CHRISTIAN CANCEL CULTURE

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Sorry, I missed putting up a post on each of the last two days. I was attending a Full Gospel Businessman’s (FGBFI) Convention where we had 20+ Indonesian Christian businessmen and wives in Australia to revive FGBFI in Australia. Christians from a Muslim country were here to revive Christians in a former Christian country. They were on fire for God. We obviously need more persecution to set us on fire.

Promise Keepers, an Evangelical organization in the USA founded in 1990 that holds men’s rallies in stadiums nationwide, has seen several scheduled events at churches and other venues canceled in recent months.

As recently as June, Belmont University, a private Christian university in Nashville, cancelled a Promise Keepers event after the national Christian men’s ministry posted a blog criticizing LGBT pride month. The university accused the organization of “unnecessarily fan[ning] the flames of culture wars.”

Promise Keepers’s “Daring Faith” tour, is one of several events that were later canceled by Christian venues, including Hope Church in Cordova, Tennessee, and The Fountain of Praise in Houston.

“Chairman and CEO of Promise Keepers, Ken Harrison said the cancellations were “disheartening” given that they came not from secular groups, but overtly Christian ones. One venue was worried that we would offend people by expressing our belief, rooted in Scripture, about gender and sexual identity,” he told The Christian Post via email. “Others said they didn’t want to draw protesters or simply didn’t give us a reason. 

In 2021, a USA Today editor called on the Dallas Cowboys organization to bar Promise Keepers from holding a men’s conference at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, over Harrison’s views on men competing in women’s sports. 

“The spirit of the age we live in is fear — of being criticized, disliked, canceled. As Promise Keepers, we refuse to give into that fear,” he said. “We choose to pursue and share God’s truth over being liked by all.

Jesus told us that in the time before Jesus returns to restore righteousness to Earth that Christians will endure increasing tribulation.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:7-12

But the good news is that Jesus will take us to heaven with the Rapture event prior to pouring out His wrath upon an unrepentant world with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements.

“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.“ Revelation 3:10

We are told at the sixth seal that celestial signs appear in the sky that herald Jesus coming to gather the Saints and also God’s wrath has come.

“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:15-17

It is at the trumpet blast of the seventh seal that the Rapture takes place and shortly thereafter John sees the raptured Saints before the throne of God.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 7:9-12

WHY CHRISTIANS REJOICE IN THEIR SUFFERINGS

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As we fast approach the time before Jesus’ return when persecution of Christians intensifies we need to begin to develop the type of Christian life that doesn’t need a large church to sustain it and a walk with Jesus that values true community, not backseat participation – in effect, non-participation. You might grow as never before under persecution, as millions around the world can testify, and as Paul testified clearly in Romans 5:1-5:

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5

We will experience hope in a new way as we are persecuted. Our focus will more and more turn to what is next on God’s agenda for this world, Jesus Millennial Kingdom (www.millennialkingdom.net). Suffering will purify us of our preoccupation with the current corrupt world. God will grow us all up in a hurry under such conditions, and those of us who have long lamented the differences between the church of Acts and the modern church will get a chance to see many of those differences wiped away in an instant. It will be an exciting time.

Middle Eastern Christians have learned what it means to bless those who persecute them.

Christians in Syria are learning daily how to do this. Many have chosen to stay in their towns and cities, even if Islamist rebels have overrun them and raped, looted, tortured, and killed them. As Open Doors USA spokesperson Emily Fuentes has reported: There are some Christians who are fleeing because they have no other choice, but there are many Christians who have really felt God’s call to stay in town, even though they have been attacked and targeted because of their faith. They realize that God’s using them, and (are reaching) out to their Muslim neighbours.
Thus, it seems to me that in the days ahead as persecution increases we will have the basic option of running, or remaining and seeking to win our attackers and fellow refugees to Christ. The choice that we make will be a matter of conscience, as Scripture can be used to support both. Believers in both Syria and Egypt have made different choices.

In the parts of Syria where church buildings have not been desecrated, they have become de facto relief agencies, providing clothes, food, and Christian teaching. These churches are seeing people come to faith in Christ as the congregants love everyone who has been made homeless, not just Christians. This is in stark contrast to the Islamic approach to providing aid for Muslims only.
As Syrian Christians have ministered to all people as war rips their country apart, they ask not for relief from the persecution, for money, or any sort of assistance, but primarily for prayer. Syrian Christians know prayer is the only way that peace will come to their country.
What an amazing witness, to care for everyone in the midst of intense suffering. The Church has done this throughout history. I would venture to say all of the books in the world’s libraries would not be enough to tell the stories of instances when Christians helped people in desperate need, regardless of skin color or creed.

Soon, I think, we will all enjoy caring for people in our communities and have the opportunity to make a bigger impact on their souls than a thousand sermons would be able to. It will be thrilling to watch all of our fellow church members get their hands dirty in ministry, a greater percentage than ever before, I believe! Can you see how suffering refines a church? It will do the same for us. There will be no more CEO (Christmas and Easter Only) Christians in our churches when the persecution starts. All of you who are tired of the pretenders coming to Sunday services will see the meeting sizes shrink as the wheat is separated from the chaff (Matthew 13:24-30). As a side note, won’t it be thrilling to see all the prophetic Scriptures that we have read for so long coming to pass? I think it will be an incredible time, even when it is very hard. I also believe God will give us abundant grace as we endure. All of the distractions that have kept us from following hard after God will be eliminated. Daily life will consist of a focus on how everyone in our community is doing, how they can be helped that day, how the new believers can be discipled, and how God’s love can be shown to the occupiers. Does that sound like Acts 4? It sure does to me. All of those sermons over the years, where pastors lamented the differences between Acts 4 and twenty-first-century churches will be made irrelevant. We will be living Acts 4.

Our churches will never become Acts 4 churches until the circumstances around us mirror the conditions of the early church. That prophesied day will come. And I think we will enjoy living out our faith as our predecessors did and those Christians who are already experiencing intense persecution in Muslim countries in the Middle East.

One source in Egypt reports the reaction of Christians to the burning of dozens of churches: “Churches are united together. And the spirit of prayer is happening in all the churches. People are praying all the time,” according to a source named “David.”

Churches united, churches praying, and people praying all the time. The church will become what we’ve all wanted it to become, but it may not happen until we are aggressively persecuted.

The churches in Egypt haven’t stopped with simply prayer. According to a Charisma News source in-country, Christians are answering the violence and pro-Islamic graffiti with signs that read, “You burned our church, but we love you.” If you were a Muslim in these cities, what would you think of such signs? I can tell you the two predominant reactions would be, 1. “Those Christians are just total weaklings” and 2. “How does this happen? How does someone love rather than avenge?” God is certainly doing all sorts of things amid this brutal persecution, acts of salvation that we won’t know about until we get to heaven.

During the great tribulation under an Islamic Antichrist, we will see brothers and sisters killed for their faith often, some right out of our communities. This is what is happening in the countries of the Arab Spring; martyrdom is expected, not imagined.

Soon, we will know true suffering and understand so many other portions of the Bible, such as 2 Timothy 4:6-8:

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to utter these words, knowing you are about to be killed for your faith? You might get this opportunity, and join the crowd of people who come out from under the altar as Jesus returns, those who had been martyred by the Beast (see Revelation 6:9 and 20:4), reigning on special thrones, and given authority to judge.

Early church father Tertullian’s famous line, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” will come true before our eyes as those around us see our courage, even in the face of death, and are deeply moved.

It’s sad but true; people have to feel absolutely helpless sometimes before they look to God.

Peace and courage during these sorts of times of suffering have a powerful impact on the hardest hearts. One Egyptian has reported about the church’s witness there: “It’s a great message of forgiveness. This makes many Muslims discover the reality of Christianity, and many of them come to know Jesus.” These new believers are meeting “underground in a secret way. They worship the Lord together, and they’re growing.”

Extracts from Ralph Stice’s book Arab Spring, Christian Winter: Islam Unleashed on the Church and the World

TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE BIBLE

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Despite the lack of Scripture engagement among America’s youth, about half of Gen Z respondents in the American Bible Society’s State of the Bible USA 2023 study agreed with the statement that “the message of the Bible has transformed my life.” Among Gen Z adults between the ages of 18 and 21, 49% agreed that the Bible had a transformative effect on their lives. That number rose to 52% among Gen Z respondents between the ages of 22 and 26.

Reacting to the findings of the research in a statement, American Bible Society’s Chief Ministry Insights Officer John Farquhar Plake described Gen Z as “a generation struggling to find their footing with faith.”

After noting that “scripture engagement rates for Gen Z have been on a steady decline over the past three years,” he expressed gratitude that “this generation still shows significant interest in the Bible and the message of Jesus.”

“Ministry leaders may be surprised to find how open Gen Z adults in their communities are to discussion about God’s Word,” he added. “And if the trends we’re seeing continue—it’s crucial to be having those conservations now.”

We are fast approaching the last seven years prior to Jesus’ return to rapture the Saints and pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant world so we need to share the Gospel message with as many people to whom we are led by the Holy Spirit. He will guide and direct our steps if we allow Him to do so. Jesus knows who will respond to the Gospel message and who will not so it is imperative that we follow the Holy Spirit’s lead. Jesus’ instructions to the 72 disciples He sent out ahead of Him into every town and place where he himself was about to go (Luke 10:1-12) is helpful.

“But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’” Luke 10:10-11

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” Luke 10:2-9

It is important to know what the 72 said when they returned after having been sent out “as lambs in the midst of wolves“.

“The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20

PROPHESIED END TIMES CHURCH

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This week, nearly two million people attended a mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Portugal on the occasion of World Youth Day. A couple of days before that, 200,000 people attended a religious celebration at Fatima, the site of an appearance in 1917 to three children of the Virgin Mary. It’s also been a site of miraculous cures ever since. That’s some pulling power.

The striking thing about these giant congregations is that they were overwhelmingly young people. Francis can thank the greatest of the modern popes, John Paul II, who founded WYD in the mid-1980s.

WYD is a key experience for millions of young people and typically leads to spikes in religious vocations and spiritual life generally. However, even this astounding good moment is mired in the strangest contemporary confusion.

Portuguese bishop Americo Aguiar, who has just been elevated to the rank of cardinal by the Pope, assured the world: “We don’t want to convert the young people to Christ or the Catholic Church or anything like that.”

Say what? If a bishop doesn’t want to convert people to Christ, surely he’s in the wrong line of work. Why not become a game show host or a diversity officer at a university? Good callings but, unlike bishoping, they don’t require you to preach Christ.

Bishop Aguiar said the main purpose of WYD was to celebrate diversity so all young people could walk happily together. This is almost literally insane. Of course, diversity’s a good thing. But it’s not the only thing or the main thing. It would be like a cancer hospital declaring it was no longer interested in actually treating cancer but would instead focus on celebrating the wide range of people who came along.

Jesus told us that in the last days before He returns to restore righteousness that much of the church will compromise with the world, that there would be apostasy, a great falling away, and even worse.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

Taken from an article in The Weekend Australian by Greg Sheridan – Pope’s brand of liberalism is ‘entombed’ in the ’60s

GOD’S PROTECTION – WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

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“The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.” Psalm 121:7-8
Sometimes Christians ask, ‘Given the Bible’s promises about God’s protection, why do Christians still experience hurtful, even evil, events?’ Psalm 121:7-8, quoted above is a good example of such promises.

This psalm has four stanzas—the first states that our help comes from God; the last three make illustrative promises about how God helps us (verses 3-4, 5-6, 7-8). These promises, taken literally, suggest that nothing bad will ever happen to God’s people. But that’s not the psalmist’s point. Rather, he says that God will watch over His people wherever they go and whatever they do; God will not ‘slumber nor sleep’ (verse 4). David expressed God’s watchfulness in detail in Psalm 139:1-12. And Paul summarized God’s care in Romans 8:39: Nothing ‘shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord‘.

God is with you today—right now—watching over you and your whole life. Nothing passes through the filter of His will and awareness, ‘even forevermore.’ Nevertheless, we need to be like David and say:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Psalm 139:23-24

Look what God says to His end times church. The church that He raptures to heaven so they will not experience the wrath of God poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements. They have come through the prophesied tribulation, even great tribulation for six years of the last seven years prior to Jesus’ return to set up His Millennial Kingdom. Look also at what He says to the church that is left behind to face the wrath of God.

Each seal of the seven seals that Jesus opens represents what transpires during each year of the last seven years and the first six match the six signs that Jesus gives us in the Olivet Discourse. It is at the sixth seal that John sees the celestial signs that precede the Rapture and the Wrath of God poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements.

THE SIXTH SEAL

“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:12-17

Each of the seven churches represents the state of the church in each of the seven years. It is the sixth church, the Church of Philadelphia that is raptured and it is the Laodicean church that is left behind to face the wrath of God but God still calls them to be zealous and repent.

THE SIXTH CHURCH – CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA (Philadelphos – love for a brother. What remains of the faithful church will be bound by brotherly love)

“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name... Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” Revelation 3:8, 10-11

THE SEVENTH CHURCH – CHURCH OF LAODICEA (Laodicea is a combination of two Greek words (LAO, meaning “God’s people”; and DIKE, meaning “justice or judgment”) Judgement of God’s people

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.“ Revelation 3:15-19

“God watches and weeds us, and continues His labour upon us, till he brings us to the end of his promise.“
Richard Sibbes

PROPHESIED END TIMES CHURCH

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PCUSA pastor teaches on Psalm 139, says she ‘felt God’s presence,’ ‘no sin’ after 2 abortions

The sermon by Rev. Rebecca Todd Stephens PhD alleges ‘anti-choice’ Evangelicals have ‘colonized our minds’ with ‘toxic theology’

A female Presbyterian pastor for over 25 years who is also a Planned Parenthood advisor delivered a sermon in which she said she felt “God’s presence” when she aborted two pregnancies and blasted Evangelicals for their “toxic theology” on the subject.

In a sermon delivered July 9, 2023, at the Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the Rev. Rebecca Todd Peters spoke candidly about her own experience with abortion and how she views Scripture through that lens.

Wearing a pink stole emblazoned with the Planned Parenthood logo, Peters opened her message bemoaning the state of pro-life Evangelicalism, with its “talking fetuses, aggressive bumper stickers and saccharine billboards quoting Scripture and invoking God’s wrath.”

Peters referenced the state’s recently passed law banning most abortions after 12 weeks. She said the bill’s passage is an example of Evangelical culture setting the political tone on abortion.

Peters spoke about how what she called the “abortion is sin” message has been “internalized not only by Christians but by Jews and Muslims,” calling it “one of the most disturbing things” she and her team learned in their interviews with over 500 “religiously identified people who have had abortions.”

After claiming that “the Bible doesn’t say anything about abortion,” she appeared to describe her own statement as “astonishing because the Bible has a lot to say about how people are to live what is and isn’t allowed. … [B]ut to reiterate, it says nothing about abortion.”

In one of the more shocking moments of the sermon, Peters referred to pre-born life as a “zygote” and criticized the “anti-choice” position that life begins at conception.

“The lens through which anti-choice Christians read the Bible is the theological belief that from the moment of fertilization, a zygote is biologically, morally, ontologically, and in every other way indistinguishable from a baby,” she said. “When they then read Scripture through this lens, they abrogate all manner of text to support that position.”

But for Family Research Council’s David Classon, Peters’ assertion that the topic of abortion is not in the Bible is simply a “fundamental misreading of Scripture.”

While the word “abortion” itself does not appear in the Bible, Classon told CP Thursday the concept of “human life beginning at the moment of fertilization is all over the pages of Scripture.”

Peters said her reason for choosing Psalm 139 as the sermon’s primary text was because she views it as “one of the anthems of the abortion imaginary.”

“As a person of faith, I’m outraged by the Religious Right’s co-optation of God, and whether you believe in God or a sacred presence or a divine order in the world or something else entirely, I expect that many of you might also be troubled by how Scripture and God are being used in the public debate about abortion,” she said.

“I refuse to cede the sacredness of Scripture or its interpretation to those who would wield it as a weapon.”

Classon, however, cited two of the more well-known passages, including Psalm 139, the same text from Peters’ sermon, showing how God views life from conception. 

“The author, David, talks about his development in utero, and he praises God for fearfully and wonderfully making him in his mother’s womb,” he said. “It’s a profoundly pro-life text.”

He also pointed to Luke 2, where Mary, who is pregnant with Jesus, goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, who is also pregnant with the child who would become known as John the Baptist.

“The unborn John the Baptist leaps for joy … she refers to Mary as ‘the mother of my Lord,'” Classon said. “Jesus is a couple of weeks in utero, yet Elizabeth recognizes Jesus as her Lord and Mary as the ‘mother of my Lord.’

“So the idea that the Bible says nothing about abortion, and has nothing to teach us about abortion, is patently false.”

Calling Psalm 139 a “liberating message of justice and light,” Peters then read from the text, “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Peters shared her appreciation for both the psalmist and the Psalm itself and appeared to affirm, along with Jeremiah and Job, “their certain knowledge that God was with them in the womb.”

She revealed that as a mother of two, she had previously aborted two other pregnancies.

“I, too, feel that I am known by God in these ways, as a woman who has borne two children. I can affirm that I felt something sacred happening in my gestating body during those pregnancies,” said Peters. “I can also attest that I felt God’s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies and I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin.”

While acknowledging his inability to know Peters’ innermost thoughts, Classon said he finds it hard to believe Peters’ claim about not experiencing any shame or guilt over her decision to terminate two of her unborn children.

“I don’t know her heart, I can’t get inside of her mind, but I think it’s inevitable for the folks who go through terminating a pregnancy to think about it,” he said. “It’s not an easy decision.

“But to protest it as strongly as she does, ‘no guilt, no shame, no sin,’ if she really does feel that way, it would betray a conscience that has been seared, a conscience that no longer can hear the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit.”

“Guilt and shame, are appropriate responses to doing things that are morally blameworthy. And if it’s true that she feels no guilt or no shame, that speaks to a conscience that has been seared, likely by decades of protesting and trying to convince herself that abortion indeed is not what it actually is, which is the intentional ending of human life.”

Peters further offered her views on what she termed “forced pregnancy.”

“If pregnancy and gestation are to remain holy mysteries, they require cooperation,” she said. “A forced pregnancy or birth is not holy.”

Her sermon culminated in a stated theological position in which she suggested Bible-believing Christians can be both pro-life and pro-abortion.

“As complicated, thoughtful morally capable people, we are able to hold both of these realities in tension: that the gestation and birth of a child is a wondrous event to be celebrated and that not all pregnancies will or need to culminate in a birth,” she said.

“This is theologically consistent with the belief that prenates are not yet human beings.”

Peters did not respond to a request for comment from The Christian Post. This story will be updated when a response is received.

According to her bio, Peters has been active in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for over 25 years and currently represents the denomination as a member of the Faith and Order Standing Commission of the World Council of Churches. Peters is also a professor of religious studies and founding director of the Poverty and Social Justice Program at Elon University in North Carolina.

She is also listed as a member of Planned Parenthood’s Clergy Advocacy Board, which supports “access to safe, legal abortions and other sexual and reproductive health care,” according to a statement from board chair the Rev. Burl Salmon.

Article is taken from Christian Post by Ian M. Giatti, a reporter for The Christian Post

Considering Peter’s position on abortion and the fact she has had two abortions herself and does not consider them a sin, it is hard to comprehend how she became a Presbyterian minister so long ago and now has senior positions in the denomination, at Elon University, and Planned Parenthood. Jesus said there would be a great falling away and apostasy in the end times church. It is just one of the end times signs unfolding in our day. Be watchful and be one of the Christians that Jesus describes in the church that is raptured (Church of Philadelphia).

“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:10

Do not be like the people in the church that is left behind (Church of Laodicea) to face the wrath of God.

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:15-19

They will face the wrath of God but they still have the chance to repent though they will be refined in the fire.

PASTOR USING AI TO PREPARE AND PREACH A SERMON

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A Lutheran church in Germany recently hosted a very “21st century” church service! A young theologian and philosopher asked ChatGPT (a form of artificial intelligence) to write a 40-minute church service, which was then delivered by an avatar “with an expressionless face and monotone voice” on a screen. Now, is AI the future of the church?

The man behind this “church service” said “ It is not his intention to replace religious leaders with artificial intelligence. Rather, he sees the use of A.I. as a way to help them with their everyday work in their congregations.” But should pastors rely on AI to write, or help them write their sermons?

I would say, NO. One of the duties of the pastor is to study and preach the Word of God with excellence.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 1 Timothy 4:13

If a pastor is relying on someone else—or, in this case, something else—to do the hard work of digging into God’s Word for him, he is not growing and learning himself—and that will have a detrimental impact on both himself and his congregation.

A biblical pastor will carefully select the resources he uses, relying on godly theologians who likewise carefully handle the Word of truth.

AI is just pulling information from good and bad theologians across the internet! Although I must admit I was impressed with what chatGPT produced when I asked it what the Bible teaches about Jesus soon coming, Millennial Kingdom. Check it out in my May 18th post – ChatGPT produced this response to my question on the Millennial Kingdom.

Pastors, I encourage you at this cultural moment to continue to do what pastors have done for 2,000 years: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:2

And remember this as you serve the Lord: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” James 3:1

QUESTIONS ABOUT HOUSE CHURCHES

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We are told that prior to Jesus’ return that there will be a great falling away. Apostasy will be rampant. Already, we are seeing Institutional churches compromising with the world on Biblical inerrancy, gay marriage, and homosexual leadership. The church needs to get back to the House church model expounded in the Book of Acts. Church as God intended. We have seen the effectiveness of the House Church model in China when all Mission groups were expelled at the time Chairman Mao came to power. We are also seeing it in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries where Christians are being persecuted.

Practical House Church Functioning, Disciplining, & Multiplying:

Can I challenge you to search for Biblical answers to the following questions? You will be challenged about the way you think about church.

  1. Why the symbolic elements in the Lord’s Supper are important.
  2. Why wine vs grape juice.
  3. Why a full meal during the Lord’s Supper versus only taking a bit of bread and a cup.
  4. Why have the Lord’s Supper with a full meal every week?
  5. Why does trying to imitate an unbiblical traditional church model kill the Lord’s New Testament house church model?
  6. Why and how we need to have everyone contribute in the Word, the meal, and prayer – how this impacts spiritual growth and discipleship far more than any modern-day, man-made discipleship program.
  7. Why baptism* as described in Scripture is so important. Infant baptism and sprinkling with water do not achieve God’s purpose for baptism.
  8. Why modern traditional churches resist God’s ordinance of head coverings related to men and women praying and prophesying in church versus God’s headship – in church, family, and society.
  9. Why and what about music.
  10. Why teaching children Biblical history including Noah’s worldwide flood versus Evolution and billions of years is so important.
  11. Why about when, how long, and what order of activity during church, and scheduling vs Spirit leading.
  12. Why and what to do about problem people.
  13. Why traditional church leadership & leaders versus N.T. leadership & leaders.
  14. Why, when, where, and with whom should we break off to start another house church.

Can I encourage you to get Jim McCotter’s book Church Revolution Today – How N.T. Christians Reached The World. You will find all the answers you need on church as Jesus intended in Jim’s book.

*The scriptural examples of baptism, such as Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:16) and the Ethiopian eunuch’s baptism in a body of water (Acts 8:36-39), indicate immersion demonstrates one dying to self and emerging a new creation in Christ. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Acts 2:38. This Scripture reveals baptism is a symbolic act representing the cleansing of one’s sins through faith in Jesus Christ.

DRAMATIC FALL IN BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS IN THE U.S.A

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These findings come from The American Worldview Inventory 2023, conducted by the Cultural Research Centre at Arizona Christian University under the supervision of George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Centre. While born-again Christians make up about one-third of all U.S. adults and are considered “the backbone of local church activity because of their higher level of commitment to the Christian faith,” the study shows that between 2020 and 2023, the share of those who say they believe Jesus did not commit sins during his lifetime on Earth fell from 58% to 44%.

Jesus being sinless is central to the hope Christians have in Him as Saviour explains the apologetics website Got Questions because, “If Jesus were not sinless, there would be no sacrifice for sin.” The apostle Peter stated it clearly: ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ (1 Peter 2:22) Indeed, as Jesus Christ is God, He has no capacity to sin,” the Christian website explains.

This shift in belief among born-again Christians was among six that showed a significant decline in the past three years that Barna characterized as “indefensible.”

Fewer than half of born-again Christians also now believe they have a unique, God-given calling or purpose. The share of those who held that belief fell from 88% to a staggering 46% during the pandemic.

A downward trend was also observed among those who say the Bible is unambiguous in its teaching about abortion. That belief fell from 58% to 44%. Those who say human life is sacred fell from 60% to 48%.

The number of born-again Christians who say God is the basis of all truth fell from 69% to 63% over the period. The share of born-again believers who say they are deeply committed to practicing their religious faith fell from 85% to 50%, while the share of those who say they read or study the Bible at least once a week fell from 60% to 55%. When it comes to the general population of U.S. adults, Barna said the share of the population that claims to hold a biblical worldview fell from 6% to 4% in the last three years, while less than half now claim to be “deeply committed to practicing” their religious faith. That measure fell from 60% to 48%. Barna also found that only 33% of adults now say they attend church service during a typical week which shows “a decline representing the loss of about 15 million churchgoing adults each week.”

The veteran researcher said the findings on the drastic shift in Christian belief over such a short period of time are “highly unusual” because “religious beliefs and behaviors have typically been a hallmark of consistency.” “Most religious beliefs change over the course of generations, not a few years,” Barna said.

Barna noted that a significant driver behind the decline in Christians holding on to a biblical worldview is syncretism, an ideology described as “the worldview that merges otherwise incompatible philosophies of life, particularly evolution and a Cosmos that has existed for billions of years, into a made-to-order worldview that incorporates enough biblical elements to be minimally Christian in nature.”

These statistics highlight how successful Satan’s strategy to undermine the foundations of God’s Word has been. Thankfully God has raised up ministries such as Creation Ministries International (CMI) and Answers in Genesis to show that evolution and its history of billions of years for this Cosmos is not defensible. In fact, the audacious claim by secular scientists in the New Scientist book How Evolution Explains Everything About Life (2017) cannot be substantiated. On page 69 they claim ” The only thing we know for certain is that life must have popped into existence sometime between Earth’s formation 4.5 billion years ago and the appearance of the first undisputed fossils about 3.4 million years ago.” Living cells require information (DNA) and decoding machinery. Even the simplest living cell has an enormous quantity of information on its DNA (about 600,000 letters) and it has the decoding machinery to read these letters. Also, the instructions to build this decoding machinery are encoded on its DNA. DNA can’t be decoded without the machines, but the machines can’t be built without the DNA coding for them. An impossible vicious circle for chemical evolution. There is simply no way “life must have popped into existence“.

PROPHESIED END TIMES WORLD

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George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center on the findings from his research said,

“The ideological and philosophical confusion that characterizes America today is perhaps the biggest reflection of the nation’s rejection of biblical principles and its decision to replace God’s truth with ‘personal truth.‘”

Using recent data from the American Worldview Inventory, which is the first-ever national survey conducted in the United States measuring the incidence of both biblical and competing worldviews, Barna shows how the four adult generations in the U.S. — millennials, Gen X (baby busters), baby boomers and elders — had very different spiritual responses to the pandemic.

The research, which involved the tracking of a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults undertaken in January, showed the lowest incidence of adults with a biblical worldview among the youngest cohorts, millennials, adults born between 1984 and 2002, and Gen X, adults born from 1965 through 1983.

The data show that of the four generations, millennials had the lowest incidence of biblical worldview at 2%. Their connection to Christianity was also shown as quite weak before the pandemic and “was even weaker by the end of the COVID-19” pandemic. 

“Millennials were hit hard by the pandemic in dimensions such as their emotions, finances, vocation, relationships, and ideology,” Barna wrote.

Only 5% of Gen X adults held a biblical worldview, according to the data. The study shows that Gen X endured the greatest degree of “spiritual turbulence,” with 10 statistically significant changes and two notable directional changes.

“In all but one instance, those changes showed Gen Xers moving away from biblical perspectives or behaviors. In general, the nature of the spiritual transitions among Gen Xers during the pandemic era was a shift away from trust in God.

Among the biggest changes in their religious perspective was the decline in believing God created humans, that He is the basis of truth, and that He is the omniscient and omnipotent ruler of the universe,” Barna noted. Proof that the teaching of evolution in schools and universities has been one of Satan’s greatest strategies to undermine belief in God’s Word.

“Those doubts have precipitated important transitions in religious behavior, including less frequent Bible reading, church attendance, confession of personal sin, seeking to do God’s will, and worshiping God. Another noteworthy shift is the decline in how many Gen Xers believe that human life is sacred.”

Baby boomers, adults born between 1946 and 1964, and elders, adults 77 and older, were shown to be the most likely among adults to hold a biblical worldview. However, they were still in the minority among their respective cohorts and showed declines over the course of the pandemic.

The biblical worldview incidence among boomers dropped from 9% to 7% over the past three years, while it dropped among elders from 9% to 8%.

“The last three years have been a time of high anxiety for tens of millions of adults. It was an ideal time for the Christian Church to provide wise guidance and emotional calm. Unfortunately, most churches agreed to the government’s dictate that they close their doors and remain mostly silent. That left an unprepared populace to follow the primary form of leadership available to them: government perspectives and policies,” Barna argued.

“Obviously, that has not worked well, given how dissatisfied a large majority of the country is with the direction of the nation and the quality of post-COVID life. With only one out of every 50 millennials embracing a biblical worldview, America’s children are especially vulnerable to the inward-looking approach to life that their parents and most other adults practice,” he added.

“As a nation, we may be past the danger of COVID-19, but we are in the thick of the danger brought about by people relying upon syncretism as their dominant worldview.”

Biblical churches must see this as a time for an urgent response to the direction society is taking. While the Left pursues the Great Reset, it is time for the Church to pursue the Great Renewal — to get in step with what God wants to do to turn people’s hearts, minds, and souls back to God and His life principles. We are currently celebrating Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and transformed the believers into disciples of Christ operating in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is time to operate in that same Holy Spirit power today, only then will the world know the truth about God and His Word.

Ministries such as Creation Ministries International (www.creation.com) and Answers in Genesis (www.answersingenesis.org) are essential in restoring faith in the foundational book of the Bible Genesis and its young earth history. Essential is belief in the worldwide flood of Noah’s day when God poured out His wrath upon the earth destroying all but the eight people on Noah’s Ark. Look what Jesus said about the last days before His return.

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37-39

Life sized replica of Noah’s Ark, spanning 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high, produced by Answers in Genesis. It is now completed and being viewed by thousands of vistors to the site in Grant County Williamsburg, Kentucky.