John MacArthur: Apostates Be Warned

For those evangelicals who whine that warning the church about false teaching is just being “negative” and “judgmental”, hear what the Word of God has to say about apostasy and how serious it is. Dr. John MacArthur address this in a series on Apostasy. Not all apostates leave the church. Some stay and destroy from within.

“…the great battle for the truth is waged within the framework of the visible church, that our enemy is within, the enemy has infiltrated the church. The tares have been sown amidst the wheat. Satan has disguised himself as an angel of light. His ministers are also disguised as angels of light. They have infiltrated successfully into the church always and no different today and they sow damning lies at the very heart of the Christian church. The visible church and the invisible church are two different entities. The visible church is that which bears the name of Christianity in the name of Christ. The invisible church is Christ’s true and redeemed people. And so we have to be discerning and we have to battle for the truth inside the very realm called Christendom. So we’ve been calling our study the long war on the truth, the truth war. And we have noted that this is one form of apostasy and one very, very dangerous deadly, penetrating subtle deception and effective form of apostasy. That apostasy which occurs inside the church and remains there to pollute the church and to diminish people’s confidence in the true gospel.

So we’ve been talking about this matter of defectors from the faith, those who apostatize from the faith. Some leave the church, others remain. And all of us, I think, who have been Christians for any length of time have experienced this matter of defection, this matter of rebellion, this matter of people exposed to the truth, even confessing or professing the truth who abandon the truth and turn away from Christ. We have all known people who have professed to be Christians and profess to believe in Jesus Christ, who have appeared to love the Lord and love the church and to respond to His truth, who had at some point in their lives have utterly and completely abandoned that. And now are living as none of the Scripture were true and as if the gospel was a lie and Christ was not the Savior and hell is either a fabrication or a more desirable place than heaven. Those people fall into the category of apostates, defectors from the faith. You have to know it to defect from it, to reject it. Read the entire sermon here at Grace to You.

Beware Evangelistic Malpractice

Perhaps the shambolic state of evangelicalism today can be partially laid at the feet of unbiblical “evangelism” techniques that trot hearers through prayers in a convenient, encapsulated formula. The ultimate result of this emphasis on getting “decisions” for Christ is false conversions. It is long overdue that we take a hard look at the way the Gospel is presented and end the repentance-free counterfeit that has been normative in fundamental and evangelical circles. This message from the late William MacDonald clearly articulates the problem and its solution.

There is a curious problem today in the evangelical [and fundamental] world — one that poses sobering questions for the church and for the individual believer. The problem in brief is this: a great army of personal soul-winners has been mobilized to reach the populace for Christ. They are earnest, zealous, enthusiastic, and persuasive. To their credit it must be said that they are on the job. And it is one of the phenomena of our times that they rack up an astounding number of conversions. Everything so far seems to be on the plus side.

But the problem is this: The conversions do not stick. The fruit does not remain. Six months later there is nothing to be seen for all the aggressive evangelism. The capsule technique of soul winning has produced stillbirths. Read entire post here.

*Updated* Baptist Leaders Criticize Home Churching

Commentary by Ingrid Schlueter

The woman on the other end of the line with me was distraught. She and her husband were without a church in their area, and they didn’t know what to do. There were plenty of churches, she said, but the choices within an hour of their home were the following: Roman Catholic, a Purpose-Driven circus church of over 2,000, oneness Pentecostal, ELCA Lutheran with a woman pastor, a dried-up Reformed church that had dwindled down to about 15 elderly folks, a United Methodist church that held “Halloween” services, an independent Baptist church that met in a trailer house after a vicious church split, and a Disciples of Christ church with a rainbow flag on their church sign.

“We’re down to listening to sermons online on Sundays,” she said. “If we want to take communion, we have to go to the United Methodist church because they take anyone. Do you think that’s right?”

Some parts of the country are like barren wastelands when it comes to churches. As a result, some have no choice but to worship at home. Most who do this are well aware that things are not as they should be, but they make do, all the while mourning the absence of real fellowship. Many more are in churches that they can barely tolerate for an hour on Sunday. Somewhere amid the youth group dance troop doing “worship moves”, the eardrum destroying band on “stage” and the sermon series on sex with the celebrity pastor, they lost the desire to attend “services.” But they go because after all, the kids should go to church.

Many Christian families with children are increasingly concerned about the negative influence of church youth groups that take their cues from the secular culture. These families stay home because they don’t like their children being under the authority of a 24-year-old youth pastor with 26 body piercings and several tattoos. They have a different vision for their daughters and sons than that of their church. In fact, they teach in opposition to what the church teaches. They have no choice but to home church, because finding a family-integrated church is like finding hen’s teeth these days. So they gather at home, maybe with other families of like mind.

A group of baptist leaders recently criticized the move towards home churching. They raised points about the insufficiency of home churches when it comes to church discipline, the right administration of the sacraments, and “well-prepared” sermons. The fact that many churches fail completely on those three points is not mentioned. While I understand why these men are concerned, it’s not enough to be against home churching as a practice. It isn’t enough to tell families to go find a biblical church. You can’t find what is not there in many places.

Our family lived in Greenville, South Carolina for a year. The city had more conservative churches than any area I know of. There were three good ones within half a mile of our home. Several solid churches in the area were tearing down their beautiful buildings to build bigger ones because they were outgrowing their facilities. Meanwhile, in many other parts of the country, there is a spiritual famine. I called one of the pastors of one of the jumbo churches in Greenville one day. I asked him why it was that churches could manage to send missionaries to Paupau, New Guinea, but they couldn’t manage to start a church up in the Milwaukee area. I did not get a satisfactory response. It appears that going to an area dominated by mainline churches is more daunting than traveling 7,000 miles to start churches with pagan tribes.

Until and unless God raises up more Bible-preaching, biblically faithful churches, home churching will continue to pick up steam. We are not in normal times. Exceptional times call for unusual measures, and one of those includes worshiping at home for some Christians who simply have no other choice.

*Update* For a prime example of why families are fleeing evangelical churches, please read this supposedly humorous post about youth leaders and churches. The fact is, it isn’t satire. This is the reality in most evangelical churches where the youth pastors are youth culture whores. They’ll do anything to bring the kids in and get labeled a “fun”, culturally relevant church. God help our young people to be safe from this kind of foolishness done in God’s name.

John MacArthur on Billy Graham’s False Teaching

Dr. John MacArthur addresses evangelical leaders who believe that God is so merciful that people don’t even have to hear about Him to be saved. That’s how unbelievably far away things have gotten from biblical truth. Billy Graham’s teachings on salvation are held up as Exhibit A.

NRB President Tells Broadcasters to Preach Boldly in Face of Threats

Dr. Frank Wright, president and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters, spoke at the opening session of the 67th NRB Convention & Exposition in Nashville and challenged Christian broadcasters to preach the whole counsel of God. As the potential for government interference with the message of the gospel looms, Dr. Wright’s message directly addressed the cowardly tendencies of some nationally known pastors who get squeamish about proclaiming Christ as the only way.

In front of the thousands gathered for the four-day gathering, Wright pointed to a number of examples in which prominent Christians chose not to respond to questions about their faith with the full message of the gospel but rather self-censored versions of it.

He shared about a well-known broadcaster who appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live and was asked “Is Jesus the only way to Heaven?”

“Well, he’s the only way for me,” Wright recalled the unnamed broadcaster as saying.

Read more about Dr. Wright’s excellent and timely message to broadcasters here at the Christian Post.

“Here I Stand!”

A blessed Reformation Day to Crosstalk listeners. In recognition of this historic day, October 31, 1517, when Dr. Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, here is a link to the entire “Here I Stand” speech Luther gave before the Diet of Worms. Luther stood against the full power and wrath of the corrupt church of that day, a church that had so polluted the biblical teaching of the Gospel that millions lived in spiritual bondage. But praise God for the courage of one man who refused to knuckle under to the political and religious power of the day. God’s Word alone was supreme. His Word said we are justified by faith alone, in Christ alone, not by faith plus good works or anything else.

Enjoy the recording of Max McLean as he gives the full 24-minute speech that shook the world. Today, Christians need a new reformation and clarification of those biblical doctrines once again. A corrupt evangelicalism has created a corrupt Gospel once again. Mainline Christian denominations have been apostate for nearly a century in some cases. Mysticism, humanism, sensuality and carnality mar what calls itself the Church of Jesus Christ. Dead orthodoxy riddles even conservative churches all too often. We need to pray that true preaching of the Word of God can be heard again in our churches. +Soli Deo Gloria+

For an explanation of the Reformation symbol above, Luther’s Coat of Arms, read here.

Hold That Thought, God: I Need to Check My Email

Don’t miss this short video clip with Josh Harris: Self-Control in a Wired World.

Crosstalk: Conquer Fear, Share Your Faith

Evangelist Ray Comfort will be the guest on Crosstalk Today to talk about his new book with Kirk Cameron. The book is, Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith: Evangelism Made Easy.

As Christians, most of us realize that is is our responsibility to follow Jesus’ command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone…but for many of us, that is a terrifying thought. How can we approach complete strangers and start talking with them about Christ? Where do we begin? What do we do if the person gets angry or comes back with something we don’t know how to answer?

In their new book, Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort show how anyone can follow the “Way of the Master,” the evangelism approach that Jesus used…”

Tune in live at 2pm Central at the Crosstalk website.

The Lost Sheep, Coin, and Son

Vaylard Zupke preaches on the love of God and repentance in this powerful message.