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  • Atheists, Is Jesus God?

    Posted on September 6th, 2010

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    Atheistic Ignorance of God

    Atheistic Ignorance of God

    Sometimes I think atheists are simply having arguments with themselves – or, more precisely, with phantoms bred by their own ignorance. It’s easy to see why atheism does not make more headway, even in modern secular society: Once atheists begin to spell out the sort of deity they are rejecting, it becomes clear that they don’t know what they’re talking about.

    Julian Baggini, author of the Very Short Introduction of Atheism (perhaps the only one you need) and founding editor The Philosopher’s Magazine, is a very clever and amiable guy — under normal circumstances. But have a look at this piece, which appeared as the lead opinion piece in the most recent Saturday edition of The Independent, the liberal UK broadsheet paper. When an atheist pens a piece with the title, ‘If science has not actually killed God, it has rendered Him unrecognisable’, one wonders which screws have become loose.

    Like others on this blog, I am always bemused by the ways in which atheists strive to say convincing things about a deity in whose existence they supposedly do not believe.

  • Is The Bible the Word of God?, Jesus Church

    Posted on September 6th, 2010

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    Signs of the Last Days: God is no Longer Male

    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

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    Being Hurt By Christians and Other Pitiable Plights

    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

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    He Waits For Us to Want Him

    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

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    Whatever Happened to the New Age Movement? Part 2

    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

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    Whatever Happened to the New Age Movement? Part 1

    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

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    The Man Behind The Message

    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

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    Online Ministries Denied Tax Exempt Status

    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

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    How Did God Create The Universe?

    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

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    Why The Virgin Birth of Jesus is Important

    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

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    Christian Woman Stops Robbery With Faith

    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

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    Agressive Christianity

    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

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    The Leading Reason People Reject Jesus: Us.

    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.

  • Controversial Subjects, Jesus v. Everything, Rob Robinson, Salvation

    Posted on July 28th, 2010

    Written by Rob Robinson

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    No Second Chance If We Don’t Get This Right

    No Second Chance If We Don’t Get This Right

    We spend all of our lives preoccupied with things that seem so important, yet at the end of our life all these things will not matter at all. I have had the difficult task of being present during the final weeks or hours of the lives of a few persons. They were difficult moments to say the least. Trying to give comfort and encouragement to souls ready to pass into eternity, or as it would have it, never ready to pass into eternity, but going there anyway. Not one of those who were passing from this life to the next ever has told me how important their money or possessions were. In fact, there was never a mention of any material thing possessed in this life by any person in the final hours of their earthly life. What was on the mind and heart of everyone of those passing away was “where is my loved one?”, “Can you find my loved one and bring them here before I am gone…”

  • Jesus Church, Signs

    Posted on July 28th, 2010

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    Churches Entertaining Kids or Discipling?

    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

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    Pastor Seeks 100,000 To ‘Save America’

    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.

  • Bible Studies, Is The Bible the Word of God?, Jesus v. Science

    Posted on July 20th, 2010

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    Fulfilled Prophecy and Mathematical Impossibility

    Fulfilled Prophecy and Mathematical Impossibility

    Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur. Approximately 2500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors. (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 102000 (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)! God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people’s attention. Satan does, too. Through clairvoyants (such as Jeanne Dixon and Edgar Cayce), mediums, spiritists, and others, come remarkable predictions, though rarely with more than about 60 percent accuracy, never with total accuracy. Messages from Satan, furthermore, fail to match the detail of Bible prophecies, nor do they include a call to repentance. The acid test for identifying a prophet of God is recorded by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:21-22. According to this Bible passage (and others), God’s prophets, as distinct from Satan’s spokesmen, are 100 percent accurate in their predictions. There is no room for error. As economy does not permit an explanation of all the Biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled, what follows in a discussion of a few that exemplify the high degree of specificity, the range of projection, and/or the “supernature” of the predicted events. Readers are encouraged to select others, as well, and to carefully examine their historicity.

  • Encouragement, Forgiveness, Jesus Church, Rob Robinson

    Posted on July 10th, 2010

    Written by Rob Robinson

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    The Grace Missing in Church Today

    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.

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