Bible Prophecy Update

Is The Bible the Word of God?, Jesus Church

Posted on September 6th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Last Days, Signs

Signs of the Last Days: God is no Longer Male

The new form of worship, which removes words such as “Lord, he, his, him” and “mankind” from services, has been written by the church in an attempt to acknowledge that God is “beyond human gender”. Traditionalists have criticised the changes on the grounds that they smack of political correctness and because they believe they are not consistent with the teachings of the Bible. The alterations have been made to provide an alternative to the established 1982 Liturgy, which, like the Bible, refers to God as a man.

The new order of service, which can be used by priests if they have difficulties with a male God, has been produced by the church’s Liturgy Committee in consultation with the Faith & Order Board of General Synod and the College of Bishops. The controversial changes were discussed at the church’s General Synod recently. The minutes of the synod reveal that female priests had asked why God was still referred to as a man. The altered version of the 1982 Liturgy sees masculine pronouns removed when they refer to God and the new approach has even been extended to humans. For example, the word “mankind” has been taken out and replaced with “world”.
Encouragement, Heaven, Jesus Church, Rob Robinson

Posted on September 4th, 2010

Written by Rob Robinson

Tags
Church

Being Hurt By Christians and Other Pitiable Plights

I was feeling sorry for myself the other day once again due to poor treatment by other believers when I realized that the Lord did not send us to the righteous of the world but to the sinner and the sick. By it’s very nature, the gospel message about Jesus Christ is for the very worst of this world. Jesus said:

Mark 2:17 … “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

I think that we have the idea, or at least the hope, that when we became a Christian we would immediately have many true and faithful friends. Those who would always be there for us. Those who would never let us down, those who would understand us when we faltered and failed. Then we woke up one morning and realized that all those who have found Jesus and are trying to follow Him, are still very imperfect beings.
Encouragement, Jesus Church, Rob Robinson, Salvation

Posted on August 28th, 2010

Written by Rob Robinson

Tags
Bible, Jesus, Salvation

He Waits For Us to Want Him

There is a doctrine found in the Bible that is called “Prevenient Grace”. It says that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. The only reason that any man can be saved and know God is that first the Lord must have pursued that man. If today you know Jesus Christ and have a personal relationship with Him, it is because He first pursued you. At some point after hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, you responded in faith and believed that Jesus died for you and accepted Him as your Savior. The act of finding you so that you could respond is all the Lord’s and none of ours. John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. If you have an urge to know the Lord, that urging originated with God, not you. This is important that we understand this basic principle in our salvation, that we “Received it” from the Lord, we did not earn it or merit it. 1 Corinthians 4:7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? The entire work of salvation from beginning to end comes from the Lord, not from men. If a man is saved and has his sins forgiven, it is because the Lord gave him the ability to see his sin, repent and receive eternal life.
Controversial Subjects, Different Jesus, Religious Cults

Posted on August 24th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Controversy, Last Days

Whatever Happened to the New Age Movement? Part 2

As discussed in Part 1 of this series, the New (Age) Spirituality which is “paganism (the occult) in modern dress” continued to grow through the 1990s and has become even more prominent during the first decade of the 21st century. It currently can be found in the work place, hospitals, public schools, prisons, on television, in bookstores, and as we will be discussing, it has been welcomed by the Church with open arms! In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul took it for granted that the people of Corinth were not ignorant of Satan’s devices. Sadly, that can’t be said of many believers today. The discernment skills of many believers are either very weak or nonexistent. The combination of a profound Biblical illiteracy and lack of a literal hermeneutic; i.e., “God says what He means and means what He says,” has left the church wide open for New (Age) Spirituality deception.
Spiritual Discernment and the Mature Believer
Both Hebrews 5:14 and Ephesians 4:14 describe the discernment skills characteristic of a mature believer. Specifically, Hebrews 5:14 describes a mature believer as one who through practice has exercised vigorously their faculty of the mind for perceiving, understanding, and judging to discern both good and evil—truth and lie.Although there is a specific gift of the Spirit given to some, called “discerning of spirits,” as spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12:10, the discernment skills referenced by both Hebrews 5:14 and Ephesians 4:13, 14, are characteristic of ALL mature believers.
Controversial Subjects, Different Jesus, Religious Cults

Posted on August 24th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Last Days, Signs

Whatever Happened to the New Age Movement? Part 1

During the 1980s, Bible-believing pastors, teachers, and watchmen for “The Faith” stood up and began to prevail against the New Age Movement. By the mid 1990s, it appeared as if the church assumed the threat had passed. It was as if a veil of deception enveloped the church to hide the truth—not only had the New Age Movement not faded away, it was spreading exponentially into the very fabric of society. Ray Yungen, author of A Time of Departing, describes this cleverly renamed New (Age) Spirituality as “The Invisible De-nomination.”1 It has been hiding in plain sight for two decades. It is time for the church to remove the veil of deception and see this New (Age) Spirituality, which has permeated evangelical denominations, Bible schools, seminaries, Christian publishers and also the teachings of respected Bible teachers.
Paganism in Modern Dress
Walter Martin evaluated these practices in his 1989 book, The New Age Cult, in which he states, “The New Age Cult is a revival of this ancient occultism. It holds historical ties to Sumerian, Indian, Egyptian, Chaldean, Babylonian, and Persian religious practices.” 2 The following occult practices (among others) are described in Deuteronomy 18:10-11:
Bible Studies, Is The Bible the Word of God?, Jesus Church

Posted on August 24th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Jesus

The Man Behind The Message

It all started in a small Bible school that my wife, Melody, and I went to during our first year as believers. One of the teachers had recently been to a seminar where the speaker had gone through all the aspects of each of the gifts and callings on men and women of God. He had talked about teachers, administrators, and so on.
The teacher in our little class that day was very excited about sharing the aspects and characteristics of a prophet to the class. He started reading his notes from the seminar he had been to, and he read things like, “Prophets are very moody, they are often very hard to get along with, they see things in black and white and might seem to lack compassion. They are often considered rude and brash, but inside they mean very well, and only want to share the truth – but they don’t seem to mind if they step on people’s toes when they do it.” While our teacher was reading from these notes, I’m sure he didn’t notice the smile spreading across my face from ear to ear. Why, everything he was reading just fit me to a tee! I just couldn’t believe my ears…at last, I had found my calling!
To top all this off, when our teacher was through reading, he turned to the class, pointed his finger at me and said, “My friends, we have a prophet in our midst!” Well, that was it – I was hooked. That’s all I needed to hear! It took the Lord about another five years to completely deflate my head from the delusions that innocent and well-meaning Bible teacher helped to promote in my life. A lot of what he shared was true, but it certainly needed a good deal of warning balance to go with it. That is what I hope to share in this article.
America In Prophecy, Jesus Church, Persecution

Posted on August 20th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Persecution, Signs

Online Ministries Denied Tax Exempt Status

God may be listening, but the IRS isn’t — or at least, not if you’re preaching online. The federal tax agency won a victory Monday for its decision not to grant church status to a religious organization that primarily conducts its worship services via radio and internet, reports theNational Law Journal. Why would it matter? Becasue non-church non-profits are subject to greater regulatory scrutiny and oversight than are churches.
The Foundation of Human Understanding, “based upon Judeo-Christian beliefs and the doctrine and teachings of its founder,” Roy Masters, had appealed the IRS classification to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, where a three-judge panel waded into the murky waters of church classification precedent. Despite what Federal Circuit Judge William Bryson said was a decided dearth of guidance about how to apply the “church” label, the panel largely looked to the associational test, which requires that members meet regularly for organized worship. Not good news for the Foundation of Human Understanding. “The fact that all the listeners simultaneously received the Foundation’s message over the radio or the Internet does not mean that those members associated with each other and worshiped communally,” Bryson wrote.
Creation v. Intelligent Design, Encouragement, Jesus Church, Rob Robinson

Posted on August 12th, 2010

Written by Rob Robinson

Tags
Church, Creation

How Did God Create The Universe?

The Bible clearly teaches that God created the Universe “Ex Nihilo”, out of nothing. Before the Lord began speaking the universe into existence, nothing existed. Psalms 33:6-9 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth… 9 For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. When John began his eyewitness account of Jesus, he begins by telling us that “All things were made by Jesus…” John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. The context of John chapter one is that when he says “all things” John is talking about the entire Universe. Later in the book of Colossians, Paul supports this claim by describing the specific parts of the Universe that Jesus created: Colossians 1:16-17 For by (Jesus) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Doctrine, Jesus v. Religion, Rob Robinson, Salvation

Posted on August 9th, 2010

Written by Rob Robinson

Tags
Jesus, Salvation

Why The Virgin Birth of Jesus is Important

The very first prophecy in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:15 where the Lord promises that it would be “The seed of a woman” would bring salvation to all men. Interesting because the woman does not have the “seed”, that product comes from the male. In the Lord saying that the woman would have the seed, He was affirming that the woman would have the ability to bring the Savior into the world without the benefit of a human father. The conception of the child would be by supernatural means, that of the Holy Spirit.
This is an extremely important statement by the Lord in that He is affirming to all men that they cannot save themselves by any good work or behavior change. Our forgiveness for sin and salvation can only come by a supernatural work of the Lord.
Jesus Church, Prayer

Posted on August 1st, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Prayer

Christian Woman Stops Robbery With Faith

Held up at gunpoint, a store clerk invoked her faith to turn the desperate thief into a repentant gunman. When a man tried to rob a MetroPCS cell phone store at gunpoint in Pompano Beach, Fla., store manager Nayara Goncalves, 20, calmly talked to the man about Jesus and her faith until he left without taking any money. Goncalves said she doesn’t know why she began to talk to him about Jesus. “I believe it was the Holy Spirit of God that really made me want to tell him about Jesus,” Goncalves told ABCNews.com. “I would never be able to do that myself. I would never think that God could use me the way that he did,” she said. “[God] impressed me.” A store surveillance camera captured the whole exchange between Goncalves and the would-be robber. The man entered the store and made small talk about the rainy weather. He asked to see a phone, and then showed Goncalves a gun and nervously asked for the money in the register. “I really hate to do this,” the gunman told Goncalves. She slowly walked towards the register and started to speak to the man, who told her not to be afraid. “I’m not,” she said. “I’m just going to talk to you about the Jesus I have.”
Bible Studies, Jesus Church

Posted on July 30th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Jesus

Agressive Christianity

“And I said, ‘Who art Thou, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which Iwill appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”‘ -Acts 26:15-18
I was thinking, while I was reading these passages, what ifwe could erase from our minds all knowledge of the history of Christianity from the close of the period described in the book of Acts – and then looking at the book of Acts, sit down and try to calculate what was likely to happen in the world. We would most likely expect very different results – a radically changed world as the outcome of it all. A system which started with such power, under such promises and declarations on the part of its Author, and producing, as it did in its first century, such gigantic and monumentous results! We would have thought (if we knew nothing of what has intervened from then until now) that the whole world would have fallen long ago to the influence of that system, and would have been brought under the authority of its great Originator and Founder. I say from reading these Acts, and from observing the Spirit which moved the early disciples, that we should have anticipated ten thousand times greater results – and in my opinion, this anticipation would have been perfectly rational and just.
Encouragement, Is Jesus God?, Jesus Church, Rob Robinson

Posted on July 29th, 2010

Written by Rob Robinson

Tags
Church, Jesus

The Leading Reason People Reject Jesus: Us.

The leading cause of people not accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior is Christians. Living in these last days, that really should not be a shock to many of us. As Jesus church we so often fail to display those characteristics that Jesus had, the chief of which is Love. I have had some of my own experience with the lack of love from fellow Christians. Abandonment, betrayal and gossip that has destroyed my reputation and my peace. All for which I did nothing wrong, those wrongs only imagined in the minds of the betrayers. When people see us as believers, they should see a glimpse of Jesus. Least of which is the sacrificial, others oriented love that Jesus said would be the mark of whether we truly knew Him or not.
Jesus Church, Signs

Posted on July 28th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Signs

Churches Entertaining Kids or Discipling?

Clearly this generation is anything but irreligious; quite the contrary. However, further examination of the research begins to reveal the disconnect I mentioned earlier. According to the study, only 55 percent of Protestant teens believe in life after death-a belief held by 50 percent of all teens, including the nonreligious. In a further contradiction, 69 percent of Protestant teens say they have made “a personal commitment to live for God” and yet only 32 percent read the Bible once a week or more, while 19 percent report having had premarital intercourse in the last year compared to 22 percent of those who are unchurched. Additionally, 63 percent of Protestant teens report cheating in school compared to only 58 percent of all teens and 41 percent say that morals are relative-that “there are no definite rights or wrongs for everybody.” Sociologist Dr. Christian Smith reported in an earlier, much larger study gleaned from in-depth interviews published in his book, Soul Searching, that “we suggest that the de facto dominant religion among contemporary U.S. teenagers is what we might call ‘Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism.’” This of course has very little to do with historic, orthodox Christianity.
America In Prophecy, Jesus Church, Prayer

Posted on July 27th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
America, Church, Prayer

Pastor Seeks 100,000 To ‘Save America’

Dr. Michael Youssef, founding pastor of The Church of The Apostles and president of the ministry Leading the Way in Atlanta, has found 42,450 people so far to join him in daily prayer for the United States since the “God Save America” campaign launched on July 4. “The greatest battle of our time is the battle for the biblical truth,” stated Youssef in an e-mail to The Christian Post on Monday. “Universalism is rampant in evangelical churches and nothing short of a Holy Spirit revival sweeping across the land will save Christ’s Church from total apostasy.” Youssef believes that the daily prayers of the 100,000 Christians who participate in the campaign will save the “Church and thus the country.” A major emphasis of the prayer campaign is to remind American Christians that the United States was founded on dependence upon God. But today, Youssef says, the country’s leaders and citizens try to attain success in their own terms. The “God Save America” prayer campaign was inspired by a New York businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier from the 19th century who led a series of small prayer meetings in New York City. The gatherings of less than 20 people soon grew to thousands and expanded to other states, noted Youssef. Across the country, stores would close during lunch time so workers could attend local prayer meetings.
Encouragement, Forgiveness, Jesus Church, Rob Robinson

Posted on July 10th, 2010

Written by Rob Robinson

Tags
Church, Salvation

The Grace Missing in Church Today

In Bible teaching churches of America today, there are two important principles that are taught constantly: “Grace and Mercy”. Mercy is not receiving something that we deserve. As sinners, all human beings deserve judgment and punishment. Because of God’s mercy, He was not willing that any person should receive judgment or punishment for their sin, so He sent His only Son Jesus Christ, to die for us at the place of judgment. When any person hears, believes and lives as if they believe this, they have all of their sins removed and there no longer remains any judgment awaiting that person. This is what mercy is all about.

Grace is Receiving all those things that we do not deserve. As sinners, all human beings are separated from God by their sin and have no hope of eternal life. Because of God’s Grace, He wanted to be able to show His Love and Goodness towards us. When we put all of of trust in Jesus Christ to remove our sins, and give us eternal life, we then are able to receive all the manifold blessings the Lord has always desired to give us.
Controversial Subjects, Jesus Church

Posted on July 8th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Controversy

Whatever Happened to the New Age?

The following occult practices (among others) are described in Deuteronomy 18:10-11: Divination: A “catch all” name for using any method to discover details of what is happening around you or to learn what will happen in the future by any means other than through God himself, who alone knows the end from the beginning. Enchanter: Another name for a sorcerer; one who practices the arts of magic of all kinds—magical remedies, po-tions, drugs and hallucinogens to see into the future. Witchcraft: “The craft” or WICCA; includes sorcery and the worship of the mother Goddess, nature, trees, etc. Charmer: Binds something physical with the spiritual; charms, amulets, something worn or carried on one’s per-son (i.e., good luck charm or religious article with a sup-posed blessing attached). Consulter of familiar spirits: Communicator with fallen angels or demonic entities in the spirit world. Wizard: One who has supernatural knowledge that is attained through communication with familiar Spirits; a “knower.” Necromancer: One who attempts to communicate with the spirits of the dead to acquire knowledge or to ask for assistance in some way by praying to anyone other than God Himself.
Jesus Church, Liberty

Posted on July 6th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Church, Controversy

Pour One For The Pastor?

A majority of Evangelical pastors refrain from drinking alcohol, as many as 60 percent said they didn’t drink socially in a survey conducted this month by the National Association of Evangelicals. “Even though there is no prohibition on the moderate alcohol consumption in Scripture, due to the many implications as an example to family and those I serve, I like Paul’s words ‘it is better not to’ (Romans 14:21),” said Gary Benedict, the president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Sober Christianity has become the norm in some traditional communities, where wedding toasts are done with sparkling cider instead of champagne and teens are warned at church youth groups about the dangers of alcohol. The number of dry counties–largely the result of church-heavy areas and conservative leaders–is falling in the U.S., but 1 in 9 counties are still dry, USA Today reported. But even among Evangelical Christians, there’s another perspective that goes: Jesus turned water into wine, and we’re not going to turn it back.
America In Prophecy, Gay Marriage, Homosexuality, Jesus Church

Posted on July 6th, 2010

Written by B.P.U Contributor

Tags
Homosexuality, Marriage

Presbyterians to Consider Redefining Marriage

MINNEAPOLIS- This week’s General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will consider redefining marriage to include same-sex couples and allowing ministers to perform same-sex weddings. Carmen Fowler, president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, believes those sorts of initiatives are to blame for the denomination’s declining membership. Her group supports upholding the church’s traditional definition of marriage. The PCUSA’s newly-elected moderator, Cynthia Bolbach, supports gay marriage but told the assembly on Saturday that the denomination has become paralyzed. Fowler says that’s what happens when a church body becomes disconnected from its head — Jesus Christ.
Older Posts Yeah! There are more posts, check them out.