A Clear Gospel Message

The following message is from Pastor Zac Poonen as he deals with explaining the gospel of salvation.  What does it mean to be born again or to be "saved"?

• We live in a world where the standards of Christianity have been tremendously degraded.
• Believing in Jesus does not bring salvation if there is no repentance.
• Being born again is like laying the foundation of a building.
• Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews who led a very upright life, but he was not born again.  It is not enough to be "good" (John 3:3).
• To be born again is to be born of the Holy Spirit.
• Those who love darkness like to hide things.  If you want to be born again, you must come out of the darkness.  Come to God and be open with Him about everything.
• We are not only to come to the light, but to walk in the light.
• It is like coming into a house with many dirty rooms.  Our progress from being born again to growing up into Christ is like someone going and cleaning each dirty room one at a time until the whole house is clean.

Vessels of Truth Broadcast

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Proverbs 27:17

Every Tuesday evening at 8:00 pm CST, Bro. Rashid Tillis will be hosting the "Vessels of Truth" broadcast.  This is a live, streaming video forum where believers can discuss Bible topics and issues relevant to the Church today.

The goal of the channel is to open the eyes of the blind, set the captives free, restore the soul and equip the believer to succeed in warfare!

Each session is 30 minutes long, so feel free to log on whenever your time permits and share with those in your network.

The Magic Behind Disney

We have spoken before about how the "Wonderful World of Disney" uses its programs to indoctrinate children into accepting sexual perversion.  The following videos discuss this a little more.

One thing you will see below is how the name of the wizard who teaches Mickey Mouse his "magic" in the movie Fantasia was "Yen Sid".  Yen Sid is "Disney" spelled backwards.

This wizard character was even drawn to resemble Walt Disney himself.  Truly, Satan did not hide his hand in revealing Walt Disney as a high priest of the occult, a sorcerer intent on molding little "apprentices" to follow his Satanic ideals.

Yom Kippur

Just a Little Perversion is Okay, Right?

"Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." I Corinthians 5:6-8

"Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Galatians 5:7-9

My family just finished participating in an awesome weekend of fellowship with the saints via an Omega Church & Ministry Center conference.  The night before the final day of the conference, God gave me a dream featuring the words "Yom Kippur."  I knew this was a Jewish holiday, but didn't know more than that.

The following was found on the Jewish FAQ site (emphasis added by me):

Yom Kippur is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Many Jews who do not observe any other Jewish custom will refrain from work, fast and/or attend synagogue services on this day. Yom Kippur occurs on the 10th day of Tishri [September or October]. The holiday is instituted at Leviticus 23:26 et seq.

The name “Yom Kippur” means “Day of Atonement,” and that pretty much explains what the holiday is. It is a day set aside to “afflict the soul,” to atone for the sins of the past year. In Days of Awe, I mentioned the “books” in which G-d inscribes all of our names. On Yom Kippur, the judgment entered in these books is sealed. This day is, essentially, your last appeal, your last chance to change the judgment, to demonstrate your repentance and make amends.

...It is customary to wear white on the holiday, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow (Is. 1:18).

...It is interesting to note that these confessions do not specifically address the kinds of ritual sins that some people think are the be-all-and-end-all of Judaism. There is no “for the sin we have sinned before you by eating pork, and for the sin we have sinned against you by driving on Shabbat” (though obviously these are implicitly included in the catch-all). The vast majority of the sins enumerated involve mistreatment of other people, most of them by speech (offensive speech, scoffing, slander, talebearing, and swearing falsely, to name a few). These all come into the category of sin known as “lashon ha-ra” (lit: the evil tongue), which is considered a very serious sin in Judaism.

The concluding service of Yom Kippur, known as Ne'ilah, is one unique to the day. It usually runs about 1 hour long. The ark (a cabinet where the scrolls of the Torah are kept) is kept open throughout this service, thus you must stand throughout the service. There is a tone of desperation in the prayers of this service. The service is sometimes referred to as the closing of the gates; think of it as the “last chance” to get in a good word before the holiday ends. The service ends with a very long blast of the shofar.

As part of the rituals associated with Yom Kippur, the high priest would take two goats.  One would be sacrificed as a sin offering while the other would be a "scapegoat" sent out into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people.

We know that in the New Testament, Jesus became our scapegoat by shedding His blood for the remission of our sins once and for all (Hebrews 9:6-28).  As a result, those who believe in Him and await His Second Coming are being prepared to be clothed in pure white linen representing the righteousness of the saints (Revelation 19:8).  Yet, part of this preparation is our being cleansed within from that which defiles.

Believe God

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Last year, I wrote what I called a no-brainer entitled, "Don't Believe the Devil."  I called it a no-brainer because who in their right mind would willingly believe the devil?  Yet in spite of that, we often find ourselves believing his lies & deceptions more than God's truths.

Now I have another no-brainer for you:  Believe God!

Ask any Christian, "Do you believe God?" and the answer will assuredly be, "Yes!"  We even call ourselves believers after all. But are we really believing God the way He commands us to? 

I have had areas where my faith has been tested before and I have seen God prevail every time.  God has always shown Himself faithful, even when He didn't answer in the ways I thought He should/would.  Knowing this has emboldened me to stand up straighter & stronger in subsequent trials, but has also shown me how much more I have to learn about this area called "faith."

"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:22-24

Cast any mountains into the sea lately?  I mean really.  Do we think Jesus was just joking here?

How do we believe?  How do we change our hearts to remove all doubts?  How do we adjust our eyes to see the way that God does?  How does faith in God go from being a mere proclamation into becoming a matter of substance?  How does our faith extend beyond our inner hope into becoming the evidence of even what is not seen?

evidence: a proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested

I am not trying to be flippant here; however Jesus never spoke of faith as being this ethereal, wispy, notion that we must simply grasp unto.  He spoke of faith as a living reality that had power to tangibly impact the very world in which we live.

Are we walking in that type of faith?  Are we praying with that type of faith?  I tell you, I have exercised the most faith when I simply was too ignorant of other things to know any better.  I wasn't "smart enough" to know why such and such wouldn't work; I just believed God.  Or sometimes you come by such faith only when you have exhausted every other option and failed.  Being too wise in the things of the world doesn't build faith; it just breeds fear and frustration.  We don't need to know a lot of stuff, we just need to know God.  If you want to increase in faith, then spend more time in God's word.

The God of Love

For God So Loved the World

Someone recently submitted a comment saying in part,  "God is love PERIOD...Are you sure YOU know God?"

I had to admit, as I read the person's comment that it was abundantly clear we did not serve the same God.  The idol god they endorsed was someone completely alien to the Father, because their perversion of "love" does not involve obedience to God's commands.  In this erroneous perspective, sin is of no consequence because God is love.  Holding to God's truths are merely academics in "biblical knowledge" which has nothing to do with a Christian's call to "show love."  Somehow, I don't think this is what God meant when He said that love covers a multitude of sins.  God is love, but God is also Truth.  You cannot separate the two without perverting who God is.

Christianity itself is being redefined to be about tolerance (of sin), diversity (of sin), and unity (with those willfully in sin).  Anyone who speaks about sin is therefore "judging" and "unloving."  The hatred coming against those who speak against sin has indeed become palatable.

Let me say unequivocally that I am not a servant of this idol "god of love" promoted by many in the churchworld which shies away from addressing sin and uses the grace of God to promote lasciviousness.  If that makes me your enemy, so be it.