The article I link to in this post says a lot and not just about contemplative prayer. It explains the demonic deceptions that are going on in many churches today in the name of being relevant to our postmodern society. I doubt that there are many large evangelical churches that are not to some extent being negatively influenced by this by either the pastor, some assistant pastor or one or more lay leaders. Certain influential national leaders are mixing various amounts of poison wrapped in Christian speak and Christian sounding programs and many are buying into their deadly deceptions because they never hear any biblical counter argument.

Someone needs to form an expense paid national conference for top pastors and evangelical leaders where they would hear the arguments of authors like John MacArthur, Roger Oakland, Dave Hunt, Bob DeWaay etc. to educate the church leadership on the doctrines of demons now being introduced in most large churches. Then the conference should be put on a internet site and on DVD and a copy should be given to all lay leaders in the church. We need some some Christian foundation or a group of discerning churches to fund this. If certain churches can put together postmodern rethinking and shifting conferences you would think that someone could also put together a biblical thinking conference to counter them.

Beware of This Doctrine of Demons

It’s called “contemplative” or “centering” prayer and if you haven’t heard about it yet, chances are unfortunately good that you will soon. It’s invading churches like a virus in which submicroscopic pathogens contaminate the body many hours or days before the victim is aware of its presence.
Contemplative prayer is one of a number of ancient mystical practices or spiritual disciplines, as their proponents refer to them, which are being encouraged at an alarming rate by evangelical churches. It is all part of something called Spiritual Formation and the Emergent Church, a movement that as John MacArthur states in his book, The Truth war, is subtly changing the beliefs and doctrines of the evangelical church as we know it.

In its pure form, contemplative prayer is practiced by sitting still, quieting, and concentrating on your breathing and repeating a word of choice (maybe the name Jesus, for instance) over and over again. You’re to concentrate on that word and your breathing, and work to eliminate all thoughts from your mind. Over a period of maybe 20 minutes — and with practice — you can enter into “the silence.” Your mind is blank. You have, in fact, hypnotized yourself. And it is in “the silence” where “God” allegedly speaks to you.

According to the testimony of one former, now-redeemed New Ager I recently read this is the exact method used by New Agers and Eastern mystics to enter an altered state of consciousness that opens a person up to demonic influence. Ray Yungen, author of the book, A Time of Departing, confirms this and says, “Unknown to most people, a blank mind in a meditative state is all that is necessary for contact with a spirit guide.” He also points out, “Those who lack discernment are at great risk.”

Read full article

It is eye opening to realize that 80 to 85% of pastors support keeping kids in our demented public education system. Now you know why the Southern Baptist convention will not take up the issue even though Bruce Shortt tried to bring it to the floor. Most Christians parents are not teaching their children Christianity anymore either they leave it up to their church to educate their Children and most churches are doing a terrible job at doing that. So the kids get very little Bible teaching except for going over the popular Bible Sunday School stories. The children are then bombarded with anti Christian postmodern brainwashing day after day in the public schools that attack religious doctrine. Then we wonder why we lose almost all the youth as soon as they go off on their own.

The author suggests that even if they pass a marriage constitution amendment in California this year that when the next generation grows up in 25 years it will be repealed. I suggest that it will not take anywhere near that long. The next generation will have all the votes they need in five years if the church can even get this amendment to the Constitution passed this year. People calling themselves Christians are almost as postmodern as their children and most do not know the bible, nor do they believe in Bible absolutes.

We are reaping the consequences of what started happening 50 years ago and unless someone evangelizes the lost “church” in America there will be no U.S.A. in a decade.

Dobson may have warned us 6 1/2 years ago but nobody did much about a movement to take kids out of public schools including Focus on the Family. Since 85 percent of the pastors are not even getting the message out about the public school problem we have today, you know as well as I do that the end of the downward slide is not going to happen. The days when children will rise up against parents to enforce world hate speech laws and religious pluralism are just about upon us (Matt 10:21, Matt12:13).

Christian Worldview Network - Brannon Howse - Dr. James Dobson Warned Us Six and Half Years Ago About Today

Bruce Shortt in his book the Harsh Truth about Public Schools says, “About 85% of Christian children attend government schools, but the message that Christian parents are obligated to provide a Christian education is seldom heard from the pulpit.”

With 80 to 85 percent of Christian children attending public schools and roughly the same number of pastors supportive of public education, it is easy to see why Focus is reluctant to criticize public schools. Times are tough for parachurch ministries, and with the struggling economy, giving may be hurt.

Focus must call for the removal of our precious children from public schools, especially in California. Perhaps this will spark a national exodus. The new school year is upon us. The time to act is now.

It’s time to heed Dr. Dobson’s prophetic words, and focus on your family education.

“Those who control what young people are taught, and what they experience-what they see, hear, think and believe-will determine the future course for the nation.”

(Children at Risk, p.27) James Dobsin

This article was an eye opener. You might not want to hear what Dr Johnston has to say but what can you say when he documents the truth? So we can make a big thing out of homosexual marriage as if that is the chief problem but if we are not seeing the big spiritual problem in the church and in the West toward the covenant of marriage and what God said in the Bible we are never going to get to the root of the marriage problem and all the other garbage that goes along with the destruction of marriage. Then the only thing left is judgment and judgment starts with the house of God.

Dr. Patrick Johnston — How Heterosexuals Destroyed Marriage

When the California Supreme Court declared in a 4 to 3 ruling in May that California must allow homosexuals to marry under the same terms and conditions as heterosexuals, they caricatured the arguments against gay marriage as bigoted and unconstitutional. Nevermind that the voters in California overwhelming voted down gay marriage – “equality” trumps tradition, especially when you’ll be hailed by the New York Times for your “historic” and “momentus” courage in this “victory for equality and justice.”

The most useful part of this ruling is that it exposes a fatal flaw in the arguments conservatives have consistently brought forth, in jurisprudence and in legislation, to defend conservative ideals against assault from the left. Useful, that is, if we learn from it. Our strategy for protecting marriage was destined for failure from the beginning, just as is our strategy to fix public education, protect the preborn from death by abortion, and restore our God-given liberties. It’s a bitter pill, but the diagnosis of severe maladies is always a bitter pill that must be swallowed before the remedy becomes palatable.

Under the political leadership of those anointed by conservative groups, we have:

1. Accepted “civil unions” as an alternative to gay marriage,

2. Reformed public education by increasing the funding of the government bureaucracy and programs that foster sexual immorality among school children,

3. Promoted a “culture of life” by regulating the child-killing and justifying abortion in cases of rape, incest, and maternal health

My hat is off to LifeWay for developing this new multi-media project.

Worship project melds ‘theological integrity’ and technology (OneNewsNow.com)

A new project designed to help churches bridge the gap between standard hymns and modern worship songs has been released.

Helping churches maintain theological integrity, while bringing new songs and choruses into worship services, is one of the goals of a new project by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. The LifeWay Worship Project is a multi-faceted effort designed to help churches plan their praise and worship services more effectively. It includes a new Baptist hymnal, a worship hymnal, and digital resources that can be accessed through a special website.

Mike Harland, director of the LifeWay Worship Project, says resources are available both in downloadable form and hard copy form. Each of the 674 songs in the hymnal, according to Harland, underwent rigorous study for theology and doctrine.

Well it has come full circle. The African natives that the Anglican’s converted are now rejecting the seat of power of the Anglicans because the Anglicans in Britain now reject the true gospel for a false one.

It is obvious that The Christian Church is more healthy in third world nations then it is in Britain and everyone knows it except for the British who generally could care less about Christianity anyway.

Its time for the Africans to send missionaries to convert the new generation of Brits.

Anglican Church conservatives move to form power bloc - International Herald Tribune

Anglican conservatives, frustrated by the ongoing stalemate over homosexuality in the Anglican Communion, declared Sunday that they would defy the church’s historic lines of authority and establish a new power bloc within the church that will be led by a council of predominantly African archbishops.

The announcement came at the close of an unprecedented meeting in Jerusalem by conservatives, who contend that they represent a majority of the 77 million members of the Anglican Communion.

They depicted their efforts as the culmination of an anti-colonial struggle against the church’s seat of power in Britain, whose missionaries first brought Anglican Christianity to the developing world. The conservatives say that many of the descendants of those Anglican missionaries in Britain and North America are now following what they call a “false gospel” that allows a malleable, liberal interpretation of Scripture.

I find this article and the conference that Jonathan Falwell is promoting at Thomas Road Baptist Church to be almost beyond belief. Just take a look at some of the people leading the conference. Some of them happen to be part of the problem.

I have news for Jonathan Falwell the Church is not to blame for pseudo Christianity being in crisis. The Church is doing quite fine as always. Pseudo Christianity is in crises because it has no salvation message. They are telling the world what they think they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. They want to tickle their ears instead of telling them the simple salvation message in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Where are the Pauls, the Billy Sundays the Billy Grahams for this generation? They are not speaking at this conference. The Bible says Moses was the most humble man that ever lived but did he put on what we call humility. Did Moses look for some nebulous balance between grace and truth? What do you mean that only in the world’s meaning of humility can we communicate the Gospel? Where is that in scripture? The humility of Moses was his total dependence on God. Moses’ message was uncompromising. When he went before Pharaoh did he put on what the world calls humility today. No. He was bold and told Pharaoh what God told him! We do not need more Uriah Heap’s in the Church.

I have more news for Jonathan Falwell. Evangelicals are looked down on by young non Christians because they are being indoctrinated to do so in their schools and on media. Yet, the Southern Baptist Convention just killed a resolution to remove their children from public schools. Your not going to change the public schools in this nation until moral people take action that threaten the very existence of public schools should they continue on this path of anti-Christian anti-God indoctrination and their promotion of amorality.

Falwell seems to suggest that the answer is a conference to find worldly ways to find new ways to tap dance around biblical truths. If so, then welcome to the postmodern church but don’t confuse it with the Church or Christianity. I simply do not see Paul having a conference to tell pastors how to stop the rise of hatred toward those preaching the gospel. Paul taught the gospel and died for it as did many who followed him. The Church needs to teach the gospel today more than ever. The reason why people are against Christianity is because they are not Christians. We are losing this nation because the gospel is not being taught anywhere anymore, even in the pulpits.

You should know that the Church is not going to win a popularity contest. Jesus said the world would hate us. You think in these last days of mass indoctrination and mass communication that this is simply going to be less of a problem?

The Church needs a conference to tell the leaders to get back to the basics and preach the gospel to every creature. The Church need to tell the truth to the world without compromise and let the chips fall where they may! Salvation is the only way to change people’s thinking and that is achieved by preaching the gospel.

What we don’t need is another damn conference to come up with worldly ways to redefine our message to reach the postmodern world! If you really want to do something about losing the youth you will deal with the core problems that are corrupting them, it certainly is not the Christian message. Unless what you are really preaching is not the Christian message at all and they can see through the hypocrisy.

“Christians” need to start acting like real men and quit kowtowing to the immoral people that are being allowed to subvert the next generation by allowing them to set their own educational and media agendas! We were told what would happen in the last days so preach the good news, suck it up, and start taking care of your own family like men.

Christianity in crisis

Mr. Kinnaman further states, “In just a decade, the perception of evangelicals has become eight times less favorable among young non-Christians when compared to the image held by boomer non-Christians.”

And while I believe this perception of Christians is at least partially because of the constant negative portrayals of us in the mainstream media, I also believe that we – Christians – are largely to blame for the negative way in which we are seen.

While we are confronting the culture with the Gospel, I think we have often forgotten to consider how we are being received by the world around us.

I think the church has sometimes forgotten that faith produces humility: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10). And it is only in our humility that we can effectively communicate the Gospel.

Mr. Kinnaman asks two important questions in his article: “How does a messenger of God strike the right balance between grace and truth? How does a teacher of the Bible help point people toward a holy God, without creating the opposite effect of putting up false barriers to Him?”

That is why I have initiated the Innovate Church Christian Leaders Conference that is being hosted by Thomas Road Baptist Church Aug. 11-13 in Lynchburg, Va. I’ve invited some of our nation’s leading church innovators and theologians to train pastors, Christian leaders and laymen how to become more confident and effective ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

Special guests will include: Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church; Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship; Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle; Tom Mullins, senior pastor of Christ Fellowship in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Ed Stetzer, church planter and director of Lifeway Research; Dr. Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary; Sheri Rose Shepherd, best-selling author and speaker; Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law; and many others.

Cal Thomas has it right. You have denied the faith if you think there are other paths to God besides through Jesus Christ. So are you a Christian or just a great pretender? If you find yourself believing there are many paths to God you really should remove yourself from the Christian faith and quit corrupting our churches. Also, evangelical pastors and leaders need to take heed and teach the gospel often because 60 percent who attend evangelical churches have not heard it or understood it. Not to mention that in the mainline churches it is 83 percent. So is it any wonder that these “Christians” pick politicians who actually oppose the faith.

Do They Think Jesus Was a Liar? « FOX Forum « FOXNews.com

If there are many paths to heaven, Jesus suffered and died for nothing. He could have stayed in heaven, sent down a book of sayings and avoided crucifixion. Orthodox Christians have always believed – and their Bible teaches them — there is only one path to heaven and it is through Jesus Christ and him alone. One can believe whatever one wishes, but you can’t be considered a Christian without believing in this fundamental doctrine.

Christian churches have a lot of work to do in addressing biblical illiteracy, ignorance and, yes, heresy, in their midst. They might want to pay more attention to fixing what’s gone wrong among their members before expending too much energy on politics and politicians.

Did you catch ABC news today? 3/4 of people in the U.S. do not believe their religion is the only way to God.

If I remember right about 56 percent of Muslims also said that - Which explains why many Muslims say they are moderate although there is no such concept taught in the Quaran.

I do not recall the percent of the Jews but it was very high. 60 percent were not sure they believed in God at all.

Catholics were at 79 percent - How do the people who claim that Catholism is the one true Church believe there can be other truths and ways to God? Obviously most Catholics in the U.S. do not even know their own theology or else they do not believe it.

Mainline Protestants were at 83 percent - What should we expect from them? They do not even know what Christianity is anymore. They think anyone that does more good than bad will be saved regardless of belief in God’s Savior, If they even believe in salvation at all.

Even about 60 pecent of Evangelicals - That is the sorry state of affairs among those who “claim” to be saved by grace through faith. How can people who claim that Jesus is God then claim there is another way to God other than through the way God provided in His Son? The core doctrine of the Bible says that Jesus is the only way to the Father so anyone claiming there are other ways knows nothing about how one is saved. I hardly think they then can actually be called Christians.

Obviously the Christians in this survey concern me the most. If this survey is accurate about 3/4 of those that claim to be Christians in the United States are certainly apostate because they do not believe Jesus or the scriptures. Jesus said that He was the only way to God is He a liar? They certainly are not getting their many ways to God insights from any Holy Spirit within them. You can be sure that the figures are even worse in Europe.

ABC of course thought this was great because they think that those who actually believe in their faith are narrow minded bigots. So now is it any wonder that this Nation is electing the politicans that they are electing, is it any wonder why redefining Christianity is all the rage among evangelicals, is it any wonder why the amoral are winning control of this county and is any wonder why the U.S. will continue to go through increasing judgments?

Obviously we do not have to wait for the end time apostasy that was spoken about in the Bible it has already arrived.

I said last week that nothing would come of this resolution at the Southern Baptist Convention because we have girlie men in leadership. Many parents are out of touch with what is going on in our schools but nevertheless any Christian leader ought to know that the state is now indoctrinating and perverting children in public schools California and elsewhere. They just do not want to do what it takes to fix the problem.

The SBC has just given the government a blank slate for it to continue and then they wonder why they have lost most of their youth. The SBC excuse is that they need to focus on the same sex marriage issue. How will that stop the mandatory homosexual indoctrination of your Children this fall in California? If you do not attack the root of the tree it is going to grow and spread in every direction. You can cut off a branch here and there but that is not going to kill the tree.

“Christians” need to pull their kids out of public school or one has to wonder if they really hate their children? Those men that will not take care of their own family are worse than infidels.

Christians need to send a powerful message that the will of Christian people in California will be respected or the state will see dire consequences. Instead Christians show disunity and are marginalized by doing nothing.

In a post a couple of weeks ago I told Pentecostals to grow up and stop following con men that are making total fools of them. Now I am telling all Christians to get a grip before you lose your salt and light and become good for nothing but to be trampled down by the herd of pigs that are running roughshod through society.

Large and mid-sized Southern Baptists churches of any size ought to be building Christian schools instead of bigger barns and meeting places that are used once or twice a week. Small churches should be helping people to set up homeschooling. Instead most are still ho-humming the greatest crises to the youth of Christians in history.

Tell your representatives that went to the convention. Thanks for nothing! And then put your own pastor and your church board’s feet to the fire to come up with a plan for alternate Christian education of your children.

Southern Baptists continue to resist public school concerns (OneNewsNow.com)

Messengers at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis approved a resolution supporting a ballot initiative in California that will define marriage as only between one man and one woman; however, an amendment that would have called on Christians in the state to remove their children from public schools was soundly defeated.

That amendment was worded virtually the same as a proposed resolution that was not reported out by the committee. Bruce Shortt is a messenger from Texas who has been leading the call of some Southern Baptists the past several years for a comprehensive “exit strategy” from the public school system. He was not surprised the proposed resolution never made it out of committee. However, he says an organized grassroots campaign, known as California Exodus, is gaining momentum.

Shortt says Southern Baptists in other states should not be complacent about the issue. “It may be happening in California today, but I can assure you, the very same special interests that pushed this thing through in California are looking at how they can do it in Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Illinois, and in Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and probably in a few other states – Washington and Oregon. And it’s coming. The wolf will be at the door of a lot of states, and I think people will be very surprised,” Shortt contends.

Berit Kjos wrote a well document article on the problems she finds in the Evangelical Manifesto and the “new evangelicals” involved in the project. This is what you are not hearing from those who are pushing the Evangelical Manifesto. The real intent of the Manifesto is to marginalize us old style evangelicals that they are now calling fundamentalists as if biblical fundamentalists carried the plague. The goal of many is to promote the way to an interfaith world.

Berit Kjos — An Evangelical Manifesto For an Interfaith World

“THERE ARE NOW TWO KINDS OF EVANGELICALS…. The old is the authentic, biblical position. The new is far off the track, not in its basic view of salvation, but in its readiness to compromise with doctrinal error and worldly ways. The new is selling the faith for earthly respect and recognition… and churches are being ruined.

“Those of us who are old-style evangelicals are now being labeled as fundamentalist by our critics, the new-style evangelicals. A repetition is occurring of what happened at Antioch, where the ‘the disciples were first called Christians.’ (Acts 11:26) That glorious name was given to them by their critics…

“Why are the new-style evangelicals calling us fundamentalists? They are doing so for reasons of tactical self-advantage. … They founded the magazine Christianity Today as the flagship journal for their new direction…. The old, sharp line between worldly activities and spiritual activities was swept away, and believers were encouraged to be much more involved in worldly culture, leisure and entertainment. …

“…the new evangelicals began to … speak of themselves simply as evangelicals, and the old-style believers as fundamentalists…. All that remained was to give the term fundamentalist an objectionable, negative image, and the new evangelicals would then appear to be mainstream.”[7]

Their strategy is working. But our sovereign God will not be mocked. Though He warned His people that we would face increasing hostility in this world, He has promised to lead us in “His triumph” no matter how fierce the battle!

This article is a must read for all Christians. Are Christians going to allow the government to continue to indoctrinate their children and then wonder why none of them are coming to Christ?

Over half the Southern Baptists churches have not baptized one youth because the gospel is not being taught to them in church or at home and parents have almost totally lost control of their kids.

There is a Southern Baptist Convention this coming week and a resolution that will deal with this issue. Will the SBC actually take some strong action? My view is that they will not because most of the church in America has already lost its savor or they would not be electing amoral candidates to high office who promote this amorality. I hope the Baptists prove me wrong!

Warning to Baptists: Turn or burn

The largest Protestant denomination in America, the Southern Baptists, is sending representatives from thousands of churches to convene in Indianapolis for the 151st session of the Southern Baptist Convention on June 10 and 11. The church is in crisis. Outgoing president Rev. Frank Page estimates that only half of Southern Baptist churches will still exist two decades from now.

The decline appears to be particularly acute among young people in the church. In 2005 alone, 55 percent of Southern Baptist churches baptized no youths, according to Ed Stetzer with the North American Mission Board.

Rick Hughes, Baptist State Convention of North Carolina senior consultant for discipleship, states, “We must face the fact that much of the American church is declining for a very biblical reason: We have failed to be and make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

That lack of meaningful evangelism starts in the home. Christians are doing a poor job of discipling their own children. Eight-five percent of their public schooled children abandon the faith by the time they leave for college, while only 2 percent of their homeschooled students leave. A pro-homosexual author stated, “Whoever captures the kids owns the future.” And he wasn’t kidding. Whoever owns the children owns the future of neighborhoods, cities, states, nations and, yes, our churches.

The church attrition rate is not surprising. Public school children receive almost 11,000 hours of secular indoctrination from kindergarten through their senior year compared with only 264 hours spent in meaningful conversation with their parents within the same 12-year period. And while Southern Baptists have hired more youth group leaders than ever before in past decades, the number of youth being baptized has fallen dramatically.

So far, the majority of Southern Baptists have refused to acknowledge that their children are being soul murdered in the public schools. Parents scratch their heads dumbfounded as to why their children are abandoning the church in droves, and yet the answer is obvious.

What is God’s bidding? Is it for Christians to leave their children in schools where their innocence is shattered to bits? Where they are encouraged to choose their own perverted sex variant?

According to Baucham and Shortt, there is a solution that could result in explosive growth for the church while extending missions into communities nationwide. Implementing it would require the church to inform parents about what is happening in their children’s schools and offer a way out – an exodus. And the time is right. As the resolution states, “This may be the most significant opportunity for evangelism that we have ever seen” as flocks of unbelievers searching for a better education system come to our door.

Is the Southern Baptist Church serious about genuine spiritual growth? Is it truly concerned about outreach to children “captured” by deviants working through the government school system?

This year’s convention will tell.

Whoever owns the hearts and minds of our children owns the future.

One can easily justify why they conform to be like the world. The hard thing is not conforming and still getting the message of salvation out to the lost. They are not going to find the message of salvation through your worldly coolness but they may through your heavenly warmness.

The Church Of The Cool And Groovy (A Worldy Christian View) - CWN

It’s no secret that churches are using gimmicks to attract the masses. Much like all of the rock bands I worked with, the cooler and hipper you are, the more you can attract a crowd. This is prevalent in so many churches, and it usually starts in the youth groups. They’re raised to be cool, listen to cool music and dress cool. I actually had a youth pastor say to me, “We want to show the unsaved that we can be as cool and have as much fun as the world, ” to which I replied, “I spent most of my youth and life learning how to be cool, but when I came to Jesus I realized that when he said crucify the flesh and don’t be like the world he meant it”. Of course, the first scripture that is usually brought up in the defense of this foolishness is to “be all things to all men”. Well, if you want to follow that to its logical progression, then I can suggest a church program and some entertainment to attract sex addicts. Get the point? Mature Christians shouldn’t be interested in proving anything to the world except Christ crucified. I don’t recall Paul dressing like a gladiator and putting on sport shows to attract the crowds, and then sneaking the gospel in on them once he had their attention. I’m sure if it was such a great idea, the Lord would have given it to Paul. God has done perfectly well calling those who have ears to hear into the flock.

What a totally bazaar concept “lost Christians”? This is an oxymoron!  If these “Christians” have lost their faith in the Bible, the church and Christian beliefs then they are not “lost Christians” they are not Christians!

Thirty-one million people have left these churches because they were never believers they were just cultural Christians. It is happening in the U.S., Canada and Europe because many of the mainline churches in the West do not teach or practice biblical Christianity. All they have is denominational rituals. They baptize people into the church as babies and then they call them Christians. Then when they grow up and leave they say they are “lost Christians. It is nonsense, they were never Christians at all.

What is happening is that once these social Christians no longer feel social pressures from parents or spouses to stay they leave. Others leave when they lose faith in their warped concept of the Church, the Bible or God. The reason they leave Christianity is because they never had Christian faith in the first place. The reason why they leave your church might be because they never received salvation there.

There are no “lost Christians” Millions of people are leaving their churches because they never entered the one true spiritual Church in the first place - the body of Christ. If you church leaders really want to do something about it preach the gospel of salvation to your own congregations and preach them the whole counsel of God and start to practice biblical Christianity instead of just giving your congregation some psychology lesson or feel good message during a Sunday ritual service.

Dave Samford obvious does not even know what a true Christian is. His term seems to be anyone who even attended a Christian church. He then suggests they we bring those that leave back into this strange concept of Christian faith by fixing their hurt feelings and doubts about God. No, these people only will come to Christ when you give them the true Gospel of salvation and for the first time in their lives they actually believe it.

‘Lost’ Christians Greatest Crisis in American Church, says Author | Christianpost.com

PORTLAND, Ore. - The inability of the church to discuss a topic that has become taboo among many Christians is one of the root causes why millions of Americans are leaving the church and never to return, says one author.

There are “Christians who have experientially lost their faith” but have no one to turn to since church culture shuns the topic, Dave Samford said Thursday.

It’s not that these Christians lost their salvation, but that they have lost their faith in the Bible, the church and Christian beliefs, said the author, who was addressing attendants at the annual convention of the Evangelical Press Association in Portland, Ore.

Over 31 million Americans are part of this exodus from the church, Samford said, citing a Barna Group study.

“Any business that is losing 31 million customers is going out of business,” he told a room of Christian journalists and editors. “[It] is the greatest crisis among Christians today in the U.S., Canada and some parts of Europe…We must break the silence in our publications.”

Its about time that some national organization stood up against the unconstitutional decrees of the IRS. If the IRS wants to go to court on this issue lets go at it. The IRS will lose. The fact that no one has ever lost tax-exempt status for what they preached from the pulpit is evidence that they do not want a court fight. They would just rather bully everyone into compliance. It is time that this self censorship by Christians stopped and now you have a national organization that will defend you if the IRS revokes your tax-exempt status.

Pastors called to defy IRS censorship rules

Christian pastors should stop censoring themselves in fear of an “unconstitutional” 1954 provision in the IRS code that has threatened to eliminate their church tax-exempt status if they speak out against positions held by political candidates, urges a leading legal alliance.

The Alliance Defense Fund today announced a new initiative that will challenge the IRS ban on political comment from churches and their pastors.

“Churches have for too long feared the loss of tax exempt status arising from speech in the pulpit addressing candidates for office,” the ADF’s white paper on the campaign confirmed. “Rather than risk confrontation, pastors have self-censored their speech, ignoring blatant immorality in government and foregoing the opportunities to praise moral government leaders.

“ADF believes that IRS restrictions on religious expression from the pulpit, whenever the IRS characterizes it as ‘political,’ is unconstitutional. After 50 years of threats and intimidation, churches should confront the IRS directly and reclaim the expressive rights guaranteed to them in the United States Constitution,” the group said.

The attitude with some is why do the study and work when you can just pull it off the Internet. Some just legally use the sermons of others all the time, they pay for them. I can see some part time pastors and pastors in a crunch using the material of others but when it is not original they should have to say so. Then if the church knows its is continually getting sermons of others they might replace this counterfeit teacher with an original.

Pulpit plagiarism a growing problem (OneNewsNow.com)

The book To Plagiarize or Not to Plagiarize? is an attempt to set boundaries in the wake of pulpit plagiarism claims that have hit not just Catholic clerics in Poland but ministers from other Christian denominations in the United States. Temptation is just the click of a mouse away as more and more churches post their sermons online, not to mention the availability of books and church-sponsored magazines that provide inspiration for sermons.

There is a thin line between drawing inspiration and lifting the text outright, said the Rev. Wieslaw Przyczyna, one of the book’s editors.

Dave Daubenmire obviously too often listens to people who do not know what they are talking about.

I emailed Dave the last time he made this ridiculous assertion that the Church is sitting around doing nothing waiting for the Rapture. Obviously what I said to him did not sink in so now I will say it publicly since he makes his ridiculous assertion publicly.

Most of the Church could care less about the Rapture and it certainly is not obsessed with end-time prophecy. As I told Dave before almost nobody is teaching it anymore. The few churches that are, are probably the churches that are actually doing something spiritual in this nation.

We who believe in the Rapture and the soon return of Jesus Christ are not paralyzed by Last-Days madness anymore than any other Spirit filled believers are. You insult the Holy Spirit that works through all His people. You obviously listen too much to heretical dominionists who think the world is not Christianized because the church is failing. The world is failing by rejecting the teaching of the Church. That is not the fault of the Church. Most of the world is pagan because it does not accept the Gospel rather than not heard it.

Part of your problem is that you cannot discern between cultural Christians in this nation and the real Church. You act as if America was and is a Christian nation and all that the Christians have to do is get off their duff like the prodigal Son, return to God and take this nation back for Christ. The Church you imagine in America did not exist and it does not exist. The real Church in this nation has always been a minority and it has always been working for Christ.

You expect a “Christian” people that does not exist in America to suddenly see the light and act like Christians because you rail against them? You are not living in reality.

Dave, you have some wise things to tell Americans about what they need to do to save this nation. But, don’t confuse instructing Americans to return to Christian moral values with telling Americans that most of them are lazy Christians who need to repent from some end-time madness of looking for the Rapture. It is not happening. It is a false argument. It is counterproductive and it is stupid.

Most Americans are pagans that need to be saved but can’t be saved. Most reject the only message that can save them because they love their sins and want to believe a lie.

As for your “heal our land” statement out of Malachi. That promise in context was clearly made to physical Israel and applies to physical Israel. Last I heard we are America. There is no promise to Christians in other nations that if they humble themselves and pray that God will heal their pagan land. Try preaching that nonsense to the persecuted church in China. The promise of restoration is to the land of Israel. You like many just like to take promises to Israel out of context and make them yours but then your promises just become presumptions. America is not the promised land.

Dave, Get a grip!

Dave Daubenmire — The Prodigal Nation

What type of leadership burns our food?

The American Church is paralyzed by what Gary DeMar calls “Last-Days Madness.” In a nutshell, the modern American Church has become so obsessed with End-Time prophecy that Christians have ceased to be the “salt and light” that Christ has commanded us to be. Convinced that things are “only going to get worse” Christians have neglected Jesus’ mandate to “Occupy until I return and have instead turned the gates of authority over to the enemies of the cross.

“Worse is better!” I heard one Christian-radio pundit say. “As things get worse that means the return of the Lord is near.”

What hogwash! Is the Lord glorified by the multiplication of evil? “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth…” Did Jesus pray against His own will?

I don’t want to turn this into a theological discussion and get us all wrapped in the minutia of fig trees and famines. For the Lord’s sake, man, STAND UP AND FIGHT!

I have often wondered what America would look like if the Church believed in revival as much as it believed in the rapture.

The Catholics taking part in this Global Living Rosary are practicing what is forbidden in the Bible. The Bible says that there is one in heaven that makes intercession between God and man and that is Jesus Christ. Show me any scripture that says we are to pray to Mary or that Mary makes intercession for anyone. I will show you many Old Testament scriptures that says the Queen of Heaven (often carrying a child) was in existence before Mary and it was a demon. Those who prayed and offered to her were condemned by God.

These also think that their many rote prayers to someone other then Jesus works up power. That is not prayer it is witchcraft. They indeed will have the power to call up demons to further deceived them. Rote prayer is also spoken against in the Bible. Those who practice rote prayer have taken up the ways of the heathen. Do you really think there is power in your many words? (Matt 6:7.) That also is witchcraft.

These practices are so far removed from biblical Christianity that Catholics who practice these things might as well join the New Age/New Spirituality movement (many have and that why they hang on the words of fools and on the demonic guests of people that appear on shows like Oprah).

I do not know how I can say this any more forcefully. Those who put there faith in these demonic practices will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Rosary prayed in dozens of languages to prepare for ‘Global Living Rosary’ - Catholic Online

One purpose of the Global Living Rosary is to seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to bring peace in individual hearts, in families, in communities, in nations, and in the world, said the founder of the Global Living Rosary movement, Father Jim Kelleher, as he implored the crowd that nearly filled the huge midtown Kansas City church.

A priest of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, Father Kelleher is continuing the work of the late Father Patrick Peyton, the legendary “Rosary Priest,” who led massive rosary rallies in the 1940s and 1950s to inspire thousands of Catholic families to pray the rosary together in their homes.

“How powerful are you? Do you have the power of a president?” he asked.

“I suggest you have a much greater power,” Father Kelleher said. “It is the power to gather together in your living rooms, in your own domestic church, and pray the rosary. You will be calling on the Prince of Peace through the intercession of the Queen of Peace. The blessings he will give will radiate through this city.”

Some black preachers just want to tell other blacks what they want to hear. There are white preachers that do the same thing although focusing on other fleshly issues. Pastors need to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ not some social gospel that appeals to the flesh. This is why Jeremiah Wright is wrong. Preaching rebellion against white America is not prophecy, it does not build up the body of Christ, it is divisive, not biblically founded and it really is rebellion.

If Jeremiah Wright is a prophet, Isaiah wasn’t

The essence of the real prophets was not that they said things that disturbed people; the moral essence of the prophets was their moral clarity. They knew the difference between good and evil. “Woe unto those who call good ‘evil’ and call evil ‘good,’” said the Prophet Isaiah.Those who cannot see the monumental moral gulf between America and the unspeakably evil jihadists America is fighting in Iraq and elsewhere are not prophets. Those who think Americans got what they deserved on 9/11 are not prophets. Those who think the Russian people were better off under Communism are not prophets. Those who think America developed AIDS and infected people of color with it are not prophets. Those who think America is more worthy of damnation than of blessing are not prophets. They are fools.

I wrote a detailed article on tithing. So I am not going to rehash that here but just let me say the facts prove that most Christians do not tithe. The majority do not even tithe in tithing churches. And the tithe these churches claim is a biblical mandate is not the biblical OT triple tithe anyway.

Christians need to celebrate free will giving because God loves a cheerful giver. Also remember that many people are specially gifted to give. If Pastors would express the real needs they have in the church to the membership instead of trying to put all under a tithing bondage. If they honored those who sacrificially give as much as they do other Christian ministries. Then I believe they will see God’s people faithfully covering every legitimate church need.

Backlash Against Tithing - CWN

A number of church leaders and theologians have also entered the debate. They point out that the tithe was an Old Testament requirement, and that New Testament believers no longer live under the Law but under grace. The tithe, however, can be a good baseline for Christian giving. If Christians are only giving 2.5 percent of their income to the church, I think they might want to rethink their priorities. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.

Government is going after them because the Church will do nothing to police its own. Word Faith prosperity teachers should be shunned as heretics. Any TV network and Radio network who airs their programs should be dealt with severely by the denominations. Those ordained ministers who help support networks that broadcast Word Faith heretical teaching should be subject to being defrocked.

Having said that, the prosperity message is popular because many Christians are greedy for material gain. It really reflects the state of Christianity in America.

Feds Need to Cage Every Crooked Evangelist Going - J. Grant Swank Jr. - Mar 14, 08

Jesus would never sanction what today’s evangelists—especially those on TV—are saying and doing. The ones who are crooked should be fined, jailed, whatever it takes to break their selfish spirits so that they can find their souls in Jesus.These televangelists in particular who are preaching that we can be wealthy by sending them our money, we can be healed of every disease because healing is in the atonement, and going after whatever hangs their chandeliers need to be strung up.

These are Publicans and sinners of the most blatant worldly wickedness. They are evil. They are not of Jesus, obviously not when reading Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels. Take His lifestyle and put it up alongside today’s evangelist frauds.

What Coach Daubenmire says here may not be exactly what I would tell you to do but I agree with enough of it to offer his expertise.

Dave Daubenmire — Light a Fire Under Your Pastor

I could share with you copies of emails that I received, but I don’t want to take up the space. Suffice it to say that nearly all of them were hungry for Biblical leadership.Here is a stern warning to pastors. Write it off if you like. The folks in the pew are greatly dissatisfied. I hear it when I speak in churches and I hear it every time I write a commentary. George Barna tells us that churches are hemorrhaging members and sadly, the leadership wants to blame the sheep. A good coach never blames the players. The sheep are a reflection of the shepherd.

Pastors are coaches. They deal with people. Most successful coaches have a very firm set of fundamentals by which they operate. They are not running a popularity contest, they are leading a team. The best way to get your butt beat is to compromise on what you believe.

MANY have emailed me asking, “What should we do, Coach? Our pastor won’t preach the hard truth anymore. It is all the “feel-good” stuff. We are dying of starvation.”

I am often accused of pointing out problems but rarely offering solutions. Well, you asked for it, so I will tell you what I think.

Chuck Baldwin’s main problem might be that he is assuming that America will be restored by the people. I do not think it will. America will fracture. I just wrote on this imminent danger.

Lets face it, much of the country has bought into godless socialism and the lust. Even the evangelicals are buying into dominionism socialism and the prosperity gospel. It looks like the minority in this country that hold to biblical truths will just have to separate from the walking dead.

The Constitution Party would be great if you could have get a leader of significant stature and experience to run on it. Perhaps someone like General Pace. However, if you have any illusion that Ron Paul or Judge Roy Moore will pull the numbers to get noticed you are not living in reality.

Nevertheless, I don’t suggest that any Christian vote for any of the three choices that we are given. they will all lead to the same socialist secular humanist globalist end. Just remember this, God gives the nation the leader He wants to rule. Our leaders reflect the people. If are leaders are godless you can be quite sure that most of the people of our nation are as well. On the other hand, if the majority of the people turn toward God the problems of this nation will be solved. But, since we really know they wont because the gospel is not even being preached in most of our churches. What then should we expect? I know one thing it wont be restoration.

Chuck Baldwin — Conservatives Offer No Hope

After attending numerous meetings of conservative activists, I am more convinced than ever that, ultimately, the survival of liberty in America does not depend upon political parties, special interest groups, or corporations. In these United States of America, God has put the destiny of the country squarely in the hands of “We the people.” It will not be conservatives or liberals, Republicans or Democrats, Christians or unbelievers that restore America. It will be individuals from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and all political persuasions who love liberty enough to fight to maintain it. Ultimately, of course, all nations–just like all individuals–must give an account to our Creator for how we protected the freedoms and liberties that He gave us. Right now, we are not doing a very good job.

I talked about this yesterday on my other Blog. Seems that Joe Farrah also sees the lack of discernment coming from the Southern Baptist Convention leadership on the issue of global warming. I think the leadership gets caught up into these worldly viewpoints because they are a little to eager to hobnob with elite worldly people and embrace the philosophy’s of men so that they can fit into the fallen world system. In other words they are carnal.

Whither the Southern Baptists?

What is it about major Christian denominations that leads them, inevitably and inexorably, into error?What is it about the world that seduces Christian institutions to forsake the Bible in favor of pop politics and junk science?

What is it about big groups that make them so undiscerning and cowardly?

These are a few of the questions that came to mind as I read through the Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change.

Just as more and more sane, rational, non-hysterical voices within science are beginning to be heard above the din of the carefully orchestrated climate change drumbeat, the Southern Baptists jump on a bandwagon that leads only to sin and deception.