Archive for April, 2006
04.29.06
Posted in Recent Events at 7:59 pm by Perry
Just this fall I was forced to defend the Christian faith against false self-proclaimed prophets coming on our campus and teaching a false gospel about Jesus Christ and now, just months later our campus is awash is the hurricane of another deceiver. In case you have been isolated in the library and don’t know what I am talking about, a preacher from Georgia has been coming on campus every day this week preaching on the quad a gospel of hate and condemnation eliciting phrases of hatred. This man called the woman standing around whores for wearing skirts and jeans and called another man a homosexual for wearing a pink hat and said that any feminine man cannot go to heaven for being “sissy”.
The worst part, though, is what this man teaches. He stands up and attracts large crowds by calling people out and condemning them for any multitude of reasons (many of which are not even sinful such as wearing pants, a skirt, or a man having long hair). Know this, his teachings are not in accordance with the very Bible he carries in his hand and this man surely does not represent my Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. He is from an isolated denomination which holds many heretical teachings which go against doctrine held by the greater body of Christian believers.
As Christians we are told to go into the “world” and tell people about whom Jesus is and what he can do in their lives (Matthew 28:19). A part of that commission includes telling people who are blatantly sinning that those sins are disobedient to God and that they should turn from those sins and seek after the Almighty God. That itself, though, is not the gospel we are told to preach. We teach that God is love and that He loves fully in every sense of the word. So much so that He gave His only son Jesus as a living sacrifice to cleanse us from our sins if we only seek after Jesus and trust in Him fully as our Lord.
The scriptures themselves teach that “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16-17). Beware of people coming to you and proclaiming a gospel that does not include the love of God which is what sets us free from our sins. The same chapter in 1 John also tells us to “not believe every spirit, but [to] test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone into the world”. Do not be led astray by such non-biblical teaching or be turned away from God because of the teachings of men who do not even know who God is. There are many organizations on campus which would love to tell you about who Jesus Christ truly is such as Campus Crusade for Christ, Crosswalk, and Chi Alpha to name a few. Please, seek after Him and righteousness will be counted toward you.
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04.22.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:33 pm by Perry
| Reformed Evangelical |
|
75% |
| Fundamentalist |
|
68% |
| Neo orthodox |
|
64% |
| Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan |
|
57% |
| Charismatic/Pentecostal |
|
36% |
| Classical Liberal |
|
36% |
| Emergent/Postmodern |
|
21% |
| Roman Catholic |
|
11% |
| Modern Liberal |
|
0% |
What’s your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com |
According to this poll I am primarily a evangelical reformed theologian and a fundamentalist. It also said though that I am 11% catholic!
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04.18.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:06 pm by Perry
I am tired; physically, mentally, emotionally, and even slightly spiritually. There are those times when you feel as if you have nothing else to give and yet people keep demanding you give more and more of yourself.
I need to find a balance. I try so very hard with my school. I have set medical school as the prize at the end of this race but lately I can’t help but feel that I am running after the wrong thing. I have sacrificed my God for the wisdom of this world and I have been left deprived of grace.
God,
I have strayed from your path to seek my glory;
I have trampled under foot your words with joy.
Lord, God, Father,
I have set for myself an idol for worship and called it knowledge;
I have filled myself with this world and have been found to be empty.
Eternity is at hand and I can’t take my eyes off of today,
Your glory God surpasses all understanding and I care not.
You are the Lord, God:
You have created all wisdom
You are the source of love, of truth, of life
You God, you alone, are victorious
You are God, worthy of praise and honor
Father,
Remove my lustful heart, focus my path and make me wise in your wisdom
Teach me Lord, God to not ask these things in my name
Teach me to seek your glory for your honor
Teach me to teach others
Teach me Lord, teach me to love and to love You first
In Jesus’ holy and righteous name,
Amen!
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04.12.06
Posted in Recent Events at 8:06 am by CLP
If you pay any attention to national news you most likely have heard extensive coverage on the recent translation of the Gospel of Judas. This ancient scroll was discovered in caves in Egypt many years ago and has been passed around between collectors and traders until it was recently acquired by a group of preservationists. It is a Gnostic gospel believed to have been written around the third to fourth century.
Gnosticism was a growing movement that began in early Christianity and continued into the late fourth century that claimed to have special knowledge about the revelations of Jesus Christ (the word Gnostic means “knowledge”). They believed that having that special knowledge was the key to salvation and not faith in Jesus’ life, burial, and resurrection. The Gnostics also taught that the flesh was inherently evil and that for Jesus to have not sinned He could never has existed as a man in the flesh therefore they taught that Jesus existed in a “spirit form” and was never incarnated in the flesh.
The basic plot of the Gospel of Judas is that Judas was not actually a traitor but instead a co-conspirator alongside Jesus plotting in His death. In the story, Jesus comes to Judas and proclaims him as His favorite disciple because Judas was the only one who understood that Jesus must die as a suffering servant. When Jesus comes to Judas He instructs Judas to sell him out to the Sanhedrin.
Gnosticism in nothing new to the church and neither are their false gospels. The canonization of the New Testament dealt with these issues by rejecting previous Gnostic gospels such as the Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) and the Gospel of Thomas from which the Da Vinci Code is based off of. These teachings are heretical and are contradictory to the extensive historical documentation of who Jesus really was and what he taught.
As professing believers we are at a great point to defend our faith. With the recent news coverage of the Gospel of Judas and the movie The Da Vinci Code coming out soon we must be willing and able to defend our faith with knowledge and confidence because apologetics is a duty of every believer. Already, I have had people coming to me who think they have found a “nail in the coffin” issue against Christianity from these “lost” gospels and supposed cover-ups. Simply tell them that these things are nothing new even though it is being touted as such and that Gnosticism and missing gospels are not being covered up by the church because we have no need to do so.
Finally, be open about it. Not only can we defend our faith accurately with facts but we can use these many opportunities to share the true gospel with the people we encounter.
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04.03.06
Posted in Science at 12:34 pm by CLP
I am currently taking a class at Wright State University titled “Evolution and Diversity”. As a Christian I take issue with the theory of evolution when its proponents claim that it disproves the existence of God. Recently, I went to my professor’s office hours to discuss these issues and at the end of the 45 minute discussion got her to admit that, even if you hold that all life evolved from prokaryotic cells, that a creator would still have to exist. The following are some tips to use whenever witnessing to someone who brings up the theory of evolution as an issue:
1) Be willing to not contest issues of evolution or the age of the earth first off but instead get them back to the very beginning when life “began”.
2) Bring up known theories and postulates such as the third point of the cell theory (”all cells come from pre-existing cells”) and Louis Pasteur’s experimentation showing life does not come from non-life. At this point any educated scientist who is honest with themselves would have to agree that an “outer force”, which we recognize as our Father, God almighty, had created the most basic forms of life at one point and placed them on the earth.
3) Once you are at this point you are better suited to argue issue such as whether evolution is truly defined as adaptation or speciation in regards to transitional forms between similar and completely dissimilar species. It has been my experience that you cannot approach these issues before you first establish through their own logic that God or a “creator” as many scientists like to say does truly exist.
As stated, issues such as the age of the earth, the extent of speciation, transitional fossil forms, and adaptation in relation to evolution are matters which can only be discussed after this first point is made. Some of these issues, such as the age of the earth, are not as important and are debatable within the body of believers.
I have recently put together a powerpoint presentation on the issue of where “science meets God” and how we can use these issue apologetically. I am going to be presenting this on campus later in the quarter along with Chris Poteet and Bobby Fleck. If I can figure out how to post that powerpoint on this blog, or if I can get Chris to do it, I will post it also for everyone to review.
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