Philip Clayton, Ph.D (shows he has the expertise to speak on this subject) has written a piece for Huff/Po “Seeking Common Ground in ‘Big Tent’ Christianity”  He touts many of the EC apostates, including McLaren, Jones, Bass and Tickle.  He begins…

We know well what it means for people to be dissatisfied with Christianity, or to blurt out “I’m finished!” and publicly walk away. I’ve even heard people proclaim that the term “Christian” has been so torn apart in the battle-to-the-death between liberals and conservatives that there’s no longer any point in using the term at all. Should we all be post-Christian now?

Yet some of us are still hanging in there. In fact, in the midst of the increasing skepticism, a number of good things are happening. For one, more people are speaking up about what’s wrong with the institutional church, making bolder calls for it to change and adapt. This is good. Don’t forget that Christianity has its heritage in the Jewish prophets, who took the religious institutions of their day to task for a multitude of sins. And the first-century rabbi whom Christians follow modeled himself on the great prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It’s high time for a more prophetic, more counter-cultural Christian faith.

Knowing the Doubts from the Inside…

Brannon Howse gives this dire warning: Glenn Beck Rally Set Stage for “Christians” to Accept Paganism, and Mormons Say Beck Achieved 200 Year Goal of Getting Evangelicals to Declare That Mormons Are Christians  Brannon laments:

I tried to warn evangelical leaders about Glenn Beck’s rallies but most of them laughed at me. Now Satan is the one laughing at them as “Christians” run head-long into embracing non-Biblical theology and call it “Christian”.

Greg West in the Mormon LDS Examiner validates my pre-Beck rally warnings to Evangelical leaders on my radio program, columns, e-mails, and phone conversations. I told them that partnering with Beck in a spiritual enterprise would send the message that Mormons are Christians.

Greg West writes:

As a Mormon, I have to consider an unintended message throughout Beck’s work, which has culminated in this event. That message is: “Mormons are Christian believers.” Despite nearly two centuries of misrepresentation and religious envy by sectarian Christianity, Beck has achieved the visibility, prominence, and has had the time day after day, week after week, to speak openly and truly about his core beliefs. Those statements of faith have disoriented and confused those who had previously believed the lies about Mormons.

Jim Garlow, a popular and influential pastor who partnered with the Mormon faithful in California to defend traditional marriage was quoted recently in CNN’s Belief Blog, saying, “I have interviewed persons who have talked specifically with Glenn about his personal salvation – persons extremely well known in Christianity – and they have affirmed (using language evangelicals understand), ‘Glenn is saved…’ He understands receiving Christ as Savior.”

Hallelujah! The light bulb has been switched on after nearly two centuries! Every single member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that a person must be “born again” and receive Jesus Christ as his Savior and Redeemer. Our holy books teach that salvation comes only in and through the atonement of Christ and that there is no other way a person can be saved…Glenn Beck’s beliefs are mainstream Mormon beliefs. Joseph Smith, the Church’s founder, was a Christian prophet. He was an apostolic witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are two new posts at Justification by Grace today:

“God’s Book” is today’s quote from Mr. Spurgeon.

The Bible is the writing of the living God— each letter was penned with an Almighty finger; each word in it dropped from the everlasting lips; each sentence was dictated by the Holy Spirit. Even though Moses was employed to write his histories with his fiery pen, God guided that pen. It may be that David touched his harp, and let sweet Psalms of melody drop from his fingers; but God moved his hands over the living strings of his golden harp. … (Read the entire quote here)

“Book of Martyrs 36″ is the next excerpt from The Book of Martyrs by John Foxe.

Gardiner himself was then tormented in the most excruciating manner; but in the midst of all his torments he gloried in the deed. Being ordered for death, a large fire was kindled near a gibbet, Gardiner was drawn up to the gibbet by pulleys, and then let down near the fire, but not so close as to touch it; for they burnt or rather roasted him by slow degrees. Yet he bore his sufferings patiently and resigned his soul to the Lord cheerfully. …(Read the rest here)

A look in this new post at the rise of Christian Universalism being spread by progressive/liberals the Emerging Church and the link to the latest 9 Marks e-Journal, which is all about the doctrine of hell.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-18 ESV)

There is a certain charismatic “church” in the metro area in which I live that advertises heavily on TV during the evening news hour. Some of their commercials are supposed to be humorous like the ones in which a fellow with an Australian accent supposedly stops random people on the street to ask them what their favorite “church” is. Of course, they all say that its the church they are advertising. All through the commercials they play Gary Glitter’s Rock & Roll Part 2 in the background, which you probably know as “the Hey Song,” and, of course, the dude with the cool Aussie accent looks so relevant… In any case, each commercial ends with the line where they give the name of the church then say, “Religion that works!” They have other commercials of course. Some show people running down the aisles of their auditorium or people falling on the floor. Nearly all those commercials say something like, “Come here, because this is where God is.” I noticed lately though that they have moved to a new level. They now have family groups who all stand around smiling and talk about the transforming power they have gone through by being there and finding God’s purpose for their lives as they were put to work serving in that “church.”

(click here to read this post)

Scott Reiber, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Vicksburg,MS, my pastor and dear friend, is preaching a series of sermons on Sunday morning on the Ordinary Means of Grace. The past two Sundays his messages has dealt with the preaching of the Gospel. It is my prayer and desire to get these sermons to as many people as possible. Please listen to these messages and pass them on to others.

Ordinary Means of Grace III-The God Ordained Means of Preaching-1 Corinthians 1:17-2:16

Ordinary Means of Grace IV-Preaching with the Wind Blowing-Rev. 1:12-20

Part 2 addresses Glenn Beck’s apparent lack of concern over progressive/liberal’s agenda to radically redefine marriage.  Marsha begins her article:

Recently Bill O’Reilly very pointedly asked Glenn Beck why he avoids the culture war. On the same-sex “marriage” issue Beck, who purports to be a conservative, said that he really doesn’t care what people do as long as it doesn’t affect him. He then quoted Thomas Jefferson who said, “If it neither breaks my leg, nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?”

An odd comment coming from a so-called Christian conservative who held up a Bible on his 8/27/10 TV show and told his audience that Americans must start reading it. I’m in total agreement with Glenn. In fact I’m thrilled that he pointed folks to sacred Scripture. The Americans who take his advice and read the Bible will discover what it says in reference to homosexuality. Here are two examples: 

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

“…God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet” (Rom 1:24-27).

God has promised us the strength for victory over sin, including homosexuality, to all those who trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 4:13)  Continue reading

There are three new posts at Justification by Grace today:

“A Trip to Heaven” is today’s quote from Mr. Spurgeon.

Christ is the chariot in which souls are drawn to heaven. The people of the Lord are on their way to heaven, they are carried in everlasting arms; and those arms are the arms of Christ. Christ is carrying them up to His own house, to His own throne; in time His prayer— “Father, I want those you have given Me to be with Me where I am” shall be completely fulfilled. …. (Read the entire quote here)

“Book of Martyrs 35″ is the next excerpt from The Book of Martyrs by John Foxe.

Dr. Constantine, an intimate acquaintance of the already mentioned Dr. Aegidio, was a man of uncommon natural abilities and profound learning; exclusive of several modern tongues, he was acquainted with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and perfectly well knew not only the sciences called abstruse, but those arts which come under the denomination of polite literature. (Read the rest here)

“Vayahiy Press” is a new publications ministry website for Justification by Grace. This link will present that announcement.

You’ll see this for yourself in this piece containing the transcript of the NPR program that Land appeared on yesterday.

As evangelicals bend their Bibles like Gumby to try and make baptized, and practicing, Mormon Glenn Beck a Christian we’re seeing more and more strange spiritual bedfellows come emerging.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18 ESV)

As we have seen, the passage Ephesians 5:18 is a command. The verb forms of “do not get drunk” and “be filled” are both present tense, imperative mood, passive voice. The imperative mood equates to a military command and something the Christian does control. Neither not getting drunk with wine unto debauchery or Spirit-filling are optional, but rather mandatory for Christians. You may ask, “how so?” This is clearly shown to be the will of God in Ephesians 5:17, just one verse earlier, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Never forget my brethren, God would not give us command unless we were being put in charge of carrying out the command, so it’s up to us to obey. 

(click here to read this post)

Jan Markell totally nails it in her piece, Have We Anointed An Unworthy Shepherd?

Could we say that the church has failed to wake up very many people so, by default, a Mormon — Glenn Beck — has made quite a stir and has become an official spiritual leader? He rallied hundreds of thousands last weekend with themes of faith and love of our country. Americans are desperate and fearful of what is coming upon this land so they look to a Mormon for leadership. I am glad his Saturday event was successful for just some of these reasons:

* Americans came to celebrate America after the highest leaders in our land have trashed her around the world.

* They focused on what was right in America and they also honored our military.

* Faith and patriotism were lifted up — two items that the Left despises.

* Attendees were passionate — traveling thousands of miles and, once arriving in D.C., walking for miles, even if handicapped.

* Conservative Americans must gather together to fortify one another. Such events strengthen one another and offer hope. Finding kindred spirits in a depressing age is essential.

* Whether the Left heard or not, the attendees sent a message that they are fed up. November is around the corner and they had better look out.

In light of the positive aspects of the honoring America weekend, could there possibly be a down side? I tried to do a fair and balanced radio program last Saturday, August 28, with Brannon Howse, former Mormon Ed Decker, and apologetics’ expert Eric Barger. We raised a few issues, and you can hear them here. I have received some thanks for the honesty and integrity of the two hours, and a few hate e-mails and calls for the position the panel took, which will be explained in the paragraphs below.  Cintinue reading

Here’s a clip of  Todd Friel’s interview with Phil Johnson.  They discuss Mormon Glenn Beck’s 8/28 honoring America, ecumenical lovefest that was held last weekend and attended by hundreds of thousands of conservative “people of faith” to include Evangelicals, Catholics, Pentacostals, Jews, Mormons, Emergents, Seekers, Dominionists, you name it, they showed up.

This is the title of a new book by Dr. Baker that’s got the quasi-universalists in the Emerging Church all excited; and of course, it comes highly recommended by EC guru Brian McLaren. But not so fast; as you’ll see in this article, these are not new arguments based upon new information/discoveries.

What Christian agnostics in the Emerging Church are doing is taking old liberalism, repainting their arguments long ago debunked, and then bringing them in to unsuspecting evangelicals who’ve not seen them before.

There are two new posts at Justification by Grace today:

“Traveling to Our Destiny” is today’s quote from Mr. Spurgeon.

This world is turning around on its axis once every twenty-four hours; and besides that, it is moving around the sun in the 365 days of the year. So that we are all moving; we are all flitting along through space. And as we are traveling through space, so we are also moving through time at an incalculable rate. Oh! what an idea it is, if we could we grasp it! … (Read the entire quote here)

“Book of Martyrs 34″ is the next excerpt from The Book of Martyrs by John Foxe.

Aegidio, however, had his enemies, and these laid a complaint against him to the inquisitors, who sent him a citation, and when he appeared to it, cast him into a dungeon. …(Read the rest here)

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-18 ESV)

As we saw in yesterday’s post Are You Being Filled With the Spirit or Something Else?, the Apostle Paul was making a very deep contrast in v18 (above) between the people being controlled by evil as they seek ecstatic spiritual experiences in any way other than the only way God has prescribed for His people. That way is to be filled with the Spirit, which is to be controlled by Him in the sense of having one’s life permeated with Him. In this post I would like to take a closer look at the contrast Paul made in v18 between the process of “being filled” with wine using the word μεθύσκεσθε, which is translated as “get drunk” in the ESV and the process of “being filled” with the Spirit using the word πληροῦσθε, which is translated as “be filled.” It should be obvious these are different words and mean something totally different, but many today misinterpret Spirit-filling to be something that causes one to lose control and become mindless such as in the “laughing revival” for instance. Let’s take a closer look at these words. 

(click here to read this post)

Find out why in this piece.

“When Luther declared the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone, he said, “Justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.” James had said it earlier in a different way. He said that “faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:26). True faith, or saving faith, is what Luther called a fides viva, “a living faith”. It is a faith that immediately brings forth the fruits of repentance and righteousness. If we say we have faith, but no works follow, that is clear evidence that our faith is not genuine. True faith always produces real conformity to Christ. If justification happens to us, then sanctification will surely follow. If there is no sanctification, it means that there never was any justification.”

R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, Chapter 8

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-21 ESV)

In Ephesians 5:18 Paul commands, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit!“ At first glance that may read or sound like Paul is saying, “instead of getting drunk, do these religious things,” which he lists in vv19-21. However, as we know, the proper way to interpret Sacred Scripture is by keeping what we are studying in context foremost. Here, the context tells us that the Apostle Paul is making a contrast that the Ephesians would have understood perfectly. Let’s go deeper.

(click here to read this post)

Here in this new article you’ll see beyond any doubt that this popular mainstream evangelical women’s Bible teacher, who works closely with Beth Moore, is promoting the transcendental meditation-lite of contemplative/centering prayer.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12 ESV)

It seemed that the moment I posted Are You Walking Circumspectly? that the pressure came to bear upon me from nearly every direction in an effort to distract me from doing that very thing. To walk circumspectly is to walk in light of the gifts of wisdom and discernment from God. However, we all have people and circumstances in our lives that are the sources of fiery tests and trials that are allowed by God to buffet us so that we will see clearly our dire need of His grace and cause us to draw closer to Him in repentance. It doesn’t help that we are at the height of ragweed season where we live and the older I get, the worse my symptoms to that become. Lay on top of that circumstances that are clear affronts to our concepts of what is “fair” and “right” and given no recourse then our emotions can certainly take over. As I reflected on these things before I prayed and sought God’s will for this piece I actually “felt” completely unworthy to do this. How can I teach from God’s Word when I have been struggling so much with my own battles over these very things? 

(click here to read this post)

Written by Family Research Council’s Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski:

Same-sex marriage is back as a front-burner issue in American politics.

First, on August 4, a federal judge in San Francisco held that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, striking down part of the California Constitution defining marriage as one man and one woman. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ordered an expedited schedule to consider this case, with arguments to be held in December.

Second, former RNC chairman and 2004 Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman came out this week, announcing he’s homosexual, and pushing the Republican Party to support the homosexual-rights agenda. Republicans leaders are beginning to weigh in on where they stand, including on the agenda’s centerpiece: Redefining marriage.

The Republican Party has an official position on same-sex marriage. It’s found in the 2008 GOP platform, which is the clear and uncontestable Republican position until the 2012 convention. When one of your authors (Ken Blackwell) was serving as vice chairman of the GOP Platform Committee, there was a singular focus on producing a party platform that fully reflects the vast majority of Republican Party members.
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There are three new posts at Justification by Grace today:

“The Anchor of Calvary” is today’s quote from Mr. Spurgeon.

There was an evil hour once when I released the anchor of my faith; I cut the cable of my belief; I no longer moored myself tight to the coasts of the Revelation of God; I allowed my vessel to drift with the wind; I said to reason, ‘You be my captain;’ I said to my own brain, ‘You be my rudder;’ and I started on my mad voyage. Thank God, it is all over now; but I will tell you its brief history. …. (Read the entire quote here)

“Book of Martyrs 33″ is the next excerpt from The Book of Martyrs by John Foxe.

When the crown of Spain was contested for in the beginning of the present century, by two princes, who equally pretended to the sovereignty, France espoused the cause of one competitor, and England of the other. (Read the rest here)

“Love’s Liberty” is scripture paraphrase written from Romans 14:1-9.

Sung in Short Meter (S.M.) to the tune of “St. Thomas” written in F Major by Aaron Williams (1731-1776). A familiar hymn sung to St. Thomas is “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord,” written by Timothy Dwight, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. (Read the rest here)

Glenn Beck is all the rage among evangelicals these days.  For those who don’t know, Beck has is a conservative radio talk show host and has a show on the Fox News channel.  His popularity has grown exponentially since the Obama take-over in the White House and our trek into big government and socialism. 

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