of arsenic. That doesn't glorify God; it does not represent His standards. I will vote for the candidate that actually knows the Lord and has a desire to bring Him glory as well.

You say he won't win? It doesn't matter. What matters is this, "Is God glorified with my vote?" I'm voting Baldwin. He is just a sinful man, but he has an honest desire to bring Him glory. Everyone else is only promising to line my pockets with more money.

Interview with a Homosexual False Convert

2008-10-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that we shot at the Dallas, TX gay pride parade with a guy named Scottie. Scottie has a typical evangelical background, as do many in the gay community in Dallas\Fort Worth. It might seem surprising to some that a homosexual would claim to be a Christian. In the pride parades in the Bible belt, it is not uncommon for churches to not only participate in the parade, but in the case of Fort Worth, the church actually sponsored it.

Why should we evangelicals be surprised that homosexuals easily claim Christianity as their own? Our seeker sensitive and Emergent churches have so watered down the Gospel that anyone who names the Name of Christ is embraced as a Christian. The Lord Jesus does not do the same thing (Matthew 7:21-23). As a result, the homosexual community wraps itself in the banner of Christ, freely printing His Name on their t-shirts, banners and promotional stickers. They have embraced the typically evangelical view of Jesus, but have they embraced the true Jesus, or another one? The Scripture is clear that they must be embracing a "Jesus" of their own making and thus violating the second commandment.

Behold, the fruit of the modern Gospel.

Please pray for Scottie. He has an everlasting soul.

Alan Ross Memorial Gay Pride Parade (Dallas, TX)

2008-09-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a group of four of us from TLC Ministries went to the annual gay pride parade in Dallas to pass out tracts and witness. We didn't do any open-air preaching (there was a small group there doing it), but we went to scope out this event and get a feel for what this kind of event is like for evangelizing.

It turns out that gay pride parades are excellent venues for evangelism. We passed out hundreds of tracts from One Million Tracts. We also had several very good conversations with parade goers, most of whom were homosexuals. The Gospel message can be proclaimed in an uncompromising fashion when it's done in a gracious manner. The listener may take offense at the message, but if they find reason to take offense at our demeanor I think we have failed to rightly communicate the Gospel.

And we got some email feedback. Here is an email from Annie who got one of the tracts at the parade, followed by my response...

"Why do you feel the need to infiltrate a pride parade, an event where people are supposed to be able to come together and not feel condemned? What did you do, infiltrate some gay group in Dallas under false pretenses. LEAVE US ALONE!!! We do not need you in our parade or in our neighborhood if all you can do is tell us we're sinners. WE HEAR THAT TO THE POINT IT MAKES US NUMB TO IT, SO GIVE IT UP ALREADY!!!! OUR SALVATION IS NOT YOUR BURDEN SO PLEASE, JUST GO AWAY AND DON'T COME BACK NEXT YEAR!!!! You have been reported to the Dallas Tavern Guild. "

And here's my response...

Annie,

Thank you for contacting us via the "You Got Our Tract" website. We value your feedback on our tracts and outreach methods.

We came to the parade for the same reason we go to any large event; to share the Christian message of salvation. We did not "target" the parade because the gay community is any more in need of salvation than any other. We pass out tracts at all kinds of parades, concerts, festivals, events and college campuses. We also pass out tracts and witness in bar districts like Lower Greenville in Dallas, Sundance Square and the Stockyards in Fort Worth. The only reason we go to any event is because there are people there and our commission is to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone (Mark 16:15).

We did not "infiltrate some gay group under false pretenses" (I'm not sure how standing on a public sidewalk passing out tracts to those we pass by is "infiltrating" a public event). We simply did what we do week in and week out; come to a public place where First Ammendment rights are guaranteed and pass out Gospel tracts.

The gay community generally understands and expects freedom of speech. We have no desire to infringe on the right of the gay community to spread their message. In return, all we ask is the same freedom to spread ours. If that is "wrong" in your eyes, then I'd have to ask you, "Based on what? What moral standard makes it 'wrong' to come to a public place and exercise our freedom of speech?"

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us with your concerns.

Best,

Jon

Our Pursuit of Short Term Missions by Byron Porter

2008-09-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

It's a blessing for me to be able to share this essay with you from a dear friend of mine, Byron Porter. Byron practices what he preaches; he went to the Dominican Republic this summer to share the Gospel there and faithfully shares the Gospel here in the DFW area. Thanks, Byron, for allowing me to post this here. --Jon Speed

Our Pursuit of Short Term Missions

by Byron Porter

In short term missions, we honor Jesus and glorify God by reaching out to the lost. These are people who think they are basically good, not personally responsible, and not held accountable for sin. God is not pleased with the death of the wicked and delights in their salvation. God is glorified (and rightly so) when a hardened sinner is regenerated and heralds the mercy obtained through the gospel of Jesus Christ. How beautiful it is to see sinners converted and how beautiful are the feet of those who share the gospel of God's divine mercy and love toward us, who do not deserve it.

When I was in junior high school, a prayer was said stating that if we (the speakers and hearers) were there at Jesus' time, we would not have crucified Him. The problem with that statement, even though seemingly heartfelt and well intentioned, is that it contradicts with what the Bible says; the entire world is guilty. If we fail to recognize our fallen condition, we elevate ourselves in self-righteousness. We are the ones who put Christ on the cross with our personal sin. We are responsible. How unfortunate to think otherwise, but this is precisely what our world has bought into. However, Christ still came to die for us and we are lost without this perfect display of His love.

A wonderful statement was made in a book that I just finished reading called "The Love of God". The book says, "The tone of God's invitation is not a tone of anger—it is a tone of tenderness. In his invitation is kindness, a desire for friendship and a longing to erase the enmity which now exists between the Lawgiver in heaven and His yet impenitent and unreconciled creatures." God is good, and ready to forgive and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon Him (Psalm 86:5). He is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth (Psalm 145:8). God does not love us for what we are, but He loves us in spite of what we are. As a result of this process of being humbled we can be born again. This is the message of short term missions.

So now we are tasked to deliver what Mark 16:20 describes as the “sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation” and we have three helpful yet necessary things to consider. The first to keep in mind is that God gives those He has soundly saved a passion for the lost, at least in the smallest degree. Consider this quote by Charles Spurgeon, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that." But, as we are freed from sin's control we yearn to share the gospel, yet we know that no one can come to Christ unless God draws them to Himself. Short term missions can aid you here, in being aware and avoiding spiritual complacency which hinders our growth.

This leads us to the second consideration in short term missions, which is our outlook on the world. We must have a biblical worldview to be able to see and respond through Christian eyes. It is not necessary to be a biblical scholar to give the gospel, but there is so much in this world to influence and distort our perception of truth. Before my conversion, I was familiar with the Word of God and full of theological knowledge, but my heart was blinded by willful unbelief. I was a theologically informed false convert. God has given us the truth about our origin, condition and future in His Word. That truth only becomes obvious when He removes our spiritual blindness.

A third thing to have on hand is a working knowledge of the gospel, at least on a foundational level. We must give the bad news about man's sinful condition (his transgression of God's law) before the good news of the gospel can make sense. Short term missions allow us to show folks they can be freed from the enslavement of sin. Let's point to Jesus, as Luke 1:79 says, that He is, "…to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Jesus sends us out as heralds of the gospel or “light bearers” as the Bible puts it. We are called forth simply to plant the seed.

Listen to what A. W. Tozer says: "Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him. We pursue God because and only because He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him." And God uses us in short term missions to pursue and save those who are lost.

Going on a short term mission is to have a desire to share the hunger and thirst for God with the lost. In pouring out your lives into the lives of others, God pours out His spirit to fill you, enabling you to do more of the same. This is another facet of spiritual growth in action. Let's not focus on man and his felt needs, but primarily on God and His glory. Do you have that desire (remember Spurgeon’s quote)?

Short term mission trips are a chance to glorify Him and to show how God has been patient with you in commanding repentance and faith in Christ. It is all to make His name great among the nations. Though this is not contingent upon us, we participate in reaping great benefits. It is a sure thing that someone will be saved, even if you see no immediate results, because we know that people from every tribe, tongue and nation will come to Him through Jesus' atonement. In the end, short term mission trips are not primarily for the love of men, but for adoration of God and that His Son receives the full reward for His suffering which He so rightly deserves.

Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society said, "In the mission field, everyone is a potential brother or sister in Christ. God saved us for son-ship and we worship Him out of gratitude." I encourage you to go on missions; knowing that it will cost us all something individually. We are called either to go into the well or hold the rope for those who do. What is it costing you? Are you praying, giving or going? What is your pursuit?

If God is All Powerful, Why Doesn't He Stop Sickness and Death?

2008-08-26T05:43:00.001-07:00

Here is the answer. Like it or lump it. But it is the truth.

The Biggest Bookstore with the Smallest Marketing

2008-08-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

Check out this incredible bookstore, with 12 buildings! One of the buildings is an old manure tank. Maybe I need to buy the farm.

Todd Bentley, Marital Problems and Evangelical Hypocrisy

2008-08-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

It's been reported that Todd Bentley, of Lakeland Revival fame, filed for separation from his wife, Shonnah on August 11th. You can read one of the news stories here.

Considering some of my recent blogs regarding Bentley's heresy, some might suspect that I would jump all over Bentley like flies on the proverbial manure. After all, how could a man who claims the power to raise the dead, usher in international revival, put gold fillings in people's cavities, and impart revival blessings to others have irreconcilable differences with the woman he promised (before God) to love and cherish "till death do us part"? One is reminded of the line, "Physician, heal thyself." Indeed.

Bentley is an easy target at this point. There aren't many other evangelists who have been featured on Nightline or interviewed by Geraldo recently. His ludicrous claims, thoroughly undocumented "healings" and aversion to preaching anything resembling the Gospel sets him up for the tirades of bloggers like myself.

Those thoughts notwithstanding, I think we conservative evangelicals do ourselves a disservice if we don't point out some of our own hypocrisy. Yes, Bentley deserves just about all of the flaming that can be dished out on blogs. However, when it comes to his decision to begin divorce proceedings (in Canada, filing for separation is the first step towards divorce, something which ought to be done in the United States since the trial period before the divorce might actually reconcile some marriages) against his wife, keep in mind that if you believe that this disqualifies him from ministry, "what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

For example, if you think that this incident ought to oust Bentley, I wonder what you think about other prominent Christian leaders and celebrities who have done the same thing? Charles Stanley's marriage problems and subsequent divorce did not oust him from his prominent pastorate in Atlanta. This, in spite of the fact that Stanley, before he himself was divorced, took a hard line against divorce. Amazing how things change when the shoe is on the other foot, isn't it?

I wonder if you were a Sandi Patti fan back in the 1980's? Patti was a favorite amongst conservative Christians during that time for her Christ-centered music. If you were a Christian teenager at that time, you probably had her music foisted on you from a well meaning but severely misguided grandparent, in an effort to wean you off of that "devil music" such as Petra or Stryper. But what happened when she divorced? Did her fan base disappear? Perhaps for a time, but she is now back in evangelicalism's good graces.

Amy Grant's slightly more recent divorce has not diminished her popularity for many professing Christians. And Michael English was quickly reinstated in Christian pop culture just a couple of years after his admitted infidelity with another Christian musician named Marabeth Jordan of First Call.

Know this: if past performance is any indicator, those who follow Bentley will welcome him back with open arms. It's not surprising considering the dramatic rise in divorce statistics WITHIN the evangelical community.

The question is, as it always is, "What does the Bible say?" We know that God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). Jesus said that the only just cause for divorce is adultery (Matt. 5:32). Having said that, it's a sin like any other. It can be forgiven through the work of Christ (1 Cor. 15:3). Does it disqualify from all ministry? 1 Timothy 3:4-5 indicate that an elder must "control his own household." A Christian musician is definitely not the same thing as an elder, but what category does Bentley fall under? This is something that the governing body of Fresh Fire Ministries will have to consider seriously.

Can we hope that they will take this seriously? Probably not. They have already shown their blatant disregard for truth by promoting Bentley. At the very least, they have put Bentley's plans on hold for the time being. Chances are, this is a temporary stop gap procedure to stop the PR bleeding.

In the meantime, this is a good time for us to ask ourselves, "How highly do we professing Christians view marriage?" Is it possible that for all of our posturing in the "culture wars", all of our campaigning against homosexual marriage, we are nothing but rank hypocrites? Satan does not need the homosexual agenda to destroy marriage. We're doing a pretty good job of it on our own.

"Little Bilney"

2008-08-11T10:52:00.001-07:00

“Behind Hugh Latimer (1485-1555), the ‘Preacher of the English Reformation”, was his mentor Thomas Bilney.

Bilney, a quiet scholar at Cambridge University, acquired a Greek New Testament from the famous Erasmus. As he pored over it, one verse of Scripture seemed to be written in letters of light, and it led to his conversion: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners!

Bilney wanted to share his experience with others, but this was Reformation truth, and the Reformation had not yet reached England. Teachers such as Luther were being fiercely attacked by English churchmen like Hugh Latimer.

But as Bilney listened to young Latimer rail against the Reformation, he prayed this unusual prayer: ‘O God, I am but ‘little Bilney’ and shall never do any great thing for Thee. But give me the soul of that man, Hugh Latimer, and what wonders he shall do in Thy most holy name.’

One day Bilney pulled Latimer aside. Using his own conversion verse—1 Timothy 1:15—he led the great Latimer to simple faith in Christ, and the English Reformation was born.”

–Morgan, Robert J. Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, n.d. (2000). Page 224.

Oh, that we had more “little Bilneys”, who think more of what others can do for the sake of the Gospel than what they think of themselves. How often do we look to build up self, pour into our own lives, and not seek after others with the expectation that they will do more! How many of us will seek to humble ourselves in prayer, asking GOD to save the souls of others so that THEY will do something for God. How often do we pray instead “Use me” to do thus and such.

May we all be “Little Bilneys” and have that very estimation of ourselves.

Vacations, Reading, the Civil War & Memorization

2008-08-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back from a much needed vacation. As much as I enjoyed the time away, it is good to be "back in the saddle" with Lost Cause Ministries, Informed Evangelist and the book business.

Last week we went on vacation to San Angelo, TX. We were blessed with some good family time and some time to enjoy the great outdoors of West Texas. The end of July is not usually the best time to go on vacation, but it was the only time I could get away for a solid week. At the State Park, where we camped in an air conditioned cabin, we saw roadrunners, prairie dogs, the State herd of bison and longhorn steer, hummingbirds, deer, snakes, black tailed jackrabbits, and a skunk. We managed to do a couple of hikes through the interesting terrain in the mornings, before it got too hot. In the evenings, we went to an isolated ridge and watched the sunset behind a picturesque plateau. While we were in the area we visited Fort Concho (Indian wars), the Indian paintings at Paint Rock, and had some incredible Mexican home-made ice cream.

I had a chance to do a little booking while we were in town. San Angelo has a few used bookstores. Two of them are the garden variety paperback exchange type shops, but I still managed to scrounge up an Advance Reading Copy of Richard Bradford’s first book, “Red Sky at Morning” as well as a limited edition of a book on Texas history, printed in San Angelo. But the best find was in the reputable “Cactus Book Shop”. This shop specializes in the Southwest and in Texas in particular, both fiction and non-fiction. The owner is friends with the prolific Western\Texas author, Elmer Kelton (whom I once met in Fort Worth) who lives in the San Angelo area and who drops by the shop to chat with the owner and sign books. It is a wonderful shop to visit and the owner is very knowledgeable. In my never-ending search for the titles printed by the Modern Library, I scoured his Modern Library section and was surprised to find a small collection of Modern Library reprints which were once owned by Fred and Tommie Gipson, with their inscriptions and address labels on the endpapers. Fred Gipson is the author of the classic book into film and classic TX juvenile, “Old Yeller.” Gipson wrote a couple of other juvenile dog stories set in Texas, but he was also a serious author of Texas non-fiction. The prices were reasonable, so I bought them all. The owner had a framed invitation to the Gipson’s wedding hanging on the wall, so the provenance is very good on these titles. I’m going to take my time with these and sell some of them since one of my specialties is Texas fiction and literature, but I’m going to keep a few as well, for my own modern library collection.

During the trip I caught up on some reading as well. I've been reading through J. William Jones' "Christ in the Camp", the fascinating story of the revival which took place in the Confederate Army (specifically, the Army of Northern VA) during the Civil War. I dabble a little bit in Civil War history, but as a born and bred Yankee, I was taught that the South was pretty much evil in their cause. Certainly, slavery WAS a horrible evil in America. As an antiquarian bookseller, I've had some pretty scarce abolitonist material, including Frederick Douglass' autobiography and a book signed by the guy who bankrolled John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. A guy named "Joshua Speed" was Abraham Lincoln's best friend and I've always been an admirer of Lincoln, and not just because I share Joshua's last name.

However, it's pretty clear that men like Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee were devout Christians and not the garden variety false converts that we have in evangelical American Christianity today. They not only supported, but encouraged the revival and spiritual growth of their men. They were good friends of the chaplains, supporters of the colporters (evangelists) who came through the camps, and both had deep walks with the Lord. Jackson's walk with Christ is most impressive. Some of his men thought him crazy because of his constant attitude of prayer. One of his main concerns was the evangelization of his men.

Compare this with the leaders of the Union armies: Grant was an alcoholic, Sherman was downright brutal, and Grant's predecessors in his position were egomaniacs. I've been blessed reading "Christ in the Camp", but especially by the early chapter on Stonewall Jackson. I love the movie "Gods and Generals" which focuses on Jackson, and which is very accurate historically, in spite of Ted Turner's atheism. Jackson's life is one that I want to emulate. He was a bold leader of men, but only because of what his humble walk before God.

He fought on the wrong side regarding the slavery issue, but seeing what's become of our federal government one can't help but wonder if the South had the right idea about the issue of states rights. Considering the financial prosperity of the South these days compared to the relatively depressed North (e.g. Detroit, New York State) it's easy to see how less governmental interference has brought a more stable economy here. The War may have been a judgment of God on our nation for ALL of the evils of our nation's birth (slavery, the extermination of the Native Americans, etc.); we lost more men in the Civil War than in all of our other wars COMBINED. More than 625,000. But this does not diminish the wisdom of stronger state's rights that the South fought for.

I also read a great little book on the importance of Scripture memorization by N.A. Woychuk. This is a discipline that I have neglected. I've memorized Scriptures over the past few years, but not purposefully. I have a good memory and can memorize single verses that I use without being very systematic about it. But the Lord has given me this memory for a reason and I need to develop it even further. So, I've begun memorizing chapters as well as verses on evangelism from the School of Biblical Evangelism. I'm using a software program to help which has been fun and very, very helpful. You can check it out here.

Well, those are my thoughts for today. Time to get back to work. Thanks for reading.

Genius?

2008-07-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

This is funny stuff.

Jon

Informed Evangelist Store is Now Open!

2008-07-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Saints (and ain'ts),

We're pleased to announce that we have developed an Amazon storefront for The Informed Evangelist. We've featured some books which have been influential and helpful in sharpening our minds when it comes to Biblical evangelism.

The storefront gives us a percentage on each book that you purchase while shopping from that site, so we obviously hope that you will visit often and check out what titles we've added there for your perusal. We know that our readers are an astute bunch, so we have tried to include the best in books on evangelism, theology, church history and book collecting. We'll be adding more titles as we either become aware of them or we remember to put them there.

Please check out the store here.

Jon

Todd Bentley, Spiritual Blindness & The Tenth Commandment

2008-07-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday it was my turn to teach our adult Sunday School class. We're going through the Old Testament in survey format, which is a new experience for me since as a former pastor, I'm used to doing verse-by-verse sermons. It's a big change. You have to cover a lot more material in a lot less time.

At any rate, this week, as the Lord would have it, we were in 1 Kings 20-22; 2 Chronicles 17-20. This text covers part of the life of Ahab (Northern Kingdom) and Jehoshaphat (Southern Kingdom). But the main characters aren't really the kings; they are the prophets, true and false, that the Lord raised up in this passage to Sovereignly guide the fate of these kings and kingdoms.

What I found to be interesting is the fact that in spite of his 400 false prophets guaranteeing victory against the Arameans in what would be his third battle campaign against them, Ahab hears from one true prophet named Micaiah. Micaiah makes it crystal clear that Ahab (and Jehoshaphat) will be defeated and that Ahab will die. Now this takes guts by itself. But on top of that, Micaiah tells Ahab that he had a look behind the scenes prophetically and that the LORD Himself sent out a deceiving spirit to the false prophets so that Ahab would be lured into battle and be defeated. This is not problematic since the book of Job teaches us that Satan himself is on a short leash and is controlled by God to accomplish His purposes, even with those who are His people (such as blameless Job). So how much more can He use the forces of evil to accomplish His purposes in the lives of those who are His enemies?

This act of God via deceiving spirits is not the only time in Scripture that this happens. Zechariah 13:2 records another instance. It says here that an "unclean spirit" is connected with false prophets. Some Bible scholars connect this incident in 1 Kings 22 with the deceiving spirit with Romans 1:22, 24, 26 where it states that God "gave them over" to reprobate minds.

Now I find this incredibly interesting. Especially in the light of our recent visit to the Todd Bentley "revival" when it came to Denton a few weeks ago. As we tried to speak to people there about the Gospel there was a tangible blindness evident. Over the last four years I have spoken with many about the Gospel, both admittedly unsaved and professing Christians, but I have never seen blindness on anyone like I did that night. At the time, I could not understand it. They were both blind and deaf to the Word of God. Whether you agree with this assessment or not, I know what I (and the others on our ministry team) saw that night.

In these passages of Scripture, I think we have a way to understand this blindness. Many (not all) may be following Bentley because the Lord has given them over to their own selfish desires for health and wealth. He has allowed demonic forces to blind professing believers to the truth. Whether they are or are not true Christians is not for me to say. We are all supposed to "examine ourselves" (2 Cor. 13:5). Since Todd Bentley is of the "spirit of Antichrist" it's not really surprising that in a similar manner his "lying wonders" work together with the "strong delusion" sent by God Himself (2 Thess. 2:9-12) for the purpose of giving his followers what they claim they really want; a spectacular, charismatic (in personality) leader who promises them health and wealth.

On Sunday our church was blessed to have Justin Peters do part of his "A Call to Discernment" seminar. This seminar exposes the Word of Faith movement for their unbiblical teachings. Justin also wrote his doctoral thesis on Benny Hinn's ministry. He is uniquely qualified to teach this seminar. Not only has he studied the movement thoroughly, but he has cerebral palsy and followed the Word of Faith movement for a couple of years as he sought to be healed.

After Justin finished his seminar on Sunday night, I had a chance to speak with him for just a few moments about this theory regarding Todd Bentley. I asked him if he thought this might be the case; that the Lord has sent a strong delusion amongst the Word of Faith followers and that He has "given them over" to reprobate minds. He agreed and added that he thought that this teaching and its spread is a judgment from God on our nation.

This was an aspect I had not thought about, but just some consideration shows it to have some merit. Considering the fact that the judgment by God on Ahab via his false prophets was not simply a judgment on Ahab alone, but on the entire nation of Israel (Northern Kingdom), there is some Biblical weight to this. Our nation has pursued pleasure from its inception, claiming we have the "inalienable right" to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This founding document of the Declaration of Independence, as one recent book has it in its title, is practically "American Scripture".

Now, I don't think the founding fathers had Todd Bentley or the Word of Faith movement in mind when they signed this document. Many of them were godly men. But it is not debatable that the United States is driven by covetousness and consumerism to a degree that no other nation of the world is. Our economy is absolutely driven on violating the Tenth Commandment. Anyone who denies it has never been overseas. To the degree that they are driven by consumerism is due mainly to America's influence.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think that Thomas Jefferson had the right to be greedy in mind when he penned the Declaration. However, as time has passed, that is exactly how we have applied it, especially since the end of World War Two. Interestingly enough, that is when the Word of Faith movement began to be popularized. Meanwhile, evangelical Christianity moved away from the true Gospel and embraced the "Modern Gospel" which states that Jesus will fix all of your problems and give you happiness in spades. The stage was effectively set to make the Gospel completely man-centered. As Americans flocked after it in droves as well as the pursuit of their own personal wealth, is it possible that the Lord sent out a deceiving spirit to give us what we claim we wanted? Is it possible that He has given us over to our reprobate minds, sending a strong delusion on American Christianity, as a judgment on this nation? The case seems pretty strong that He has done exactly that.

If we want true revival and not this smoke in mirrors show that Bentley is doing in Lakeland, we must repent of our covetousness. Turn from our materialism and turn towards the One who did not have a place to lay His head. Turn from the Super Bowl commercials and turn towards the One who said that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Turn from the malls and big-box stores (and churches) and turn to the One who said that if anyone wants to come after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him.

Oh Lord, have mercy on us. In Your wrath, remember mercy.

Your Best Life Now?

2008-07-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

Joel Osteen's "Best Life Now" exposed.

(I don't have time to write for this blog this week because of ministry responsibilities; I'll try to come back with an actual blog post next week.)

Jon

Todd Bentley video

2008-07-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here's some Todd Bentley video from UNT in Denton. Thanks Ron, for putting this together.

And the False Teacher of the Year Award Goes to…

2008-07-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Todd Bentley! Yes folks, it’s awfully hard these days to narrow it down to just one heretic when there are so many to choose from in American churchianity. What, with the plethora of apostates in the Word of Faith, seeker-sensitive, emergent church and easy believism proponents abounding, it is increasingly difficult to decide who “takes the cake” for the coveted ‘Informed Evangelist” false prophet award, but Bentley wins it going away.

Bentley brought his traveling freak show to the University of North Texas’ (Denton) Coliseum on Thursday night for “one night only” (praise God for small mercies). A team from The Lost Cause Ministries went out primarily to share the Gospel with those who are deluded by Bentley’s brand of false teaching. This was no easy task. Even though we were two hours early, the die-hard Word of Faith followers could not stop long enough for even a five minute interview because (they said with panicked expressions), “I need to get inside and get a seat. I might miss something!” Their demeanor was very similar to that of hardcore crack cocaine addicts who “joneses” without their quick fix. Fortunately admission was free and we got inside and passed out several hundred Gospel tracts and did some one-to-ones with a few Bentley fans.

Several of our team had to leave for another pre-scheduled venue, but a few of us stayed. Because of fortuitous circumstances, we ended up seated about four rows from the front, on the ground level. We were able to catch some of the service on video tape and audio recorded the entirety of Bentley’s “sermon”. What follows is a review of his message with some observations of things we personally witnessed at this event.

An Overview

Bentley’s message ran a total of 75 minutes. A friend asked me before he spoke, “What do you think he will preach about?” I said, “I think Todd will preach about Todd.” Apparently I was moving in the prophetic because that is exactly what he did. Imagine, and I had never even been to Lakeland before! Apparently the anointing is even more transferable than Bentley thinks!

After an hour and a half of being pummeled by worship leaders whose style resembled something like a cross between a squirrel on methamphetamines and whirling dervishes (intended, no doubt, to “let the anointing come” or simply to induce mass hysteria or brain washing), the local heretics (aka “gatekeepers”) welcomed Bentley to Denton\DFW. Chief heretic presiding was Chuck Pierce, of the Glory of Zion Outreach Center in Denton. GOZ is a self-styled “apostolic” Word of Faith ministry who is huge on receiving extra-Biblical revelation via dreams, prophecies, words of knowledge, etc. Pierce made an innocuous prophecy regarding the global outpouring that Bentley will usher in (now there’s a surprise).

Keith Miller of Stand Firm World Ministries, who has preached in Lakeland on several occasions and is trying to “bring it back” to Texas, was prophesied over by Bentley, at which point his true character was physically manifested when he and his wife lost their spines and turned into jelly on the stage, presumably from the power of the anointing. Texas, be warned. Miller is coming to a city near you with the Lakeland style hysteria. Just add Word of Faithers and stir. Instant revival.

The house keeping attended to, and Miller’s physical spine restored, Bentley began his diatribe (it cannot be called “preaching” or a “sermon” by any definition of the word). As already stated, Bentley pontificated about himself and the experiences at Lakeland. His speaking cadence varied from calm and quiet to hysterical. The crowd responded in kind, at the typical cues. In Bentley’s case, whenever he frantically shakes his head from side to side, this is a sign of the “anointing”. If he blows puffs of air out of his lips, apparently that means something big is REALLY going to happen. The crowd response? Speak in jibberish, laugh maniacally, sob, or scream in unison. This apparently helps grow the “fire” and “keep it going”, judging by the way the “worship” leader conducted herself.

Bentley reviewed the history of his own ministry going back to 1999, when he claims he was transported to Heaven and saw tens of thousands of “healing angels.” He came to understand that he is going to be the agent for the release of at least one hundred “healing revivals” at the same time, across the globe. This special anointing was to be released just prior to the return of Christ. He had the impression that he “has to score the touchdown” (his vision had to do with a Super Bowl-like scenario in a football stadium) and that it’s basically all up to him. Lo and behold, now is the time for the outpouring as evidenced by what is happening at Lakeland. In short, “It’s all about Todd.”

Bentley states that the unique thing about his healing revival is that it will be sustainable and transferable. In other words, anyone can get it. And those who get it are encouraged and expected to take the “fire” back to their own churches where they can have the same kind of revival (circus?) in their own church. Bentley is democratizing healing ministry. Apparently it will no longer be necessary to go back again and again to the specialist healers like Bentley, Benny Hinn and others. Now, if you can shake your head and yell “fire”, “bam” or “pow”, you “got it.” Imagine the confusion that will exist in so many churches.

At this point, Bentley made a big show of opening his Bible to John 5. He said something to the effect, “I better have you open your Bibles. I wouldn’t want anyone to say that Bentley came to Texas and never had you open your Bibles” (followed by snide laughter by Bentley AND many in the crowd). We’ll come back to Bentley’s hack-job of exegesis a bit later. It was deeply concerning that a professed preacher of the Gospel would actually mock anyone who would expect him to open his Bible.

This attitude is not surprising considering the fact that in a crowd of 10,000 our team saw less than ten Bibles in the arena. There were probably more than that, but it would be generous to say that 10% of the attendees had a Bible with them. One of our team members asked someone in the parking lot why they didn’t have their Bible with them. She said that the last time she came to one of these Word of Faith events that her family had their Bibles stolen. Bentley brags that he does not preach against specific sins, but apparently it wouldn’t hurt his own people if he preached against thievery.

After his deeply flawed exegesis of John 5, Bentley reverted to his chest thumping. He claims to have the names and contact information of 50,000 people healed in Lakeland in 90 days. Of these 50,000, he claims to have received hundreds of verifiable medical reports and is in the process of compiling a book documenting the healings. He further claims that he has a medical doctor on his team and a staff of about 100 who follow-up on the professed miracles one to two weeks later. He claims that this book will be available in “about two weeks” (from July 3^rd). He is now on the clock. Watch for his book around July 17^th. We will give him the benefit of a doubt and give him until the end of the month, but we are not holding our breath.

Bentley claims that there have been thirty resurrections from the dead since April 3^rd because of his revival. He covers his own posterior by saying that if at least five of them are real then God is really doing something. He does the same thing with his “healings”, telling the gullible that sometimes it can take as much as a week or two before they “receive” their healing. He also says that people sometimes “lose their healing”. What? I don’t recall the Lord Jesus giving His followers disclaimers when He healed them. Folks, face it. This stuff is not real. It’s the fruit of lousy theology combined with the power of suggestion to a crowd that is desperate for healing and an experience.

After some more self aggrandizement regarding the coming “media revival” where he will be featured on Nightline and other news shows, he rehearsed the history of the Lakeland revival in particular. He claims that a “healing angel” visited him in his hotel room on April 3^rd telling him that the long awaited “healing revival has begun.” He spoke of some “unusual miracles” where scars and burn marks miraculously vanished. A man with a glass eyeball claims to see out of it. A double amputee claims that his legs have begun to grow back to the tune of one inch. Homosexuals have been “healed” of their homosexuality and fifty wheelchair bound people have been healed.

At this point Bentley stated that he does not preach against specific sin. He alluded to Romans 3:10 and Romans 3:23 and said, “Sin is sin and only the blood of Jesus can cleanse it.” These few sentences out of 75 minutes of preaching comprise the only content than can be remotely called a presentation of the Gospel. More on this later.

At this point, Bentley conducted a free will offering which was collected for Keith Miller’s ministry. He used it as an invitation to “plant revival seeds” and reap “one hundredfold”. His disclaimer of “you cannot purchase the anointing” seemed disingenuous considering the emphasis made upon personal blessing if one faithfully gave financially to the ministry. Just because Bentley gave that little disclaimer in no way frees him from the responsibility he bears when he led them to believe that their “harvest of miracles” was directly related to their giving. A charlatan is a charlatan even if he’s raising money for another charlatan.

Concerns:

What’s wrong with Bentley and his message should be obvious to anyone with just a modicum of discernment. Since one cannot use the words “discernment” and “Lakeland fan” in the same sentence, I’m going to step out on a limb and explain just a few important points.

1. His ridiculous interpretation of Scripture.

Since Bentley didn’t actually use much Scripture, this is an easy place to start. He went to John 5 and read some of the account regarding the pool of Bethesda. He committed some atrocious eisegesis (he read his interpretation into the text instead of interpreting what the text actually says). He emphasized the fact that the KJV says that an “angel” stirred up the pool and WHOEVER was cured of WHATEVER. He said that the miracles happened there because the angel stirred up the “healing anointing” (pool) and that the anointing was even stronger with Jesus. He said that the word “Bethesda” means “grace of God” and “outpouring”. During a personal conversation he claims he had with the Lord on the plane to DFW, the Lord told him that the swimming pools he saw on the approach to DFW airport were “pools of Bethesda” or “pools of healing” and that this was a promise from God that there would be an outpouring in Denton. Now there’s a surprise since that is what he PLANNED on doing while he was in town.

A couple of issues with what little interpretation he actually did: 1) the story about the “angel” does not appear in many manuscripts of John 5. 2) Even if you allow for the story, most Biblical scholars understand that this story has to do with a tradition that is not endorsed by Scripture, simply reported on. In other words, it would be better to say, “It was said that an angel stirred up the pool.” 3) “Bethesda” is an Aramaic word (not Greek or Hebrew) and any Aramaic place name is very difficult to interpret with exact certainty, even if you specialize in the Aramaic language. 4) The big idea of John 5:1-9 is not the fact that a place of healing was established by an angel, but that the Lord Jesus established His claims to Deity, title to Messiah and the fact that He is Lord of the Sabbath since He performed this miracle on the Sabbath (cf. the context of the rest of chapter 5).

This text is NOT proof that Todd Bentley is an anointed messenger of God. It is proof that Jesus Christ is God. Bentley abuses the text to subtly take the eyes of professing believers off of Christ and onto himself. Bentley is guilty of the “spirit of antichrist” (1 Jn. 4:1-3). He is taking Jesus out of the text and adding himself.

2. His Emphasis on Angelic Visions:

Bentley, in an unprecedented way, credits “healing angels” with the revivals he claims. He claims angelic visits, angelic revelations, etc. Apparently Galatians 1:8 is lost on him. Apparently he is not concerned by others who have been deceived by angelic visions, including the Mormon false prophet, Joseph Smith and the Muslim false prophet, Mohammed. Apparently he does not understand the truth of 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 that messengers of Satan disguise themselves as “angels of light.” The cold, hard fact that his claims do not match Scripture do not concern him since the Word of Faith movement allows for additional revelation besides the Bible.

3. His “Proof” of the Veracity of His Experiences:

Bentley stated flatly that the proof of the reality of his experiences is, “the global outpouring happening at Lakeland”. In other words, the miracles, number of followers, and global spread of this revival is the “proof.” By that line of reasoning, Islam and Mormonism are also blessed of God since they started with angelic messages and are both growing exponentially. Furthermore, miracles have NEVER been considered final proof of the truthfulness of a prophet’s claims. What has been the distinguishing factor has been the Scriptural content of the message and fulfilled prophecies. One single unfulfilled prophecy resulted in the execution of the false prophet in Old Testament days (Deut. 13:1-5).

The real proof of Bentley is completely lacking. He is a false teacher. Considering the fact that there are “lying wonders”, even if Bentley’s healings are real the content of his message reveal him as a fraud (2 Thess. 2:9).

During the “healings” in Denton, there was not one single immediately verifiable healing. All of the healings were for medical issues which could not be observed outwardly with any certainty. Those who came forward said that they “felt better” (in some cases) but it was totally impossible to determine that they had indeed been healed. If they felt a “tingling” or “a burning”, it was equated with the anointing. What would these same folks make of the “burning in the bosom” that the Mormons talk so much about? They would be easily sucked into that cult. Scripture must trump experience every time.

4. His Refusal to Preach the Gospel:

This is an important issue. Some who have used Way of the Master make a big deal about the fact that a partner ministry of Bentley’s called “Citytakers” trains the people who do street evangelism in Lakeland using some (not all) of Ray Comfort’s material. They miss the facts that: 1) Bentley does not “preach against specific sins”, which is contrary to the principle of using the Law in evangelism, 2) their questionnaires and materials do not teach the concept of false conversion, 3) their questionnaires use modern Gospel techniques to “get decisions”, and 4) their material places a heavier than normal emphasis on baptism, similar to Church of Christ false teachings.

Bentley did NOT preach the Gospel in Denton. He only briefly mentioned sin as something he does not preach specifically about. He mentioned Christ’s sacrifice in passing (one sentence) and did not mention repentance or Biblical faith. He did not even mention the substitutionary nature of Christ’s death and did not mention His resurrection in connection with the Gospel. This single issue disqualifies Bentley as a minister of the Gospel. What is the point of assembling 10,000 people to simply talk about your ministry for more than an hour? In spite of all of the lip service to God’s glory, this fact alone reveals that this Lakeland outpouring is strictly about Todd Bentley.

Conclusion:

There is much, much more that can be said about this dangerous heresy arising out of Lakeland. There is much more that we witnessed that was disturbing. What is truly sad is going to an event like this and seeing those in wheel chairs who leave the arena disappointed. They are lied to and told either that their faith is not strong enough or that their healing will come later.

What is even worse, is the fact that these folks are deluded by a man who is spreading a false Gospel. They are experiencing something at these events and think that they now know Christ. They have been inoculated by Satan himself against the true Gospel. They will not hear it because they think they already have it, when all they have is a cheap counterfeit. Eventually, these folks will burn out on the hype and will not be found in any church. Meanwhile, the preachers like Bentley and those who support him will continue to make money off of this lie. They will be faithful to their heresy as long as their bank accounts are full. On the day of judgment they will hear those horrible words from our Lord Himself, “Depart from Me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity” (Matt. 7:23).

Guilt and Evangelism

2008-06-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'd like to make a couple of observations about the feelings of guilt that most Christians have regarding evangelism. Having done full time evangelism\evangelism training ministry for about 3 1\2 years and having been in full time Christian ministry for the most part of 15 years, I feel like I'm qualified to speak to this issue. These observations aren't based on any theological degrees, just human observation.

My first and main observation is that the conscience of the Christian is keenly aware of his need to share the Gospel with the lost. The best proof of this is the physical reactions of guilt that Christians have when they hear a message that has to do with evangelism. Whenever a speaker or preacher talks about evangelism, I like to look around the room and observe the reactions of the listeners to the message. Almost without exception, the listeners react in much the same way that lost sinners react when they are taken through the Ten Commandments. They hang their heads, their brows are knit in concern, sometimes there are tears, sometimes there is anger, and almost always there are looks of resolve on their faces. They must be thinking, "I will do better. I WILL witness to my ____________ (fill in the blank: neighbor, co-worker, spouse, friend, etc.) this week." Chances are, these resolutions are left undone because the same cycle is repeated the next time someone speaks on evangelism.

As someone who does evangelism on a regular basis, I experience the "fall-out" of this guilt on a personal level. Recently, a friend of mine from my church who has come out with me to do evangelism in the past confided that he had been avoiding me because every time he sees me he feels guilty because he has not been evangelizing. I must confess that at first, I didn't understand this. I'm not a mean guy. I don't try to use guilt to motivate people to evangelize in my church. In fact, I think I've been careful NOT to use guilt as a motivator. However, the fact that I do evangelize somehow works on the conscience of my friend. He knows that my life is pretty well lived for the sake of the Gospel; I do full time evangelism ministry. Somehow the fact that he has not been as consistent evangelizing rebukes him every time he sees me. I'm not sure whether to view this as good or bad.

As I began to think about my friend, I have to wonder if there are others who feel the same way. I suspect that there are others. In a way, this is sad because I'm not just a one-dimensional person. Have I given the impression that I am one-dimensional? After all, I read, sell used books on the internet, teach adult Sunday School, have a great family, like to fish, etc.

In the end, I think that this is a matter of the conscience. Not because I have used guilt to motivate or inspire. It is a matter of the conscience because of the fact that the Law, perfectly summed up, is that we should love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strength and then love our neighbors as ourselves. Romans 2:14-15 says that this Law is written on our hearts and our consciences bear witness of its truth. The command to evangelize has been given throughout the Gospels. When believers refuse to obey this command, they break the first command. They don't love God; the proof is they don't obey. And they don't love their neighbors enough to share the Gospel with them. And their conscience bears witness that they are guilty.

So, I have come to understand that it's not me, it's them. I will continue to be gracious and continue to do what I know I am supposed to do as an unprofitable servant. They, in turn, will continue to feel guilt until they repent and start sharing the Gospel. They don't need to do it in conjunction with my ministry or on the streets. If they start sharing it with their friends, families, neighbors and co-workers, their consciences will be assuaged and they will have confidence before God and men. May the Lord raise up laborers for the harvest.

Evangecamp #1: Niagara Falls Video

2008-06-23T05:33:00.000-07:00

This is a photo video from TLC Ministries' first Evangecamp in Niagara Falls. This was a phenomenal outreach to the Buffalo\Niagara Region. Several professed faith in Christ and were referred to solid local churches. The campers were encouraged and gained additional tools to share the Gospel. Go to www.lostcauseministries.com to learn more.

The 500 Video

2008-06-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

We're working together with Transplant Ministries to organize The Five Hundred Outreach in Atlanta, GA on October 18th. We're helping with the mobilization aspects of the outreach. Please keep us in prayer this summer as we nail down details and plan this important outreach. 500 street evangelists in one city; Atlanta will never be the same.

Colorado Bill Potentially Bans the Circulation of the Bible

2008-06-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

As reported by John Ingold of The Denver Post, Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado signed into law a bill which expands the "prohibition of sexual-orientation based discrimination". This bill (Senate Bill 200) was sponsored by Senator Jennifer Veiga. The supporters of the bill claim that its purposes are: 1) to insure that trans-gender people and homosexuals have equal access to housing, family planning services (???), and "20 other public spheres" and 2) in the words of Bruce DeBoskey, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League (by the way, what do the rights of the Jewish people have to do with transgender issues?), "...another important step in making Colorado safe and inclusive and welcoming to all those who live here."

This all sounds very inclusive and nice, but as always, there is a slightly hidden agenda here. Consider what the bill actually says, not just the spin that the pundits put on it:

"SECTION 8. 24-34-701. Publishing of discriminative matter forbidden.
No person, being the owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent, or employee of any place of public accommodation... shall publish, issue, circulate, send, distribute, give away, or display in any way, manner, or shape or by any means or method, except as provided in this section, any communication, paper, poster, folder, manuscript, book, pamphlet, writing, print, letter, notice, or advertisement of any kind, nature, or description THAT is intended or calculated to discriminate or actually discriminates against... SEXUAL ORIENTATION, marital status... in the matter of furnishing or neglecting or refusing to furnish to them or any one of them any lodging, housing, schooling, or tuition or any accommodation, right [marriage], privilege [adoption], advantage, or convenience... on account of... SEXUAL ORIENTATION, marital status... [which] is unwelcome or objectionable or not acceptable, desired, or solicited."

In other words, if you own or work in a place of "public accommodation" in the State of Colorado (Kolorado?) and you either publish or distribute a copy of the Bible (which contains verses which call homosexuality a sin), you will be punishable by law. The same could be said for any book or tract which suggests that homosexuality is a sin. If the socialist State of Kolorado is going to be consistent, this means that the sale of Bibles in all book stores (Christian or secular) will be banned.

I guess no one who has supported this bill, including the Governor of the State, has enough sense to realize that this law is patently unconstitutional. Unless Kolorado secedes from the Union and becomes their own country, they have no right to make a law which infringes on the practice of religion. In one fell swoop the lawmakers in Kolorado have managed to do what no one has EVER done in the history of this nation: ban the Bible.

Now, as a bookseller, I know what I would do if I lived in Kolorado. I would get a small open shop and sell Bibles. I would find every book I could get on homosexuality, how it is NOT hereditary (which is [gasp] what science actually shows), how it is a sin, and I would print out Romans 1 on a poster (so I'm displaying the truth, in the words of the bill) and DARE the Kolorado KGB to come and do something about it. There is no way that this law can stand up under the scrutiny of serious legal challenges. It's so silly it's laughable.

Why? Consider what our nation's Constitution; the First Amendment, actually says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Hmmm. Interesting. "Prohibiting the free exercise thereof." What is a law prohibiting the distribution and display of the Bible but a law which "prohibits the free exercise" of Christianity?

As an evangelist, I can't help but wonder what this sort of thing means for those of us who use our Freedom of Speech to spread the Gospel in this nation. I live in Texas; granted, it's the false convert capital of the world, but at least there's a pretension towards Christianity and it's not likely that our state will ever follow Kolorado's example. However, it's far more likely that our nation's lawmakers will ignore the Constitution and do whatever seems right in their own eyes and we'll have this kind of stuff imposed on us from the stuffed shirts in D.C.

I'll borrow a cliche from the printing world: the only ones who have the Freedom of Speech are those who use it. If you're not using it as a Christian, you may as well live in Communist China, Soviet Russia, or Saudi Arabia. You have imposed on yourself a law which we don't actually have (yet) by your silence. If we as believers do not use our Freedom of Speech, we will lose it. Wake up!

This is a call to professing believers who are content to let their "little light shine" by being nice to people to stop playing silly games and start sharing the Gospel while it is still legal. If you take the Gospel out of the public forum by your silence and your rationalizing that it's not "effective" or "relevant" or it's "offensive", then make no mistake, you are guilty by association when our freedoms are taken away to spread the Gospel in public forums. What will you do when they take that freedom away? Will magic "courage dust" fall out of the sky and give you what you need then to stand up for Christ? How can you expect it at that time when you don't do it now?

Listen, ministry in 90% of the world and in most of Church History is not nice and neat and does not fit into tidy little boxes that look pretty. It is not polite. It is gritty, dirty business. It is blood, sweat and tears. True Christianity knows no other kind of ministry. We claim spiritual lineage to the Apostles and Prophets but don't want to live their lives. We'll gladly believe their doctrine so long as we don't have to follow their examples. Where does this nonsense come from?

It's time that men be men and leave the girly stuff to women. Rob Bell would have me be "relational" in my witnessing. Here's a newsflash Rob: I'm a guy. I'm not interested in exploring my feminine side. I know it's been fun for you, but that's your issue. Guys aren't "relational". They are men. We kill things and conquer. We're aggressive, not passive. If you want to be relational, put your skirt on and invite your neighbors over for tea and crumpets. While the churches have bought into that lie, men stay in the background (if they attend at all). I'm not interested in limp-wristed evangelism which makes me wear lipstick and high heels. The Apostles were men's men. They were dirty, sweaty, bloody, stinky men. They told the religious leaders where the bear did his business in the buckwheat and they faced threats boldly. They weren't a bunch of timid school-girls.

That is the kind of presence the church needs to have. We need to stand up and DARE them to silence us. If you've missed it, that's exactly what the pagans have been doing in this country for the last 40 years. In the meantime, the church has been taught by its "experts" that we need to be relational and we're within one generation of becoming post-Christian as a nation. The pagans smell blood. And we sleep while they come in through the window. God help us all.

False Conversion

2008-06-03T15:49:00.001-07:00

I am posting here a real letter I sent out to a Christian who asked some questions regarding my own experience as a false convert. Details have been omitted to protect the identity of the original questioner. I hope that this might be helpful to anyone who might be struggling with this issue; it's one that I'm asked about frequently and trust that the Lord will use this to bless anyone who might be going through the painful yet necessary process of self-examination:

The original question was:

After reading your testimony on the Lost Cause Ministries website, I have had a question for you for quite some time. How or what made you decide that you weren’t really saved after all? Do you think it’s natural for Christians to question that about themselves? I find myself doing that from time to time.

The response I gave follows:

Yes, it is natural to question one’s own salvation. We all feel unworthy of the grace we’ve been given and if we understand (and are sensitive to) the true nature of sin and how prone we all are to it, even as spiritually growing believers, we sometimes wonder where we really are spiritually.

One difference between someone who is a soundly saved believer and one who is not is that the one who is not finds ways to justify his sin and is comfortable with it. The biggest difference is where you place your trust: your works or in Christ alone.

I was brought up in “easy-believism” churches. In other words, if you “pray the sinner’s prayer”, they taught that you are absolutely saved, no matter what, as long as you really meant it at that moment. Even if you prayed the prayer sincerely at the age of five and then went on to become a reprobate atheist for the rest of your life, then you were saved at five and just “backslid.” I do believe in backsliding, but this kind of thing I’m describing is nothing but presumption on the grace of God, making it something that it is not. Titus 2:12 teaches that someone who has experienced the true grace of God denies ungodliness (among other things).

In that religious system, I was never told about repentance (they viewed repentance as a “work”) and certainly never did repent. I got immersed into the Christian youth culture and started doing all of the things that evangelical teenagers do: go to Christian concerts, youth group, hang out with Christian friends. I became a leader in the youth group (mainly because of personality and things that I did) and the leaders all said that I should go to Bible college. So I went there, became a leader again and everyone there said that I should go into ministry. At the age of 20 I went into my first ministry, as an assistant pastor in a black church. And on and on it went, getting “promoted” to the position of pastor in a small church, doing well there and then being promoted to the position of pastor in a larger church.

During all of that time, I “struggled” with the same sins. At least I called it “struggled.” It really wasn’t a struggle. If I was tempted to sin, I did it. And when I did, my conscience would bother me, and I would take that as a sign I was saved. However sin bothers the conscience of the lost as well.

Then I would justify myself by saying that I must be right with God, look at all of the things I DO. I preached three times a week, visited the sick, prayed, studied the Bible many hours per week, “discipled” people, and on and on. Someone who is saved wouldn’t do those things, would they? But the truth is, yes, unsaved people study the Bible (liberal theologians), pray (every religion of the world prays), do charitable deeds (Catholics), preached (Muslim imams preach), and mentor people (Big Brothers, Big Sister programs do that too). In the end, I wasn’t trusting in Christ alone; I was trusting in my deeds. I had a cultural Christianity, but no reality with Christ. In the end, I had to do what Scripture says and repent not only of my sins (Acts 3:19) but also of my dead works (Heb. 6:1). I needed to be justified by faith in Christ alone and stop trying to justify myself.

All of this came to light over time, but culminated in a period of self-examination (2 Cor. 13:5) that was brought on when I heard a man named Keith Daniel preach on the topic of the “Complications of the Spiritual Birth.” This sermon caused me to ask myself about my own repentance; my total lack of it. That day I was forced to admit that I was never told I needed to repent, never did repent, and my reprobate, hypocritical life proved that I was not justified.

Later, I saw that I never really placed faith in Christ alone. My faith was creedal; very theological (I was Reformed) but characterized by what the easy believism folks call “an intellectual assent to the facts of the Gospel” (their definition of saving faith). I was raised in a fundamentalism that taught if you can say “uh huh” to several basic facts, then praise God, you’re saved. Most of their evangelism was taking people through several facts and getting them to say they believed them. This kind of faith is demonic (Jas. 2:19). True faith is absolute trust, complete abandonment, to someone who is trustworthy. Combined with repentance and justification by faith in Christ alone, this is a magnificent Gospel. The other is nothing more than a half-breed Gospel which cannot save.

Sadly, most of this errant theology on salvation came from seminaries which strongly influenced the Baptist churches in the northeast: Dallas Theological Seminary and Philadelphia College of the Bible. These schools provided professors for smaller Bible colleges in the region and this heresy spread throughout the area. When Dr. MacArthur wrote his book “The Gospel According to Jesus” it was controversial in the Bible colleges of the northeast for about five years. Every evangelistic preacher and most pastors I heard in my life were strongly influenced by easy believism.

Richard Baxter wrote in his book “The Reformed Pastor” that it was possible to save others as a preacher and yet be lost yourself in the end. George Whitefield taught that the bane of the Christian ministry in his day was an unconverted ministry. I was one of those men; it is a fact which still causes grief when I think seriously about it. I preached a false gospel and baptized many people who responded to that gospel. I don’t ever want to lose sight of that fact, just as John Newton never lost sight of his own past as a slave trader. He didn’t let his past lead to self condemnation; he let it remind him daily of God’s amazing grace. I don’t think there is anything worse than a false convert preacher who spreads a false Gospel; a slave trader seems gentle in comparison. The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ saved me demonstrates that He is willing to save the worst of hypocrites. His grace truly is amazing. His love is astounding. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Here are some important messages on false conversion. These are all on our website: http://www.lostcauseministries.com/audios.html.

1. Paul Washer’s message, “Examine Yourself”.

2. Keith Daniel’s “The Spiritual Birth”

3. Ray Comfort’s “True & False Conversions”

4. John MacArthur’s “Hard to Believe.”

Soli Deo Gloria,

Jon

Ravi Zacharias on the Emergent Church\Post-Modernism

2008-05-14T05:28:00.001-07:00

One of the best minds in contemporary Christianity discusses post-modernism with Kirk Cameron.

Who You Are vs. What You Do

2008-05-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

This is a great reminder from Brother Paul Washer that who we ARE is far more important than what we DO. Oh, how often I get caught up in what I'm doing and get busy doing and neglect my time with the Lord. I think this is far more common in what I've been calling the "Biblical Evangelism Community" than any of us would like to admit. May the Lord give us the grace to repent and walk with Christ.

Paul's Love of Books by Wilbur Smith

2008-05-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

Appeared originally in Smith’s Chats From A Minister’s Library Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, n.d. (1951). Pp. 169-186

There is a verse tucked away, we might say, on the last page that Paul probably ever wrote, dictated in a dingy and damp prison at Rome, shortly before the Apostle’s death, which, more than any other one sentence in all his writings, indicates his passionate love for books and especially for The Book. I refer to the words he wrote to Timothy (II Tim. 4:13)—“The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring, and the books, especially the parchments.”

Only rarely does the Apostle, in all of his voluminous writings, speak of his university education, or of his intellectual pursuits. Standing before the multitude in Jerusalem he could declare that he was a man who, though born in Tarsus, was brought up in the city of Jerusalem “at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the strict manner of the law of the fathers.” (Acts 22:3.) In the Second Epistle to the church at Corinth (11:6) he says that though he might be rude in speech, yet he was not “in knowledge.” Later to the Galatians, in briefly summarizing his earlier life, he said he had “profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” (Gal. 1:14.)

Speaking to the Athenians he was able quickly to quote relevant lines from their own poets.

From these words, certainly, we at least gather that Paul was a diligent student, nor do we believe that he ever stopped being a hard student all the days of his mature life, in spite of his traveling, in spite of his imprisonment, in spite of all the churches he founded, and all the correspondence he had to carry on.

In the first letter to Timothy, he admonished his son in the faith to (literally) “keep your mind on the reading” (4:13). And now he himself tells Timothy that his mind needs to peruse again the books and parchments which, for some reason, he had left at Troas.

I should like us to look at this verse in three different ways. First, let us ask ourselves exactly what these books and parchments may have been. Then, we might consider, for a moment, some of the more pertinent remarks of our great commentators on the verse itself, and then read together some wonderful lines from two of the greatest preachers of the English world in the nineteenth century on these words,--Charles Spurgeon and Alexander Whyte.

The word here translated books is a common one in the New Testament. It is the word biblion from which comes our word bibliography, meaning, the science of books, and, our much greater word, Bible, which means The Book. The word bibliarion, meaning a little book, is found four times in the tenth chapter of Revelation, and only there in the New Testament. The word biblos, meaning a written book, a scroll, is found thirteen times in the New Testament, five of these times in the Book of Revelation. It is the word used in the very first verse of our New Testament. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” It is the word used by the beloved physician, when speaking of the preaching of John the Baptist, which he tells us was predicted “in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet.” (Luke 3:4.)

Almost always, outside of the Book of Revelation, it is a word used in reference to the Old Testament. The exact word Paul used in writing to Timothy—biblion—meaning, a small book, or scroll, is used thirty-one times in the New Testament, and frequently means simply a written document, like a bill of divorcement. Paul uses here then a word that is quite common in the New Testament, though one rarely used among New Testament writers, to refer simply to books as such.

The word translated parchments, however, occurs nowhere else in all the New Testament Scriptures. It is the word membranas, from which we derive our word membrane. These parchments were first made of dressed skins, at the city of Pergamum (and hence were called parchments, from the name of the city). Books generally were made of papyrus. Parchments being made of skin, were much more durable, and, for a while much more expensive, though later, papyrus came to be so extensively used, that it was difficult to secure, especially if the harvest of papyrus was short, and so the time ultimately came when parchment was even cheaper than papyrus.

Professor A.T. Robertson tells us that “at first both the papyrus and the parchment book would be made into a roll. Sometimes the parchment leaves would not be pasted together in a roll, but left in loose form. This may have been the case with the parchments that Paul had left with Carpus. The papyrus were rolls of pieces of papyrus glued together of any convenient length. The columns of writing would be unrolled as one read, while the part just read would be rolled up again. Sometimes the roll would be fastened to a stick at each end. There would often be a case for the roll. The book wrap would hold a number of these rolls, whether of papyrus or parchment. The leaves of parchment, if not bound together in a codex, would lie open in the book wrap.” (A.T. Robertson’s Studies In The Text Of The New Testament, pp. 108-109.)

The question now arises as to exactly what these books were, which (probably) no man will be able to definitely determine, while we are here on this earth, with our limited knowledge. Paul gives really no hint of what they were, but, inasmuch as he distinguishes between the two, it has generally been thought that whatever the books were, the parchments were probably rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures, as Kenyon of the British Museum suggests, and many agree. (Our Bible And The Ancient Manuscripts, p.94)

The late Walter Locke, in his Commentary On The Pastoral Epistles (p. 118) says they might have been “possibly official copies of the Lord’s words or early narratives.” They could have been, and how wonderful it would be if we could be sure of this! Dr. A.T. Robertson, along this line (and he was a careful scholar), goes so far as to suggest that “it is possible that both of Luke’s books—the Gospel, and the Acts—were in that book wrap. Paul’s copies of Luke’s books, presentation copies we might say, may have been in the bunch of books in Troas. It is more likely that he had also left there Greek and Latin manuscripts of favorite authors, poets, historians, and orators.” (p. 111)

Canon Farrar, in his brilliantly written Life And Work Of St. Paul (Volume II, pp. 571-572), helps us to reconstruct in our own minds something of the environment in which Paul wrote these words.

“Perhaps he had bought these books when he was a student in the school of Gamaliel at Jerusalem; or, they may have been given him by his wealthier converts. Among the parchments were possibly the precious rolls of Isaiah and the Psalms and the lesser Pophets, which father or mother had given him as a life-long treasure in the far-off happy days when, little dreaming of all that would befall him, he played, a happy boy, in the dear old Tarsian home. Dreary and long are the days—the evenings longer and drearier still—in that Roman dungeon; and it will be a deep joy to read once more how David and Isaiah in their deep troubles learnt as he had learnt to suffer and be strong…Perhaps he thinks he would like to give them as his parting bequest to Timothy himself, or to the modest and faithful Luke, that their true hearts may remember him when the sea of life flows smooth once more over the nameless grave. Poor inventory of a saint’s possessions! Not worth one-hundredth part of what a buffoon would get for one jest in Caesar’s palace, or an acrobat for a feat in the amphitheatre, but would he have exchanged them for the jewels of the adventurer Agrippa, or the purple of the unspeakable Nero?

“No, he is much more than content. His soul is joyful in God. If he has the cloke to keep him warm, and the books and parchments to teach and encourage, and Mark to help him in various ways, and if, above all, Timothy will come himself, then life will have shed on him its last rays of sunshine; and in lesser things, as well as in all greater, he will wait with thankfulness, even with exultation, the pouring out in libation of those last few drops of his heart’s blood of which the rich, full stream has for these long years been flowing forth upon God’s altar in willing sacrifice.”

For some strange reason, the Church Fathers made very little use of this verse, and when they did quote it, they paid almost no attention to the clause speaking of books and parchments, but made all their comments upon the cloke.

When we come, however, to that peer of commentators of the sixteenth century—John Calvin—we have something entirely different, definite and practical. These are Calvin’s words, with his usual common sense.

“It is evident from this that the Apostle had not given over reading, though he was well preparing for death. Where are those who think that they have made so great progress that they do not need any more exercise? Which of them will dare to compare himself with Paul? Still more does this expression refute the madness of those men who, despising books and condemning all reading, boast of nothing but their own divine inspirations. But let us know that this Apostle gives to all believers a recommendation of constant reading that they may profit by it.”

Speaking of commentators, one of our own generation, without illuminating the text as much as we wish he had done, for he was easily able to do this,--the late Dr. Lenski—frankly faces the often-asked question whether a sentence mentioning such trivial things as a cloak and books is inspired. “Offence has been taken at the fact that Paul should mention such articles, especially the cloke. Some also ask whether inspiration is needed for a verse like this. The answer to the latter is that if inspiration is able to watch over what we admit as the great utterances of Scripture, why should it not guide also what some of us may admit the most minor ones? Certainly the Holy Spirit does not need the advice of men to tell Him what to inspire, and what not…Let the Holy Spirit judge regarding the importance…Your comfortable circumstances and mine have not been those of all other believers.” (R.C.H. Lenski: The Interpretation Of Paul’s Epistles To The Colossians, Timothy, etc. Columbus, Ohio, 1937, pp. 882-883)

The reading of Calvin’s words, written in 1556, leads us to another great scholar of the Church of the very same generation, William Tindale, who twenty years before this was executed—October 6, 1536. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the only known letter we have of William Tindale was discovered in the Archives of the Council of Brabant, a letter written when the great martyr and scholar was in prison at Vilvorde in Belgium, addressed to the Marquis of Bergen, Governor of the Council. Certainly Tindale knew, when he wrote this tender note of request, that another martyr fifteen centuries before had the very longings when he was in prison that he was experiencing, also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. These are Tindale’s words, and I give them as a precious parallel of the last words of the dying Paul.

“I believe, right worshipful, that you are not ignorant of what has been determined concerning me (by the Council of Brabant); therefore I entreat your lordship and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here (in Vilvorde) during the winter, you will request the Procureur to be kind enough to send me from my goods which he has in his possession, a warmer cap, for I suffer extremely from cold in the head, being afflicted with a perpetual catarrh, which is considerably increased in this cell. A warmer coat also, for that which I have is very thin: also a piece of cloth to patch my leggings: my overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen shirt of mine, if he will be kind enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth for putting on above; he also has warmer caps for wearing at night. I wish also his permission to have a lamp in the evening, for it is wearisome to sit alone in the dark. But above all, I entreat and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the Procureur that he may kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Grammar, and Hebrew Dictionary, that I may spend my time with that study. And in return, may you obtain your dearest wish, provided always it be consistent with the salvation of your soul. But if, before the end of the winter, a different decision be reached concerning me, I shall be patient, abiding the will of God to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, whose Spirit, I pray, may ever direct your heart.” (William Tindale: A Biography, pp. 537-538)

Now, if I may, let me come for a moment to some modern sermons on this text. Strange to say, there are not many, and most of them, as with the Church Fathers, deal not with the books, but with the cloke. Some of them become quite fanciful, and give those using the text a handle for preaching on such subjects as “On Leaving Things Behind” or “Luggage Left Behind.” The only two sermons of the last century that I have discovered dealing directly with Paul’s request for these books and parchments are in the writings of two men, both preaching in London; one in the middle of the nineteenth century, and the other in the first quarter of the twentieth century—Charles Spurgeon and Dinsdale T. Young. To speak of the last first, Dinsdale T. Young preached to 3,000 people every Sunday in Westminster Hall, London, and was one of the great adornments of British Methodism for half a century. I will never forget the night I heard him in his own pulpit in London, then an old man, who had to hold his notes very close to his eyes when it was necessary to read a sentence or two. But the difference between Young’s preaching and Spurgeon’s preaching—and Young was a great preacher, and his volumes of sermons are worth reading—is clearly discerned even in their respective treatments of such a text as this. Young begins his sermon on our text with a brilliant brief paragraph, and then that is about all one needs to remember from his sermon. These are his words: “One of the great presuppositions of the Bible is that God’s people will read. The existence of Scripture is in itself an argument for the necessity of reading. That God inspired a book indicates His desire that His servants should be readers.” (Messages For Home And Life, London, 1907, p. 61)

Mr. Spurgeon preached on this text at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Sunday morning, November 29, 1863. The first two-thirds of the sermon have to do with Paul’s request for a cloke, and I think that his seven pages on this single clause are the finest pages in the English language on this particular portion of Paul’s writings. It would be a grand thing sometime if one with much leisure and a love for books and a discerning spirit, would give us a great series of volumes in which the very finest things said on each particular phrase in the New Testament were brought together. These are Spurgeon’s words:

“We will LOOK AT HIS BOOKS. We do not know what the books were about, and we can only form some guess as to what the parchments were. Paul had a few books which were left, perhaps wrapped up in the cloak, and Timothy was to be careful to bring them. Even an apostle must read. Some of our very ultra-Calvinistic brethren think that a minister who reads books and studies his sermon must be a very deplorable specimen of a preacher. A man who comes up into the pulpit, professes to take his text on the spot, and talks any quantity of nonsense, is the idol of many. If he will speak without premeditation, or pretend to do so, and never produce what they call a dish of dead men’s brains—oh! that is the preacher. How rebuked are they by the apostle! He is inspired and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He has seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for man to utter, yet he wants books! He had written a major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books! The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, ‘Give thyself unto reading.’ The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. Brethren, what is true of ministers is true of all our people. You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible. We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cried, ‘Bring the books’—join in the cry.

“Our second remark is, that the apostle is not ashamed to confess that he does read. He is writing to his young son Timothy. Now, some old preachers never like to say a thing which will let the young ones into their secrets. They suppose they must put on a dignified air, and make a mystery of their sermonizing; but all this is alien from the spirit of truthfulness. Paul wants books, and is not ashamed to tell Timothy that he does; and Timothy may go and tell Tychicus and Titus if he likes—Paul does not care.

“Paul herein is a picture of industry. He is in prison; he cannot preach: what will he do? As he cannot preach, he will read. As we read of the fishermen of old and their boats. The fishermen were gone out of them. What were they doing? Mending their nets. So if providence has laid you upon a sick bed, and you cannot teach your class—if you cannot be working for God in public, mend your nets by reading. If one occupation is taken from you, take another, and let the books of the apostle read you a lesson of industry.

“He says, ‘especially the parchments.’ I think the books were Latin and Greek works, but that the parchments were Oriental; and possibly they were the parchments of Holy Scripture; or as likely, they were his own parchments, on which were written the originals of his letters which stand in our Bible as the Epistles to the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, and so on. Now, it must be ‘especially the parchments’ with all our reading; let it be especially the Bible. Do you attach no weight to this advice? This advice is more needed in England now than almost at any other time, for the number of persons who read the Bible, I believe, is becoming smaller every day. Persons read the views of their denominations as set forth in the periodicals; they read the views of their leader as set forth in his sermons or his works, but the Book, the good old Book, the divine fountain-head from which all revelation wells up—this is too often left. You may go to human puddles, until you forsake the clear crystal stream which flows from the throne of God. Read the books, by all manner of means, but especially the parchments. Search human literature, if you will, but especially stand fast by that Book which is infallible, the revelation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1863, pp. 668, 669)

Now let me come to what, if I may so say, is the best of all, the greatest thing ever done in our language, and probably that ever will be done in reference to Paul as a student, and the bearing of this fact on our being students of the best books, and most of all THE Book. I take these words from Alexander Whyte’s marvelous, moving volume, The Apostle Paul.

I really wish I could prevail with you who are no longer young to put aside, as Butler beseeches you, your books and papers of mere amusement, and to read Cicero’s Cato, and some of the other old age classics, if only to make those fine books to serve for so many foils in a fresh perusal of the Epistles of the Imprisonment. It is our bounden duty to read a Greek or a Roman masterpiece now and then, such as the Phaedo or the Cato, if only to awaken ourselves again to the immensity of the change that came into this world with the Incarnation and the Resurrection of our Lord. What a contrast between philosophy at its very best in Socrates and Cicero, and the Gospel of our salvation unto everlasting life in Paul’s old age Epistles! The whole truth and beauty and nobility of such books as the best of Plato and Cicero is all needed the better to bring out the inconceivable contrast between this world at its very best before Christ, and the new heavens and new earth that our Lord brought to this world with Him and left in this world behind Him. How such glorious passages as these shine out afresh upon us after we have just laid down the Cato and even the Phaedo.

“Well, after repeated readings lately of the Cato and the Epistles of the Imprisonment, and the Art of Dying Well, and Jeremy Taylor, and suchlike author’s for old age, I will now tell you some of the reflections, impressions, and resolutions, that have been left on my own mind. And take first Paul’s so touching message to Timothy about his cloke, and his books, and his parchments. For all that comes in most harmoniously after we have just been reading Cato about our keeping on reading and writing our best to the end…

“And if I might be bold enough to add one word after Calvin. I am not now, alas! a neophyte in these matters, and I will therefore take boldness to say this to you. Read the very best books, and only the very best, and ever better and better the older you grow. Be more and more select, and fastidious, and refined, in your books and in your companions, as old age draws on, and death with old age. I wonder just what books they were that Paul missed so much in his imprisoned and apostolic old age at Rome? It might have been the Apology. It might have been the Cato Major. It could not possibly have been Moses, or David, or Isaiah, or Micah. You may depend upon it, Paul did not forget his Bible when he was packing his trunk at Troas. You are far better off in the matter of books for your old age than Paul was with his Bible and all. Never, then, be out of your Old, and especially, never be out of your New Testament. As Paul says about prayer, read in your New Testament without ceasing. Never lay it down, unless it is to take up another letter of Samuel Rutherford, or another pilgrim’s crossing of the river; or, if you have head enough left for it, another great chapter of the Saint’s Rest. Nothing else. At least, nothing else less pertinent and appropriate to your years and to your immediate prospects. Nothing less noble. Nothing less worthy of yourself. Nothing at all but just those true classics of the eternal world over and over again, till your whole soul is in a flame with them, and till your rapture into heaven seizes upon you with one of them in your hand.”

Saul of Tarsus, like Timothy of Lystra, from a child knew the Holy Scriptures. And thus, no doubt, there was found among his old parchments after his death a Table of Rules and Regulations for his college conduct in Jerusalem, as good as William Law’s Rules for his college conduct in Cambridge; better Rules they could not be. But there is one possibility in Saul’s student days in Jerusalem that makes our hearts beat fast in our bosoms to think of it. ‘And the Child grew,’ we read in a contemporary biography, ‘and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. Now His parents went up to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And it came to pass after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions.’ Now Gamaliel would be almost sure to be one of the astonished doctors; and what more likely than that he had taken his best scholar up to the temple to explain the Passover to him that day? And did not the young carpenter from Nazareth, and the young weaver from Tarsus, exchange glances of sympathy and shake hands of love that day at the gate of the temple? Are there sports of providence like that in the Divine Mind? asked one of his likeminded students of Rabbi Duncan one day. Yes, and No, was the wise old doctor’s answer.

“Now the first instruction, as I think, intended to us out of Saul’s student days is this—that the finest minds in every generation should study for the Christian ministry. Perhaps the very finest mind that had been born among men since the beginning of the world entered on the study of Old Testament theology when Saul of Tarsus sat down at Gamaliel’s feet. And all Saul’s fine and fast maturing mind will soon be needed now. For a work lay before that weaver boy of Tarsus second only to the work that lay before that carpenter boy of Nazareth, though second to that by an infinite interval. At the same time, there has been no other work predestinated to mere mortal man to do for God and man to be spoken of in the same day with this weaver’s boy’s foreordained work. For even after the Lamb of God had said of His work,--it is finished! how unfinished and incomplete our New Testament would have been without the life and the work of the Apostle Paul. There was a deep harmony pre-established from all eternity between the work of Jesus Christ and the mind and the heart of Paul His apostle. No other subject in all the world but the Divine Person and the redeeming work of Jesus Christ could have afforded an outlet and an opportunity and an adequate scope for Paul’s magnificent mind. While, on the other hand, the law of God and the cross of Christ would have remained to this day but half-revealed mysteries, had it not been for God’s revelation of His Son in Paul; and had it not been for Paul’s intellectual and spiritual capacity to receive that revelation, and to expound it and preach it. Every man who has read Paul’s epistles with the eyes of his understanding in light, and with his heart on fire, must have continually exclaimed, What a gift to man is a fine mind, and that mind wholly given up to Jesus Christ! Let our finest minds, then, devote themselves to the study of Christology. Other subjects may, or may not, be exhausted; other callings may, or may not, be overcrowded; but there is plenty of room in the topmost calling of all, and there is an ever-opening and ever-deepening interest there. No wonder, then, that it has been a University tradition in Scotland that our finest minds have all along entered the Divinity Hall. The other walks and callings of human life both need, and will reward, the best minds that can be spared to them, but let the service of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ first be filled. To annotate the Iliad or the Symposium, or the Commedia; to build up and administer an empire; to command in a battle for freedom by sea or by land; to create and bequeath a great and enriching business; to conduct an influential newspaper; to be the rector of a great school; and so on, --these are all great services done to our generation when we have the talent, and the character, and the opportunity, to do them. But to master Paul, as Paul mastered Moses and Christ; to annotate, and illustrate, and bring freshly home to ten thousand readers, the Galatians, or the Romans, or the Colossians; to have eyes to see what Israel ought to do, and to have the patience, and the courage, to lead a great church to do it; to feed, and to feed better and better for a lifetime, the mind and the heart of a congregation of God’s people, and then to depart and be with Christ,-- let the finest minds and the deepest and richest hearts in every new generation fall down while they are yet young and say, Lord Jesus, what wilt Thou have me to do with my life, and with whatsoever talents Thou hast intrusted to me?

“And then, the best of all callings being chosen, the better his mind and the better his heart are, the more profit, to employ Paul’s own word about himself, will be made by the true student. For one thing, the better his mind, the more industrious, as a rule the student of divinity will be. And the absolutely utmost industry in this supreme department of study is imperative and indispensable. An unindustrious divinity student should be drummed out of the Hall as soon as he is discovered intruding himself into it. With what a hunger for his books, and with what heavenward vows and oaths of work young Saul would set out from Tarsus to Jerusalem! Our own best students come up to our divinity seats with thrilling and thanksgiving hearts, and it is only they who have such hearts who can at all enter into Saul’s mind and heart and imagination as he descended Olivet and entered Jerusalem and saw his name set down at last on Gamaliel’s roll of the sons of the prophets. Gamaliel would have no trouble with Saul, unless it was to supply him with books, and to answer his questions. ‘In all my experience I never had a student like Saul of Tarsus,’ Gamaliel would often afterwards say. And Saul’s class-fellows would tell all their days what a help and what a protection it was to be beside Saul. ‘We entered the regents class that year,’ writes James Melville in his delightful Diary, ‘and he took up Aristotle’s Logic with us. He had a little boy that served him in his chambers, called David Elistone, who, among thirty-six scholars, so many were we in the class, was by far the best. This boy he caused to wait on me and confer with me, and well it was for me, for his genius and his judgment passed mine as far as the eagle the owlet. In the multiplication of propositions, in the conversion of syllogisms, in the pons asinorum, etc., he was as well read as I was in counting my fingers. This, I mark as a special cause of thankfulness.’ And young Saul of Tarsus would be just another David Elistone in Gamaliel’s school. And you Edinburgh students of divinity must be as industrious and successful as Saul was in Jerusalem, or little Elistone in St. Andrews. And you have far more reason. For you have far better teachers, and a far better subject, and a far better prospect, than ever Saul had. You are not eternally fore-ordained, indeed, to write the Epistle to the Romans, or the Epistle to the Ephesians. But you are chosen, and called, and matriculated, to do the next best thing to that. You are called to master those masterpieces of Paul, so as to live experimentally upon them all your student life, and then you are to teach and preach them to your people better and better all your pulpit and pastoral life. You are to work with your hands, if need be; you are to sell your bed, if need be, as Coleridge commands you, in order to buy Calvin on the Romans, and Luther on the Galatians, and Goodwin on the Ephesians, and Davenant on the Colossians, and Hooker on Justification, and ‘that last word on the subject,’ Marshall’s Gospel Mystery Of Sanctification; and you are to husband-up your priceless and irrecoverable hours to such studies, as you shall give account at the day of a divinity school student’s judgment. You are to feed your people, when you have got them committed of Christ to your charge, with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the rock. And that, better and better all your life, till your proud people of Anwoth made their boast about that great genius, and great scholar, and great theologian, and great preacher and great pastor, Master Samuel Rutherford.

“’Give attendance to reading,’ was Paul’s old-age reminiscence of his student days, in the form of a counsel to young Timothy. ‘Paul has not lost his delight in books, even when he is near his death,’ says Calvin. And I myself owe so much to good books that I cannot stop myself on this subject as long as I see a single student sitting before me. I have a thousand times had Thomas Boston’s experience of good books. ‘I plied my books. After earnestly plying my books, I felt my heart begin to grow better. I always find that my health and my heart are the better according as I ply my books.’ But you will correct me that Paul could not ply the great books that Thomas Boston plied to his own salvation, and to the salvation of his people in Simprin and Ettrick. Well, then, all the more, ply your pure Bible as Paul and Timothy did, and your profiting, like Paul’s profiting and Timothy’s, will soon appear unto all. Plying your English Bible even, your profiting will soon appear in your English style, both spoken and written. It will appear in the scriptural stateliness and the holy order of your pulpit prayers also. Your profiting will appear also in the strength, and the depth, and the spirituality, and the experimentalness, and the perennial freshness, of your teaching and your preaching.

“Up, and abolish death. Up, out of your bondage all your days through fear of death. Up, and practice dying in the Lord, till you take the prize. Up, and read Paul without ceasing, and pray without ceasing, till you also shall stand on tiptoe with expectation and with full assurance of faith. Yes; up, till you also shall salute His sudden coming, and shall exclaim, Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!” (The Apostle Paul, by Alexander Whyte, pp. 174-175; 176-177; pp. 14-21; p. 181)

Piper on Personal Evangelism

2008-05-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a great little clip of John Piper talking about evangelism. It comes from Allen Peek.

Enjoy.

Amazing Grace; The Rest of the Story

2008-04-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

This is the "rest of the story" about the great hymn, "Amazing Grace". It adds a whole new dimension to John Newton's conversion to Christianity; specifically, his repentance over his sin and its expression in music.

Old School; Old Books & Typewriter

2008-04-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

A truly classy bookseller. Maybe I'll buy a typewriter.

Thoughts on Evangelism & Discipleship

2008-04-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

In the biblical evangelism community (BEC) there is a narrow view of the Great Commission (GC). We tend to view our responsibility as fulfilled if we obey Mark 16:15's injunction to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. If we go into a venue and "sow and go", we think that we have done all that we have been asked to do by our Lord.

This is a narrow view of the GC because of the fact that we must look at all of the GC passages as parallel and not exclusive of one another. For example, what do we do with Matthew 28:18-20? Here, the GC includes the idea of baptizing disciples and then teaching them to do all things that the Lord has commanded them to do. This is much broader than just giving people the Gospel. It assumes responsibility on the part of the commissioned to train the one who comes to Christ, the disciple.

Generally speaking, in the BEC those who would even mention that they are affiliated with a church when they are on the streets are viewed with some suspicion. After all, we are not there to get people to come to our church, we are there to get them to come to Christ. True enough. However, what if they do come to Christ? Or what if they want more information than you can give them in one sitting? Many people want to count the cost, weigh the evidence, and think this thing through before giving everything up to follow Christ. In fact, that is the right thing to do. Where are they going to get that information? Doesn't it stand to reason that a good place for them to get that information would be at a solid local church?

When was the last time that you read 1 Corinthians 12? So many people miss the point of this text, focusing on what gifts are or are not for today, what gifts we have, etc. The point of the text is the fact that the Lord has gifted people in the church with various gifts for the purpose of the edification of all within the local church. No one person, including the pastor, has all of the gifts necessary to do the work of edification. We need each other. I do not have everything I need to edify a new believer. But my church does. Discipleship is a team effort.

It is also our habit to suggest that our responsibility ends with our witness. We cite Philippians 1:6 and say that the Lord is the One who does the work and that He who began a good work in the life of a true believer will be faithful to complete it. Again, true enough. But does Philippians 1:6 somehow trump the responsibility we are given in Matthew 28:18-20?

I don't agree with everything that he teaches, but Zac Poonen has made an excellent point when he said that most missionaries emphasize either evangelism at the neglect of discipleship or vice versa. It is rare to find a missionary who has proper emphasis on both. Rarer still are those in the BEC who are even trying to understand the balance.

What would you say if I told you that I carry copies of my church business card with me in my wallet? I give these to people who I witness to who live near my church. What would you say about the fact that I am convicted that I need to invite more people to church? Would you consider me watered down? Compromised? Misguided?

This is not to say that most churches have a right understanding of their role in discipleship. Most do not. The point of Matthew 28:18-20 is NOT that we simply teach the new disciples all things that Jesus has commanded. No, it is that we teach them to OBSERVE all things which He has commanded. In other words, that we actually teach them how to DO those things. This insinuates that the teacher (us) is actually doing those things He has commanded and knows how to teach others to do the same thing. There are some churches which are excellent at the teaching them WHAT He commanded, but are not so hot on teaching them the how-to.

All of this does not mean that I am going to stop doing and planning outreaches outside of driving distance to my church. It does not mean that I am going to stop evangelizing strangers in public and private settings. It does mean that I am going to try to figure out how we can do evangelism publicly all around the world and still be smart about working with solid local churches in those areas to refer new believers or interested unbelievers to them.

I'm not saying that I have "arrived". I will admit that I am working on learning true discipleship. My hope is that all of us in the BEC will work on it as well. If we don't, I think that the biblical relevance of our community is in jeopardy. I'm not sure that we can survive beyond this present generation of evangelists if we don't.

Blessings,

Jon

The People You Meet

2008-04-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

Over the last year I've had the unique privilege of selling used books to some interesting individuals from every corner of the globe. Because we specialize in theology and biblical studies, some of these folks are well-known church leaders, theologians, and professors of theology. In one instance, we sold a book to a major cult leader.

But we don't sell theology alone; we also have modern first editions, Texas fiction and non-fiction, Americana, and a general antiquarian stock. As a result, I've been blessed over the years to sell to some celebrities and authors. Back when I had a used bookstore in upstate New York, I even bought some books from celebrities. Debra Winger once walked into my store and sold me a bag of paperback fiction. An editor from Esquire magazine lived in our area and bought a some books from me. When he came out with his first novel, he signed my copy. Well known artists from New York City (we were less than 2 hours away) came in looking for books. One artist bought bunches of books for a piece that she did using the torn up books as part of her medium. Stephen King shopped for homes in our area for awhile, but did not move there. More recently we sold a high end book to a guy who has published a controversial biography of President Gerald Ford. I consider him one of my less savory clients since he is considered a weasel in the used\rare book world. But his check was good.

Looking over my client database recently, I discovered that I've sold a couple of books to a prominent Emergent Church leader. I double checked it against the leader's website, and the email address is the same, so it's safe to assume that this is the same person. We send out Gospel tracts with all of our books, so I was surprised recently when he made another order. Sometimes people get very offended (not very often, thankfully) when they get a tract with a book, and I would expect that an EC guy who is as New Age as this guy is would take exception. If he did, he didn't say so and now he is a repeat customer.

So, I upped the ante. We usually send out short tracts like the "Smart Card" from Living Waters or the "What If?" card from One Million Tracts. This time I've sent him the tract "True Repentance" which is a longer tri-fold tract which deals with false conversion. A little more "in your face", with the hope that we might begin to dialogue. Call it my attempt to "enter the conversation", if you will.

At any rate, I never looked at my bookselling as ministry back when I focused on general antiquarian. Now, things are quite different. Every book gets shipped with a tract. Will anything ever come of this ministry? Only the Lord knows that. In the meantime, we'll continue to send tracts to customers who are "somebodies" and "nobodies" with the hope that the Lord will save some.

John Piper & the Prosperity Gospel

2008-03-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

This is why I like Piper; he calls a spade a spade and sounds like he actually believes what he is saying.

My New Hero

2008-03-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

This elderly lady is my new hero. As a man attempts to rob her, she shares the Gospel with him! Now that's holy boldness.

Incurious America

2008-03-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, the Dallas Morning News ran an article in their "Points" section titled, "An Incredibly Incurious America" by Susan Jacoby. Ms. Jacoby has written a book called "The Age of American Unreason". She makes some great points about American illiteracy and ignorance that I want to point out here. This is essential stuff for anyone doing biblical evangelism just so we know what we are up against when it comes to the reasoning abilities of the average American.

What frightens her (and me) the most is the fact that most Americans do not read and it is these non-reading Americans who will vote for the next leader of the free world in the November elections. She cites the prevalence of digital media as a cultural indicator of "dumbness" and points out that only 67 percent of college graduates read poems or novels for pleasure, as opposed to 82% in 1982. She rightly points out, "...there is no evidence that focusing on a screen is anything but bad for infants and toddlers" and that "...the inability to concentrate for long periods of time...seems intimately related to the inability of the public to remember even recent news events." She also bemoans the anti-rationalism of our youth which actually takes pride in ignorance.

If you stop and think about it, this has a lot to do with the popularity of Barack Obama. What does anyone know about him other than the fact that he has exciting pep rallies which tout "change"? What percentage of voters will vote for him based only on the fact that they know he is about "change"? What makes him any different than Hillary Clinton (other than actually being more liberal than she is)? How many will vote for him (amongst the Democrats) simply because he is a black man? How many will vote for Hillary simply because she is a woman? Jacoby is right. These are scary times politically speaking.

This all is very interesting to me since I just finished reading a book last week called, "What Every Christian Should Know" by Jo H. Lewis and Gordon A. Palmer. In this book, the authors bemoan the illiteracy of the average American Christian in the early 80's (back when 82% of the college graduates actually read poems and novels for enjoyment, when things were substantially better than they are now). It's interesting to note that the authors suspected that the trends would lead to the following:

An extinction of Sunday School classes.
An emphasis in youth ministries on "socialization" over content.
An increased divisiveness based on age, race and economics.
Fad-jumping.
An exodus from local churches into New Age theologies.
Decline of Bible reading.

The predominance of the Emergent Church and seeker sensitive churches have born out these concerns. There are very few serious Sunday School classes. Youth ministry has degenerated into teenage babysitting sessions. The elderly feel lost in their own churches because they have been programmed out of them as the church leadership continues to cater to the youth. For some, fad-jumping is the very definition of evangelicalism. New Age theology characterizes the Emergent Church movement. And Bible reading is on the decline.

Were the authors prophets? No, just readers who could see the proverbial writing on the wall. And just like our modern counterparts, many in evangelicalism take pride in their elevation of the lowest common denominator intellectually. Like a giant sow, they wallow in the muck of their own stupidity.

This all is why logic is lost on modern college students. It is why they embrace Darwinism uncritically, with a great deal of faith. It is why the Emergent Church will continue to grow exponentially; it is a movement which absolutely glories in knowing absolutely nothing with certainty.

The best thing we can do as Biblical evangelists to arm ourselves against this massive wave of idiocy is simply to read. Read deep theology. Read some classics in Christian and secular literature. Evaluate what you read and assimilate it. Soak in the Bible. Determine to glorify God with your mind. Prove yourself to be someone who knows how to think and you will have an edge on anyone who tries to counter the Gospel message.

ER gets post-modernism right!

2008-03-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

For all of those Emergent Church\Rob Bell fans out there, here is a good illustration of why your theology is bankrupt. It's not from John MacArthur or from Dave Hunt, but from the TV show ER.

Blessings,

Jon

Cancer Ward

2008-02-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

I just finished Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward in the Modern Library reprint. His first published work One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was printed in the Soviet literary publication, Novy Mir. Oddly enough, Khruschev himself intervened in order to have this work published, since it detailed life in Stalinist prison camps and Khruschev was for anything which made him look better than Stalin (which, incidentally, is not hard to do). Solzhenitsyn became an overnight sensation in the Soviet Union.

However, the Soviet literary circles did not look kindly on Solzhenitsyn after the publication of One Day. In the edition of Cancer Ward that I have, there are records reproduced of Solzhenitsyn's appearance before the Soviet literary committee. It's interesting reading since it gives us a glimpse of the thinking of totalitarian Soviet system in regards to censorship.

With all of the flaws of the United States, and with all of the perversion that exists in our media, I am still grateful that we have fairly liberal views of censorship in America. This freedom of the press that we have enables us to publish opinions that run counter to the culture and there are no repercussions. We can write Gospel tracts, books on evangelism and Bible study, and blogs about thinking, biblical Christianity. The drawback is the amount of filth which our freedoms allow. But at least we have a voice to counter the poison that is out there with the truth.

That is far more than Solzhenitsyn had in his own country. Solzhenitsyn is most famous for his three volume work, The Gulag Archipelago, which details prison life in the former Soviet Union. It was this work which got him exiled from the USSR to the United States. Apparently it was one thing to criticize Stalinist camps; it was another to expose the flawed Communist system that the camps personified.

Cancer Ward gives a chilling depiction of life in Soviet cancer wards and also exposes the flaws of the Communist system. He deals with the themes of life and death in a masterful way, even if from a humanistic viewpoint. It's easy to see why the Soviets were threatened by its publication. It was never published in the Soviet Union.

The Medical School; A Parable

2008-02-16T05:41:00.000-08:00

The Parable:

Once upon a time, not very long ago in a land which is right around the corner, there was a medical school. This school was considered to be the best medical school in the nation. The resident faculty had the highest credentials. The visiting lecturers were well known for their groundbreaking work in medical research and were considered the leaders in their respective fields of study.

The school was equipped with the best laboratories, the best overall facilities and a beautiful, peaceful campus. Enrollment was limited to only the very best of the very best. Thousands of prospective students from respected undergraduate programs were turned away each year, forced to settle for other excellent, but second-tier, medical schools.

The students who were granted enrollment were diligent in their studies, hard-working, and disciplined in all areas of life. They not only excelled in academics, but were respected for their morality and their leadership skills. Graduates of this school did not wait long for employment offers as graduation approached. Most had interviews lined up several months before they received their PhD's. Hospitals practically fell over each other in their attempts to lure the best graduates to their respective staffs.

But as well-respected as the school was and as desirable as the graduates were, the actions of the students was considered one of the great mysteries of modern academia. Even though they were offered the best of positions on hospital staffs and were given the opportunity to help scores of needy patients, they rarely took the positions that they were offered. In fact, the number of students who actually took jobs after they graduated each year could be counted on one hand! Why? For some reason, the students preferred to stay at the university and take more classes.

If they had previously specialized in the study of the treatment of the cardio-vascular system, they enrolled in classes about cancer. If they had specialized in the study of cancer, they would enroll in classes about neurology. Neurological students switched from studying the brain and nervous system to studying diseases of the ear, nose and throat.

The behavior of the students left the rest of the medical community bewildered. Why didn’t these students take what they had learned about healing the ailments of the human body out into the field where they could actually help people? Why were they content to go on learning, but never applying what they learned in an actual medical profession?

The situation became serious after several years as it became apparent that the best medical minds in the country would never actually practice medicine. The hope of ever finding cures to the deadliest diseases human beings face dimmed. The medical community began to realize that if the best minds did not actually practice medicine, the hoped-for cures of AIDS, cancer, and heart-disease would never be discovered.

Representatives from the other top medical schools and journals formed a committee to research the educational process on this university campus in order to discover what the reason was for this behavior. Each committee member agreed that the actions of these graduates defied the spirit of the modern Hippocratic oath that physicians take when they are granted their degree. Rather than following through on their pledge to, “…remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm”, these students chose to completely withdraw from society, ignore its needs and felt no obligation whatsoever to their fellow human beings. Their lives were entirely dedicated to their own intellectual curiosity. It was a serious situation. Something had to be done.

The committee spent several days observing the students, sitting in on the classes and meeting with the administration of the university. It became apparent very quickly what the problem was; the university was suffering from a deplorable case of in-grown intellectualism. At issue was the unwritten purpose of the university; the intellectual pursuit of medicine with no concern for applying that knowledge to the human condition.

Those few students who actually took jobs upon graduation did not take them at a medical practice or hospital, but at the university itself. They became teachers of medicine even though they had never practiced the cure of the human body. Others, who did not take jobs but continued to study were given small groups of other students to tutor. Whether they were paid staff or hobbyist tutors, the students emulated their favorite teachers, buying audio and video recordings of their favorite lectures. They even wore the same clothes, used the same expressions, and at times flat-out plagiarized their favorite staff members and guest lecturers as they taught their small groups.

What was the source of this in-grown behavior? The committee realized that it was the faculty themselves! In their lectures they did not give case studies of patients who had been helped. They did not share the joys of successfully treating seriously ill patients. Instead, they elevated the educational process in their lectures. They spoke of the joys of learning, expanding the mind about things medical, chemical and physical. The actual practice of medicine was marginalized while the theory of medicine was emphasized.

It is true that there were many formal and informal debates about treatments and methodology. The students had a firm grasp of the complicated issues at hand. They knew how to use the tools of their trade. They practiced on dummies and cadavers and were very familiar with models of skeletons and organs preserved in formaldehyde. Much to the shock of the committee, the medical internship program had been abandoned long ago. The students had not been exposed to real people with real diseases. It was all theory. The curriculum emphasized knowledge without real world application with people who were actually sick.

In effect, the university created life-long students of medicine but not even part-time practitioners of medicine! The committee concluded that while the faculty, facility and students were second to none, the educational program was a first-rate failure. The only people benefited by the education process were the students themselves and the university. The people that both groups were supposed to serve, the ill and infirm, continued to get sick and die while these students seemingly did not care.

The committee concluded that for all of the educational excellence, the university was worthless. It submitted its recommendation to the board of directors and alumni that the university be closed after the next semester. The school’s actions had discredited the medical profession and was an embarrassment to the educational process.

The Interpretation:

Pastor, church leader, and Christian; consider your role in the local church. It is the job of the local church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-13). However, in some circles, these verses have been interpreted to mean that the saints must be equipped to minister solely within the context of the local church. They may as well read these verses as “equip the saints to equip the saints, who will continue equipping the saints.” The “ultimate” for the average student of the Word of God in many churches is that they will in turn teach others in the same church. In essence, they are taught the words of eternal life and they only share them with people who already have them. This, when Jesus Himself said that it’s not those who are well that need a physician, but the sick (Matt. 9:12).

What is this but a parallel to our medical school? Christians travel long distances for seminars and conferences. They faithfully tune in their favorite Bible teacher on the radio or television. They download solid Bible teaching on the internet. Some churches pride themselves on their educational ministries, offering solid exposition of the Word of God week in and week out in a multitude of learning opportunities. As students become better students, they progress to become teachers who lead small group Bible studies, Sunday School classes, mens or womens groups, etc. If they progress in their abilities and meet the biblical standard for leadership, they might become church leaders or even full-time ministers of the Gospel. But all of these ministries are confined to the four walls of a church building. In essence, saints ministering to saints while the world goes to Hell and God is not glorified.

It begs the question: when is all of the Bible teaching that we receive going to be enough to consider someone equipped to reach the lost? Don’t get me wrong; we should all be life-long learners of the Bible (2 Tim. 2:15). Its contents will never be exhausted. The intense study of the Word is especially important for the believer who takes outreach seriously. But at what point is the average believer equipped enough to go out and proclaim the Gospel to the world? And why isn’t he nudged out of the cozy nest of the local church to do so?

Church, we are called to preach the Gospel to the lost (Mk. 16:15). We are called to make disciples of the nations, teaching them to observe all things the Lord commanded (Matt. 28:18-20). If churches become training institutes full of students who are experts on the Bible but who never use their training to reach the lost, is it safe to say that we are derelict of duty? Is it safe to say that our Hippocratic Oath has become a Hypocritical Oath? Would the Lord warn us, as He walks amongst the lampstands, that we are in danger of having our lamp removed? Would He tell us that like the Ephesian church, we have left our first love and that we must repent (Rev. 2:1-7)? Our actions have discredited the Lord of glory. They are a contradiction and embarrassment to the biblical teaching of the function of the local church.

This is a call to churches which have deplorable cases of in-grown intellectualism to repent and take their knowledge outside of the four walls of the church. Sinners need to be instructed, as John Piper has put it, concerning “What Jesus Demands of the World.” This is evangelism. This is discipleship. This is loving God enough to obey Him and loving our neighbor enough to tell him the Gospel.

Review: "The Way of the Master" by Ray Comfort & Kirk Cameron

2008-02-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

Comfort, Ray & Kirk Cameron The Way of the Master Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004. 230 pages. ISBN 1-4143-0061-1

In many ways, this review is difficult to write because by definition, a book review ought to be somewhat unbiased. This reviewer is admittedly biased; he has had the privilege of knowing the authors and working with them in several evangelistic outreaches. However, considering the goal of The Informed Evangelist, it makes sense to start with this book since it has been the introduction for so many biblical evangelists to the world of reading. Such an important book in the field ought to be reviewed.

Ray Comfort is an evangelist who lives in Southern California and who hails from New Zealand. Kirk Cameron, the former TV star and heart throb of the 1980's is nowadays a biblical evangelist, thanks to Ray's influence. Ray has written the bulk of this book, which is an updated rewrite of his earlier books, "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "Revival's Golden Key". Kirk's contribution includes comments of varying lengths. Some of the comments have less value than others, but overall they are helpful. His contributions are more than just clever marketing. They help the reader understand the content. At times, it is like having a good friend gently urging the reader on while confronted with challenging concepts.

The theme of the book is the same as the theme of Ray's entire ministry; the importance of using the moral Law of God, the Ten Commandments, in evangelism. Ray buttresses his theme with solid biblical arguments and the argument from history. He also uses good old common sense. The statistics presented of the typical "fall away rates" in modern day evangelism make it clear that something is very wrong with the way that evangelism is done these days. The secondary theme of the doctrine of false conversion is likewise backed up with much Scriptural proof.

It is hard to imagine that anyone could read this book and hold to a man-centered, modern Gospel message. Clearly people do. This is proof that for so many, evangelism has more to do with traditions passed down from respected teachers rather than what the Bible actually teaches. It has more to do with cherished programs rather than the truth.

One criticism that can be leveled against the book is Ray's tendency to find allusions to the use of the Law in evangelism in Old Testament narratives. He allegorizes several OT accounts in order to make his case. Some of this same thing was done in his old "Excellence in Evangelism" video series (B.C.--"Before Cameron"). While this kind of hermeneutic is readily accepted in some circles, it is not good hermeneutics. Just because ten camels are mentioned in a narrative does not mean that the camels must symbolize the Ten Commandments. Fortunately there are only a few instances of this in the book, not enough to seriously damage the thesis.

Another criticism which has been leveled against Way of the Master as a ministry in general, and could be leveled against the book, is the fact that the entire Gospel is not articulated. Justification, the substitutionary death of Christ, the person and ministry of Christ is not dealt with here. Rather than see this as an omission, it is better to view it as a question of purpose. The book is not intended to analyze all of the issues related to the Gospel; it is meant to teach the reader how to use the Ten Commandments to prepare the listener for the Gospel. Whether Way of the Master as a ministry should deal with those doctrines is another issue altogether.

The last criticism is a technical one. While one must admire Ray for his desire to keep modern Gospel preachers anonymous, quoting them without citing the source is just bad technique. If they're worth quoting they're worth citing. Since Ray's thesis is correct, the preachers quoted ought to be exposed for the false teaching that they are guilty of.

The book is well written. Ray is a master of the use of anecdotes. His illustration of the two airline passengers who put on parachutes for different motives and results is a classic and much repeated one amongst biblical evangelists. Because he seems to have a sense of when to tell a story or give an analogy, the book moves the reader along and holds his interest. The book can be read in a couple of sittings. Those with a serious interest in evangelism might read it in one.

Overall, the book is a "must have" for anyone who is seriously interested in biblical evangelism. It is foundational for a basic understanding of the principles of biblical evangelism. It is not the last word in biblical evangelism, but it's importance cannot be underestimated. The greatest testimony to its value is the number of people it has started on the journey to becoming passionately involved in evangelism.

Ezra, the scholar

2008-01-29T12:09:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, it was my turn to teach our adult Sunday School class. As I studied over the course of this past week, I had to stop and ask myself, "Did I lose a bet with the other teachers that I ended up with this text?" Of course, the elders at our church are not gambling men; apparently I did not pay much attention to the text when I agreed to teach it. The text? 1 Chronicles 1-9.

Yes, THAT 1 Chronicles 1-9. Nine chapters of genealogy. As it turns out, I learned a lot in my preparation for that lesson, but it stretched me both as a Christian and as a teacher.

One thing that jumps out at me when I am studying the Bible is any reference to books. As a part time used\rare book dealer I am interested in references to early scrolls. I have never had the privilege of handling any biblical manuscripts of early vintage, but I have read books about them and find them fascinating. As an evangelist, the manuscript evidence for the integrity of the Bible as the Word of God is immense and makes a strong apologetic argument for evangelism on university campuses.

As I did my background study for 1 Chronicles, I discovered that Jewish tradition names Ezra as the author. I also discovered that some scholars believe the books of the Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah to have originally been one large book, due to the similarity in style. There are good reasons to question this thesis and it has not been definitively settled. But one thing is for certain: the author of Chronicles cites his sources far more frequently than any other Old Testament writer. The Zondervan Bible Encyclopedia points out that the author of Chronicles cites no less than seven separate official records, nine separate prophetic writings, genealogical lists, official documents and letters from King Sennacherib, the words of Asaph and David, and Temple plans. Considering the mass of these sources, one is left to wonder, "Where did the author find all of these documents?"

The answer comes from one of the Apocryphal books. 2 Maccabees refers to an extensive library that Nehemiah (also of biblical fame) assembled containing some of these same kinds of sources. Specifically, it is said, "These same facts are found in the royal records and in the memoirs of Nehemiah, who established a library and collected the writings of David, letters of the kings concerning offerings, and books about the kings and prophets...If you ever need any of these books, let us know and we will send them" (2 Macc. 2:13, 15). Ezra, of course, was a contemporary of Nehemiah (see the biblical books of the same names). If Jewish tradition was right, it is likely that he got his sources from Nehemiah's library.

Ezra is the kind of guy that every biblical evangelist loves. In Ezra 8, after the Jewish people return from Babylonian exile, he read the Law of Moses to the people and they re-instituted the Passover and Levitical practice. His reading of the Law brought conviction of sin and repentance. There's something about that which resonates with us. But he is also the kind of guy that every informed evangelist loves. He valued historical accuracy and used the library that he had available to write, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, one of the historical books of the Bible. In short, he was a biblical evangelist who used books for a ministry which complemented his reformation\evangelism ministry in post-exilic Jerusalem. In fact, the book of Chronicles (it was originally one book) seems to have been written for the purpose of giving some national identity to the ex-exiles, which is part and parcel of Ezra's reformation ministry.

If it is true that we need a second Reformation (it is), then we need another generation of Ezras to not only proclaim the truth of the Law, but study to approve themselves unto God as diligent, unashamed workers, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).

Welcome!

2008-01-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to The Informed Evangelist. I hope that you are here because you love the Lord with all of your heart (enough to obey the Great Commission) and you love your neighbor as yourself (so that you will have enough guts to obey said Commission). My goal with this blog is to encourage a love of reading the printed word, mainly because we are not only commanded to love the Lord with our hearts, but also with our minds. Since there is no intellectual development apart from reading, the goal of this blog is to provide inspiration towards becoming not just a passionate biblical evangelist, but a properly informed biblical evangelist. An evangelist who loves God with his or her mind.

As a former pastor of thirteen years, a biblical evangelist of almost four years, and a used bookseller of about thirteen years I am shocked and awed by the lack of intelligent reading material in the homes of most Christians. This lack has nothing to do with the abundance of public libraries (at least here in the USA) which provide books for free. I am no scholar in the area of literacy, but it's safe to say that most Americans don't read for the following reasons:

The predominant role that television plays in American culture.
They were taught to hate reading by the public school system.
Parents do not read to their children.
The general "dumbing down" of America.
The continued growth of the internet as the main source of knowledge.

Christians are victims of all of the same societal scourges, but you can add a couple of bullet points for us:

A suspicion of anything "intellectual".
The dreck that is marketed to us as literature via the big Christian publishers and mini-big box Christian bookstores.

How ironic that Christians, people who it could be rightly said are people of one Book (the Bible), do not read! Most of us do not read even the one divinely inspired Book which distinguishes us from every other religion and cult, much less anything else which might help us understand or apply that Book.

As I see it, there is hope. Those of us who are turned on to biblical evangelism from sources such as Way of the Master (and others) come to the table with the same cultural deficiencies. Fortunately, as believers move beyond the TV program and pick up some of Ray Comfort's books they discover the joy of reading. They see authors and preachers that he cites and they begin reading books by these men and women. Reading becomes a life-line for newly discovered ideas about theology and evangelism.

The "con" in this situation is that most popular biblical evangelism resources are online. Many of these new biblical evangelists don't depend on the printed word, but on what they can glean digitally using Google and "cut and paste". This isn't the same thing (by a long shot) as reading. The proof lies in the mangled use of the English language they use when they write. Readers generally become fairly good writers, even if they are not formally taught grammar or style.

My hope is that this blog serves to point biblical evangelists in the direction of good, theologically sound reading. This will help us move beyond the habit of parroting popular evangelists and become original thinkers and communicators of the magnificent Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. May He be glorified.