The "Hole" in World Vision's Gospel Remains: A Response to Their Response

World Vision’s full response is posted in the “comments” section of my original post (“The Hole in World Vision’s Gospel”).  Here I will endeavor to respond to their response.

Dear World Vision,

Thank you for responding so quickly to my original letter. Sadly, your response only confirms my decision to withdraw my support from your organization. 

You said:

 “In many countries in which we serve it is often against the law to speak openly about the Christian faith, or even to convert. In some places, initiating a religious conversation could cause us to be expelled from the country. Yet if we are questioned concerning our faith, we are allowed to reply. In countries where there are few, if any, Christians, World Vision workers show their faith, hope, and Christian values through Christlike living and caring actions, as they work with the children and their families.”

“India is identified by World Vision as one of the countries in which we ask sponsors to refrain from referring to Jesus or Christianity, using evangelistic language, or making comparisons between religions when sending packages, writing letters, or sending emails.”

Does India censor its outgoing mail? This was not a card from me to my sponsored child. It was a card from him to me. I have a hard time believing it is against India’s law to speak openly about the Christian faith. My place of employment has people from all around the world. I asked a colleague who grew up in India if there was religious persecution there. He said the country is 81% Hindu. There are scuffles between the Hindu and Muslims, but for the most part, Christians (with a few exceptions) are not a part of these scuffles. Perhaps my colleague is from a different part of India than my sponsored child, but he told me he grew up in a poor area where he had no running water and a dirt floor in his house. And I believe that World Vision is ministering in poor areas, so his comments appear to be applicable. If this is the case, it appears that World Vision could be more than a bit bolder here.

You said:

“World Vision is grateful to be allowed to work in countries where culture and religious beliefs prevent many other organizations from reaching out to hurting children and families. Our concern for the safety and well-being of the children and families we serve may prevent us from sharing the gospel outright; however, as we work alongside people of different faiths, we strive to reflect the compassion and care of Christ. That unconditional care, along with our staff's commitment, competence, and character, are tangible witnesses to Christ. The loving commitment of our donors also serves as a powerful demonstration of God's love.”

Am I to understand correctly that I have been sponsoring a child through your CHRISTIAN organization for years, and it is possible that he has not heard the Gospel? “Faith comes by HEARING [not eating], and hearing by the word of God.” What shall it profit a man if he gains a full belly but loses his soul? Christ was not interested in just feeding people. Merely feeding people perishable food is not “Christlike”. Consider John 6:26-27: “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’”

Judas was similarly focused on the temporal. To quote my husband, Bill Ward:

The "Hole in the Gospel" is the same hole that Judas Iscariot saw in his dealings with Jesus.  He became frustrated.  Judas' dream was to unify Israel and defeat the Romans.  While traveling with Jesus he saw people being fed and the lame being healed.  Jesus could do all these wonderful things and the people loved Him for it.  But he couldn't seem to make Jesus aware of the wondrous potential that he possessed.   Judas could see in Jesus the power to unify, end world hunger, heal the brokenhearted, and the ensure world peace derived after obtaining freedom from Roman tyranny.   Judas truly had a world vision that Jesus couldn't seem to grasp.  Jesus kept speaking about Himself, as if He were more important than all these good works: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters (Luke 11:23).” But Judas could see that these divisive words kept marginalizing Jesus from the good people he was trying help. Judas thought:  "The poor must matter more than Your feet and hair…" 

 But Judas, as all left-leaning social gospel Christians do, missed the point.  Jesus did not come to perform good works, heal the sick and feed the poor, but Jesus did these things to testify about Himself.  Christ is what is important, not the works.  It's all about Christ, but ministries like World vision have made it all about their good works.  And this in turn leads to all the other silly things that they believe (e.g., global warming).  Once you've become accepting of the first lie, you'll believe any other lie.  This leads to the inability to discern good from evil, truth from lies, and God from the devil.

 World Vision's gospel is as shallow as a bowl of rice and as deep as a cup of water.  Once the bowl and cup are consumed, hunger and thirst soon return.  The true gospel and water that Christ gives is one of which when drank from, one will never thirst again. 

 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33).”

I will move on now to your defense of global warming and of Rich Stearns’ book, “The Hole in Our Gospel”.

You said:

"World Vision has seen the growing and destructive impact of climate change on the impoverished children and families we are privileged to serve."

Even scientists with highly sensitive instruments cannot "see" global warming with any certitude (though many of the dishonest ones cooked their data to prove that they could – remember Climategate?), so how can World Vision see it? This is nothing but propaganda, and a thinly veiled disdain for and envy of industrialized countries, the biggest and most productive of which most of your donations come from - those poor people, so dumped upon by America who has caused the global temperature to rise. (Lest you misunderstand, there is again, no credible evidence that global warming is anthropogenic, unless of course, you are Al Gore).

Finally, your defense of Rich Stearns' "The Hole in Our Gospel” is just too much to take. He foolishly believes the amount of wealth in the world if fixed, so that if a person or country is wealthy they must have stolen from a poor person or country. That is again, a thinly veiled hatred of America and all that is exceptional about her. We have been so God-blessed because we were founded by the blood of Christian patriots who understood the value of diligence, hard work, reward for one’s labor, and who loved God’s most fundamental value – liberty (“for when He gave us life, He gave us liberty at the same time”).  And America sends more humanitarian aid, missionaries, etc. around the world than any other nation on earth.  It’s not even close.

In conclusion, your reply to my original letter only indicates that you are recalcitrant in your propagation of leftism in place of the Gospel.  World Vision, the Kingdom does not bring in the King. THE KING BRINGS THE KINGDOM.  You have not changed my mind; you have only steeled my intention to sound the alarm concerning your apostasy far and wide, lest others be ensnared by it.

Jeanette Ward

The "Hole" in World Vision's Gospel

Dear World Vision,

I have sponsored one or more children through World Vision since the year 2000, including one “Hope Child” in Africa.  I see quite a disturbing trend that has developed in the World Vision organization that replaces the teaching of true Gospel of the Lord Jesus with “social justice” or the “social gospel”. This is on full display in your founder Richard Stearns’ book, “The Hole in Our Gospel”. A critique on the book with which I agree can be found at http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2010/06/15/a-hole-in-our-gospel/.

Here is a quote from the aforementioned article, to give you a flavor for what I find so objectionable:

“Second, the way Stearns employs statistics is misleading. He states that “the wealthiest 7 people on earth control more wealth than the combined GDP of the 41 most heavily indebted nations.” But why say “control” instead of “earned” or “created”? He tells us that “the top 20 percent of the world’s population consumes 86 percent of the world’s goods” (122). But why not give statistics on what percentage of the world’s goods that twenty percent also creates? I’m sure many rich people are rapacious goons, but it is unhelpful to frame the numbers as if wealth were a zero-sum game. Stearns argues that “the wealthiest countries, where just one-fifth of the world’s population lives, spend 90 percent of the world’s health care dollars, allowing the remaining four-fifths of the planet to spend only 10 percent of the money” (141). This makes it sound like there is a fixed pie of health care dollars and all the rich countries raided the pie before the poor countries had a chance to get to the table. This is bad logic and bad economics.”

I have seen the results of this “social justice gospel” in the writing and literature that has been sent to me by my sponsored children. I have held my peace for this long because I did not want to jeopardize children. However, I am now convinced that you are “causing these little ones to stumble” because you are preaching a false gospel.

Here are three examples which demonstrate the problem:

Example 1: In 2009, I received the following “Christmas” card from my sponsored child in India:

Cover of card

Inside of card

I say “Christmas” card tongue in cheek, since there is no mention of Christmas or CHRIST anywhere in the card. To add insult to injury, the leftist Gandhi is quoted. Since when is peace a right? Apparently Matthew 10:34-36 is not being taught to my sponsored child: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’” Perhaps you mean peace with God (although that is not a right, either), but that is only possible through His Son, Who is not mentioned at all on this card.

Example 2: In 2010, I received the following “Christmas” card from my sponsored child in India:

 Outside of tent folded card

Inside of tent folded card

Again this “Christmas” card makes no mention of Christmas (again with the “Season’s Greetings”) or of God’s only begotten Son.  It despicably cloaks environmental leftism in Christianity. Fools! It is not possible to “bequeath to our children a world which is safe, clean, and productive” - though we should strive for those things - but not as an end in themselves. What we CAN do for children is to teach them to recognize and combat lies like this with the truth, clarity, and purity of the true gospel in a wicked and perverse generation.

Example 3: Today I received my sponsored child’s annual progress report. Inside, it describes for me just what my sponsored child has been learning, courtesy of World Vision and my sponsorship money.

In the “Life School Transformational Development” section, I read, “In this program 415 children, [and] teachers from 22 communities participated. Children gathered together in one place for the 3 day program and they participated with full enthusiasm. The topics emphasized were Environment, Education, Child-Rights, Global warming and Gender Equality.” WHAT? Again, no mention of Christ. (You are a “Christian” organization, are you not?) Instead, you are teaching global warming? Perhaps you are unaware of all the evidence that global warming is not occurring? Do you not care about the truth? What are child-rights? The “child-rights” that I am aware of involve the sanction by the UN of children suing their parents for spanking them.

The “Hole in Your Gospel” is that you do not preach the true one.  I will no longer allow you to use the fruit of my labor to lead His children astray. You may NOT continue to charge my credit card. I am ending my sponsorships.

Sincerely,
Jeanette Ward

Willow Creek Substitutes Leftism for Christianity

Pastor Bill Hybels at Willow Creek is doing a three week series entitled “His Name Shall Be Called” (focusing on Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”). During the course of the message he gave on Sunday, December 5 (See: http://www.willowcreek.org/home1.aspx, click on “Watch Messages” and then click on “He Shall be Called“), he discussed each name given in the Isaiah passage. When he got to “Prince of Peace”, he made the following comments: 

“…Did you ever wonder what Defense spending costs our economy? I was playing around with numbers this week because I was under-challenged at work… I took the defense spending of the top 10 countries in the world, added it all up, and if we just took the Defense spending, top ten countries for one year, just twelve months, gang… it comes ups to something like 1.5 trillion dollars. What could be done with 1.5 trillion dollars to make our world a better place?…We could feed every starving person on the planet for just 20 billion…indefinitely. In addition to that…now we’re talking about 1.5 trillion dollars available if we would just stop the Defense spending of all the ten countries for one year, we could quite possibly clothe every naked person, house and educate every needy person on planet earth. A lot of diseases could be eliminated. AIDS probably could be eliminated. Cancer research could be accelerated. There’s just almost unlimited things that could happen if we could just get people to stop fighting and spending their money on military defense stuff for just one year, you see.  War is insane…and it’s insanely expensive. It restricts us from having the resources to do the kinds of things that would make this world a better place. So when Isaiah says “someone is coming and one of His names is Prince of Peace”, every sane person should yearn for the day of his arrival. And when Jesus did come…he said “Blessed are the peacemakers…” Jesus knew all about the insanity of war…”Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Could you just say those words with me?…I’ve got a better plan than spilling blood all over the place. Love your enemies; pray for those who do you wrong…when someone decides to follow Jesus and really surrender their life to Jesus… Jesus begins to turn us into peacemakers; our taste for blood sours a little bit…Can you imagine what could happen if on this Christmas day…every world leader would come to his or her senses and say, “Look no more war; we’re done. We’ll still have our differences, but we’re done with wars. We’ll settle our differences over negotiating tables instead of spilling the blood of our sons and daughters…Isaiah says, “The greatest hope of a day like that ever happening is in a person named Jesus Christ…Every day 20,000 people commit themselves to Jesus Christ… and they become peacemakers, that day gets a little bit closer.” 

Wow. So much apostasy; so little time. Sounds like John Lennon’s song “Imagine”. Yes, imagine a world where there’s nothing worth dying for. My friends, that would be a world where there’s nothing worth living for.  

Let’s dissect some of this: 

“What could be done with 1.5 trillion dollars to make our world a better place?…We could feed every starving person on the planet for just 20 billion…indefinitely.”

Indefinitely, huh? That’s a long time… 

I also recall one of Jesus’ disciples who spoke like this: 

John 12:4-6: But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 

“In addition to that…now we talking about 1.5 trillion dollars available if we would just stop the defense spending of all the ten countries for one year…”

Adolf Hitler led the systematic extermination of 6 million Jews. It was only war that stopped him.  

Good government exists to carry out God’s justice. Romans 13:4: “For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil (emphasis mine).” When there is no sword for “him who practices evil (nations and individuals), there is no justice. Bill Hybels, there can be no love without justice. 

“…we could quite possibly clothe every naked person, house and educate every needy person on planet earth…”

Matthew 26:11: “The poor you will have with you always…” 

“A lot of diseases could be eliminated. AIDS probably could be eliminated.” 

Romans 1:27: “…receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” But my guess is that Bill Hybels doesn’t talk about what The Bible says about homosexuality… 

“There’s just almost unlimited things that could happen if we could just get people to stop fighting…” 

Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity;  I, the LORD, do all these things." 

“War is insane…Jesus knew all about the insanity of war…” 

God must have been insane in The Old Testament then (e.g., Deuteronomy, Judges, Kings, etc.)? Oh, and perhaps in The New as well: 

Revelation 19:11-15: “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (emphases mine). 

And here’s another one from The Old Testament - the same book from which Hybels quotes: 

Isaiah 13:2-4: "I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath— those who rejoice in my triumph." 

“…and it’s insanely expensive. It restricts us from having the resources to do the kinds of things that would make this world a better place.”

1 John 5:19: "We know... that the whole world is under the control of the evil one." 

I’m not saying we shouldn’t oppose evil.  May it never be! But thinking that we can rid the world of hunger or war is “insane”. 

“So when Isaiah says ‘someone is coming and one of His names is Prince of Peace’”…“And when Jesus did come…he said ‘Blessed are the peacemakers…’”

And Jesus also said: Matthew 10:34: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." 

And, Luke 22:36: Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.” 

“Prince of Peace” refers to Jesus having made peace between God and us (those who repent and believe in Jesus for salvation). Are you Israel’s teacher, Bill Hybels, and you do not understand these things? 

“…every sane person should yearn for the day of his arrival.” 

Revelation 6:15-17: "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” 

“Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies.’ Could you just say those words with me?…I’ve got a better plan than spilling blood all over the place. Love your enemies; pray for those who do you wrong…when someone decides to follow Jesus and really surrender their life to Jesus… Jesus begins to turn us into peacemakers; our taste for blood sours a little bit.” 

Revelation 6:9-10: When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth (emphasis mine)?”   

I think you need a greater “taste” for justice, Bill Hybels. 

“Can you imagine what could happen if on this Christmas day…every world leader would come to his or her senses and say, “Look no more war; we’re done. We’ll still have our differences, but we’re done with wars. We’ll settle our differences over negotiating tables instead of spilling the blood of our sons and daughters...” 

1 Thessalonians 5:3: For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 

“Isaiah says, ‘The greatest hope of a day like that ever happening is in a person named Jesus Christ‘…” 

Revelation 19:17-21: Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,  that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse (emphasis mine.  The “Him“ is Jesus; comment mine). And all the birds were filled with their flesh. 

From another perspective: 

Do you think I’ve been unkind or harsh? Perhaps Bill Ward’s (my husband) response is preferable: 

“…Did you ever wonder what Defense spending costs our economy? I was playing around with numbers this week because I was under challenged at work…”

That's because you don't "work", you're a beggar who peddles hope and lives off the welfare of your hope-starved flock.  How about feeding truth (good food) to your flock, instead of worrying about feeding the world and your own self-righteousness? 

“I took the defense spending of the top 10 countries in the world, added it all up, and if we just took the Defense spending, top ten countries for one year, just twelve months, gang… it comes ups to something like 1.5 trillion dollars. What could be done with 1.5 trillion dollars to make our world a better place?…We could feed every starving person on the planet for just 20 billion…indefinitely.” 

Wrong,  a 1000 times wrong.  This statement is such a grotesque oversimplification and so thick with ignorance it is painful to parse out.  Again I must ask myself, "How does one answer a fool?"  It will either be patently obvious to the listener, or the listener is like Bill Hybels and will never get it.   

Are these starving people working? Are they good or bad?  Who are they? What are their values?  What country do they live in?   We don't know, these are just the paper cutout typical "starving people"; non-violent souls, without sin, without jealousies, without greed, without sloth, without envy, without lust, or the pride of life, without cultures, without borders, without a history, and without all the evils that only exist in rich white guys like Bill Hybels.  

Clearly, without defense, will they not be overrun by barbarians who will steal all the food that the "rich" nations just gave them? Twenty billion would not even be a drop in the bucket!  We've had some 30 trillion dollars in transfer payments in this country alone since LBJ's "Great Society" of the sixties from the productive to the non-productive in this country alone and the level of poverty has not gone down.  Endless charities have given gobs and gobs of money - far more than 20 billion - over decades and decades and yet poverty in the world has not ceased nor even decreased.  The use of the term "indefinitely" should immediately indicate to the listener the emptiness and deceptiveness of this claim.  Upon hearing this claim my initial reaction was "Feed them? For how long, a month? And then what do they do?"  I'll tell you, they will start warring with each other over the few scraps of handout food there is left, then someone will suggest using stones, and then someone will build a stone-thrower machine, and then... 

But of course this total Willow Creek dream scenario can only happen when we all come together as one in a John Lennon love fest and all agree to all lay down all our arms at the same time.  Try to get 100 people in any room to agree that 2+2=4 100% of the time.  It never happens.  And you expect the whole world to come together on this - the grand Willow Creek social justice dream?   Bill Hybels is not preaching truth, he's selling false hope.  This is the height of evil because it twists the real truth and replaces it with a never-obtainable myth.   The facts don't matter to the purveyors of the myth.  Bill Hybels keeps preaching and selling the false hope because the fools keep buying it.  He thinks the Bible talks about it because he only reads the 2% of scripture that can be understood in this manner.  He tells 2% truths, much like the Father of Lies (that would be Satan for those of you attending Willow Creek).  

“In addition to that…” 

There's more?... Isn't ending world hunger enough?!  Oh, I forgot, the drivel never ends.  Hybels is really shoveling it this morning.   As long as we're dreaming, dream big... 

“…now we’re talking about 1.5 trillion dollars available if we would just stop the defense spending of all the ten countries for one year, we could quite possibly clothe every naked person, house and educate every needy person on planet earth. A lot of diseases could be eliminated. AIDS probably could be eliminated.”

Probably? come on Bill have some faith! definitely! 

“There’s just almost unlimited things that could happen if we could just get people to stop fighting and spending their money on military defense stuff for just one year, you see. War is insane…and it’s insanely expensive.”

No Bill Hybels, you are insane, and stupidity is the most expensive thing by far.  You look at your obscenely expensive "church" and are too insane to understand where the money came from.  I beg you, give it all away and send the money to the "starving people" of your choice, and that would  both feed some people for a day or two and rid us of the torture of ever having to hear you preach again.  It's the best of both worlds!  Think about it - martyring your church for your self-righteous beliefs.  The more one thinks about it the more giddy one gets.   Or even better, you could disband the church and rent the building out for a steady stream of money that could feed 1000 people "indefinitely"!  Or you could eliminate AIDS and feed 700; or you could cure cancer, eliminate AIDS, but then you'd only be able to feed 350 people - hard choices indeed. 

“It restricts us from having the resources to do the kinds of things that would make this world a better place. So when Isaiah says “someone is coming and one of His names is Prince of Peace”, every sane person should yearn for the day of his arrival. And when Jesus did come…he said “Blessed are the peacemakers…” Jesus knew all about the insanity of war…”Jesus said, “Love you enemies.” Could you just say those words with me?…I’ve got a better plan than spilling blood all over the place. Love your enemies; pray for those who do you wrong…when someone decides to follow Jesus and really surrender their life to Jesus… Jesus begins to turn us into peacemakers; our taste for blood sours a little bit…Can you imagine…”

I'm going to cry.  It's just like what Bono "the apostle" Lennon said.  Listen! Hybels is channeling Lennon from the grave! OH Glory!! Glory!!  And right at the 30 year anniversary of his crucifixion, er, I mean death. 

“…what could happen if on this Christmas day…every world leader would come to his or her senses and say, ‘Look no more war; we're done. We’ll still have our differences, but we're done with wars. We’ll settle our differences over negotiating tables instead of spilling the blood of our sons and daughters‘…Isaiah says, ‘The greatest hope of a day like that ever happening is in a person named Jesus Christ‘…Every day 20,000 people commit themselves to Jesus Christ…”

Why at this rate everyone will know Christ by the year 2525!   The simpleton Bill Hybels said it, and he pastors a very big and very influential and very rich church (which he's sadly not willing to give away in order to feed the "starving people"), so it must be true.  True, not true, who cares? It's almost Christmas - "2525 if we're still alive" - the gospel according to Willow Creek.  I wonder if there was a single person at Willow Creek who was awake enough to notice, much less be offended by, this whopper? 

“…and they become peacemakers, that day gets a little bit closer.” 

So Christ in fact doesn't need to return and cut the enemies of the Lord to pieces? (I wonder what the heavenly defense budget for that is?).  By 2525, we'll do it ourselves with eternal hope and relentless change and tweaking and seeker-sensitive churches.  There you go, the Bible is outdated and wrong again.  Bill Hybels proved it!

"Age of Grace" Excuse for Cowardice

I was quoting the following verses from Psalm 109 in conversation with a Christian the other day, concerning those who are usurping our Constitution:

(v. 8): "Let his days be few and another take his office"

(v. 7) "When he is tried, let him be found guilty."

(v. 9): "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

I was taken aback when this person said to me, "That is from the Enemy!"

I said, "Those aren't my words; they are from the Bible." 

He said, "That's the Old Testament. We're in the age of grace." 

Why do I address this here? Because this doctrine is a CANCER in the Church.  First of all, "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8), and salvation has always been about grace and faith ("Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness": Romans 4:3, Genesis 15:6).

Further, was Jesus under the influence "of the Enemy" when He drove the money changers from the temple? When He called the POLITICAL LEADERS of his day "sons of hell", "hypocrites", "brood of vipers", "blind guides", "fools and blind", "whitewashed tombs...full of dead men's bones", unable to "escape the condemnation of hell" (from Matthew 23)? Does this NEW TESTAMENT passage fit the "age of grace" theory, as applied by my rebuker? 

Returning again to Psalm 109 (v. 8), it was quoted by Luke in Acts 1:20 concerning Judas. I guess someone forgot to tell Luke that he was "in the age of grace" and couldn't quote that passage anymore. 

Maybe Paul didn't know he was in "the age of grace" when he expressed the wish that the Judiazers would "go the whole way and castrate themselves" (Galatians 5:12). Maybe Paul's sentiments were "of the Enemy".  Or maybe someone forgot to tell Peter that he was in the "age of grace" when he declared Sapphira dead for lying to God in Acts 5:9. 

It's a good thing our Christian forebears didn't apply this "age of grace" doctrine, or the Declaration of Independence would never have been written, and the War for Independence never fought. 

It's a good thing Martin Luther didn't believe in this "age of grace" theory or he would never have nailed his 95 theses to a Church door. As he said, "WHERE THE BATTLE RAGES, THERE THE SOLDIER IS PROVED."

Obama Talks About His Faith

From the article: "Obama Talks About His Faith":

…Mr. Obama, who has been criticized by conservative pundits who have questioned his Christian faith, gave a lengthy discourse on it in response to a woman who said she had three “hot topic questions” for him. The first was: “Why are you a Christian?” The second was on abortion — the president said it should be “safe, legal and rare”…

…“I’m a Christian by choice,” the president said. “My family, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn’t raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead. Being my brothers and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me, and I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes and we achieve salvation through the grace of God.”

From another article on the same speech:

After responding to the question about his faith on Tuesday, Obama added that as the president of the United States, he also deeply believes that "part of the bedrock strength of this country is that it embraces people of many faiths and of no faith."

"Their own path to grace is one that we have to revere and respect as much as our own and that's part of what makes this country what it is," he highlighted.

A response:

‎1. The president is not making abortion "rare". He voted for infanticide (partial birth abortion) on several occasions. He has expanded access to abortion in foreign countries with American tax dollars. Obamacare covers it. Here's a newsflash: if you subsidize something, you get more of it.

Matthew 7:15-20: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

2. Jesus never mentioned "being your brother and sisters’ keeper". The first murderer, Cain, mentioned that when he was trying to lie to God about having killed his brother. “Keeping” your brother is slavery. That is where the “social justice” gospel (which is not the gospel at all) leads. Further, Obama's half-brother lives in squalor in a poor village in Kenya. His aunt lives in the US as an illegal alien in government housing. Is he really his “brother and sisters’ keeper”, according to his own definition?

3. We don't "achieve salvation through the grace of God." GOD achieves salvation through the grace of God. It is a free gift. To borrow from Chris Matthews, "it's an important distinction."

4. “People of no faith” don't have "a path to grace", by DEFINITION, unless they cease to BE atheists. But this fits with his belief in collective salvation, that for one to be saved, all must be saved.

This is the same man, who on the campaign trail, referred to “an obscure passage in Romans" as being irrelevant when he was discussing homosexuality (it's in Chapter ONE) and his “Christian” faith. This is the same man, who, in "Dreams of My Father", said that Jeremiah Wright was a big part of his Christian formation. He attended his Church for 20 years, where he heard Black Liberation Theology, and exclamations like, "God damn America!" and after 9/11, "America's chickens are coming home to roost!"

This is NOT the Christianity I know…

The world has needed surgery and we’ve given them bubble gum

Most of these quotes (which a few additions of my own) are excerpts from a sermon given by Pastor John Kirkwood of Grace Gospel Fellowship, Bensenville, IL.  His sermon was in honor of Pulpit Freedom Sunday, although every Sunday taught by John could be in honor of Pulpit Freedom Sunday.  For the full sermon, see: http://gracebeliever.com/2010/09/september-26-2010-sunday-bible-study/, especially track 1. 

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.  Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”-Martin Luther 

“Through us infinite wrong was brought over many peoples and countries. That which we often testified to in our communities, we express now in the name of the whole church: We did fight for long years in the name of Jesus Christ against the mentality that found its awful expression in the National Socialist regime of violence; but we accuse ourselves for not standing to our beliefs more courageously, for not praying more faithfully, for not believing more joyously, and for not loving more ardently.” The Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt 

“I do not want to have to sign a Washington DC declaration of guilt…we need to stand and say ‘We will not have this.’” Pastor John Kirkwood 

“The world has needed surgery and we’ve given them bubble gum.” Pastor John Kirkwood 

“The ultimate check on tyranny is the Church.” Pastor John Kirkwood 

"Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation." - Charles Finney 

“Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's.” - The Manhattan Declaration 

“If men will not be governed by God, they will be ruled by tyrants.” William Penn 

“It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.” Patrick Henry 

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” Thomas Paine 

“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.” Thomas Jefferson  

Yes, indeed, and He let the whole human race fall because of it. 

Luke 4:18-19:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

     because he has anointed me

      to preach good news to the poor.

   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners (emphasis mine)

      and recovery of sight for the blind,

   to release the oppressed,

    to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 

Galatians 5:1: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 

“If man lost his liberty, he would be disqualified for membership in the Kingdom of God. Not even God could build a society of love out of puppets or robots.” Kirby Page 

“Without free will, God isn’t God.” Pastor John Kirkwood 

“What do you call forced love? …rape

“What do you call forced servitude? …slavery” Pastor John Kirkwood 

“God has no need of marionettes. He pays men the compliment of allowing them to live without Him if they choose. But if they live without Him in this life, they must also live without Him in the next.” Leon Morris 

“I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.” C.S. Lewis 

“All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find.” C.S. Lewis 

"The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free." C.S. Lewis 

“The right to liberty is fundamental. But it is what a person does with it that tells their caliber and their fiber, and that decides whether they will continue to be free and whether their nation will be prosperous.” Margaret Thatcher

Thought for the Day: Make a Righteous Judgment

Matthew 7:1-5: "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye (emphasis mine)."

This is probably the most misused passage of the Bible. It is what critics of what is good and decent often use to defend themselves and their positions on homosexuality, abortion, living together before marriage, etc. "Don't judge!" is their mantra, while they fail to realize that they themselves are making a judgment when they make that exclamation. No judgment is allowed except the one judgment that judges that you are judging. This is akin to the relativist argument that there is no absolute truth except for the absolute truth that there is no absolute truth.

The condition necessary BEFORE making a judgment is to examine yourself, as is further explained in the following verses:

1 Corinthians 11:31: But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

2 Corinthians 13:5a: Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!

So, after we have examined ourselves, we are CALLED to make righteous judgments:

John 7:23-24: If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (emphasis mine)."

Proverbs 31:9a: Open your mouth, judge righteously...

Here, Paul indicates having "judged" a believer caught in egregious sin:

1 Corinthians 5:1-5: It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this (emphasis mine), as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1 Corinthians 6:2-3: Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world (emphasis mine)? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels (emphasis mine)? How much more matters of this life?

If we will "judge the world"... and "angels", how much more are we to make RIGHTEOUS judgments in this life? Remember this next time someone tries to silence you by accusing you of "judging".