Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives!
Today’s “Christianity” is not Biblical Christianity. Being born-again is just the start of us abiding in Christ, walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. These are the sons of God, Paul says in Romans 8:1-17. Then we have “no condemnation,” because we’re actually in Christ Jesus, having clear consciences before God and men, like Paul always practiced (Acts 24:16).
“History fails to record a single precedent in which NATIONS SUBJECT TO MORAL DECAY have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a SPIRITUAL AWAKENING to overcome the moral lapse, OR a PROGRESSIVE DETERIORATION leading to ultimate national disaster.” – Douglas MacArthur
Gallup: Culture, Not Churches, Influencing Americans Views of the Bible
It’s clear in recent decades, poll after poll shows the extent of the biblical ignorance and moral decline in America which has lead to tragic consequences. A new Gallup survey supports recent Barna and Pew Research, and the takeaways are consistent: it’s not the church or Christians who are impacting people’s worldview and perceptions of the Bible, it’s modern culture.
The fact God’s Word has rapidly been eradicated from our society is stunning.
World Affairs Brief, July 22, 2022 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).
OUR WOKE LEADERS’ ASSAULT ON WESTERN CULTURAL VALUES
In the name of diversity and tolerance, American social, governmental, corporate, and even religious leaders are pushing or buckling under as the woke agenda sweeps the Western world in promoting homosexuality, abortion, transgenderism, and the dismantling of all traditional conservative and Christian values. But there’s an even more sinister hidden agenda behind all these claims of protecting the “freedom to choose” and tolerance. By giving gay marriage, abortion, contraception, and transgender alterations legal status, and protection under federal law, those that oppose these issues can then be legally prosecuted under hate and anti-discrimination laws. In other words, they are not content with your toleration or even the ability of private woke corporations to censor you and all that you oppose—they want you legally silenced, if not removed from society entirely.
“It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie. It is better to stand alone with the truth, than to be wrong with a multitude.” – Adrian Rogers
Jacob Arminius taught that conversion requires the Holy Spirit’s enablement to choose salvation:
“[The] act of faith is not in the power of a natural, carnal, sensual, and sinful man, and no one can perform this act except through the grace of God….”
“The word apocrypha is from the Greek word for “obscure” or “hidden.” The apocryphal gospels are so named since they were not prominent in the early church.” (What are the apocryphal gospels?)
Canonical gospels I. The earliest II. The only ones with a credible connection to the apostles III. Lack the legendary embellishments of the later gospels IV. Recognized as authoritative from a very early date
Minute-14 “The only gospels written in the first century are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”
~”When those gospels were published, there were other people still alive who had seen those things take place.”
Apocryphal gospels mentioned (the lost gospels) — all written much later:
Gospel of Thomas
Infancy Gospel of Thomas: much later, nightmarish Jesus
Gospel of Peter: Late 2nd, early 3rd century
Gospel of Phillip
Gospel of Mary
Gospel of the Twelve
“Why does our culture love lost gospels, because they don’t want there to be one way. … You can just pick the Jesus you happen to prefer.”
21:30 How we know John wrote John: Irenaeus states John wrote John, which he got from Polycarp (his mentor), who was mentored by John himself.
Not one example of these lost gospels being included in a codex with any of the canonical gospels, or a list containing both.
We have 5,700 manuscripts of the New Testament, and several thousand copies of the canonical gospels. Compare to three copies of the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the only gospels that were read, valued and appreciated by the early church fathers.
“Haughty pride is the opposite of the spirit of humility that God seeks.”
“Pride has been called the cancer of the soul, the beginning of all sin, and sin in its final form.”
“Pride is viewed as a great sin and rebellion against God because it presumes to possess excellence and glory that belong to God alone.”
“Prideful people treat others with contempt and cruelty.”
“Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
“Pride is taking the glory that belongs to God alone and keeping it for ourselves.”
“Pride is essentially self-worship.”
“Work out your salvation; pride has to go.”
“Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
“We are not to boast about ourselves. If we want to boast, then we are to proclaim the glories of God. … It is what God says about us that makes the difference.”
“Do not be caught in this trap, pride. Fight and get delivered by the Spirit of God.”
Why do so many people attempt to soften the subject of hell? Why do they try to make it seem less horrifying, less severe, or even non-existent? The main reason is that they cannot reconcile a loving God with a God who would allow such intense suffering. People have actually created a god in their minds who doesn’t exist.
Love, joy and peace comes from abiding in Christ, walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22 But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is LOVE, JOY, PEACE, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 THOSE WHO BELONG TO CHRIST HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH with its passions and lusts.
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It has been more than two years since many people last felt true happiness and they are searching for ways to be happy again, no matter the cost.
45 percent of people have not felt true happiness for more than two years and 25 percent don’t know, or have forgotten, what it means to feel truly happy.
88 percent are looking for new experiences to make them smile and laugh. People are prioritizing health (80 percent), personal connections (79 percent), and experiences (53 percent) to gain happiness.
More than half (53 percent) wish money could buy happiness, with 78 percent willing to pay a premium for true happiness.
89 percent attempted to find happiness in online shopping during the pandemic…
Disappointing. Heiser is just teaching Martin Luther’s “only believe” false doctrine. “You can’t lose it through any sin,” he says, which he then explains through logic, ignoring what the NT says in *dozens* of warning verses, that we absolutely will lose our salvation through willful sinning, unless we completely repent, which sometimes requires reconciliation, getting right with those we remember we’ve hurt in some way (Jesus’ statement to reconcile in Mt. 5:23-24 and what Paul always practiced, Acts 24:16).
“Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win. Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible [crown in heaven]. I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” – Paul in 1 Cor. 9:24-27
Paul warned us: “work out your own salvation through fear and trembling….” Biblical, new covenant“fear” has to be much more than just “reverence,” what is commonly taught today, because Paul says to “tremble.” We should fear something serious will happen to us if we don’t work out our own salvation. It’s a big deal!
‘Shocking’ survey finds only half of Evangelical pastors hold biblical worldview
MAY 29, 2022
In what researchers described as a “shocking” find, a new report from the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University indicated just over half of all U.S. pastors of Evangelical churches (51%) have a biblical worldview.
This study, released Tuesday, builds on an earlier report from CRC’s “American Worldview Inventory 2022,” which showed that just 37% of Christian pastors bring a biblical worldview with them to their pulpits. …
Why? Almost all pastors today teach the false doctrine of “once saved always saved,” instead of how we must actually abide in Christ to be “in Christ,” walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit,” so we then have “no condemnation” and the fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
Most pastors are in Paul’s “will not inherit the kingdom” list in Galatians 5 instead.
It’s almost as if we’re now living in Sodom or Gomorrah. The results of this Barna survey are eye-opening: Of the only “6% who possess a biblical worldview and demonstrate a consistent understanding and application of biblical principles,” 25% say there is no absolute moral truth and 20% voted for Biden.
1:01:00 “God cannot fellowship with sin. If I turn away from the Lord in sin and reject His call to come back to Him and receive His forgiveness, God cannot forgive me.”
1:02:50 “Romans 11:22 says ‘behold the goodness and the severity of God.’ We underestimate both.”
The candidate I supported in the Anchorage election – the candidate for whom I volunteered and for whom I voted, Stephanie Taylor, is behind to incumbent Anchorage Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar as I write this. A similar story is playing out in other elections across the city. Vote returns are depressing, and the Assembly appears likely to remain stocked with woke progressive liberals.
How has this happened? Why weren’t more of these campaigns to unseat the progressives successful?
Witchcraft games, “Bloody Mary” and “Dungeons and Dragons” led Zachary into Satanism, where he climbed to the top as a high wizard. I’ve heard Zachary tell his story many times, which is always fascinating, but always have to give this DISCLAIMER:
His Catholic solution is in some ways wonderful, but he believes in praying to saints and other false things. Mary, Joseph and others in heaven are just people like us. No one will be able to pray to us either if we’re in heaven someday.
I like his statement: “FLEE from the Devil and RUN towards God.”
“I had to learn with time to let go of what people think and their approval of me. Since that day, I speak the truth and I don’t care what happens. If I am persecuted, I try to learn to remain humble and rejoice in these trials…. If we put our trust in other people we will always be disappointed, because people are not perfect. Only Jesus is perfect. Only He is faithful.” – George
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Paul in Gal. 1:10
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” – Jesus in John 5:44
These are a just a few of the 80 passages in the New Testament that refute OSAS, “once saved, always saved” — Jesus’ parable of the sower, found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15.
Jesus gives us four categories:
#1 Seeds sown on the path with no soil — never started growing
#2 Seeds sown on the rocky ground with little soil — “sprang up” then died without moisture
#3 Seeds sown on soil with thorns — “thorns grew with it, and choked it”
#4 Seeds sown on the good soil — produced much fruit
Of the four groups, those in the second and third categories were seeds that were growing, were born-again but then fell away from where they once were, losing their salvation.
Category #2
Jesus specifically said: “Those on the rock… believe for a while, then fall away“ (Luke 8:13).
Category #3
And those that “grew with” thorns were “choked” by them and “became unfruitful” (Mt. 13:22), of whom Jesus emphatically states will be cut off, thrown into the fire and burned: