Charles Spurgeon On Evangelism

Evangelism [01] Compel Them to Come In

Evangelism [02] Good Earnests of Great Success

Evangelism [03] Bringing Sinners to the Savior

Evangelism [04] How to Become Fishers of Men

Evangelism [05] The World Turned Upside Down

Evangelism [06] Harvest Time

New Southern Baptist President Johnny Hunt Claims Everyone Is Elect

New SBC President…sigh

Johnny Hunt is the pastor of Republican Georgia governor Sonny Perdue, who held a universalist prayer for rain last year: MEMBERS OF ALL RELIGIONS WERE INVITED. In the post below, I wondered why Perdue’s pastor – whom I had no idea was so prominent in the Southern Baptist Convention; apparently he could have been a president in the past but withdrew from consideration at the last minute – did not discipline him for publicly participating in a prayer with the heathen (and not praying in the Name of Jesus Christ) a clear violation of “thou shalt have no other gods besides me” principle of scripture.

Sonny Perdue: More Republican Universalism

Hey, I am going to be fair. I am not going to claim that Perdue’s actions – and Johnny Hunt’s failure to so much as speak against them – are the result of his pastor Johnny Hunt’s Arminianism. Still, it just strikes me as, well, a curious coincidence is all. In any event, here is what brother John Sorrell has on the post that I linked to about the new SBC president’s doctrines.

Hunt on Election

Hunt and the Doctrines of Grace

Johnny Hunt on the Sovereignty of God

Twenty Three Sins of Evangelical Christianity Or Why We Must Pray For Another Reformation!

By Phil Perkins. Recommended (vigorously so) by Theology Today.

TWENTY-THREE GREAT SINS OF AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM–Why We Must Pray For A Reformation Again.

Many Christians today are calling for revival. They are mistaken to do so. Revival is the imbuing of what already exists with new life. In the past, Evangelical Christianity has experienced renewed vigor from the Holy Spirit in great moves of God many call revivals. These are times, such as the Welsh Revival, when God, in a special work, in response to the need of the church and the prayers of the saints, breathes into the church and individual saints new spiritual power to live holy lives and to witness.What we need is a reformation much like the Protestant Reformation. God didn’t revive the Roman church. To make it stronger and more powerful would be to aid the kingdom of Satan because its doctrine was Satanic. God called a remnant out of the Roman church to return to biblical doctrine and practice. Thus, Historical Evangelicalism was born. Modern Evangelicalism is not the same. We have gone into sin and lost doctrines that are essential to make biblical faith possible and added others that make biblical faith impossible. We must not seek new vigor for Evangelicalism. We must change it or simply leave it to return to Historical Evangelicalism, that is, the faith once for all delivered.

May it please God, not to revive an old donkey, but to make us a lion again.

1. The Lost Doctrine of Regeneration.
If we aren’t changed, we aren’t saved. Jesus said that if we are His sheep, we will obey His commands and if we don’t, we aren’t His. John 10, Matthew 7:18.

2. The Lost Doctrine of Sanctification.
If we aren’t being made progressively more holy, we aren’t saved. Romans 8:28-29.

3. The Lost Doctrine of Personal Holiness.
If we aren’t radically different than those around us, we aren’t saved. Matthew 10:17 & 16:6; Luke 6:26; Ezekiel 36.

4. The Lost Doctrine of Corporate Holiness.
If our churches and institutions aren’t pure from false teaching, false teachers, and any who hold to false teaching, they are no longer Christian institutions. We must change them immediately or stop supporting them in any way whatsoever and leave them. Deuteronomy 12-13; I Corinthians 5:9-13; Revelation 2:6; 14-16, & 19-24.

5. The Lost Doctrine of the Glory of God.
If we seek our own glory or success, we are sinning. Philippians 1:12-18; Psalm 145. Matthew 23.

6. The Lost Fellowship of Suffering.
If we avoid embarrassment for being Christians, don’t worry. We aren‘t. Matthew 10: 32-33; Romans 10:9-10.

7. The Lost Leadership of Men.
If men don’t act like men again with courage and self-sacrifice, all is lost. Our fathers gave their lives for correct doctrine. Many of today’s pastors and leaders won’t risk being called “insensitive.” Men, let the ladies be sensitive. You be godly. And lead. And die. I Timothy 2:9-3:13.

8. The Lost Doctrine of the Sufficiency of Scripture.
If we read books other than the Scripture for Christian doctrine, we are blaspheming, calling God a fool or a liar. II Timothy 3:16-17. The only two proper uses of other religious works are 1) to illuminate Scripture by way of explanation or example by another more discerning or more familiar than we are, or 2) to research false teaching in order to expose the lie and expel the false teacher for the protection of those weak in the faith and for the preservation of the holiness of each of the saints and for the preservation the corporate holiness of the church, Christian school, or any other Christian institution. I Corinthians 5:9-13.

9. The Lost Doctrine of Truth over Relationship.
If we value anyone, even our families, over being right with God in practice and doctrine, we aren’t saved. This is a call back to holiness and sacrifice, not meanness. Read and take seriously what Moses and Jesus taught in the following references. You will see that following God under either the Old Covenant or the New Covenant meant that many would be separated from families, friends, and loved ones who will not accept the truth. Much false teaching and many other sins in the church are tolerated simply because one brother will not sever ties with another who has fallen. In other words, will you be willing to be divorced by your spouse because he or she will not tolerate God in the house? Pastors, will you jeopardize your career for the gospel? Many will not. This is a disgrace unfit for the kingdom of God. Choose you this day whom you will serve! Deuteronomy 13; Matthew 10:32-39.

10. The Idolatry of Love.
If we worship the god preached in most of Modern Evangelicalism, we are idolaters, because the god of most Evangelicals is only love. The God of Scripture is much more. I John 5:6; Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9.

11. The Sin of Reproving the Reprover. (The New Phariseeism–Unbiblical Rules Against Telling The Truth.)
If we continue to adopt the unscriptural ethics of the idolaters of love, we will continue to be like the Pharisees of old, adding laws God has never given, and honoring human tradition over Scripture. In our zeal for the soft, the sentimental, and the mediocre, we hate the prophet and make artifical rules to silence him. Amos 5:10 & 14-15; Matthew 11:16-19; Amos 7:10-17.

12. The Idolatry of the Effeminate. (Worshipping the Uber-mommy.)
The American jesus isn’t the Jesus of Scripture. It’s a bizarre mix of god, goddess, man, and an uber-mommy unknown to Scripture. We have idolatrous pictures of this imaginary girlygod standing at a knobless door, unable to conquer the human heart that Yahweh, the true God, created. This contradicts both reason and Scripture. Exodus 20:4-6; Revelation 1-3; Nahum 3:13; Leviticus 19:17-18; II Timothy 2:1.

13. Self Idolatry.
If we continue to preach self-esteem, we deny Christ, Who taught us we are filth. Filth awaiting judgment. Roman 3:23, 6:23.

14. The Idol of the God Who Serves Me.
If we continue to seek earthly blessings from God, rather than self-denial, we continue to indulge our emotions and expect riches and health on Earth, while our souls die. Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 9:27.

15. The Lost Doctrine of the Value of Doctrine.
If we continue to deny the importance of strong biblical doctrine, we are self-contradictory fools, valuing the doctrine that says no doctrine is to be much valued. II Timothy 2:14-18.

16. The Lost Doctrine of the Powerlessness of the Church and Its People.
If we continue to speak as if God cannot act without our cooperation, we will remain idolaters, blaspheming the Sovereign Yahweh, and worshipping a domesticated god we control. Deuteronomy 11:25; John 6:44-65.

17. The Lost Doctrine of Redeeming the Time.
If we continue to spend time in secular entertainment, we will remain unfaithful servants, not evangelizing those for whom God has made each one of us responsible, all the while poisoning our souls with the humor of Satan, the mindset of this world, and the desires of the flesh. Ephesians 5:15-16.

18. The Lie of “Impacting the Culture.” (Whatever That Means.)
If we continue to engage in this and other nebulous doctrinal sophistries, we will go to our graves, not fulfilling the Great Commission, which calls us to the specific task of teaching individuals the Scripture. Culture is the world, and is to be shunned. Learn the customs of politeness and modesty. Avoid the contamination of the values of any human culture. Love not the world. Romans 12:1-2; I John 2:15-17.

19. The Lost Obedience to Witness. (Evangelicals Who Don‘t Evangelize Are Lying!)
If we continue to cower, and not witness, we disobey Christ’s last command on Earth and refuse to disciple anyone as Christ taught us to. All His students were required to witness almost from day one. How have we come to the point at which a man can be called a Christian who isn’t regularly witnessing? It is dishonest. It is disobedient. It is inexcusable. May God damn the preacher who says otherwise. The book of Jude; Ezekiel 33.

20. The Lie of Relevance.
If we continue to attempt to “make the gospel relevant”, we are apostates, leaving the original gospel, which God told us was plenty relevant since it, and only it, is the power to save from eternal wrath. Are we smarter than God? Romans 1:16.

21. The Lost Doctrine of God’s Hatred for the Wicked. (Lost to the people, hidden by the preachers.)
If we continue to speak and preach about the god who is only love and does not hate evil and the workers of evil, we are idolaters and lie to our hearers, damning even our own children to eternal hell unless they rebel against us and return to the God of Scripture Who is loving to the repentant and burning in His anger against the unrepentant. Psalm 5:5.

22. The Lost Doctrine of Repentance.
If we continue to preach belief without Christ’s call to repentance from all known sin, we have another gospel and will spend eternity in hell, with the blood of our followers on our hands. Jude 4; Matthew 4:17.

23. The Lost Doctrine of the Fear of God.
If we continue to tell people that God is to be respected and not feared and that He will not send anyone to hell, we are liars whom God will judge eternally in hell. Most of our preachers have lied to us on this issue. Because we insist upon a god who doesn’t scare anyone we either fail to speak of hell or tell the lie that our god doesn’t send anyone there. Scripture says otherwise. Revelation 14:9-11; Malachi 1:14; Hosea 3:5 , 11:10-11; Daniel 5:25-26; Jeremiah 2:19, 5:22-24, 10:7, 10:14; Isaiah 2:10-19, 33:6, 50:10, 57:11, 59:19, 64:1-2, 6:5; Jonah 1:8-16; Jude 4; Habakkuk 3:2-16; Matthew 10:28.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

AFTER NOTE: Many have asked to reproduce this post and I will be away for a few days. Please do so. Encourage folks to copy it and take it to pastors, church boards, and denominational leaders. Use it as a petition to ask them if they will return to these biblical doctrines and practices. If not, then shake the dust off your feet.

Labels: Doctrine, Reformation Now

Why Predestination Is Fairer Than Free Will Arminianism

Yet another attempt of mine to stab at a complex topic from my ignorance, but here goes. It is commonly asserted that the predestination position as regards to salvation must be rejected because it is unfair to condemn someone to such an unspeakable fate as eternity in the lake of fire without that person having a choice in the matter. In our modern humanistic western mindsets, we define fairness as universality and equality of opportunity where each person rises to whatever heights that he may as a function of his own individual merits. Not only have we dedicated immense resources to attempting to conform our world into some utopia where such a thing is possible, but we conform our entire thinking according to this mindset. This explains why such things as racial, class, gender, religious, tribal, national, sexual preference, etc. bigotry, racism, and discrimination were taken as a fact of life worthy of no real consideration just a few short ages ago but are now considered horrible offenses against the human race. Now we do acknowledge that this fairness and equality of opportunity can never be practically reached – nonliberal Christians especially so – but we nonetheless view merely striving for it as a self – rewarding endeavor containing an inherent noble virtue.

It is no surprise, then, that our notions of fairness would influence, and as such be imposed upon, our theology. For God to be righteous means that God has to be fair, and fairness means giving everyone equality of opportunity by virtue of making salvation a free will choice to accept Jesus Christ. As far as the people who have never heard the gospel? Well that is an allowance for the fact that the utopia of equality cannot be achieved in a world that fell into sin through Adam.

The truth is, however, that there is a real tension: the fairness only applies to people that hear the gospel. The people that hear the gospel and choose to accept or reject it are the only ones that receive the sort of fair and equal treatment that is mandated by such things as the 14th amendment or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For people who never hear the message of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, this standard of “fairness” and “equality” is as irrelevant as are the 14th amendment and the Civil Rights Act to anyone living in China or Sudan right now. Just as the great many western human rights activists could honestly care less about the inequality and unfairness experienced by people who live in those regimes, their theological counterparts truthfully must limit their notion of fairness to a single subset: the very tiny percentage of the population in human history that has ever been in a position to respond to an offer of covenant relationship with God through special revelation. So then, if the truth be known universalism (not the belief that everyone will be saved but rather that there is saving grace present in all religions) is the only thing that can satisfy this notion of equality and fairness.

So it leaves the real problem: how can making salvation conditional on one’s personal decision for Jesus Christ be fair in any sense when so many have never had the opportunity to meet the condition? In that respect, it is grotesquely, manifestly UNFAIR that I was born in modern America as opposed to, say, inland China in 42 AD. It is unfair not only to my ancient Chinese counterpart, but it is unfair to ME that I should have my own fate in my own hands while tainted with the effects of original sin.

God forbid that this should transpire regarding myself, but for the sake of exercise imagine if at some point in our mutual shared torment my ancient Chinese counterpart is sitting in the flame next to me. That fellow would turn to me and say “My fate is quite understandable, but what is your excuse?” My response would have to be “None save than the love of sin that I not only could not overpower by my own strength, but truthfully did not want to even if I could have.” What would be the only honest rejoinder that my companion in torment would be capable of making? “Ah well, then I have nothing to complain about, for had the choice been up to me I would done the same as you.”

And that would be perfectly true, because even the appearance of choice would have been but the cruelest of illusions. It would have been the pretense of an equal fair choice when in truth there would have been no choice at all, a “heads I win, tails you lose” situation. For what can overpower sin but the grace of God? And if original sin can be overcome by the mere choice of a sinner, then why is grace needed in the first place? Free will makes grace not only incidental and superfluous, but a hindrance to the execution of true justice in terms of both the individual sinner and cosmic terms, and unspeakably cruel not only to those that are never offered it, but those that are offered it but lack the strength to receive it by their own initiative.

There is more still. Aren’t some people just inherently stronger than others? More moral? More virtuous? The Bible certainly says so, even to the point of there being even places in the kingdom of heaven according to one’s righteousness. So if salvation is based on free will, cannot the person that failed to exercise it blame the God that created and foreknew him for “making him weak”? If it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, then why, God, did you suffer me to be born into an extremely wealthy family? How, God, was that fair? Sure, I heard the gospel, but You said in and by Your own Word “blessed are the poor!” So then I did not have an equal fair chance to the slave person living in poverty and oppression that accepted Jesus Christ as her only hope and reason for living!

For those and many other reasons, it cannot be said that the free will position is more fair, more equal, more just, and again not only for the sakes of those that do not hear the gospel, but those who hear it but choose to live in their natural state of original sin and love of the world. Instead, it can only be fair if God Himself chooses whom He will save – and whom He will not – according to His own prerogative just as He exercised a similar sole prerogative through creation in the first place.

Reformed Christianity In Africa: Nigeria Reformed Christian Church

http://www.crcna.org  

Did Calvinism Create Capitalism?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism

Reformed Christian Spiritual Warfare: Tearing Down Strongholds Series

By Rev. Bill Versteeg

pbv.thunder-bay.on.ca/NetSermons/Josh5-13f.html

pbv.thunder-bay.on.ca/NetSermons/2Cor10-3f.html

pbv.thunder-bay.on.ca/NetSermons/Eph6-10f.html

pbv.thunder-bay.on.ca/NetSermons/Eph6-12f.html

pbv.thunder-bay.on.ca/NetSermons/1cor1-17f.html

Why We Must Understand Church History: One Reason

What Every Christian Owes to the Reformation: Why We Must Understand Church History

John MacArthur: The Church’s Confessional Carol of Christ Jesus

http://www.gty.org

Hebrews 6 And The Loss of Salvation

Hebrews 6 and the Loss of Salvation

Southern Baptists More Worried About Calvinists Than Purpose Driven Emergent Apostasy

Southern Baptists Debate Calvinism, Urge Cooperation

The rise of Calvinism among the 16 million Southern Baptists in the country shed light on existing divides within the denomination, prompting greater efforts for cooperation. Hundreds of Southern Baptists joined together last week for what was said to be a historic meeting on Calvinism. As leaders pushed for understanding and “building bridges” during the three-day conference, many recognized a broad range of beliefs increasingly influencing Southern Baptist life.

“We cannot say there is one stream that has made us,” David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., told some 550 Southern Baptists at the LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. “We find ourselves shaped by fundamentalists, by revivalists, by evangelicals, and by Calvinists. We are at a time when we need to understand who we are, where we have been and where we are going. By and large, we don’t understand our heritage.”

Dockery’s comments come at a time when an increasing number of SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) seminary graduates are affirming Calvinism, according to LifeWay Research director and missiologist Ed Stetzer. The majority of Southern Baptists have not been consistent with the five major points of Calvinism – total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saint – Dockery noted, and many have concerns about its rising influence. (Where are the concerns over the Purpose – Driven and emergent elements in the Southern Baptist Convention? Why no urgent Southern Baptist meetings over that group and what it means for the heritage and future of the convention?)

In an effort to break stereotypes hindering dialogue on Calvinism, or Reformed theology, and push for cooperative unity, Founders Ministries and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary co-sponsored the meeting aptly titled “Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism.”

One of the myths argued against was that Calvinism is a threat to evangelism. Nathan Finn, instructor of church history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest N.C., noted that the lack of evangelistic activity among Southern Baptist Calvinists is similar to the little evangelism seen among other churches in the Southern Baptist Convention. (Thanks Nathan Finn for demonstrating that a spiritually dead church is a spiritually dead church, period. Besides, please let it be known that apostate churches are often among the best at evangelizing.)

Stetzer revealed from recent studies that the number of annual baptisms relative to total membership of Calvinistic churches is virtually identical to that of non-Calvinistic churches. Some went farther to say the rise of Calvinism can help evangelistic activity. “I believe that the doctrines of grace (Calvinism) will help us restore true evangelism,” said Jeff Noblit, senior past or First Baptist church in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

“And perhaps to say that it will restore true evangelism is a shocking statement to many. After all, many have already declared that the rise in Calvinism will kill evangelism,” he added. “You can’t pin the deadness and lack of evangelism of roughly 10,000 Southern Baptists churches on the fact that Calvinism killed evangelism. It was dead already.” The number of baptisms in SBC churches declined for the second consecutive year in 2006. (Again, thanks Jeff Noblit for pointing this out.)

Noblit noted that “probably” the most used and copied witnessing tool Southern Baptists have ever embraced is “Evangelism Explosion,” developed by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, a Presbyterian and five-point Calvinist.

At the same time, Noblit said he was not suggesting that Calvinists are “the perfect models.” Yet some Calvinists accuse non-Calvinists of being less than gospel preachers because they do not accept the five points of Calvinism. It’s that very accusation that concerns non-Calvinists, said Charles Lawless – dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. – dispelling the stereotype that non-Calvinists do not like Calvinists.

During the conference, Southern Baptist theologians debated on the five points, including unconditional election – that God chooses every person who will be saved, not based on an individual’s merit or on his looking forward to discover who would accept the offer of the gospel but solely upon the counsel of His own will – and limited atonement – that Christ died for the elect and not all.

Southern Baptists were urged to be committed to defending their particular convictions but not at the expense of cooperation with each other. “The Calvinism issue is not going to go away, so Southern Baptists must be willing to openly discuss and debate the doctrines of grace in an effort to be biblically accurate and, just maybe, come to a greater theological consensus in the years to come,” said Finn.

“I believe our Baptist fellowship is big enough in all the right ways,” Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, told the attendants. “We may not agree on everything, but we agree on more than enough to work together for our Lord Jesus in fulfilling the Great Commission.” (They need to start agreeing on kicking the Purpose Driven and emergent folks out. But it really does seem that most of these folks would rather keep the Purpose Driven emergents and kick the Calvinists out instead. Oh well.)

The HyperCalvinist Old Trailblazer On Christmas: A Demon Holiday

This is from the original trailblazer, L. R. Shelton, who died in 1971. His successor is Albert Pendarvis, who a couple of years ago was the first non – Arminian pastor I was ever exposed to.

radiomissions.org/sermons/xmas.html

Reformed Christianity: Does God Create Unbelief? The Divine Initiative

R.C. Sproul series 2 http://ligonier.org