Enough 'Fluff'!!

From Steven J Lawson’s book entitled 'Famine in the Land' he gives this quote:

“Noah’s message from the steps going up to the Ark was not “Something good is going to happen to you!” Amos was not confronted by the high priest of Israel for proclaiming, “Confession is possession!” Jeremiah was not put into the pit for preaching, “I’m O.K., you’re O.K.” Daniel was not put into the lion’s den for telling people, “Possibility thinking will move mountains!” John the Baptist was not forced to preach in the wilderness and eventually beheaded because he preached, “Smile, God loves you!” The two prophets of the tribulation will not be killed for preaching, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world!”

The message of the true God-sent missionary will be like the message of Noah – “Repent from your sins, for judgment is coming!” It will be like that of Jonah – “Repent from your sins, for judgment is coming!” It will be like that of John the Baptist – “Repent from your sins, for judgment is coming!”

The message of the true God-sent missionary will resemble none of the fluff found in many of today’s pulpits, but will be hard-hitting and will point out the truth that the gospel message is trans-cultural!

The message of the true God-sent missionary will not seek to provide health, wealth or prosperity. It will not provide for the stomachs or well-being of the heathen with no concern for their eternal destiny!

HT - DefCon

Rachel's story, 'Death is not Dying'

This woman is dying, she has just weeks to live. She packs more truth in one hour than most of us will speak in a lifetime. This is truly inspirational, her story makes us understand how mundane our daily routine is.
Please, take an hour and watch her video, or listen to the audio. You will be moved in your heart.
Click here...



HT - Christian Research Network

Persecution or a Great Awakening - Paul Washer

Pastor Conrad Mbewe: The African Spurgeon

Overview of the wrath of God

He will NEVER come to Christ!!!

(Arthur Pink, "The Sovereignty of God")

"You will not come to Me--that you might have life." John 5:40

"No one can come to Me--unless the Father who sent Me draws him." John 6:44

Why is it, that no one can come to Christ unless he is 'drawn'? The answer is, Because his wicked heart loves sin--and hates Christ! The heart of the every man is so "desperately wicked" that if he is left to himself--he will never come to Christ!

For the sinner to come to Christ that he might have life, is for him . . .
to realize the awful danger of his situation;
to see that the sword of Divine justice is suspended over his head;
to awaken to the fact that there is but a step between him and death, and that after death is the 'judgment'! And in consequence of this discovery, to earnestly strive . . .
to flee from the wrath to come,
to cry unto God for mercy, and
to agonize to enter in at the 'strait gate'!

To come to Christ for life, is for the sinner . . .
to feel and acknowledge that he is utterly destitute of any claim upon God's favor;
to see himself as 'without strength,' lost and undone;
to admit that he is deserving of nothing but eternal wrath, thus taking side with God against himself;
to cast himself into the dust before God, and humbly sue for Divine mercy.

To come to Christ for life, is for the sinner . . .
to abandon his own righteousness;
to disown his own wisdom--and be guided by Jesus;
to repudiate his own will--and be ruled by Jesus;
to unreservedly receive the Lord Jesus as his Savior and Lord, as his All in all.

Such, in part and in brief, is what is implied and involved in "coming to Christ." But is the sinner willing to take such an attitude before God? No! For in the first place, he does not realize the danger of his situation, and in consequence makes no earnest attempt to escape. Instead, men are for the most part at ease, and whenever they are disturbed by the alarms of conscience or the dispensations of providence, they flee to any other refuge but Christ!

They will not acknowledge that all their 'good works' are as filthy rags but, like the Pharisee, will thank God they are not as bad as other heinous sinners.

They are not ready to receive Christ as their Lord--for they are unwilling to part with their idols! They had rather hazard their soul's eternal welfare--than give them up!

Hence we say that, if left to himself, the natural man is so depraved at heart--that he has no moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ!

"The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God!" Romans 8:7, 8


from grace gems

The Gift Nobody Wants - Paul Washer

John MacArthur - The Rapture of the Church

The Sin of Sodom on display in America - Voddie Baucham

Hard Times Ahead - Paul Proctor

It’s time to prepare for hard times, my friends. And, if you’re a bible believing, Christ-following Christian, I believe the coming years will be particularly troublesome. I say “bible-believing, Christ-following Christian” because our degenerating culture has all but stripped the biblical definition of the word “Christian” from today’s collective conscience so that it has lost much of it’s scriptural meaning, even among many of today’s attending church members.

The enemies of Christ have clearly risen to great power in this country and are, even as I write, busy endeavoring finish off what remains of the church for the purpose of replacing it with a god and religion more suitable for global government. Though they may well in time take possession of the many debt-heavy mega churches and other grand houses of worship around the country in order to turn them into federally-subsidized community centers for faith-based social services, they won’t be successful at completely silencing or eliminating the true body of Christ who will likely be forced to abandon them in order to keep hearing and proclaiming God’s Word uncensored. Unless the Lord Himself intervenes to alter the current course of events, those now in power will most certainly rule over us for a season – and an arduous one at that.

Read the rest here...

A Former Catholic saved by His grace - Jacquelyn's testimony

The preaching of the cross is foolishness . . . to Roman Catholics.

by The Pilgrim

Most Catholics would disagree with the title of this post. They would cite their veneration of the cross in images, sculptures, and jewelry as proof positive that they not only adore the cross, but in fact even idolize it.

However, the issue I wish to address is not in regards to the Catholics’ adoration of the physical symbol of the cross itself, nor their devotion to that physical symbol. The issue at hand—where the cross is an offense to Roman Catholics—is in its preaching.

Continue reading here...

American Christianity is almost all wrong...

I have posted this before and feel a GREAT NEED to re-post this; please, watch and share this video...

Praise God for the gift of discernment

There has been MUCH flap over the Miss California mess which has caused division with some professing believers. It seems discernment has been sucked out of some who profess Christ and insist this woman is truly born again - regardless of her breast augmentation [which she revealed to the entire world] as well as her lying about previous naked photos of herself, not to mention entering a pagan pageant in the first place. This is a situation that grows worse with each passing day...it's also one that calls for prayer for this young, lost and deceived soul. Some have opted to exalt this woman as a Christian who needs our love and support. I agree with the latter half of that. Apparently some insist on the Christian label, even though this woman bears fruit to the contrary. I URGE all who are in Christ to PRAY for genuine conversion.
I came across this article from Tony Miano, a Godly man who does NOT lack discernment. Please take the time to read this, and give the Lord praise for men such as Tony...


Miss California - - Persecution or Consequence?

The pro-homosexual side of the debate sees Miss California as a bigoted homophobe who is receiving the just desserts of her bigotry. The Christian side of the debate sees her as one suffering persecution for her faith. I would like to put forward a third position. She is neither a bigoted homophobe, nor is she being persecuted for her faith.

I believe Miss Prejean is experiencing the consequences of sin--in her case, the sin of immodesty.

But should Miss Prejean have been in that position to begin with? I believe the biblical answer is no.

What seems to be lost in the passionate debate over Miss Prejean's assertion regarding marriage is the issue of modesty and Miss Prejean's utter failure to live up to a God-honoring, faith-validating standard of respectability, modesty, and self-control (1 Timothy 2:8-10).

Miss Prejean, at least for the moment, cannot and will not be a role model for my daughters. The reason is that my wife (the most beautiful and modest woman I know) and I have tried to raise our three beautiful daughters to flee from sin and to pursue righteousness and godliness (1 Timothy 6:11-12).


Read on here...

Joel Osteen, it's just the truth - Paul Washer

HT - Truth Matters

'Strengthen your heart' - John MacArthur

By way of introduction let me say this. People might argue, and they have over the primary requisite for an effect­ive minister of Jesus Christ, They might debate about what if there was one quality that a minister would have what would it be? What would the one thing be that would make the shepherd the true shepherd of the sheep, the pastor the true pastor of the flock? Some people might say the most important ingredient would be intelligence, so we can understand the Bible. Others might‑say knowledge. He should already know the Word of God. Some might say education. He should have a lot of input, he should have a lot of experience, others might say. Some might say any combination of those foregoing. And others would say no, the most important ingredient for the pastor or the leader or the minister or any Christian servant would be leadership ability. Or others might say boldness, or holiness, or purity, or preaching power or sympathy or whatever or whatever or whatever, and multiple combinations of all of these. And I grant you that all of those have a part; that's why I thought of all of them. Because they all fit in somewhere.

But behind it all, I think the most basic, the most effective, the most necessary ingredient in the life of any minister is the love of the Church. The love of the Church. Because that becomes the catalyst that motivates him in every other dimension. The love of the Church. In Ephesians, Chapter 5 and verse 25, it says: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." It was Christ's love for the Church that prompted Him to give Himself for it. And that's why I say all of those other ingredients that come into play when a man gives himself for the Church are predicated on the fact that he loves the Church. In Acts Chapter 20, and there are many verseswe could look at in this particular passage, it says in verse 28 (Paul, speaking to the Ephesian pastors or elders: "Take heed, therefore, to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed the Church of God which He hath purchases with His own blood." Paul is saying that, remember, you have an obligation to feed the Church. What Church? The Church that He purchased with His own blood. If He loved it that much, if He loved it that much that He would give His blood for it, then the undershepherd can do no less than love it with his entire being.

read on here...

The sinful lure of lust

With all the recent hoopla surrounding Miss California and her speaking her opinion on homosexual marriage {even though she wore next to nothing and flaunted her recent breast augmentation at the pagan pageant vying for the title 'Miss USA'}, I really appreciate Ingrid Schlueter's bringing to light this wonderful article from Steve Gallagher...

The Fire of Phinehas

By Steve Gallagher

What happened that night across the Jordan River from Jericho would be spoken of in horror for hundreds of years to come.

For 40 years the Lord had painstakingly purged the love of Egypt out of His people in the wilderness. He had vigilantly protected them from the corruption of the pagan nations of the area. He had even weaned them of the carnal “flesh pots of Egypt.”

Now, as they sat poised to take the Promised Land, Satan used a turncoat prophet named Balaam to teach the Midianites how to destroy them. “This nation has a powerful God protecting them,” he told them. “You will never overcome them by force. However, I have a plan that is infallible.”

The next day, beautiful women arrived in the camp, inviting the Jewish men to a pagan festival that evening. After 40 years of eating manna, the thought of partaking in a lavish feast and sexual orgy was almost too tantalizing to pass up. They came to the sex party by the thousands, gorging themselves on sumptuous food, gulping wine, and indulging in the lewd and filthy perversions associated with Baal worship.

The utter carnality they gave themselves over to that night was bad enough, but there was something even more insidious than that at work here. Satan was not content to rob this new generation of their innocence. He wanted their souls.

The Lord attempted to limit the damage to His people by ordering Moses to have all of the guilty men publicly executed right away. Even as these death sentences were being implemented, one of the men brazenly paraded a Midianite princess through the camp and into his tent. This so provoked Jehovah that He ignited a plague which began sweeping through the nation. Thousands began dying. It was then that Phinehas, one of Aaron’s grandsons, intervened.

Before we conclude the story, however, it could be profitable to examine some of the ways this situation parallels what we are witnessing in today’s Christian world.

continue reading here...

Sound the Alarm!

I came across this article a few days ago over at morebooksandthings and thought about posting it. Then, I got busy with other things and it slipped my mind. Today, I visited a dear sister in Christ's blog and saw she'd linked to this same article. Thank you Jessie for unintentionally reminding me!!

The article, written by Paul McGuire at Moriel Ministries, sounds the alarm of up and coming persecution. I do hope you will take the time to read this, it is indeed a warning that must be heard by all who are in Christ...

The Coming Persecution of Christians in the Coming One World Government

by Paul McGuire

My spiritual mentor, Dr. Francis Schaeffer, who has been called the greatest Evangelical theologian of the last 100 years, warned that as the anarchy increased in our world due to moral relativism, that totalitarianism would rise to control the chaos. Schaeffer issued that warning over 30 years ago and said we had a brief window in which to preserve our religious freedoms. Dr. Schaeffer believed that the greatest contributing factor to the rise of totalitarianism was the fact that the Evangelical Church was accommodating to a growing humanist culture and not standing for biblical truth. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the “Emergent Church Movement” and in the “Seeker-Friendly Movement,” but it is epidemic in the Evangelical culture as a whole. Tragically, what Schaeffer predicted would happen in the church and the culture is now happening before our eyes. Schaeffer stated that it did not matter whether or not the totalitarianism came from the left or the right because the results would be the same.

With tears in my eyes, the words of Dr. Schaeffer reverberate in my mind, as I watch the rise of a global totalitarian state and the great apostasy that the Apostle warned about in 2 Thessalonians. For the most part the Evangelical Church in America and Europe is the Laodicean Church that Christ warned of in the Book of Revelation. It is this same Laodicean Church that existed in Nazi Germany before the Third Reich took control. The result of the Laodicean Church is the explosive growth of a humanist and world socialist government. This “Fourth Beast” which Daniel warned about will persecute true Bible-believing Christians in America, Great Britain and around the world before the Tribulation begins. The Church is raptured before a literal Seven year Tribulation Period, but prior to that time there will be worldwide persecution in a manner that I do not believe most Evangelical Churches and their leaders are prepared for.

Continue reading here...

Sin comes with a price...

Come out and be Separate

There has been much discussion of late over the comment made by Miss California concerning homosexual marriage. I agree with this young woman in her stance on marriage...BUT I am quite disturbed over her immodest dress. It is incomprehensible to me how any born again believer can side with a woman who parades across stage in front of millions wearing next to nothing, simply because she makes one statement {which wasn't backed with scripture} against the sin of homosexuality. I must ask this, what about her sin of immodest dress, as well as being a stumbling block by possibly stirring lust in the hearts of men worldwide?
I have found a wonderful article {thru Ingrid's slice site} written by Sandy Wood that I highly recommend to all. You can read this biblically sound piece at Sandy's link, http://www.injesusname.org/sandymodesty.html