False Christian teachings, trends….
Pastor Hines explains the meaning of the following verses in this 12-minute podcast: Romans 1:5-7 [5]Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, [6] among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; [7] To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (New American Standard Bible) [Sermon highlight points precede sermon]
This post contains a brief video podcast by Pastor Patrick Hines on Romans 1:1-4. Therein, he explains the gospel of God of which Paul testifies in his teaching. If you do not understand ‘justification by faith alone,’ then you can benefit by hearing Pastor Hines’ explanation of this text. Additionally, he provides a basic overview of the apostle Paul’s conversion and his former life as a Pharisee. [This is the most foundational doctrine of Christianity, over which the Protestant Reformation was fought; it is still largely misunderstood by Christians, especially those who do not study scripture; your understanding of ‘faith’ may also be bolstered by Pastor Hines teaching ]
This post is about a sermon on The Pilgrim’s Progress, focusing on the character ‘ignorance.’ The contents of the post emphasized how this is relevant to all Christians who are born again and walking in the WAY; in other words, on pilgrimage through the wilderness of this world. Highlight points identify the contents of the 40-minute sermon with some statements from the sermon. Also, there is a link to a post from last week that identifies all the characters in Bunyan’s book and concepts, themes…. Besides the Bible, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is the most meaningful book you will read about the Christian walk. It identifies many aspects of the Christian battle, especially diversions temptations, lies, false teachers… that take a believer off the true path. The believer must return to that path after becoming aware of being temporarily duped, deceived, tricked….
This post contains a list of the characters in John Bunyan’s work, The Pilgrim’s Progress. It also explains the themes, motifs, and symbols used in his writing. Four characters have an in-depth explanation; and the subject matter of the other sections provides much insight into the book, making it much more valuable. I read the book early in my Christian walk and realized that many things were not clear to me. I have since listened to Spurgeon preach on it, for example, but the theme and motif sections of this article, done by SparkNotes, yield some nuggets quickly, providing a basis for deeper understanding from preachers like Spurgeon if one desires it.
This post contains an article from Religious News Service on Christian Nationalism. I posted it with the purpose of critiquing it to show that it is not directed at biblical Christians, but at those professed Christians who mostly believe in the social gospel, propounded by people like Rick Warren and others. The social gospel has been around since the late 1800’s; if a professed Christian has not read through the Bible, then he / she likely does not know the difference. Also, I also wanted to show that the article upholds the Marxist democrat left’s values; it is therefore, not Christian. Why so? Marxism and Christianity oppose each other.
The two very brief videos in this post provide foundational instructions on battling sin from the works of John Owen. Pastor Mayfield explained that God wants Christians to sin less; that all Christians sin; that a Christian must seek God’s help via prayer to successfully fight sin…. The contents of these videos necessary building blocks for a Christian walk. These two videos are from a 17-part series, but stand alone. New and old Christians alike can benefit from what Pastor Mayfield explains because such things are not typically part of the Sunday church service….
Pastor John Piper explains Oprah’s errors in her beliefs about the meaning of Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. In the process, he explains the biblical meaning of that verse and clarifies Oprah’s errors, agenda, motives…. Oprah’s view is also held by those in favor of ecumenism, the two biggest names in that arena are the Pope and Rick Warren; but many think that unity before doctrine is the right way.
This post contains 3 videos. The first, 3-minute video is by Got Questions Ministries and it explains ‘delighting’ in the LORD; the second video is a reading of Psalm 37 with accompaniment of saxophone, KJV; and the third video is a NIV reading of Psalm 37 with gentle musical accompaniment. The biblical explanation provide by Got Question Ministries speaks against the purposes of the entire Prosperity and Word-of-Faith gospels. Those are unbiblical and do not lead to spiritual blessings and towards heaven….
This post contains comments on Psalm 37:1-6 from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. While I was reading this morning, I reviewed several commentaries on this passage and thought it very worthy of posting. The next couple of posts will also be about verses from this passage.
This post contains a 7-minute sermon excerpt and the entire sermon. The excerpt contains an exhortation by Spurgeon wherein he suggests that we should think of our race as though we were running from a swordsman that wants to slay us. To which he makes the following points: no one would have to exhort us to run; one would run with all his might; if we had eyes to see, then we’d know that hell pursues us; sin pursues us; evil wants to overtake us; the avenger of death is pursuing us and we should run to the city of refuge with all our might; the gates of that city stand open; Christ is that city; many shall not enter that city. Sermon highlights precede the full-length sermon