Be more judgmental

Michael Coren argues in favour of being judgmental, calling sin a sin is a virtue in today's increasingly forgiving society
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/be-more-judgmental/1428181257001

What to do when confronted with supposed "New Movement of the Spirit"

When "God tells you to kick someone in the face" (see below)



Todd Bentley shows you how to keep people alert for the unexpected injury. It is a Florida Outpouring of violence! The ministry of assault and battery!
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Gregory Koukl @ http://str.typepad.com offers some very appropriate advice in response to the Toronto Blessing movement:

Let me put the matter in a different light, and I'll state it bluntly. Even if the Holy Spirit is in this, so what?

Let me tell you why I can say that, and why I feel completely safe before the Lord in uttering such a thing

In 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter, Paul was passing the baton to Timothy. His repeated challenge to Timothy was to guard the truth, to retain the standard. Timothy was to guard it and continue in the things Paul had begun.

Paul identifies a couple of problems that Timothy should be prepared for. Paul writes, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

Timothy, Paul says, the time will come when radical, weird things will happen in the church....Now, what was he to do when that time came? Paul has already given him the answer in chapter three.

He starts by saying, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:1-4).

Well, that time has come. And Paul gives Timothy the antidote: "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them" (2 Tim. 3:14).

Then Paul goes on: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

What is Paul's solution when all of these things begin to happen? He tells Timothy to stay steady at the helm. Don't worry about being left behind with the new things that are happening. Instead, continue in the things which you have already learned....

I've got my hands full with what Jesus and the apostles laid out as the original marching orders. I'm still busy with the old movement of the Spirit: the commands of Scripture that include the Great Commission.

No where that I know of does the Scripture tell Christians to look forward in time to be obedient to some new movement of the Spirit that is yet to be revealed. Instead, it says to stay faithful to what has already been handed down to us. That was Paul's dying command to Timothy. He said to guard and protect the old stuff, not look for the new.

Friends, how can you possibly be left out of God's plan if you are already obeying what He has told you to do in the Scripture? You can't be. That's why you don't have to answer the question of whether these new manifestations are from God or not. That is why you are always safe in ignoring all the latest silliness that passes for spirituality

Even if it is not silliness and Koukl is wrong on this one--which is always a possibility--you couldn't be faulted by God for not participating since He has already given you marching orders that fill your day. And if you follow those marching orders, they still apply because any new orders handed down do not supersede those that have come before. They don't cancel out the prior orders. The prior orders are still there and you can find safety in them.

You don't have to feel like God has left you out. You don't have to feel that you are substandard. You don't have to feel that something is wrong with you spiritually if you don't climb onto this bandwagon. You can say you're not sure about the new blessing, but one thing you are sure of: These 66 books of marching orders are from God and you've got your hands full with them.

I say again: When it comes to the new movements of the Spirit, so what? I've got my hands full and so should you. You don't need any new stuff. All the old stuff is plenty good enough. It's been good enough for 2000 years of Christendom. It will be good enough for the next 2000 years.

My counsel to you is not to be distracted by new-fangled Christianity, but instead be diligent to know and practice the faith that's been once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

Are you a Tabloid Theologian?

By C Michael Patton @ http://www.reclaimingthemind.org

One person has rightly said that all people are theologians, you just have to decide what type of theologian you are going to be. Are you going to be a good theologian or a sloppy theologian?

Tabloid journalism. You know what this is. It is sensationalistic journalism. It is a billion dollar business. It preys on our naivety to believe something unbelievable. It exists because we like to let down our critical guard and indulge our minds by believing that which naturally would be rejected. From alien abductions to pregnant men, the tabloids have it all.

Tabloid theology is the same. It is sensationalistic theology. More than this, it describes the attitude of much of our religious culture today. It is the result of a culture that dichotomizes between the intellect and faith. It is fueled by peoples uncritical methodology. A tabloid theologian is one who constructs his or her theology based upon naivety. In the Bible, this is called a “simpleton.” In Christianity, as long as something tags their message with the name “Jesus,” with a prayer, or a Bible verse, tabloid theologians will believe it.

Some examples of tabloid theology:

1. The pancake with Jesus’ image proves that Jesus is real.

2. Stories of miraculous healings need to be believed without question.

3. “If you receive this email, pass it on to five people and you will receive a blessing. If you don’t there will be a cure.” (Don’t say you have not done this!)

4. ”If you send a financial gift to this ministry, you will receive a cloth from brother ________ that will heal you.” (Please say you have not done this!)

5. “I sense that there is someone in the audience who has a back pain. God has healed you pain.” (Good guess)

6. The story of the microphone which picked up the screams of hell during an oil drilling.

7. The hitchhiking angle who mysteriously disappears after saying ”Gabriel’s mouth is on the trumpet.” (I got chills when I heard this when I was 12-years-old)

I don’t know how many times I have received the email that encourages me to pass it on for a blessing. It usually comes from those who, if asked, would say they are religious. Most would even say that they are Christian. But in the end, the passing of the email was their only Christian service and act of faith for the day.

Many television preaching personalities rely upon the existence of tabloid theologians so that their message will be received without question. Criticism will kill tabloid theology—instantly. Therefore, criticism is seen to be sinful and dishonoring among tabloid theologians. “Doubter! Skeptic! Do you not believe that God will heal?” Many are guilted into becoming tabloid theologians thinking that this is what God would desire of the truly spiritual.

This dichotomizing of faith and intellect is not only destructive, I believe it is a sinful dishonoring of God by neglecting the stewardship of our mind. God calls on us to love Him with our entire being, the mind included. When a person believes anything and everything, this evidences a surrendering of the mind and jeopardizes the foundation of their belief.

I am not saying that God cannot heal back pain or send and angel with a message. But I am saying that I am not going to believe these type of stories until there is good reason to do so. I am a Christian critic. I am critical of all truth claims, especially those that are about God, and even more so about the sensational. Why? Because I must be. God has called me to be such a theologian. He has called us all to do the same. Our beliefs are too important to surrender based upon the smile of the seller or the good intentions of an email. Our beliefs forms the foundation of who we are. If our theology is built upon uncritical hear-say or unexamined sensationalistic claims, we are playing spiritual Russian roulette. The tabloid theologians theology will eventually come face to face with reality and it will not be able to stand. It will show itself to be naked of any ability to convince the mind. And as Jonathan Edwards said, “The heart will not accept what the mind rejects.” Eventually our “faith” will fall apart.

If you are a tabloid theologian, I encourage you to become more critical. I encourage you to evaluate truth claims as a skeptic. I know this sounds odd when speaking about God, the Bible, or Christianity, but you must do so. Make sure that any truth claims have an impressive resume before they are believed. When people call you unspiritual for being critical of their stories of divine intervention, take heart. God’s truth will always have an impressive resume. You are honoring God more by not being a simpleton.

The funny thing is that all false religious systems have no choice but to base their religion in tabloid theology. Christianity is the only one one that does not. Christianity invites, indeed, demands criticism, skepticism, discernment, and questions. True Christianity will pass the test.

Proverbs 8:5 You who are naive, discern wisdom! And you fools, understand discernment!

Proverbs 14:15 A naive person believes everything, but the shrewd person discerns his steps.

Discernment and Ali G

By Josh Harris @ http://www.joshharris.com

Discernment is the ability to distinguish right from wrong, true from false—to "test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil" (1Thess 5:21-22). On the past two Sundays, I've preached on the topic of discernment. In this short clip, I share a story of my lack of discernment when I was invited to be a guest on a tv show hosted by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, known for portraying such characters as "Ali G" and "Borat."

How to Identify False Teachers - Matthew 7: 15-20

By Seeker @ http://www.twoorthree.net

Ever been in a church where they are heavy handed, hellfire and brimstone, and only negative? Where they emphasize obedience to outward rules like what clothing to wear? Where they treat you like a rebellious sinner if you question authority? Odds are, you've probably been experiencing an unhealthy church with a false teacher, or false prophet, at the helm.

Ever been in a church where they are overwhelmingly positive, and never talk about sin? In fact, some things that traditional Christians call sin, they say are just fine and as God intended? Odds are, you've probably been experiencing an unhealthy church with a false teacher, or false prophet, at the helm.

Confused? Not after you listen to this latest message, How to identify false teachers.

Gray Matters: Five Principles of Discernment, Part 2

by Eric Simmons @ http://boundless.org

In the first part of our discussion on gray matters we looked at two biblical principles to help us cultivate discernment. We learned that in order to practice discernment in the details of our lives (what we do) we need to ground our discernment in principles from Scripture (why we do what we do). Discernment starts by imitating God and distrusting your heart. In light of the fact that God has made us sons and daughters we should imitate him as dearly loved children. And we learned to distrust our hearts — in the light of the fact that our hearts are sinful we have to distrust our own hearts. Now we'll look at three more biblical principles for practicing discernment. Think Biblically If decisions about gray matters are hard for you, the problem might be a simple one. Maybe you're just not familiar enough with God's word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." Sometimes I only want to apply the parts of God's Word that yell at me: "Don't have extramarital sex! Don't lie! Don't steal! Don't covet!" But what about the less obvious things? Things like smoking cigarettes or watching a certain TV show or wearing a certain piece of clothing. In those areas I don't think God yells the answer; I think He whispers it. I learned this the hard way when I married Lisa. The more I get to know her the more I learn what she likes and dislikes. She doesn't like it when I scare her at 11:30 at night or dump cold water on her. But she loves it when I write her notes, and when I buy her flowers and gifts. And she really loves when I make dinner (even if it's horrible). My wife didn't come with a manual. I had to live with her, watch her, ask questions. In these gray matters I think God wants to draw us into a relationship with himself. He wants to whisper the answer through his Word by revealing his character and plan. He wants to tell us what he likes and doesn't like. God's Word is critical because it's where he reveals all this. Ephesians 5:17 says, "Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Scripture shows us God's will — it's to redeem a people through the gospel of Jesus Christ to form a different and distinct community that reflects Him to a dying world. So when you're thinking about gray matters ask yourself, "Does this fit into God's will as revealed in His Word? Will this help me represent the gospel? Will this help me be part of Jesus' distinct community?" The more biblical our thinking, the clearer things become, and the more we'll be able to practice godly discernment. Ground your thinking in God's Word. Involve Others Ever notice that a lot of times our brilliant ideas are really very, very bad ideas? Once my friend Isaac was out hiking and saw a big sign that said: "Rattlesnakes. Beware. Do Not Go Down These Cliffs." But he wanted to get to the refreshing river below so he assumed the sign was just wrong. Brilliant, huh? As he left the group he was with and started own the cliffs, he began jumping from rock to rock. Then he saw them. Rattlesnakes. Three of them. On the rock he was just about to jump to. Notice how Isaac didn't ask anyone about his great idea to go down those cliffs? This is what we do so often in gray matters. We break away, isolate ourselves, and just assume we know best. When Isaac nearly leaped onto a bunch of rattlesnakes it was an unusually vivid picture of the messes we can get ourselves into when we go our own way. Proverbs 18:1-2 says, "Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. He breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." Are you isolating yourself from God's community? Or are you involving others in your decisions, even when you think you know what is "right"? If you distrust your heart — as we learned last time — you'll remember how easily it can warp your view of things. Again Proverbs says, "The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice" (Proverbs 12:15). You need God's Word and other believers to help you see straight. Involving others means making them part of your life — living in community with them. You don't have to make it a formal process with daily check-ups or weekly meetings. You probably already have plenty of opportunities to interact with other believers. So just work at making the most of them. When you drive to a meeting with a friend or run into someone at Starbucks, seize the opportunity. Here are three ways to start: Inform others. Let them know about your particular temptations and your current struggles with sin. Ask them, "In light of all this, what's wise?" Get counsel. When making a decision — whether it's what house to buy or what movie to rent — involve others. Ask questions. Don't just ask generally for counsel. Ask specific questions like, "What am I not seeing right now? Am I thinking right?" Involving others in your life can be a huge way to receive God's help and will keep you from jumping into sin before you realize what you're doing. Decide to Worship Even after looking at and applying the principles of discernment we've talked about you'll still come to a moment of decision in the gray matters. Let's finish out by looking at Romans 12:1-2: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Here God is not just talking about your physical frame — your arms and legs — but every aspect of who you are. We are to use everything about ourselves to worship God. What's our motivation? As Paul says, it is "by the mercies of God" we present our bodies as sacrifices, because Christ has bought and saved us. We say, "Lord, in light of what you've done for me, that you saved me from running headlong into hell, what a joy it is to not have to listen to the radio today, but just worship you through prayer." Christianity has a cost — every hobby, every interest, every part of your body. We're sacrificing everything about us to God's glory. And here's one huge implication of this for our lives: Every moment of your day is a moment to worship the living God. Now, I often think "worship" is singing. But true worship is more than a song. It's a sacrifice. God calls us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices in an act of worship. Deciding to worship God in every area changes our response in ... every area. Here are just a few. Media: Your first question shouldn't be "Is this appropriate?" but "Who owns my eyes? Whom do they belong to? Who owns my ears?" Clothing: Really, immodesty is saying "You know what Lord, I own my own body and I will do with it what I want and wear what I want." But modesty says "I know that physical attractiveness is given to me for you glory God and for my spouse." Money: Our checkbook reveals what we worship, doesn't it? Who owns your checkbook? Tithing and otherwise spending with God's glory in view says, "My money is not my own." Career: Are you desperate to live the American Dream with two cars in the garage and a white picket fence? Ask yourself, "Who owns my career?" Decide to worship by giving yourself as a living sacrifice to God, holy and pleasing. Decide to worship God in every gray matter you encounter. Discernment So we've talked about five biblical principles that inform godly discernment: Imitate God Distrust Your Heart Think Biblically Involve Others Decide to worship Get these biblical principles into your life and they'll radically affect the way you approach the gray matters in your life. God has provided us with the tools. With his help we can create a biblical practice of discernment. * * *

Gray Matters: Five Principles of Discernment, Part 1

by Eric Simmons @ http://boundless.org Gray matters. We all deal with them ... those places in our lives where the line between "right" and "wrong" gets fuzzy. Or even disappears. Is it OK just to fast-forward the sex scene and watch the rest of the movie? Should I smoke a cigar with my unbelieving father? How tight is too tight? Can a Christian play poker? Can I have a beer with dinner? I can't tell you which movies to watch or what music to listen to. I can't give you a list of Do's and Don'ts. But together we can go to Scripture to cultivate discernment in the gray matters. Principled Discernment Hebrews 5:14 says, "Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." Notice something in this passage: There's no mention of gray. There's good, and there's evil. And how do you tell the difference? Discernment. Just because something is fuzzy or unclear to us doesn't mean it's fuzzy or unclear to God. If we're honest we'll all admit we need to grow in discernment. But how? Should we work on some giant checklist of Do's and Don'ts? A few years ago I had a series of conversations with people in the church I have the joy to help pastor. When I would talk about gray matters with them, and ask them why they did or didn't do something, their response was often the same: "That's just my conviction." When I would challenge them about how they came to that conviction they usually didn't know. They had a "conviction" or practice that often wasn't rooted in Scripture. Does Scripture address R-Rated movies? Music styles? Not directly. But God has provided principles in his Word to help us discern how to live, what to choose, and what to reject. We need principles from Scripture to inform how our practice of living. So here are five principles for growing in discernment that have implications for our daily lives: Imitate God Distrust your heart Think biblically Involve others Decide to worship Let's look at the first two. Imitate God When you're faced with a decision in an area that seems gray, what standard do you use? People around you? Culture? The Bible gives us a standard in Ephesians 5:1, "Be imitators of God, as beloved children." Our standard is nothing less than God himself. We are called to imitate him. Scripture calls us "beloved children." Think about that for a second. You were once an enemy of God. But now, because of what Christ has done for you, your relationship with the Father has been restored. You who were once an enemy are called a beloved child. When we're saved, Christ comes in and transforms everything. He creates in us a love for him that drives out a love for other things. Do's and Don'ts last for a little while, but a love for Christ is far more powerful. When discernment gets hard, when we're tired of the "constant practice" it takes, we have to remember that the goal of discernment is to make us more like the Father who saved us. God has made my son to want to be like me in everything. Every morning when I sit down in my little couch to read God's Word, I hear his footsteps coming down the steps. He sees me reading God's Word, "Oh Dadda, I gotta go get my Bible!" So he runs back upstairs and gets his little red picture Bible. I love to mark up my Bible with notes and underline stuff. Carthy sits right next to me looking at his picture Bible. "Oh Dadda, dadda, let me have your pen! Can I have your pen?" "Sure." "Ah, I gotta make a check-line right here, little check-line right here." Carthy sees what I'm doing and wants to imitate me. We want to be like those we love the most. If you love the Father you will desire to be like him in every area of your life. If you love the father you will desire every part of your life to cry out to God that you love him, no matter how great the personal sacrifice. Now let me ask you a question: Is your imitation of the Father obvious? Is it obvious in small decisions, in big decisions, in preferences, in your speech, in your humor, in your thoughts, in your entertainment choices, in your free time, in your goals, in your dress? Whom do you resemble? Whom do you imitate? Of course, this will look different in different communities and cultures. So use this principle of imitating the Father to pray, think, and develop a personal practice. Distrust Your Heart The biggest challenge you're going to face in practicing discernment will not come from your culture or your community. The biggest problem is inside you. It's your heart. Look at Jeremiah 17: 9-10: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds." The Bible tells us very clearly that that the number one thing we should distrust is our own hearts. If you want to cultivate discernment in gray matters and imitate God, you must distrust your heart. This is completely different than the view of self our secular culture promotes. Here's a song that N'SYNC did years ago on Sesame Street (yeah, you read that right) that sums up our culture's view of self: Believe in yourself/Just believe in yourself/You can go where you wanna go/Do what you wanna do/Believe in yourself/Just believe in yourself/Some folks try to tell you there are things you shouldn't do/But what seems right to them quite often might be wrong for you/ Believe in yourself/Just believe in yourself/You can try what you need to try/No one should question why But here's what the Bible says: "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool" (Proverbs 28:26). The enemy of discernment is trusting in your own heart. Our heart is deceitful because it is desperately sick with sin. For the Christian, the power of sin has been broken and guilt of sin atoned for, but its influence still remains and God calls us to war against it. Sin is deceptive and brings confusion where God desires us to have clarity. So be suspicious of your own heart — especially when it comes to the gray matters of life. Here are some ways your sinful heart can deceive you (drawn from my own mistakes): You focus on issues instead of motives. You say, "There's nothing wrong with _____ (a concert, drink, movie)," instead of, "What is my motive in doing this?" You justify yourself because of good intentions or perceived maturity. You think, "I'm mature enough. I can handle it. It doesn't affect me. I just need to relate to these people." You question God's standard. You think, "God will just forgive me." "Did God really mean that?" "The Lord won't mind." You're more comfortable with confusion than clarity. You think, "I'll just keep doing what I'm doing even if I'm not sure it's right — it's easier than stopping to think about it." If you're tempted to feel condemned right now, let me remind you of a simple truth: Yes, we have hearts that deceive us, but we also have a Savior who has saved us and a Spirit who will lead us in the gray matters of our lives. Growing in discernment Of course, we all fall short of God's perfect standard. We all struggle with our sinful hearts. But God has provided us with a remedy. Mark 2:17 says, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." These are the sweet words of Jesus the Savior. The Physician has saved you from your wickedness and your sinfulness and has created in you a new desire to please him. He's given you the principles of Scripture and the Holy Spirit and the counsel of pastors and godly friends, so that you can cultivate ever greater discernment, distinguishing good from evil and making daily choices that please and glorify our Father. He's given you literally everything you need. ---------------------------------------------------------- Eric leads One, the singles ministry at Covenant Life Church. Last year Eric took over the leadership of New Attitude and helped introduce the concept of humble orthodoxy. This year the Na conference will focus on cultivating discernment. Eric lives in Gaithersburg, MD with his three unbelievably cute kids, his wife Lisa, and his favorite mountain bike. Please continue to Part 2 of this series

Gray Matters: Five Principles of Discernment, Part 2 Eric Simmons

Following My Heart Nathan Zacharias

Surprised by Grace David Barshinger

You Made Me Sin Carolyn McCulley

BA: How Far is Too Far? John Thomas

Like to Watch Joshua Harris

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