Quote of the Day

"Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Becoming all things to all men that I might when some?

From Slice of Laodecia comes this story of the "ministry" XXXChurch.com and their shameful, ,and sadly all to common refusal of some who call themselves Christians, "to come out from among them and be seperate". You have got to read this story and especially the commentary by Ingrid Schlueter.

This weekend I am writing a post on the misconception that so many have of the scripture in 1 Corinthians 9:22, we must become all things to all men thaty we might win some.

Anti-Porn "Ministry" Brings Shame on Jesus Christ

Evangelicalism: Reformation or Self-Destruction

I am a great admirer of Ingrid Schlueter and this commentary on the state of evangelicalism today is gold. Please read this!

From the article......

Evangelicalism is where medieval Roman Catholicism was just before that portentous day when Dr. Luther pounded his Theses to the castle church door at Wittenburg. Like Rome, today's evangelical Christianity has become about political and temporal power. Similarly, systems and methods have replaced confidence in the Gospel. Church growth and marketing courses now trump Bible classes at many seminaries across the country. Like the Roman church, the gathering in of money to build bigger and better church edifices is a top priority. In place of medieval church relics and idols, we now have media celebrities and icons to follow after. Rather than do the painstaking and difficult work of daily ministering to a lowly flock, pastors today style themselves after the aforementioned celebrities, lusting after their power and their influence and craving what they believe is “success”. Now the slick, polished icons are falling and nobody seems to know what to do. The church as a conservative political task force is faltering.There is confusion in the ranks. Nobody seems to know what they are supposed to be doing anymore.

What is needed is a clear Biblical voice in this hour. We are in desperate need of a second reformation; not one that is based on some leader's 5 points of this or 40 days of that, but a reformation based on a return to the love of God's authoritative Word. This reformation would see preachers on their knees before God repenting for personal ambition and desire for worldly success and then rising in their pulpits to declare the whole counsel of God without fear or favor. We need a new generation, sick of man made schemes, political ambitions and mass media dreams, a generation that has been taught to love the Lord God more than anything the world has to offer and that desires to be a called out people, to glorify God and to shun what is not of Him. Then God will honor His people with His presence, the dross and corruption will be cleaned out of the church, and she will be fit for true service.

Phil Johnson's perspective on the Haggard scandal

As I said below, there have been several good commentaries on the Haggard scandal, and I suggest you read this one by Phil Johnson. The post is published on one of Phil's websites at http://teampyro.blogspot.com. Among many others responsibilities, Phil Johnson is the executive director of Grace to You.

Here is an excerpt from Phil Johnson's post:

And here are my initial thoughts:

1. If he really didn't do it, he should not have resigned. If the accusations against him were totally false, there was no reason whatsoever to resign—in fact, that would be a totally wrongheaded and completely counterproductive thing to do.

2. The scandal will hurt not only "the religious right," but virtually all evangelical ministries. Justifiably or not, Haggard was perceived as a key leader (representing "30 million evangelicals"!) in both political and spiritual venues. Voters will have second thoughts, and donors will be stunned by yet another scandal involving a high-profile Christian leader.

3. Some might think such a voter/donor backlash is unwarranted and irrational. I don't. The back-story here includes just about everything wrong with 21st-century "evangelicalism." This was the top leader of the largest organization representing America's old-guard evangelical core. The movement (not everyone associated with it, of course, but the drift of the movement as a whole) long ago sold out eternal values for more pragmatic and temporal concerns: political power, contemporary fashions, public opinion, and a lopsided moral agenda.

4. It's time for evangelicals to rethink their priorities, reexamine the evil fruits of pragmatic and market-driven "spirituality," and retool their own movement. Better yet, Christians with a concern for the glory of God and the authority of Scripture should renounce the latitudinarian-style movement contemporary "evangelicalism" has morphed into. It is a hopelessly mixed and muddled multitude. The fashionable brand of NAE/Christianity Today-style "evangelicalism" actually abandoned historic evangelical principles long ago, and hasn't taken a firm stand for biblical and evangelical doctrine for some time. The current scandal is only a symptom of that much deeper problem.

5. Which is to say that evangelicalism right now is at least as much in need of Reformation as Medieval Roman Catholicism was before Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church. We need to face that squarely, rather than reflexively defending our "movement" in the wake of a scandal like this.

Ted Haggard, the scandal, the Church

Since the Ted Haggard story broke, I have wanted to write a commentary on it, but have held back because I didn't want to sound condescending but at the same time not backdown from our responsibiltiy to obedience.

I share this article by Greg Stier, that I think is dead-on. There has been many good commentaries written on this tragic subject. Stier is a guest columnist for The Christian Post and this article appeared on the Saturday November 4th online edition.

I wanted to share the three points Stier made in the article:

How should we as Christians respond to this scandal?

1. Pray. We need to pray for Ted Haggard, Ted’s family, New Life Church and, yes, Mike Jones (the gay accuser). We need to pray that, from the ashes of this scandal, there will be genuine repentance and restoration no matter what the actual sins and transgressions were. We need to pray for the name of Christ to regain renown in spite of this setback.


2. Be careful. Galatians 6:1 reminds us, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." That last sentence should make us all take heed. We need to watch ourselves. Maybe our sin is not in the meth or Homosexual category but we all have our battlefields where we wage war against our own spiritual nemesis. In addition to warning us this passage reminds us that our heart should always to be to restore the fallen brother. If there was sin and there is genuine repentance our sole goal should be to see his spiritual life and family life completely restored. Does that mean that, if there was flagrant sin, that Ted Haggard will automatically or eventually be restored to his position of leadership? That is for the leadership of Ted’s church and denomination to, under God’s guidance, figure out. We need to pray for them as they seek God’s guidance.

3. Remember that this is no laughing matter. I joke around alot on these blogs but not on this particular post. Why? There is nothing funny about this scandal. The name and fame of Christ are at stake with the watching world.


The Ted Haggard Scandal...No Laughing Matter
Read the rest of the article