A PRAYER FROM THE CHURCH IN CHINA

” But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” [Matt. 24:13]

Once when preparing for a Sunday sermon I ran across the following thoughts. I am writing here my modified version.
A leader in the house church movement in China was asked by a missionary from America, ” How should Christians in America pray for the church in China?” The leader from the church in China answered-” Stop praying for persecution in China to end. It is through persecution that the church has grown.” Then he added ” we in China , in fact are praying that the American church might taste the same persecution so that revival would come to the American church like we have seen it in China.”

It is amazing to me that in America we pray and ask God to bless us with many “things” - prosperity, success, etc.. while other Christians around the world suffer so very much and wonder when we are going to act like the blessings we were made to be.

This Christian leader in China constantly faces arrest for preaching the Gospel and worshipping the Lord. History does seem to bear out that the times of greatest church growth have been times of persecution. During the reformation, the Gospel spread like wild fire while those who preached it were burned at the stake.

We do not pray for persecution and we do not want nor desire it to come to these shores, but if it should, how would we act and would we endure unto the end?

Persecution does not always create growth in numbers, but it does eliminate nominal believers who only go to church for all the wrong reasons. The Christians who remain-that are willing to endure suffering for the faith, demonstrate a powerful and faithful witness to unbelievers.

Often we glibly speak about ” witnessing to our neighbors” by which we mean telling them about Jesus. The Greek word for witness is “Martyr”. This does not mean that we should promote persecution or cultivate it. But we must be thankful to God for the relative peace and safety that we have known. And we must get on fire for God. We should always resist persecution.

However, suffering that we do not want, enduring trials and tribulation out of our control, can be a refining fire, forcing us to depend ever more on Christ. Despite the clear teachings of the bible, many of us actually think God has abandoned us when we go through difficulties, failures, and sorrows. We seem to think that none of these things should be allowed to come into our lives. We must always believe for victory but sometimes the sweetest victories come through the most bitter of pains.

We American Christians have become so prosperous, so successful, and so blessed that perhaps we have also become spiritually soft and thus, ineffective. So, when you find yourself struggling with hardship and opposition or, even more so when you are rejoicing in your success and popularity, remember–someone in China is praying for you

2008 ELECTIONS

While as a ministry, we cannot endorse a particular candidate: although I personally feel we should be able to do so, we do have the duty to comment as it regards the Christian vote in November. Every other group of people in this country is afforded the right to speak up on the issue’s, we Christians should be able to do the same. 

There is a movement in America that is trying to remove God from American history and culture. One of the two major political parties along with the American Civil Liberties Union, spend millions of dollars on lawsuits aimed at keeping prayer out of all public and government places. They try to remove nativity scenes and even want to take God’s name out of the pledge of allegiance. This leftist, evil faction wants the Ten Commandments removed from public buildings.

Back in the 1800’s, Russia was a strong Orthodox Christian nation. Prayer and Bible reading was permitted in the public schools. Many teachers were christians and could freely share their faith. But from 1917 to 1937 there was an organized effort to remove all religious emblems and information from Russia. They had a ten point plan that they used to do this. It is the same thing we are now seeing happen in America in 2008. America is already on the sixth point. Four more steps to go before God could become illegal in our beloved nation. In Russia, the final step was making preaching illegal and arresting the preachers.

In our land, this tenth and final step will be finalized with ” hate crimes” laws that will make it a crime to preach against any form of sin. This would never happen if christians would stand up for their beliefs. If christians would all get out and vote based on the moral issues, we could see this plauge in our land stayed. However, christians would rather hear preaching on prosperity than take a stand for righteousness. Today too many seeker-sensitive pastors are filling the pulpits of America and they think its cute to tell people that they can remain in their sin. Today rather than being committed to Christ, far too many seek the purpose driven life. I really hate to say it, but we are in deep spiritual trouble.

Let me say at the outset, I have always liked John Hagee very much. A great deal of his sermons have really blessed me over the years. I personally consider him to be very intelligent when it comes to knowing the word of God. This is one reason why his latest book; ” In Defense Of Israel” troubles me so much.

He states in the book that ” The Jews did not reject Jesus as Messiah.” [ page 132]

Hagee says, ” …. if Jesus refused by His words or actions to claim to be the Messiah of the Jews, then how can the Jews be blamed for rejecting what was never offered?” [ page 136].

Then Hagee proceeds to make the statement over and over that Jesus refused to be the Jewish Messiah, ” choosing instead to be the Savior of the world.” [ page 143]

This is gross deception. These statements are nothing less than apostasy.The very name ” Christ ” means Messiah !  Jesus constantly, in various ways, affirmed His Messiahship.

John Hagee claims that Jesus never offered Himself as Messiah to Israel but the Bible says differently. I am going to quote here from the Expositors Study Bible: “And the High Priest stood up in the midst [ this man had become exasperated by their inability to bring forth a credible witness, and sought to make up by bluster, the lack of evidence], and asked Jesus, saying, answer you nothing ? [ Jesus didn't answer because they had no desire to hear the truth.] what is it which these witness against you ? [ He demanded an answer from Christ concerning the accusations, but Jesus said nothing, at least to that charge.]

But He held His peace, and answered nothing [ He kept on maintaining His silence.]  Again the High Priest asked Him, and said unto Him, Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed ? [ Actually means, Are You the Messiah ?  namely, The Anointed of God.]   And Jesus said, I am [ constitutes a bold declaration of Who He was; the pronoun 'I' is used for emphasis; it is, 'as for myself, in contradistinction to all others' ; His answer left absolutely no doubt]: and you shall see [proclaims the fact, that the entirety of the Jewish Sanhedrin, would ultimately see that what Jesus had said was absolutely true] the Son of Man sitting on the Right Hand of Power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven.” Mk. 14: 60-62

 Jesus stated that He was, in fact, the Messiah !!

Christ means Messiah and all of Israel very well knew that. Pastor Hagee denies preaching a dual covenant but his actions have spoken louder than his words.  On many occasions even his words have betrayed him. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle in 1988 he said: ” Everyone else, whether Buddhist or Baha’i, needs to believe in Jesus, but not Jews. Jews already have a covenant with God that has never been replaced by Christianity.”   This my dear friends, is heresy.

Every true Christian loves Israel; but we must not lie to the Jewish people. That would not be true love. Every single human person, irrespective of nationality, must receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, if they are to be saved. Jesus died for the Jews, His own, as well as for the entirety of the world. Our affirmation of Christ must be unmistakable.

Loving the Jewish people so much that you refuse to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them, is loving them right in to hell.  All true believers must reject Dual Covenant Theology   

In July 2007, an event was held in Washington DC that reminds me more of something that I thought would have taken place during the Tribulation, instead of right now, before our very eyes.

I am talking about a meeting between so-called Christian leaders and Muslims. On Benny Hinn’s website (Hinn apparently had a large part in organizing the event), it states that this was the “beginning of a new era of understanding” and was an “historic Washington event”.

The meeting included ambassadors and advisors from Middle Eastern nations including Lebanon, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Egypt, and several others.

The first thing that the reader must understand is that Christians can talk all day with those of different beliefs about what they agree upon, but the fact is that since we disagree on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there really is no common ground. This does not mean that we do not love these people and respect their right to believe as they choose (as long as it does not bring violence and murder…which incidentally it does!), but we DO NOT embrace their false beliefs if we are truly born again! Furthermore, the place for the true preacher of the Gospel and the true Christian leader is behind a pulpit exclaiming what Jesus said about Himself; that is, that He is the ONLY Way of salvation! Our place is not around bargaining tables and in the political arena.

All this, to put it as succinctly as I know how, is paving the way to the one-world, Antichrist religion of the Tribulation. Yes, the whore of Revelation 17. Satan and his Antichrist will use religion in large part to accomplish their desire to take over the world. And the Benny Hinns of so-called Christianity are getting the mindset of the apostate church ready!

But let’s not just point out Pastor Hinn. Let’s not forget the others in attendance (and this is only a partial list): Gordon Robertson (son of CBN’s Pat Robertson), Paul Crouch, Jr. (son of TBN’s Paul Crouch), Reinhardt Bonnke (famous healing evangelist), Jonathan Falwell (son of Jerry Falwell), Ralph Reed (of Christian Coalition fame), and Richard Cizik (VP for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals).

I don’t kow about you, but this makes me sick to my stomach.

Now, ask yourself this question: Is this what you want your money supporting? Are these the men whose ministries you want to sit under and swallow their false doctrine and their ungodly agenda? If you answer is no, then it’s time to make a decision, if you have not done so already, that you are going to live for Christ and Him alone in these last days, which means shunning these false preachers and prophets, and refusing to bow down to the spirit of Antichrist, no matter what it costs you!

We have much to answer for, Church, before our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, if we continue to let these men lead us astray. You owe God and yourself more than that.

As for me personally, I have determined I will not listen to anyone who, as far as I know, has false doctrine in their message. I will not “chew up the meat and spit out the bones”; I’m afaid of getting choked on a bone and dying! I will not listen to New Age garbage, possibility thinking, and a self-esteem gospel. I will not follow the pied piper of purpose and won’t go seeker-sensitive. I won’t embrace every new so-called manifestation of the Spirit unless it has a Biblical foundation. I will, as admonished by Scripture, try the spirits. I will ask the Lord for greater discernment, because where I spend eternity is very important to me. I don’t know whether the Benny Hinns of the world are plants or are terribly deceived themselves, but I know enough to know not to listen to them! I will listen to no one who won’t openly admit that the Catholic church is a demonized religious institution that is leading a billion people astray. I will listen to no one, nor have them speak behind my pulpit, if they don’t proclaim that the Cross of Christ is not only the only way of salvation but also the only way of victory for the believer. In other words, I will listen to no one who espouses psychology as the answer to anything. I must have the interest at heart of proclaiming purely and exclusively God’s Word and nothing else. I must not be concerned about who gets upset about the Truth, and who gets mad and leaves because the Truth is not important enough to them. I must be a God-pleaser and not a man-pleaser, because Jesus is coming soon and by the grace of God, I plan to be ready!!!

What about you?

Scott Corbin, Pastor

This is an article by our friend, Scott Corbin. He pastors a great church in Spartanburg, SC.

 

I believe that in the last days, the doctrines of tolerance, falsely so-called, will be the very thing that takes freedom away from the people. Perry Stone, in his great book ” The Pope, The Eagle, And The Iron Sickle.” says this:  ”The universal cry now is for tolerance. We are being taught to accept everyone’s personal belief, to be tolerant of all religions and to not condemn anyone, even if their religion contradicts the Word of God. This pressure to be tolerant is especially intense among the “seeker-sensitive” mega-churches.  They invite people of other religions, such as Hinduism,  and Buddhism, to take the church’s pulpit and “share their faith” among the believers in the church. This kind of emphasis desensitizes people to false doctrine, and will enable a future false prophet to be successful in deceiving the masses with his counterfeit doctrine and miracles.”

Today, our critics label us as intolerant because we [Christians] hold to the absolute truths of the Bible. Our critics have changed the real meaning of tolerance. Webster’s New World Dictionary Of English[3rd ed.] defines tolerate as  ” to recognize and respect [other's beliefs, practices, and so forth] without sharing them” and “to bear or put up with [someone or something not especially liked".  Scripture also expresses this thought in 1 Cor. 13:7 where it states that "Love endures all things."

But today, a new definition of tolerance is being forced upon people. Thomas A. Helmbock, executive vice-president of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, states, " The definition of new... tolerance  is that every individual's beliefs, lifestyle, and perception of truth claims are equal.... Your beliefs and my beliefs are equal, and all truth is relative"[Helmbock,IT,2].

Today some are telling us that truth is inclusive. The fact is however, that all truth is by nature exclusive. If a thing is true, then its opposite is false or not true. Josh McDowell, in his excellent book,”Evidence For Christianity” likens it this way– It is true that Washington D.C. is the capital city of the United States Of America. It is also true that no other city in the USA can make that claim and be truthful because Washington D.C. is the capital city. Just because one city only is the United States capital does not mean that the people who affirm this truth are intolerant. A person may say that Detroit is the US capital city; does that mean then that his claim is equal to the person who affirms that Washington D.C. is the US capital city?  Of course not. It is plain to see in our country today that the people who don’t want to live by the moral truth of the Word of God, seek to change that truth and force the rest of us to accept it.

Christianity is a faith relationship with Christ but that doesn’t mean it is a blind faith. The overwhelming preponderance of the evidence stacks up that the claims of Christianity are, in fact, true. It is the person who refuses to believe in the face of strong evidence who is really intolerant. Because many don’t want to be held accountable by God for their actions, they try to create a god more to their own liking. Man wants to define his own standards instead of yielding to the standards set by God Almighty.

Do not be deceived by these false definers in these last days.

In the end, on judgement day, God; the real God of the Bible, and His Truth will prevail.

John 3:16 is a verse of scripture that most know by heart; it says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The way to everlasting life is here clearly laid out for us; believe in the Son, Jesus Christ.  God loves all of humanity. He did not provide a way of salvation because you are who you are; He provided the way because He loves all mankind and all mankind are sinners and the only way that any of us has any hope is to receive Jesus Christ.

I will not go to heaven if I am good nor will I go to hell merely because I am bad. The eternal destiny of each of us will be decided by what response we have to Jesus Christ and His invitation to us to receive Him as our Lord and Savior.

For more on this topic; go to GOD ON BOTH SIDES WITH US IN THE MIDDLE. Part One

The hope for the human race is found only in Jesus Christ. He is not simply one way;  Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.

We are not little gods, we are not qualified to be our own god. The entire human race needs Jesus. Will you receive Him today ?

Our hearts go out to the people affected by the terrible storms that ripped through Oklahoma, Missouri, and Georgia this weekend.

The following is a portion of an e-mail that I received from an associate of this ministry, who is also my sister. She was on the ground right near the epi-center. We pray for all involved.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Please pray for these people here.  The devestation is incredible.  The town of Picher is gone; completely gone.  It is about 4 miles from us.  The tornado stayed on the ground for 90 miles (but lifted over Miami! God’s hand of protection over us again!) .  There are 14 deaths so far.  It is far worse than I thought when I spoke with you on the phone.  I am not sure if we will be able to get to church tomorrow.  The roads to Baxter are closed.  We are going to call Pastor in the morning and see if they are alright.  The tornado was an F4 and F5; as bad as they come.  Miami is crazy right now with the injured being brought to the hospital.  They are having to bring people in the back of pick-ups as well as the ambulances.  They are in the process right now of searching for survivors in Picher.  I fear they will find more bodies.  I just drove through that whole tornado path earlier in the day.  I thank God for His protection of me. 

 

I am going to call the Red Cross in the morning and see if I can help. 

   

As seen on the news reports, the devastation is wide-spread. One thing that I love about our nation is that when something like this happens, our people pull together. 

Our hearts, our thoughts, and our prayers are with you. 

DID JESUS DIE SPIRITUALLY?

 

In a word, no He did not.
The Jesus died spiritually doctrine is one of the most brutal attacks on the finished work of Christ upon the cross in todays church. This heresey is promoted mostly by the so called word of faith movement. This bogus doctrine has been made popular by false teachers such as E.W. Kenyon and Kenneth Copeland.

Paul says in 1 Cor 2:2 “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Quite clearly the New Testament teaches that redemption was paid for by Jesus Christ, on the Cross. 1 Cor. 1:18 says “For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God”. Every aspect of Salvation is carried out as the believer recieves the truth of Christ and Him crucified. The Jesus died spiritually doctrine attacks both who Christ is and also the finished work that He accomplished on the Cross of Calvary.

These people teach that Jesus’ physical death on the Cross was not sufficient to redeem all mankind. They say that Jesus was defeated by satan at the Cross. Nothing could be any further from the truth. The majority of the word of faith teachers say that Jesus was impregnated with a sinful demonic nature. They wrongly interpret 2 Cor. 5:17 and teach that Jesus became a sinner. He did not…

Let me say it loud and clear, JESUS DEATH ON THE CROSS AND THE SHEDDING OF HIS PRECIOUS, INNOCENT, AND PURE BLOOD IS WHAT PAID THE PRICE FOR MAN’S REDEMPTION…

Jesus did not become a sinner. He became the perfect sin-offering. Calvary was not a defeat, it was where the eternal victory was forever won.. Jesus did not have a sin nature and He never one single time sinned. ever. PERIOD…

These false teachers also say that Jesus went to hell and burned there as a sinner and then was born again in hell, and that, they say is how redeemption was won. Kenneth Copeland even went so far as to say that God told him that he [Copeland] could have done the same thing if it were physical death that paid the price. This statement is utter, raw BLASPHEMY…

The Bible says ” How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God”.[Heb. 9:14] and ” By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”.[Heb. 10:10] You see my friend, it was on the Cross and by the shedding of His Holy Blood that Jesus paid the sin debt and broke the power of sin over us..

Jesus Christ did not die spiritually. He had never sinned. Jesus Christ did die physically and shed His Pure blood for our sins. If we will recieve Christ and what He did at the Cross, we can be redeemed and live a holy life.

These people who teach the false Jesus died spiritually doctrine expose themselves that they have opted for a redemption plan that God will have nothing to do with… You cannot be saved unless you are saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ. The Cross is the only way.

This is me and my Mom on my birthday. Her and my wife made it such a nice day for me. I hope that on this day when we honor our mothers, May 11th, that you will take the time to remember your Mom. Laura Ingalls Wilder once said that ” lessons learned at a mother’s knee last through life.” And an old yiddish proverb states that ” one mother achieves more than a hundred teachers.” Thank God for mothers.

I love you Mom.   You are precious to my heart. 

In his excellent book ” Set The Trumpet To Thy Mouth” Pastor David Wilkerson makes the following points.

1-A true prophet of God is consumed with a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2-A true prophet of God preaches and practices self-denial.

3-A true prophet of God has a holy boldness against sin. He never whitewashes evil.

Our dear brother has done well to make these observations. We have so few true prophets of God speaking today. One so-called prophet of today, Kim Clement, says that todays prophets are “more fun” because they do not deal with peoples sin. Joel Osteen claims that he will not mention sin or the Cross. The list is endless and I could go on and on but the point is; how did we sink to such a low level in the church?

Our focus should be Jesus Christ and Him crucified, so how did we allow the base desires of greed and lust to dominate us to the point that now, the precious Gospel that cost Christ His life’s Blood has been cheapened to little more than get- rich- quick schemes and some type of magic talisman to make all our problems disappear?

It is little wonder that the Church in America is so soft these days. David Wilkerson calls these modern prophets [ so-called]  ”Pillow Prophets.” I agree…  The church in this country has fallen asleep with its head in the lap of Delilah.  The true glory of God has departed and a very cheap imitation is being promoted. 

There is an old saying that I grew up on that goes something like this; I don’t care how high you jump, you must walk straight when you come down. We, as preachers, do not need $5,000 ink pens or our own gimmicks. We do not need to live in the biggest and finest homes on the market. We do not need the most expensive airplanes so we can fly over the people we are supposed to reach. We do not need the most expensive clothes.  One real big lie in the church right now is that a “Kings Kid” should have the best. That is a terrible lie.  What about Luke chapter 9:23-25 ?  or Matthew 10:37-42?  Just to name a couple.

We must reach out to others with what God blesses us with. Christ taught concern and compassion for others; not greed. We need to tell men everywhere about the savior. Christians are to live lives that are examples of Jesus Christ. Jesus often spoke of giving a cup of cold water to a thirsty neighbor and giving away our coat to those in need. Whatever happened to that message?  We are supposed to care for orphans and widows and those who have been beaten down by life; not try to get what little they do have from them.  Come on church, wake up before its too late!  Get back to preaching about the Cross. Get back to living out your faith in practical, everyday, common ways.

Most of what you see over TBN is vain and fanciful imaginations of the darker variety. Most of it appeals strongly to the fallen nature; the sinful nature of mankind. Where have the true prophets gone? We so desperately need a true word from God in our land. On second thought, we have a Bible chocked full of true words of God; maybe we should read our Bibles more and listen less, none at all preferably, to the pillow prophets that abound in our land.