Signs of the Last Days
These two articles were taken from: Friday Church News Notes, August 28, 2009, www.wayoflife.org
Lutherans Vote to Allow Homosexual Pastors
On August 21, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to allow “gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy.” Moments after the vote, Mark Hanson, the Presiding 
Bishop of the ELCA, pleaded for unity, saying, “It would be tragic if we walked away from one another” (“Lutheran Gay Clergy Vote,” AP, Aug. 22, 2009). In fact, it is tragic that those who claim to believe the Bible are yoked together in the same denomination with those who obviously do not (Romans 16:17). Many mainstream media reports depict the ELCA as a fairly conservative denomination, but in fact it has been riddled with theological modernism and unbelief since its inception. J. Kincaid Smith, an ELCA pastor who attended Hamma School of Theology in the Lutheran Church in America, one of the denominations that merged to form the ELCA in 1988, testified, “When I graduated in 1973, to the best of my knowledge, none of my classmates, nor I, believed in any of the miraculous element in the Bible, in anything supernatural, no six day creation, that Adam and Eve were real historical people, that God really spoke to people, the flood with Noah and the Ark, the Red Sea parting. We believed that no Old Testament Scriptures foretold of Jesus of Nazareth, that Jesus was not anticipated in the Old Testament. No virgin birth” (Christian News, April 29, 1985).
Unbelieving “Jesus Seminar” Re-vitalized
The Jesus Seminar, which claims that only a small part of the four Gospels contain authentic sayings of Jesus, has been revitalized in recent days. After the death of founder Robert Funk in 2005, the organization nearly went out of business. Now it is moving to Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and is receiving an influx of money to carry on its Satanic work of destroying people’s faith in God’s Word. Through the Jesus Seminar, the hiss of the slithering 
serpent can still be heard asking, “Hath God said?” In the 1980s, the Jesus Seminar boys cast ballots on the authenticity of Christ’s sayings in the four Gospels, using red balls to indicate that a saying was probably authentic, gray, that it was possibly authentic, and black, that its authenticity was improbable. Less than a third of Jesus’ sayings received red votes.
In 1992, Marcus Borg, a participant in the Jesus Seminar, said, “It makes no historical sense to say, ‘Jesus was killed for the sins of the world.’ … I am one of those Christians who does not believe in the virgin birth, nor in the star of Bethlehem, nor in the journeys of the wise men, nor in the shepherds coming to the manger, as facts of history” (Bible Review, December 1992). The Jesus Seminar is only one voice in a loud chorus of end-time unbelief that was supernaturally prophesied in the very Bible they so blindly denounce. “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1). “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3).
Is this your testimony?
So many people today have been brought up in church, prayed a prayer when they were young, grew up living like the world, and are now not much different from lost people. Their lives and marriages are a shamble. Could it be that they are not truly saved? Watch this video and as Paul commands,
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
S-A-L-V-A-T-I-O-N
How do you spell SALVATION?
| S | SALVATION means to be rescued from sin and its punishment, and to be set free to know, love and serve God. (John 8:34, 36) |
| A | ALL have turned away from God and broken the law of God. (Romans 3:23) ( James 2:10) |
| L | LEFT TO OURSELVES there is no rescue, and the justice of God requires our eternal punishment. (John 3:36) |
| V | VICTORY OVER SIN was obtained when God sent His Son, Jesus to earth. Jesus obeyed God’s laws perfectly, yet He died to pay for the sins of all who believe. (1 John 4:10) |
| A | ADMITTING that our sin has put is in a desperate situation is the first step in our rescue. (1 John 1:8,9) |
| T | TURNING FROM OUR SIN and taking the free gift of jesus’ payment for ous sin makes us “not guilty” in God’s sight. (Romans 6:23) |
| I | IN GRATITUDE for such love, we follow Him in obedience and service. (Romans 12:1) |
| O | ONLY JESUS has provided the way to salvation, and He is the only way to the Father. (John 14:6) (Acts 4:12) |
| N | NOW is the time to make your decision. You are not guaranteed another minute. (2 Corinthians 6:2) |
Psalm 148:1-3
The following video features an aCapella singing of a version of Psalm 148:1-3.
Psalms 148:1-3
(1) Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
(2) Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
(3) Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
It is also our newest video of the week.
McChurch & The Drive-in Church
I found this on another pastor’s blog, and I wanted to share it. What kind of church do you want?
McChurch
Our culture demands convenience Christianity. We want it short, simple, fast and cheap. The McBible does not have the tedious 66 books, but just a few with short sentences and simple words at the fifth grade level. There are numerous pictures and some pages ruled with lines so that you can add your own spiritual thoughts, just in case you get a new revelation.
The McWorship service is all sweetness and love with nothing offensive.
The McSermon is easily digested with a minimum of nutrition and a maximum of fat.
Each McPrayer is centered on temporal and material things to keep the mind from wandering to the spiritual which is often illusive for the modern American.
To keep the kids awake the McHymns are hip-hop style.
McMarriages are performed for folk who like quicky relationships and throw-away vows are the big feature. For those who still hold some traditional notions, there are pre-marital sessions with junk counseling.
The McPastor is a touchy-feely guy who majored in pop psychology and has an in-depth understanding of felt needs.
McSins, commonly called boo-boos, are easily forgiven with fast prayers and of course are soon repeated, but not taken too seriously. There is an effort to virtually eliminate the negative and dwell 100% on the positive.
This whole business is sustained by the McTithe, which is not 10%, but whatever stray dollars happen to be left in the wallet.
The McYouth program is short on Bible study and discipleship, and long on fun and games. It’s designed to give the kids what they want and to teen-sit them so that their parents can go out and have fun evenings without worrying about their kids getting into drugs and sex. McChurch is staffed, not by professionals, but by hasitly hired, part-timers whose strongest spiritual slogan is “Have a nice day”.
This is the church that offers McFellowship, which is not bonding, but just a quick “Hello” with a handshake and a hug and a hope that you do not become too responsible for the other person’s life or spiritual well being.
McSalvation does not have any deep doctrine of substitutionary atonement and regeneration, but a simple human decision or a nod of the head is more than adequate to bring a person into McKingdom, where he hopes to live happily now and in the hereafter.
All of this ends up in a McHeaven where there are no golden streets, but arches that appear over a broad entrance where the grill is scorching and the deep fry grease super hot.
By Vernon C. Lyons,
Ashburn Baptist Church,
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